The Damned Demon

"The Tower of Hell, Master. It is an ancient place where young people of this kingdom go to get trained to become an elite Raider or Reaper. Those who survived this place came out way stronger and more experienced compared to what they were before. But it is not an ordinary place since not everybody would survive the hellish trials they have to go through," Merina said with a heavy look.

"Oh? A place to get rid of the weak and nurture the strong ones?" Asher couldn't help but feel as if this place was meant for people like him. Just as he was thinking of some way to push his limits, the answer came to him.

But he found it strange and asked, "But this can't be true. My wife wouldn't want me to risk my life by sending me there. What is her intention?"

Merina's gaze flickered, and she said in a low voice, "According to what my daughter said, this was not the queen's idea."

"Let me guess…Was it Oberon or someone else from his family?" Asher asked with a narrowed gaze, to which Merina readily nodded.

"Haha, how desperate they must be. Can you guess why they did that?" Asher asked her on purpose.

Merina's fingers were nervously clasping each other as she answered, "B-Because…they want to h-harm Master by isolating you away from the queen?" Merina was tense as she said this since she was practically claiming that the prince and his family were plotting to harm the queen's consort. If they or somebody else heard this, she would surely lose her head for "baseless" accusations against the royal family.

But before the royal consort, she had no choice but to tell what she thought.

Asher scoffed as he said, "Of course, but "harm" is a mild word compared to what they must be planning. Surely they won't kill me, but they sure as hell must be planning to make my life hell again. But this time…" His eyes shone with a cold, cutting light as he added, "...They will reap what they sowed."

Merina felt her heart shudder, seeing how his face became frightening for that split second. It was surely not a face someone of his age and experience could make.

Still, she wanted to warn him and said, "The Princess Consort actually holds considerable influence in the tower. She is a Floor Warden who lords over an entire floor. Since Master won't take part in the trials, she would probably put you under her control and…" Merina knew she didn't have to finish her sentence to let the royal consort know what Rebecca planned to do with him.

"The trials? What trials?" Asher asked with a narrowed gaze.

"The tower has 7 floors, each of them having a trial of its own. People take part in the trials in hopes of building their prospects and name, even if it means risking their lives. And based on their strength, they could also get taken in as an apprentice by the Floor Wardens to help them pass the trials," Merina explained.

"Are the Floor Wardens that kind to help them out?" Asher knew these people wouldn't do anything without any self interest.

"I think it's because those who become their apprentices have to swear their allegiance to them," Merina answered.

Asher squinted his eyes in contemplation while Merina added, "Maybe Master could try buying some time by telling the queen to delay this…perhaps a couple of years?"

"Delay by a couple of years? For what? This is what I have been waiting for, and those idiots just helped me out without even knowing it. Now I can leave the castle without any effort at all. As for what comes after…I think I figured out what to do," Asher said with a subtle smile, making Merina wonder where he was getting all this confidence from. But one thing she knew based on her interaction with him was that his confidence had never been misplaced.

She also felt that the queen wouldn't allow such a long delay, especially after they suggested that she should send him as soon as possible.

"But…I will somehow buy one month's time, and in that time, you are going to have to learn to be more than just a maid…" Asher said, making Merina feel tense, wondering what he was planning to make her do.

Asher couldn't believe such a golden opportunity fell into his lap. But since the situation suddenly changed, he also felt that he would have to change his initial plans as well. If they want to corner him, then he will just push back and do the same.

—

A month went by…

In the Dimension of the Damned, Asher was busy brewing a potion. His face was pale and sickly, yet he was deeply concentrating as he broke down the ingredients Sabina had "gifted" him.

If anybody saw him brewing a potion without a cauldron, they would wonder if he had a death wish.

Even if he was brewing an ordinary health potion, the ingredients required for it were nurtured with mana. On their own, they were harmless, but when mixed with other mana-infused ingredients, they could create an explosive disaster in the wrong hands.

Without a special cauldron to control the explosive nature of these ingredients when they come together, even an expert would have the ingredients explode on his face.

However, Asher didn't have enough money to buy a cauldron, and he had to make do with what he got. Since he was only brewing an ordinary potion, he was able to brew it by using his honed skills.

Of course, if he had to brew a powerful potion, he would rather use a cauldron since the stronger the potion, the more explosive these ingredients would be.

Globs of dark red liquid coagulated together in the small glass vial in his left hand, which was glowing with a dark green light. Since he had the power of flames, it was quite easy to break down the ingredients to their purest form.

With his other hand, he used a small brush to mix it in a very careful and gentle way. Just one small mistake, and he might lose some fingers.

However, his face was calm and focused as he finished brewing the potion and took out the brush.

Feeling satisfied by what he brewed, he took a good look at the dark red potion and looked towards the side where there were 50 other dark red vials, each being the same thing.

Over the past few weeks, he had managed to build a stock of health potions because of his bloodthirsty ring.

However, feeding the ring with his blood was something he wished he didn't have to do again and again. It was not only painful but extremely draining and slow. It was as if the ring was making him torture himself, which only cemented the fact that it was a cursed ring indeed.

Today was going to be a long day, and he spent an entire month preparing for it, which included the stack of potions he brewed.

And now his ring was running low on his blood, and it was time to feed it. He looked at the vial in his hand before gulping it down, making color return to his face and his eyes brighten.

It took a few minutes for the potion to completely take effect.

He then looked at the Ring of Damnation on his finger and took a deep breath as he mumbled, "You better make every drop of my blood count," Saying, so he commanded the ring to take what it needed.

"Aargh!" Asher clenched his jaw as he felt like every drop of blood in his body was boiling till there was nothing left, or so it felt. It was not just his blood, but he felt like all the life force in his body was getting sucked by this greedy ring, and this feeling was far more painful than even cutting off a limb.

He clenched his jaw as he tried to suppress the pain he was feeling. He fell back on the ground as his body squirmed, his eyes bloodshot and his face getting paler.

He quickly grabbed one of the health potions and gulped it down before the ring could kill him since the amount of HP it needed was multiple times more than what he had.

He had to constantly refill his HP till this cursed ring was satisfied.

And after what felt like hours of torture, he saw a message popup,

[ Blood Sacrifice Accepted ]

[ The Ring of Damnation's durability has been restored ]

Asher let out a loud sigh of relief as he slowly got up after swallowing another health potion. After drinking so many potions within a short time frame, he felt sick and nauseous. He knew it was not good to drink potions like this one after the other, but he had no choice.

However, he smiled with a satisfied look, thinking about the progress he had made within a month. It just felt so much easier compared to when he was a low-level Hunter trying to level up. With all the knowledge and experience he had now, the leveling-up journey didn't seem that daunting since he knew what he had to do, though it did seem frustrating that he would have to do it all over again.

Now that the hard part was over, he teleported back to his room, ready to take on whatever fate was planning to send his way today.