"Evan, when are you going to join the Demonic Tree?

" Rave said calmly.

"As I said before, I want to do one experiment first. After that, I will go straight to where I was told. As I understand it, there will be a formal joining ceremony.

" Evan quickly replied.

"I see. Then I must make one more condition for you, don't get me wrong, I'm doing this for security purposes. You may be a valuable ally, but you may also be a dangerous enemy, so if you don't join us in a year, I will personally kill you.

" Rave said coldly.

He wasn't going to force Evan to join their organization right now, but he couldn't let Evan procrastinate on this event.

"Okay, I agree,

" Evan replied.

He was going to join Demonic Tree anyway. Moreover, he was grateful that Rave had told him so much about the Seven Princes of Hell. Otherwise, Evan would have had to wait until he reached the stage - Two-Pointed Star. Also, Evan thought that one year would be enough time for him to do his experiment and get some results, so he decided to agree to such terms.

"Fine, then follow me, it has to do with my request, after that, I will return you to that village. For now, you are not allowed to be here.

" Calmly Rave said and left the room.

Evan followed him.

...

Rave led Evan to one room in his vast laboratory. Unlike the abandoned castle, which seemed like it could collapse with a mere whiff of wind, this room was furnished to a high standard.

On the tables were a multitude of expensive instruments. On the shelves were neatly arranged various potions, rare plants, and strange scrolls of spells. Evan also noticed many unknown monster specimens. This one room contained a huge amount of rare items. But, it was only a hallway, the most interesting thing was behind the door in this room.

Click.

Rave opened the door, and Evan saw an incredible scene. They entered a hallway that led to the next room, but you could see what was going on there through the expansive glass.

Lots of people were sitting in small chambers getting blood transfusions. There was nothing unusual about this, but if you looked a little more closely, you could see the corpses of monsters in the corner of the room.

"Evan, monsters get stronger by devouring people, especially mages. But what would happen if ordinary people ate the flesh and drank the blood of powerful monsters? This idea occurred to me recently, and I decided to make it a reality.

" Calmly Rave said.

Evan used Mammon's Gaze, and looking at the remains of the monsters, he was surprised. Most of these monsters were rank two, but some were rank three. Moreover, Rave was also feeding these people the flesh of the monsters, he was trying to change the structure of their bodies.

"Any luck?

" Evan asked.

"See for yourself,

" Rave said calmly.

The next moment, two magical circles appeared in the center of the room, from which skeletons in scarlet armor emerged. One of them headed toward the left side of the room and the other toward one of the chambers.

The skeleton brought out a tall man with black hair and a strong build. He looked very strong, even though he was a simple man.

Evan immediately used Mammon's Gaze.

Giel Steen

Race - Human

Rank - 0.8

Evan was surprised. Even Sebastian, the man who was a swordsman, Rank was 0.2. Giel's Human Rank was 0.8, which was unbelievably high for an ordinary person. In all the time, Evan hadn't found anyone whose Rank was higher than 0.5. Evan thought it was impossible, but Giel shattered his theory.

Next, the skeleton walked over to the wall and put his palm to a certain spot infusing some mana. Part of the wall was a retractable wall that came into motion after the seal was activated.

Behind the wall was a great variety of weapons. There was everything from simple daggers to huge clubs. There were even unusual shields with sharp edges, the kind you could kill someone with without a problem.

Evan used Mammon's Gaze. He felt it was far from an ordinary weapon.

Meteorite Iron Sword

Dagger with Jade Tip

Morgenstern with Poison Ivy Needles

Fallen Gladiator's Amethyst Shield

All of these items had zero rank weapons, but their Rarity was unusually high. All weapons were either Rare or Epic. There were no weapons below that quality on the booths.

Giel took a large two-handed Epic quality sword from the booth. This sword was made of rare metal, scarlet in color, and hardened with the venom of a rare monster. This gave this sword incredible sharpness and strength. Giel also took a small, triangular shield that looked more like a huge shuriken. The shield, as well as the sword, was of Epic quality.

There was no armor on the stands, only weapons. This meant that Giel could only rely on his own reflexes and skills.

After he had chosen his weapons, a second skeleton activated another retractable wall. Behind it were many small cages with various monsters. According to Evan's preliminary calculations, there were at least a hundred of them.

The skeleton opened one of them and squeezed the monster by the neck, and brought it forward. To Evan's surprise, the monster did not try to break free or attack the skeleton.

Ice Mutant

Race - Monster

Rank - 0, no flames on the platform

Warp - White

The monster was two and a half meters tall, with a powerful build, and was an anthropomorphic creature. Its skin was blue, and a chill emanated from it. His body temperature was critically low. It had bloodshot eyes and sharp claws covered in a thin layer of ice. If those claws plunged into flesh, they would freeze it in one second.

Unlike Giel, the monster wasn't given a weapon. His body was like all monsters and was his weapon.

Evan thought.

Then the skeletons stepped aside, and the incredible fight between the ordinary human and the monster began.