When the plot-skips players into the game world

"...Demons really can evolve."

Ligeia, her face still streaked with blood, murmured in surprise, "I always thought that was just a legend."

"It's almost like a legend indeed."

Yanis sighed, "Even in my lifetime, I've never seen a demon complete evolution, let alone you."

In theory, demons can certainly evolve. After all, the mark of the Great Sin's power system is right here, and maintaining an unchanging form would surely not conform to the ever-changing essence of the Path of Transcendence.

"Because demon evolution often requires the accumulation of a vast amount of the Path's force, which necessitates consuming a large number of souls and moreover a very long accumulation of years."

Aiwass, hearing the two's discussion, answered while tending to his own injuries, "If we stretch the time span to five hundred years, then demons who have completed evolution independently do exist."

After all, in this world, even the souls of mere mortals are quite dangerous to harvest.

Because according to the rules of this world, all living beings with souls will enter the Dream Realm after their demise, and based on their strongest aptitude for a Path, join one of the Dream Realm's nine rivers.

After two rounds of selection by the Nine Pillar Gods and the Celestial Marshals, any unwanted souls by any deity are then reintegrated into the world, becoming the material for the souls of newborns of various races. A soul will grow as the personality matures and intellect increases, so the death of an old person could lead to the birth of nine infants. In this cyclically recurring manner, the population of the world's beings will keep increasing.

In other words, every soul in this world is on the ledger. They cannot be used at will.

Creating an Angel Envoy requires sharing a part of one's own power, and the nine rivers all need an infusion of souls, otherwise there is a potential for the world to become unbalanced—if a Path goes a long time without returning the souls of that Path to the world, then the proportion of that Path's influence in the souls of newborns will inevitably diminish.

Consequently, the influence of that Path in the Material Realm will wane. Celestial Marshals inclined toward other Paths would then have an opportunity.

From this perspective, the souls given to the world might also be considered a form of "tax." What is left after paying taxes is one's own, and the taxes paid are shared among everyone.

—Indeed, in this world, even the exalted deities must pay taxes.

Pillar Gods, Celestial Marshals, and even between themselves have waged numerous wars in the Dream Realm. And often, these wars are directly caused by problems with the distribution of souls.

A Candle Master interested in making someone an Angel Envoy might find them snatched by a Celestial Marshal of another Path at the moment of death; it's also possible that a soul meant for the Domain of Blood could have a Mark of Sin secretly branded on them and become a Demon.

Even the direct destruction of a soul isn't as problematic, as that just means the soul returns directly to the world, seldom causing too much dissatisfaction among the deities. At most, the Pillar God or Celestial Marshal who reserved that soul in advance might feel anger.

But stealing a soul, especially one favored by Pillar Gods or Celestial Marshals, is undoubtedly a grave sin.

—Seemingly just the theft of a single soul, but in reality, it's like prematurely killing an Angel Envoy and pilfering a soul that might have belonged to another Path over to the Path of Transcendence.

This is an act of "imbalance."

Therefore, only under the terms of a fulfilled contract—meaning the other party has already decided to "surrender their soul" and has willingly accepted the trade—is the responsible party transferred to the one who signed the contract.

"For Phantoms of other Paths, it may not be a big deal, but demons from the Path of Transcendence will inevitably have an eagerness to rise. However, they themselves lack flesh and exist only as Phantom Demons in the Dream Realm. As such, they can't become stronger through the force of the Path itself like creatures in the Material Realm.

"So, demons can only obtain those highly valuable souls by signing contracts. The power of transcendence emitted by their hosts can slowly strengthen a demon's power; demons can also try to complete contracts, directly consuming souls to gain a large amount of transcendence power."

Aiwass made a simple analogy, "It's like eating an egg compared to eating the hen that laid the eggs. Although the latter seems less cost-effective, if there is another hen not afraid to die and willing to take over, it's not impossible to backstab and then switch sides."

It's also for this reason that few demons are able to gather enough power to complete evolution. At least four to five hundred years of activity in the Material Realm are needed to accumulate the power necessary for evolution—and the whole process must occur without complete death, as resuming life as a Phantom Demon Egg means starting over from scratch.

Aiwass doesn't recall many demons that have definitively completed evolution.

For instance, the brother of the Giant Prince, that Eye Demon—it evolved into an Eye Demon Lord during the Ring of Ouroboros ceremony by siphoning a trace of power.

This is one of the evolutionary directions, and also the simplest one.

Aiwass's Shadow Demon could also directly evolve into a Shadow Demon Lord. It's nothing more than a strengthening of its own template without changing its skill set and form, almost like gaining an all-rounded enhancement. The species remains the same, but what was once an elite creature has become a lord. However, it is still not considered a Superior Phantom.

Beyond that, a Shadow Demon branded with the "Fury" has another, true direction of evolution.

That is to become a Flame Demon, a Superior Phantom.

Flame Demons also belong to the system of the Brand of Fury, and as Superior Phantoms, they are quite powerful.

Flame Demons are the only demons within demons that possess the force of the Path of Devotion—by consuming souls, Flame Demons can infinitely divide themselves to create a multitude of Familiars, and they can also forge "Demon Equipment" equivalent to deep purple "Relics."

