Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

It would also mean that he would finally be able to sense the true essence of the mystical energy and acquire those dreadful skills the Demon Earls had. Not only that, the rank up from a demon viscount to a demon earl meant that his body would be going through various qualitative changes.

For example, his bloodline. A Demon Earl's bloodline was much purer than a Demon viscount. So when he ranks up, the purity of his demon lineage will be on a whole other level and the effects it would have on his mind would also be on a whole other level.

A demon nobles rank is not only measured by the purity of their bloodline but also the capacity of mystical energy they can hold in their body, the amount of strength they can exert, their mind, skills and the comprehension of the mysteries of mana that they possess.

Everything goes through a qualitative change when a demon noble ranks up. Just by thinking about it, Simon was getting excited.

How long had it been since he ranked up last? If you count that it has been more than 1 year 2 months since he came to this world and take out the three months it took for him to rank up to a demon viscount from that, it has been more than 11 months since then.

11 months after becoming a demon viscount, Simon was about to step into a new rank soon. If any other demon nobles heard that they would be stunned beyond belief. Never has there ever been a precedence that a low ranking Demon baron with an inferior bloodline managed to rank up twice in less than a year.

Forget about it being possible or not, even if it was possible for a demon baron to become a demon earl they would at least need hundreds of years and an accumulation of incredible treasures, willpower and a miracle for something like that to even happen.

So Simon ranking up in less than 2 years is nothing short of impossible for others to believe or accept after all it broke all norms and common sense.

Well, all of it would only be true once he ranks up. Simon hadn't forgotten about the shackles that bound him and every other organism, the undeniable law of this world. The purity of one's bloodline.

One needed a pure and strong bloodline to climb the ladders in this world. Since Simon's bloodline was very impure due to being a demon born from mana and all, he had not the slightest chance of ranking up even if he reaches level 500.

However, that law would have applied to him if he didn't have his [main menu] with him. One of the options of the Main menu, [Character] allowed him to view his stats, skills and magic just like the status.

However, unlike the status system of this world, the [Character] option of his [main Menu] was much more advanced in that it had additional two functions, [Promote] and [Constellation].

[Constellation] was the function that provided more detail on his title, Demon of Pride. It showed him all the fragments of pride that he possessed in a Cygnus constellation pattern. The stars that were locked, represented the incomplete or missing fragments of pride and the star that was shining was the fragment that was currently in his possession.

However, what baffled him then and even now was that the status of this world showed him that there were only 5 fragments of pride whereas the [constellation] displayed six. Simon didn't know if it was some kind of bug or not and how to gather the fragments.

It was not like he didn't think about asking someone however, those demons that had the fragment, were the demon lords. He couldn't just go to their place and say 'Oh Hey!! Can you tell me how to gather the fragments?' now can he?

In the first place, possessing a Fragment of Sin made one exceptional amongst exceptional in the demon hierarchy. They were a special existence even above the Demon Archduke and were born with an extraordinary destiny.

From what he had seen in the Walpurgis, a person holding the fragment of sin was bound to become the demon lord carrying the glory and envy of all demonkind. It was further confirmed by Aldebaran when he sensed the fragment within him.

That is why Simon cannot ask anyone about this as that would be revealing one of his biggest secrets to someone else. If that someone harboured ill intent in their heart, they would try to kill him or snatch his fragment if that was possible.

Simon wasn't an idiot, he knew how having a treasure and not having the power to protect would lead someone to. It would only bring him unwanted troubles, greed and jealousy of everyone if he revealed that he possessed the fragment of pride.

That is why asking someone about that was a no go and also the reason why he had left the [Constellation] option alone.

The other function [Promote] was what gave Simon his confidence and power to rebel against the unwritten law of this world. [Promote] allowed him to achieve the same effects as the rank up of sorts of this world.

In the game, this option was meant to break the cap limit of the players allowing them to reach new heights. Essentially, the function allowed Simon to ignore the rules of this world and rank up and break through his limiters, something that would be unthinkable for others.

And it was not like he was just making an assumption, he had actually tried the function and ranked up to become a demon viscount. Since that was the case, Simon wasn't worried that he would be shackled by the limiters placed on him by the world.

Seeing Simon's eagerness, Irene nodded her head and said—

"You have already acquired the [Mana lines] and are now able to channel your mana throughout your body in an organised and orderly manner. The other skill [Minimal Mana Consumption] allows you to cast magic or skills with less amount mana without affecting its firepower, cast or effectiveness. This way, not only are you cutting down on your mana expenditure, but you are also reducing the strain on your mana pool".

"For warriors with limited MP, this skill can turn the tides of a battle. Now that you have acquired both the skill you cast magic and skills more efficiently and with less amount of mana than what it would take others to cast the same".

"These are your building blocks for growth, thanks to you acquiring them earlier, when you rank up, they will also advance with you. Now, the next set skill that you need to master before you reach level 500 is [Mana Flow]".

Irene spoke adopting the disposition of a teacher. This made all those who were present not goof and listen intently to her. Given that how Alice and Cecilia had stopped talking altogether and were looking at Irene, Simon could say that it was working.

"[Mana Flow] is a skill that allows to you control things and objects without touching them physically. The principle behind this skill is to emit your mana out from your body and control it like how you do with your arms and legs. Think of it an extension of your body… like this"...

Saying that, Irene extended her hand and with the gesture of her index finger, a stone immediately flew towards her. The stone was not being touched physically nor was there any trick behind this, it was the simple application of [Mana Flow].

"You must have seen this kind of skill being used during your adventures. In fact, you have also learned a technique that kind of achieves a similar effect".

When Irene said that Simon recalled those high levelled adventurers he met near the flatlands of the Aqualin city. Even without touching physically, they were able to recall their swords and dagger back into their hands.

Also, a few days ago when he was fighting the ogres, he saw how they were capable of transferring mana into their weapons without even touching them. They have to be using a similar skill.

On that note, Irene was right he did indeed have a technique that sort of achieved the same effect. The technique he was talking about was none other the "[Dominator's Control]…". A legacy technique passed onto him by Irene.

The [Dominator's Control technique could also control things and objects from a distance. But it used runes instead of Mana and its effect wasn't only limited to inanimate objects.

"Right, I derived this technique from the [Mana Flow] skill. It can be said that the technique is the advanced application of the [Mana Flow]. For you who have learned the [Dominator's Control] technique and understand some of its fundamentals, it would be much easier for you to learn the [Mana Flow] skill".

Irene explained, no matter how much the technique has deviated over the years, it was still derived from the [Man flow] skill thus Simon who had learned this technique, should be able to learn the [mana flow] skill relatively easily.

Just like how he had acquired [mana lines] using his [Ancestral symbol Ignition] he could achieve the same using the [Dominator's Control].

Simon nodded his head called out his [A] tier crimson blade and used the technique to move it around. He then closed his eyes and tried to understand it on a deeper level. [Mana Flow] is all about emitting mana out of your body and controlling it just like your own limb.