He watched as Angil took his right hand and tapped it to ensure he was paying attention. Angil held out his own right hand and extended his index finger, suddenly Angil’s finger became tipped with a small glowing sapphire ord. He watched as Angil traced a blue A over his wrist using the orb, and when complete a blue screen appeared over his wrist. On the screen was a list with only two points, Angil read the list and nodded before swiping the screen away and then released his hand.

“That was kinda cool.” he said.

“Your skills are mimicry and blood sacrifice.” Angil said, “Both of them are magic skills but one isn’t that useful in combat, and it’s pretty common to be honest.”

“Well that sucks.” he said, “What do they do?”

“Blood sacrifice is a skill specific to monsters, if you use it, it allows you to absorb the essence of any monster you kill through their blood, taking in their skills, in some cases their very souls, that are compatible with you.” Angil explained, “Mimicry allows you to copy and use any skill you witness but it has to be within your level and it has to be the skill being used by that other person in that moment, if they switch to a different skill you can’t use the copy anymore.”

“They sound interesting but…well the first one, kinda gross, the second one kinda hard to use.” he said, “You said within my level, what is my level?”

Angil took his hand once more and drew a V with the same light that he drew the A with. Another blue screen appeared like before but this one had more writing on it which he could barely make out. In the right corner were words and numbers, in the left corner was a symbol that resembled a pentagon within a circle, below the writings on the right side was an empty rectangular box. Angil read the information on the screen but this time didn’t swipe it away when finished reading.

“You are level one and your rank is a lesser demon.” Angil said and gave him to read for himself, “That is expected since you did just come here.”

“I am that weak!” he exclaimed.

“Yep.” Angil replied.

He looked at the screen and the closeness allowed him to see it in greater detail. On the symbol were words on the exterior of the circle that lined up with a respective point on the pentagon. The words were; attack, defense, magic attack, speed and magic defense. Attack was on the top point of the pentagon, defense was on the left point, magic was on the right point, speed was on the left bottom point and magic defense was on the bottom right point.

The words and numbers to the right of the screen were; name, which was blank, under that was age, which had the number nineteen next to it, sex followed next which was clearly male. On the parallel side of the list was rank at the top which had lesser demon next to it, level followed under rank and indeed his level was one. The final thing on the screen, the rectangular box only had the words, new skills gained and nothing more written within it.

“This is pretty pathetic, I don’t even have skills that are good in a fight.” he said, sighing, he sat down.

“Given your height, one would think that you’re midway to becoming a demon general.” Angil said, “Though to us, it’s strange for a demon at nineteen to be this tall.”

“This tall, is my height really that much of an oddity, I can feel that I am the same height in my old world.” he said.

“Most demons without a name, at your age, are babies that can barely walk.” Angil replied, “If they are lucky enough to have been given a name they would still only be about the size of a human toddler.”

“Ahh…I see.” he said and looked down, “Wait…what!”

“Well our race can live a long time, so you don’t expect us to grow fast like humans do, hell, our breeding rate is low as is to keep the population in check.” Angil replied, “It’s rare but some kids are born into or above the demon general rank, those are the ones who grow fast but still slower than a human.”

“Well damn, should I assume I am special or something.” he jokingly said.

“Yes, besides the luck of birth rank, there are those like you who are lucky enough to have been born with a special gift of latent power that can be unlocked and make leveling easier once given a name.” Angil said, “It is those with that latent power, or those born into or above the demon general rank, that are usually given a name so they don’t have to earn it.”

“If I am being honest, I doubt I have any such special gift.” he said, “I don’t feel like anything special.”

“I am confident that you do, and can pass the rank of demon general if given a name.” Angil said.

“Why is that?” he asked and looked at Angil.

“Call it a hunch, besides, you just need to learn combat, a basic punch and kick can be just as effective as any skill at your current status.” Angil replied, “Plus having combat practice from time to time can get you tiny bits of experience that can go towards helping you level up, though I prefer you gain experience through actual fights and not training since you get more experience out of it, especially if you can kill them.”

“Wait did you just say kill!” he exclaimed.

“Yes, kill, I would only advise you practice to master your skills if you get any.” Angil replied and raised a brow.

“I just realized, you went from being terrifying to being comforting.” he said with a slight chuckle, “You really need to make up your mind.”

“Is that so, I can see if killing you sends you back to your old world.” Angil said with a twitching grin, a pulsating vein was on his forehead and he cracked his knuckles.

“Ahh…sorry sorry, please don’t hurt me.” he quickly said and bowed.

“Remember your place in front of your elders.” Angil said.

“Yes you are so right.” he said and prostrated himself.

“Well enough procrastinating, I have finished my testing and you are certainly not like him.” Angil said, “Get up.”

“Not like him, testing, I don’t understand” he said in confusion and got up.

“I did ask you before if you wanted a name.” Angil said, “Well now is the time for you to get it, your very own name!”

“Really!” he exclaimed with a large smile on his face and his hands clasped together while staring at Angil.

“I can already see the wolf ears and wagging tail.” Angil said, he slightly coughed into his fist and then clapped, “First I am going to give you a name, afterwards I will give you a secondary name to act as a familiar name for the both of us, so you can share in a bit of my aura.”

“Okay but why do I need a second name?” he asked.

“You’re making me talk a lot you know, a secondary name will act like what humans call a surname, a family name, marks you as my kin instead of you having to say so and so of Angil.” Angil replied, “Most monsters don’t have those surnames, unless they are probably in a clan, so don’t bother handing it out to anyone!”

