Becoming the Dark Lord

Five days had passed since Luke returned home. At first, the lack of danger felt unreal, no renegades to worry about, no Bartholomew lurking in the shadows, no looming final event from the tutorial. Instead, he was simply… living. Just like before. Like the old life he used to have.

“Mom, can we get ice cream?” Lillian asked from the shopping cart, her feet swinging back and forth.

“We’ll see. First we need to buy the things on the list,” Clara replied.

They were at the supermarket. Lillian sat inside the cart, and Luke wandered the aisles studying the shelves as if he were at a museum exhibit.

“Human, there are more exposed corpses,” Franky muttered.

The little wyvern was in the laundry cart, hidden beneath one of Lillian’s coats, his voice a low rumble against Luke’s ribs.

Luke glanced in the direction Franky meant and found… a section full of dolls. Dozens of them staring blankly from plastic boxes.

“So you like dolls now, huh?” Luke whispered.

“A proper beast decorates its den with the bodies of lesser creatures. If you want to show dominance, you should fill your room with those,” Franky declared.

“Your advice is terrible,” Luke muttered.

He pulled his phone from his pocket. Using it again felt strange, yet familiar, almost like interacting with the system. Did the system teach my universe how to invent a touchscreen just so we’d get used to menus and interfaces?

He tucked the thought away and checked the notifications piling up.

‘Eleanor_BackInUSA created the group: Tutorial Idiots’

‘Eleanor_BackInUSA added you to the group’

‘NaughtyNinja_69 joined the group’

‘Jack_Bean_Healer joined the group’

The group was officially active.

‘NaughtyNinja_69 sent a photo’

Evangeline had sent a picture of herself in a bikini at a pool.

‘NaughtyNinja_69: I’m going to spend the rest of my life living in luxury hotels.’

Luke closed the photo immediately, cursing the ninja woman in silence.

‘Eleanor_BackInUSA: I’ve missed technology so much. I bought five different phones just to make up for the lost time.’

She attached a selfie of herself sitting with five phone boxes stacked on her lap. Luke glanced at the phone in his hand.

Maybe I should buy a new one too.

‘Jack_Bean_Healer: I found out my mom and dad got back together while I was missing.’

Luke typed a quick congratulations.

‘Jack_Bean_Healer: But it looks like they got divorced again.’

‘NaughtyNinja_69: You must be the curse of your family.’

Evangeline sent more photos, different poses, same bikini, same pool.

‘Who’s taking these pictures?’ Luke asked.

‘NaughtyNinja_69: I used my rank skill.’

Another ping followed immediately.

‘Eleanor_BackInUSA: So, when are we meeting again officially? I have a job proposal for all of you.’

‘NaughtyNinja_69: A job? I’m retired. I’m living a life of luxury surrounded by hot men from now on.’

Before the conversation spiraled even further, which usually meant more Evangeline photos, Luke closed the chat app. While his mother and sister walked ahead, he opened the system screen. Some things finally made sense. Now that his body had reached rank E, his attributes had increased, but also split. His HP, MP, and stamina pools stayed the same, but the attribute separation caught him off guard.

Strength had been divided into two stats: Strength and Lethality.

His original Strength had been 760. Now it displayed 421. The remaining 760 had transferred entirely into Lethality. Definitely the influence of his class. Before, when his Strength increased, it didn’t necessarily translate into physical power. Most of it went into the Lethality attribute instead. Those attributes had always existed under the surface, his body had just been too limited to separate them. Now it could.

Name: Luke

Level: 50

Race: Half-Demon

Rank: E

Class: [Demonic Predator (Lvl 60)]

2nd Class: [Witch (Lvl 0)]

Profession: [Guardian Botanist of Mother Freya (Lvl 60)]

Titles: [Dark Lord]

Bloodline: [Bloodline of the Dark Demon]

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Health Points (HP): 4780/4780

Mana Points (MP): 5630/(5630)

Stamina: 3030/(3030)

Soul Fragments: 303/1000

Stats:

Strength: 421

Lethality: 760

Agility: 550 (560)

Dexterity: 324

Endurance: 303

Vitality: 478

Toughness: 167

Perception: 504 (514)

Wisdom: 558 (563)

Intelligence: 266

Willpower: 600

Free Points: 2

Class Skills: [Advanced Blade Handling (Uncommon)], [Profane Knife Throwing (Uncommon)], [Twin Blade (Common)], [Basic Dark Dash (Rare)], [Basic Blood Regeneration (Rare)], [Predator’s Mark (Rare)], [Demonic Blade Dance (Rare)], [Wraith Form (Ultra-Rare)], [Force Infusion (Rare)], [Advanced Stealth (Rare)], [Assassin’s Tracking (Rare)], [Mana Infusion (Rare)], [Basic Archery (Common)], [Demonic Predator Hands (Epic)]

Second Class Skills: [Basic Magic Conjuration (Common)], [Teleportation Pentagram (Legendary)]

Profession Skills: [Herbology of Mother Freya (Ancient)], [Precise Extraction (Common)], [Basic Potion Crafting (Common)], [Corrupted Plant Growth (Rare)], [Plant Sensor (Uncommon)], [Botanical Bond of Mother Freya (Rare)], [Seed Conversion (Rare)], [Plant Manipulation of Mother Freya (Rare)], [Corrupted Blood of Mother Freya (Ultra-Rare)], [Thorn Mutation (Uncommon)], [Soil Analysis (Uncommon)], [Botanical Purification (Uncommon)], [Acid Blood Arrow (Epic)]

Race Skills: [Identify (Common)], [Demonic Perception (Uncommon)], [Dark Blood (Uncommon)], [Advanced Meditation (Uncommon)], [Demonic Endurance (Uncommon)]

Rank Skill: [Soul Infiltration (Rank F)]

Bloodline Skill: [Servant of the Dark Lord (Unique)]

Servants: [Charlotte Vespertilio (Vampire) - Lvl 50], [Angie (Stone Angel) - Lvl 0]

Familiar: [Ancient Wyvern (Rank F)]

Luke used Identify on each attribute, wanting to understand them in detail. From now on, this knowledge mattered.

