In the Xero’s dormitory, within the practice field, stood him, Ashley and the five 2nd year students with their familiars out.

The familiars actually made Xero question what Miss Gilbody expected him to do with them. The distribution was like this, there were two girls, one had a Bunny familiar and the other had a strange monster that looked like a mix of a horse and Dog. It was really strange but it was called a Puppy pony and acted like a dog but neighed like a horse.

The other three were boys, one had a weasel, the next had a frog and the last had a monster called an eye bat. It was similar to the familiar of one of the identifiers that Xero had once seen but much smaller, about three times the size of a human eye but it had one big eye and a mouth below.

Xero was rubbing his head, “So how do we do this?” Xero asked Ashley.

“Who knows, why not like Grunt? Have them exert themselves. After all, i was pretty much in the same situation as them before.” Ashley said.

Xero nodded, “Alright let's see.” he rubbed his head and suddenly opened his eye before fishing out a preserved ball of smoked meat. “First off feed this to them.” Xero said.

“How do we feed a horse meat?” “What about a frog?!” “What about a bunny?!” They asked one after another.

Xero could only shake his head and sigh. Still when the meat was out Ashley took out a sword and suddenly chopped it into tiny pieces. “The horse is a dog, the frog you just shove it down it’s throat. Rabbits can evolve into hares by eating meat. They are predatory rabbits.” Ashley said coldly crossing her arms while still holding her huge kitchen knife.

When she said that the weasel and eye bat suddenly rushed forward and landed in the pile of smoked meat, which had been smoked by Ashley while she cooked the mana with the fire mana in the heat.

The two began to eat and stopped when bloated and fell on the pile of meat satisfied.

The five looked in shock, “Right, Mr. Florence explained last year, proper diet is just as important for the familiars and can affect their evolution. Back when Ashley was an Ash golem she helped dispose of all the trash from lunch and dinner by eating almost 6 trash bins.” Xero said.

“MASTER! Don’t tell them such embarrassing things!” She shouted.

Xero chuckled, “Different diet could result in different evolutions. Ashley said that bunnies become hare when eating meat. This is because hares live in places with little edible vegetation exist. Frog monsters all eat meat, most of them eat it whole to acquire mana. As for the Puppy Pony, it’s not native to our world but i have to agree with Ashley, its part dog.” Xero said.

The students nodded and ordered with the familiar control to make them eat. The rabbit didn’t like it but still ate. That said, after the first bite, the body of the three began to glow slightly as the mana in the meat began to flow in their body and the three began to eat faster bite by bite until they turned into a mad rush to eat more than the other.

Like the first two, they ended up turning round and still half the meat was left. It just went to show how much meat or how much mana was in that meat to satisfy them. That said, while the five students were chuckling at them, Ashley stepped up and without mercy split all five in half causing them to be withdrawn into the seal.

“When you feed them, either kill them outright or take them to fight.” Ashley said making her sword vanish. “Summon them out and see the result of a bit of monster meat can do to common animals.” She said.

They looked and soon found that they could come out and when they came out they were shocked. All the level 1 creatures had gone up a full level. The bunny gained small claws and a few fangs. The frog went from 4 cm bit to almost to 15 cm long and had a deep green color and muscular legs. The bat had grown from the two times the size of a human eye to the size of a fruit bat but the eye stayed the same size making the mouth and body grow around it more. Finally the strange horse dog grew a small bit.

“As you can see, early on it is easy for monsters to be easily influenced by their diet, environment and much more. Especially their innate skills and spells. If you want a specific element you should add spells and such early on. If you need help i can teach you how to build magic if you don’t know while you train.” Xero said. “Now i need to see if Grunt has the restraints and weights.” Xero muttered.

Cough!

Hearing the cough they all turned and paled when they saw archmagus Valmor here.

“G-greetings founder… or Archmagus?!” Xero said.

“Archmagus, you five, go find Grunt for PE, i need to speak with the boy.” Valmor said.

Without any resistance, the five students ran away in fear of insulting the powerful being leaving Ashley and Xero.

“Come let us speak, do you know why I wish to talk with you?” He asked.

Xero shook his head.

He smiled and waved his hand, “Come.” He said and walked into the first floor of Xero’s home.

He found a seat on a chair in the meeting room and gestured to have Xero sit while Ashley stood beside him.

“I came to talk to you about her.” He said.

“Is there a problem with Ashley?” Xero asked.

Valmor stuck his hand out and from it the demon core of his devil but unlike the burning giant, a small flame covered the core that transformed into a palm sized red devil with tiny horns, small wings and a black trident.

The two were dumbstruck by the contrast.

“What are you two bastards looking at?!” A squeaky voice asked but with it came an unrelenting killing intent that flooded the room causing them to feel as if they had descended into hell.

“Stop it Lucifer, explain to them already.” Valmor said.

