Blood... Dead...

"Can you die for me?" Sinov asked.

After which, a red dagger suddenly appeared in her hand as she dashed towards Iledoya trying to stab him. The floor and the bed started turning red as well.

"Hahaha, of course not, Sinov Atozr!" Iledoya formed grey ropes with his magic as he laughed and binded Sinov with it.

Sinov didn't expect that, not only Iledoya knew that she wanted to kill him, but also her last name. It was Iledoya that was supposed to be caught off guard. Instead, it was Sinov that got caught off guard!

The floor that has turned fully red suddenly vanished causing Iledoya and Sinov fall to the room below. It was the red room where Sinov was reading her book. Inside of it, there seems to be an array for a ritual prepared. Iledoya fell right in the middle of it.

Seeing the room and array, Iledoya commented "So there was another room that didn't have bunnies and it… And my guess was correct after all"

"You…" Sinov was glaring at Iledoya. She was sure that she had acted like a kind, harmless, and defenseless woman in front of Iledoya to catch him off guard. "What made

"Hmm… Let's see… Your red hair, your lies, and you didn't even try to conceal the room. Essentially, you're a klutz!" Iledoya answered

"Huh? What do you mean? It was flawless!" Sinov was sure that there was no way Iledoya could've known that she wanted to kill him. But then she remembered Iledoya saying her last name "C-Could it be… you know?"

"Yep! I do!" Iledoya answered "Lord Atozr, the magic researcher with a distinct red hair, who got so bored of the world that he decided he wanted to create a new system. The Demon Lord system!"

"You… How did you…" Sinov wanted to continue asking but was interrupted by Iledoya

"And I also know he died from looking at a cute rabbit right before this very same ritual. You probably inherit that trait of his, so to train yourself; you filled the house with rabbit-like decorations right?"

"..." Sinov became speechless.

"For the other points; if you wanted to lie about not having a magic attribute, don't challenge me to an alchemy duel. But I was still able to guess your magic attribute with a magic eye technique I have." Iledoya showed Sinov his hands in an ok-form from which by looking through the hole, Iledoya could see dark red magic seeping out of Sinov. He continued "While for this room, you should have placed a magic concealing array."

Sinov could only sigh to her failure. Just like Iledoya had guessed, Sinov was a descendant of Lord Atozr, a Blood mage, magic researcher that wanted to become a Demon Lord.

She was supposed to learn Blood magic from the other Blood mage in her family but when she found Lord Atozr's research notebook, she felt compelled to become a Demon Lord instead. Her family didn't agree with her decision so she ran to Egner town at the age of 13.

One day, while she was out of town looking for some herbs for a potion, she saw a bunny and in her mind it looked so cute, she got a nosebleed. It was when she found a note attached to the back of Lord Atozr's notebook that she knew what happened. "Lord Atozr failed due to dying from a nosebleed right before the ritual" That was the message in the note attached by her family.

While reading through the notebook, she would also sometimes find picture of rabbits and from that she knew, she has somehow inherited Lord Atozr's fondness of rabbits. She started filling everything in her house with rabbit-themed objects to get used to it.

After doing so, she hardly ever stayed in her house as she would get a nosebleed before entering. After going back and forth from the house and the inn several times, she started being able to stay inside for an hour, soon being able to stay half a day, and after a month, she was able to no longer get a nosebleed was from seeing a rabbit and was able to stay in her house.

To gather the materials and ingredients for the ritual, she spent a long time. By the time she only needed just 2 more things, she was already 30 years old. But when she saw the two last things, she was filled with despair. The first was a "Life mage sacrifice" while the other was "A potion that can regrow limbs and body parts"

A Fundamental Attribute mage was very hard to find. There was no one in Egner town who had a Fundamental Attribute and there was no one she knew who had one. But when she saw Iledoya being able to use Plant magic, she was filled with hope. She decided she would first capture Iledoya before thinking of a way to get the potion.

She was able to get her hands on a tier 10 healing potion with her connections as a B-rank adventurer, but when tried to use it, the ritual didn't start. It was after the Alchemy association announced the existence of the 49 tier 11 potions did she know that Lord Atozr was somehow able to get his hands on one of those potions.

When she challenged Iledoya to the alchemy duel, she really didn't expect Iledoya to be able to make a tier 12 healing potion. She was happily surprised. Both of the last two things she wasn't able to get just came knocking right at her.

But she didn't expect how Iledoya would know about Lord Atozr's research.

"See? You were a klutz even back then. You didn't even check what you needed before deciding to become a Demon Lord." Iledoya said.

