The Dark Demon Lord - Chapter 87

Arnin already planned to make sure that Canae would survive for as long as he needed her. For that, he needed to prevent others from interfering either through coercion or force, however for now, he just wanted to test out how strong Canae was against people in her own realm.

The battle began rather quickly since the person named Piri attacked immediately after the barrier was released. Arnin could tell that Piri was more suited towards battle from the way he fought, however as he watched Canae struggle, he noticed that her strategic methods were quite amazing.

Her battle style forced Piri to think before attacking and prevented him from doing any major damage to her. Canae did not have the large spear that she and sisters used in the past, rather she was using a small double bladed staff. This was given to her by Arnin when he killed a cultivator that primarily used the spear.

‘Although she isn’t able to completely match up with axe wielding Piri, that is only because of her lack of experience fighting alone, other then that, her combat sense is quite high and her control over her opponent is also exceptional.’ Arnin rarely praised others about combat but he couldn’t help but complement Canae.

He had always felt that Canae was really smart and her sense of danger and ability to adapt to a situation was also quite high, but seeing her use it in combat was surprising to him. ‘I can probably make her much stronger and teach her to better control her power, but I first need to make her into my servant and gain complete loyalty.’

Arnin knew that he needed many people by his side in order to cultivate in Afloria to a higher realm. He already had Akig as one of his future commanders. Plus, he wanted to experiment on Akig and create a new type of tiger that could rival his White Tiger commander.

Now, he felt that Canae could also make a good captain with enough training, and could possibly become someone who could rival Akig in the future. ‘It is decided, I will make her into one of my commanders. She has the brains and also has great potential. Seems like I found an unpolished gem without knowing, interesting.’

Arnin had to find a way to bring Canae to his side voluntarily. Although it was going to be almost impossible for that to happen since he killed her sister, he knew that it could happen if he showed her enough benefits and also made her ‘promises’.

“Hey.” Suddenly, he heard a sound coming from behind him. He turned his head and found two young men looking at him with a smile. The person who spoke had blond hair with black marks on his arms and neck. The man the speaker had blue hair with darker skin, but he also had the black marks on his arms and neck.

Arnin’s purple eyes looked directly at the two men, causing the latter two to shiver slightly for some unknown reason. This caused them to be terribly startled and they looked at Arnin more seriously.

‘He is more mysterious than I thought.’ The blonde haired man felt his body tremble slightly and his eyes couldn’t help but secretly contract. “You’re the Demonic Joker, right?” The blonde haired man spoke quietly, trying not to attract the attention of others.

Arnin didn’t reply and only continued to look at the two men. His deep purple eyes made the two very uncomfortable, the blue haired man, with his lack in self control, couldn’t help but turn his gaze.

Seeing Arnin not replying made the blonde haired man somewhat embarrassed. “Well, we have heard about your thunder like name appear in the battlefield and meeting you right now is a great blessing to us.” The blonde haired man flattered Arnin as he spoke. Although he was not scared of Arnin, the more he he looked at Arnin the more he wanted him to join their side. He felt more and more that Arnin was key in ider to allow them to do well in the battlefield.

“Blessing? Are you sure it isn’t a disaster?” Arnin spoke in a mysterious tone with his mouth cracking into a evil smirk.

The two men were startled when they heard Arnin’s words. The blue haired man was about to erupt, but the blonde haired man quickly quieted him down with a wave of his hand. “I truly believe that us meeting is destined. We were always looking forwa–” Before the man could finished, Arnin waved his hand in the air.

“I don’t want to hear you speak so much crap in front of me. Get to the point, or get lost.” Arnin continued to smile as he spoke.

The blue haired man was getting infuriated, but the blonde haired man felt something completely different. ‘He is testing us. He is trying to find our bottomline and make us angry. He is toying with us.’

“Sure. I want you to work together with us in this battlefield. With you and us working together, we can probably make it to the top fifty if not twenty.” The blonde haired man clearly stated his goal.

“Explain the benefits of getting into the top fifty, and why you want me and not others.” Arnin still did not know much about the battlefield. Since he was able to get some information, than that would be best. Plus, he was slightly interested in the duo that stood before him. The marks on their bodies remind Arnin of something from the past.

‘These two probably have inherited the bloodline of that race, but it seems that their bloodline is extremely dilute.’ Arnin had traveled around his whole universe and enslaved most if not all races. The only races that he could not completely control were the Heaven and Hell race.

The blonde haired man was shocked that Arnin asked the first question. The second one was normal to ask, but he felt that it was weird that Arnin did not know the benefits of coming into the top fifty. Everyone knew about them.

Although he felt that it was weird, he decided not to bother with and just answered the questions. “As you know, this competition has thousands of participants. In the end, only a hundred will get entry into the academy. These will be the top hundred cultivators.”

Arnin nodded his head as he already knew this much. The battlefield would have lots of deaths, numbering in the hundreds or even more, but that did not mean that only the last one hundred would be declared the winners. If that was the case, then who would be willing to come if they did not have unparalleled talent and strenght?

The battlefield would last for three months, and the top on hundred would get into the academy. The rest would be sent away to where they came from and could participate in the next battlefield if they wished to.

Arnin had entered the battlefield just after the second week had ended. So his knowledge was still lacking and many rules were unknown to him.

“Well, everyone in the top on hundred will be students at Thorn academy, but depending on your ranking you can get certain benefits before joining” The blonde man went on to explain the different benefits that would be given.

Top one hundred students only got fifty academic points and a small private lodging in the academy.

Anyone who was in the top fifty would five Pink ranked cultivation stones with neutral energy. They would also receive one hundred academic points and a private lodging in the academy.

