After setting everything up and confirming there were no mistakes, Olthagia closed his eyes and opened his mind.
He began his second advancement.
The blood and power within his body automatically seeped out, forming threads on his skin that tightly wrapped around him.
Soon, a blood-red cocoon several meters tall appeared inside the cave.
A layer of blood mist flowed out from it, filling the cave, and gradually condensed into something resembling blood vessels. These wove a massive web centered around the cocoon, covering every inch of the cave.
Due to Olthagia's request, he had to remain conscious and not fall into a state of complete unawareness. Thus, even now, he was fully awake. Although he couldn't move, all his senses were still active, and he could interrupt the advancement process at any moment.
At this moment, he dared not move, fearing it would disrupt the advancement. However, he could clearly feel his skin and exoskeleton dissolving, his flesh boiling, and the bones in his back slowly rearranging themselves.
His entire body felt as if soaked in concentrated sulfuric acid, and even his soul seemed to be tearing apart. Everything was being reorganized, replaced with a more perfect and powerful state. Only in this way could Olthagia always stay ahead of demons of the same rank.
Dissolving tendons, melting skin, shifting bones, and splitting the soul—these were the agonies Olthagia was enduring now.
And this was the second time he had endured them.
When he advanced from [Infant Demon] to [Lesser Demon], he had already gone through this once. At that time, unprepared for such pain, he nearly passed out from the agony. Before that, he hadn't realized how excruciating it was to advance while conscious. Afterward, he somewhat understood why demons automatically fell into a comatose state during advancement.
He used the word "somewhat" because Olthagia's advancement wasn't solely guided by the Bottomless Abyss and his own bloodline. The evolution system was also involved, making it a three-party collaboration, which was different from the advancement of other demons.
However, these details weren't important. In Olthagia's view, as long as he could achieve his desired goal, he could endure any amount of pain.
This was also why he still chose to advance while conscious.
He needed to maintain his self-awareness at all times!
Even this intense pain, in his eyes, was a form of training.
When he advanced to [Lesser Demon], the indescribable torment nearly drove him to the brink of collapse multiple times.
But in the end, it taught him a lesson: only by experiencing pain, tasting it, and understanding it could he inflict it upon others.
Thus, he began to carefully experience the suffering he was enduring, learning to savor it, and ultimately comprehending it. Perhaps this was also the main reason why his magical attributes automatically derived [Pain] and awakened the [Bloodline Spell: Pain Strike].
Perhaps one day, he could fully grasp [Pain], one of the primary rules in the realm of negative laws, comparable to [Fear], [Hatred], [Anger], [Jealousy], [Arrogance], [Greed], [Lust], [Sloth], and [Gluttony].
Several nights later, when the blood-red celestial body outside rose once again...
Within the cave, the blood-red network resembling veins began to rapidly contract and wither.
Whoosh!
Crack, crack!
Two massive wings, each nearly 3.4 meters in length with a wingspan of almost 7 meters, burst through the shell of the giant cocoon.
With a gentle flap, a whirlwind of flames swept through the cave, incinerating everything in its path.
Once all traces were obliterated, Olthagia's drastically transformed figure emerged from the heart of the flames.
His previously missing body parts had regenerated, now bearing new changes.
Standing at a height of three meters, his physique was perfectly proportioned. His entire body was adorned with intricate crimson patterns. His horns curved backward, becoming thicker and longer. His tail, now 2.8 meters long, could extend and contract to a certain degree. His wings, a hybrid of bat and dragon wings, were covered in slender scales and tipped with sharp spikes.
