Conquest Path Of The Prince Of Darkness

Lucien narrowed his eyes slightly. "So that’s the testing artifact..."

*Holy Mana Resonance Pillar.* The system answered calmly inside his head. *An artifact capable of analyzing mana purity, rank, and spiritual alignment.*

Lucien swallowed subtly. He possessed two different existences within himself. One holy... and one demonic. If both appeared during the test, everything would end instantly.

Names were called one after another as students nervously approached the crystal pillar. Some placed their hands against it and caused it to glow gold or white, earning approving nods from the priests. Others weren’t as fortunate.

One young man stepped forward with trembling hands and touched the pillar. Instantly, the crystal turned dark purple.

The entire hall froze. The white-robed priest calmly raised his hand, and chains made of holy light suddenly wrapped around the screaming student.

"WAIT! PLEASE—!" the young guy cried out.

A glowing magic circle appeared beneath him before streams of mana were forcibly ripped from his body like smoke being extracted from flesh itself.

The boy screamed in agony before collapsing unconscious onto the floor but he wasn’t dead, only drained of magical essence. Fear spread throughout the hall instantly.

Some students nearly fainted while others ran out crying. Lucien frowned slightly. "That’s brutal..."

*Divine purification process confirmed.* the system replied emotionlessly.

Finally, a voice echoed through the hall. "Lucien Vilor."

The whispers immediately returned the moment he stepped forward.

"That’s him..."

"The handsome one..." 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

"Those eyes are strange..."

Even the priestess organizing the examination frowned slightly while watching him approach. "One of his eyes resembles demonic mutation," she whispered quietly to the priest beside her.

"Possibly a bloodline variation," the man replied while observing Lucien carefully.

Lucien stopped before the crystal pillar, his heart beating slightly faster as sweat slowly formed on his forehead. Inside his mind, countless thoughts ran wildly.

Which core will appear...? The holy one or the demonic one?

*Remain calm.* the system said immediately. *Your impurities have been sealed*

Lucien slowly placed his hand against the crystal. The reaction was immediate.

A blinding white light erupted from the pillar, illuminating the entire hall with holy brilliance. The glowing inscriptions around the room activated simultaneously as pure sacred mana spread through the air.

Gasps echoed everywhere.

"A heavenly core..."

"Incredible purity..."

Golden letters slowly formed above Lucien’s head. —ARCH PRIEST RANK— —EARLY STAGE—

The suspicion within the priests instantly disappeared. "It must truly be his bloodline," the priestess muttered while staring at his unique eyes again.

Lucien silently released the breath he had been holding. The sweat on his forehead vanished completely as relief washed over him.

*Examination passed.*

After several more tests involving mana control, endurance, and spiritual compatibility, the final examination was finally announced. The white-robed priest raised his hand, causing space behind him to distort violently before a gigantic portal of light appeared.

"The final trial shall test your survival ability," he declared calmly. "You will enter the Beast Realm. Hunt beasts and collect their mana cores. The higher the beast rank, the higher the points you get from their powerful cores."

Assistants began distributing black bags to every student. Lucien examined his curiously. "What’s this?" He muttered.

*Spatial storage bag.* the system answered immediately. *An item capable of storing massive quantities of objects within a separate dimensional space.*

Lucien’s eyes widened slightly. "So it’s basically unlimited storage..." *Correct.*

Soon, students began entering the portal one after another. The moment Lucien stepped through, the scenery around him changed completely.

Massive crimson forests stretched endlessly beneath dark skies while terrifying roars echoed from distant mountains. Dense magical energy filled the atmosphere itself.

Lucien smirked slightly while cracking his neck. "Perfect, I’ll have to test what I can do."

Thanks to the memories inherited from the previous Lucien, he already understood beast rankings very well. Low-level beasts were useless to him.

"My targets are Earth-Shattering Beasts and Calamity Beasts."

For hours, he hunted continuously through the forest. Holy flames incinerated beasts while shadow spears pierced through monsters with ease. His spatial bag slowly filled with glowing mana cores, though most belonged to weaker beasts.

Then suddenly.

BOOM.

BOOM.

BOOM.

Heavy footsteps shook the ground violently., Lucien’s expression sharpened immediately as a gigantic creature emerged from the forest.

Its body resembled a heavily armored black gorilla covered in crimson magical strings that moved like living snakes around its muscles. Dark mana leaked from its mouth while its glowing red eyes locked directly onto him.

A Calamity Beast. The creature grinned mockingly. "A tiny human child dares enter my territory?"

Lucien smirked calmly. "A talking beast? Interesting."

The monster laughed thunderously. "You are too small to challenge me."

The beast attacked first, smashing its massive fist into the ground hard enough to shatter the earth itself. Lucien instantly vanished backward using Celestial Step elemental ability before reappearing above the creature.

"Holy Severance!" he summoned his arcane ability to the beast and a massive arc of holy mana descended from the sky, but the crimson strings around the beast instantly hardened and blocked the attack with a loud metallic crash.

Lucien narrowed his eyes. "Those strings again..."

The beast roared and launched dozens of magical strings toward him like deadly whips. Lucien immediately formed shadow spears around himself.

"Demonic Pierce." he summoned his shadow ability and the attacks collided midair, causing violent explosions that shook the forest repeatedly.

Lucien continuously unleashed spell after spell, holy fire, shadow blades, compressed mana bursts, and wind-enhanced strikes but the beast remained overwhelmingly durable.

Suddenly, its fist slammed directly into his ribs. CRACK!

Lucien crashed violently through multiple trees as blood escaped his mouth.

*HP decreasing rapidly. 1200/5000*

"Tch... stupid monster..." The beast laughed loudly while slowly approaching him. "You rely too much on stupid power, boy."

Lucien forced himself up and charged again, but exhaustion had already begun catching up to him. His mana reserves burned rapidly while the beast continued overpowering him physically. Another devastating strike sent him flying once more.

His vision blurred slightly. The beast walked toward him calmly. "Die."

"I can’t die again!" He said nostalgically, "I can’t die againnn!" He now said it with full confidence, Something inside Lucien snapped instantly.

Dark mana erupted violently from his body. His sclera turned pitch black while his crimson eye glowed brighter than blood itself. The greenish-blue eye also intensified until it resembled divine light.

The atmosphere changed completely, the beast instinctively stepped backward. "What... are you?"

*Breakthrough Detected! Mana Core is expanding to accommodate the overflow. Rank Up: mid-stage, Transcendent Dominion.