The killing intent was withdrawn but the two were pale but the tiny devil grinned satisfied. “Alright, what this old bag wants me to tell you is this. Boy, little bitch, never, under any circumstances, go into hell until you have level 90 or above. Sword Devils are taboo in hell. Even if there are some Sword Devil demon lords, they are far from the home of the center most areas away from the main bulk of hell. As soon as a demon finds out that you have a Sword Devil familiar, you will become the #1 target of all hell’s denizens.” he said.

“Huh?” The two exclaimed.

“It’s as he said, Sword Devil’s are feared and hated throughout all of hell. All demon lords have an unanimous agreement that all Sword Devils are to be hunted and their demon core secured and sealed so that their soul is never resurrected.” Valmor explained.

The two turned very pale when they heard this and gulped loudly.

“Why are they so hunted. After all, all demons hunt each other.” Ashley asked.

“If it was only because of that no demon would truly fear them but it’s their strength. You yourself haven’t realized but even now you can easily hunt creatures above level 30 when at full power. You're just limiting yourself because of the boy who isn’t properly focusing your power through his body.” Lucifer said.

Xero was shocked when he heard that. “How come? Don’t I already match her strength, she shouldn’t be restrained anymore?” Xero asked.

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“It's not a question of restraining her, do you really think demons, monsters and angels are all the same type of creatures? Angel familiars are powerful but they are the hardest to train through the familiar seal, monsters are second hardest and demons the easiest but in the same manner, for the master of a demon to display their familiars full power it is the hardest, monsters the second hardest and angels the easiest.” Lucifer said.

Ashley’s face was dark when she heard that. She probably already knew what restrained her but obviously did not mention it as she did not know how to fix it.

“In hell, demons are linked to spawning pits all their lives. Some time ago the holy aura in hell blocked countless spawning pits but after some time, some demons that survived from those closed pits reached level 80 and with their soul they forced their demonic and devilish aura through the link in the soul and forced the pits open. That is why hell has been pushing back the holy aura in hell for a while now.” Valmor said.

“Why does Archmagus want to tell us this?” Ashley asked.

“We are here to teach you how to properly release the power of your familiar, and other techniques related to your type of demon.” Valmor said.

“Type?” Xero tilted his head.

“All creatures are divided in different types. Organic are all living creatures, Material are monsters made by inorganic material, spirit, fairy, spirit item, armor and weapon. Your familiar, it could be said to be similar to Grunt’s own familiar. Her ‘body’ in her demon form is an empty armor shell containing her soul while her true body is the sword of her demon form. In this case, it is possible for you to do the same as Grunt does and ‘equip’ your familiar.” Valmor said.

“What!” Xero exclaimed.

“Don’t over think things kid.” Lucifer said, “This technique is incredibly hard to master and use. Not to mention to even use it you need to be able to release your familiar’s full power.” Lucifer said.

Xero frowned and nodded. “Archmagus, how do i release Ashley’s power?” Xero asked.

“It ain't that easy kid.” Lucifer chuckled. “Your soul is too weak to even try. Her soul has some several thousand years and is complex. Your body can’t handle the ‘true’ strength of a Sword Devil. That said, all those incomplete ego sword minions you have walking around are good soul training targets.” Lucifer said.

Xero was getting a headache from all this talk that went around in circles instead of going to the topic he wanted, “Can you please explain clearly?” Xero said clearly starting to lose his patience with the devil.

“Those Sword Devils, they’re half baked because their souls are still sword spirits and not devil souls. Only when a demon core with a demon soul is forged together with the sword spirit does it become a devil soul making them true devils. That said, like i said, they are perfect for you to train your soul’s strength by training the merging technique with these lower class incomplete devils.” Lucifer said.

Xero nodded and looked at the Archmagus, “Is there something else?” Xero asked.

“There is not, come let us teach you the merging technique.” Valmor said standing and walked once more outside. “Call out any Sword Devil.” He said.

Xero nodded and took out his Bloodvine wood sword.

With a nod and looked at the blade, “Now, feel for the mental or soul link between you and the sword spirit. Tell me when you feel it.” Valmor said.

Xero nodded and held his sword up in a stance and closed his eyes.

He let his mana flow naturally and soon he found a very weak link between him and the sword that connected to his soul but also to the familiar seal that went to Ashley. “Found it, it's a soul link but it connects to me and Ashley.” Xero said.

“She made it, so it links with her as well. It doesn’t matter though, what is important is to focus on your link. Focus and then start to fill the link with mana. Fill it even beyond the limit and when you do pull the spirit towards your soul until the two hit against each other. Then use that link to tie the two together.” Valmor said.

“Kekeke! Don’t worry about failing kid, you will fail without a doubt the first hundred times due to the pain of two souls hitting against each other. Only through this will your soul's energy be stimulated.” He laughed. “Only once your soul is bigger and with more vibrant soul energy it will make it ‘stickier’ making it easier for the Sword Devil to ‘link’ with your body but it's just the first phase of the technique.” Lucifer said.

“There is more?” Ashley asked.

“Of course, full soul merging. It will completely merge the two souls. The first phase will make the power of the devil be exhibited to 150% while full merging brings out 300% of their power but the burden on the body is to be expected.” Valmor said. “Begin.” He said.

