Chapter 38: The Bet
byChapter 38: Wager
"You're different from the other demons," Beros said.
Wen Ying's heart skipped a beat. He couldn't believe that such a line would be spoken in this situation, as if it were...
"The other low-ranking demons don't dare to provoke high-ranking ones."
Wen Ying: "..." If I ever have expectations for you again, I'll be a dog! Beros must have been upset earlier because he thought I liked him and was hugging someone else at the same time, hurting his pride.
Beros felt that he had complimented the demon mirror, but the response he received was an expression of disgust.
"Huh, huh," Wen Ying forced a laugh. "Class is about to start. Let's hurry back or Feng Luo might catch us and make us clean the toilets if we're late."
Upon hearing this, Beros immediately quickened his pace towards the classroom.
Watching Beros's retreating figure, Wen Ying sighed deeply. The demon was quite handsome, but his emotional intelligence was frighteningly low.
They managed to enter the classroom just as the bell rang. The five unfortunate souls had already returned, claiming that Feng Luo had allowed them to come back to class first and finish cleaning during lunchtime.
Scarlet wondered, "How did you manage to sense Feng Luo's presence outside in advance?"
This guy had been quiet for quite a while.
Well, that was from Wen Ying's over a decade of experience as a student, he thought to himself, responding, "After all, I'm just a weak Magic Mirror Demon. When a powerful adversary is about to appear, my radar goes off."
Hupo almost chuckled, "Other Magic Mirror Demons might be weak, but both you and I have doubts that you're one of them."
Normal traits of a Magic Mirror Demon: low magic power, slow replication of spells, and only capable of copying ordinary magic.
But with Wen Ying: an endless supply of magic power, an unending deck of innate spell cards, and the ability to replicate Beros’s Blazing Flame.
In the forest, the guy had even threatened him with fake poison. Because of that incident, Hupo had put in two hundred percent effort during his first Magic Plant Basics class, terrified that another demon might try the same trick on him.
Later, Li Jie mentioned that he had been there too and found it hilarious. Hupo had nearly slapped him; he was so fed up with these pesky demons.
Wen Ying also took an interest in Magic Plant Basics. Ever since Aruda had given him those bottles and jars, he had embarked on a new path. What once seemed like a complex, brick-like textbook now felt very familiar to him.
The afternoon practical class was thrilling for the Muggles—
The thought of brewing potions himself filled Wen Ying with delight. He addressed the group of demons who had surrounded him after class, "I won't choose any of you who stand in my way."
The rowdy demons instantly quieted down.
Wen Ying nodded in satisfaction. He noticed that although these demons were physically powerful, their minds didn't seem to be as sharp.
Just as he was about to head for lunch, the crowd of demons parted on their own, making way for a demon with large black wings who walked over from the path ahead. The demon had an arrogant expression and casually sized up Wen Ying with a dismissive gaze.
This demon had pale skin, unsteady legs, and seemed rather capricious and arrogant. However, there was a hint of decadence in his aura, suggesting a dissolute lifestyle.
"It's Huiguo..."
"Does he also have his eyes on the top spot?"
"I knew it wouldn't be that easy to snatch a bargain."
Wen Ying looked at the demon before him and asked, "Is there something you need?"
Huiguo sized up Wen Ying with a soft laugh, speaking nonchalantly, "I think there might be something wrong with the eyes of the academy's administrators, allowing you to enter Class One."
Wen Ying shrugged, palms open. "Your words won't change anything with me; you should tell them directly. Perhaps they'll let us switch classes."
Huiguo's face darkened as magical power surged from within him, his smile vanishing as he gritted his teeth, "So today, I'll make them realize their mistake. You, the number one, are nothing but a joke."
Wen Ying pointed at himself, "So you also came here to challenge me for a ranking match?" This guy's aura was much weaker than Beros's, and yet he still tried to intimidate him. Wen Ying couldn't help but roll his eyes inwardly.
"Yes," replied Huiguo, "I'm a Fallen Angel. If you lose, you'll have to switch classes with me willingly."
The surrounding demons began whispering.
"That's quite unfair of Huiguo. The Mirror Demon is clearly set to lose."
"But it's absurd that the Mirror Demon holds the top spot to begin with. I think it's unexpected that Huiguo, with his bloodline and strength, isn't in Class One."
"He's only got his bloodline, not that strong... But he should still be stronger than the Mirror Demon, right?"
"But why did Levimo end up in Class One? I remember he was carried out by this Mirror Demon, without any scorecards on him."
"Special privileges? Because he's from one of the Three Great Families?"
"It can't be that. Lord Levimo is incredibly powerful! He's on a whole different level from Huiguo."
"Don't jump to conclusions so quickly. Haven't you forgotten how he once threw Muershi down?"
