Chapter 1: My Name is Luo Yan, and I Attend the Demon King Academy

A gloomy and terrifying classroom, a lecture hall hung with torture instruments, stood a demon of ferocious appearance behind a black stone lectern.

His name was Enos, a Diamond-class (Level VII) Fear Demon, with two massive bull horns growing from his head, resembling a beast walking upright.

That towering figure was wrapped in a scarlet robe, while scarlet eyes beneath the hood's shadow emitted a chilling, murderous gleam.

As for the blackboard behind him, it was even more remarkable; scrawled across it in chalk was a single line—

[Methods on how to efficiently torture humans and collect fear energy from their screams.]

"Fear differs from charm, yet their essence is actually the same... The source of our power is human faith. Our believers do not praise us, but they live in constant dread of us day and night, which in fact is also a form of prayer."

"Therefore, dead believers are meaningless; only living believers can contribute an endless stream of power to us."

"Make a note of this... We must make our prey fearful, yet avoid excessive torture that leads to their death or breakdown."

"After all, if prey lose their reaction to external stimuli, whatever we do becomes meaningless. Thus, the highest level of torture is often invisible... However, you must also note that if the torture is too light, it may have the opposite effect, such as making the prey enjoy it. This too we must avoid."

"Pay attention! Do not think these lessons are useless just because you are not a Fear Demon; even a Succubus can draw experience from them. Never let your prey possess you; only when those simping dogs cannot have you will they regard you as their deity... I hope what you learned from Lady Lilith was not merely the art of coquetry."

This was the highest institution of learning in Hell: the Demon King Academy.

As the name implies, it was a place to cultivate Demon Kings.

Of course, since surface humans had grown increasingly powerful, Demon Kings were not as prized as they were five hundred years ago; they had practically become a consumable resource.

Therefore, the goal of the vast majority of students was to remain in the Demon Capital, preferably becoming a civil servant in the Internal Affairs Force... but these are side issues.

In short, in order to stay in the rear after graduation, the students below the podium listened with rapt attention... only Luo Yan listened with a chill running down his spine.

The reason was simple.

Everyone present was either a demon or an undead; he was the only human, and he was sitting right in the center of the classroom.

Whenever the lecture touched upon topics concerning humans, no matter how thick-skinned he was, he could not help but tense up.

Especially Professor Enos, who would often be speaking when suddenly he would split his blood-filled maw wide and offer Luo Yan a mysterious smile.

Enos's smile was only one aspect; sometimes trouble also came from those beside him.

Lumi, a Terror Demon sitting at the desk next to him, was stealing glances at him from time to time, looking eager to make a move... He hoped this guy was just imagining things in his head and wouldn't actually take the risk.

On the other side, McKinley, a Dream Demon, was blowing air toward the Fire Demon in the front row, occasionally muttering softly under his breath.

"I heard humans are more prone to dozing off in environments of forty degrees..."

Luo Yan did not know where this guy heard such a thing, nor did he know what this guy fantasized about doing once he fell asleep.

In Professor Enos's class, he felt that even if he were roasted cooked, he might not be able to fall asleep.

Compared to the two guardians flanking him on either side, the one sitting in the row behind him, Miss Mia, was even more excessive.

This young lady was a Succubus, with pink hair, heart-shaped tail tips and pupils, and a pair of sheep-like curved horns growing above her ears.

She had altered her school uniform skirt to be very short, reaching a length that made one unsure where to rest one's eyes.

Since the beginning of this class, this girl had been picking on him, either kicking his chair with her toes propped under the desk or letting out an exaggerated yawn to blow air onto the back of his neck.

This girl was the most dangerous! Other demons at least needed to cast spells, whereas she only needed to rely on her racial innate talent.

Not casting spells left no traces; if one fell victim, there was nowhere to seek justice.

Luo Yan dared not be the slightest bit careless, fearing he would be caught off guard, resulting in the things taught in class being immediately applied to him.

In the entire class, besides him, only a guy named Iggy was relatively normal.

Although this fellow was a Succubus, he was a male Succubus, belonging to the very bottom of the high-tier demon ecological chain.

Since Luo Yan's status was similar to that of a giant panda, a "protected animal" designated by the Demon God, bullying him carried severe legal consequences; therefore, Iggy usually served as the target for bullying in the class.

