Extra's Path To Demon King-Chapter 436: Advancement

Seeing Axel unwilling to speak, Daniel sighed, "I know you have your own secrets, son. Things that you are not willing to talk about, and perhaps I am the same."

He paused, taking a deep breath, his eyes becoming somewhat moist, "But I hope, if there is a day, when you can’t handle something on your own. You can rely on this useless old man even if I have to go against the world. I will stand with you."

"Like every other father would," smiled Daniel while patting Axel’s shoulder.

Axel did not speak; his eyes also stared at this old man. He could only grumble in annoyance, "You always say the stupidest things."

Daniel only laughed, "What can I say, your mother isn’t here to say the stupid things. So, I have to be the stupid one. If she were here, I would have played the cool dad. It also would have been nice if your grandfather were here."

"Not because he was a powerful figure, but just because the whole family would have been together as one," stated Daniel while looking through the window in the distance, his gaze somewhat melancholic.

***

After coming back, Axel went straight back to his work. Inquiries came from both Simon Vanelis and Jordan Greaves in the form of letters, asking whether he was alright and what had happened while he had been meeting the duke.

The call from the Duke was just too abrupt; otherwise, Jordan would have definitely tried to use his father and stop Axel from going inside the tigers’ den. So, Jordan had apologized to him vehemently on this matter again and again.

Axel was literally the Golden Goose of the Greaves commerce now, and unlike the greedy farmer from the stories, the Greaves would do their absolute utmost to ensure that nothing would happen to him, no matter what.

Not only were Axel’s rune tools able to generate immense profits for the Greaves commerce, becoming its top 20 income sources in just a few months. But it also granted them immense political and economic influence.

Axel, on the other hand, didn’t care about any of that and let the Greaves family handle all that unnecessary nonsense while he purely focused on his craft.

This time, he was making a batch of powerful 2nd-tier rune tools for the Vanelis family. Since Simon Vanelis had kept his word, he should also return the favor properly.

Day after day passed without any disturbance for Axel; his entire day consisted of three parts. One part of the day, he focused on forging the raw structure of the rune tools. For another part of the day, he focused on permanently engraving a rune on the forged rune tools.

Then the last part of his day would be spent fighting against the rune phantoms. This was the most arduous time of the day for him, but it also served as a form of release for him, since his mind would become somewhat numb from all the engraving and forging.

Axel would vent his frustration all day long over his fight with the rune phantoms. But the damned world Will had also made this process at least 2 or 3 times more difficult for him compared to before, which is why it was taking an exceptionally long time for him to win against his rune phantoms.

But the rewards were also worth it when he did manage to win every time.

After two weeks, Axel finally managed to complete exactly eight pseudo-rune optimizations, meaning he had defeated eight of the rune phantoms inside his 2nd floor within the Soul Sanctums’ First Aspect Chamber.

Instantly, Axel felt a tidal wave of mana rush at him from all directions, filling his Nexus core with a greater concentration of mana, as a compression began to work within that energy sphere; the gaseous form of mana began to turn liquid.

As a qualitative change occurred in his mana, and he felt much stronger, feeling the newer form of mana flowing through his rune circuits, he had successfully advanced to the mid stage of the 2nd phase, in his runecaster aspect.

After stabilizing his newly advanced Nexus core’s energy, he infused his entire system with it. He began working on his chaosblood aspect. He had already accumulated enough despair, ever since absorbing it from Wangnan; that guy really had some high quality of ’Despair’ accumulated over an entire lifetime.

But he had a bad premonition. Considering his lack of control in ’Despair’, it was better to advance his runecaster aspect first, then the chaosblood aspect. This way, a balance would be maintained, and he would not be overwhelmed by the darkness.

With a mental command, he appeared on the 2nd floor of the Chaosblood Aspect Chamber. The world was filled with rotten corpses and a broken sky, dark and ashen.

This time, a profound, dark aura surrounded his body, as if protecting him from the overwhelming despair and darkness of this place. Axel focused sharply, controlling his emotions, thinking about her.

His path as a seeker for the chaosblood aspect was quite clear from the start.

Acknowledge, Confront, and Embrace your sins.

And he would do just that, Axel started to think... think about her. The moment when she had begged him to stop, when he had barely defeated her, after such a thorough ambush, the facade he had been upholding, yet he was so broken inside, not a single night passed in which he did not have the same nightmare again and again and again.

Dark rain droplets began to fall from the ashen clouds high in the sky. A gust of mighty wind filled with a rotten smell blew in circles and guided all the dark droplets on his body.

Sizzle!!!

Shin!!!

Sizzle!!

With each drop of the darkness that landed on his skin, it tore through his skin, like a sizzle, as if it were the most potent form of acid. Axel did not resist; it hurt like hell. But he didn’t care. Letting all the droplets pour down on top of him, as the gust of ashen windy tornado filled with the dark droplets only became stronger and stronger, until swallowing him whole.

All of his skin first melted down to puddles, then his muscle tissues, and then his bones and internal organs. He endured every last moment of that living decomposition; not an ounce of scream or pained agony escaped his lips.

He finally acknowledged the sin of despair inside of him.

And his demonic power elevated to a new degree. The demonic energy, like his mana, underwent a qualitative change. His eyes slowly opened, back in the runic chamber of Damien. There was a dark hue surrounding his blue and golden runic eyes.

He felt stronger as his bloodline aspect had advanced, but he did not feel happy. There was only a veil of sadness covering his heart. Taking a deep breath, he regained his usual demeanor. Focusing back on the matters at hand.

He had been inside this rune chamber for a few days straight and not coming out; by now, Gareth should have sent some news about what he had asked him to do. Depending on that news, he would set his next course of action.