"That was just luck. Now that his ability is exposed, it won't work again."
Wen Ying raised an eyebrow. "Switch classes with me? If I win, will you also agree to one of my conditions?"
Huiguo laughed nonchalantly. "If you can win, name your condition." He was incredibly arrogant and confident.
Just now, this guy had deliberately released his magical aura to intimidate him. Wen Ying gauged Huiguo's strength based on that, and he didn't think Huiguo would be more difficult to deal with than Muershi. A mischievous idea sprang to mind as Wen Ying's eyes darted around.
"If I win..."
"How about forbidding him from touching any other demon for a year?" Essence stepped forward, leaning casually against Wen Ying with a seductive smile.
"Issence..." Huiguo's face darkened. "This doesn't concern you."
"How could there not be?" Essence tossed his hair. "Wen Ying lacks some common knowledge, so I'll teach him."
Wen Ying straightforwardly agreed, "Let's do as Essence suggests."
Huiguo harrumphed. "Essence, your words won't change anything. Anyway, this guy can't defeat me."
Essence smiled warmly. "There's a human saying: 'Caution is the parent of safety.' If you're not careful, you might end up in trouble, oh~"
Huiguo chuckled. "Him? A Magic Mirror Demon? I know all about his abilities. I don't believe he has any tricks that could turn the tables on me."
"If you don't show up tonight, it'll be considered your surrender," Huiguo declared, strutting away with an air of arrogance.
Wen Ying glanced sidelong at the incubus lying beside him. "Will that condition affect him?" It was just abstaining from pleasure for a year.
The incubus licked his lips. "He's a Fallen Angel of Lust. Abstinence goes against his instincts and will drive him mad. It'll also hinder the growth of his power."
Interesting, Wen Ying thought, his eyes widening slightly. There are all sorts of demons out there.
In the classroom office, the thunder demon Lai Yehua, upon hearing the commotion, frowned and called for Huiguo.
"What's going on?"
With an indifferent air, Huiguo mentioned the bet with Wen Ying, then grumbled, "That guy is merely a low-ranking demon yet he managed to get into Class One. I don't accept that."
Lai Yehua frowned, his naturally husky voice deepening with gravity, sounding even more resonant and gravelly: "His powers are bizarre. You were far too reckless, staking your future on a gamble."
"He can't win anyway, so it doesn't matter what the bet is." Huiguo paid no attention to it at all; instead, he was filled with confidence and anticipation that he would enter Class One after today.
It was an insult to his noble demonic lineage of a Fallen Angel to keep him in Class Two!
Lai Yehua's brow furrowed even deeper. Clearly, this nephew had inherited the Sin of Lust among the fallen angels, yet he seemed more arrogant and radical than those from the lines of Pride and Wrath.
With high cheekbones that slightly indented, Lai Yehua's features resembled a Greek statue, sharply chiseled and handsome, while his slender frame was prominently noticeable.
Despite appearing to be in his early thirties, wrinkles at the corners of his eyes betrayed his age, imbuing him with a sense of weariness and maturity. His demeanor was solemn, exuding an aura of authority that commanded respect.
In this encounter between the two fallen angels, Lai Yehua effortlessly dominated the younger Huiguo with mere glances and expressions.
Huiguo chuckled and said, "Instead of that, Uncle, could you give me a copy of that human's class schedule?"
Lai Yehua sighed, his brows remaining furrowed.
"HUncle~" Huiguo pleaded with a grin, "You know my personality. Anyway, you weren't planning to use those humans as a warning to Wu Fei, right?"
After some contemplation, Lai Yehua retrieved a schedule from his drawer and handed it to Huiguo, who left cheerfully with it in hand.
This room served as an individual office, reserved for more prominent demon teachers. Of course, they also had desks in the shared office space where they would work at times.
Lai Yehua stood up and walked over to a bookshelf nearby. His slender fingers brushed past the spines of the books, stopping on one titled "The Myriad Races of the Demon Realm." He pulled it out.
The pages of the book were yellowed, indicating its age.
Flipping to the desired page, Lai Yehua's brows knitted together upon reading the contents.
The Mirror Demon race had once been prosperous and powerful, though that was a long time ago. Many demons were unaware of this history and thus knew nothing about the Mirror Demon species.
"It must be coincidence…" Lai Yehua muttered to himself.
...
After morning classes, the wager between Wen Ying and Huiguo had already spread throughout the Lucifer Demon Academy. When Wen Ying finished school and checked his phone, he found numerous posts regarding the matter.
Putting down his phone, Wen Ying took a magic coin and tossed it in his hand. He had looked up information on fallen angels through his device. This race was mainly composed of lightning and gold attributes. Their enormous black wings could instantly create a sharp flock of feather-like metal, releasing electric currents like a rain of lightning, making them a formidable group attack magic.
