Lifetime Gift Chapter 6: Summoning Gate

Chapter 6: Summoning Gate

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: UA

The Demon King completed a small summon in the sandbox.

It can be regarded as a success, and can also be regarded as a failure. He summoned a low-level secret thief demon from the abyss. He was extremely timid, as soon as he arrived at the hundred caves purgatory, he was scared to death by the heroism of the Demon King. The summon gate had fully opened, enough for medium-sized creatures to come over, but the time it kept open was too short; less than a second. In such a short period of time, only a demon, which could flash, can make it through, not to mention humans, even most demons would be trapped.

In the second stage, the Demon King was no longer obsessed with the size of the summoning gate, but began to focus on the stability of the gate.

During this period, a red-tailed profane invited himself to be an assistant. She hated the demon sorcerer so much that she wanted to serve the Demon King. The Demon King hired her for a while, but then gradually felt that something was wrong. She must have other purposes…

After some forced questions, she admitted that she actually wanted to get a chance to cross over. She grew up watching romantic popular books and had a strange persistence in the transmission of different worlds. She had a beautiful dream, hoping to cross into the abyss demon domain, where she would use her amazing strength and beauty to hang and beat demons. However, the study of space magic not only consumed the spirit but also cost a lot of money, so she couldn’t realize her dream on her own. She heard that the research of the Lord of demon city was going very smoothly, so she wanted to borrow this convenience.

This was not a bad thing. The Demon King decided to follow her wish and use her as an experiment.

In the third stage, the opening of the door became stable, and the passage size was appropriate. The red-tailed demon rushed into the abyss happily and never came back.

It seems that the situation was not so simple though. After she rushed in, a small, round, upright creature with bat wings and six hands rolled to the Demon King’s feet and gave a “gawk” as it died.

A low-level burglar demon.

It was the same thing that the Demon King summoned. The size was the same, the lines on the wings were the same, even the flash posture was the same. The only difference was its dead posture. Last time the Demon King summoned it, it stood on the carpet, this time it was on a smooth brick floor on it’s back. The demon rolled far on the brick floor.

The Demon King had lost the last demon’s body, so there was no way to make an anatomical comparison. He had a terrible thought: these two thieving demons… are the same one. His summoning door was indeed aimed at the abyss, at the same place as last time, but not at the right time. The summon gate opened again at the same time.

In addition to the abyss, the Demon King tried to open the summon door in different planes but failed. Perhaps because the abyss and the purgatory are all negative energy planes, so they are more likely to interact with each other, while the celestial realm, the fire domain, the yuansuhai, the light nuclear layer, and the human world are not so easy.

If he made the small summon gate with one hand at most, he succeeded every time, and the timeline of each time was parallel to the present. But if he wanted to make a door that was two-way and unobstructed enough for a whole life to pass through, there would be various problems and it would connect to the past.

The Demon King thought that it might be more efficient to change his research direction for a while, so he put aside the time limitation and focused on tackling the door to other planes.

In addition to his research, the Demon King still chatted with the human mage.

Arlette kept providing him with demon items, and he was happy to send Arlette precious stones or sands. Once, the Demon King said, “Do you really want this stuff? What else do you want? You have worked hard for half a year to help me develop this giant pursuit catapult. Is this really enough?”

Arlette said with a smile, “It’s enough. Don’t you know how valuable the things you gave me are? Now I really don’t want anything in particular.”

“It’s not valuable at all!” The Demon King touched the familiar hand, which was still long and white, but the skin was much rougher than before. “Seriously, Arlette, I owe you a little bit. I’ve been on guard against you from the very beginning. I’m afraid you’ll cheat me. I’m afraid you’ll ask me for a reward I can’t afford. Up to now, the things I have given you are not very valuable. If I give them to ministers, they will surely think that I am a harsh despot… “

“Why do you want me to be dissatisfied?” asked the mage.

The Demon King sighed, “You should be dissatisfied. You must be tired after helping me with so many things in such a short time, but I treat you badly.”

Arlette was silent for a long time.

“Demon King,” he said after a while, “you don’t know the value of what you gave me. It is said that humans often cheat a demon out of his property, which may be true. We can easily obtain huge wealth by asking for it at will. It’s a wealth that ordinary people can’t imagine.”

“How can there be so many…” muttered the Demon King.

“I’m lying on a bed made of balsa wood,” Arlette said. “Maybe you don’t know what this is. In short, it’s something that human serfs couldn’t afford even if they worked for a lifetime. My pajamas are made of silk, the pillow is filled with thick down, and even my spoon has a jade handle. Maybe it doesn’t sound intuitive? What’s more, I don’t live in a wizard tower, but a manor with fruit trees. I employ assistants with gold coins rather than through talent. I live a more luxurious and free life than gentry and nobles. Moreover, my past is innocent and the temple will not trouble me. For a mage, my life can be called extravagant. In fact, in the eyes of my compatriots, I’m hardly a wizard anymore. I don’t go out and take risks. I don’t make money by selling scrolls and demon items. In my hometown, everyone thinks I’m a small upstart, that I inherited a large amount of a distant relatives’ inheritance and now lives on that wealth.”

The Demon King didn’t believe it, “No, not long ago, you were so poor that you couldn’t even afford good charcoal in winter…”

“That was a long time ago…”

“It’s only been a few decades. How long has it been?”

At this time, the Demon King found that the mage’s voice almost choked, “My Lord, I am human. My whole life is only a few decades.”

The Demon King was stunned. It was sad, but to the Demon King, he felt more fear than sadness.

