The Demon's POV

The Power of Transmutation

Transmutation, huh?

It does sound interesting.

I practically created a replica of Damien's skill since its secrets were still hidden within my DNA. It was all thanks to the power of my demonic skill and my quick thinking.

[Skill Description: The Power to change a substance from one state into another.]

Reading the skill description, I felt as if I struck gold. Being an avid gamer and former otaku, I knew a fair bit about transmutation.

Imagine turning paper into gold. Or turning an ocean into quicksand. Or furthermore, what if I add a property to a body of water that makes it electrify anything it touches? With this power, I can rewrite materials on a molecular level, changing its form into whatever I please.

Of course, this would depend on my proficiency of the skill combined with my talent, and right now it was looking grim.

[Proficiency: 0.1

Your proficiency in this skill will depend on your application of your ability combined with your scientific knowledge of molecular structures, like atoms and different elements.]

[Talent: D]

It was basically saying I needed to become a bookworm and study science in order to increase my proficiency of my skill. I would need to learn scientific concepts and apply them with my skill.

Before I came to this world, I was a liberal arts student. It was sufficient to say I knew nothing about science, which was probably why my proficiency was so low. Or maybe the former Damien's intelligence stats were just that trash.

Your proficiency of your skill in this world was graded on a scale from 0-12. A proficiency between 0-5 was considered a weak skill. While a proficiency between 5-7 is considered above average. The academy that I was looking to get into only accepts those with a proficiency of 5+.

A proficiency between 7-10 is what you need to become a licensed hero, and a proficiency 10-12 was considered top tier. These are the highest ranked heroes and guild masters. These are the people who sit at the top of this world.

Of course, not everyone is able to increase their skill proficiency up to this height. In fact, most people who awakened found their bottleneck at grade 4, which took years for them to reach. This all depended on their talent which was ranked from A to D.

It seemed I was given the short end of the stick when it came to talent, but this skill made it well worth it. With my adaptation skill, I could theoretically overcome any bottleneck I found myself in.

'Status'

All I needed to do was think the word, and immediately a blue holographic screen popped up. They were common in this world and could only be seen by their owners. Thankfully, this was the case, or else I would be easily outed as a demon if someone asked to see my status screen.

+-----+

Status

Name: Damien Seymour

Demonic Name: Abaddon

Race: Demon

Strength: G

Agility: G

Vitality: C

Intelligence: D+

Demonic Charm: G

Demonic contracts: 0

Skills

Demonic Skill: [Absolute Adaptation] Proficiency: 0.2

Talent: A

Your proficiency of your demonic skill depends on the Sins you've committed.

Sin Points: 0/10

Special Skill: [Transmutation] Proficiency: 0.1

Talent: D

Your proficiency in this skill will depend on your application of your ability combined with your scientific knowledge of molecular structures, like atoms and different elements. 

+-----+

Abaddon, huh? That must've been the name given to me by the demon king. My true name. It will be crucial in the future.

My stats like strength and agility were low, which makes sense considering I was now bedridden.

My adaptation skill must've contributed to how high my vitality was. My intelligence stat wasn't much to write home about, but it was the stat that I would need to increase the most to higher my proficiency with my transmutation ability.

Can't learn anything if I was as dumb as a rock.

Demonic charm was a stat exclusive to only demons. It was especially crucial in deception. The higher your demonic charm was, the more likely it was for someone to trust you.

And as for my proficiency with my demonic skill, it would increase based on the sins I committed just like all demonic skills. 

It was the same for all demons. The most powerful demons in this world committed some of the most unspeakable atrocities which was why their proficiency was so high. They also had a lot of contracts where they could feed off the sins committed by others.

All in all, my stats were pitiful. In this world, your stats were largely based on the skill you awakened and some genetic factors. It was extremely difficult to raise your stats, so most people focused on their skill proficiency and only used certain artifacts to higher their stats .

This was part of the reason why I liked this game to some degree. Unlike other games, you couldn't do a few pushups and suddenly be able to lift a building. That is unless you are the MC who has unlimited potential.

But I was fairly certain that things would be different for me since I was able to adapt. With this skill, if I pushed my body and brain enough, then I would be able to increase my stats more than the others in this world.

[DING!]

[Reconstruction completed. You are now cured.]

Just like that, 5 hours passed, and my body had completely reconstructed, so I was no longer terminally ill. I could now move my hands and legs a little more freely. 

The woman that I guess would be considered my mother now was laying beside me with one leg across my hip and an arm across my chest. Her face was just inches away from me.

I had to be careful slipping out of bed so she didn't notice. Once I was out, I stretched my aching limbs, and immediately my bones began to pop. This body felt as if it hadn't moved in centuries.

I wanted to test out my new transmutation ability, so I went over to one of the candles flickering in the room. I wasn't a scientific genius or anything, but I knew a decent amount about fire. 

I knew that it was a mixture of hot gases and plasma. Its molecules were disconnected, moving at a violent speed.

If I was to change the fire on the candle into something like frost or ice, I would first need to add the water molecule (H2O) and arrange it orderly into a tightly packed hexagonal crystal lattice structure.

Since fire didn't contain enough hydrogen molecules to become frost, I either needed to draw the molecules from the air or reconstruct the atoms themselves. Reconstructing atoms was above my skill level so I opted for drawing the molecules out of the air.

I waved my hand over the candle and tried my best to remember the water molecule structure I learned in that one elective class in college. All I needed to do was keep the information in mind and visualize. Everyone had an innate ability to use the skill hey awakened to some degree so it felt like second nature to me.

I focused on the water vapors floating in the room then I pulled the H2O molecules towards the heat. After that, all I needed to do was structure them into a hexagonal crystal lattice.

With this in mind, I continued until I heard a soft hiss.

The flames on the candle didn't go out; instead it froze. The heat it once produced was replaced by cold.

A wide grin appeared on my face when I saw this. I almost threw my head back and laughed in excitement.

In my first attempt, I had managed to turn fire into ice! In the grand scheme of things, this wasn't much, but it was only the beginning.

"Mhmm."

Just then, I heard the sound of soft moans coming from behind me. I held my breath, hoping she wouldn't open her eyes and notice me, but as luck would have it, things didn't turn out my way.

"Damien?!"