That evening, May received what she had been waiting for for a long time, a leather-bound book that had been handwritten by Scar. It had no title or introduction. It just began.

  May fell into a frenzy of reading, wanting to learn everything about demons. The first pages were just a theoretical introduction. The elf listed the types of demons and their characteristics.

  There are seven types of demons, corresponding to the seven deadly sins. Created by the Nameless One, known as the Serpent, he possessed seven children who created seven races of demons, destined to wreak havoc on the world.

  The Nameless One, the most powerful of the demons, who is not a demon himself. Father of the seven sins

  Succubus, born of Eleora, the Pregnant Mother of Lust, were the first race of demons in the world. Not long after they emerged, the first profession in the world was developed among the elves.

  Jinns spat out and created from the saliva of their King Lord of Greed Xhindi, deceiving people with their power, which never brings the intended results, their appearance always heralds an impending disaster.

  …

  She read through the descriptions of the demons, which were quite detailed, however the text also contained many legends, unverified facts, and anecdotes, which, in May's opinion, stripped the text of its trustworthiness.

  Nevertheless, she was extremely interested in it. There were no similar books at the academy. Although she was not sure how much of it was true and how much was lies, she could clearly see that the elf had put a lot of work into compiling this book.

  “Now, however, the most interesting part begins...” she said to herself, turning the pages of the book.

  Eargh't Norsa Livverta is a well-known and reiterated elven prophecy spoken by the famous prophetess Elsherothia Sabthh Lorienn. She was known for saving the city of Serothh from a flood and saving thousands of elves from extinction.

  Eargh't Norsa Livverta was the last prophecy. Its exact content was passed down orally from generation to generation.

  It narrates the story of demons. The exact content has not been revealed, but its general message has been conveyed to the common folk.

  When seven children reach the highest state, their creators will be reborn, merge their bodies, and give birth to a serpent that will devour the world.

  May was disappointed, as once again there was nothing concrete. However, she understood the general message.

  Demons cannot gain too much power because the apocalypse will be upon us.

  Her daily routine remained without major changes. Every day, she studied alchemy for many hours, followed by solitary cultivation. Life may not have been very interesting, but it was certainly peaceful. She decided not to bring up the subject of the book for now. She had to think everything through first.

  “Good morning,” she said as she entered the alchemy workshop. Today, she was going to help him again.

  They didn't always deal with potions or pills for cultivators. On the contrary, Scar didn't have many such recipes, as he didn't need them. Therefore, she already knew most of what he had and had mastered it quite well. Over 12 different pills (mostly common rarities) and a few potions.

  “Today we're making hemorrhoid ointment.” he said with a smirk, to which May sighed.

  In fact, it wasn't “hemorrhoids” in the earthly sense of the word. The ointment was intended for perianal lumps that had recently appeared on his goats. Although it was a completely different condition, May thought it was closest to earthly hemorrhoids.

  Unlike hemorrhoids on Earth, this condition also affects animals.

  May had no problem making the ointment itself, but one of the ingredients did.

  “Go get some feces,” he said. “And don't whine. A good alchemist must be ready to work with all ingredients.”

  For some reason, Scar had recently become obsessed with teaching her humility. That's why he had been assigning her only indignities lately.

  Well, at least he's really teaching me something...

  One of the ingredients of the cream was the excrement of an animal known as the Winged Mountain Lynx. Scar kept one in his cave. It was extremely capricious and liked to play mischief. Sometimes it would snatch food, and sometimes it would hide clothes and leave them on high rocks. It also had incredibly foul-smelling fecal waste.

  She approached its lair and immediately covered her nose, unable to stand the stench. She remembered the elf's words: “The intense smell comes from the presence of a substance known as Igilno in its excrement, which, when properly processed, works wonders on all kinds of ailments.”

  With great disgust caused by the unpleasant smell, she packed the excrement into a box and carried it back.

  Now she had to process it. The process consisted of compressing it as much as possible and evaporating the water contained in the fresh excrement. Then, to obtain a pure liquid containing Iglino, she had to react what was left with several liquids.

  The whole process took her about two and a half hours, but she finally finished.

  “Not bad,” he said, seeing what she had achieved. “But you lost about ten percent by rinsing it too long in Wolf's Paw liquid.”

  “My mistake, I was distracted by keeping an eye on the flame and forgot to stir it every two minutes.”

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  “It's okay this time, but in the future you'll be working with more expensive ingredients and a mistake like that would be irreparable,” he said. “But that's all for today."

  Usually, after the laboratory, May would go to her room, where she cultivated, but lately she had grown tired of that place.

  “Could I go outside the cave?” she asked. “Most of the snow has melted. You said I could go out then.”

  “When it's all melted, I said. But it wouldn't hurt you to go outside, you look terribly pale.” He said, looking at her closely. “You can go, but Frondo will keep an eye on you. There may be parasites around, not to mention wild beasts. I don't control them all.”

  She left together with the rock troll. From time to time, he muttered something to himself.

  May left the cave for the first time in a long time and, dazed, sighed happily when she saw the mountains surrounding her. The sun was still quite high in the sky.

  “SICK?!” Frondo roared, clearly concerned about her condition. He had been ordered to protect her and took his duty very seriously.

  “No,” she finally replied. “All right.”

  She had to speak to him in a simple and concise manner so that he would understand. Most trolls did not speak human languages, but this one was exceptionally intelligent, having been taught by an elf for decades.

