His room in the Abyssal looked the same as left it before going to the Southern Continent. He could feel the Arch energy in the surrounding air. Compared to the air in the Southern continent, the air here felt thicker and clean. If he hadn't gone to the Southern continent, he wouldn't have felt the difference.
"Oh baby I missed you so much!" Gaya leaped onto the bed. She landed back first on the bed while keeping the Hydra closer to her chest. Her ample chest cushioned the force produced by the bed's spring from hurting the tiny Hydra.
"Ahhhaaaw" Each head of the Hydra opened its eyes, yawning. It only took the hydra a couple of seconds to feel the change in the surroundings.
"Where are we?" the white head and the silver head curiously looked around the room. The blackhead however closed its eyes to sense the Arch energy in the air.
Just as they were scanning their surroundings, the Hydra began to glow from within. On the left side of the hydra was white, the middle was silver while the right side was black to match the colors of the three heads. At that moment, all of its body gradually turned golden.
"The fuck is happening to them?" Gaya quickly sat up from the bed when she saw the Hydra glowing. She swooped the hydra into her hand to feel its body getting warmer and warmer.
"They are reaching the Foundation stage" Michael could see the Arch energy fluctuations around the Hydra. The ripple of energy was violent, meaning that the Hydra would soon reach the Foundation stage from its current stage.
"No, they aren't" Gaya frowned because she couldn't see any energy fluctuations around the Hydra.
"Can't you see the energy fluctuations around them?" Michael walked towards the bed. He then sat beside Gaya looking at the Hydra.
"I see no shit" she looked closer yet saw nothing. Usually one could see the arch energy fluctuations around them. That was how they sensed someone's cultivation level. When the grown hydra screamed, it messed up the arch energy radiation all over the world. Because of that, one no longer had the ability to sense another's cultivation level.
"Weird, come with me" Michael stroked his chin. He began to doubt whether it's because of the Demon Soul in the pocket dimension attached to his room. Before departing to the Southern Continent, he placed the Demon stone in the pocket dimension. Therefore, he stood up walking towards it. All the three heads had their eyes closed. She gently picked up the hydra in her hand as she followed Michael behind.
Reaching the black door, Michael placed his hand. He felt his hand slightly getting warmer. With a clicking noise, the door slowly opened to reveal the inside. He still had a hard time believing the scenery before him was another dimension. The beautiful water wall flowed from the miniature hill's top forming a small lake that glistened in the sunlight peeking through the mountain cracks. Above the small pond, the Demon stone was hovering. The closer he walked towards it, the louder he heard the humming sound coming from the stone.
[The Demon stone has stabilized. You can release the soul within the stone]
Because of the eyes of darkness, he could see the overwhelming energy around the stone. It wasn't just Arch energy, the stone was radiating Celestial and First energy.
"Can you see the energy fluctuations around the stone?"
"No" she shook her head.
"Hmm" Thinking why she couldn't see the energy around the stone, he moved closer to the stone. He reached his hand out at the stone standing on the lake's edge. The chilling water washed over his feet as the stone slowly hovered towards him.
"Careful" she clenched his arm tightly for a moment.
"Stay behind me" Michael asked. Finally, she let go of his hand. While the stone was hovering just an arm's reach away from him, she moved behind him.
"Time for another subordinate" Michael was excited to release the demon soul. With a flick of his wrist, he willed the stone to move closer. An invisible force kept pushing Michael's hand away yet it couldn't stop him completely. Gritting his teeth, Michael used all of his strength to break this invisible barrier. His arm muscles flexed up while a web of veins emerged to upper skin.
SHHHHHHHHHHH!
With a final push, Michael grabbed the stone. The moment he touched the stone, it produced a sound like pouring water onto a hot pan. His mind went blank completely as in a few seconds, he was floating in an empty space.
As far as his eyes could see, there was nothing. It was just a red empty space.
"System" He called out the system, hoping to get some answers from it.
However before he could hear the system, a bright light appeared in front of him out of nowhere. The bright light began to rotate faster and faster. In a few seconds, it grew brighter to the point Michael tried to close his eyes. The light was bright as a small sun.
[The Demon Soul has been released. You have to pay the system 40,000 badass points to subdue and make the demon your subordinate]
At first, whenever the system named a high price, he would become mad or atleast annoyed. However, he learned that the higher the system's price for something, the more valuable and powerful it would be. The sheer amount of 40,000 badass points made his blood boil.
Despite his blood-boiling excitement, he had a question in his mind.
"Didn't I pay you 15,000 badass points to bring back the Demon to life?"
Just as he said, he paid the system 15,000 badass points at the annual auction when he first bought the stone. He wondered why the system suddenly asked for another 40,000 badass points.
[15,000 badass points to bring the demon soul back to life from a long slumber. This 40,000 badass points for making the demon 100% loyal to you. Try to imagine what would happen if you wake a demon that's not loyal to you. Also...]
"What now?" when he heard the system drag its voice, he realized it's gonna ask for more badass points. He sighed inside. Currently, he had 70,000 badass points to spend. Initially, he planned to buy some new legendary level spells or upgrade the existing ones before the tournament. Now it seemed like he just had to go without any new spells.
[If you throw me another 6000 points, the system can shape the demon soul to your liking. Of course, the demon will be in its ethereal form. To make the demon take a physical form, you need to either upgrade the system and buy a body for the demon or find a suitable host in this world]
"Ethereal for huh? Will it affect the demon's power?" Although Michael didn't have any idea about a demon or its powers, he first needed to make sure whether the ethereal form affects the demon in any way before spending 46,000 points.
[It doesn't affect the demon's power until it reaches the Soul Refining stage. After the Soul Refining stage, if you don't give the demon a physical body, its cultivation progress will stop. Also, the demon will be several times powerful when it's in a physical form]
"Don't tell me the demon will be at the Arch sensing stage after I spend 46,000 points? Explain how the demon levels up. Also, I have another question, since the hydra and the demon are extraterrestrial species, why are they using this world's cultivation level and energy native to this world instead of harnessing other more powerful energies? As I recall, you said the Arch energy is the least powerful energy in the universe"
[No, The Demon will be at Core Formation level because the demon has lost its power with time, ending up at Core Formation level. The answer to your next question is survival. To survive in this world, no matter the origin of the species, they need to adapt to this world. Hence, their souls will use what's abundant in this world, that is Arch Energy. The higher they go in the cultivation ladder, their souls and bodies could harness more powerful energies]
"How long the demon soul is in the slumber state?"
[The system level is currently too low to give you an exact time]
"Just low ball it"
[At least for two million years]
Michael was stunned beyond words. Even after losing its power gradually for two million years, the demon would be woken at the Core Formation stage. He couldn't even imagine how powerful it was before entering the slumber state.
"Alright, take the 46,000 points. I have something special in mind for my demon"
[Just imagine how the demon should look like and the system will take care of the rest]
In a blink of an eye, the badass points amount dropped from 70,000 to 24,000. The very next moment, the empty red space faded away as he was standing at the lake's edge. He quickly closed his eyes, imagining how the demon should look like. He already had an image in his mind, a butler. He was imagining a black suit-wearing butler in his late teens or early thirties.. Despite the butler's ethereal form, he wanted the butler to look like a male with blue eyes, shoulder-length black hair, not completely but somewhat resembling the butler character in black butler.