This is roughly akin to a lower-level Fallen Celestial Marshal—not turning people into demons, but rather transforming them into Familiars; Flame Demons can also grant power to others... albeit through the means of equipment, which can definitely be considered part of strength.

—Guns don't count as combat power?

Don't even think you could reach a combat power of 5 with a gun, let alone without one!

Undoubtedly, if Aiwass's Shadow Demon were to become a Flame Demon, then Aiwass would no longer be able to make her a Great Sin Beast for a contract. Because the Defiant Flame Butterfly has a fire attribute too, which would overlap with the Flame Demon.

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And there was another problem. Stay tuned with My Virtual Library Empire

That was the Flame Demon was very ugly.

Some players might think it looked imposing, but Aiwass just found it incredibly unattractive.

The appearance of the Flame Demon consisted of flames, magma, and red-hot metal, making it look like a monstrous Giant... Not to mention that it was not possible to make physical contact with Aiwass; even its mere presence, with the high temperature easily melting the ground, would make it unbearable for the surrounding creatures.

Moreover, if the Shadow Demon really turned into a Flame Demon, it would mean that all the power she had accumulated on the Path of Love would be wasted. She could still use a part of the Power of Shadows, but it wouldn't be much—after all, she would need to accumulate a significant deviation in the Path of Devotion to possibly achieve evolution.

But the Night Fiend was different.

As a demon marked by the Brand of Jealousy, its corresponding lower being was the Mirror Demon. The essence of jealousy is comparison and imitation, and imitation is the essence of ritual. Therefore, the Mirror Demon is a demon that purely transcends the Path, and evolving across paths to become a Night Fiend is quite difficult.

But luckily, the Shadow Demon's Brand of Fury had turned into a Brand of Jealousy, and if she evolved from a Shadow Demon into a Night Fiend by changing her brand, she could retain a considerable part of the Shadow Demon's power while also gaining the new template of a Night Fiend.

——A Superior Phantom of the Sixth Power Level!

Just in terms of power level alone, this was already the strength of a final boss in the current version of the game.

"Brother," Yulia frowned slightly, "that was too dangerous just now..."

She didn't want to blame Aiwass or reflect on something that had already succeeded. But she had been close to tears just now.

What if Aiwass did that again in the future?

What if the demons betrayed him next time?

——They were demons! Demons known for their treacherous nature!

"Don't worry, I will only keep Vinesse as a demon, there won't be any others... The others will be Phantom Demons of other paths; they won't be dangerous demons."

Aiwass comforted her, "I know Vinesse very well, she would never betray me. Plus, the Transcendence Desire she gets from me is much purer and finer than the souls of the vulgar. It's like the nutrition and taste of an egg have already surpassed that of the hen..."

...So she won't harm me, you can be at ease.

Aiwass wanted to make a joke to relax Yulia a little.

But seeing her reddened eyes and the silent gaze fixed on him, Aiwass still shrank his neck and didn't dare to say it out loud.

——Aiwass's intuition told him that saying it might just set Yulia off.

So Yanis quickly changed the topic: "I remember, if a demon devours someone else's soul, it could also be discovered and punished by the agents of the Hourglass."

"Yes," Aiwass nodded, immediately catching on, "the Hourglass might meddle a bit too much... but indeed, It is the Pillar God most concerned with maintaining the balance between the two realms.

"Preventing Pillar Gods and Celestial Marshals from descending to the Material Realm, locking the world level cap to protect the Material Realm, these are the achievements of the Hourglass; and when a Celestial Marshal Shard falls into the Material Realm, raising the power concentration of the corresponding path, It also diligently raises the world level cap of the respective path again, to bring balance back to the two realms.

"Without the Hourglass, the Master of Balance, this world would really be doomed—"

This was a statement from the heart.

Imagine, if the Nine Pillar Gods plus the numerous Celestial Marshals were to roam the earth at will, unfettered, capable of initiating world-scale wars at any moment... Aiwass didn't even want to think about the chaos that would cause.

...Of course, the Hourglass is also the Pillar God with the most affairs.

When the contracts with the Phantom Demons summoned from the Dream Realm expire, It would prevent these Phantoms from lingering in the Material Realm; if someone in the Material Realm steals souls, It would send agents to handle it; if a war in the Material Realm continues for too long, causing suffering, It would also intervene; if the power of a wild Superior Phantom in the Material Realm is too strong, It would take action to send them back to the Dream Realm...

When the Ring of Ouroboros ritual begins, the Hourglass will become the busiest Pillar God.

Players challenging the Celestial Marshals would receive specific blessings from the Hourglass to strategize—this is the normal mode.

And if players choose not to accept the blessings of the Hourglass and forcibly challenge the Celestial Marshals and clear it, they can earn another high-difficulty achievement. That's considered hard difficulty.

In the setting of "Ring of Ouroboros", the guaranteed draw in gacha, pseudo-random crit rates, inventory inspection, difficulty balance... these game-level designs are also within the domain of the Hourglass. At least that's what the official word is.

...Hmm?

Just as Aiwass thought of this, his expression suddenly changed, and he clutched his chest. The Night Fiend in crow form also suddenly reverted back.

"...Wait?"

He felt something inside his heart cracking.

——That was the contract he had signed with the Shadow Demon on the night his memories of his past life awakened.

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