[Host: Stuart Ogarisa Asalonne… Curif Olthagia]
[Race/Level: Demon Race/Low-Rank Demon]
[Strength: 61 (5)]
[Speed: 63 (5)]
[Constitution: 61 (5)]
[Magic: 65 (5)]
[Soul: 70 (5)]
[Talents: Soul-Devouring Evolution (evolves autonomously by continuously devouring souls), Slaughter Evolution (evolves autonomously through continuous combat and slaughter), Combat Instinct (innate strong combat talent), Flesh Extraction (can extract and absorb the essence of flesh upon contact), Magic Trait - Corrosion.Pain (magic possesses corrosive properties and inflicts extreme pain), Elemental Talent - Bloodflame (possesses high temperature, erodes flesh, and burns life energy and soul), Exoskeleton - Bloodthirst (evolved from own scales, possesses high physical hardness and a certain degree of energy resistance, and can automatically repair damage by absorbing blood and consuming magic), Energy Vision (can see through most materials and perceive energy), Abyssal Contract (can autonomously accept summons and use the power of the Abyss as a medium to form contracts with other entities, Note: No one can break the contract, not even a Demon Prince), Camouflage - Silence (can significantly reduce own presence and existence), Suffering Torment (any injury inflicted by you, regardless of severity, will cause amplified pain), Soul Plunder (can forcibly bind and pull the soul of a target within a certain range), Armed Rune - Scarlet (scarlet Abyssal runes cover your body in an array, significantly enhancing various energy resistances and improving adaptability to world suppression), Cross-Boundary Projection - Simulacrum (can project an image of yourself over long distances, this image has sensory functions and shares real-time perception with the user)]
[Skills: Fireball (Bloodline Spell.27%), Flame Arrow (Bloodline Spell.28%), Life Drain (Bloodline Spell.25%), Soul Strike (Bloodline Spell.30%), Painful Wail (Bloodline Spell.14%), Flame Nova (Bloodline Spell.14%)]
[Evolution Points: 0]
The talent [Suffering Torment] evolved from the Bloodline Spell [Pain Strike], representing Olthagia's comprehension of the conceptual rule of [Pain].
The talents [Soul Plunder], [Bloodline Spell. Painful Wail], and [Bloodline Spell. Flame Nova] were abilities that awakened naturally as his strength progressed.
A demon, even without studying spells, would naturally become a spellcaster once their strength reached a certain level, although they would essentially be the type who could only cast spells without understanding the underlying principles.
They could be called the illiterates among spellcasters.
Only [Armed Rune - Scarlet] and [Boundary Projection - Simulacrum] were abilities he specifically evolved using the evolution system. These two abilities were indispensable necessities for him.
Without them, Olthagia would have no confidence in venturing to other worlds.
According to the knowledge in the demonic inherited memories, other planes could be considered the dreamlands of every demon. Though fraught with dangers, they were also filled with opportunities. Whether it was the struggling demons or the successful ones in the demon realm, all longed to venture to other planes to strike it rich.
It felt somewhat like the American Dream of the previous life. However, whether one would end up striking gold or being forced to dig mines at gunpoint was a matter of perspective.
In any case, many succeeded, and many also ended up reincarnating directly.
The latter likely made up the majority.
Similarly, most demons who attempted to traverse other planes to reap benefits and harvest souls met such fates.
And Olthagia did not want to become a failure.
After securing the most basic guarantee for crossing into other worlds, he did not rush to perform planar travel immediately. Instead, he decided to first adapt to his current strength.
He stretched his body a bit, then shot a [Flame Arrow] at the obstacle blocking the cave entrance, violently blasting it open.
The [Flame Arrow], which was previously just over a meter long, now reached about 1.8 meters in length due to Olthagia's increased strength. In human hands, it could even be used as a spear.
Although the data on the evolution system panel had only increased by about a quarter, Olthagia's overall strength had improved several times over. Some of his past combat techniques might no longer be practical.
Stepping out of the cave, Olthagia looked at the occasional [Demonic Creatures] and demons flying in the sky. He gently flapped his wings, creating gusts of air, and quickly adapted to the sensation of his legs leaving the ground and his wings taking over the effort. Soon, he felt a sense of confidence.
Having an additional organ made him somewhat uncomfortable, both in terms of balance and habit, inevitably causing some awkwardness.
Fortunately, these wings could usually be retracted into his body!
Otherwise, there would be times when he couldn't fly and would have to fight on the ground with wings on his back, which would inevitably put him at a disadvantage in terms of agility.
Though he himself found it quite magical that these wings, which were almost as large as his body even when folded, could be retracted into his body without any visible swelling or change in size!
Where did all that volume go?
Olthagia himself didn't understand it either, and could only say, "I truly am a demon, so magical that I don't need to care about physics at all!"
Perhaps his inherited memories held the answer.
But he didn't have the time for that right now, as such matters were of little importance.
Just like how most people don't concern themselves with why humans can walk.
After all, knowing the answer or not made no difference—it didn't affect his ability to move around freely.
Once he was ready, Olthagia gave a powerful flap of his wings.
A fierce gust of wind surged, the strong force propelling him into the sky.
As he watched the cliff beneath him rapidly shrink in size, Olthagia felt a sense of satisfaction welling up from the depths of his soul.
It was a creature's longing for the vast expanse of the sky!
And it was at this very moment that the innate talents of a demon seemed to awaken within him. Olthagia felt as though flying no longer posed any difficulty—it was as natural as walking on two feet.