Helial's neck was extended upwards, the veins in it about to explode.

From the moment the process began, Helial had hoped to die at least three times. And just over a minute had passed.

The torture that Helial had endured during the acquisition of Body of the Qilin was nowhere near comparable to what Iblis was subjecting him to now. No, this time it seemed that his skin was slowly peeling, inch by inch, and that his muscles - live flesh exposed to the pain of the process - had been immersed in boiling oil. Every inch of his body felt like it way burning.

Anyone who witnessed what was going on, however, would only see a flood of black needles piercing Helial's body.

"We are late," Iblis noted, glancing out of the octagonal room in which they were, regardless of the pain of his disciple, "but fortunately we still have a solution. To follow the theories of the Perfect Foundations, your body should have been perfect already from the end of the First Phase."

Helial and Iblis had discussed the Theory of Perfect Foundation over and over again, without ever getting to grips with it. According to Iblis, it was more than possible to reach the Perfect Foundation. The main problem lay in the time required for the acquisition and the risk posed by the process, which could have caused the boy's death.

First of all, when Iblis had explained the meaning of Perfect Foundations to Helial, the young man was amazed. The concept was terribly simple, understandable for any kid who knew how to count.

After every Level-up, the Statistical Points acquired were 6. Each Phase consisted of 60 levels. Therefore, at the end of a Phase one would have 360 Statistical Points to be awarded.

In fact, each Phase had a maximum for each Statistic.

For the First Phase the maximum number of Stat Points for each Stat was 360.

For the Second Phase the maximum points became, therefore, 720.

So, in order to have Perfect Foundations, all you had to do was reach the maximum Stat Points in each Main Stat, that is, those Statistics that were visible from the beginning in a person's life.

Everyone was born with Basic Stats, and in addition had some related to innate talent. From this point of view, Helial had nothing surprising. Like any other normal human being, he did not have Hidden Statistics from birth.

Once all the statistics were maximized with respect to his Phase, his body would have had to undergo both qualitative and quantitative evolution, according to Iblis's speculations.

The Devil had pulled out of thin air many scattered sheets, full of strange drawings depicting men with four arms and four legs, and had told Helial that he had stolen them from a wannabe artist who lived on a distant planet and was a huge genius in terms of Mana theories.

Iblis had estimated that the Perfect Foundations would completely change the perception of Helial's body in the space around him, but it wasn't just that: space would also perceive the boy's body differently.

So far everything was quite simple. The real problem was that even Helial, who had very good foundations, had not come close to the maximum goal of the First Phase.

Looking at his Stats window, Helial realized that even using all his Stats Points he could not reach the maximum cap for his Stats.

Name

Helial

Race

Human

Title

Disciple of the King

Primary Class

Champion of the Runic Forge (Unique Class)

Primary Affinity

Light

Primary Profession

None

Level

104

Exp.

323.423/1.930.000

HP

18.530/18.530

MP

85.423/85.423

Strength

215

Stamina

233

Mental Energy

210.324/210.324

Intelligence

240

Wisdom

195

Dexterity

170

Present Effects:

Physical Endurance 5%

Vitality Regeneration: 1800% Health Regeneration: 1800% Physical Resistance: 3000% Magical Resistance: 3000%

Stat Points to distribute: 456

Doing some mathematical operations may be child's play, but being able to add all those numbers to make them your own as Statistical Points was more than difficult, it was practically an illusion.

However, Iblis had pointed out to Helial, it would have been completely impossible not to find at least one creature who could achieve total perfection. Even if that one was not the most powerful Devil in the universe; Iblis himself had never made Statistics his strong point, concentrating rather on the Degree of Knowledge of his Skills.

Obviously, the centuries that Iblis had spent imprisoned as a soul within Curse of the Demon had been so boring that the child had had to find other hobbies than cooking and had never stopped doing his research. He had discovered, to his amazement, that Statistics and Degree of Knowledge of a Skill seemed to have something akin to it.

Of course, the exact correlation between them for the moment was still hypothetical. Iblis had not yet had the opportunity to confirm his idea with his usual experiments. Besides, he still hadn't found a lab rat.

Fortunately, Helial seemed to be often the Devil's rat.

A very unlucky rat, to tell the truth. The price of the experiment would have been very high.

No sane warrior would ever have undergone such torture, considering that in the long run the benefits would have been almost nil and the prospect of short-term benefits was normally ignored.

In short, Helial was in danger of completely destroying his foundations and not being able to progress on his Mana Path anymore. And despite this, he had agreed to undergo the experiment.

In other words: Helial was a total madman.

Iblis too was having second thoughts about what they were going to do.

“Do you have any idea what you will have to go through to make up for all the missed opportunities? Do you think it's as simple as snapping your fingers and, voilà, poof, here are your Perfect Foundations?" Iblis had insisted, before starting the experiment

"I am perfectly aware of what will happen to me."

The Devil gave Helial an icy glare of tremendous depth. "In five years, how strong do you think you will be, what Phase do you think you will achieve?"

"I think that I will get at least to the Sixth Phase and, considering my current progress, I will be able to defeat at least someone at the Ninth one," said Helial with a touch of pride. “But to reach the Perfect Foundations I am willing to do anything. I am not interested in having the Meridians that you gave me or Body of the Qilin, if they prevent me from reaching the pinnacle of perfection. I just want to have a chance to be the strongest in the future. I don't care how long I have to wait. Even if I were to lose five years, it wouldn't be a problem."

The Devil threw up his arms, smiling bitterly. "Well, you're going to have to stay in the Second Phase not for five, as you may have thought, but for ten fucking years. Also, Body of the Qilin, Curse of the Demon, the Meridians that I have given you: forget all of that. Your body will undergo a rejection phase. For ten years you won't be able to use any of those. You will only be able to use the Skills you have learned on your own. You will still be able to use Metamorphosis and Runic Condensation, but without Body of the Qilin, you will be much weaker. Your body will become weak, the flow of Mana in your Meridians slow and swampy."

Helial nodded. He did not seem at all intimidated by what awaited him.

“It will be hell on earth for ten years, as if the whole world came to take it out on you. Ah, I forgot to tell you. It is such a powerful Skill that I will need to drain all the Mana on this planet. This means that if things turn for the worse, we will be discovered by all my old dear friends of Life. If they find us, I think you would end up with a pole nicely tucked up your ass and I would be thrown into some ancient ultra-fucking old crypt that has existed since the dawn of time."

Helial kept nodding. That boy was really reckless.

Iblis' pallor turned a bloody tinge and his mouth curled into a grimace of contempt. It was possible that even the most powerful Devil in the universe had second thoughts about the acquisition of Perfect Foundations, while an unconscious little boy had no hesitation whatsoever.

“And what will happen if you are not able to protect your friends. Lumia will able to survive, but everyone else?"

"The Devil capable of everything is you, master."

“A Devil? Of course, a Devil,” said Iblis, for the first time slightly altered since Helial had memory. The boy had never seen his master lose control. “Of course I'm a Devil, but am I crazy? - that is, it depends on your standards. Even if I'm a Devil, I wouldn't want to see all the people who supported me die because of my selfish choice!"