Four days later, Damon and Emilia arrived at the tree. On a branch, Stolas waved his wing to welcome back two of his sects’ members. Although he could have stayed with Damon, he thought it a good learning experience. And when he saw the young, dark elf walking back with the solemn look of a black mage, he confirmed that he made a wise decision. He now looked like a man of this world and not a bumbling buffoon.

“It seems you came back in one piece.”

“It seems so,” said Damon.

Stolas turned to Emilia, “how was he?”

“He’s a great person; quiet and intelligent. He’ll make a great black mage someday.”

Stolas nodded with closed eyes. “Then you should give him his reward.”

Damon’s eyes lit up. The past few weeks had overwhelmed him a bit.

Emilia pulled out something wrapped in a brown linen cloth from her bag and handed it to Damon. He carefully removed the cloth and found a gold ring.

“That is a cursed demonic ring of hiding,” said Stolas. “As you’ve experienced, the biggest danger in a fight is the uncertainty before it. If someone could know what attribute you use, they could prepare accordingly. This object will hide one magic type to items and people who could see the magic skills you possessed.”

“Those would be holy items?”

“Yes, that’s so, as you know demons hide and angels find. The same applies to our items.”

“Then why did you add the word cursed and demonic, or is that just your naming sense?”

“Of course not, I wouldn’t name things without care, you should know that much about me.”

Damon wasn’t convinced but let the owl speak.

“The cursed part is due to the fact people who don’t have black magic would be cursed if they tried to use it. And the demonic part is because it holds a dark spirit inside. When you put it on, you will effectively be signing a contract with the spirit. The ring itself is just a vessel to keep the spirit here until someone puts it on. Plus, it looks nice, I can’t deny the fact that I have a thing for jewelry. Now put it on.”

Damon looked at the ring with great interest. The gold colour wasn’t too striking, and its simple band design suited his taste. When he placed the ring on his left ring finger, it sank into his skin and a black monster which resembled a tarantula bit into his skin. This action did not feel unpleasant but on the contrary, he felt a warm liquid flow from the bottom of his heart towards the spider. When a few seconds passed, the spider disappeared and the ring reappeared.

Stolas flew onto Damon’s shoulder and stared at the spirit. “It’s always fascinating to see.” He turned back to Damon.

“Remember when I told you a person can only sign a contract with one demon. Well, depending on your level of dark spirit communication you can sign up a contract with up to ten dark spirits, well demons can do eleven, but unfortunately you aren’t one.”

“That reminds me, how do I level up my dark spirit communication skill, do I just have to spend more time with you and my new spirit or is it something else?”

“Oh that, you need to have the same number of spirits as your dark spirit communication level and have your black magic level one above that. So, if you want level 6 dark spirit communication you need to have five contracted spirits and be at the sixth black magic level. Your dark spirit communication level would then go up by one and then you’d have to wait till your black magic level reached level 7 before levelling up to dark spirit communication level seven.”

“Then how come I got my spirit communication to level two before my black magic skill?”

“At that time, you were on the line between life and death, i.e., in a half spirit half-living state. In that form you can see the spirit world, and that’s where I found you and let you sign a contract with me. Since you signed the contract with me at that moment, it forcefully levelled you to a point where you could converse with me, your contracted spirit.”

“A bit convoluted, but it makes sense.” Answered, Damon. He then thanked Stolas and Emilia for the gift. However, before he could leave. Emilia held him back.

“Did you forget that I also had a gift to give you? That ring wasn’t mine but Stolas’.”

Damon remembered that his demon wasn’t the stupid type and anxiously waited for the other gift. This time it came in a white cloth and when he unwrapped it, he found a silver retainer.

“This on the other is worth much less than what Stolas gave you, but it should help you when the time comes. It’s easier to explain if you put it on.”

Damon snapped it behind his lower front teeth and the next instant the same water jet which killed the poacher engulfed him. But no water touched his face. It wasn’t a large bubble but a thin layer of air which covered his face. Five seconds later the water retreated.

“It can defend that kind of attack from a level six mage for twenty seconds. I don’t suggest you rely on it for stronger opponents, they’d break it in less than a second. Against level five mages, it should last half three quarters of a minute and level four mage and below shouldn’t have these kinds of attacks. Of course, this only works for water attacks. When it stops working, you must bring it to an enchanter or learn the spell to refill the mana itself. Although by the time you might need to use it, you shouldn’t find it hard to do such a thing. Maybe we’ll meet some other time. But if we don’t know that this has been a great pleasure,” said the old woman. “It’s a shame humans have such short lives. I often find myself envying being such as yourself. All I can say is remember me and bring glory to the sect.”

Damon didn’t know how to respond to such words, so he nodded, and headed towards the tree with a large smile.

Stolas slapped the back of Damon’s head. “It’s time to go back, I see you’ve increased your mana quite a bit, as such it’s time to practise your black magic.”

Damon entered the tree and went back to his room. The straw bed hadn’t changed, and the table remained in the centre of the table. However, he now had a skeleton and a pile of books in the corner of the room.

“Is this my new assistant?” asked Damon.

“Yes, I noticed you were fascinated by the undead, so I one to help with your work. Oh, and there are a few books in the corner, although you won’t be able to use the magic right now, learning something never killed anyone.”

Damon went over to his new books. “Astrological magic? I’ve never heard of that.”

Stolas shook his head, “It’s a shame that my favourite kind of magic is ignored by so many.” Stolas glided onto the books. “Do you know why I wanted to take you in so badly? Yes, you have level ten potential for black and dark magic, but that is neither here nor there, without astrological magic how do you expect to be able to meld with the stars. Astrological requires one thing from its caster. And that thing is a true name. Without its astrological magic will forever be out of reach.

Tell me Little Prince. What is the only difference between a legendary beast and a humanoid being?”

Damon shrugged his shoulders at the obviously impossible to answer question.

“It’s a true name. True names let you inherit astrological magic, and with that a new set of power. However, since you are not of this world you don’t have access to these. But that doesn’t mean you can’t learn it. And this isn’t something you learn in a day. For this reason, you must start with the principals and the rules.”

Damon felt incomparable excitement, this could let him reach immortality. However, he wouldn’t raise his hopes too high. He killed a dragon not too long ago and that one had access to this magic, so it probably wasn’t any different from the other magical attributes which needed to be levelled up. “When would I be able to start using this magic?”

“When? I don’t know, maybe in three hundred years?”

Although Damon didn’t expect him to say five years, he didn’t fathom why it had to be in the range of centuries. “What are the other requirements? Didn’t you say it was to have a true name?”

“Oh, that’s rather easy to answer. You just need to max out your skills.”

When Damon heard that he wanted to fall over and die. If it took Emilia sixty and some years to reach the six levels of water and black magic. It would really take him about three centuries or more to reach astrological magic. “Wait, aren’t the phenomena, where legendary beasts absorb the surrounding mana a result of this magic?” asked Damon trying to set things straight in his mind.

Stolas nodded.

“Then how come that young dragon could use that magic without being maxed.”

Stolas tilted his head, “Well, that’s what true names are for. When someone with a true name dies, his memories and past achievements get shared with the new members of their race. As such they are technically hijacking the body of one of their own. And since true names were born with this world, it’s practically impossible for a legendary beast not to have one ancestor who hadn't maxed out their potential.” Stolas saw Damon’s puzzled look and sighed, “Well that’s the simplified version. I’ll spare you of any details. You’ll get it in time.”

Evidently, Damon didn’t understand a tenth of how this world functioned.

The owl flapped its wings and left the room, soon enough two skeletons came in with various monster corpses and alchemical products. His old life started anew.