Chapter 182: The Iron Fangs & Hell Stones

After agreeing to tell Simon all he needed to know about the Iron Fangs, Radan begrudgingly gave Simon information on what he knew about the Iron Fangs.

"The Iron Fangs is basically a gang of bullies. Sometimes, they bully their fellow classmates using their numbers, but their main targets are usually you First Years because you’re weak and fresh prey to them."

"They don’t bully for the fun of it, they bully so that they can take your merits. You’re new in the academy and you might not know, but merits are very crucial in the academy."

"Hmm." Simon hummed for a moment, then he spoke.

"What of their numbers? Their average rank? Their strongest member? And do they have a backer?"

Radan’s lips twitched at how many questions Simon had, but he steeled his heart to just answer all the questions and send Simon out of here.

"They’re fourteen in number, and majority of them are Minor and Prime Archfiends. The strongest amongst them is their leader, Geryan. He’s a Supreme Archfiend and there’s belief that he’ll become a Greater Demon in his Third Year. And no, they don’t have a backer."

"Hmm." Simon pondered deeply as he looked down, then he asked another question.

"Are there other bullies amongst the Second Years and the Third Years?"

Radan nodded. "Of course. There are other gangs in the second year that bully first years, but those in the third year don’t have time for that. They have more... difficult matters at hand than bullying."

Simon nodded, then he asked another question.

"But there’s one thing I don’t understand. Since the Iron Fangs are second years, why do you make it sound like they’ve been doing this for years? Shouldn’t it be that they just became Second Years, and now they’re bullies?"

"That’s because many of them are failures. They failed to graduate to their Third Year, so they’ve been doing this for some time. You’ll be the fourth set of First Years that would be bullied by them."

"Also, whenever a member of the Iron Fangs is either expelled or finds a way to graduate to their Third Year, they would assign new leaders who would continue the reign of the Iron Fangs and pick fresh blood from First Years like you."

Simon looked down and he finally understood. "I see."

A few seconds later, he glanced at Radan.

"And they do all these things because merits?"

Radan nodded. "Yes. But it’s understandable since merits are very important. Especially if one wants to exchange them for hell stones."

Simon raised a brow at the unfamiliar term. "Hell stones? What are hell stones?"

For the first time since their interaction, Radan had a surprised reaction.

"You don’t know what hell stones are?"

Simon shook his head. "I don’t. I come from a ruined backwater tribe. The only currency we had was bone coins."

Radan’s expression was instantly one of disgust and disdain as soon as he heard that, and he could not help but wonder how someone like Simon was able to attain this level of strength and audacity.

"Whatever. Let me just explain it to you. It’s not like it’s a secret or something. If you were born in one of the six main tribes, you would know what hell stones are."

Simon did not give a response.

"Hell stones are basically sources of demonic energy we can carry around."

Simon raised both brows in confusion.

"A century after the First Great War of the Hero of Earth and Demon King of Death, a new natural resource was formed across the demon realm... Hell Stones."

Simon frowned.

’Hundred years after my battle with the Demon King of Death? That’s also hundred years after my death.’

’How are these two things connected?’

’And the word- Hell... Is it connected to the Sword Daemon? His full title is actually Hell’s Sword Daemon.’

’Could everything be connected? I was a Demi-God in my past life but I have never heard of Hell aside from the stories, legends, and myths of old.’

’I was so fixated on wiping out the demon race to the point that I ignored so many other things.’

Simon inwardly shook his head at his past self, then he decided to ask a question.

"Where did the hell stones come from?"

"Hell holes."

Simon was even more baffled.

"Hell holes?"

Radan nodded. "Yeah. The ground in certain locations suddenly caved in and became unfathomably deep holes that none have ever been able to reach the bottom. Some are even in the oceans and seas of the demon realm."

"On the walls of these holes, there are dark red crystals or stones as we call them, and surprisingly, these stones contain demonic energy in them."

"Because of how unfathomably deep these holes are, I guess the current demons kings and demon queens decided to call it hell holes and hell stones."

"The value of a hell stone is very high, and most wealthy individuals chose to exchange the currency of the kingdom or clan they’re serving in for hell stones."

"This is basic knowledge. I’m still very surprised that you don’t know it. I thought everybody in the demon realm knew about hell stones since they’re a very important cultivation resource for demons."

Simon did not give a response, and his head was hung low as many thoughts flashed across his mind.

’This is new. Very new. There was nothing like this in my past life. I knew there would be changes in the demon realm and even on Earth, but the appearance of hell stones explains and changes a lot of things.’

’Now I know why there were so many demon kings for the Second Great War. With the appearance of hell stones, it became easier for demons to advance to higher ranks. Which means that the quantity of higher ranked demons in this period is going to be a lot higher than in my past life.’

’But what of Earth? How come there were so many Demi-Gods after my death?’

’What changes also occurred on Earth?’