"Huh? Wait, was I…"

"Yep. You suddenly started talking about how you reached this point, out loud."

Sinov now actually blushed in embarrassment. Previously, she was using her small attainments in Blood magic to make her face turn red but now, she was actually blushing.

"So what are you going to do with me? Kill me?" Sinov said. She sounded like she didn't want to live anymore. This was actually her plan. She was hoping Iledoya would let her go if she sounded like she doesn't want to live anymore. But Iledoya didn't follow her expectations.

"Yep. That's right" Iledoya walked towards the binded Sinov and dragged her to the center of the ritual.

"Huh? Wait wait wait no! Don't kill me! Even if you want to sacrifice me, I'm not a Life mage!" Sinov didn't expect Iledoya would want to kill her. She changed her plans and decided to try reason with Iledoya "I-I'm an alchemist right? I can make potions for you! Please, don't kill me!"

Iledoya placed Sinov in the middle of the ritual before answering "Let me tell you something. Your ancestor was wrong. It's not that a Life mage was needed, but the array in the ritual required Life magic to be discharged by a dead being. The easiest way to do this was to just sacrifice a Life mage which caused his misunderstanding. And not to mention, I'm an Alchemist myself, I wouldn't need you to follow me around". He answered it with his signature smile.

During his time in Death's plane, Iledoya not only got many knowledge on Runes, but he also studied them. Arrays was just basically a bunch of objects with Runes that were placed in a certain pattern. The array for the ritual was a bit special, in which to connect the objects, required a trail made of a tier 11 healing potion.

With his studies in Runes and arrays, Iledoya was able to know how the ritual actually worked and how it actually needed Life magic discharged from a dead being instead.

Hearing that Iledoya was actually going to kill her for the ritual, Sinov became restless. With Sinov in the center of the array, Iledoya started infusing her with his Life magic.

"ARRGH"

"Aaahh~ ARGH"

It felt weird for Sinov. The Life magic would sometimes feel extremely good making her moan. But at the same time, it would conflict with her Blood attribute causing her to feel extreme pain. Iledoya was going to kill anyway so he didn't care if she felt pain.

While infusing Sinov with his life magic, Iledoya would look at her using the magic eye technique and waited until it was white magic that was flowing out of her.

By the time it was white magic that was seeping out of her, Sinov couldn't struggle anymore due to the mixture of pain and comfort. She would still often say "Don't… kill… me…". But Iledoya had plans.

Iledoya took out a sword from his plane and prepared to stab Sinov.

STAB

Iledoya stabbed her at the heart. "You…" Sinov said her last word. After her last breathe, the array glowed red, signifying that it has started operating. White colored magic started flowing out of Sinov's dead body into the array.

After the Life magic sacrifice is done, someone had to stand at a specific spot to receive the powers of a Demon Lord. Of course, Iledoya didn't have plans to become a Demon Lord. Instead of standing at the specific spot, Iledoya placed a water fruit there.

Once Sinov was sucked dry of the Life magic inside of her, the power of the Demon Lord started flowing into the water fruit. Iledoya didn't know what will happen since this is the first time the ritual is actually being finished. But he had two guesses.

The water fruit started turning dark red with black patterns on it. By the time the ritual was done, the water fruit had an aura seeping out of it.

Iledoya sighed in relief. "Thankfully, it become a vessel of the Demon Lord's power" This was one of Iledoya's guesses. The fruit will be infused with the powers of the Demon Lord and be dormant. So instead of having to do a ritual to become the Demon Lord, one could eat the fruit instead.

"It would have been bad if the fruit somehow gained sentience and became the Demon Lord" He shivered at the thought. This was his second guess. If the fruit had become a Demon Lord, he would have to determine whether he should kill it or not.

Iledoya placed down his bag and enter the space inside it. There was the house Serion made for him inside and to be safe, Iledoya wanted to keep the Demon Lord fruit there. For some reason, there was a shelf in the house that looked like a perfect spot to place the fruit.

Iledoya suddenly thought 'Did Serion expected I would be collecting magical treasures?' He liked that thought. 'Maybe I shall explore the world while collecting treasures. Then I can be known as the Immortal mage with the most powerful of treasures!'

Leaving the space inside of his bag, he looked at the dead body of Sinov. He placed her inside his backpack, deciding he would bury her body. "Well… Let's go to sleep for now. I'll go to the U.U Base tomorrow" With that said, Iledoya looked around the house before finding Sinov's room and just slept there.

-----------------------

The Next Day

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Waking up in Sinov's room, Iledoya felt quite proud of his achievement last night. He is going to the U.U Base today but before that, he would go and get his badge from the guild.