This guy was truly pitiable; those pitiful, pleading eyes sometimes made even Luo Yan, a straight-laced steel man, feel a pang of sympathy.

Of course, sometimes he could not decide whether this guy was deliberately pretending...

He might as well stay on guard! The frequency of the chair-kicking was gradually becoming excessive; Luo Yan could endure no longer, turned around, and glared at Mia.

However, the latter not only showed no restraint but provocatively licked the corner of her mouth.

Her wine-red pupils were like sweet chocolate soft candies; Luo Yan merely met this girl's gaze, and his mind uncontrollably blurred for a moment.

That was not magic, but a Succubus's racial innate talent... The pupils of these guys naturally possessed the power to captivate the soul.

Only high-tier demons or those with sufficiently strong spiritual power could be immune, but Luo Yan clearly belonged to neither category.

Trouble!

Just as he thought this, it was already too late.

In that instant, Enos, standing on the podium, had already noticed his little movement of turning around and immediately let out a bull-like roar.

"Luo Yan, daring to make small moves in my class, you have quite some audacity!!!"

The entire classroom trembled; students sitting in the front rows painfully covered their ears.

And this was merely Enos's regular volume when reprimanding students.

"Sorry, sir—" Luo Yan jumped up with a whoosh and hurriedly admitted his mistake, only to be interrupted by another thunderous, furious roar.

"Sorry? There is no word for 'sorry' in Hell! Lift your head and stare into my eyes! You dare look into a Succubus's eyes but not mine? Do not submit to fear; overcome it! Yes, just like that! Very good, you may go to the toilet to dry your pants! Hahahaha!"

Enos laughed loudly to himself, and laughter erupted throughout the classroom.

"Hahahaha!"

Only Iggy looked at Luo Yan with deer-like eyes, appearing worried.

Mia clicked her tongue, clasped her hands behind her head, and wore an expression of dissatisfaction on her face; it was unclear whether she regretted Professor Enos ruining her good deed or lamented that it was not she who had made someone wet their pants.

Of course, Luo Yan's pants were not wet, so naturally, there was no need to go to the toilet.

Facing the laughter of his classmates, he made no response, simply sitting back down helplessly.

In Hell, such situations were all too common; this was not the first time he had been teased by a teacher in this academy.

Just yesterday, Lady Lilith, the Succubus professor teaching Illusion and Control magic, had used him as a spellcasting material for a live demonstration.

Mia, sitting in the row behind him, had probably just been clumsily imitating that female caster.

As for Professor Enos, he was actually one of the friendlier professors in this Demon King University, at least capable of teaching him some useful skills.

Thanks to him.

As an ordinary human living in Hell, it had been a very, very long time since he had been scared into wetting himself by a Fear Demon's gaze.

In contrast, Lady Lilith was simply having fun at his expense.

Until today, he still could not become immune to the Succubus's control skills; however one thought about it, that person's teaching policy was problematic!

As for how an ordinary human like him came to study in this damned place, that was a long story.

First, he was not from this world but a transmigrator from Earth.

The cause of the transmigration was a traffic accident; he could no longer remember the process in between. In short, when he opened his eyes again, he was already in the deepest underground part of the Aust Continent, inside the Demon God's Temple, with mysterious runes and a pentagram behind him.

According to the Shadow Priests in the temple, his mother was a human acolyte, while his father was a vampire who preferred to remain anonymous.

Logically, he should have possessed half vampire bloodline... but in reality, it was not so.

In this world, vampire inheritance was not completed through primitive mating but required the ceremony of the Embrace to transmit vampire power.

That was a rather troublesome procedure, testing not only manpower and resources but also the genealogy of the recipient.

Generally speaking, only the union between vampires and vampires would result in offspring receiving the Embrace from their vampire kin at birth.

As an illegitimate child of disreputable origin, Luo Yan clearly did not qualify for the Embrace.

Flowing in his veins was merely the blood of an ordinary human.

What he inherited from his father was at most a handsome face and blood that seemed noble but was utterly useless; beyond that, there was nothing... though he had never expected anything anyway.

His mother, Tiffany, passed away shortly after giving birth to him, while his father had not appeared at all in the past eighteen years.

But this actually did not matter.

When he first arrived in this world, Luo Yan felt his life was bleak and that he was finished. However, after staying for a while, he discovered it was not that hopeless.

First, humans in the underworld were "protected animals" designated by His Majesty the Demon God.

