[ 900 Life Crystals gained ]
[ Life Crystals: 981 ]
The feeling of gaining a staggering amount of Life Crystals was enough to make Asher feel like he had won the lottery.
The moment he stepped out, he looked down at the crowd of demons standing before him. By now, there were at least 5 times the number of demons present here compared to when he arrived. It was as if nobody wanted to miss out on an event that would get engraved in the future records of history.
This time he didn't bother to hide his mana circuit and let everyone see him as he should be. From now on, he decided not to play the cripple but instead make them all fear his power and what he could be capable of…, especially in the future.
Playing the cripple wasn't his style anyway, and he had already become tired of it.
He inwardly scoffed, seeing the stunned expressions of the demons standing outside.
How could they not be shocked, especially when the experts sensed that he was at level 8! It had not even been a month since he woke up, and he was already strong enough to become a Soul Warrior! Even if he wasn't officially one, they had no doubt of his capability to become one.
People usually would take dozens of years to become one.
Rowena was equally astonished as he was in the castle the entire time, though her face maintained a calm expression. For the past month, she never felt any power coursing through him other than the fact that his aura as a person underwent subtle changes throughout the month.
Merina heard from others that her Master was at level 8, which astonished her. She was already surprised at how fast he was leveling up earlier, but now he was stronger than her in every way.
But what astonished her the most was the fact that his bloodline was of Immortal class!
She knew something about him was special and put him apart from the others after serving him for the past month. She just never expected him to be this superior. Now, who would dare to question his bloodline? She felt as if maybe becoming his slave was a good turning point in her life.
Most of the young women in the hall, including even some from noble backgrounds, felt their cheeks becoming hot, thinking of ways they could slip into his bed. They knew they couldn't officially become his woman since he was married to the queen.
But they hopelessly wished they could at least get a night alone with him and bear a child whose talents would stand above all. Still, this idea wasn't possible for those coming from noble backgrounds since bearing a child without a father would just make them an outcast, unfortunately. This made them feel envious of the women of low origins who had no problems bearing a child without a father.
The demons standing in the queues who had come to take part in the first trial couldn't even dare to meet the gaze of the royal consort. All of them were around level 2 to level 5, and never in their dreams did they expect the royal consort to be stronger than them.
They were now actually scared of him after seeing that he was far from a useless one and had no doubt about what he would become in the future. They regretted mocking him and looking at him in a scornful way before. They prayed that he didn't notice the contempt they held for him.
Even the demons from the higher floors didn't know why but they felt as if the royal consort's aura was making them feel goosebumps. Some of the smarter ones were already planning to make acquaintances with him since they could see that a huge power shift was going to happen in the kingdom in the coming years.
They even looked at each other to see who would be the first to get to the royal consort and become his "friend".
Darren was already kneeling on his left knee and bowed his head before Asher, "I, Darren Aleister, do swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Highness Royal Consort Asher Drake, according to law," He said in a loud, formal and respectful tone.
Darren didn't even think twice before doing this. Even if he didn't give his word before, Darren would have sworn his allegiance to the royal consort the first chance he could get. Even if the royal consort didn't hold any power now, it didn't mean things would be the same in the future.
Asher smiled upon seeing this young lord swear his allegiance to him. The reason he wanted him to be his vassal was not only because his House was under the shade of House Thorne but also because Darren was known to be quite good at forging weapons and enchanting them. He would be quite useful in the coming days.
"You may rise, Young Lord Darren of House Aleister," Asher said as he placed his hand on his shoulder, making Darren immediately raise his body and give a deep bow towards him.
Rebecca, who had somehow managed to regain her bearings after experiencing the shock of her life, was now staring daggers at Darren. He was from a House that was a vassal to her familial House. So how dare he take things into his own hands and swear fealty to a different House or specifically that vermin.
She decided to make sure to make him feel like an outcast in his own House. Only then will he learn his lesson and know his place.
However, most of them were dying to ask the important and obvious questions to Asher. They wanted to know when his mana circuit got fixed and who trained him to take on this trial. Even if he was born with an immortal bloodline, it would be impossible for him to survive the trial without knowing how to make use of his talents.
Who was the mysterious expert who trained him within a month? And did the same expert train him to take on quests to let him reach this level? Wasn't it against the law to take on quests as an unregistered warrior? Or did the queen know about it the entire time?
Some of the demons were already about to reach the royal consort and congratulate him as a way of breaking the ice to acquaint with him.
But they all froze in their steps when they saw the queen stepping forward towards him.
"Before you do anything else, I want you to explain to me about everything," Rowena said in a low voice with a fixed gaze. She had to know how all this was possible and if this meant anything.
Asher wanted to hear exactly that as he said with a narrowed gaze, "Of course. Let's talk...in private."
Rowena softly nodded as she looked at Eradicator, who immediately gestured to everyone else to make way.
All of them didn't dare to dilly-dally and quickly made way for the queen and her consort to walk even if it meant stepping over the other's feet.
Sabina furrowed her brows as she looked at the two enter one of the empty training rooms, "What are they going to talk about in secret?"
"Everyone should disperse now. The royal consort has important matters to attend to today. Any business you have with him can be discussed tomorrow," Duncan Doru loudly said as most of them sighed and left.
Only those demons who had yet to take part in the first trial were standing in the queues. But suddenly, one of them loudly shouted, "Eh?! The reward list is only showing till the 6th summoning."
"What? Does that mean this trial would no longer have a 7th summoning?"
"Is this why the Hell Maiden said the royal consort would be the first and last one to receive her reward?"
"Nooo…Does this mean none of us will ever get a chance to get the same reward?"
"Who are you kidding? Do you think you would have passed the 7th summoning like the royal consort? Keep dreaming. It's not like anyone of us would have passed it anyway."
"But this also means even in the future, nobody would get that reward even if they were as good as the royal consort."
"I doubt anyone with an Immortal bloodline would be born in the future. The royal consort is a freak of nature and is of an alien race. I don't think anyone like him would come by in the future."
Duncan Doru looked at the Chamber of Hell with a focused gaze and mumbled something nobody could hear.
Rebecca, Edmund, and a few other geniuses had sour expressions realizing that Asher would be the only one to possess such a powerful grimoire. They regretted not participating in the 7th summoning, but then they realized that even if they did, there was no way they would survive against Hell Maiden.
This made them feel a sense of inferiority against Asher, especially Rebecca and Edmund. They didn't want to accept this and instead only filled them with even more anger and hate.
Meanwhile, in one of the training rooms, Eradicator was standing guard outside while Asher and Rowena were inside, alone.
"Now that we are alone, I want you to tell me everything. I can't even begin to understand who or what you really are. Were you really a cripple all these years?" Rowena said as her eyebrows pulled together.
