Mind Demon's Path of Domination

Yuri sighed. "Eat it and ruin his chance at getting a powerful trait? Don\'t try such a foolish thing. But, on another note, I am wondering if he can mass produce this armor with Alchemic Shapeshifting."

She had learned a bit more about the battle with the Tier 7 enemy from Reol\'ran and now she knew what this ancient-looking armot was, or could be, worth.

This was supposed to make Mark stronger. Eating it was an idiotic way to go about it.  Now, they didn\'t know how to upgrade his "Mask of the Savage" trait with it to a higher level, but they couldn\'t waste it by being reckless.

This was a precious resource.

Mark shook his head, the hamster that was on top of him bobbing along. "I can clone the armor with Alchemic Shapeshifting, but it\'s useless. It is the same thing as it was with turning demons into humans."

The scientist curiously stared at the armor. When Mark tried to transform other things into humans using Alchemic Shapeshifting at the start, he used to fail.

That was because he didn\'t understand human biology well enough. How could he create something as intricate as a human body when he didn\'t know what it was in the first place?

So, was Mark saying that this metal-looking armor had the same level of biological engineering to a human body?

Or is it even more complex?

Her inner curiousity broke out and she asked, "What will it do once you understand how to use it?"

Mark was flummoxed. "The guy that gave me this said that my trait \'Mask of the Savage,\' will evolve into \'Armor of the Savage.\'

"The Mask trait alone is so powerful, so I am thinking it would be a useful powerup. But I don\'t know what that better trait will do for me though."

Yuri closed her eyes and joined him in thinking how to evolve a Trait. But after a while, they just couldn\'t head anywhere and stopped for the moment.

"Then we might have to visit the demon world once more before the Suffering," he said with a thoughtful expression. "Even though I am not really looking forward to that."

There was a reason Mark had become so averse to heading back to the Demon World. Apparently, the person who would come to kill him in a year will be very lucky and he would be very unlucky the more closer to the Suffering he gets.

The River of Destiny was on the side of the enemy. Destiny was against Mark!

If he got unlucky in the Savage World, there was a limit to such bad luck. At worst, he would have to fight a bunch of Tier 2 Pinnacles. If the World Will was taken out of the equation that is.

That was not the same with the Demon World. He could sneeze and annoy a probable Tier 8 or 9 Demon just due to that. Even though he felt that such levels of creatures would be reasonable, who knows?

And hell, they might just randomly notice all the anomalies inside him like the Violet Mirror.

Who knows how far the bad luck could go?

Mark sighed.

The possibilities were endless. But if he went back to the Demon City and bought a private Residence within a city, he would no longer have to worry.

The private Residances were a safe haven that no demon would enter and mess with. To buy one in a Demon City, it costed either a Portal Key or a Seal of Destiny.

Now, Mark had the cost.

The very reason he had come to this world was to earn enough for that, so that he could have a safe location even in the Demon World. That was the need for the Portal Key.

But now that he knew he has an unknown assasin on his back who would come, Mark felt somewhat conflicted.

What if he was pulled into something and couldn\'t leave the Demon World in time to enter another weaker World?

What if—what if—what if—???

But then again, there were tournaments of battle going on over there. If he fought against Middle Demons now, no matter what kind and shape, Mark had the confidense to stand against it.

Especially considering he still had the Armor and Seal of Destiny as resources to use and grow stronger. He was sure he was not going to be inferior to any Middle Demon that would be in a city.

Mavericks, people who could fight above their level, were rare. No way some other demon like that would come find him in a random tournament.

So, if he went and won, he could gain more Seals of Destiny.

There were benefits.

After a while of thinking, he turned to Yuri. "For now, research if you can use the heart blood of the Golden Savages in our stock to turn yourself into one."

Yuri\'s face lit up. She was going to be researching again.

"I want human bodies to test it on," she said.

Dona, Mark, and Yuri left the lab to a grassy field outside. Many wierdly horned sheep graced the land there, and Mark directly went to one of them.

