Mind Demon's Path of Domination

Mark spread out his hands widely, staring at the demon horde in front of him. They were still running towards him from a distance, all chained to that unnatural tree. If this continued and he didn't run using a Portal Key within some time, they would be able to get to him.

If he ran in the other directions, he would get too close to the chained giants.

That was why he planned to leave the Demon World using his main body quickly, but before that, Mark also planned to con these desperate demons.

But a good conman has to be a good salesman first. And a good salesman never underestimates their buyers.

He had said he had nine Portal Keys but had only one, and he was not selling that. Thus, he had to sell something that didn't exist, make as much profit as possible with that lie, and then use the one Portal Key in his hand to run away.

Mark asked out loud: "What can you all trade me for your lives, goodmen?"

The succubus, emanating an unnatural charm that made Mark's insides stir, said: "I am willing to give you a Seal of Destiny for one of the nine portal keys in your hand!"

"A mere Seal of Destiny?" Mark shook his head, acting disappointed. "Is that the value of your life, beautiful lady?"

The woman closed her mouth and kept running, seemingly in thought.

The demon with the blade aura sneered. "Middle Demon, some of us might be fools, but I am not. If you are selling it, show me the nine Portal Keys in your hand first and we can discuss trade after that!"

Every other demon looked at each other, some nervous, some afraid, and some distrusting. They all wanted one of the Portal Keys. This place was hell inside hell. This was one of the strange lands in the Demon World where even the truly strong could die.

They had all been captured by a queer tree and that had sealed all of their powers. Not only that but their vitality and mental cultivation of evolution tiers were also being constantly absorbed by the chains connected to them.

They were resisting the absorption with sheer will even while running, but In some time—a few days, some months, or a year at most—all of them would become husks. Their cultivated powers would be absorbed, their physical vitality would vanish, and finally, they would die.

Only a Portal Key could save them.

It didn't matter how weak a Portal Key was since, if they wished, they could let the tree absorb their cultivation and that would make them weaker. If they willingly let go of their powers, they could go back to being Middle Demons, and then, they could use weaker Portal Keys.

But what the blade aura demon said was true. Indeed, they wanted to know if Mark truly had nine Portal Keys. Everyone looked scrutinizingly at Mark, all with cold and ruthless gazes.

Mark raised both his arms. "Guys, you don't really think I will cheat my fellow demons, do you? Of course, I have nine Portal Keys. In fact, wait a second, I will show it to you as that Blade Guy asked."

He closed his eyes and lost himself inside his World Space for a few seconds, then came back out with a smile. In his hand, a single Portal Key appeared and everyone looked at it, some of them sighing in relief.

To them, Mark being a conman was very life-threatening.

A long chain of keys next appeared in Mark's other hand, and a quick count made the demons realize that he had, in total, nine keys in his hand. Mark's golden eyes shimmered as he dangled the keys in front of them—they followed it with their eyes like a donkey to a carrot.

Indeed, Alchemic Shapeshifting was very handy to make things like this.

Of course, 8 of the Portal Keys didn't work, it was a counterfeit. Only the Portal Key that he brought out first worked, and that was the Portal Key to the World of Star Fever.

First show an original, then the fakes. That trick never fails.

Mark then showed the expression of a sleazy merchant on his face, a merchant who would only sell the keys if he gets a damn good deal for them. That made many of the demons spit on the floor and curse, killing any good impression they might have had.

But with that, they had forgotten to ask whether the Keys were real or fake.

Not that they could confirm whether it works without Mark giving it to them. And no way was Mark going to give it to one of them before the deal was set. They wouldn't find that as distasteful either, since he couldn't trust them to follow through with the deal after he gives it.

Mark chuckled at their comical and demonic spits. "Now, now gentlemen and beauties, don't make fun of me. As I said, I am not selling you my Portal Keys, I am selling you your life. So, let the auction begin. The highest-paying of us gets all nine Keys."

Suddenly, the vibe of the horde changed, all 49 of them getting spurred.