“Alright, I promise, I promise.” he said and repeatedly bowed in gratitude.

“Good, I had forgotten to mention, getting a name will allow you to gain the ability to rank up and evolve.” Angil said and dramatically opened his wings, “I will grant you the name Ajax and grant you the secondary name Arthurian and dub thee within my kinship!”

“Evolv…” he said but before he could finish the air around him started to swirl around him.

He was slowly pushed off the ground by the spiraling wind and he felt excited by the experience. Two purple rings made of light appeared around each of his wrists and ankles, they slowly shrunk and left two black marks that quickly faded away. He spun his hands around while starring at them with a curious look on his face, his entire body briefly glowed and he felt a sudden burning sensation in his chest.

He quickly hugged his chest and gagged as he tried to call out to Angil for help, sweat and saliva ran down his face and the sides of his mouth respectively. His body slightly grew and the burning pain gave way to a cool relief, as if his burning flame was soothed by a cool freezing snow. The wind slowly lowered him back onto the ground and he wiped the sweat and drool from his face.

He took several deep breathes to calm his racing heart and he looked over at Angil who nodded at him. It felt as if his soul had left his body and returned after going through hell. Angil took his right hand and drew the V over his wrist.

“Yeah being named can take a toll, it eats at your mana to carve the name into your soul, just breathe, you’ll feel better soon.” Angil said and looked at the screen once it appeared, “Have a look.”

He looked at the screen, the blank space next to the name section on the list became filled in, showing him its spelling.

“Ajax Arthurian…huh.” Ajax said, through the corner of his eye he noticed that his rank had changed, and he looked up at Angil, “Um…the rank changed, greater demon.”

“That is because you’ve evolved and ranked up.” Angil said, “Getting a name has unlocked your ability to rank up and evolve after reaching a max level in your current rank, your body will change too to match your new rank.”

“Evolution, neat.” he said and examined himself, “I don’t look any different just a little taller.”

“That’s because there isn’t much difference between a lesser and greater demon besides the power gap.” Angil replied, “You should see changes the further up in rank you go beyond this point.”

“Does that mean I might look like you one day?” he asked.

“One day, we would share similar features but yours would look unique to fit you.” Angil replied.

Ajax excitedly nodded, he thought Angil’s appearance was cool so he wouldn’t mind having something similar. It would be his own form of cosplay. When he was about to comment he was stopped by a wet tap on his nose. He looked up at the sky which was now covered in a blanket of dark clouds that roared a thunderous cry, and they showered the land with their tears.

Ajax watched as Angil stretched out his wings behind him and they became enveloped in a darkness that slowly creeped its way over their entire surface. Once they were completely covered, the darkness slowly merged back into Angil’s body and the wings disappeared with it, as if they had left with the darkness. Ajax’s eyes were fixated on Angil and his mouth hung open in amazement. Angil turned to the lake and formed a screen to protect them from the rain using the water.

“Since you have nowhere to stay, do you want to stay with me?” Angil asked.

“That black thing was so cool, what skill was that?!” Ajax excitedly shouted not realizing Angil’s question.

“It’s a skill unique to the demon race, it’s called Overlord of Darkness.” Angil replied, “It’s a skill that comes from the dark element, it grants complete control over a darkness unique to its user’s mana, as you see it can be useful for putting wings away when unneeded.”

“So that means I can get one someday, that’s so cool.” he said.

“It’s raining and you are basically homeless, come, you can stay with me for a while.” Angil said.

“Are you sure I can?!” he asked and was answered with a nod, “If it’s no trouble then I accept, and thank you, sir.”

“What did I tell you about calling me sir!” Angil shouted.

“Sorry, I guess because you are older I just instinctively do it.” he replied.

“I am older than you that is for sure, by more than two millennia, so given your youth, we’ll see what trouble you are, now come on.” Angil said and turned to the lake.

“Over two millennia!” he yelled in response to hearing how old Angil was.

Angil parted his hands and in turn the lake’s waters reacted by flowing away from a concentrated, forming a path that lead to the bottom of the lake. Ajax ran up to Angil and stared at the path, looking between it and Angil in astonishment. Angil started to walk along the path into the lake and Ajax quickly followed behind him so that he wasn’t cut off by the water incase Angil couldn’t hold it away for long.

Ajax turned around and saw that the entrance closed behind them and he gulped but continued on. The further into the lake they went, the more the path closed behind them until they reached the deepest point at which time they became fully surrounded by water on all sides. They were protected by a bubble, which most likely created by Angil, whom pointed towards a cave in the distance.

They made their way towards the cave and once inside they emerged in a cavern. The entire cavern was lit by flames that rested on semi-circular protrusions from the walls, which were smooth, not rigged as expected. The floor and ceiling appeared to be tiled with cut stones and absent were the stalagmites and stalactites expected of a typical cave. Furniture, like chairs and a table, made of stone filled the room, along with a couch resting next to one of the walls.

Angil stepped from the water and started to remove his jacket and then T-shirt, which revealed his slightly muscular and toned body. Ajax became envious as he stared at Angil’s defined abs and biceps which he lacked. He crossed his arms and quietly grumbled then stepped from the water as well.

“Are you alright?” Angil asked after noticing Ajax’s expression.

“Yes I am fine.” Ajax quickly replied, Angil nodded and stepped away but stopped when Ajax grabbed his left hand, “Actually would it be okay if I saw your level and how to spell your name?”