The Author's POV

I was in a bit of a pinch if I had to be honest.

I was now attempting to persuade Suriol, whom I had already defeated, to submit to me and watch over the planet while I returned to earth.

There was no need to explain why I needed someone to keep an eye on the planet while I was away.

Aside from being powerful, they needed to be familiar with the ins and outs of the planet, but most importantly, they needed to hold a certain amount of authority within the demons. This was because I needed someone to prevent the demons who resided outside of this planet from having any suspicions about what was going on on this planet.

My top priority was to conceal the existence of this planet, and the only person who could fulfill all of my requirements was Suriol.

There was only one problem.

'This might be a lot harder than I originally anticipated.'

When I felt Suriol's menacing glare turn toward me, I knew it would be much more difficult than I had anticipated to persuade him to do my bidding.

"Should I just feed him to Angelica? ...She might just be able to break through to Duke rank if I give her his core. But I don't know if she will accept it, I do remember her saying that she dislikes this type of stuff. Then, should I just kill him and be done with everything? or should I just use the core to buy the loyalty of one of the demons here? Hmmm..."

I started speaking nonsense while staring at his reaction from the periphery of my vision. It was subtle, but there was definitely a visible paling in his skin tone the more I spoke.

It was from here that I understood that he didn't exactly want to die.

I thus racked my brain and tried to think of something that might convince him to join me.

In all honesty, I had no idea what to say or do at that point in time to persuade him of anything. I felt completely helpless.

That aside, it was also necessary to acknowledge the fact that the other me had never before completely conquered Immorra in the past.

It was also one of the main reasons that led me to want to conquer this planet.

The fact that I was able to learn the truth about my life while being shown the memories of my other self may seem like a curse to some people, but I beg to differ.

The ability to access his memories was essential to my success in defeating him, and there was a very straightforward explanation for why this was the case.

'I know now exactly what he went through and all the paths he has not taken.'

If I wanted to have a better chance of defeating him, I would have to take routes that he had not previously taken. At this point, only the unexpected could beat him, and the complete control of Immorra was my first starting point toward accomplishing this goal.

'However, he has already pillaged all of Immorra's treasures, which is another reason why I need Suriol on my side to open the treasury.'

Due to the fact that my memories were rather hazy, I was unable to say for certain what was hidden behind the treasury; however, I was certain that there was definitely good stuff concealed behind it.

Another reason why I needed to keep Suriol alive.

In light of the aforementioned, how was I supposed to persuade him to support my cause? No matter how much I wracked my brain over the situation, I just couldn't come up with a way to convince him to join my side.

In spite of the many suggestions I made I was only met with a single glare from him.

'Just what am I supposed to do?'

"...Would he be satisfied with the core of a Prince ranked demon?"

I inadvertently spoke out loud while in the midst of my thoughts.

Would he really be satisfied with a core of Prince ranked demon?

"About the core..."

'But what if he's like Angelica and doesn't use this type of method to grow?'

Things would indeed be very troublesome if that was the case as I really didn't think that I had anything else to offer to him aside from that.

"The core..."

"You can talk to me."

"About the core, if you can..."

A few voices sounded in the air whilst I was in the midst of my thoughts.

'Judging from how prideful he is, it is very unlikely that he will accept the offer, but what if he accepts it? Should I just as--"

"Deal."

"Huh? uh?"

The actions of Suriol, which consisted of shaking Amanda's hand to indicate his agreement, jolted me out of my thoughts and caused me to look around. When I noticed their actions and inquired about them, my face contorted into a confused expression.

"What's going on here? What deal? What happened?"

Why were the two of them shaking their hands, and what was this thing about a deal?

A big question mark appeared at the top of my head as I looked around me in confusion. Amanda quickly clarified what had transpired for me, so my confusion did not persist for an excessively long period of time.

"I agreed on a deal with Suriol over here. If you manage to give him a Prince ranked core over the next five years, he said that he will agree to whatever request that you have."

"That's it?"

My eyes darted back and forth between Amanda and Surion as I tried to make sense of what was going on.

Was all I needed to do really offer him a Prince ranked core?

