Ch 128 – Buy Attribute

"Ugh," Sophia sighed, she wore a frown on her face while her brows were furrowed. In front of her, a headless Hydra can be seen, its nine heads were all severed, causing a pool of endless red blood to swarm around them, which was reeking a bloody stench she hated.

Floating right beside the headless Hydra was Lute Stolas, who waved his hands and caused the headless Hydra to float in the air.

"See this? This is what it's like to cleanly kill a Hydra. Just take one swift cut on each head, or all at the same time if you were as skilled as me, and permanently halt its regeneration, and we have a corpse that holds optimal profit. Not only that, we can use the poisonous blood for other stuff as well…"

Lute rambled on, and Sophia listened carefully. She truly respected Lute as a teacher after finding out he defeated Duke Sathanas effortlessly.

*** (That Time I Heard My Teacher Demolished the Strongest General of the Kingdom a Few Days Ago/More Than a Week Ago)

"What?!" Sophia exclaimed in shock, her quill dropped to the ground as she almost choked on her saliva.

"What do you mean what?" Lute asked, his eyes questioning her while he continued to write on the board behind him. His dainty hands were swift as if the magical pen he was holding was more brittle than him.

'You mean 'he' was able to defeat Duke Sathanas?! Even I would have a hard time defeating him, and he's telling me he defeated him so easily!? You mean that even with his child-like body, he was still able to defeat the wrath monster Sathanas?!' She almost couldn't believe what Lute was saying. It simply had too many implications if that were true.

Like a different power dynamic in the 12 Noble Households, a 'new strongest' family, and a crapton of things that would also change. In the kingdom where might means right, having the Stolas Household, which was average in terms of fighting prowess, suddenly have its newest member be the strongest in a single day?! She almost scoffed out loud.

"Are you joking?"

"Why would I joke about things like that?"

She couldn't refute him, she already knew that Lute Stolas—her teacher—doesn't joke about important topics like that. She stayed silent for a moment, before asking.

"Then, you're saying that you still have the energy to teach me after fighting the strongest Duke of the kingdom?" Sophia asked.

"Of course, like, I have absurd stamina and a large mana reservoir. It's a secret technique I've learned from my father, who learned it from a slime, that allows me to modify my body as I wish. Basically, most of my physical strength doesn't stem from mana enhancing, but from raw biological might."

"Eh?" Sophia almost spitted out the water she was drinking.

'Biological might?! Like, his "one kilometer per second" speed comes from his muscles?! I know being an Archdevil has its perks, but all of that fully comes from his body being strong and not due to magic?!' Sophia thought of what that would mean.

Many horrid implications stemmed from the new revelation he learned. Her might couldn't keep up with the shocking news Lute gave nonchalantly at this point.

"Never mind, just go on with the lesson."

Deciding to protect her mental health, Sophia pushes back those thoughts to the back of her mind and to contemplate them for a later date.

*** (Back to the present)

"It's your turn now," Lute said, and the duo continued to explore the large, cave-like S-Rank dungeon they are training within.

The dungeon they are currently in is called the Hydra Dungeon. A Hydra is a fearsome S-Rank monster known for its nine heads that regenerate endlessly, along with its poisonous blood that only a few could hope to live from with just a single touch.

And now, Sophia watches as Lute effortlessly telekinetically grabs a Hydra while yawning, and had her face it in an open area.

"Remember, using fire when cutting off its head is pretty effective. Lightning can also do the same, though it would use much more mana. But, if you want to, you can just disintegrate those heads with your reality warping magic."

"Well, learning to kill it without using too much mana is beneficial to me in the long run, so I'll try to do it as optimal as I can," Sophia responded, and she summoned a demonic-looking blade in her hand with a simple wave.

It had a black blade, with shadows floating around it, giving it a nefarious aura. As she flicked her wrist, the shadows turned into blazing hot flames, which then transformed into blue flames, increasing its heat to a new level.

As she crouches, she watches as the Hydra in the distance rush toward her, and she tightened her grip on her modified demonic blade. Controlling the mana around her, her body floated to the air and she flew towards the middle head of the Hydra fearlessly.

Spinning in midair, she dodges the series of magical attacks spewed out by the Hydra, along with its poisonous bullets. With a flash, her body arrive at the middle head of the Hydra, and she spun faster, causing the entire area around her to be lit up in blue flames, and had her sword cut through it effortlessly.

Not only that, she managed to avoid the most dangerous poison blood of the Hydra by instantly evaporating it, along with charring the headless stump of the Hydra, not allowing it to heal anymore.

'Huh, I didn't expect for the blood to evaporate so quickly. Then, maybe I don't need to spin if I were to create a-'

"You know, you can just create a barrier around you so that the blood can't touch your body. Or, you could have made your sword extend out so that when you spun, you could have killed the Hydra in one blow."

Hearing Lute, Sophia can't help but click her tongue, realizing that Lute was right, and flew farther away from the Hydra. Following his instruction, a thin mana barrier covered her body, and she flew towards the Hydra once more at a rapid pace.

Twisting her wrist upon arriving at the headless section of the Hydra, she spun around rapidly and made the fiery sword extend outwards. Grunting, she forced the blade to behead the eight other heads of the Hydra in uneven sections.

Slowly landing down to the ground, she heard the loud thud behind her and wiped the sweat on her forehead.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. The cut was uneven, and you made the length and width of the blade too excessive. If you had increased its sharpness instead of increasing its temperature, you would have needed to lessen the effort you used to cut the heads and achieved a more even cut for each head. You still have a lot to learn, Sophia Ordo."

