Chapter 171: The Inventor and the Demon

Luke had arrived, guided by Artemis, and now stood deep within the cave—face to face with a man who, by the way he dressed and carried himself, didn’t seem like someone enduring the same hellish tutorial as the rest of them. He wore a black suit, his beard was immaculately trimmed, and until seconds ago, he’d been sipping wine from a crystal glass.

Nothing in that place felt like it belonged to the tutorial. It was clean. Organized. A strange fusion of library, laboratory, and living room—all carved into the heart of the cave.

“A pleasure, Luke. My name is Samael. I serve Azazel… the one you knew as the Dark Demon. The Darkness that granted you your bloodline.”

His eyes were cut through by vertical slits—like a serpent’s.

Luke froze for a moment at those words. It couldn’t be a bluff. That name, Dark Demon, was something only he knew. No one else had been there when it happened. No one but him knew how, at the edge of death, the Darkness had reached out and given him a bloodline.

This… he hadn’t expected. All this time, the mission orb had remained connected to the Forgotten Temple Dungeon. To that power. To his lineage.

“You’re an envoy of that Darkness?” Luke asked.

“Exactly,” the man replied, calm as ever.

In that moment, Luke’s mind spun through a thousand possibilities, trying to uncover motives and connections. The truth was, he’d never fully understood why that Darkness had saved him or offered him such power. So much had happened since—he’d simply learned to live with it.

Beside Samael, a wine bottle floated into the air, followed by a glass.

“Would you like some?”

“No, thanks,” Luke replied.

With a snap of his fingers, the items vanished.

He had only seconds to organize his thoughts, to run back through everything he’d experienced. It had all started when he found that special mission orb back in the Wild Zone. It told him to search for a necklace. He’d spent days tracking it down, eventually deducing it was hidden inside a church. After battling a giant spider, he claimed the necklace as his reward. That was the first part of the mission.

Then came the second—an update directing him to find the necklace’s creator. And now, he had. Looking back, it was obvious: everything had been leading toward his bloodline.

“You’re a demon too?” Luke asked.

“Of course.”

“A real demon? Like… horns, red skin, that whole thing?” Luke added, genuinely curious.

Samael swept a hand through his hair, revealing a pair of black horns.

“I hide them with magic. And as for drinking blood, eating souls, that’s more pop culture from your world than actual demonic behavior. Though… I do know a few who are into that sort of thing.”

He smiled, stepping closer with measured elegance.

“By the way, did you like where I left the necklace? In a church, remember? I know, I know—explaining the joke ruins it. But as they say in your world… ‘The devil is in the details.’”

His gaze drifted to the necklace.

“Hello, Artemis. I hope you didn’t cause too much trouble for my guest along the way.”

“Me? Trouble? Never. Just my usual charming self,” Artemis replied in her sarcastic tone.

Samael gave her a courteous nod. “Fair enough.”

Luke stepped forward. “I have a few questions.”

Before he could continue, Samael snapped his fingers.

Two torches lit up on the wall, revealing a massive, ancient painting.

“I understand. But first… let’s take it slow, shall we? Let me enjoy the moment. You gave me a bit of work, Luke. I wasn’t even involved with your universe at first. I had to become an ‘investor’ just to watch you more closely. Bad luck, huh? You just had to fall into this particular tutorial…”

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

Charlie still had her hand on her sword. The tension in her stance was obvious.

Samael noticed.

“By the way… your first bloodline servant is fascinating. A skeleton. Brilliant choice. Doesn’t drown, doesn’t feel cold, heat, hunger, pain, doesn’t sleep, can’t be suffocated. Fits any situation. Perfect.”

“That was luck,” Luke replied. “I wasn’t thinking about all that when it happened.”

Samael studied Charlie for a moment.

“Princess Charlie…” he said, as if savoring the name. “You don’t know who she was, do you?”

Luke frowned. “She was just… a skeleton in the dungeon. In the temple where I met the Darkness.”

Samael gave him a long look.

“So you really don’t know…”

He turned slowly, facing the large painting on the wall.

“The dungeon was a tomb. In your world… Ancient Egypt… when a pharaoh died, he was buried with his greatest treasures. Hence the pyramids. Let’s just say that dungeon held some of the finest dead—not in terms of power, as they were only shadows of who they were in life—but in quality, you might say.”