Dasmiond's eyes narrowed as he saw the view in front of him.He had hunted a few small-sized monsters and had also skinned them as part of his survival training, so he knew how most organs looked in a living body.Even though not completely sure, he was pretty confident that what was in front of him was a womb.But what stunned him the most was that it was a living womb, even though it wasn't attached to anything.
Dasmiond's eyes widened. What was in front of him was disgusting—something that was a prime example of dark magic.The kind of magic that had destroyed the lives of countless people and traumatized those left to tell the tale.But what he felt wasn't fear, disgust, or hatred.It was happiness, authority, and power.
He sat down and started waiting for something else to happen.But even after a few hours, nothing happened.
"Maybe I'm missing something."
He began focusing on his aura.There were still a lot of things that were unanswered and that he was curious about—Like how did his aura create a womb out of blood and flesh, even though he didn't try to do it, let alone control his aura?It was almost as if it was moving on its own—as if it was in its very nature.
Also, how was the womb floating on its own?Sure, it was consuming his aura a bit, but it was almost close to nothing.
But he let go of those thoughts for a while and started focusing on the task at hand.He focused his aura and started exerting it on the womb, but even though it was still working, it was as if it was missing a key part.It almost felt like pushing a cart without any wheels with all your might.
After that, he tried a lot of different things, but none of them worked.After a couple more hours, he sat there, disappointed.
As his hand was resting on the cold stone of the mountain, an ant crawled onto it.He smashed it with his other hand.After that, just out of curiosity, he used his aura on the dead ant.
Just like last time, its flesh started wrapping around itself.But at that moment, Dasmiond noticed something that completely opened his tired eyes.
The flesh didn't turn into a womb this time.Instead, it turned into some kind of dense blood in a perfectly formed shape—and it was exerting aura.
At that time, Dasmiond noticed it.It was as if his very soul was telling him to put this drop of blood into the womb.It was a weird feeling.It was like knowing something for hundreds of years and having it deepened into your very instincts—only to realize it was your first time doing it.
Dasmiond had a few guesses, but all of them were worse than the previous one.
"Can it be... my aura has its own will?"he said to himself with a weird but frightened expression.
He didn't even know what to think of it.In a positive light, he could master his aura much faster than others.He might even reach Sword Adept rank in a couple of months, while it took normal people years to reach it.
While on the other hand... he might lose his very own self without realizing it.
"Nothing I can do about it anyway,"Dasmiond said in a whisper.
He knew that all of these thoughts were meaningless if he couldn't escape the cave and died in it.He was already starting to feel hungry.And even though people who had awakened their aura were usually much stronger and more enduring, they were still not invincible.He could probably survive a week at most without eating food or drinking water.
So he followed his very instincts and poured the round-shaped dense blood into the womb.
It was at this moment he noticed it.There were definitely some changes starting to happen in the womb.He again followed his instincts and started pouring in as much aura as he could.Something was definitely happening, even though he wasn't sure what it was.
After a few moments of excitement and curiosity, he sat down, resting his back against the side of the cave, knowing that he would be here for a while.
After around a whole day, the womb started to show a reaction.Dasmiond realized he had fallen asleep somewhere during the process, but the mana exertion from his body hadn't stopped—which made him believe his previous theory even more.
He looked at the womb in a curious manner.After some minutes, an ant split the womb half open and crawled out of it.
It had an unusual dark purple color with crimson glowing veins all around its body.It had six limbs, each leg ending in an unnatural, obsidian-black spike.Its face was almost completely smooth, except for its mandibles.
Instead of fear, Dasmiond's expression lit up with an unusual kind of happiness.It was as if he had finally let out something he had been hiding from the world all along.Maybe it was his aura affecting his mind…Or maybe this was him—the real him, hiding from the world all along.
Without a second thought, as if he was born for it, he ordered:
"Kneel."with red aura glowing from his eyes.
The monster knelt in front of him, its body trembling—as if it was witnessing the rise of a new devil...or perhaps just history repeating itself.