When the darkness fades away I am once again standing on the demon's corpse with my hand gripping Blitz by the hilt. I can instantly feel the difference in the sword which is now home to Drog.

*DING*

Congratulations! You have completed a quest!

Defeat the Demon!

Objective: Kill the demon 1/1

Reward: Skill: Teleport

*DING*

Congratulations! You have acquired the magic skill Teleport!

Teleport

Level: 1

MP Cost: 500

Range: 50 miles Note: Only works for known locations.

I draw Blitz from the corpse, clean, and sheath it. Then I move away from the corpse and sit down to meditate for ten hours. When I come out of the meditation I immediately check, MP!

MP: 0/0

'Well, guess the new skill is useless.'

There go my dreams of being a powerful mage as well. I go into the inner world meditation to take a look and see if I can heal whatever I did to myself. My core, mana veins, and mana channels all look just fine.

It takes me a while but eventually I find the part of my brain that allows me to use mana. It is completely burned away, and nothing I try makes any difference. Guess the flood of mana from the ice burned out my ability to use magic.

It is a depressing thought but I was never overly dependent on magic. I will just have to figure out other ways to do things. I hope it was worth it! I get up and make my way over to the remains that were in the ice with the demon to find out.

Taking a look it is a skeleton with a few pieces of flesh left on the bones. He was wearing a loose robe and had a belt with a pouch on it, I also find he was wearing two rings and a necklace. As soon as I touch him his body turns to dust, all that is left is what he was wearing.

Come to think of it, he probably had other clothes and shoes but those rotted away. Which means what didn't rot is most likely enchanted. First I pick up the belt and pouch, I stare at the pouch and activate observe.

*MAGIC ITEM*

Extra Dimensional Pouch

Storage Capacity: 2 Tons

Durability 478/500

This item must be bound to a user to function.

Would you like to attune to this item? Y/N

"Yes!"

Item is now attuned! Item only usable by Ash.

'Well, that is a useful enchantment!'

I open the pouch and reach in but I can't feel anything inside, so I turn it upside down and will it to empty. A bunch of stuff comes falling out, a book, some loose gems, a length of rope, and over a hundred wrapped bars. I pick up one of the bars and unwrap it, it looks like a granola bar so I take a bite. It is pretty tasty so I finish it quickly, what surprises me is just the one bar fills me up.

I put the rest of the bars back into the bag, counting as I go, there are one hundred and thirty-seven bars left. I also put the rope back in the bag, then I take a look at the gems but I can't see anything special so they go in the bag as well. Last I pick up the book, the cover just says diary.

I open it up and start flipping through pages just to see how long it is. I quickly pass the amount of pages a book this size should hold and it just keeps going, I close the book and activate observe.

*MAGIC ITEM*

Endless Book

Never runs out of pages.

That is going to take a long time to read so I put it back in the pouch as well. I will start reading it later, after I am back at the forge room. Next I take a look at the belt the pouch is attached to.

*MAGIC ITEM*

Belt of Comfort

Protects against extreme temperatures.

Another useful item, I quickly put the belt on. It doesn't seem big enough for me when I am holding it but once I put it around my waist it is a perfect fit. Magic items are so cool! Next I pick up the robes and use observe.

*MAGIC ITEM*

Archmage's Robe

Defense +3 Casting Speed +5

Durability 959/1000

*DING*

Congratulations! Skill Observe has progressed to level 8!

Observe

Level 8

Int +8

You can identify items with study.

Not bad but not really useful to me so it goes in the bag. The rings when I check them are both caster rings that won't work for me so they go in the bag as well. Which just leaves the necklace.

'Observe!'

*GREATER MAGIC ITEM*

Necklace of the Hidden Path

?????????

?????????

What? Is my observe level not high enough for me to identify it? Well, for now it can go in the bag as well. That does it for the Archmage's things, now for the demon's corpse.

I walk over and roll the demon's corpse over, then I cut open its chest. I remove the heart and eat it in a couple of bites.

Devour activated! Str +10 Wis +10 DP +50

'DP? That's new, I wonder if it means demonic power? Maybe I shouldn't have eaten the heart.'

"Drog, do demons use demonic power?"

Drog says "Yes, that is how we use abilities."

"If I have demonic power does that make me a demon?"

Drog says "No, as long as you have a human soul you cannot be a demon."

"Oh, okay, good."

Reassured, somewhat, I take out Drog's core from his corpse and take a look at it.

*MAGIC ITEM*

Demon Core

Rank: ????

Quality: ????

Would you like to absorb it? Y/N

"What do you think would happen if I absorbed your core, Drog?"

Drog says "How should I know? Wait, you can absorb cores?"

"Yes, I do it with beast cores all the time."

Drog says "That shouldn't be possible, only mana beasts can absorb the cores of other beasts."

"So only demons can absorb demon cores?"

Drog says "Yes, that is how we gain power."

I look at the core again, if I am going to do this I better do it before Ruby wakes up. This is probably a bad idea.

"Yes!"

Demon Core absorbed! Core fusion process starting!

"Wait! What?"