[Strength]: Measures both physical power and the effectiveness of heavy weapons. Increases damage for brute-force melee attacks such as punches, hammers, maces, axes, and greatswords. Also determines the ability to lift weight, throw heavy objects, break obstacles, and endure hostile environments through raw physical force.

[Lethality]: Measures the refinement of damage. Directly increases the harm dealt by slashing and piercing weapons such as swords, daggers, and spears, enhancing critical potential, vital-point accuracy, and defense penetration. This is the stat that turns precise strikes into lethal wounds.

[Agility]: Governs bodily speed and reflexes. Increases movement speed, fluidity in combat, effectiveness of dodges, lunges, and repositioning, and improves tasks requiring quick reactions or nimble footwork.

[Dexterity]: Defines precision and fine motor control. Essential for handling thrown weapons, performing delicate maneuvers, and maintaining stability in combat. Increases the accuracy and damage of thrown weapons, ensuring more powerful and accurate shots. Also improves complex manual tasks and instruments requiring fine skill.

[Endurance]: Represents long-term physical resilience. Governs stamina, the ability to withstand prolonged effort, resistance to fatigue and extreme conditions, and supports intense physical activity, long travels, or extended battles.

[Vitality]: Determines total Health Points (HP) and overall physical robustness. Directly increases maximum life.

[Toughness]: Represents the body’s living armor. Reduces incoming damage, absorbs impacts, and boosts resilience against heavy strikes, crushing force, and adverse conditions.

[Perception]: Defines sensory and spatial awareness. Sharpens senses, improves aim, enhances reflexes, helps detect hidden presences, anticipate enemy movements, and supports precision attacks.

[Wisdom]: Governs depth of connection to arcane energies. Increases Mana Points (MP) and refines sensitivity to the magical flow of the world.

[Intelligence]: Measures the power of spells. Increases magical damage and complexity, while improving understanding and manipulation of arcane forces.

[Willpower]: Represents the mental core of focus and resistance. Sustains continuous spells, maintains concentration when casting multiple abilities, and provides defense against psychic effects, illusions, and mental control. Also reinforces emotional stability and clarity of thought under extreme stress.

Now each attribute held a clearer purpose. The system finally made sense in a more structured way.

Luke found himself imagining various classes and how they fit into this new framework. An archer, for example, wouldn’t invest in Strength the way people used to. Their focus would be Dexterity, since it not only helped handle the bow but also increased arrow damage. The same applied to his Assassin class, which demanded high Lethality.

It extended to Charlie as well. She would need to invest in Strength for her second class as a pugilist, and most importantly, Toughness and Endurance. There were countless possible builds for every class type.

And mages… they had a complexity of their own.

As a Witch, Luke fell under the broad category of Magic Casters. They were all “mages” in the general sense, but their builds had to be radically different from one another. The three primary attributes for this type of class were Wisdom, Intelligence, and Willpower. Wisdom increased MP. Intelligence amplified spell damage. Willpower determined how long one could sustain magic and how many spells could be maintained at once.

A fire mage, for example, would prioritize Intelligence above everything else, since their entire purpose was maximizing destructive output. Sure, they’d need a decent pool of Wisdom to fuel their spells, but Willpower sat lower on the list for them. Compared to attributes like Strength, which was utterly useless for a mage, the hierarchy was obvious.

Jack, as a healer, needed tremendous Willpower to keep multiple spells active simultaneously, raising a barrier while healing an ally, or sustaining continuous support effects. Healers thrived on willpower driven magic.

And that was the heart of the distinction. An offensive mage poured points into Intelligence first, then into mana to cast more spells. A healer needed a more balanced spread, enough power to heal effectively, and enough Willpower to maintain several spells without collapsing under the strain.

For Luke, understanding all of this wasn’t optional. Attribute points were as dangerous and valuable as any skill he possessed.

As he walked through the market aisle, Luke activated one of his abilities.

[Teleportation Pentagram (Legendary)]: Not even distance can limit a Witch. Using Spatial Magic, she creates two teleportation circles shaped like pentagrams and places them wherever she wishes. While active, she can travel instantly between them, crossing any distance allowed by the spell. Only she may use them, and if either circle is destroyed, the link breaks immediately.

Magic surged through his ring. Both palms glowed with a cool blue light as small pentagrams formed above them, one hovering over his right hand, the other over his left. Luke understood the mechanics instinctively.

He pointed one hand at the floor.

[Teleportation Circle 1 activated]

Then he broke into a run, weaving through aisles and sections before pointing his other hand at the ground.

[Teleportation Circle 2 activated] ℯℯ𝑙.

After making sure no one was watching, he stepped onto the circle.

[Teleportation Pentagram activated]

Less than a second later, he emerged across the store at the second circle. The teleport had worked flawlessly.

A grin spread across his face. “Time to run a few more tests.”