Aside from their strong defense, primarily concentrated in their wings, they could use them as shields to defend while approaching their target.
He now understood what Essence meant by "Lust Fallen Angel." It seemed that the fallen angel race had some connection with the Seven Deadly Sins. Each fallen angel would inherit one of these tendencies at birth, with different abilities corresponding to each tendency.
The most powerful fallen angel so far, Lai Yehua, who was also Huiguo's uncle, inherited "Gluttony." He could accelerate his power growth by consuming large quantities of magic-infused items.
"Lust" inclined fallen angels, like the Harmonious Sect, could enhance their strength through intimate relations. However, there was a drawback: if their physical condition wasn't good enough, they could easily become exhausted.
Recalling Huiguo's pale face, Wen Ying chuckled and fell back onto his bed, laughing for a while. The arrogance turned out to be a sign of weakness.
After lying down for a moment, Wen Ying sat up again and took out all the cards he had. He spread them out on the bed, constructing a "deck" suitable for combating fallen angels.
How novel, it felt like a real-life 3D card game. As Wen Ying meticulously selected his cards, he experienced an odd sensation, as if he had entered a full immersion game where death was very real, with 100% pain perception.
Having chosen some cards, Wen Ying prepared to craft a Flame Incineration spell.
Wen Ying took a deep breath, calming himself down. Extending his hand into the air, he closed his eyes and vividly recalled Beros' Flaming Inferno – that three-headed hellhound of black flames.
Again and again, Wen Ying replayed in his mind the scene of Beros unleashing the inferno until the formation of the fiery hound. His fingers moved accordingly, sketching magic in mid-air with a white glow.
The proportional three-headed dog failed. Opening his eyes, Wen Ying looked at the half-finished creation that had turned to ashes. He clicked his tongue and tried again, but it still didn't work.
Staring at the palm of his hand, he murmured, "Is my strength still not enough…?"
Despite the sudden surge in magical power since entering the Realm of Magic, Wen Ying let out a long sigh. He desired a card with an attractive design, not necessarily extraordinary, but the more impressive the card, the more powerful it seemed.
Undeterred, he focused intently on envisioning that fierce, three-headed hound composed entirely of black flames. Despite the continuous failures resulting in ashes, Wen Ying eventually sketched a cute, cartoonish version of the black-flamed dog on the card.
This time, he hastily drew a blurry background, a shadowy magical figure that vaguely resembled Beros. In the foreground, the once-intimidating Q-version of the three-headed hound transformed into a somewhat adorable ferocity.
With mixed feelings, Wen Ying held the card. He knew the classifications SR and SSR, but what was a pseudo-SSR?
The "Flaming Inferno (Canine Form)" was a pseudo-SSR, one of the forms the inferno could take and persist for a certain duration. This agile, fierce hound possessed instinctive autonomous combat abilities.
Looking at the card's effects, Wen Ying was pleasantly surprised. He couldn't help but smirk cunningly, thinking to himself, Huiguo, even Heaven doesn't want you to win.
Today's gacha luck seemed favorable; Wen Ying capitalized on his success and drew consecutive R cards. Frustrated, he stood up... to head to class, for it was time for the afternoon session.
What kind of bizarre luck was this? Had that fake SSR depleted all his fortune for the day? But this wasn't about luck – it was clearly about magic power and proficiency. So why were all his subsequent creations R cards?
Wen Ying sighed deeply. The demons he encountered along the way mistook his gloominess for concern over the upcoming evening ranking match. Huiguo, overhearing this, became even more self-assured.
Observing Wen Ying enter the classroom with a lackluster expression, Muershi approached him and said, "What are you worried about? That guy is easy to handle. If you could toss me around, capturing him should be a piece of cake, right?"
Wen Ying looked at him in surprise. "I'm not worried about that at all."
"What does that expression of yours imply, then?"
Wen Ying noticed their misunderstanding and waved his hand. "I was just pondering over some issues with my innate magical abilities. Don't worry, I'll definitely throw him down there tonight."
As the merman Phileus from the Butterfly Pool entered, he just so happened to overhear, his blue eyes sweeping over indifferently, their frigid pupils reflecting Wen Ying's countenance as if she were masterfully orchestrating a strategy, causing his brow to slightly furrow.
The afternoon potions class took place in the laboratory, located in another building. This structure was adorned with two distinctive red turrets at its peak, evocative of the demonic realm. The entire edifice was entwined with massive vines and creeping plants, giving it an inexplicably eerie and gloomy atmosphere, despite the bright daylight.
