Becoming a Monster

Chapter 640: Chapter 639: A New Benchmark

Morvyr watched the devil step beyond the roots before several more figures began appearing behind him. He intended to spare them only a passing glance before continuing his little performance, but that thought disappeared the moment Noah happened to look in his direction.

The instant their gazes met, Morvyr found himself rising from his chair without even considering how quickly the action ruined any attempt to pretend he had just awakened.

Something about Noah had changed.

Even from where Morvyr stood, there was no mistaking the increase in the devil’s presence. Whatever Noah had done during those few hours inside the cave had made him stronger yet again, confirming the very thing Morvyr had spent most of the night worrying about.

Strangely enough, that wasn’t what caused Morvyr’s body to react so strongly.

His attention had become so focused on the inexplicable sense of unease that he failed to immediately notice some of the more obvious changes to Noah’s appearance.

What Morvyr would’ve mistaken for the devil’s black hair from a distance wasn’t hair at all anymore. Black flames writhed from Noah’s head in its place, constantly shifting while somehow maintaining enough of a shape to resemble what had once been there. The same flames now burned from the end of his tail, moving with every subtle flick without giving off any noticeable light.

Under any other circumstances, Morvyr would’ve immediately questioned when the devil had developed such a drastic change.

Instead, his attention remained fixed farther down.

Thin seams of green energy now ran through portions of Noah’s torso. They were subtle compared to the violet energy Morvyr had grown accustomed to seeing, but the longer he looked, the easier it became to notice that those seams grew increasingly prominent the closer they came to the eye embedded within Noah’s torso.

The eye wasn’t simply looking in his direction. Somehow, Morvyr could feel it actively analyzing him, and that realization caused his composure to immediately falter as he shrank back, his attention dropping toward the ring on his hand to make sure it was still there.

For a brief moment, Morvyr almost hoped he had somehow forgotten to put it on, because the alternative was considerably more alarming.

Unfortunately, the ring remained exactly where it should’ve been, and confirming that only caused Morvyr’s expression to worsen.

This wasn’t some ordinary artifact.

The ring had been personally created by the Demon King, and even the materials used to forge it couldn’t be considered normal. They originated from a dungeon core.

Not just any dungeon core.

The core responsible for the origin of demonkind itself.

Even Morvyr didn’t fully understand everything the Demon King had done to turn a fragment of something so ancient into the ring he now wore, but its ability to conceal had never given him reason to doubt it.

Not even angels were capable of seeing through it.

Until now.

Noah becoming stronger was one thing. The possibility that his strange eye could now peer through the veil surrounding Morvyr was something else entirely.

The difference in strength made that realization even harder to accept. Noah had undoubtedly grown, but his current presence still wasn’t remotely comparable to the Demon King’s. If overwhelming strength alone were enough to penetrate the ring’s veil, then Morvyr could’ve at least understood what was happening.

But there was no reason Noah should’ve possessed that kind of strength yet.

And still, the longer that eye remained focused on him, the harder it became for Morvyr to dismiss what he was experiencing as some misunderstanding.

Regardless of how impossible it should’ve been, Noah’s eye was somehow managing to see through him.

—

Noah could see right through the veil, uncovering all of Morvyr’s traits and skills. However, even though he could see through the ring’s veil, that didn’t magically allow him to see through the ring itself.

Whatever was allowing the ring to hide Morvyr from him was still unknown.

But Noah didn’t allow himself to focus on what he couldn’t control. Instead, his eye showed him something even more unique.

His Nexus Eye could see through their strength.

It wasn’t as simple as being able to judge how strong someone was based on their aura. Noah could already do that to some extent. What he gained now was closer to being able to gauge someone’s difficulty level and understand how much of a threat they actually posed to him.

If Paul heard about it, he would probably realize that it was similar to his own ability.

But that wasn’t all Noah’s eye could do.

It could peer through the amount of mana someone had, while also giving Noah an understanding of how physically strong their body was.

The more Noah looked at Morvyr, the more he understood just how useful that could become.

Someone could hide their aura. They could deliberately make themselves appear weaker, or even possess so much control over their mana that Noah wouldn’t be able to judge them normally.

His Nexus Eye didn’t care about any of that.

As long as he could see through whatever was hiding their information, Noah could gain an understanding of the strength that was actually there.

Of course, that didn’t mean the eye could account for everything.

If the person had no way to temporarily increase their strength, then Noah could be confident that he understood their capabilities better than they probably did themselves.

But even that limitation wasn’t as significant as it initially seemed.

If someone possessed an ability tied to their existence that could increase their strength enough to become a genuine threat, then his Nexus Eye would already be capable of seeing that ability. Noah might not know the exact difference it would make until they used it, but he would at least know what they possessed and have some understanding of what it could do.

All in all, there was very little someone could do to completely hide their strength from Noah anymore. Unless they possessed something capable of concealing themselves even better than the ring Morvyr carried, there was barely anything they could reveal that would completely catch him by surprise.

—

Now that Noah could see through Morvyr’s strength, he finally had a much better understanding of what one of a Demon King’s general’s strongest warriors was actually capable of.

Physically, Morvyr wasn’t nearly as overwhelming as Noah would’ve expected.

The elf was only slightly stronger than Noah had been before meeting him, and even the amount of mana Morvyr possessed couldn’t compare to his own. That wasn’t even taking Noah’s current reserves into consideration after the power he obtained.

But those differences weren’t enough for Noah to dismiss him.

Morvyr’s strength clearly wasn’t built around overwhelming someone with his physical capabilities or possessing an absurd amount of mana.

His abilities were where the difference became apparent.

Four of them alone reinforced Morvyr whenever he fought while surrounded by nature.

The stronger and more abundant the surrounding vegetation was, the more those abilities could compensate for what his body naturally lacked.

Even his own mana reserves became less of a weakness under the right conditions.

And considering they were standing in the middle of a forest, Noah could understand why Morvyr’s attributes alone gave such a misleading impression of how dangerous he actually was.

This was probably closer to what Noah should expect from someone at his level.

In that regard, Morvyr reminded Noah somewhat of the priest and the cleric.

The elf possessed nearly eleven unique abilities tied directly to his existence.

All of them were worthy of his title, but there was one that stood out considerably more to Noah than the rest.

It was also partly why Noah could understand how Morvyr had earned his position as one of the Queen’s arbors despite being so weak.

Morvyr could produce seeds from a demonic tree and implant them into almost anything that could serve as a host. Living creatures, corpses, and even other forms of vegetation could all be used.

Once implanted, the seed would begin feeding from whatever the host could provide as it gradually spread throughout its body. Flesh, vitality, and mana could all contribute to its growth until the original host was eventually transformed into a demonic plant creature under Morvyr’s control.

The stronger or more unique the original host was, the more potential there was for the resulting creature to inherit something useful from it.

Living hosts offered even more because the seed could feed from their active vitality and mana, although unlike a corpse, they could resist the process before the transformation was completed.

Once it was completed, however, the resulting creature was completely bound to Morvyr.

Noah’s opinion of the elf changed considerably after understanding that ability.

If he were to use those seeds on any of the cats and dogs, he most likely would be successful in turning them into monsters to control.

And there was a fair chance that he could do the same to some of his stronger creatures if they ever let their guard down.

Morvyr didn’t realize that Noah would now use him as the standard for all of his creatures to surpass.