There were 11 days left before the fresher's competition, and people were finally starting to take things seriously. Various activities picked up momentum, one of the most prominent being ranked matches. However, none dared to challenge 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place—there was an overwhelming gap between 3rd and 4th, with the fourth-ranked student lagging behind by almost 50000 Trial Points.

Even Miho wasn't challenged. Once a ranked match was issued, the challenged person received a mandatory 10-day relief period after the first match—though that protection could technically be removed by the concerned person. Miho didn't want any trouble anytime soon, so she avoided removing the protection. She had already joined a class specialising in support-type roles in the spirit department.

There, she learned that her talent had the capability to contract a beastcore and use its power without holding the core in her hand. Even more terrifying was the fact that the power released by a contracted core was almost twice as strong as that of an uncontracted one. But Leo, Lily and Leon all refraned her from rashly contracting a beast core.

On top of that, she had also joined a class specialising in medicine and healing—especially first aid techniques that didn't require healing abilities. It was obvious to anyone why she had chosen that class.

As for Leon, he trained endlessly in the territory. Others gradually learned that Leon possessed a second talent—one that allowed him to avoid sleep entirely because his recovery during sleep was equal to that during wakefulness. It was almost as if his body was always "asleep" in terms of recovery, while remaining fully awake to perform daily tasks. Because of that, he could go days without sleeping and train nonstop, his body resting even as he moved.

But this talent played only a minimal role due to his soul damage. If not for that injury, he might have already far surpassed even Leo. Still, now that his soul had been healed to some degree, he was slowly regaining his momentum step by step.

Leo wondered what Leon's soul rank truly was and how he had suffered such severe soul damage. But seeing that Leon clearly didn't want to talk about it, Leo chose not to push the matter and quietly let it go.

As for Leo himself, he had approached Brant.

However, Brant was incapable of helping him until after the fresher's competition. Still, he promised that he would teach Leo telekinesis and even help him catch a high-bloodline water beast afterwards. While he couldn't help Leo directly, Brant did help Lily. Somehow, his wife—Katherine—was a sword specialist and, as promised previously, also agreed to give Lily guidance in the soul-bonding field.

With all of that happening, Leo kept himself busy in the academy's library, absorbing knowledge about the world. Among his research, he also searched for the blood requirement needed to form a blood bond with Howl. Surprisingly, it wasn't much—just a single drop of blood would suffice, but it had to go directly into Howl's mouth.

So Leo did exactly that.

He quickly reached the territory. Because Howl's massive head was curled up, Leo had to carve a tunnel using Earth Manipulation just to reach inside. Shockingly, the deeper he went, the hotter it became—the air grew warm and hot as if in a volcano vent. By the time Leo reached Howl's mouth, he could feel the creature's scorching breath brushing against him, each exhale like a wave of burning wind.

As he ordered Howl to open its mouth, the ground trembled violently. Rows of massive teeth—each one as large as an elephant—were revealed in the darkness. The pressure alone woul be enough for many people to faint.

Not wanting to remain there any longer, Leo quickly cut his arm and poured his blood into Howl's mouth.

Ding!

Howl: Chain Bond (99%) → Blood Bond (25%)

Stats Updated!

Vitality: 780 [1140 → 1180]

Strength: 780 [1140 → 1180]

Agility: 640 [980 → 1020]

Stamina: 765 [1125 → 1165]

Intelligence: 1086 [1449 → 1489]

Mana: 108600 [144900 → 148900]

On one of the days, Leo and Lily attended a class together that explained demons. Since both of them carried a blood debt related to demons, they were particularly attentive.

"Demons have not come to our world as a whole," the instructor explained calmly. "What I mean is, they are not completely residing in Skadrial."

"When the world boundaries collapsed, the demon world was also among them. But surprisingly, it was the most resilient world, as well as the largest—surpassing even the area of the original Beast World. So instead of all worlds integrating into a single plane—which is what's happening to the original Human World, Elven World, Beast World, and other races' worlds—the demon world was integrated into a separate plane, but linked to the integrated world: Skadrial."

Turning toward the board, the instructor picked up a piece of chalk and drew two straight horizontal lines. Above them, he scattered countless smaller dashed lines, floating across the space.

"The upper line is our plane, where the worlds are integrating—Skadrial. The dashed lines represent disintegrated fragments of worlds that have not yet attached. Whenever they attempt to attach, we get secret realms and dungeons. These belong to every world except the demon world."

His finger moved to the straight line below.

"This lower line is the demon world—or the Abyss. Though it exists in the same time and space, it resides in a different plane. Now you may ask: if that's the case, how are demons here in Skadrial?"

He paused briefly before continuing.

"A being cannot change planes with its physical body intact—or at least, we have never observed such a case. So the demons you see in Skadrial are not their complete existence. They are projections—fragments of their being, parts of their soul, or however you wish to define it."

The instructor continued.

Demons could not truly be killed.

Even if they were slain in Skadrial, what was destroyed was only their projection—their manifested soul fragment. Their consciousness would return to the Abyss where their real body resided, and there they would prepare to descend again. Though they did take real damage, their next appearance might be delayed by hundreds of years.

And because they lacked physical bodies, they first occupied vessels.

Humans. Elves. Beasts. Any living being could become a demon's vessel, as long as compatibility existed. Since they couldn't exert their full force in that form, they tamed beasts and used demonic techniques to create effects similar to Soul Fusion—strengthening the vessel and slowly regaining the power they once possessed in the Abyss.

Now Leo understood why the goat-horn demon hadn't used any beasts.

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