During these past few days, Ol'ksa hadn't merely been idle.
The three-to-one time flow granted him ample opportunity to address his own deficiencies.
For instance, he was actively working to filter useful information from the somewhat chaotic inherited memories within his mind and systematically absorb it—rather than simply letting it remain passively stored.
If he didn't fully digest this knowledge, it would never truly belong to him, serving only as an external accessory.
Due to his current limitations, Ol'ksa primarily focused his efforts on digesting information beneficial for combat.
Most of his time was spent delving into his bloodline to research spells and enhance his close-quarters combat abilities.
One reason Salter and the others remained so obedient stemmed from some results of this research: certain curse and mental manipulation spells.
As mentioned previously, demons primarily increased their strength through bloodline exploration, systematic slaughter, and Soul Plunder. Additionally, the knowledge contained within inherited memories allowed demons to pursue extraordinary professions, much like other races.
Unlike many species that needed to gather various extraordinary professional knowledge later in life, supernatural beings such as demons, dragons, and elemental spirits inherently possessed vast repositories of extraordinary professional knowledge within their bloodlines. Though most proved fairly conventional, it still provided them with significant advantages from birth.
In this regard, demons possessed extreme advantages even among supernatural beings.
If a demon found the knowledge inherent in their bloodline insufficient and required higher-level instruction, besides exchanging with other creatures or plundering directly, they could also continuously engage in burning, killing, and looting—actions that pleased the Abyss—thereby receiving desired rewards directly from the Abyss itself.
As the source of all negative forces, the Abyss symbolized the 'evil' aspect of the multiverse.
Though it lacked complete self-awareness, across vast eons, its mere instincts had automatically collected countless precious knowledge repositories and secret treasures. However, these accumulated resources had no substantial effect on the Abyss itself. Therefore, for native Abyssal creatures, gaining favor and attention from the Abyssal consciousness offered opportunities to obtain numerous coveted items.
In this situation, compared to many other species who often lacked clear advancement paths, the monsters dwelling in the Abyss—who understood nothing of magical research or professional development exploration, whose minds contained only muscle—didn't really need to worry about such concerns, backed by the Abyss's vast reserves.
After all, the path was clear: kill enough beings, and everything became negotiable. Whether you succeeded depended entirely on personal fortune, as demons everywhere had attempted to slaughter others only to end up killed themselves, serving as spell components or experimental subjects.
Under these circumstances, Abyssal creatures, whose thought processes were already somewhat peculiar, often embarked on bizarre developmental paths.
For example, a Balor whose profession was Sword Saint—since they favored swords, why couldn't wielding a ten-meter greatsword qualify one as a Sword Saint? An eight-armed Naga, possessing eight arms plus a tail for nine total limbs—why couldn't it become a martial artist?
Rumor spoke of a Holy Light Demon dwelling in the Abyss, a demon capable of casting Holy Light to purify evil. Ol'ksa found nothing strange about this; with so many bizarre creatures inhabiting the Abyss, a demon wielding Holy Light seemed perfectly reasonable. After all, examine ten random demons and you'd discover all ten were insane—the only difference lay in the severity of their madness.
Compared to most of his eccentric predecessors, Ol'ksa represented an even more problematic type: he aspired to become a spellcaster.
The kind of mage who engaged in close combat.
The type who could punch out a Meteor Swarm or kick-launch a Hurricane, because failing to utilize such excellent physical foundations would be wasteful.
Whether this could even be called a true mage remained questionable.
Ol'ksa simply reasoned:
As long as I can still cast spells, no one can claim I'm not a mage.
After all, a demon as straightforward and diligent as himself was naturally stubborn.
If something goes wrong, it's probably not my fault—it must be the world's problem.
To improve his learning efficiency and offensive capabilities, Ol'ksa had specifically ventured to the ancient forest along the border and started several fires, liberating numerous wild animals from the burden of mundane existence. Then he relocated to a relatively isolated area to harvest a crop of "expendables," collecting all available evolution points without affecting the broader situation, accumulating over 300,000 evolution points.
He evolved four talents:
Effortless Casting: Spells in your hands become more flexible and diverse, as if they are extensions of your own body (41,500 evolution points)
Innate Skill - Martial Arts: You are naturally born for combat. Any combat technique, provided you have the means to learn it, you can master at extraordinary speed and elevate beyond its original form (65,500 evolution points)
Overclocked Brain: Brain development is enhanced, many previously dormant regions are activated and enter an accelerated state, significantly improving various learning abilities and greatly enhancing perception (74,500 evolution points)
Source of Death Plague: Disease becomes your weapon; plague in your hands operates like a natural extension. You can create plagues and alter their nature and characteristics at will by expending mana (87,900 evolution points)
As his strength grew and his talents multiplied, Ol'ksa had begun planning his future development path.