Until now, they had a 9 in 49 chance of getting a Portal Key, but now, that chance has become 1 in 49. And even though the one who bought the nine Keys might set a second auction for the remaining Keys, it was going to be much harder to buy.

They were all strong demons and they had all come from generally the same place. They knew each other and what kind of treasures the other had in their grasp. They could buy their life cheaper from Mark, but not from each other.

For example, the Succubus and the Blade Guy had an underlying enmity with each other. If the Succubus got it, the Blade Guy would never be able to buy one from her. Nor would he be able to physically fight her for one since they had similar-level physical bodies.

And thus, they were now all forced to bid something big!

Indeed, things increased in value when fewer people could have them.

"Cunning!" The Succubus spat.

The Winged Humanoid amidst them scoffed. "Like a sleazy human shit!"

"I like it, the richest of us gets to decide it." The dwarf demon with the head of a lion chuckled. "If we get it from him, it is not a loss for us either, since we can resell the remaining eight Keys for another auction!" Discover more stories at empire

The Blade Guy was the only one to laugh coldly. "We are being manipulated to bid higher prices, and you all are going to have it go this little Middle Demon's way? We can all let one of us buy it and share it with each other at a fair price!"n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Oh sure," the Succubus said lovingly. "Let me have it and I promise I will share it with you!"

The Blade Guy laughed mockingly, then said softly: "You are a fool, woman. We are enemies and let it be that way till I have your whore-head sliced off.

"But we can make one of our weaker demons buy it, one of the people who we two can easily dispatch physically. Then, we can buy it from him. Don't fall for such a childish scheme!"

The Succubus laughed. "I might have done that, but this is too good a chance to kill you while surviving myself!" She shouted: "I am willing to buy the nine Keys for three Seals of Destiny!"

Mark whistled. "Anyone higher?"

The Blade-aura Guy almost opened his mouth before the Lion-Headed Dwarf shouted: "I can give you a Trait Stone from the World of Inbreeding. It can give you the Son of Darkness Trait!"

Many of the demons hissed in disbelief.

"Son of Darkness?" The Succubus asked, likely one of the strongest demons. "You entered that World? No wonder you are so proud of your wealth!"

Mark frowned, but he didn't have to ask his buyers for information. He had his lovely soulmate for that.

"World of Inbreeders is a special world where incest is the most powerful currency. The more inbreeding that happens in a family, the stronger it can be in that world.

"And the more women from your own bloodline that a man sleeps with, the stronger he will be. As in, if you do it with your sisters and mothers, you can be very strong in that world."

Mark was stupefied.

"That world is famous because of the World Will there. It has a true personality and tastes—as long as you do something incestual, it will give you rewards in the form of Trait Stones. Son of Darkness is an amazing trait for stealth if I am correct."

Mark wryly smiled while the Lion-Headed Dwarf laughed.

The dwarf said proudly, "That World doesn't even discriminate between natives and outsiders. I had a lot of sons in my World Space, too, so I didn't have to worry. It gave me a lot of Trait Stones, sadly, I lost most of them in a gamble in the Demon World."

The Blade Aura man clicked his tongue in disgust. "I will give you a Spiritual Sword Aura Art. Sell the nine Keys to me for those."

Mark smiled as the new bids came in. When one is desperate, wealth would lose value. And just like that, when amidst a group, one would also become less intelligent as a whole if they began thinking as part of the group.

Now, by doing this, he was learning what these people had in their hands. When he had learned enough, of course, he would no longer sell all 9 to a single person.

He would demand each of them give their bid for the nine Keys for a single Key.

Do you want one of the keys? Hey Blade Guy, give that Aura thing for one Key and I will give it to you!

He planned to rob them all!

Truly, the River of Destiny had given him a great reward by sending him here.

"You are being too greedy," Reol'ran said. "They will ask you to sell one of them the Key first, and you will have to prove your authenticity. If you can't prove it, then you will get nothing after the first guy fails to get a good, working Key."

Mark rubbed his nose.

This chapter upload first at NovelBin.Com