"Why me?!" Scarlett blurted out, sounding exactly like a kid whose candy had just been stolen.
Lilith calmly adjusted her glasses, then closed her eyes with a deep sigh. "Look at yourself. You're a true dragon—a unique one—carrying not one, but two different auras. And on top of that, you're a goddess. That means you have three different kinds of aura." Her voice grew sharper as she went on.
"In short, you have three auras, a godly body, incredible talent, agelessness, regeneration, and ridiculous potential. And if that's not enough, you even have a cave filled with mana so dense that anyone would kill to train there… yet you don't even use it!" Lilith's tone was like a strict teacher catching her student napping during class.
Scarlett raised her hand like she was answering a question in school. "You forgot about my ultimate skill."
"No!" Lilith snapped instantly. "We've already said this before—that's not an ultimate skill!"
Scarlett crossed her arms with a pout. "It is. Fine, let me just show you my status. See for yourself." She swiped her hand, and a glowing status screen appeared in front of Lilith.
But the moment it popped up, Lilith jumped sideways like she was dodging an arrow and refused to look. She even let out a breath of relief afterward.
"Don't show me that. Who knows—maybe the Creator is watching too," she said with a deadly serious face.
Scarlett blinked, then slowly nodded. "Oh… okay." She didn't ask more, realizing what Lilith meant.
Lilith cleared her throat and pushed her glasses up again. "Ahem, where was I? Right. My point is—you all have resources, but you just stick to plain training. You should be pushing to get as strong as possible, aiming for unique skills… maybe even a real ultimate skill. It's like having a diploma and a PhD but still working as a janitor."
Scarlett slumped in boredom. "But aren't I already strong enough? I could break a planet with one punch if I wanted to."
Lilith's eyes narrowed. "So what? There's always someone stronger than you. You need to be ready for them—or you'll regret it when they show up. My job is to teach you what I can, but in the end… the choice is yours."
Scarlett nodded quietly, deciding not to speak any further. Around her, the others looked far more serious about getting stronger than she ever felt.
Each of them had their own reasons, and most were deeply personal.
For Cryptus, it was the memory of Catherine—her summoner as well as Lunatic's mother, he couldn't save her because he had been too weak back then. That failure still haunted him.
For Xio, Li Feng, and Reiza, it was the desire to never again be forced to run from their homes, watching helplessly while someone stronger destroyed everything and killed most of their village.
For Semiath and Seiira, their motivation came from the need to protect both themselves and the people of DreadHaven. They could still remember the terror of an attack—children screaming, innocent lives disappearing before their eyes—and how they themselves had died at an intruder's hands.
In short, everyone here had a stronger personal drive than Scarlett. Her goal was simple in comparison: defeat Asmodeus, get her revenge, and return to being male. And in her mind, she was already close to Asmodeus's level, so the urgency just wasn't the same.
"So, any questions before we start?" Lilith asked, looking over the group.
Li Feng lifted his hand. "How do we define skills? And what's the difference between a rare skill, a unique skill, and an ultimate skill?"
Scarlett almost smirked. "Finally, this idiot asks something useful," she thought, secretly proud of Li Feng for once.
Lilith began her explanation, which sounded almost exactly like what Avion had once told Scarlett during her own training.
"As for skill levels," Lilith said, pacing as she spoke, "you can think of rare skills as powerful offensive or defensive abilities that are your own. Other people can still obtain the same rare skill, though. To give you an idea—rare skills are about 'building level.' A strong offensive rare skill could easily blow up entire buildings."
She paused, her lips curling into the faintest smirk before continuing.
"Next are unique skills. As the name suggests, no two people can have the exact same unique skill. There might be two unique skills that do almost the same thing but in slightly different ways—like 'Tremor' and 'Vibration.' Also, if the holder of a unique skill dies, the skill can transfer to someone else. As for power level, it depends on the skill itself—some are purely defensive, others heal, some are purely offensive—but overall, unique skills are 'planetary level.'"
Semiath's brows shot up. "Planetary level? Isn't the gap between rare and unique way too big?" he asked, though his tone quickly leveled out—his life experience kept him from overreacting.
