Manor Ground Floor, Reception Room.
Leon and the other three came to this rather luxurious reception room and took their seats.
The reception room contained exquisitely crafted coffee tables and sofas. The interior decoration was quite lavish, with every piece of furniture being a luxury item. Even the carpet covering the floor looked obviously expensive, ensuring that the space was more than adequate for hosting guests.
However, Leon and Sona Sitri chose not to sit here. Instead, they moved to the adjacent open-air balcony, sitting opposite each other at a small white table to make their distance seem less formal.
Tsubaki Shinra, pushing a tea cart, took the place of a familiar spirit and was brewing tea for Leon and Sona Sitri.
Yukino Yukinoshita stood silently behind Leon, truly resembling a loyal, dutiful servant or Retainer.
With Tsubaki Shinra's service, Leon and Sona Sitri chatted like old friends catching up, while naturally bringing up the recent topic.
"You mean, your Evil Pieces will autonomously select potential Reincarnated Devils?"
Sona Sitri drank her tea, looking at Leon with surprise.
"That's right." Leon held an Evil Piece, twirling it as he spoke: "When I first tried to approach Yukino, the Evil Piece in my hand produced a strange reaction."
Hearing Leon call her name directly, Yukino Yukinoshita seemed slightly uncomfortable.
Leon ignored this and continued to speak.
"They seem to resonate with the most suitable reincarnation targets. For example, when I approached Yukino, my 'Bishop' piece kept glowing."
This was a phenomenon not seen in other Evil Pieces.
"Although all my Evil Pieces reacted to Yukino at the time, the 'Bishop' piece had the strongest reaction. So, I think the first change that occurred after my Evil Pieces linked with my personal characteristic was that they gained the ability to give me hints, letting me know who is suitable to be my Retainer, and what type of Retainer they should be."
Leon brought the Evil Piece in his hand close to Sona Sitri, and the piece immediately began to emit a red glow.
"See, this piece is reacting to you now, deeming you suitable for it and suitable to become my Retainer," Leon said jokingly. "How about it? Care to consider joining my side?"
"I don't mind," Sona replied without changing her expression. "As long as you can withstand the wrath of the Sitri family and my sister, I am not entirely opposed to considering it."
"In that case, I'll pass," Leon immediately put away the piece and surrendered. "Forget the Sitri family, I do not want to be targeted by your sister, the sis-con."
No kidding. That was the current Devil King Leviathan, one of the strongest Devils in the Underworld. Her strength had even surpassed the strict definition of the Devil King class, reaching the level that would later be referred to as Super Devil King. His small body couldn't withstand her torment.
"So, you chose to give the 'Bishop' piece to Yukinoshita?"
Sona Sitri didn't take the jest seriously and continued her inquiry.
"I had considered giving her the 'Queen' piece, after all, she's a wielder of a Longinus, she has the qualifications and is worthy of that level of attention," Leon glanced at Yukino Yukinoshita, who was silently standing behind him, and said, "But after much deliberation, I decided to follow the piece's own choice."
In terms of actual circumstance, Yukino Yukinoshita was indeed very suitable for the 'Bishop' piece, which could be vaguely seen from the magic power talent she exhibited after her reincarnation.
Her Longinus wasn't a close-combat type Sacred Gear either, but leaned more towards long-range, wide-area attacks. Therefore, the 'Rook' and 'Knight' pieces did not have a very high compatibility with her, which was also evident from the reaction of the Evil Pieces at the time.
When approaching Yukino Yukinoshita, although all fifteen pieces in Leon's hand reacted, the reaction from the 'Bishop' was the strongest. The 'Rook,' 'Knight,' and 'Pawn' pieces had a mediocre reaction, and the 'Queen' piece had the weakest reaction, indicating that the 'Queen' was not very suitable for Yukino Yukinoshita.
"This is the first change that my Evil Pieces underwent: the ability to generate different degrees of reaction to suitable reincarnation targets. The stronger the reaction, the more suitable the target is for that specific piece's reincarnation."
Leon easily arrived at this conclusion, as it was not difficult to guess.
"Then what is the second change?" Sona Sitri noticed the overlooked point and asked, "Since there's a first change, it implies there are others, right?"
"That's right." Leon snapped his fingers and smiled: "The second change is merely my speculation, but after Yukino successfully reincarnated using only one 'Bishop' piece, this speculation should be almost certainly correct."
Yukino Yukinoshita and Tsubaki Shinra couldn't understand what this meant, but Sona Sitri instantly grasped it.
"You mean... Mutation Evil Pieces?"
The eyes behind Sona Sitri's glasses slightly gleamed.
"It really is you. You immediately picked up on what I was trying to say."
Leon smiled, confirming Sona Sitri's statement.
"What are Mutation Evil Pieces?"