Any human subjects serving the Demon God could not be harassed, discriminated against, or harmed by the undead or demons of Hell; violators would be sentenced to death. Whether this was done to show the secret believers of the Demon God on the surface or to ensure species diversity in Hell, humans in Hell possessed permits and actually lived quite well... as long as they were not captured prey or prisoners of war.

Although expecting a Hell society that revered strength to completely refrain from discriminating against humans was impossible, at least overtly, no demon or undead creature would cast spells on humans who were fellow believers of the Demon God, and this was especially true the closer one got to the political center of Hell.

Besides this, humans could receive bonus points when taking entrance exams for Hell's higher institutions.

However, since human magical aptitude was among the lowest, even with bonus points, the vast majority of humans still could not pass the exams.

Apart from advantages in education, employment prospects were also quite good.

Although the workshops of most demons did not welcome frail humans, the acolytes of the temples under the Ministry of Truth always kept their doors open to humans.

This position was equivalent to a civil servant in Hell, carrying a certain status and decent income; although there was little room for promotion, there was no danger, and upon death, one's soul would not become undead but would directly enter the Reincarnation Pool, allowing one to be reborn as a demon in the next life.

Luo Yan's birth mother in this life was an acolyte.

Although being an acolyte was not bad, Luo Yan did not want to spend his entire life in Hell, even if he possessed the prestigious "Demon Capital residency."

It was true that there were humans in Hell, but this place was simply unsuitable for human habitation.

Not to mention other things, the "ocean" here consisted of magma over a thousand degrees hot; a casual wave of heat could raise the temperature of an entire city by hundreds of degrees.

Such temperatures meant nothing to demons and undead, or even to dwarves, but for humans, they were fatal.

The fact that he could survive to this day was purely due to the magical barrier of the Demon Capital.

After being teased by Professor Enos, Luo Yan felt as if he were sitting on pins and needles.

He did not know if it was his illusion, but he felt that the latter part of this lecture, discussing "100 clever tricks to make humans scream," seemed to exceed the syllabus.

At this moment, the sound of the dismissal bell finally rang from the corridor outside.

The little demons sitting in the classroom, as if hearing the starting gun of a race, "whooshed" into the air and flew toward the windows, screaming "Mine, mine!" with their sights set directly on the cafeteria in the adjacent tower.

However, just as they were about to fly out the window, they "bang"ed solidly into an invisible wall of air.

Instant-cast Silver-class magic! Wall of Atmosphere!

Looking at the Fear Demon on the podium, Luo Yan's eyes were filled with envy.

On the Aust Continent, whether in the surface world or the underworld, the classification of levels followed the standards passed down from the First Era.

The lowest rank is Black Iron (i), followed by Bronze (ii), then Fine Steel (iii), Silver (iv), Gold (v), Platinum (vi), Diamond (vii), Amethyst (viii), Grandmaster (ix), and Demigod (x).

Above Demigod, there is actually a Near-God rank (xi), which in plain terms means being like a deity; however, in the Underworld, only the Demon God, the ruler of this realm, is suspected of reaching this level.

Additionally, each rank is further subdivided into five stars.

However, since experience and technique weigh far more heavily in battles between peers of the same rank, the star subdivision holds limited reference value and is thus rarely used.

A Terror Demon capable of instant-casting fourth-tier Air magic...

Professor Enos must already possess the strength of a five-star Diamond!

Incidentally, Luo Yan is Bronze (ii).

Although his theoretical knowledge is exceptionally rich, consistently placing at the top of his grade year after year, he unfortunately lacks the racial talent for magic.

Just as the little demons, wings drooping, were climbing up from beneath the windows while cursing, Professor Enos, standing behind the podium, stomped his foot.

"Silence! I have not dismissed the class! Get back to your seats!"

The noise was like an earthquake! Seeing that it was Professor Enos unleashing his fury, the little demons who had been cursing instantly turned pale with fear, scrambling nimbly back to their seats one by one.

Watching his classmates sit back down, Professor Enos swept his gaze across the classroom, cleared his bull-like throat with force, and then shouted in a booming voice.

"Students, this is the last lesson I will teach you; I hope you commit its contents firmly to memory! Especially some of you—if you wish to save your lives, you had best listen carefully."