Lunatic then raised her hand. "Um… I have an offensive unique skill, but I don't think it's planetary level. Of course, if I used my full power as a succubus queen, I could probably reach that point."
Reiza followed, raising her own hand. "Yeah… I have one too, but it doesn't feel that strong."
Scarlett blinked and turned toward Reiza, her mind spinning. "Reiza has an offensive unique skill? She never told me about that!" Her eyebrows widened in both surprise and curiosity.
Lilith's sharp gaze cut through the air like a blade.
"That's your problem," she said, her voice firm. "You have to learn how to use your unique skill to its full potential. Just having the skill doesn't mean it's already at its strongest. You need to train it, push it, master it."
Scarlett's mind immediately started racing.
"So… unique skills can get stronger?"
Her thoughts quickly drifted to Lunatic's unique skill—Shapeshifter.
"If Lunatic learned to fully master it… could she turn me back into a man? Or at least… make my chest flat instead of carrying around these two… balloons?"
She glanced down at herself and sighed internally.
But then she shook her head. By the time Lunatic actually reached that level, Scarlett's resistance to skill would probably be even higher, and the effect might not work at all.
Still… she couldn't help but hope—just for a few days—Lunatic could somehow shapeshift her back.
---
Lilith's voice pulled everyone back to the lesson.
"As for ultimate skills," she continued, "their potential is beyond anything we can measure. I don't think they even have a level system. Just having an ultimate skill at its beginning stage can make you capable of destroying a universe. And even that is nothing compared to what it can do at full potential."
Everyone stared at her in shock.
"But," Lilith went on, "not just anyone can hold an ultimate skill. I doubt there are even a hundred holders in the entire world. Ultimate skills are like a massive force contained in one person—you need an extremely powerful body with divinity to handle one. For example: a Demon King, King of Hell, Succubus Queen, Warlord… beings like that."
Gasps and murmurs rippled through the group. The rarity and power of an ultimate skill was far beyond what they had imagined—it was the kind of treasure people would kill for.
Then Lunatic raised her hand, her blue-ruby eyes flashing with pride.
"I have an ultimate skill. It's called Absolute Offense."
Every head turned toward her instantly, eyes wide with shock. Some faces showed awe, others… envy.
Only Scarlett sat there without surprise—she had already known.
Cryptus let out a deep sigh. "An ultimate skill… I want one too. Only then could I truly call myself strong."
Lilith nodded toward Lunatic. "I know. As a Succubus Queen, your body can handle an ultimate skill. But," she said calmly, "you still can't use it at its fullest—your overall power isn't high enough yet."
Scarlett's curiosity perked up at something Lilith had said earlier. She raised her hand.
"What's a Warlord?"
Lilith turned to her. "Just like demons and monsters have their Demon Kings, and succubi have their Succubus Queen, humans have their own highest class—Warlord. A Warlord is so strong they're like an army all by themselves. But even then, only high-level Warlords can withstand an ultimate skill."
She paused, letting the weight of her words sink in before adding, "From the start of history until now, only one human has ever gained an ultimate skill. And a few others who managed to get one…" her tone dropped, "…died within days of receiving it."
"I can literally guess who that human is…" Scarlett thought to herself.
Not just her—anyone could figure it out. The only human who had ever survived an ultimate skill was none other than the very first Hero.
Li Feng's lips twitched slightly. "Now I'm starting to think… not having an ultimate skill is actually better," he said with a crooked smile, half-joking but half-serious.
Lilith calmly pushed her glasses up, her eyes sharp. "Alright, let's go. I know each of you needs different training depending on your abilities, but we'll start with the common ones first."
"Go where?" Xio asked politely.
"Where else?" Lilith's voice dripped with coldness. "That cave with the dense mana. You'll train there to strengthen both your mana and your bodies. If you feel like vomiting or seeing strange things—fine, take a small break. But don't you dare think about stopping. Your goal is to turn your mana into liquid form. No matter how tired you are, no matter if you feel like you're about to die—then just die. I don't need lazy, useless students. And this is only the beginning… be ready to face "hell"."
Her words came out in one sharp burst, like she was spitting venom straight into their ears.
Scarlett's mouth twitched as she swallowed hard. "I think… I really made the wrong decision....",