Chapter 189: Change in the Grimoire of the Dead (1/2)

“Okay, okay, this one want’s a new name quick, Mama.” The little scamp cried with glee as she clapped her hands non-stop.

“A name…how about Mo Na?” Naturally her name would have to follow mine and since my surname was Mo, hers was as well. To be honest, I considered naming her Brigittte, Moirah, Chaikah, Lorel and etc., but after giving it some thought, I felt that Mo Na was more appropriate.

“Mo Na…Mo Na…okay, Mo Na is a great name, Mo Na likes it. As long as it’s a name given by Mama, Mo Na will like them all!”

Having received a name, Mo Na gleefully hugged my head and rubbed her face against my own. “Mo Na, Mo Na, Mo Na has a name, it’s Mo Na, hehehe…”

Her scampish ways however, caused me to nearly fall over from lightheadedness.

“ Ah…it’s dark…Mama, Mo Na can’t see a thing…” Suddenly, the rubbing stopped and the panicked voice of Mo Na filled my ears. Worried that Mo Na might have gotten into trouble, I hurriedly brought her down and then, laughed. It turned out that because of her excited swaying, the hood of her robes ended up wrapping around her…

The robe she wore was a hand-me-down from me and naturally fitted my body. While it had been crudely altered by me, the hood’s size remained unchanged and it ended up covering her entire upper half because of that.

“Alright, alright, stop moving, Papa will get it for you.”

Gently taking off the hood, I returned her back to the world of light. Upon recovering her sight, the little scamp immediately hugged my neck and pecked me on the cheeks: “Thanks Mama.”

“I said so already, it’s Papa…bah forget it, not like you’ll listen anyway.”

Now that the little interlude was over, we resumed our foraging c*m exploration. As stated before, Purgatory was known for its scorching temperatures. But to a devil however, they were merely lukewarm and comfortable. In fact, the smell of sulfur wasn’t as bad as I had initially imagined.

From time to time, I spotted a few earthworm-like creatures floating about the surface of the lava lake. They were roughly the size of a fist and half a meter long. Because I wasn’t a Four-star, I still couldn’t bathe in the lava lake and thus I had no choice but to helplessly watch as those worms swam by me…ahem, honestly, I just didn’t want to eat worms.

Ever since we stepped into Purgatory, my memories gained a host of inherited knowledge which included the name of that worm, a young Demon Fire Worm. It was one of the main staple foods for low level devils in Purgatory. Apparently, its taste wasn’t all that bad but that appearance however…either way, I didn’t plan on eating worms no matter what people said.

Because those below the rank of Four-stars weren’t able to enter the lava lake, most lower levelled devils relied on tools to capture said worms. According to my inherited memories, a common tool was a netlike object crafted from the hide of a Demon Fire Salamander.

Demon Fire Salamanders were the evolved form of a Demon Fire Worm and were at least Two-stars, with the highest being a Seven-stars. There were no recorded sightings of any salamanders passing the level of Seven-stars. The more powerful the salamander was, the deeper they dwelt. In other words, those we saw on the surface were the most harmless members of their race. The further down one went, the more powerful and frightening the salamanders became.

The lava lake consisted of more than just Demon Fire Salamanders, a host of other strange and fantastical creatures lived there as well. For example, Fire Elementals, Demonic Fire Elves, the nemesis of the Demon Fire Salamanders, the Fire-eating Tuna, the Dark Flames Snails, etc.

Naturally, there were more creatures who lived in the lake but those listed above were the most representative of the ecology here. It went without saying that those of the Flame Demon evolutionary path loved living in the lava lake as well. At that stage, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that their bodies were formed of fire elements. Unlike the Fire Elementals however, Flame Demons were beings of flesh and blood and not pure elemental creatures. Strictly speaking, they were hybrids, kinda like Hanyos from Dogyasha.

Turning my gaze away from the lake, I found some foliage lying around the rock pillars nearby. Purgatory actually had plantlife, that fact alone shocked me. Truly, life was a miraculous thing but then, when one thought about it, living on the surface reall wasn’t all that when compared to those creatures swimming in the lava lake.

The plants themselves were roughly 20 cm rhizomes that grew upwards. Several dark red leaves sprouted off their tops which held a delicious looking red fruit the size of an orange.

According to my inherited memories, these fruits were an edible source of food as well, known as Red Lotus. They contained pure energy within them and were an excellent source of nourishment, both as food and as a material. Because Purgatory as a whole wasn’t conducive to growing life, such plants were rare and their fruits even rarer.

For there to be an unharvested fruit just lying there…that probably meant that no one was nearby.

‘Come to think of it, we arrived here from the Prison of the Dead and that had been sealed up for god knows how long. Didn’t that mean that this location was uninhabited for a long time as well? Unless something strange were to happen, I doubt we will even encounter a devil, except for the odd scout or two.’

Truth be told, the moment I came to that conclusion, I heaved a sigh of relief. Purgatory was a foreign land for me and there was no way the highest level in this region would be Four-stars like in the Prison of the Dead. So how many experts were hiding out in this new land? To me, Four-stars were already experts because I was just some Three-stars small fry. For a Four-stars however, Five-stars were the experts and for the Five-stars….

‘Ah, how annoying, somehow I’ve ended up at the bottom of the rung again…’

Suddenly, I started to miss the Prison of the Dead…even though that was a rather cowardly thought, at least the Prison was safe for me…