People who were in the top twenty would get ten Pink ranked cultivation stones, but instead of neutral ones, they would get it for the elements of their choosing. Other then that, they would get two hundred academic points and a private lodging.

Top ten would get same things as the top twenty, however they received another item. It was a special type of pill for cultivators who were going to break through to the Elemental Formation realm. It was the Seed Blooming Pill.

The Seed Blooming Pill was just as the name described it. Usually, when someone was breaking into Elemental Formation realm from Essence Manifest – Heaven, all the elemental marks on their orbs would condense and form a seed. Once the seed was formed, that person would be considered to have stepped into Elemental Formation – Earth.

After reaching Elemental Formation – Heaven, the seed would have some changes to it, but once it bloomed into a certain plant, then it would considered stepping into a completely new realm.

The Seed Blooming Pill was meant to purify the elemental essence inside the seed during each phase of Elemental Formation. Then, in the end, when the cultivator would begin the blooming of their seed, the Seed Blooming Pill would have a final outburst of energy, completing the purification of the seed and making the bloomed seed much stronger and larger then it would have been.

Everything before the blooming of the seed was considered the foundations of cultivation in Afloria. Only after Essence Manifest, would one enter the true world of cultivation.

Orb Birth realm was when the body would begin to reinforce and feed the orb essence, making it stronger and stronger.

Essence Manifest realm would be when essence could be split into components, or elements. This would also be the time when a person would find their best element and begin to create elementals marks in order to further their control over that element.

Elemental Formation realm was when the elemental seed would form. This seed would the foundation of the element that the cultivator would be pursuing. Not only that, but the seed would begin make the body adapt better to the respective element, strengthening it close to the limits of the human body. The more pure the seed was, the greater strength the body would have the more it could adapt to the element.

“What about the top three?” Arnin was already somewhat shocked to hear about the Seed Blooming pill and felt somewhat moved by its effects. Currently he was not his old self with crazy strenght. Right now, he was weak and starting from the beginning. The better resources he could acquire, the easier it would be to gather strenght and eventually combine with his Demon Lord body.

If the Seed Blooming Pill was so amazing, he wanted to know what the top three would receive, and even the reward for the person in first place.

The blond haired man looked at Arnin with a more solemn expression. “The top three would not only receive the same things as the top ten, they would also be able to become personal disciples of the Thorn academy masked elders.”

“Masked Elders?”Arnin raised an eyebrow when he spoke.

Both men were shocked at Arnin’s question. “D-do you really not know who the masked elders are?” Arnin shook his head slightly, indicating his lack of knowledge. “T-this. Since you don’t know then let me explain. The ten masked elders are the strongest elders in Thorn Academy, only second to the Headmistress in strenght and that is only by a extremely small amount.”

As he spoke, the blonde haired man had sparkles in his eyes, even the blue haired man seemed to be close to drooling. Arnin on the other hand felt somewhat shocked. To the current him, the headmistress was a very mysterious and dangerous person. To think that there are ten others who are at basically the same strenght was indeed astonishing.

“What about first place? What would they get?” Arnin was even more interested in the first places rewards. Becoming a disciple was not interesting to him, but having someone as strong as a masked elder as your backing was indeed very enticing.

“Well, that is the one thing that no one knows. The first place rewards are never told before the battlefield. It is always kept in the dark.” The blonde haired man had a bitter smile in his face as he explained.

Arnin nodded his head and found nothing surprising about that. If the first place prizes were too amazing, then that person would be targeted by hidden experts from different places. If it was kept in the dark, then it would make other hesitate since the reward could very well be only slightly better than the top threes.

“So what do you say? You want to join us?” The blonde haired man spoke again, his eyes sparkling.

Arnin smirked slightly. “I remember asking you two questions, not one. Tell me, why me? There are stronger and more experienced people in the battlefield, why go for me?” He was still curious as to why they wanted him. He knew that he was considered one of the weak-average strenght cultivators in the battlefield.

The blonde haired man and the blue haired man looked at each other before both of them nodded. “Both of us are cultivators of Essence Manifest, so we know how large the difference between Orb Birth and Essence Manifest is. You being at Orb Birth – Hell and still being able stop Essence Manifest – Earth strenght people shows how strong you are.”

Although those words could be persuasive, Arnin knew that there were many people who could do what he did. Although no one knew that he could actually fight Essence Manifest – Hell cultivators with his strenght, just the little strength he showed was something that the average genius could do.

Seeing Arnin unmoved, both men hesitated before releasing a sigh. “The two of us are not, lets say, welcome by other contestants. Our reputation outside of this battlefield is not very good and many people even want us dead. Because of this, we are not able to work with other people, however you are different. Demonic Joker, this title was given to you because of your ruthless and evil killing methods. You are just like us, hated and wanted dead by others.”

Arnin couldn’t help but nod to this point. He was hated. So much, that there were three different groups that actively searched for him and even tried to kill him. Of course those three groups didn’t end well, with one of them even falling under his control.

“Since you are both strong and unwelcomed by the rest, then would it not be better for us to work together?” The blonde haired man spoke persuasively.

*BOOM*

“AHH!” Suddenly, a large crashing sound and a terrifying shriek came from the battlefield. Arnin’s eyes narrowed as he looked at the two fighters. Piri was breathing hard as he held onto his large axe. In front of him was a large dust cloud.

‘Seems like it is my turn to enter the fray. I can’t have her dying now since she will be my future.’ A sinister smile appeared in Arnin’s face as his purple eyes became darker, almost eerie. The two men saw this and couldn’t help but feel goosebumps appear all over their bodies.