Day 1182

Finally the day of the murder has arrived, after several months of planning, I will be able to recover a soul of life attribute. I need to clear the necromancer failure with success in this operation.

The VIP and the young girl met at the exit of the church as they did recently, the guard was still there but was four steps behind. I couldn't get it further away. The girl asked to visit the hero's relics a few times, but she seemed particularly excited today.

The VIP finally gave in, completely charmed by the beauty of the young girl, he went to the higher priest and asked him to open the crypt, despite his reluctance the priest did so. The VIP insisted that the priest and his guard stay outside, the priest agreed but the guard flatly refused. I expected this situation, and the vampire gave clear instructions in this case. The girl hugged the VIP more tightly, before turning red and seeming embarrassed by the presence of the guard, she was giving the VIP subjective glances while looking shy and pure. He couldn't resist and ended up ordering the guard to stay here, the guard is obligated to obey, and he is not suspicious of the girl, he has already carried out an investigation and she is from a good family without bad attendance.

The two went down into the crypt, I started to claim only the wall and to establish as quickly and discreetly as possible the insulating tables, The young girl drew the VIP towards the center and started to ask him to tell the story. history of relics. When I finished installing the insulating board, I immediately claimed the part, the VIP noticed it immediately and wanted to protect the young girl, but she had already stuck a knife in her heart, emotionlessly she pulls out the knife and looks at the incredulous VIP.

The knife is poisoned and it has no chance of surviving, but I didn't expect the affinity of life to be so strong, it should be dead already but it is still standing with a blank stare. The young girl then plunges her dagger towards the throat of the VIP, but he avoids it! I'm starting to get stressed out, even being a sucker he's still able to beat the girl in head-on combat.

I planned a case like this and although I don't like it I immediately summon a lesser demon, have him sign a ten soul agreement and move him to the crypt, five minutes after entering and 15 second after the first stab a demon appears, at the same time I make runes appear in the air which goes towards the young girl without resistance. These runes have no special power but they are clearly demonic and are intended for summoning.

The church will think it was the young girl who called on the demon. With the demon appearing, the fight quickly turns in favor of the young girl, the VIP has his neck slashed and despite his affinity, he is not powerful enough to save himself. With the death blow a talisman lights up and shines rubbing. A talisman of alarm and recovery, I immediately kick back the girl and order the demon to finish off the VIP. Just before the door is broken down by the enraged guard, I collect the soul and remove the crypt from my domain.

The guard does not have time to notice my presence when a lower demon charges him, he cuts off his head without problem and runs towards the VIP already dead from multiple stab wounds and comes out of low rank demonic.

The rest of the church is immediately alerted and the three bodies are quickly discovered, the VIP, the lesser demon, and the maiden covered in a demonic summoning rune and greater magical power.

Day 1183

Word spread around town that the bishop's son was killed in the church by an evil cultist. The church was in panic, they risk their posts, their leader entrusted their son to them and he finds him dead, in their own church. It will be difficult to explain the situation.

They sent a message by magic, it is an expensive technique intended for urgent and secret messages. The inquisitor team and located in the capital, given the gravity of the situation, they will undoubtedly use the sacred monsters of the Holy Empire, the griffins. They are mighty beasts, half lion, half eagle.

The vampire prepares the villa, he removes all compromising books, and valuables are replaced with less expensive luxuries. The count immediately visited the church and ensured his full cooperation in the investigation, he also provided 100 city guards.

The slums are also hectic, everyone knows that important people will come and they will not be able to hide from them, it is better to flee.

On the other hand, I recovered the soul, I did not find anything strange in the soul but I still sealed it and hid it with several seals just in case.

Finally I finish setting up the demon hiding place, I took over the necromancer's cave while hiding all the traces of the ants in his last days, I left plenty of demonic traces including an invocation circle. Inspectors will understand that the demon stood here before being summoned into the crypt. I also furnished a room where another person lived. I then hastily erased the traces before staging the escape of the owner of the cave. The trace disappears completely after a few kilometers.

The cave is outside the count's territory and the trail goes west. So there shouldn't be any suspicion of the city's involvement.

Day 1189

While it normally takes three weeks to travel to the capital, the Inquisitors have arrived today, riding low level griffins completely exhausted. They are immediately directed to the church to meet the priest, the griffins were also taken in by the steward.

It would be nice to get one of his griffins back, but it's too dangerous, I have to keep a low profile for a while.

The Inquisitors met with the Earl at his mansion to discuss the investigation and the Earl reaffirmed his full cooperation. Immediately, the inquisitors began to turn the city around in search of evidence. The girl's family did not escape extensive interrogation, but torture rarely elicits the truth, and even less when they have no information.

The culprits were rather certain, the demons, the suspicions were directed towards the slums, the gangs stayed out of the path of the investigators and even helped them. All the evil groups had already left and the little that was left was irrelevant.

But a clue alerted them, they found in an isolated cultist's house some mountaineering equipment and maps of the surrounding mountains.

The king took an interest in the matter but did not upset the Church until the investigation went too far.

A beat was organized in the mountains with volunteers and city guards.

During this expedition the bodies of the VIP and the young girl were oscillated, they easily understood the role of the runes and the cause of the death of the young girl, a demonic ritual to summon a demon.

The demon is also scrutinized, it is an inferior demon belonging to one of the demonic factions of the demon continent. Demons rarely do killings, they just attack, and it's weird targeting the son of a bishop stationed in a small kingdom in the northeast.

Day 1194

The cave was found by a group of church worshipers, the entrance was sealed off and the inquisitors began their investigations.

