"So what exactly are you trying to say?"
On Eridania, racial discrimination was a far more serious problem than on Earth. There were countless different intelligent species, and each took pride in its own origins.
They all had different worldviews and moral values, which often clashed with the principles by which other species lived.
And demons valued personal strength above all else.
That was why Lily had gotten so angry when Grey said that succubi were using their abilities incorrectly.
He might as well have spat right in her face. Did he really expect her to remain calm after something like that? She was a demon, not an angel, for crying out loud!
If anyone else had said something like that to her, she would have already picked a fight with them. But this was Grey, so Lily held back and waited for him to explain himself.
Grey met her scorching gaze with cool composure. He didn't rush to answer. Instead, he asked her a question of his own.
"Remind me, how do you develop your abilities, Lily? I don't need lengthy explanations or magical theory. Just the cold, hard facts. How exactly do you increase your strength and advance from one level to the next?"
Lily had no intention of hiding anything from him. It wasn't that much of a secret, after all.
"It's just as you think, Grey. The legends about us are true, and there's no mystery behind them. We grow stronger through our victims, draining their masculine energy and absorbing it into ourselves. During intercourse, a succubus controls their emotions, intensifying their state of euphoria. The more bliss a victim experiences, the more they feed us."
Lily paused to think for a moment, but eventually decided to add:
"The effectiveness of this method depends on many factors. First and foremost, the succubus's bloodline. The purer it is, the more efficiently a succubus can process the energy she absorbs.
The victim's strength and the degree of euphoria they experience are also important. No matter how talented a low-ranking succubus might be, she simply won't be able to bring a Sky-dweller to the point of complete ecstasy. In such cases, it's far more useful to choose someone closer to her own level.
We have plenty of suitable methods and manuals that teach us how to choose the right victim, how to drive them into a frenzy, how to identify their weaknesses and exploit them to our advantage.
Now that you know all this, answer me. How dare you call our methods amateurish? You'd better explain yourself properly, or I'll stop being nice."
Grey chuckled, grabbed the nearest chair, and sat down, casually spreading his legs and resting his arms on the backrest.
"That's exactly what I'm talking about, Lily. It seems you've completely forgotten about the main ability a succubus awakens. Empathy, the ability to sense and influence the emotions of those around you. And how exactly do you use it?"
Lily gritted her teeth. She didn't like Grey's condescending tone at all, as if he were looking down on their racial characteristics and lecturing her about something he didn't understand.
Had she misjudged his character? Maybe a little taste of power and status had turned him into yet another arrogant and conceited fool, just like all the other human trash?
"Of course, we make use of our own abilities. They're what help us earn our victims' trust, make them let their guard down, and bring out their full potential. Pleasure is merely a tool. We push people to the point where their bodies and minds operate at their absolute limits.
You might think it's easy, but that's a huge misconception.
Every living organism is designed not to expend all its strength at once. Natural limitations exist to protect it from destroying itself.
However, during sex, these limitations weaken. The instinct to reproduce forces the body to mobilize its hidden reserves, briefly placing the survival of the species above its own well-being. That's the moment we take advantage of. We don't create strength. We make our victims unlock the potential usually buried deep within themselves."
Grey smiled.
"That sounds interesting. I have no doubt that your race has learned to get the most out of physical pleasure. But that's not what I'm talking about. Think carefully, Lily. Is lust really the only emotion you can control?"
He answered his own question without waiting for Lily to respond.
"No, it isn't.
It's simply one of the emotions your ancestors pushed to its absolute limits. However, I think your success as a race is now working against you. You've become so obsessed with one thing that you've forgotten everything else, drifting away from the original purpose built into you as a biological species."
"What exactly do you mean?" Lily asked again. At that moment, she felt a hint of enlightenment, but even greater confusion. The pieces still hadn't quite fallen into place.
Grey smiled when he noticed the change in her mood.
"You've helped me a lot lately, so consider these ideas my way of showing gratitude."
"Stop rambling and get to the point," Lily snapped, realizing that Grey had decided to get back at her for her antics that morning.
That brat was just as petty and vindictive as the worst members of the demonic races. It annoyed her and delighted her at the same time.