"I get it," Sophia nodded her head, and took those lessons into mind. Even though his tone was condescending, his words were true and she need to work on those sides of her.

Just these past few weeks, her strength has raised by leaps and bounds. Her mana control has increased, while her mana usage was lessened at a rapid rate. She gained a clear awareness of how she excessively used her mana and knew that she needs to work on it.

And so, they continued to walk through the dungeon and Lute taught her more ways to optimize her magic and how to effectively kill the Hydras.

"Instead of using a physical blade, why not just use a blade of flames instead?" Lute suggested, and Sophia instantly implemented it.

One swing from her blade and she watches as the Hydra fell down to the ground, its nine heads charred to a crisp, though its body was also mostly burned, leaving the profits to be earned from it lessen.

"Why not paralyze it first?"

She did as he suggested, and she was able to more cleanly defeat the Hydra. Yet, the body still remained burned.

"Use a blade of lightning instead."

Now, her blade both paralyzed and used less mana compared to before. Though, she had to concentrate more to increase the temperature enough to burn the heads of the Hydra to not let it regenerate. The end result was a cleaner corpse of the Hydra, yet it still looked far worse compared to Lute's attempt.

"You might have forgotten already due to tunnel vision, but Light can burn too, you know."

"Then why didn't you say so in the first place?!"

"What? You must also learn to create new solutions for yourself."

Using his suggestion, her blade easily beheaded the Hydra that Lute captured, and this time, it was the easiest, fastest, and cleanest of them all.

As she was taught more lessons, she clearly saw her rapid improvement.

And as she faces the latest Hydra in front of her, she waved her arm in the air, causing the nine heads of the Hydra to slowly slide off their respective necks, not even a drop of blood can be seen from its body. No damage was done to its scales, the whole body remained intact, along with the severed heads.

Lute clapped beside her, even praising her, "Good, good. With just a wave of your arm, you will be able to behead a dragon. That's a lot of progress for today. Though, you've pretty much tunnel visioned into the 'cut' type of spells."

"Oh, you're right! Argh! You clearly lead me into that route, didn't you?!"

"Fufufu, you caught me. But-"

"Take this as a lesson to try and think outside of the box, and not just from your teacher."

"Oho, getting arrogant, are we? But yes, what you may call teachers might actually be dampening your true potential if you just mindlessly listen to them," Lute smiled, praising her more.

"But, you're just too good! I think that if anyone were to learn under you, they'll easily become a powerful mage in a few years," Sophia praised Lute, clearly respecting him wholeheartedly.

"Aw, shucks, you're making me blush," Lute laughed lightly, and the two continued to walk.

"Also, I've forgotten to say something until now," Sophia reported.

"Hmm, what did you forget to say?? Lute inquired.

"My father wants to meet you."

…

"What?" Lute responded after a long bout of silence.

"It seems like with the news of you beating Duke Sathanas in a fight, along with him probably already knowing that you are my teacher, it seems like he wants to meet you face to face."

"Huh… That truly is a piece of big news to learn while inside a dungeon. Couldn't you have picked a better time to say that to me?" Lute chuckled before his eyes glowed a bright purple.

"Sorry, I was supposed to say it a few hours ago, but I forgot."

"No worries, but it seems like our lesson today will have to end prematurely, [Grasp Heart]," Lute said. Stretching his hand out, Sophia widens her eyes as she saw a transparent conjuration of a beating heart in Lute's hand, which he then closes tightly, causing a squelching sound to be heard by the duo.

As a blue portal appeared in front of the two, Sophia gasped in surprise.

"What did you just do?" Sophia asked.

"I just killed the Boss Hydra. Now, go on, I still have to gather the corpse of the Hydras here for research purposes. I'll see you later after I finish my businesses with the Demon Lord later," Lute smiled.

"Oh, okay. Well, see you later, teacher!"

Watching Sophia walk through the portal, Lute waved his hand to say goodbye.

But, upon watching her vanish, his face became cold and apathetic while he muttered, "Strange… Is the Demon Lord out of my future vision?"

Even though he said that, one can only wonder if what he said was true or not. With his constant bouts of lying and his paranoia, nobody can assume clearly if what he has just said was true or not. Did he say it out loud as bait, or was he too shocked that he abruptly muttered his thoughts out loud?

'It seems like I'll have to accelerate some of my plans.' Lute thought. Slamming his foot to the ground, a ginormous magic circle was formed in the open cavern he was in, while a large sack of coins appeared in his hand. A glint appeared in his eyes as he tossed the sack of coins to the sky, countless thoughts flashed through his mind and he muttered lightly:

"[Buy Attribute: Order and Chaos]."

AN: This chapter has 2129 words.

Don't trust a word that comes out of Braun's mouth. Like, who the fuck is he even plotting against at this point?! The sky? The Goddess? The Demon Lord? A God who suddenly barges into Terra?! His plans are at a whole different dimension already! It's not an exaggeration that he's playing 6th Dimensional Chest already. Just imagine if he were to remove his 'Zero Risk Rule' and made it to 'Very Low Risk Rule', it'd be the difference of Heaven and Earth.

In fact, the concept of 'Low Risk Rule' is gonna be explored a ton in Volume 8: Multiversal War of Villains.

(August 18, 2022 – 267th day of writing)