71 Pandora’s First Star

"Breathe in…"

Huppp—

"Breathe out…"

Huuuu—

Pandora's chest went up and down as she breathed rhythmically.

Her mind was in a meditative state.

Regis's soft voice sounded beside her, guiding her as he gave precise instructions of how to manipulate her mana.

"The process of creating stars is similar for every type of energy."

"Remember that you must always be calm."

"Keep circulating your mana in your mana channels until every strand of mana in your heart has circulated."

This process took about half an hour before Regis felt the pulsation of mana from her.

'I don't remember my breakthrough being this long, though. Strange…' He thought as he stared at her.

"Slowly manipulate the mana in your heart into the shape of a three-pointed star."

"Don't be hasty. Just be calm.

Regis proceeded to give out instructions as to keep her mind focused.

He could see Pandora's face wrinkling.

A few seconds ticked by until…

Woom—!!!!!

A strong wave of mana suddenly erupted throughout the area.

'What the…'

Regis widened his eyes in shock as he felt the unstable, fluctuating mana from Pandora.

'Why did it cause such a commotion? Thankfully, I prepared in case something like this happened.'

Originally, he planned to let her break through in the inn.

However, afraid that some mage or warrior hiding in the village would sense her breakthrough, he took safety measures.

That was also the reason why he suddenly decided to visit the Goblin Forest nearby.

'But this commotion and her unstable mana. I don't remember experiencing anything like this…'

Regis was confused.

After all, when he created a star using demonic power, he did not make a commotion, much less experienced instability of demonic power in his heart.

'Wait, it must be because of…'

It was at that moment that he remembered his gift of Perfect Adaptation.

Cough—

Pandora suddenly coughed up blood.

Regis immediately supported her, "How are you feeling?"

"Not… go..od."

"Just relax and focus on calming down the mana in your heart."

She nodded in response as she closed her eyes and focused once more.

This time, it only took her a few minutes.

"Very good. You can rest now…" Regis smiled as he carefully laid her down on the ground.

He made sure to place some cloth earlier in order to avoid their clothes being dirtied by the soil.

"Hmmm…"

Regis looked at the entrance to the Goblin Forest ahead.

"It seems like we will need to postpone hunting for now…" He muttered as he glanced at the sleeping Pandora.

'Why don't I break through too?'

Regis thought as he sensed the two black stars in his heart, both of which already had six points.

'The area seemed to be safe… I can't sense anyone even after the wave of mana…'

Thinking this, he fixed his posture and got ready.

Since it was his third time doing this, he was familiar with the process even though the difficulty between each breakthrough increased.

'Let's not waste any more time…' He thought as he circulated the demonic power in his heart throughout his body.

He did this for a few minutes, 'This should be enough…'

Sensing his demonic power, he carefully manipulated it into the shape of a three-pointed star.

It was finished just like that.

There was no commotion and his demonic power didn't become unstable afterwards.

Regis felt as if the quality and power of his demonic power only increased, though he was still able to control it with precision.

Opening his eyes, Regis smiled as he found himself inside the strange red space again.

"Let's see…" 

He glanced around, mainly focusing his attention on the black spheres in the sky.

"I've tried going to that and that…"

He muttered as he saw the black spheres with green and red luster.

The only black spheres he still hadn't "paid a visit" to were the black spheres with gray luster and the largest one.

His eyes wandered over to the largest black sphere in the sky.

It was the only one that was pure black.

It had no other color in it, making it seem like an empty spot in the red space.

"Let's save that for the last…"

Regis said to himself as he went and flew over towards the black sphere with gray luster.

The reason for his decision was because he remembered Vanessa's words that he needed an evil craft that dealt with souls.

Although he wasn't very sure, he knew that the black sphere with gray luster had a higher chance of being it.

After all, among the devils, the most infamous was the Devil of Darkness.

Regis remembered reading many fairy tales that had the Devil of Darkness as its main antagonist.

Therefore, he made an educated guess according to the information he knew.

Aside from the Devil of Darkness and Devil of Destruction, the other two devils weren't really "popular" enough.

Regis didn't know the reason if they just liked to be lowkey or not.

'Well, let's not focus on useless things in the meantime…' He sighed as he slowly entered the black sphere with gray luster.

***

In a dark place…

A throne stood in the midst of darkness as a figure could be seen sitting on it.

The figure had long dark green hair that fell to the floor and white, unblemished skin that seemed to glow.

The figure had their hands supporting their cheek as they sat lazily their elegant black dress that seemed to be from the Victorian era touching the floor.

"Huh?"

A soft, melodious and feminine voice resounded in the dark hall.

The figure opened her eyes, revealing a pair of emerald-green eyes that seemed to shine just like the stars.

"Someone entered that space again…"

A demonic circle suddenly manifested in front of the woman.

In it, the scene of the red space could be seen.

The woman stared at the screen in front of her as the scenes in it repeatedly changed.

"Where are you…"

The woman muttered softly.

Nevertheless, despite having looked for more than a few minutes, the woman didn't seem to be able to find the one she was looking for.