Chapter 167 - 3: A Demon’s First Experience

Chapter 167: Chapter 3: A Demon’s First Experience

[Game Start!]

[Please select your starting identity.]

[1. Commoner.]

[2. Noble.]

[3. Demon.]

Lilia stared at the screen for a long time.

If it weren’t for her experience in the last playthrough, she might have assumed that the so-called "Demon" was just another starting identity, like Noble and commoner.

But having witnessed everything that happened in Navia and seen the demonic remains—which looked exactly like her—slumbering deep within the Valgipps Mountain Range...

Lilia couldn’t help but make a connection.

’Could this Demon option be related to the Light Royal Court’s lord’s manuscript and the secrets hidden in Navia?’

...

Regardless of whether there was a connection or not.

She would find out by trying.

[Starting identity selected!]

[Current starting identity: Demon.]

[Loading player information...]

...

[Loading complete.]

[Name: Lilia]

[Level: Level 0]

[Constitution: 75/100]

[Intelligence: 70/100]

[Charm: 80/100]

[Luck: 75/100]

[Morality: 10/100]

[Elemental Affinity: Fire Element · Extremely High; Water Element · High; Wind Element · Extremely High; Earth Element · High.]

[Magic Talent: A+]

[You are a natural-born Demon, possessing from birth powerful talents unattainable by humans. The world of Demons is far simpler than that of humans; with enough strength, you can secure a place for yourself in this world. And with your powerful talents, you have already taken the lead in this war.]

[This Playthrough’s Talent: Monarch.]

[Talent Effect: When a Demon talent is triggered, its effect is doubled.]

The moment the initial stats panel appeared, Lilia’s eyes widened involuntarily.

The first thing she noticed, of course, were the exceptionally balanced four primary stats. While none were particularly outstanding, none of them—be it Intelligence, Charm, Luck, or Constitution—were lacking. All of them hovered around the "excellent" threshold.

’Is it because this is the third playthrough? Or are Demons’ stats naturally stronger than humans’, making it easier to roll a good panel?’

Whatever the reason, having such an excellent stat panel was undoubtedly a good thing.

The second thing Lilia focused on was, naturally, her Morality of [10/100].

If she remembered correctly, her starting Morality in her first and second playthroughs had both been [0/100].

She had originally thought the Morality stat was unique, always starting at 0 regardless of the playthrough. But now it seemed that while it was indeed unique, its initial value wasn’t fixed. Instead, it appeared to be related to the previous playthrough’s final results.

Excluding the experience from when she reloaded her save later on, Lilia’s Morality at the end of her second playthrough was indeed [10/100].

’Now that I’ve finally accumulated some Morality, should I try being a good person this playthrough?’

The thought struck Lilia as inexplicably funny.

In her previous two playthroughs as a human, she had never considered being a good person.

But this playthrough, as a Demon, she was actually contemplating grinding her Morality stat.

’Talk about playing against the meta.’

The last thing Lilia was concerned about was this playthrough’s talent.

[Monarch].

It sounded very domineering, and the description of doubling the talent’s effect was also simple and brutal.

But the question was, what exactly was a "Demon talent"?

Lilia knew no one would answer, but she asked the system anyway.

As expected, there was no response.

Lilia sighed silently.

’Looks like I’ll just have to explore it slowly after I enter the game.’

Her stats and talent for this playthrough were a rare combination of good, so Lilia had no intention of re-rolling.

She directly selected "Start Game."

Based on Lilia’s previous experience, every new game began with an "autoplay period," which served as a sort of story prologue.

When the system determined that the player couldn’t act on their own during this period, or that there were no important main story events, autoplay would take effect with the player’s consent.

For example, in her first playthrough, the system was on autoplay until Lilia turned six.

In her second playthrough, the game didn’t officially start until Victor arrived at the Light Royal Court.

After all, the game’s clock started from birth; you couldn’t expect a newborn baby to grunt and groan its way through the plot.

After the game started, Lilia had prepared herself to hear a string of system prompts, but instead, her ears were met with dead silence.

She opened her eyes curiously.

As far as she could see, a black mist filled the air.

Demonic Qi billowed out, dissipating into the surroundings and up into the sky. At a glance, Lilia thought she was in a sea of fire shrouded in thick smoke.

She subconsciously held her breath, wanting to escape.

But she quickly remembered that her identity was no longer human. Not only would the Demonic Qi not harm her body, but a Demon within it would even be strengthened in every aspect.

Lilia relaxed and observed her surroundings.

It seemed to be late at night.

And the place she was in was undoubtedly the Spirit Realm, where Demons lived.

The sky of the Spirit Realm was no different from the Human World’s; it also had a bright white Moon and a dazzling array of stars scattered about.

The moonlight shone down on the land, making Lilia’s vision exceptionally clear.

Beneath her was hard ground.

Beside her, a river flowed silently.

As the pitch-black river water churned onward, a dense black fog continuously emanated from it.

Looking at this scene, Lilia felt it was strangely familiar, as if she had seen it somewhere before.

As she was deep in thought, her keen senses suddenly warned her of danger.

Almost instinctively, Lilia pushed off the ground with her hands. Her small body leaped backward, tracing a perfect arc through the air before landing lightly five meters away.

Lilia was stunned by her own reaction speed.

When she had reloaded her save in the last playthrough, she had realized that even with her memories and mastery of various fighting techniques from the second playthrough, if her physical body couldn’t keep up, her untrained limbs wouldn’t be able to act in time, even if her brain could react.

But this time...

’Why am I so agile when I was just born?’

She even felt that if she were to face her second-playthrough self at her peak, she could easily defeat her.

Of course, that was assuming a fight based purely on Body Techniques, without using any Magic...

The thought had barely faded when the sound of whistling wind reached her ears again.

’Danger!’

Lilia temporarily cast aside her complicated thoughts, quickly raised her eyes, and focused her gaze forward.

A black shadow was hurtling toward her at an extremely high speed.

Its speed definitely surpassed the limits of most apprentice knights. If an ordinary human were standing here, they would likely be torn to shreds by its sharp claws and fangs before they could even get a clear look at its shadow.

But its chosen opponent was Lilia.

Right now, in Lilia’s eyes, its speed was as slow as a crawling ant.

Not only could Lilia clearly see its trajectory, but she even had the leisure to observe its appearance.

’Hmm.’

’A textbook Demon, not even humanoid, with sharp claws and cold, menacing fangs.’

’In short...’

’It’s kinda ugly.’

Coincidentally, Lilia was curious about her current strength and wanted to know just what she was capable of.

’I might as well use it for some practice.’