No one could achieve true omnipotence.
Even with the Evolution System, Ol'ksa didn't believe he could master everything, so focusing on specific areas required careful consideration.
In the Abyss, slaughter remained the eternal primary theme; there was no leisure time for gradual contemplation. His priority was destroying everything before him, and this world's one-third time flow provided the opportunity for detailed planning.
Spells, Physical Combat, Soul Manipulation, Source of Death Plague, Agonizing Torment, Elemental Talent - Bloodflame, Mana Attribute - Corrosion. Pain—these were the future paths he had decided upon during this month.
They proved effective at both close and long range; while not impenetrable, they possessed no glaring weaknesses, allowing him to thrive anywhere once fully developed.
From now on, apart from reserving evolution points to address personal shortcomings, most resources would be allocated to these areas.
Ol'ksa also modified the evolution point distribution protocol within the Evolution System, keeping only one-fourth of all gains as reserves, with the remaining three-fourths allocated among various aspects of these abilities according to his predetermined settings.
After implementing these adjustments, Ol'ksa finally clarified his positioning and established a comprehensive framework for his future detailed plans.
Current assessment of his capabilities:
Combat techniques that were practical but somewhat crude.
Bloodline spells understood by their effects but not their underlying principles.
Though his raw strength had advanced considerably, his perspective and knowledge remained relatively primitive, lacking experience across numerous domains.
Self-awareness held value for individuals, and the principle applied equally to demons.
Identifying one's weaknesses and subsequently finding methods to compensate—this was precisely what Ol'ksa sought to accomplish.
Dismissing the gray-black mist in his palm, Ol'ksa rose from his seat, casually selected an apple, and took a bite.
His gaze penetrated effortlessly through the plants covering the pavilion's roof, focusing on the blazing sun at its zenith.
Feeling the sunlight against his skin, Ol'ksa experienced honest discomfort.
Regardless of the world, the sun always represented sanctity and carried special significance, its radiance possessing natural evil-dispelling properties. Without the protective effects of Armored Runes - Crimson, even as a Lesser Demon who wouldn't be harmed by mere sunlight, Ol'ksa would never willingly expose himself to direct solar radiation.
It was a sensation demons instinctively despised—like fish dragged from water—which significantly weakened their strength. Combined with the world's automatic suppression, it created profound discomfort.
Demons of Juvenile Demon rank, when placed in this world, could be literally sun-dried to death by sunlight alone under the world's suppressive force.
This was why many dark creatures learned spells like Dark Canopy and Summon Overcast Sky. Without sufficient environmental advantages, demons who specialized in inter-dimensional invasion didn't fare well.
The apple in his mouth was brilliantly colored with succulent flesh, representing the finest available variety. However, due to the fundamental difference in taste perception between demons and humans, it registered only as flavorless dirt on his tongue. Even though Ol'ksa, through Overclocked Brain, could access residual memories of eating apples from his previous existence, he could no longer experience human taste sensations, finding the fruit strangely unappetizing.
For a demon's palate, the most exquisite delicacies were always souls and flesh, preferably from emotionally rich creatures. True virtue and pure evil—these two extremes—ranked among the finest quality. They were immensely precious, luxuries of exceptional grade, possessing various applications beyond mere consumption.
As for the flesh and souls of their own kind, while demons didn't refuse such sustenance, they found it somewhat monotonous—adequate nutrition but hardly inspiring cuisine.
With a casual gesture, a long serpent hidden within the courtyard grass was telekinetically drawn into Ol'ksa's grasp.
Approximately a meter in length with a somewhat pointed head, small interwoven green and dark red scales formed a ghostly facial pattern across its entire body.
Ignoring its frantic struggles, Ol'ksa gently pressed his fingertip down, creating an incision at its throat, severing blood vessels and venom sacs. Then, like adding seasoning, he drizzled the fluids onto his apple.
He took another bite.
Hmm...
Now it possessed some flavor, and the venom provided a pleasant spicy sensation—quite acceptable.
After finishing his enhanced meal, Ol'ksa casually discarded the serpent's carcass, selected a handkerchief from the table to clean his hands and mouth, then proceeded toward his laboratory.