Grey stopped teasing her and got straight to the point:
"Your kind has limited itself. A succubus's nature allows you to do far more than simply amplify a single state. You don't just sense emotions. You control them, experience them, amplify them, and redirect them.
That means you can work with more than one type of 'fuel'. You can work with a dozen at once. You just need to find the right method for each one, just as your ancestors did with lust.
Let's take fear as an example. It's not just a weakness. It's a state of pure physiological mobilization: adrenaline, faster reactions, heightened perception, and the will to survive at any cost. If you learn to direct fear instead of letting it descend into chaos, you could literally push your own combat efficiency to its maximum while reducing your opponent's to the absolute minimum.
Or let's take a positive emotion instead, such as calmness, which demons seem to consider almost useless for some reason. It's an excellent tool as well.
Calmness stabilizes the mind, reduces internal fluctuations, and improves precision. It's no weaker than fear or rage. It simply works differently. It puts the body into an observant state, allowing you to notice details that would normally escape your attention.
Do you see where I'm going with this?
Right now, succubi are stuck using just one type of energy. Lust is merely one way of interacting with life force. It's effective, but far too narrow. You're extracting depth where you could be gaining breadth.
The difference is simple: right now, you use a single mechanism, when you could be controlling the entire system. Not just accelerating, but also slowing down, breaking and rebuilding, stabilizing and unleashing.
If you start treating emotions as a set of tools rather than relying on a single universal key, you'll no longer be dependent on one state and will be able to unlock your true potential."
At some point, Lily stopped listening and simply closed her eyes.
Her purple horns began to glow with an otherworldly light. The bat wings on her back spread wide and trembled, as if trying to tear through an invisible cocoon. Her slender legs lifted off the floor, and Lily's body slowly began to levitate.
The mana in the half-ruined room fell into chaos and rushed toward her at a frantic speed, sending her purple hair flying in every direction.
At that moment, Lily looked almost sacred and untouchable, like an illusion that had taken the form of a living being.
Even Grey, who couldn't sense mana directly, could feel it vibrating in the air, shifting from one state to another and filling the space with an overwhelming pressure.
The effect wasn't as destructive as it had been in the slave camp, when Junior had given her a drop of the Source of Life, but it was still truly spectacular and extraordinary.
Grey's pupils narrowed.
He watched Lily without looking away, not daring to move.
Even he hadn't expected the theory he'd casually come up with out of boredom, simply to exercise his mind, to produce such unexpected results.
The effect was almost instantaneous, as if his friend had been waiting for someone to give her that final push she needed to make a breakthrough.
Lily had no intention of hiding anything from him. It wasn't that much of a secret, after all.
"It's just as you think, Grey. The legends about us are true, and there's no mystery behind them. We grow stronger through our victims, draining their masculine energy and absorbing it into ourselves. During intercourse, a succubus controls their emotions, intensifying their state of euphoria. The more bliss a victim experiences, the more they feed us."
Lily paused to think for a moment, but eventually decided to add:
"The effectiveness of this method depends on many factors. First and foremost, the succubus's bloodline. The purer it is, the more efficiently a succubus can process the energy she absorbs.
The victim's strength and the degree of euphoria they experience are also important. No matter how talented a low-ranking succubus might be, she simply won't be able to bring a Sky-dweller to the point of complete ecstasy. In such cases, it's far more useful to choose someone closer to her own level.
We have plenty of suitable methods and manuals that teach us how to choose the right victim, how to drive them into a frenzy, how to identify their weaknesses and exploit them to our advantage.
Now that you know all this, answer me. How dare you call our methods amateurish? You'd better explain yourself properly, or I'll stop being nice."
Grey chuckled, grabbed the nearest chair, and sat down, casually spreading his legs and resting his arms on the backrest.
"That's exactly what I'm talking about, Lily. It seems you've completely forgotten about the main ability a succubus awakens. Empathy, the ability to sense and influence the emotions of those around you. And how exactly do you use it?"
A minute later, the glow finally began to fade. The streams of mana gradually settled, and Lily's feet gracefully touched the floor.
Her eyes flew open, flashing with a brilliant purple light for a brief moment. Everyone around her felt a vague sense of desire and admiration take root deep within their hearts.
A bold smile appeared on the girl's lips. She cast Grey a brief, grateful glance and struggled to keep the triumph out of her voice.
