When Ethan came to his senses, he found himself in an unknown pce, surrounded by darkness. He clenched his chest in panic, but surprisingly, he didn’t feel any pain. Memories came flooding into his head. He remembered that he lost consciousness due to severe pain in his chest. “Did I have a heart attack? How am I still alive?” he murmured to himself. Ethan looked around, trying to figure out where he was. At first, his vision was blurry, but slowly, he regained focus. Ethan saw a shiny blue screen open in front of him. It read, Congratutions!! You have leveled up!! Your talent [Awareness] has been upgraded to [Self-conciousness]. “What the hell is this?” Ethan murmured to himself. “I leveled up? Am I in a game? Am I not a human anymore? What happened to me?” Ethan looked at his cwed hands in wonder. In his previous life, Ethan did not take care of his health. No exercise, junk food, and sitting for long hours in front of a computer made him chubby. He even grew a second chin. But his current body felt different. It’s muscur and lean, covered with bck scales of some sort. With his new hands, he felt his face, body, and even the horns on his head. Unlike his human body, he felt strong and energetic. “This is my new body in a new word! I have been reborn!” Ethan excimed. “Thank God! I don’t have to work nine to five jobs anymore.” Ethan looked around. His eyes were now accustomed to darkness. But the gory sight that y in front of him made him uncomfortable. Human body parts were scattered around on the blood-soaked floor. A putrid smell filled the air around him. Another wave of memories flooded his mind. He remembered that a few moments ago, he was in a dreamlike state, a passive observer. Things just happened around him, and he had no control over himself. He remembered that he had fought with the adventurers’ party. Once they were defeated, he even devoured their flesh. He remembered their faces, their screams, their futile attempts to fight him, and at the very end, their despair as life left their eyes. Strangely, he didn't feel any remorse for his actions. “Maybe because I am no longer a human, I don't have those humane emotions either. I feel nothing about them being dead and lying in pieces in front of me. Now that I think about it, they are the ones who attacked me first. Serves them right,” he thought. It was apparent to Ethan that he was fundamentally different from those adventurers. “But what am I exactly?” he murmured. He felt as if other people’s memories got entangled with his own. The memories of their entire lives were floating around inside his head, pying themselves like YouTube videos. In those memories, he saw them ughing, crying, fighting, and spending time with loved ones. He remembered their faces. Those same faces are now lying dead on the floor. Their facial features got twisted so much, it made them almost unrecongnizable. In those memories, he saw those adventurers use specific commands to bring up the transparent blue screen before them. Ethan decided to try as well. “[Status],” he commanded. It brought up a blue screen in front of him, simir to the previous one that informed him about leveling up. He read the details. Arion, Master of Dark Arts Race: Primordial DemonCss: Prince of DarknessAge: UnknownCurrent Level: 120Current statusHealth: 5000/5000Mana: 10000/10000Stamina: 850/850 Primary StatisticsStrength: 500Agility: 275Intelligence: 1000Mastery: 800Physical Def: 10%Magic Def: 25%Spell Amplification: 10%Damage Reduction: 5% He looked at the numbers for a while, trying to understand their meanings. “Wow!! It is like a game system where numbers represent my general capabilities. So, in this world, I am a demon named Arion. I am also at level 120, which seems pretty high.” He spoke to himself. He looked at the other numbers under the ‘Primary stats’ section. These numbers on the secondary stats did not reveal the whole story. “My intelligence stat is the highest, and agility is the lowest. It might be because I am a spell-caster. At least, that’s what those adventurers said.” He paused for a bit. “ I don't know how high these numbers can go. Usually, in games I have pyed, secondary stats are essential if the pyer is trying to min-max their combat capability. If I want to survive, I have to understand these numbers and possibly py around my weaknesses.” He thought. He again looked at the bodies of the adventurers who had attacked him. They all were between twenty and twenty-five levels. They had no chance against him one-on-one due to the level gap. Even then, the group managed to defeat him once. He remembered feeling pain as multiple magical bsts hit him and blew him to pieces. After that, something again brought him back. It’s evident that the adventurers were not ready for his reincarnation. And they fell to his onsught. “It has to be some skill or spell. I must be having the ability to reincarnate!” Ethan murmured. He tried to use a different command, “[Spells].” Another semi-transparent screen appeared before him, listing all his spells. He noticed the spells are organized based on rarity. Starting from legendary spells and moving all the way down to common ones. Ethan got excited seeing that he already had three legendary spells in his arsenal. But his excitement mellowed down as he read through their description. Legendary Spell : [Perfect Hypnosis]Puts the target under complete hypnosis, masking all of its senses. Allows the caster to use [Observe] and [Summon] on the affected target, irrespective of the target’s location.The effect of this spell stays active as long as the caster does not withdraw it. Can be used on one target at a time.It can only be cast on targets whose levels are lower than the