Demon Core Exorcist

3. The Demon Core Exorcist System

The changes to his body weren't as profound as one would think. There was just a red hue covering his now violet eyes, and a very dangerous aura coming off his body.

"Better calm down, kid, it's not my fault that I'm inside you"

Valak was annoyed, but at the same time amused. Nathan's reaction was what he expected, but it left a bitter taste in his mouth. Someone was so bitter at the mention of him

"It was the skill you used that put us in this position"

Nathan had to calm down because the changes in his body were foreign to him. The strength he had wasn't something that was there before; even the demonic aura coming off his body wasn't his.

"What happened to me?"

Nathan was confused, and even though he didn't like Valak at all, Valak was the only choice he had to understand the situation he was in. How he was able to live after that fatal wound, or how he was way stronger than the way he was before.

"Try to understand the skill name"

Those were the last words that Valak said before going entirely quiet.

Nathan was confused, but that was the only lead he had until then.

[ALERT: SYSTEM QUEST AVAILABLE]

A violet-blue HUD-like screen appeared in front of him to his surprise. On reflex, Nathan reached out to touch it, but his hand went through it.

"What the hell is happening to me?"

Nathan was exasperated.

One has to remember that the demons appeared fifty years ago, in the year twenty thirteen. So even after fifty years, no one had the time to write novels; their world was already like a fantasy novel, so there was no need for fictional entertainment.

So, of course, the concept of systems was foreign to him, so it was no surprise that he was confused.

His gaze was vacant as information flooded into his head. A few seconds later, his gaze was focused again, and a look of realisation appeared on his face.

This system was formed due to the power of the skill that he used. With the information from the system, Nathan now understood somewhat what Valak was implying when he told him to try and understand the skill name.

The skill was strong, so strong that it managed to create something as heaven-defying as the system, but one thought remained in Nathan's head.

"Where did Dad get that skill from?"

But his dad wasn't here, so there was no chance to ask him any questions, and even if he could, his relationship with his dad wasn't something to write home about.

Nathan decided to check out the system interface before freshening up and having his food.

'Status Screen'

As informed by the system, Nathan thought about opening up a status screen, and the blue screen appeared in front of him like some sort of magic.

Nathan was still amazed by it.

[Name: Nathan Reyes]

[Race: Hybrid Lesser Demon]

[Demon Core: Monoceros (Grade 1)

[Holy Core: Novice (Grade 1)]

[Sin: Gluttony]

[STR: 17]

[AGL:19]

[DEX: 15]

[FOC: 7]

[AUR: 5]

[Stat Points: 0]

[Corruption: 0/100%]

[Holy Skills: Seal Of Binding (Lv 1), Purification Flame (Lv 1), Devourer's Maw (Sealed)]

[Demonic Skills: Night Gaze (Lv 1), Essence Drain (Lv 1)]

Nathan was calm... the calm that came with knowing what was going to happen.

What basically happened here was that he was now a demon. Not a demon in the normal sense, but a hybrid between a demon and a human, if put in his terms, he was some kind of halfling.

Another thing to note was that his demonic side was trying to take control of Nathan's full body, which was what the corruption meter was for.

Prolonged use of demonic energy, a sudden spike in emotion, and other unknown forces could lead to an increase in corruption, and once the corruption meter reached one hundred percent, Nathan wouldn't be half human anymore; he would have fully become a demon.

This particular piece of information made a large impact on Nathan; he was teetering on a fine line of what he believed was good or evil. He made special note not to forget it, not that he could do that anyway.

Even with cons, there were pros. And one of the few pros that Nathan noticed was the increase in his stats.

He didn't know why, but he felt that, as a newly awakened, his stats shouldn't be as high as they were. He could only attribute this dramatic increase to his demonic side.

Even though he was against the demons, he wasn't against power. He just had to know what was considered acceptable or not.

The situation with him becoming half-demon was unavoidable, so he had to accept it, even though he most definitely didn't want to.

The next pro thing he considered a pro was the fact that he could now use demonic energy, meaning that he was able to perform demonic skills. This was something that should be hidden, but that didn't mean that it could not be used.

Power was acceptable, whether conventional or not, but one had to know when it was too much. That was what he believed.

So, these were the main things he noticed thanks to the stats screen that the system showed him. But if there was one thing that he found confusing, it was the fact that the devourer's maw was sealed.

He had no thought on this and was just confused.

"What are the origins of this skill?"

He had no answers, so he just had to leave it at that for now.

Humans had been studying demons for a long time, but the information on them was very limited. Seeing that he was his demonic core was at the monoceros state, which he assumed to be the first stage, Nathan had many questions.

But there was no one to answer him, and he couldn't bring himself to ask Valak any more questions, just his voice seemed to cause Nathan to go into a rage.

If there was one thing he knew of, that was his holy core or exorcist ranks.

There were five known core ranks based on the core colour, which was further divided into nine grades based on the purity of the holy energy in said core.

The cores' ranks were red, orange, yellow, green and cyan. These ranks were mainly used to grade exorcists because they were the known ranks.

Meaning that there were no known exorcist who had managed to purify their cores beyond the cyan rank. The difficulty of core purification was such that getting one's core to the yellow rank made one an elite among the elites, and there were only seven known cyan core exorcists.

Now, core ranks were different from exorcist ranks, but the exorcists used the core ranks as a basis for their ranks.

The ranks were Exorcist Novice, Spirit Hunter, Demon Bane, Ascendant and Exorcist Sovereign. These ranks were in ascending order of the core levels, each having nine different grades.

It seemed like the system was using the exorcist ranks available on the web to grade his core.

Nathaniel's understanding of the system increased a little as he went to the next system tab, the inventory.

The inventory was basically a special spatial plane that could store non-living things. It was like his very own mobile safe, accessible to only him, no matter what.

[INVENTORY]

[Lesser Wraith Core (x1)]

"This is convenient"

Nathan was happy with this improvement.

"That's all you have to say!!!"

Valak suddenly shouted in his head. His anger was palpable.

"What you are calling 'convenient is seventy-five years of non-stop research and loss of multiple lives"

Nathan was surprised. Valak's anger surprised him a little, but thinking about it for a few minutes, Nathan suddenly smiled.

It was good to one-up Valak a little, after all, Valak caused him trauma for five years, and he still couldn't get over the guilt and horror he felt then.

Every time he remembered it, he subconsciously shuddered a little. It was even one of the reasons that he decided to become an exorcist in the first place. To kill Valak, but now, Valak was living inside him.

So this slight victory was accepted.

Nathan thought about removing the core from his inventory, and the black red core appeared in his hand.

He had information on all the skills in his arsenal, and he thought there was one skill that would be very useful in this situation.

"Essence Drain"

Nathan wanted to perform the hand seals and form the glyph, but to his surprise, just the thought of activating the skill made the system do it for him.

A dark blue glyph appeared in the air in front of him. It was in the form of a small pipe that landed on the core.

From the core, Nathan could feel some energy entering his body, as the core in his hand became darker and darker until it was entirely black, before turning into dark dust that fell on his bed sheet.

[+1 STAT POINTS]

Nathan could feel a slight increase in his demonic energy and the purity as well.

"Maybe this his how I can increase the grade of my demonic core"