The investigation may last so I resume my research, I have made great progress in demon summoning, I can now summon a higher demon. When I do, I notice that they are all controlled by major demons. I have to pay way too much to summon them or learn their knowledge so I give up for now. If I wanted to acquire their knowledge, I would probably have to sacrifice the whole continent.

I'm trying to retrieve a lesser demon soul, and I get there without much difficulty, I start by sealing the soul, then I block the link, I cut the control rune and tear it off. I can then recover the complete soul without problem, I start a collection of control runes. They are all different, but I know they represent the property of a higher demon, each higher demon has a soul mark, like a signature.

I then try to recover a lesser demon soul but I still lack speed and practice. There is not much room for progress in this area anymore, I have deciphered some of the knowledge of the demon medium and learned new knowledge including how to break through the protection of a world.

Every country is protected by a global barrier that prevents foreign intrusion, there are methods to do this but I am still far from being powerful enough to do it. The demonic world is an exception, it has lost its barrier and has become a drifting world that regularly attacks worlds it encounters.

My alchemical garden has grown strongly recently with the influx of affinity plants.

I ask the ants to discover other sources of mana, I plan to enlarge when I improve my core, so I have to prepare for the increase in the consumption of mana.

The vampires have started to infiltrate the underworld of the Duchy and they are doing pretty well, they have converted other humans and have reached 350 vampires.

I have consumed almost all known living beings less than or equal to rank D, I ask the count to continue his efforts.

When I claimed the crypt I also included the relics, I did not absorb them so as not to be noticed, but I notice that a trace of divine power enveloped them more or less, the more concentrated was the hero's bones.

I am interested in this much more intangible power than demonic power. I have hardly any information about the divine world, and these are all rumors.

Day 1196

Investigations continue but the conclusion seems to have been drawn, the body of the VIP has been returned to the capital and the demon and the young girl have been sent to the holy see, presumably to do secret research on the power of the demons.

The city has not been held responsible and although the Inquisitors remain in the city for the time being, they have started to take advantage of it. Life gradually resumes its course. After all, there are deaths every day. The investigation caused hundreds of deaths and the city's reputation has declined, but I am satisfied with the results.

Day 1196

The front line has retreated further, the fighting is now taking place on the border, it is now evident that the eastern kingdom has strong support. A mage battery has appeared and decimates the kingdom's troops, the nobles begin to organize because the eastern kingdom does not seem to want to stop the war.

The Earl has cut off his supply of weapons and potions, he is stockpiling when needed, most of the nobles are doing the same, which does not help the front lines.

The crown prince is in trouble, he is part of the king's faction, and his brother is supported by the noble faction, he gains prestige during this war and begins to threaten the crown prince.

The city is not in danger; we are at the northern border but in the middle of the kingdom in its east west axis.

I have completed the alchemical process to evolve my heart, I have specially created helper golems to help me. I am waiting for the inquisitors to return to the capital to start.

Day 1225

Finally the inquisitors are gone, I thought they would never leave the city, I can concentrate on my evolution. I prepared the alchemy lab, I lit all the vessels, prepared the herbs and metals, alloys, mana and various ingredients, runes were floating in potions ready to be poured into vats of liquid viscous bubbling.

I then ordered the artificial nucleus responsible for carrying out my evolution to begin and I passed out.

The room is teeming with golems of all sizes, an enormous scaffolding encircles a gigantic dungeon core 200 meters in diameter. The sound of saws and the roar of lasers suddenly echo and the golems begin to carve entire blocks of the heart. Without wasting, only diamond discs can pass through the hardened crystal. The core blocks are then transported to an open space overflowing with tubes and mountains of glass installations, flames and various potions can be seen everywhere, the blocks are deposited in bins before being taken to crushers then deal with herbs and rune potions. Two days after the first block was placed, at the other end of the room, a drop of translucent blue-purple liquid fell into a small silver basin of pure water.

In the heart room of the dungeon, the core has been reduced to an irregular square with a side of 7 meters, soon there will be nothing left and the scaffolding is dismantled. The golems in charge of the cutting return to the room where they wait motionless.

The last block is passed through the crusher, then two days later a fine droplet of pure energy joins the perfect liquid sphere contained in the tub of pure water. A golem heads to the center of the facility and retrieves a soul crystal that has recently condensed, as the core blocks disappear.

He places the Soul Core on top of the Energy Ball, and an intangible force migrates to the Silver Bin. Several hours later the core has solidified and a golem retrieves it before placing it back on a pedestal in the initial chamber of the dungeon heart. The new core is entirely made of crystal, it keeps the same reflection, as if silver nuggets were mixed with the black and purple cosmos.

The golems turn off all devices and join their comrades in the room while waiting for their creator to wake up.

Day 1250

I wake up slowly, and I regain control of the dungeon, I feel that I am faster, more sensitive, more alert, more responsive. I am checking my condition and am now one foot in diameter.

I feel a much higher potency than I had before, after checking that everything was fine, I examine myself carefully and my compute capacity has increased by 300%, my mana reserve by 130%, my regeneration by 40 % and my height decreased by 99.85%.

I feel much more comfortable, the mana cost of some monsters and materials to decrease, I can manipulate my creations with more finesse and ease, if I needed to manipulate the mana to shape a body I can now directly manipulate this body to bend it to my will.

I can also perceive the thoughts of adventurers who have a less powerful soul, I have also gained the ability to speak telepathically with anyone in the dungeon. Finally, I can materialize a body of pure mana that floats in the air inside my domain, it is not of much use but it is always an additional skill.

I still cannot extend my domain outside but I can now see much beyond my exit.