Xero nodded and through the link, mana filled and filled until it was a bright and powerful link. With Xero’s control he pulled the soul that started to struggle until the two hit each other.

Knowing that there would be pain and knowing the pain were different things but because Xero had been tempered he felt what having his soul almost ripped out of his body by sheer force. Although he jolted in pain he held firm was the two souls rubbed against each other.

The excess mana in the link was hanging and he began to form a bond around the two souls to hold them together but they kept grinding against each other making him feel extreme pain.

Finally he couldn’t hand the pain and lost focus causing the mana in the link to break apart and the sword spirit retreated to its sword and Xero dropped the sword and fell to his knee.

“Oh? He almost succeeded on the first try.” Valmor muttered and pulled out a potion and fed it to the boy.

In Xero’s body he felt a mystical energy come from the potion and slowly heal his soul but when it returned to its previous state it didn't stop as the soul began to expel a kind of blue gas that left the soul but then gathered on the body slowly causing the soul to grow while absorbing the energy from the potion.

“What is this?” Xero asked.

“Soul nourishing potion, it's for those training the soul and need something to heal it. It’s hard to get medicine but we have a large supply since we have our own personal dungeon where countless special herbs grow.” Valmor said. “Try again.” he said.

Xero took the sword and found it tried to escape momentarily and he felt the fear in the spirit but the link still existed so like before Xero pulled the spirit out but this time his soul was much larger and unlike before, where it seemed the spirit was grinding against his very soul, this time that strange blue cloud that gathered around his soul formed a cover making it less painful and slightly safer. It also helped to tie the spirit to his soul but it still fought and kept hitting his soul a lot but after a while, Xero bound it so much that he felt a strange connection form. In fact the soul link lines filled with mana wrapping the spirit sank into its spirit and formed a single short connection and the spirit no longer fought and instead moved closer just barely touching the body but that tiny contact caused a huge chain reaction.

BANG! WOOSH!

The rough emerald on the base of the wooden sword suddenly shined as countless lights shot out and started to impact Xero starting from his hands and then arms, shoulder, torso, lower back legs and finally head.

When the glowing lights vanished, Xero appeared wearing armor with small red veins in it and he looked at the sword and found it glow. Then it slowly lengthened before a beautiful black sheath formed with a ribbon near the guard while the wooden handle was covered in a strange vine fiber grip that was red in color.

Xero grabbed the sheath with his left hand and the hilt with his right hand taking a natural quick draw pose and suddenly pulled.

SWOOSH!

Just pulling the sword suddenly gathered all the nature and plant mana within a 100 meter radius into the blade sharpened by the Sword Devil’s aura and shot it forward like a sharp flying blade and impacted the wall, no it simply cleaved through it without resistance and kept going until it hit a tree splitting it in half, from 150 meters away.

“Bloody hell! The damn minion packs some power when in wooded areas.” Lucifer said and looked at the blade.

Unlike the common wood form it had in its normal state, the blade was black with dark green flame like lines on the blade as if green fire was captured within. An uncanny sharpness exited in that blade making it seem able to cut anything.

Lucifer couldn’t stay put seeing the blade and turned anxious. “Ah~! This feeling of a bloody Sword Devil makes me itch all over. So fucking unnerving being near one of these bloody things.” He muttered making Valmor raise a brow and form a shallow smile of interest at the words of his almost fearless level 95 demon lord.

With a slight smile Valmor pulled out several dozen potions and put them in Xero’s bag. “Child, you have succeeded exceptionally quick, your soul is already quite strong. Do not try your own familiar though until you can merge with a new sword minion in under 5 seconds. Or else it will not matter how much you try you might even be corrupted by your familiar’s soul.” Valmor warned him. “Just keep training this for now and make sure to teach those students well. I shall leave these potions for when you reach your limit. Do not waste it, only when you are nearly collapsing.” Valmor said.

“Yes Archmagus. Thank you for teaching me this technique and giving me the warning.” Xero said.

Valmor nodded and took to the air without a word.

Xero watches him walk away and suddenly feels a wave of energy and looks to Ashley and sees her with a yellow sword that was shining and suddenly she was covered in very heavy armor, fitting her small size perfectly, but the longsword suddenly expanded to a 5 meter long greatsword and yet she held it casually with on hand at the hilt.

“It’s not that hard, and like this i can exert more power.” She said before the armor undid itself and she nodded while tossing the blade up right back to Xero. “I can’t wait to hunt with master.” She giggled and skipped away.

Xero looked at the sword in his hand and sheathed it and with a though, loosened the link causing it to completely unwind and the spirit returned to its sword making all the armor come off and the sword revert to its original state.

He stored both and took a step before his body was suddenly covered in sweat and he fell to his knee and suddenly felt his body empty of mana. “T-that took so much mana.” Xero huffed but then frowned and shook his head, “No, the sword minion ate all my mana while leaving.” he frowned and took out a mana stone to get some mana back and stood up to go eat something because he was now very tired.