No one knows which deranged demon lord decided to cast a nearly permanent spell of gloom over the entire demon king's castle and its surrounding areas, as if they were afraid that others wouldn't recognize it as the headquarters of villains. As a result, the sun is rarely seen throughout the year.
The atmosphere is indeed well done, but it's not very comfortable to live in. It's dark and damp, causing the monsters to dislike staying here and they have moved out one after another. Only some mindless undead remain here.
Fortunately, over the years in the Demon King's castle, there have been people who used their brains to solve the food problem. They have cultivated a large variety of edible crops that thrive in dark environments - mainly various types of mushrooms. These mushrooms come in different flavors and textures, ensuring that Rode does not become the first starving demon king.
And the former Demon King was also very diligent. Rode directly inherited his mushroom garden and made a living by growing mushrooms every day. The harvest was quite good.
Speaking of which, when Rod first ate these mushrooms, he experienced some kind of hallucination, but after eating them a few times, it was fine. It's truly terrifying how adaptable the body of the Demon King is. It even gave him a talent.
[Poison Resistance: Has a certain level of resistance to poison.]
Oh, by the way, there is also an attribute panel here after coming to this place, but it's generally not very useful, so Rode almost forgot about it.
[Lord Mo Wang]
[Race: Demon Lord]
[Level: 1]
[Strength: 48+0]
[Agility: 51+0]
[Stamina: 45+0]
[Endurance: 46+0]
[Magic Power: 50+0]
[Talents: Demon Lord, Chaos Adaptation, Dark Aura, Poison Resistance]
The first three are innate talents he possesses upon arrival, among which 'Chaos Adaptation' is a universal talent for the Chaos race.
[Chaotic adaptation: It has a strong adaptability to any environment.]
And [Demon King] and [Dark Aura] are exclusive talents of the Demon King -
[Demon King: You possess the power to rival the hero and dispel light.]
[Dark Aura: You appear very dark.]
Since there is production but no one to guard it, some other monsters in the vicinity will come to steal or snatch it... For example, the group of dog-headed people we just saw had just come out of their own warehouse.
Looking at the smashed warehouse door in front of him, Rod let out a sigh. He had thought he was hiding well enough, but it turned out that these kobolds really had sharp noses.
They are coming more and more frequently, if this continues, there will be no food left for oneself.
"I estimate that they will still come tomorrow, so we need to figure out a way to deal with them..."
Rod murmured softly as he entered the room to assess his own losses.
This was originally supposed to be a bedroom, and the original furniture is still here because Rode temporarily moved these mushrooms here without thoroughly inspecting the place before.
Now upon closer inspection, the decoration of this room is quite luxurious. It seems that the previous occupant was a rather high-ranking demon.
And when Rode picked up the remaining mushrooms scattered on the ground, he suddenly caught a glimpse of something shiny under the bed.
That is a book with an antique and metallic cover, carved with various intricate patterns. Amongst the array of patterns, there are also a few words written.
Rod struggled to identify the newly learned demon language.
"Chaos... Chaos... Book? Chaos compendium?"
"What is the use of the 'Chaos compendium'?"
As the Demon Lord, Rode instinctively felt that this book was extraordinary. He pondered for a moment and then suddenly raised the book to his head.
"Ding! The Chaos Compendium System has been bound!" The room fell silent.
He dubbed his own voice, but unfortunately, the expected sound did not appear.
"Um... Avada gnawing on a big watermelon!"
"Urabaha!"
"Gulala, the god of darkness!"
It's a pity that it doesn't seem to be voice-activated, there is no response at all. And I'm not young anymore, even though there is no one else around, the memory of my actions just now still feels a little awkward.
Rod put the book aside and prepared to sort out these mushrooms in front of him first. It was fine without sorting, but once he started organizing them, it was like a bolt from the blue.
"Oh no! All the salt has been stolen, not a single grain left!"
Salt is a seasoning made by grinding dried crops called 'salty mushrooms' into powder, which provides essential salty taste.
However, in the Demon King's castle, everyone knows that it is impossible to dry things under the sun. It completely relies on air drying, which results in salt being extremely scarce. In Rod's room balcony, there is a row of dried salty mushrooms hanging.
And now, with no salt left, it means that Rod will have to eat tasteless food for a while.
"I will remember this grudge, you dog!"
.....
In the evening, after dinner. At the top of the pitch-black demon castle, a faint light shines through a window.
After just finishing a tasteless boiled mushroom, Rode's anger has reached its limit.
People can live in poor conditions, but they cannot eat poorly! I must come up with a way to punish these goblins!
Under the light of his own room, Rode casually opened this heavy book and had a notebook beside him - it was his self-study notes on the demon language left by his predecessor Demon Lord. He was ready to carefully read what was written inside.
Unfortunately, nothing was written. Flipping through the pages from back to front, all I saw were blank pages. It wasn't until a piece of paper fell out from between the book's pages that I finally came across a line of text written in the language of the demon race.
"I... um... am useless..."
Rod struggled to decipher these words, guessing and speculating until they finally came together into a sentence.