As Wen Ying searched his way through the corridors, peering into each classroom from the windows, the eerie scene that had sent Cháng Mó shivers down his spine earlier somehow felt oddly comforting, like a homecoming.
Indeed, Aruda's castle embodied such an atmosphere.
Wen Ying finally heaved a sigh of relief upon locating the laboratory for the afternoon session.
The desks in this classroom were made of wood, rough and uneven except for their flat surfaces. Each table held a large cauldron for potion-making, a small furnace resembling an alchemy stove, metallic jars, numerous bottles and instruments.
Muershi was curiously fiddling with the bottles and jars.
Suddenly, an explosion echoed, catching everyone's attention. The cat demon's face was now blackened by smoke. He spat a few times before extinguishing the flames on his desk with a water spell.
"Don't add things randomly," Si Ya, the demon teacher, entered and scolded the cat demon before proceeding to the lectern to demonstrate today's potion-making process.
Most demons had no foundation in potion-making, so Si Ya decided to assess their talent by teaching the simplest yet most commonly used magic recovery potion.
Half of the demons ended up blowing up their cauldrons. Listening to the continuous explosions around him, Wen Ying's hands trembled slightly as he added ingredients, afraid that his would explode instantly.
He glanced at Beros’ station, curious about how the three-headed dog would brew potions.
Beros seemed very focused, holding ingredients in one hand and measuring cups of liquids in the other, smoothly proceeding to the next step of extracting magic plants. His actions were so graceful and fluid that Wen Ying was captivated. It was said that people in deep concentration exuded the most charm, and Beros now seemed to possess a scholarly allure while brewing potions with such elegant movements.
Wen Ying observed for quite some time as Beros performed his alchemy with great vigor, only to end up in an explosion.
Wen Ying: "..." Forget it, he'd better focus on his own work. At least he knew which step could trigger an explosion if not done correctly.
Fortunately, demons were robust creatures; otherwise, a single blast would send them straight to the hospital.
Following Si Ya's demonstration, Wen Ying carefully replicated each step and movement, successfully brewing the raw potion. Now, all that was left was to roast the magic branches in a refining furnace like a pill-making process, and a low-grade Magic Recovery Pill would be complete.
A Muggle who managed to create a potion would no longer be bound by his Muggle status. Holding the steaming pill in his hands, Wen Ying was thrilled.
He saw Beros blow his cauldron for the third time. After some thought, he approached him with his self-made Magic Recovery Pill, his eyes curved in a smile that invited praise, "Look."
According to the forum, Beros despised weak demons. Surely crafting a potion he couldn't would earn him some points in Beros' eyes, Wen Ying mused happily. However, he saw Beros staring at him with irritation.
"I can make it too," Beros pushed away Wen Ying and continued his relentless struggle with the ingredients.
Wen Ying: "..." Forget it, he was exhausted. He couldn't catch up to Beros. Perhaps he should look for a similar alternative.
Unaware of Wen Ying's thoughts, Beros persevered with potion-making and finally succeeded in creating a low-grade Magic Recovery Pill before school ended. His tightly knitted brows finally relaxed.
It didn't make sense that the Magic Mirror Demon could succeed when he couldn't. Berlos wanted to show Wen Ying the pill in his hand, but Wen Ying merely hummed nonchalantly, lacking the enthusiasm from before.
Berlos: "?" Your attitude wasn't like this just now.
"Oh yes," Wen Ying suddenly changed his expression, revealing a bright smile. "I'd like to use your Flaming Incineration for tonight's ranking match. Is that okay?"
The change was rather sudden, and the inexperienced Berlos instinctively nodded. "I don't mind you using it."
Wen Ying clasped his hands together. "Thank you. If I win the ranking match tonight, I'll treat you to dinner."
"Dinner?" Berlos's tone sounded a bit odd.
Wen Ying's heart skipped a beat. He quickly pulled Scarlet over and whispered, "Hey, is there any etiquette in the Demon Realm when a male demon invites another male demon to dinner?"
Scarlet was taken aback. "No, not at all."
Wen Ying pushed Scarlet back and, acting as if nothing was amiss, said to Berlos, "Hmm, treating you to dinner. Is there a problem? Or do you think I can't win?"
"No," Berlos's strange tone from before seemed to have vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
In the past, he had turned down many demons who had tried to court him through meals. Wen Ying also liked him; did he want to deepen their relationship through dining together?
Beros felt somewhat perplexed, and his attitude towards Wen Ying was different from that of other demons.
... He rather wanted to see Wen Ying more frequently.
Recalling the sight of that human embracing Wen Ying in his mind, Beros wasn't sure what emotion it stirred. Since he could remember, he had never hugged any demon, not even his own family members.
For the first time, he had the desire to hug a demon.
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