Not knowing if it was his imagination, Luo Yan always felt that Professor Enos's bovine eyes had glared specifically at him, causing sweat to unconsciously seep down his back.

The pressure exerted by a Diamond-rank demon was not something a mere Bronze-rank Necromancer could withstand.

Moreover, he was a Necromancer whose abilities were watered down.

Upon hearing Professor Enos's voice, the demons and undead of all sizes in the classroom began to murmur among themselves.

"The last lesson?"

"What does that mean?"

"Is summer break starting early this year?!"

"It is not summer break that is coming early, you fools! It is your graduation ceremony!" Seeing this group of hotheads still babbling about summer vacation, Enos shook his head in disappointment and continued in his resonant voice, "The surface adventurers are too formidable, and the Demon Kings at the front lines are insufficient; therefore, the graduation ceremonies for the entire academy have been moved forward this year."

The moment his words fell, the little demons in the classroom let out another round of shrieks.

"Aaaargh! Tear them apart!"

"I want to bite off their ears!"

"I'll eat their heads!"

Little demons are not high-tier demons by nature; strictly speaking, they should not even qualify for admission to the Demon King Academy.

However, since they are all nobles among the little demons, they naturally cannot be lumped together with ordinary little demons.

Although Luo Yan often felt that this bunch of good-for-nothings might not even be as clever as average little demons—at least those cunning fellows usually managed to survive a couple of episodes longer.

Mia, sitting in the back row, raised her hand and stood up under the gazes of the surrounding demons.

"But Professor Enos, we are third-year students; we are not supposed to graduate until next year. Did you make a mistake?"

Enos glanced at her contemptuously and said coldly.

"Made a mistake? It is you who fail to grasp the situation! The front lines are in urgent crisis this year, so both the third and fourth years will graduate together... However, you are luckier than the fourth-years, as all the quotas for remaining at the academy have been allocated to you. Tomorrow morning, do not bring your textbooks; arrive punctually at eight o'clock at the graduation hall, and at nine o'clock, personnel from the Internal Affairs Force will come to guide you in filling out your preferences."

"Since you have barely attended any practical combat classes, you had best pray that you are not assigned to the front lines; that place is no joke, especially given that the current situation is far from optimistic."

The little demons were all stunned; Lumi, the Terror Demon who had been toying with his nail-pulling pliers, froze as well, and even McKinley, the Succubus who had been blowing cooling air behind the Fire Demon, puffed her cheeks out until they looked like balls.

"How could this be..." Mia widened her eyes, her peach-colored pupils flickering with terror, her fair thighs trembling faintly.

This was the first time Luo Yan had ever seen her display such an expression; usually, he only saw it on Yige's face.

Perhaps someone in her family understood the conditions at the front lines.

But... could it really be that exaggerated?

To be honest, although the vast majority of students in this Demon King Academy dreaded the profession of Demon King and attended merely to polish their credentials, he had entered specifically aiming for the position of Demon King.

As for the reason, it was quite simple: anyone who becomes a Demon King will be dispatched to the vicinity of the surface world.

This was his only opportunity as a human to return to the surface world.

Although Luo Yan was well aware that matters might not be that simple, it was at least worth a try.

Even if the surface world was dangerous... surely it could not be more perilous than Hell itself?

Here, a Fire Demon sneezing could accidentally injure him, not to mention the Succubi lurking like wolves and tigers, eyeing him hungrily.

Luo Yan had already made up his mind: tomorrow, he would list Demon King as his first preference.

As for how he would perform the duties of a Demon King, that would no longer be up to this group of demons.

In any case, he would survive by keeping a low profile whenever possible; he would use a small whip and a back-scratcher rather than a forty-meter-long greatsword, striving neither to be perceived as a threat by humans nor to attract the attention of his colleagues in the rear.

It was all about playing Tai Chi.

He might not be skilled in magic, but he was exceedingly proficient in slacking off.

Perhaps due to having experienced the battlefield, Enos was acutely aware of the conditions there.

Although he did not like these wealthy idlers who merely muddled through their days, in the end, he could not bear to watch his students march off to their deaths.

He knew all too well the methods demons used to torture humans, and he was equally well-versed in how humans tortured captured demons on their side.

Looking at this group of hotheads staring blankly at one another, he continued shouting in his bull-like voice.

"You have one night to write letters to your families... you spineless cowards!"

"Class dismissed!"

(End of Chapter)