He put a hand on the sheep and calmly, thought about humans. Human body was unbelievably complex—even as a Middle Demon, Mark wasn\'t completely aware of the true depths of the human design.

But he could emulate it.

The sheep squeaked as its body transformed. It was a painful process, but it didn\'t last for long. When it ended, the sheep had completely transformed into a human. But there were bound to be minor flaws deep within it.

Mark couldn\'t see the flaws now, he had grown better, but that had a limit. So, making a drop of Black Water appear beside him, he made the man drink it.

He could summon anything in his World Space into his hand.

Mark smiled.

The sheep was now a flawless human male. Designed with the basic human body of the Hunter World in mind.

From Mark\'s head, the hamster stared with wide eyes. Dona blinked, standing beside him. Yuri just looked at the sheep-turned man in curiosity.

A sheep had turned into a person. So will it immediately gain sentience?

They stared as the man scuttled away in all fours and began eating grass in the distance warily.

Yuri pulled up her notepad and pen.

Mark summoned a bottle with shimmering golden liquid into his hand and walked closer to the man-sheep.

This was the Heart Blood of a Golden Savage. Mark had to make sure if it was alright for Yuri to use it, and for that, he had to use someone as the lab rat.

Yuri stared calmly with the precision of a scalpel to her gaze.

Reol\'ran appeared. She said to Mark: "If the sheep is fine after transformation, it means he is safe. But the Heart Blood itself contains a piece of the World Will, so if it comes out, we can once again see it in action."

Mark nodded.

The Violet Mirror had made him eat the World Will\'s avatar last time.

He only had a total of 7 bottles of this in hand noe, so he couldn\'t waste it. He held the man up and drowned the liquid into its mouth.

It tried to resist but soon enough, it was transforming. Changing into a savage. Its face morphed, became a tribal mask.

A silver savage.

Then, its body grew taller, its mask slowly moved into its face. A third eye grew on its forehead, and a moment later, it exploded in a shower of gold.

Tier 2 Pinnacle Demonic Trick—Fire Shield!

A shield of fire rose up around them all like an upturned bowl, and Dona snapped her finger, removing the fire a second later.

"Good thing I didn\'t drink that golden stuff," she said, cheeks puffed up.

Mark chuckled. "I will not give you anything untested."

But then, his face grew serious. Why did the man explode, why did it fail?

If it had been Yuri…

A chill went up Mark\'s spine.

Yuri jotted down some thoughts and put away her notebook. "This is something," she said. "I have some guesses."

"Which are?" Reol\'ran questioned.

"Guess no.1—the humans of the Savage World were designed to be capable of taking in Savage Heart Blood and transforming. The World Will must have had that in mind if it was the god who made man in this world."

That made sense, this sheep was designed as a Hunter World human. Even though it might not seem too different from the ones in the Savage World, who knows the true depths of creation?

Maybe they were different at the molecular level. Mark couldn\'t really affect that.

Dona blinked, then looked away with thin steam circling her head. Too complex.

"Guess no. 2," Yuri said. "Maybe the pieces of the World Will you said is inside the Gold blood is acting against us. If it is capable of that."

Reol\'ran shook her head. "Good guess. I saw what happened. When the sheep became a Golden Savage, the World Will inside it exploded itself."

Mark nodded. "Indeed, and its pieces were absorbed into me. But that happened faster than I could keep up with."

So, can he not turn Yuri and Dona into Savages?

Reol\'ran said calmly, "Yuri can become a Silver Savage if she wants. I think so at least, and if she does, she will gain a chance to absorb one of the Savage Magic of the savages."

Mark shook his head. "No way, she will just become a masked creature then. That\'s no use. If she can\'t become a Golden Savage, let\'s let it go."

Reol\'ran shrugged. "Well, the only truly unique thing about the savage race is their Mask of the Savage Trait. It would have been good for you if Yuri could get that."

Dona said, "What about me?"

Reo\'lran looked at her calmly. "You have a demon bloodline. I don\'t think it\'s safe at all on you. But well, you should try it on another flame demon first if you want to do it."