Arlette’s hand moved, groping along the Demon King’s fingers, “I remember the first time I was held by you, your nails were very short. After that, I paid attention to your hand every time. I recorded which hand I touched and whether it’d changed. Over the years, your hand has been injured, which was not serious; your skin will harden when it is cold, and it was cured by the ointment I gave you; the calluses on your hand have not changed much, its thickness and position are the same as in the past; your fingernails have grown a little longer, but they do not need to be trimmed. It’s amazing. After all this time, a demon’s nails haven’t grown much.”

It sounded like the human mage was about to cry.

The Demon King was a little panicked. He didn’t understand. He really didn’t understand. The mage Arlette had been very gentle and calm, why did he suddenly lose control of his emotions today?

“I’m sorry, Arlette,” the Demon King said with difficulty, “I can feel you’re sad. But I don’t understand why you’re upset. I’m a demon. You’re human. I really don’t understand. Can you explain it to me?”

Arlette’s voice was muffled as if he was using something to cover his mouth, “Yes, I’m sorry. Not only you, but also I can’t understand why I’m sad. I should be happy, I should be very happy to meet you. My Lord, you have changed my life. You let a person who has long lost his status as a mage continue to regard himself as a mage. If I had not been summoned by you, I would be…”

He stopped, panting long as if trying to calm his excitement. “If I had not been summoned by you, there would have been no ‘me’ now.”

With that, he wanted to take his hand back, and the Demon King subconsciously went to grab him to keep his arm in the mirror. In fact, the Demon King had the ability to grab Arlette, but he finally let go.

Arlette’s hand is still beautiful, but it has changed.

The Demon King closed his eyes and recalled the day when the summon was successful. He took the mage’s hand and gently kissed the soft white palm. Arlette’s fingers are still slender, but the color of his nails are much darker than before; the back of his hands are still very white, but his skin is covered with pitiful wrinkles; his arms are thinner than before, his bones are more obvious, and his strength is struggling more than before.

On second thought, this situation was not abrupt. It seemed that they’d appeared for a long time… When did it first start? It didn’t take long for the Demon King to remember. He walked out of the bedroom in a daze and paced slowly along the corridor.

Just now Arlette meant that his life was good. It must be a good thing. It was definitely a good thing. Who doesn’t like an extravagant life? But why was Arlette so sad? So sad that he couldn’t even speak?

A small scaly head came out from behind the pillar, “My King, my father and some adults want to see you…”

This young scallop girl is the daughter of the scale man scholar and the new chamberlain of the demon king. She walked with her tail swinging and crackling uncontrollably, so she couldn’t steal anything, which was much more reliable than the former Chamberlain.

“What do they want from me? Or… ” Maybe it would be good to talk to the counselors, and maybe someone can help him understand human emotions.

The Demon King walked into the main hall and sat on the throne. The five ministers below exchanged glances. They had planned the meeting for a long time, but none of them wanted to be the first to speak.

“Why do you want to see me?” Demon King urged.

Under the silent encouragement of other demons, the scale man scholar came forward and bowed, “My king, we have an important matter to discuss with you, which may make you angry, so we are very scared and dare not easily demonstrate.”

The Demon King frowned, “Don’t say that to me? Why don’t you tell me what it’s about before I decide whether to listen or not?”

“Yes… It’s about the human mage…”

“What’s wrong with him?”

The scaled person bowed again, “If we say, you can’t be angry.”

The Demon King sneered, “Okay. If you do, one-third of me will be angry, one-third will be indifferent, and one-third may praise you for your good work. But if you don’t, I’m going to get angry now.”

The minister saluted a few more times, and respectfully expressed their worries, “My king, with the help of the Human Mage, the demon city’s military strength continues to be stable, the economic strength is growing rapidly, the palace life is increasingly extravagant, and folks productivity are also rising. Now, the groups of demons are full of fighting spirit and confidence. We all believe that the days will be better and better, and the whole cave level will meet more and more powerful… “

“Say the point.”

“Don’t worry, my king. The demons believe that all this is due to the mage. We trust him and love him, but… but we can’t rely too much on him. In fact, my king, the demon city and you are too dependent on him. It may not hurt much in the short term but in the long run…”

“Put it bluntly, don’t fill my mind with meaning.”

After several ministers exchanged glances again, the scaled-man said, “My king, please… Don’t just focus on working with that mage. Please summon more new human mages.”

“What?” The Demon King slapped the armrest of the throne, and the ministers trembled.

The Demon King thought that his servants would question Arlette and think that Arlette was a liar or something. He was ready to refute them with facts and ask them to return to Arlette’s automatic heating furnace… But now, they say they should summon more mages? Why is this?

Seeing that the Demon King did not continue to attack, the scaled-man said, “It is… Well, now the whole demon city is very dependent on the human mage. Therefore, the demons love you, who made this decision and brought benefits to them. In the future, once no new products appear, and old products are gradually damaged, and there is no guide to repair them… I’m afraid that the demons will be very dissatisfied. The demons’ desire will never go back, as long as they enjoy the automatic heating showers, they will never return to the days of burning firewood and boiling water. If they are required to go back to the past, the cave floor will inevitably be in chaos and may even shake your governance…”

An idea vaguely formed in the Demon King’s mind. He vaguely understood what he was referring to, but he was not quite sure. With half an answer in his mind, he said carelessly, “Arlette and I will not stop working together easily. He’s very satisfied with my rewards, and he’s never done anything bad to me…”

“But, my king,” the scaled-man scholar shook his head slowly, “it is estimated that the lifespan of a human being is only 50 to 100 years, and most people don’t live to be 70 years old…”

The words suddenly turned into thorns, and they pierced into the Demon King’s heart.

“Your mage may die soon.”