'Okay, I'll admit that it isn't exactly an easy task; rather, it'll probably be one of the most difficult tasks that I will ever have to complete.'

The task was something that the vast majority of people would consider impossible, but...

'It shouldn't be a problem if the time frame is five years. Let alone five years, I barely have two years left to live before I die.'

My goal was Jezebeth. If I couldn't defeat Prince ranked demons in the future, what was the point of even targeting Jezebeth?

I had to be able to do this much if I ever wanted to have a shot at killing Jezebeth.

"Are you sure that's all you need?"

I had to double check with Suriol to see that I hadn't misunderstood anything. I only relaxed when I saw him nod his head in agreement and say, "Yes, that's all I need. If you can promise me that you will give me a Prince ranked core in the next five years, I will have no qualms with doing whatever you ask me to do."

"Alright, deal."

I didn't think twice before agreeing with the deal.

I had no problem with it, and he didn't either, so I took a mana contract out of my dimensional space and scribbled down the terms of the agreement in front of everyone while they watched. I knew that the deal was done at that point.

It didn't take me long to write down all of the rules that had to be followed after signing the agreement.

After I had finished, I turned the contract over to Suriol, and he gave it a quick read before giving his approval.

"I have no problem with it."

As soon as he gave his confirmation, the contract burst into a brilliant golden light, and simultaneously, the area around it began to illuminate. The contract then took flight before pausing right before everyone's heads and exploded into dazzling lights that scattered all over Suriol and I.

At that precise moment, I experienced a peculiar tightening in my chest as the restrictions of the mana contract began to take effect within my body.

Suriol seemed to undergo a similar situation as his face stiffened for a moment.

Shortly after that, his expression returned to normal, and in accordance with our agreement, he did not hesitate before turning around and placing his hand over the large gate.

The moment Suriol's hand came into contact with the door, sparkling lights began to swirl around it. Simultaneously, the surroundings began to shake, and the doors began to part from one another.

Rumble━! Rumble━!

While protecting my eyes with my hand, the gates suddenly parted with a deafening rumbling sound, and another brilliant light shot out from behind the gates.

The brilliant light was only there for a short while before it quickly faded away. After lowering my arm and blinking my eyes a few times, I slowly opened my eyes and was astounded by what I saw.

Suriol stood beside the gate, his gaze fixed on the treasury.

"As per the agreement, here's the treasury."

***

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[[A] Mirage cloak]

[[B] Permeation]

Ding━!

━Do you wish to purchase the following items?

"Purchase."

As Kevin calmly closed his eyes, a plethora of information began to flood his mind. At the same time, a brilliant light shot out from Kevin's body, illuminating the area around him.

With the passage of time, the light gradually dimmed. Only when the light completely faded did Kevin finally open his eyes and crack a satisfied smile.

"...I'm almost there."

He swiped his hand forward, and the panel that stood before him vanished into thin air.

Kevin turned his wrist to check his watch.

"What time is it? 5 am?"

Kevin's face changed when he realized that it was already 5 a.m., so he immediately headed to bed and laid himself there.

'Shit, I got so absorbed with completing the task that I completely forgot that I have to go to Immorra tomorrow. I better get some sleep now.'

Kevin had been concentrating hard on completing the system tasks over the course of the past few days in order to earn enough points to buy the skills that he desired.

He had been considering purchasing the skills for a little more than two years, but it wasn't until now that he had finally amassed enough system points to make the purchase possible.

There was a specific reason as to why he needed those two specific skills. Only with them would he be able to accomplish his goal.

Kevin was planning on doing something big.

Something extremely big. Big enough to completely shake the foundations of the human domain. In a good way of course.

'After I return from Immorra and collect 'that', I will be all ready.'

There was a reason for why Kevin was so adamant about going to Immorra. His plan was almost ready, but there was one last thing he needed that he knew he could only get there; only once he had it, would he be completely prepared.

'Everything will be ready once I come back from Immorra. Only by completing my plan will I be able to increase the chances of Ren killing Jezebeth.'

Kevin secretly clenched his fists as he slowly closed his eyes.

"...I better get some sleep. I just hope that everything goes smoothly."