Mind Demon's Path of Domination

He tried to touch it, but his hand only passed through it.

Mark frowned.

"As elusive as ever… huh?" he asked, and his voice echoed in the silent world.

Shaking his head, he looked towards a different part of the Soul Space. It was another source of light—a transparent, pale light—in the darkness, but it was less bright than the mirror.

With a thought, he moved as if in a teleportation and appeared beside it.

It was an incredibly deep well. Looking inside it, Mark could see tens of \'beings\' moving around silently there and he grew silent. They were souls. They couldn\'t be anything else.

The souls had neither a color nor a clear shape. Most of them just looked like spheres.

But he could tell they were souls. Some had a humanoid shape, though.

Souls that he had automatically absorbed into his Soul Space. Transparent, mindless wanderers inside the well within the dark Soul Space inside him.

There were exactly a hundred of them.

Was this the so-called Soul Spheres that I used to grow stronger? He thought.

They indeed looked like spheres. Mark looked at the well even longer than he did the violet mirror. Looking at the souls was somehow incredibly calming.

Shaking his head, he looked towards another source of light.

It was the faintest source of light in the expansive Soul Space, but there were four of them. With a blink, he was among them.

Each of the four lights seemed to be jumping around, but they repelled each other violently when they grew closer, as if they had an immense hatred of each other.

Mark smiled.

These four little marble-like light sources were none other than his demonic tricks. Each of them represented one of his tricks.

Heart Input, Dungeon Heart Seed, Dream Shock, and the new addition to the party—Dream Gambler\'s Mortal Puppet.

Mark intimately touched each of them and felt their vibe—each one had a different aura that violently repelled all other light sources, but the aura of his own soul linked all of them and kept them from making a mess within his Soul Space.

They didn\'t have any mind, but they still repelled each other intensely due to the incompatibility of one demonic trick to the other demonic trick.

It was like two sides of equal negativity meeting each other as magnets.

Of course, it was going to repel each other. One couldn\'t activate two demonic tricks at the same time to create a new kind of effect. As in, a Demon cannot use Fire Ball and Thunder Ball demonic trick together to create Thunder Fire Ball.

One demonic trick contrasted with the other. Of course, if you had a storm demonic trick, you could use it to help spread the Fireball demonic trick better but you couldn\'t outright create a new demonic trick like Stormy Fireball.

Mark had already tried using his Dream Shock and Heart Input together to get some different result, but it had never worked. These powers just didn\'t work like that.

No wonder they were repelling each other.

Smiling, he looked towards another light source.

It was an incredibly faint light.

It was the Seal of Destiny.

The thing floated around like a small firefly, but when he thought of it, instead of him going towards it, it came towards him with a blink through space.

Indeed, the Seal of Destiny—the thing that was gifted to him by the Demon World\'s Will. It could help him steal one ability from anyone. Just looking at it made him excited.

The seal vanished into his soul playfully and came out of the other side.

He had manipulated it to do that. It was bonded to his soul and whenever he wanted to, he could activate it. If he could then sacrifice the Soul Sphere of the person he wanted to steal the ability from, he would get the ability for himself.

That meant, to get Shiden\'s ability, he would have to sacrifice Shiden\'s soul to the Seal of Destiny. Only then could he steal his destiny for himself.

Mark thought of another of his Soul-bond treasures: the Portal Key.

Unlike the Seal of Destiny, the Portal Key was a physical object, and he had never been able to keep it somewhere truly safe. He was always at risk of the Portal Key being lost somewhere.

It was hidden under a small floor-tail inside Yuri\'s lab now.

With just a thought, the Portal Key vanished from the real world and appeared inside his Soul Space. Mark couldn\'t help but look at it in awe.

Blue in color, sleek and demonic in design. It was the Portal Key to an unconquered World. He had also received this from the Demon World\'s Will.

It had been so far away, but because it was a Soul Bonded Treasure, he could bring it in and out with a thought. How did that even work?

There was no action without a loss of energy. So, what energy was used to perform this teleportation thingy?

It was a mystery—

But.

—Fabulous.

Now, he didn\'t have to worry about it being lost somewhere.

Reassured, he looked towards the final source of light in this dark world.

It was a small floating paper—a contract. It was the mission he was given from the Demon World\'s Will. The mission to conquer a nation. The reward and everything was clearly written in it.

Now, he had seen everything bright within his Soul Space.

Mark somewhat felt like he had a basic understanding of himself now.

Chuckling, he stretched his soul and looked at the violet mirror curiously again. It showed everything in his Soul Space in written language, making it easier to understand and remember.

Nodding to himself in thought, he opened his Stats.

So, what had changed?

For some reason, the interface itself looked better.

***

[Marcus Haeligarth Aramanteuil Véxillarius Nócturnâ Aërglothur]

—Stats—

[Tier 1—Lower Demon]

[Physique: 11 (Below Low)]

[Mind: 11 (Below Low)]

[Soul Spheres: 100.]

—Resistances—

[Heart Resistance (Low) (Tier 1)]

[Mental Resistance (Pinnacle) (Tier 0)]

[Physical Resistance (Pinnacle) (Tier 0)]

_

[Bloodline: Ephemeral Dungeon Heart Demonic Bloodline]

[Demonic Tricks: Soul Devourer. Dungeon Heart Seed, Dream Gambler\'s Mortal Puppet. Heart Input (Pinnacle)(T-0), Dream Shock (Pinnacle)(T-0)]

[Cultivated Powers: Soul Sense (11 Meters), Magical Defensive Skin (Tier 1)]

—

[Soul Bond Treasures: Seal of Destiny(1), Portal Key (1).]

—Soul Traits—

[Demonic Heart]

Fulfill the desires of the heart to live longer.

[Current Desires: Fight a Colossal Giant (100 Years of Lifespan) (Incomplete)]

[Life\'s Great Desire: Become a meaningful existence in the world, see the greatest pleasures that life has to offer, and be capable of attaining all that you desire by becoming the strongest Demon. (∞ Years of Lifespan) (Incomplete)]

[Soul Longevity: 36 Years.]

_

[Mission From the Demon World\'s Will]

[Create a Dungeon spanning the entirety of a Nation in the Hunter World, and hand over the authority over the Dungeon to the Demon World Will.]

[Reward: Seal of Destiny (1), Portal Key to an unconquered World (1)]

_

Mark looked at the violet screen in the darkness contemplatively.

My resistances are still only Tier 0…

He\'d have to reach the (Low) of Tier 1 to increase the Resistance.

That mentioned, he wondered why he didn\'t see the source of his Resistances inside his Soul Space.

Why did he have such a Resistance if no magical circuit doing wonders was inside his Soul Space?

So far, his Soul Space seemed like the source of all his powers anyway.

His demonic tricks, his violet screen, his soul spheres, his everything nearly. It was all inside the Soul Space—his power came from within it. But there was nothing representing the Resistances.

Well, that was another mystery without an answer. He wondered if he could gain more Resistances, though.

For now, he only had questions and no answers.

Mark was still too much of a greenhorn as a Demon in the path of evolution.

But since my skin has a magical defensive layer of Tier 1 quality over it, does it really mean Tier 0 creatures are no longer a threat to me? No matter hat kind of ability they use?

He was unsure, to be honest.

He looked at the transparent Defensive Magic Skin around his body, hugging him like a second skin.

It was strong.

And since the Defensive Magic Skin didn\'t have Low, Medium, or similar sub-levels, did it mean that any Tier 1 ability would destroy it?

He would have to fight something to actually figure out everything about himself.

Smirking, he thought of it, and he moved out of his Soul Space to appear in the real world.