Arriving at the reception of the Adventurer guild, the receptionist took out his E-rank adventurer badge. "Sir Iledoya, thank you for registering. Please remember that you would have to complete a quest every month to keep your badge"

"Oh of course. How did I forget…" When Iledoya wanted to get an Adventurer badge, he actually forgot that as an adventurer, he would have to complete a request so the badge will keep its shine. The badge was actually a magic tool. It is able to record completed quests into it in which every time the adventurer completed a request, the guild would recharge the magic in it.

With his knowledge on magic tools, Iledoya is able to study the badge and recharge it himself but, Iledoya predicts it would take a long time and even as an Immortal, he didn't feel like wasting such a long time when he could just complete a simple request to have it recharged.

When The Adventurer badge ran out of magic, it would lose its shine which to the guards at the gates of town or cities, means that the owner is no longer qualified as an Adventurer.

"Right, does the guild sell maps?" Iledoya remembered that he wanted the latest map so he asked for one.

"Ah yes, we do. It would cost 1 copper coin" The receptionist said.

Iledoya bought a map, and with the map and badge in hand, he walked to the U.U Base.

Arriving at U.U base, he can't help but be shocked and started twitching. In just one day, he could see that the members of the U.U has already expanded. He recognized some of them as the thugs he saw in the alleyway yesterday.

The cave now actually had a door which made it look like a villain's hideout instead of a cave. It looked more befitting for the Union.

When the ex-bandits saw Iledoya, they instantly gathered in front of him and greeted him full of respect "Sir Founder! Welcome!"

"Ministers, Report!" Iledoya ordered. 5 people came forth from the crowd. After the bandits drank his enlightening potion, it turns out that not only did they got enlightened, but they're talent also became clear to them and from that, Iledoya appointed the 5 Ministers.

Cruitan - Minister of Recruiting "Sir! We have recruited all the thugs in Egner town. Our members are already on the way to the next town, Gilrad, to continue recruiting those who have strayed from the path!"

Raitner - Minister of Training "Sir! Our members has practice the Ghost Thief technique set you have gave us to the point of being able to enter and leave the city without being noticed by the guards!"

Dulbid - Minister of Building "Sir! The base is currently being expanded. Other than the door that you can see, we have made a room for you, Sir. We're now currently making the Intelligence room."

Nelits - Minister of Intelligence "Sir! Our members that have high attainments in the movement technique has entered the town this morning to start collecting intel. Some has also headed towards Gilrad to begin collecting intel there"

Omeyda - Minister of Treasury "Sir! Some of our members has headed to Ruteshia city, due to Egner town and Gilrad town lacking in evil riches"

"Report over!"

With the progress they have made, Iledoya can't help but wonder what tier his enlightening potion could've been. "Alright, Good job. Lead me to the room you have made for me."

"Yes Sir!" Dulbid lead Iledoya into the base. Previously, the base was only a straight hole leading to the treasure room. But now, many branches was being made. Near the treasure room was the place where they have dug out a place for Iledoya. "Sir, we're very sorry that right now it is still empty. But we believe that one day we can make this room befitting for your presence! Please continue guiding us!" Dulbid said.

"Un. I understand. The U.U is still small but overtime, it will expand. Alright, leave me alone now" Iledoya said. Dulbid then left to continue the expansion of the Base.

Iledoya sat down and concentrated. His soul entered his plane. Inside, he found Sinov's sleeping soul. He infused a little bit of his Immortal magic into her soul and she woke up.

"HOLY DONUTS AAAAAHHHH" The moment her soul woke up, she screamed. She looked around and observed her surrounding, where she saw Iledoya's soul. "You… you killed me! Wait… where am i?"

Iledoys sighed when the first thing Sinov did was screamed. He cleared his throat and said the lines he had prepared "Welcome to the Immortal's plane!" He spoke with a presenter like voice.

"What? Immortal's plane?"

"Long story short, you died near me and your soul cannot go to Death"

"To… Death?"

"Anyway Sinov… What if I say I can revive you?"

"What? Really?" Sinov's soul started trembling in excitement "Then what are you waiting for? Revive me now! You already got the Demon Lord's power right?"

"Well... Terms and Conditions apply"

"..." Sinov became speechless

Iledoya's terms are quite simple. Sinov hesitated at first but after thinking about it for a while, she decided to agree.

-------------------

Outside of the base, the 5 ministers were discussing the plans for the U.U. But then Iledoya suddenly came out of the Base together with a little girl. He introduced to them "Let me introduce to you all, the new Minister of Magic, Sinov Atorz!"

[edited by ed]