'Thirty minutes of rest to recuperate from thirty seconds of usage. I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing.'
Damien rolled his arms as he mused. Although he was glad that the recuperation time wasn't in the days or even weeks, thirty minutes was still a considerably long time.
As he grew more powerful, the length of his fights became shorter and shorter. It wasn't that things became easier or that a lower number of clashes occurred, it was just that the speed of movement and perception grew as he grew in strength.
For instance, back when he decimated those Demon Generals, it had taken him five minutes. And that was only because he spent most of that time playing around.
When he fought with Polius, the entire duration of the fight was only around half an hour even though they exchanged thousands of moves.
Damien had often heard about powerful cultivators fighting for years on end without stopping, but he didn't see the practicality in such a situation. In the end, even a fight on equal terms boiled down to stamina.
The person whose mana was exhausted first would lose. If they were exhausted at the same time, it came down to who was willing to sacrifice more.
If two people remained fighting for years on end, it meant they were taking constant breaks to replenish their stamina and mana. If so, it also meant those two weren't fighting to the death.
Damien needed half an hour to return to peak shape from thirty seconds in his Demon Dragon form. Even if it wasn't a long period of time, it was enough for him to die thousands of times over.
The main problem was how sluggish he became during that recovery period. It took a great deal of effort for him to even move from being collapsed on the ground to entering a meditative posture, so fleeing the area after his transformation ended wasn't feasible.
That meant he had to enter a safe space while the transformation was ongoing. Luckily, he had the Sanctuary to make up for this disadvantage, but he couldn't abuse the Sanctuary if he didn't want others to find out about its existence.
And so, in most situations, his transformation would realistically only be combat effective for twenty seconds.
'Hmm, it's not bad but it's not great. But the power I felt from just standing around was insane. If I mobilized that power in combat, it'd be even fiercer. Such a power would be too broken if it didn't have such drawbacks.'
The universe seemed intent on keeping balance. Whether it was balance of laws, power, or anything else, the concept of balance was extremely important.
Damien still remembered how otherworlders weren't able to access earth through the gates that formed in their dungeons due to earth being a beginner world. When earthlings had asked about the reason, the response they got at that time was also due to balance.
Of course, balance went both ways. When otherworlders discovered earth's coordinates and traveled there naturally, there was no mechanism to forbid their invasion. The Cloud Plane and Niflheim forces that were on earth when Damien first returned were living proof of this.
Damien soon stopped his thoughts and initiated his Demon Transformation again. His height grew, his hair turned white, and those pitch-black runes formed on his skin once again.
'I still don't understand why my hair turns white…'
His white hair, black sclera, and pale skin weren't related to power at all. His height change was to compensate for the vast physical force in his body and the runes were obviously something special as well, but the other features were strictly for appearance.
'Well, no matter how useless they are, It's still a clue.'
Now that he had examined the new bloodline and understood its differences from the Nox bloodline, he was more willing to accept his appearance changes.
After all, these changes were similar to how his pupils became vertical firing Dragon Transformation. He adopted the physical traits of the race whose bloodline he possessed, so if he ever met someone who possessed similar traits in the future, he'd be able to easily identify the relation between the two.
That way, he'd have a much easier time understanding the roots of this new bloodline.
'Good. If I use this form alone, the stamina and vitality drain can be compensated easily by regeneration. I can stably use this form for extended periods of time without worry of repercussions.'
Damien hadn't been solely focused on his appearance. He had been more so testing whether his time limit existed in this form as well. With the assurance that it didn't, he could now patiently observe the benefits he received without feeling hurried.
'These runic lines are probably the mainstay of this form. I don't know the qualities of this race, so I can't form a deeper understanding and development path like I did for Dragon Transformation, but I can at least understand the surface-level things that are already presented to me.'
Damien circulated his mana and poured it into those runic lines, watching how they lit up with a faint black hue. As mana continued to insert into them, they squirmed and wriggled around his body like little snakes on his skin.
'Attack.'
With his command, the randomly squirming runic lines moved in order and formed geometric tattoos on his body.
The second these patterns formed, Damien felt the physical force contained in his body increase exponentially.
He was even scared to throw a punch at the moment since he wasn't sure if he would cause spatial instability in this secluded realm.
'Defense.'
The runic patterns swiftly changed shape again before settling down. The gathered physical force in his body didn't disperse, rather it melded into his physique and made his body extremely sturdy.
This force was now in a form where it couldn't be outputted, but he felt that even if he stood still and took a head-on attack from Demon King Lucius, he'd still be able to survive, even if he was heavily injured in the process.
'Speed.'
A similar process took place. Damien's body became increasingly agile to the point where he felt like he was teleporting through the spatial layers. But it was an effect brought forth by physical power alone.
Continuing from the three most basic configurations he could figure out, Damien experimented continuously with his new power, occasionally taking breaks so he didn't exhaust all his stamina and vitality.
He had already lost track of time, and when the artificial sun of the Sanctuary rose once more after numerous days, he finally stopped his experiments.
If he needed to describe the runic patterns in one word, it would be enhancement. Almost any singular force could be enhanced by the runic lines.
Of course, he could mediate the enhancement to multiple facets as well, but the degree of enhancement would decrease based on how thinly he spread it.
It was like stat points. If he had 10, he could only distribute 10 total to all of his stats combined. He couldn't magically raise all his stats by 10 points.
The only thing that couldn't be enhanced was soul-related concepts.
But Damien wasn't put off by this. He had somewhat expected it even. After all, the soul wasn't something his vessel was allowed to touch upon yet, even when he was boosted by his transformation.
Once he was finished, he also took some time to study the stellar energy within his Void Flames so he would be able to properly wield them.
Time passed quickly like this until a month went by. It was time for him to focus on his main objectives again.
Damien smiled while clenching his fists.
'First goal: infiltrate the demon city and kidnap a Demon King!'
