After killing the hostile beasts standing near the waterfall, I once again ventured inside the deep forest navigating my way as merlin instructed me toward the nearest settlement.
'How can you tell it is the right way?' I asked merlin in response to which a golden crystal appeared in my hands with black runes inscribed on its surface.
'Every hero is given a map of the planet they are venturing to conquer by gods, ohh I forgot you are not a hero but a sacrifice hehe…' Merlin spoiled my mood but my anger was not directed at him but those gods and in response to my emotions, the dark sky became darker covered with black clouds and intense lightning bolts fell on the forest.
Soon the forest fire started which quickly doused by the heavy rain.
'You have merged with the beast core of dragon king Noob, thus slight change in your emotion can alter the environment, learn to control it or when you become strong you will bring calamity wherever you go.' Merlin said.
Merlin's words were true because I didn't intended to cause this damage and if I can't control my power now, when I am weak, it will become more difficult to control it in the future.
I imbued some mana in the crystal and a 3D holographic image of planet Amora appeared in front of me just like what I have seen 11 years ago when I entered the planet through space.
'If we have someone's soul essence, we can imbue it into the globe crystal and it will tell us their current location.' Merlin said and as he finished speaking another transparent crystal appeared in my hands.
The crystal was see-through like a pure white diamond but in center of it was a dark inking.
'Whose soul essence is this?' I asked.
Merlin has told me what soul essence was, it was the piece of soul extracted from person's core, where soul is purest and most concentrated, it had many uses like tracking the host's location and many more.
'It is the soul essence of demon king Lucifer, which he gave me during our journey.' Merlin said, his voice not containing even tinge of emotion.
I touched the golden crystal with silver crystal which contained soul essence of demon king Lucifer and a golden wave swept throughout the holographic planet Amora but the location of demon king Lucifer didn't appear on the map.
'….'
'….'
'Don't give me that look, it is not broken, it just means that the demon king Lucifer is not on planet Amora.' Merlin answered my unspoken question.
'Then where did he go, land of gods?' I asked as that was the only thing came to my mind.
'He could be in the land of gods or in any dimension pocket, but I also think he is in the land of gods.' Merlin said.
'Why is that?' I asked.
'Do you remember the last words I said to Lucifer when we teleported away from the demon king's castle.' Merlin asked.
'Ahh… yes, you said, 'You have grown weak Diablo'.' I tried my best to imitate merlin's voice which sounded very cool at that time.
'The thing is he didn't grow weak at all, I just said those words to arouse that long existing fear in his heart otherwise he would have done everything in his power to find us and eventually caught up to us in past 11 years.' Merlin said.
'What fear are you talking about?' I asked.
'He only hates and fears two things in this world, being called weak by someone, whom he has acknowledged and second someone knowing his past before he meet me, he has even signed a mana contract with me to not reveal his past to anyone.'
'So, is there any way for me to know demon king's past, we can use it against him while fighting him in future?' I asked merlin.
'Apart from me and few members of his old party, no one on the planet knows about his past, but I know someone who can tell you about his past.' Merlin said.
'Who?' I asked.
'There was a human in the party of demon king Lucifer named Austin, who participated in the conquest to defeat the previous demon king with Lucifer but he quit the party when Lucifer betrayed me because he was greatly indebted to me and couldn't accept the injustice...' Merlin said and stopped midway, but I found at least one sensible person in merlin's old party.
'So, what do you think demon king Lucifer is doing in the land of gods?' I asked merlin.
'What do you think, of course training under other gods, trying to become stronger and I am sure when we face him next time, we won't be able to escape.' Merlin's warning rang in my ears and I understood the threat lingering over my head.
'Very well, the next time we meet him, we won't be the one running.' I said dashing through the vast forest looking at the map in my hands.
'That aside, how powerful is this guy Austin you mentioned to me before?' I asked merlin.
'He was an aura grandmaster when I last saw him and a powerful one at that.' My eyes widened because I hadn't thought that merlin had acquaints with such legendary figure.
One has to consider that, this planet where tens of billions of peoples resided from different races, there were only handful of Aura grandmaster that can be counted on one hand.
'Do you think he will join us in our conquest to defeat the current demon king?' I asked merlin because it is reassuring to have a strong companion with us and I will need as much as strength to fight against the demon king Lucifer.
'Whether he joins us or not, we should pay him a visit, I bet meeting him would be a great help to you.' Merlin's suggestion piqued my interest.
'What kind of person is he?' I asked merlin.
'He always blabbered about how he wanted to make his own kingdom and only joined Lucifer's party after he has agreed to his condition by signing a soul contract with him.'
Was demon king Lucifer that desperate to recruit someone, to sign a mana contract was one thing and breaking this oath would render someone unable to wield mana but it wasn't effective against aura users who didn't rely on mana at all.
That is where a soul contract came into picture, if a person breaks soul contract his soul would get annihilated never to be reborn again.
As merlin spoke about Austin another transparent soul essence crystal appeared in my hands which belonged to Austin.
I once again touched both the crystal and a golden wave spread throughout the globe and a red dot appeared on the far away continent above which a red beast skull was drifting.
'What is he doing on the beast continent?' Merlin said eying the map suspiciously.
There were 5 great continents on planet Amora and countless small islands scattered throughout the planet. I was on Eastern continent right now which was the biggest continent on planet Amora.
'I don't know the situation of other continent but even in past the fifth continent was reserved for beasts by the decree of demon gods and celestial beings to maintain the balance of this planet.
100 year ago only one continent was under the control of celestial beings while other 3 continents were ruled by demon king whom Lucifer defeated and took his place but considering the prudent personality of demon king Lucifer, he wouldn't have let any human have full control over any continent.'
'He must have his reasons for venturing into that beast continent.' I said examining the globe of planet amora in front of me.
'So how do you want to proceed, should we teleport directly to the beast continent using teleportation scroll or do you want to travel there by yourself?' Merlin asked me and I reflected on both the choices.
'I want to travel by myself and get stronger while journeying, I can barely fight against an aura master in my current condition, i will only reduce our chance of recruiting Austin the way I am now.' I said as I stored the globe crystal in inventory and manifested lightning wings behind my back.
'I think you made the right choice.' Merlin said.
'Let's see what experiences this world has stored in for us.' I said and took flight in the sky above clouds speeding toward the nearby city I have seen in the map.