Chapter 22

Mana is considered the opposite of qi since one is created from the environment while the other is created from within the body and hence, they tend to show a volatile reaction when one tries to acquire them both usually resulting in the death of the user.

Many great researchers, alchemists, martial artists and priests have tried to create a method enabling one to be able to use both but none have succeeded and the numerous experiments have resulted in the loss of thousands of lives but using the numerous information that I possess of the history of mana, aura, divinity and chaos usage by the strongest and smartest people in history as well as its usage by divine beings, I have managed to come up with a method of enabling you to use all the different types of energies without your body exploding. Of course my method would only be possible for you as it caters to your unique abilities and hence isn't replicable by other players.]

"That's great so how do I start?"

[The first step is to complete the following tasks:]

[1. Create multiple hearts in your body

Create a Mana circle in your body. Unblock the ki pathways in your body. Create a divinity chamber in your heart. Transform a heart to serve as the dark mana chamber. Create a Dark mana circle in your body.]

Create multiple hearts? That's basically impossible because human beings were designed to have only one heart and I couldn't just tell my body to suddenly grow another heart.

[There is a way for you to gain more hearts you know?] said Anna after reading my thoughts. [Have you ever heard of demons?]

"Only in bedtime stories back on Earth"

[Well just as how gods exist in real life so do demons. They vary in shapes and sizes however the most known fact about them is how hard they are to kill compares to normal monsters. This is because demons have multiple hearts which tend to be also use to determine their ranking alongside other factors. Low rank demons have three hearts, mid rank demons have four hearts and high rank demons have five hearts.]

"So they have multiple hearts but why is that scary" I asked puzzled.

[It is because of the regenerative abilities that they possess, you see the heart controls the flow of blood in the body and blood carries platelets and white blood cells that heal and cure wounds caused by injuries and diseases so imagine seven hearts pumping the same blood in a single body. The effect is that their increased blood flow causes these cells to travel faster around their bodies enabling the platelets to arrive at a wound within seconds and hence causes them to heal faster and well as makes them incredibly resistant against ailments such as poison and curses.]

High speed regeneration and high immunity to poison and curses…Demons were definitely strong creatures.

"But how does that help me in growing hearts….."

"Ohh.." I said as I realized what she was about to say.

"You can't seriously be telling me to kill and eat a demon, are you?"

[Ohh don't worry you don't need to eat its entire body, just the hearts. You are currently a B rank player and hence you are only able to kill a low rank demon which means that after devouring it you should be able grow two more hearts using the void skill. This should be enough for completing the first step of the plan since you only need to grow hearts that will each serve as storage chambers for mana, divinity and dark mana. Ki can only be cultivated and produced through the acquiring of a foundational martial art and I do know of the perfect martial art for you but it can only be found in the second stage of tutorial so we will sort that out later. For now, we should focus on obtaining your three hearts.]

Anna was right, If I wanted to be able to use all the different types of energy I would need to acquire more hearts. Also, the regeneration and immunity effects that came with the hearts was quite pleasing to hear.

"We still haven't collected the materials we need to create daggers remember?" I said as I remembered the entire reason that I had been travelling in the first place.

[We can postpone that for now since you already have your spikes which should allow you to be able to kill a low rank demon.]

"Alright" I said completely convinced, "So where do I find a low rank demon?"

[The demons' residences are located in the west, just simply travelling west on the map should lead you to their residence.]

[And luckily you happen to be quite close to the border that marks the territory of demons so you probably won't encounter any other monsters between here and the demons residence.]

I headed west with the map as my guide and after half a day I finally managed to arrive on the outskirts of the demons' residences which was close enough to be able to catch a glimpse of the demons residence but what I saw was not a little residence but rather an entire kingdom with a large castle in the middle and numerous territories that surrounded it. The territories were separated by fifteen-meter-tall walls, but they weren't as tall as the 25-meter-tall wall that encircled the capital which was where the castle was located. It was nightfall and the lights in the numerous buildings lit up the kingdom making it glow bright red in the night.

{YOU HAVE DISCOVERED THE AZAEL KINGDOM}

{YOU HAVE EARNED 20000 CHAOS POINTS}

"You didn't tell me that the demons had their own kingdom" I said completely annoyed at how much crucial information Anna 'always seemed to forget'

[Well, you didn't ask] said Anna as she made an image of a smug expression in my mind

"Why you little..."

"SHATSHITUKA MINKARI!!"

I froze at the sound of a someone behind me and then slowly turned to see who was behind me only to find some humanoid creatures that were similar to humans other than the fact that they had horns that protruded from their heads and were slightly taller than the average man. Their skin was black as charcoal and their veins emitted a dark red glow and I could sense an energy being emitted from their bodies that was eerily similar to mana but was different in the sense that it felt darker.

"What is that energy?" I asked Anna

[It is chaos, also known as dark mana and is the energy used by demons in combat as well as in their daily activities.]

I could see why it had the name of dark mana considering how dark and thick with evil the mana felt but It was one of the energies that I would be able to use in the future so I had to get more familiar with it. Dark mana was something that demons and necromancers used and hence I deduced that these guys were demons, but I didn't know what rank they were yet.

I watched as one of the demons slowly came towards with its spear pointed towards me and when it was two meters away from me, it said

"Naninsara daktuka? "

"What?" I said as I scratched my head in confusion. The demon was talking in a different language that I could not seem to understand.

"Can you understand him, Anna?" I asked

[No, I do not have knowledge of demon language since they are rarely seen in the tower.]

"Then how the hell am I supposed to communicate with them!" I said in frustration.

"Nanisara daktuka?!"

"Nanisara daktuka?!" said the demon repeatedly but each time it spoke I could tell that it was getting angrier every time I didn't answer back.

"Nobishatkuta son binreki!" shouted another demon towards my left.

I turned my head slowly to my left only to see a red carriage slowly materialize out of thin air. The carriage was being pulled by two horse-like monsters that had bat like wings and dark skin that constantly gave off dark mana that slowly swirled around them before dissipating in the air. On the carriage wall there was a dark magic symbol that glowed dark red as it continuously used up and emitted dark mana dark mana in eerie dark red light the color of blood. The door to the carriage opened and out of it stepped a demon that looked completely different from the others. The demons had the all the normal features of a human being except for four horns that protruded from its head as well as the two-meter-long tail attached to its backside that moved slowly swayed from side to side.

The other demons made way as the demon walked towards me. It would seem that this demon was the leader. The demon stood in front of me and with a malevolent smile it opened its mouth revealing a set of razor-sharp teeth and spoke in a rough cracked voice,

"Hello human"