Yukino Yukinoshita knew she shouldn't ask questions in this setting, lest she seem too ignorant, but she simply couldn't hold back.
The person who explained it to Yukino Yukinoshita was neither Leon nor Sona Sitri, but Tsubaki Shinra.
"A Mutation Evil Piece refers to a special type of piece that differs from ordinary Evil Pieces. I hear it's an anomaly that occurred when the 'Evil Piece' system was established. It appears randomly among the manufactured Evil Pieces. Roughly one in ten High-Class Devils possesses such a piece. When a reincarnation target requires multiple pieces to successfully reincarnate, only a single Mutation Evil Piece is needed to achieve successful reincarnation."
Listening to Tsubaki Shinra's explanation, Yukino Yukinoshita gradually understood what was going on.
It is said that the number of Evil Pieces needed to reincarnate a human into a Devil is not fixed to one, but is determined by the target's inherent ability and potential. If the target's ability and potential are particularly high, multiple pieces of the same type may be required for a successful reincarnation.
For example, the future Red Dragon Emperor required eight 'Pawn' pieces for his reincarnation. In terms of value, that far exceeds the 'Bishop' and 'Knight' pieces (worth three 'Pawn' pieces each), and also exceeds the 'Rook' piece (worth five 'Pawn' pieces). It is only second to the 'Queen' piece (worth nine 'Pawn' pieces).
"Yukino is a Longinus wielder. By rights, it wouldn't be surprising even if she used up both 'Bishop' pieces to successfully reincarnate. Yet, I only used one. And it was already confirmed when I received the Evil Pieces that none of mine were Mutation Evil Pieces."
Leon spoke eloquently to Sona Sitri.
"This gives me sufficient reason to believe that under the influence of my personal characteristic, all my Evil Pieces may now possess the same nature as a Mutation Evil Piece, allowing me to use just one piece to successfully reincarnate a target with high ability and high potential into a Devil."
This was undoubtedly a good thing.
High-Class Devils who hold the 'King' piece often struggle with the dilemma of whether to focus on the quantity of Retainers, aiming for a full set of fifteen, or to prioritize the quality of Retainers, sparing no expense on recruitment slots to bring in servants with high potential.
This dilemma would be especially acute for Leon, as both the quantity and quality of his Retainers would influence how much feedback and improvement he would gain through his "Retainer-ship" characteristic.
Now, that concern was likely gone.
If all his Evil Pieces gained the properties of a Mutation Evil Piece due to his "Retainer-ship" characteristic, he wouldn't need to worry about his gains being minimized by having too few Retainers. From now on, he only needed to consider the potential of his Retainers and recruit as many high-ability, high-potential servants as possible.
"That truly is an incredible change," Sona Sitri exhaled in astonishment. "Fifteen pieces all being Mutation Evil Pieces—that's simply unheard of. I can barely imagine the immense benefit this will bring you."
"The changes so far have indeed only been beneficial, but whether there are any drawbacks still needs further exploration," Leon was particularly rational this time, not gloating, and said calmly, "For now, I've only discovered these two changes. Whether there are any others, I'm not sure."
"I will submit a report to Lord Beelzebub. I'm sure he will be interested in this report." Sona Sitri's gaze towards Leon became serious. "Alright, that's enough about the pieces' changes for now. What about the changes in yourself?"
"According to your explanation, after successfully recruiting a Retainer, your characteristic should take effect and give you corresponding feedback, right?"
"Have you already received this feedback?"
Under Sona Sitri's gaze, which felt almost substantial and tried to see right through him, Leon smiled slightly.
Swoosh!
Three pairs of Devil wings unfolded behind Leon. At the same time, his body erupted with astonishing magic power fluctuations, as if he were engulfed in flames.
"This is...?!"
Sona Sitri's eyes narrowed.
"Six wings?" Tsubaki Shinra was even more shocked, utterly astonished: "And this magic power..."
This magic power was already stronger than that of her own master, Sona Sitri.
How is that possible?
Tsubaki Shinra clearly remembered that Leon had only recently been promoted to High-Class Devil. His magic power was actually quite a bit weaker than her master's.
Yet now, not only did he possess magic power surpassing her master's, but his status as a Devil seemed to have been elevated as well?
"This is my reward this time." Leon retracted his magic power and wings, smiling. "How about it? Not bad, right?"
As for Zenith Tempest, Leon did not mention it.
It wasn't that he was unwilling to talk about it, but he felt it was too soon.
As a High-Tier Longinus ranked second among all Sacred Gears, its exposure would surely cause an uproar throughout the entire Devil world.
Leon had not yet mastered the use of Zenith Tempest. He felt it was better to appropriately conceal his strength for the time being, and only reveal it later when his power was sufficient. That would not be too late.
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