caster’s.This spell cannot be blocked or reflected. Legenday Spell : [Demonic Conversion]Converts a stationary, living target into a demon, irrespective of their race and css.The converted target becomes bound by the caster’s will.The caster can alter the target’s body and ego during the conversion. However, once the conversion is complete, it cannot be updated.The conversion enhances the targets’ abilities and grants them new abilities or talents based on their css.The converted target is connected with the caster via [Mind Link], and the caster can use [Observe] and [Summon] on the affected target, irrespective of the target’s location.The target receives bonus stats and abilities during conversion if it is willing.This effect is permanent and cannot be reverted. However, the caster can [Disintegrate] the converted target anytime. The current maximum number of conversions is five.Demonic Conversion will fail if the target’s resistance is too high.Consumes 75% of the caster’s mana. [Observe]: Opens a one-way dimensional portal to view the target affected by [Perfect Hypnosis]. No direct or indirect interaction with the target is possible through the dimensional portal. [Summon]: Summons the target affected by [Perfect Hypnosis] in front of the caster, irrespective of the target’s and the caster’s location and state. [Mind Link]: The caster can open a communication channel between him and the target affected by [Demonic Conversion], irrespective of their locations. [Disintegrate]: Discards a converted target and opens up the slot it occupies. The converted target disintegrates to nothingness. “What the hell!!” Ethan almost shouted. “Really? These are my ‘legendary’ spells? How am I supposed to fight with these?”. He reread the details. He was right; these abilities were powerful but not very combat-oriented. Sure, anyone lower than his current level has no chance against him in a one-on-one fight due to spells like [Perfect Hypnosis]. But they do not inflict any direct damage. From his limited experience of this world, Ethan knows adventurers fight in groups. They challenge enemies stronger than themselves and rely on their numbers and team coordination. Both of his legendary spells are single-target abilities, so they are not very effective against a group of adventurers attacking him. On top of that, both of the spells do nothing against an enemy who is of a higher level than himself. In his previous life, Ethan had pyed various role-pying games. He used to prefer to py as a melee damage dealer, like a strong warrior wielding a greatsword or an agile assassin hiding in the shadows and striking with twin daggers. The damage numbers on his screen used to surge his dopamine levels, bringing temporary joy to his otherwise mundane life. He never liked mages or casters with spells having long casting times. He always felt that they were slow and ckluster. In those games, legendary equipment or skills inflicted a lot of damage on the enemies. Ethan was expecting the same type of devastating and cool effects from his legendary spells. But instead, he only got mind-control spells. He was not very happy being a spellcaster in the first pce, and now these legendary spells made him a bit more disappointed with himself. “Well, I guess it can’t be helped. At least I am still alive.” He let out a sigh and scrolled down the list. Next were the rare spells. Rare Spell : [Mass Hypnosis]: Proficiency Level: 1Put all the targets in the range under hypnosis for a limited duration. The effect is nullified if the target realizes it is under a spell. It can only be cast on targets at a lower level than the caster.Reduces the affected target’s resistance towards [Demonic Conversion] Rare Spell : [Wave of Fear]: Proficiency Level: 1Releases an invisible pulse of dark energy in all directions surrounding the caster.Targets hit by the wave are paralyzed in fear for a short duration.Applies a debuff on the affected targets, which decreases the target’s magic resistance.The debuff also increases the effectiveness of the caster's subsequent spell cast on the affected target.Reduces the affected target’s resistance towards [Demonic Conversion] Rare Spell : [Summon Familiar]: Proficiency Level: 1Summons two wraths to fight for you. The summoned wrath’s level depends upon the caster’s level and proficiency level of this spell. “Alright. These are not so bad. I can see how the spells are interlinked with each other.” Ethan murmured. “But there is still nothing that will actually damage my opponents.” Although, he remembered while fighting the adventurer group, he used some damaging spells. “Could those be even lower tier spells?” He scrolled on the screen and finally found them under the common spells section. Common Spell: [Dark Nova]: Proficiency level: 1Channels five pulses of dark energy in all directions surrounding the caster within five seconds.These pulses deal shadow damage to the enemies.Any movement during channeling will cancel the channel. Common Spell: [Shadow Malestorm]: Proficiency level: 1Gathers dark energy in the shape of a sphere for two secondsThe sphere explodes upon impact and deals shadow damage in the surrounding area. Common Spell: [Mind Fre]: Proficiency level: 1Allows the caster to gaze inside the target’s memories.The target’s memories get saved inside the caster’s mind.Channeling time is five seconds.The caster must maintain physical contact with the target to continue the channel. “Oh my god! Five seconds and two seconds of casting time.” Ethan’s inner monologue came out of his mouth involuntarily. He was startled hearing his demonic voice for the first time. It sounded deep and ominous, like a demon. “At least I have a sexy voice.” He sighed.