A few days passed of Edmond staying with the Marvelo family.
Estoria had no longer worried about making tonics to sell at the marker as she used a portion of her savings to purchase long lasting provisions so that they had food for weeks if not months.
Before they continued with Tino's training, Edmond had to know exactly how he was able to absorb the first demon's essence.
With an explanation from Angie, he found that after the summoning circle was adjusted, it established the connection between the summoner and summon in a way that transferred the summon's essence into the summoner.
"So, theoretically you could absorb the essence of whatever you summoned? That doesn't seem like too bad of a deal," Edmond was impressed by the ingenuity of the promising warlock.
"It was definitely impromptu, but it does seem that way," Tino was glad to be praised for his creation.
"All we need to do now if find out your limit before something negative occurs such as you losing your humanity. Fortunately for you, there's no need for you to drain the demonic essence of ordinary demons any longer. Plus, with the help of my dear friend, Ego, you'll get the benefit of spirit water."
"Where is this friend," Tino asked.
Edmond simply held out his hand to which spirit water exited and coalesced into a miniature Ego.
"Hello."
Different from a normal wisp of consciousness, Ego had actually separated part of their corporeal form into each of the crew.
This made it so that they could utilize the connection with the Cosmic Structure along with all of the other innate abilities they possessed.
"Woah! Who's this little guy?"
Needless to say, Tino was interested in what Edmond had to show.
"I'm not a little guy. I'm Ego. First things first, before I give you even the slightest bit of help you must first rid yourself of any negative feelings you have for Null. I won't judge you for feeling the way you do, but I won't have it if you truly want to become someone on his level."
Tino sucked his teeth at the requirement, but felt that as he had not had the entire story, he would put his feelings aside.
At least until he came face to face with the one behind his death.
"Good. First, I'll share with you a portion of spirit water. It's not as invasive as spirit energy, but it'll do for now. Especially since your method of absorbing foreign essences will test your mental fortitude along with bodily adaptation."
"You seem to know more about my abilities than I do. Alright then, I'll be relying on your help."
The miniature Ego held their hand up to which Tino put his head on it and allowed for the pure spirit water to absorb into his skin.
Tino felt a wave of clarity wash over him as if an invisible force shrouding his mind for the entirety of his life was cleared away.
This was not the only effect of the spirit water as he felt his body become transformed to accommodate more energies and purify his blood.
As if he was a reptile shedding its skin, Tino felt a layer of impurities seep out of his body and cake over him like a flaky bodysuit.
'Gross.'
"Now that we've got this out of the way, I'll let Edmond experiment with you while I ponder the mechanisms behind your bloodline enhancement."
"Alright then," Edmond grew tired of waiting, "I'll let you absorb my demonic essence until you can't handle it and have Ego check the end result afterwards. We don't know how much your body can handle nor if there will be any problems with you absorbing other beings' essence, but that will come later."
Edmond knew demonic essence like the back of his hand.
He could even feel the tiny portion left inside Tino after his previous stunt.
Needless to say, demonic essence led to more savage physical features and an immense desire to gain more of it.
That "hunger" is what drives demons down to their very souls.
Tino drew another transference circle under Edmond and then on himself before placing his bloody hand on him.
"Ready?"
"Show me what you got, kid."
He activated the transference circle and was immediately flooded with demonic essence.
'It's like a tsunami coming down on me!'
"Slow your role! Are you trying to mess yourself up?"
Hearing the words of Edmond snapped him out of the feeling as he stopped fueling the transference circle.
"Sorry! I'm only used to draining all of the essence at once."
"And what if you can't handle all of my demonic essence at once? I'll tell you," Edmond raised his hands, "Boom!"
Tino felt his forehead dampen, "Right! I'll focus on channeling only a portion of the transference circles power."
"Well, hold on a minute. I think you absorbed a good bit after that lousy attempt. Feel any different?"
Edmond did not notice any physical changes, but that was not to say that nothing changed.
"I feel... stronger. Like if my muscles grew after exercising."
Edmond rubbed his chin in thought, "Must be all that baby fat melting away. You must feel the heat, right?"
Tino noticed the sweat produced from his body and agreed, "Yes. It must be me getting accustomed to the latent power behind the demonic essence."
"That and your body's getting forged to be accustomed to the hellish heat of the Demonic Realm. Let's continue."
"Yes sir!"
While Edmond and Tino continued their experiments, Estoria and Angie were going through the many beings mentioned throughout all of the texts in the hidden room.
"It's been so long since I read any of this it's like I'm learning something new with each page," Estoria was clearly not the most avid reader.
Most of the stuff she collected was from a younger self's desire to walk the path of the witch.
Having kids prevented her from traversing the path too far leading to the books collecting dust.
"Don't worry, Mom. I've read most, if not all, of these books at least twice! Some are mainly pictures and diagrams, so it's easy to flip through."
Angie was nothing if not diligent in her studies given that it was her only solace— her only escape into a new world.
She gave a certain title her attention and opened it with her mother.
"Beings of Worship. Yep, this is the one! If we summon more beings through the summoning ritual, we have to avoid triggering a response from the forces behind them. We're lucky we started off with demons since Edmond is pretty nice."
Estoria gave a smile, "You're right. I'd imagine not every higher being would enjoy others summoning and absorbing the life from their people."
"That won't matter for long. Sooner rather than later we'll be strong enough to protect ourselves from even these frightening existences."
Estoria listened to her daughter's conviction and was met with a peculiar feeling, "I can only hope you will. For now, let's pick between the few beings who can be summoned without issue."