  “Why hissing?!”

  “Because I left the cave,” she said. “I like it out here.”

  “Like it? Stupid!”

  For now, the conversation was interrupted because May's attention was drawn to birds flying from the direction of the academy. They were huge and shone with a golden color. She became thrilled.

  I really missed seeing something other than caves.

  May continued her journey through the mountains. The snow had melted, so it was much easier to walk. In addition, she didn't have to worry about the beasts that roamed the mountain; a troll over four meters tall was definitely not someone a mere beast would want to provoke.

  Even a cultivator at the Foundation Establishment stage would have to think twice about whether it is a good idea.

  Her walk had already lasted over half an hour, and she had no intention of returning yet. She wanted to take full advantage of it. However, she didn't get very far, as Frondo was extremely slow. She was considerate towards him, nevertheless. He wasn't a bad creature, just a little slow, both in mind and in movement.

  As they continued walking, something resembling a deer suddenly jumped out in front of them. However, its antlers were so huge that they looked more like tree branches. The face of this deer-like creature was also peculiar, as it looked more like a combination of a deer and a turtle.

  May moved closer; the animal was quite cute, and she wanted to get closer and pet it.

  However, as soon as Frondo noticed the deer-turtle, he jumped out at tremendous speed. He was able to move quickly. The deer-like animal tried to escape, but before it could, Frondo struck it with his massive hand and pinned the poor animal to the ground.

  After the blow, all that was left of the beast was a bloody mess on the ground. May hissed in fear. It was too sudden and she didn't expect it.

  “What did you do?” she asked, slightly shocked.

  “Protected. Beast." he said briefly.

  “It seemed friendly...” she said uncertainly. Although it may have been a beast, it didn't look aggressive or dangerous.

  “A beast is a beast. Kill it.” he said as if she were an idiot.

  To tell the truth, she felt like an idiot. She sighed. Although she wasn't prepared for it, he might have actually protected her.

  She may have looked friendly, but she was a beast...

  “Good job, Frondo.” she said, and he nodded approvingly.

  She decided she had had enough of this stroll and settled on returning to the cave. Besides, from now on she would be able to go out more often. After seeing the smashed deer lying in a pool of blood and guts, she lost all desire to continue her journey.

  “Let's go back.” she said to the Rock Troll, who grunted in agreement.

  They began to make their way back through. The Island Mountain Sect was not known as one of the most beautiful places on the entire continent for nothing. The mountains were incredibly beautiful, covered with the first colorful flowers that were breaking through the snow.

  The rocks they passed through and climbed to continue their journey were covered with yellow moss that was extremely pleasant to the touch.

  Suddenly, she felt an enormous force upon her. It was Frondo who had pushed her with his gigantic hand.

  He attacked me!?

  She was in shock, not knowing why he had suddenly hit her. She flew backwards, but nothing serious happened to her. However, she was under enormous stress because she knew she had no chance against a rock troll.

  After a moment, however, she noticed that Frondo was looking for something. He didn't want to punch her, but to protect her!

  “Run.” he said in a hoarse voice.

  Just then, she noticed a figure in the distance, approaching them at great speed.

  Before she could turn around, he was only a few meters away. He was a man with short black hair and a fairly large beard. He looked about thirty years old, and his face was covered with scars. He looked like someone who had traveled a lot, and he was dressed rather sloppily.

  The man suddenly drew his sword and struck the troll straight in the stomach, but the sword bounced off its thick skin, and the man only smiled at the sight.

  Frondo, however, did not allow himself to be attacked. The troll was accustomed to fighting and destruction. Before he was taken in by the elf, he had fought many wild beasts, destroyed nests of flying monsters, and burned down one or two human villages.

  He slammed his enormous arms, but was unable to reach him, only damaging the ground and causing huge tremors. He did not know what to do, unable to hit his opponent.

  Man nimbly dodged his attacks. May suddenly noticed that the man was looking straight at her and smiling at her in a disgusting way. The cultivator held his ground cautiously, avoiding the troll's brutal but simple attacks.

  May suddenly noticed that cultivator was preparing to attack, and she felt Qi rising in his blade! It was some kind of technique, and a very powerful one judging by the amount of Qi. She knew that this blow would certainly hurt Frondo.

  “Watch out!” she shouted at Frond, trying to warn him.

  He heard her, but ignored her, confident in the durability of his skin. Unfortunately, when the sword struck his body, his blue blood spilled out. He howled in pain.

  However, he knew he had to protect the girl, so ignoring his injuries, he struck with the same hand that had been cut. May could only hear the troll's labored breathing and the chaotic stomping of his feet as he desperately tried to keep up with the man.

  This man... He's too powerful... He must be at least at the Foundation Establishment stage! What is he doing here?

  She continued to watch the fight. Unfortunately, the troll had no advantage, he was too slow, and she couldn't hit him even once.

  Although May thought she should run away, she decided to help the troll. She didn't want to abandon him in his time of need.

  She was at the peak of the 5th stage of Qi Refinement. No one a whole stage lower is able to defeat an opponent a stage higher, but this wasn't a one-on-one fight. She didn't have to defeat him alone, she just had to help Frondo.

  Besides, she suspected that the elf already knew about it. It was only a matter of time before he arrived. They didn't have to win, they just had to buy enough time for Scar to arrive.

  Besides, I could use some combat experience...