"It seems I've overcome the Mortal stage and become a Saint..."
Like a small pebble tossed into a pond, her simple words sent ripples through the hearts of everyone present.
A True Saint had joined their team!
If word got out that a little twelve-year-old girl had managed to overcome a tremendous barrier considered almost insurmountable for most of Eridania's population, who knew what kind of sensation it would cause?
The significance of this seemingly small step could hardly be overstated.
Overcoming the Mortal threshold and setting foot on the path to true power was the cherished dream of everyone, regardless of race, origin, or gender.
To ordinary people, the difference between these two stages might not seem all that great. Just another level of development. Another step on the endless ladder of power.
But anyone with even a basic understanding of cultivation knew how mistaken such an opinion was.
Every race had its own distinctive traits and methods of development, which could offer different advantages depending on one's level and innate characteristics.
Rudiarius, Legionary, and Centurion were merely conventional terms adopted by the Roman Empire. They had become a universally recognized standard for measuring strength because of their convenience, but that was all they were.
For example, Cheryl had barely awakened the innate ability of her beastfolk tribe when she gained strength that a human practitioner would normally attain only at the Legionary level. She had skipped the Rudiarius stage entirely, simply because such a stage did not exist for her race.
Differences like these had always existed due to variations in innate abilities, paths of development, and countless other factors.
However, advancing to the Saint stage remained equally important for everyone.
This was the first true milestone that every practitioner would eventually face.
The dividing line between those who merely wielded power and those whose power began to change their very nature.
Upon reaching this stage, the body underwent qualitative changes.
The bones, muscles, internal organs, and even the soul gradually began to transform under the influence of accumulated mana. Illnesses became rare. Wounds healed faster. Life expectancy increased significantly.
Upon reaching the Saint stage, a practitioner sought to cast off the limitations of the mortal body and reshape it in accordance with the nature of the energy they wielded.
This was where true transformation began.
It was no coincidence that those who reached this stage automatically became the elite of society. Armies sought to recruit them, great families competed to win them over, and they were offered wealth, land, and titles. Some smaller provinces even considered the emergence of a new Saint an event of national importance.
And yet, that wasn't the most important thing.
The Saint stage opened the door to the future. It proved that a practitioner possessed enough talent, willpower, and potential to continue on the path ahead.
And Lily had just crossed that threshold.
To those around her, it looked like a beautiful flash of light.
But to those who understood the true significance of what had happened, it was the birth of a being who might one day become one of the strongest experts of her generation.
"Congratulations!" Grey gave her an encouraging smile, spread his arms, and began clapping with broad, enthusiastic gestures.
The other teenagers hurriedly closed their mouths, which had fallen open in astonishment, and happily joined in the applause.
Cheryl rushed over and threw her arms around her friend.
Hope, in the form of a swallow, landed on Lily's shoulder and gently rubbed her beak against her cheek.
Zebra nudged Achilles in the shoulder and whispered into his ear:
"Looks like you're not destined to become the first Saint in our organization."
Achilles smiled sincerely and shook his head.
"It doesn't matter who gets there first. What matters is who can go the furthest. I'm glad I have someone like her to look up to. It only means our team will become stronger."
Kai stuck two fingers into his mouth and let out a thunderous whistle that filled the entire surrounding area.
The applause rolled in waves, growing louder with every passing moment.
Lily was overwhelmed with joy.
Not only because of her achievement, but also because of the sincere emotions of those around her, which her heightened senses picked up with extraordinary ease. Their happiness seemed contagious. Lily could feel the festive mood rapidly spreading through her entire being.
Grey's body gave a slight shudder, and Junior took control.
A calm command from Senior echoed in his mind.
"You destroyed a cultist stronghold. Cheryl and Hope awakened their abilities. Lily broke through to the Saint stage. Seems like we have plenty of reasons to celebrate. Go on, enjoy yourself! Put all your worries aside and just have fun. Share this joy with your friends. They need it! You've earned it!"
"What about you?" Junior asked, but Senior had already fallen silent.
Grey shook his head and tried to push aside all the unwelcome thoughts.
"Looks like I'm going to have to throw a feast! All training is canceled for today! I'm going to bake a cake and even pour you some wine! Hip-hip, hooray!"
"Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!" a chorus of voices answered.
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