First floor of the mansion, reception room.
Leo and his party of four arrived at this rather luxurious reception room and took their seats.
Inside the reception room were exquisitely crafted coffee tables and sofas, and the interior decor was very opulent, with every piece of furniture being a luxury item. Even the carpet on the floor was obviously expensive, making it perfectly suitable for entertaining guests without worrying about appearances.
However, Leo and Sona Sitri did not choose to sit there. Instead, they went to the adjacent open-air balcony and sat opposite each other at a small white table, making their distance seem less formal.
Shinra Tsubaki, pushing a tea cart, had taken the place of a familiar and was brewing tea for Leo and Sona Sitri.
Yukinoshita Yukino stood silently behind Leo, truly looking like a loyal Retainer servant.
With Shinra Tsubaki's service, Leo and Sona Sitri chatted like old friends, while also bringing up the previous topic.
"Are you saying that your devil chess pieces autonomously choose their reincarnation targets?"
Sona Sitri drank her tea, looking at Leo in surprise.
"Exactly." Leo held a devil chess piece in his hand, toying with it as he said, "The first time I tried to approach Yukinoshita, the devil chess piece in my hand reacted strangely."
Hearing Leo call her by her given name, Yukinoshita Yukino looked a little uncomfortable.
Leo ignored this and continued.
"They seem to resonate with the most suitable reincarnation target. For example, when I approached Yukinoshita, my 'Bishop' piece kept glowing."
This was a phenomenon that other devil chess pieces did not exhibit.
"Although all the devil chess pieces reacted to Yukinoshita at the time, the 'Bishop' piece had the strongest reaction. So, I think the first change my devil chess pieces underwent after connecting with my unique characteristic is that they can give me hints, letting me know who is suitable to be my Retainer, and what kind of Retainer they are suitable to be."
Leo moved the devil chess piece in his hand closer to Sona Sitri, and the piece immediately began to emit a red light.
"See, this piece is reacting to you now, thinking you are suitable for it, and also suitable to become my Retainer." Leo said jokingly, "How about it? Want to consider joining me?"
"I wouldn't mind." Sona said without changing her expression, "As long as you can withstand the wrath of the Sitri Family and my sister, I'm not entirely against considering it."
"Then no thanks." Leo immediately put away the piece, surrendering, "The Sitri Family is one thing, but I don't want to be targeted by your sister, who has a sister complex."
He was joking. That was the current Demon Lord Leviathan, one of the strongest Demons in the Underworld, whose power had already surpassed the strict definition of a Demon Lord-level and reached what would later be called the Super Demon Lord-level. His small body couldn't handle her torment.
"So, you chose to give the 'Bishop' piece to Yukinoshita?"
Sona Sitri didn't take it seriously and continued to inquire.
"I had originally considered giving her the 'Queen' piece, after all, she is a god-slaying tool wielder and has the qualifications, and is worthy of such a degree of importance." Leo glanced at Yukinoshita Yukino, who was silently standing behind him, and said, "But after careful consideration, I still decided to follow the piece's own choice."
In terms of actual situation, Yukinoshita Yukino was indeed very suitable for the 'Bishop' piece. This could be seen from the magic talent she displayed after her reincarnation.
Her god-slaying tool was also not a close-combat type sacred gear, but more inclined towards long-range, wide-area attacks. Therefore, 'Rook' and 'Knight' had a low compatibility with her, which was also evident from the reaction of the devil chess pieces at the time.
When Leo approached Yukinoshita Yukino, all fifteen pieces in his hand reacted, but the 'Bishop' had the strongest reaction, while the 'Rook', 'Knight', and 'Pawn' pieces had average reactions. The weakest reaction was from the 'Queen' piece, indicating that the 'Queen' was not very suitable for Yukinoshita Yukino.
"This is the first change my devil chess pieces have undergone; they can react to suitable reincarnation targets to varying degrees. The stronger the reaction, the more suitable the person should be for reincarnation into that specific piece."
Leo easily came to this conclusion, as it wasn't hard to guess.
"What about the second change?" Sona Sitri noticed the blind spot and said, "Since there's a first change, it means there must be other changes, right?"
"Exactly." Leo snapped his fingers and smiled, "The second change is just my guess, but after Yukinoshita successfully reincarnated with one 'Bishop', this guess should be almost certain."
Yukinoshita Yukino and Shinra Tsubaki couldn't understand what this meant, but Sona Sitri instantly grasped it.
"You mean... Mutation Pieces?"
Sona Sitri's eyes behind her glasses gleamed slightly.
"As expected of you, you immediately noticed what I wanted to say."
Leo smiled, affirming Sona Sitri's statement.
"What are Mutation Pieces?"
Yukinoshita Yukino knew she shouldn't ask questions in such a setting, lest she appear too ignorant, but she simply couldn't hold back.
And the one who explained to Yukinoshita Yukino was neither Leo nor Sona Sitri, but Shinra Tsubaki.
"Mutation Pieces refer to a special type of piece different from ordinary devil chess pieces. It is said to be an anomaly that occurred when the 'devil chess piece (Evil Piece)' system was established, appearing randomly among the manufactured devil chess pieces. Roughly one in ten High-Class Devils will possess such a piece. When a reincarnation target requires multiple pieces to successfully reincarnate, only one such Mutation Piece is needed to achieve successful reincarnation."
Listening to Shinra Tsubaki's explanation, Yukinoshita Yukino gradually understood what was happening.
It is said that the number of devil chess pieces needed to reincarnate a human into a Demon is not fixed, but determined by the reincarnation target's own abilities and potential. If the target's abilities and potential are particularly high, it may sometimes require consuming multiple pieces of the same type to successfully reincarnate.
For example, the future Red Dragon Emperor used eight 'Pawn' pieces for his reincarnation, a value far exceeding that of a 'Bishop' and 'Knight' (equivalent to three 'Pawn' pieces), and also exceeding the 'Rook' piece (equivalent to five 'Pawn' pieces), second only to the 'Queen' piece (equivalent to nine 'Pawn' pieces).
"Yukinoshita is a god-slaying tool wielder. Logically, even using both 'Bishop' pieces to successfully reincarnate wouldn't be an exception. Yet I only used one, and it was already verified when I received the devil chess pieces that my devil chess pieces did not contain any Mutation Pieces."
Leo spoke eloquently to Sona Sitri.
"This gives me sufficient reason to believe that, under the influence of my mutated characteristic, all my devil chess pieces might possess the same properties as Mutation Pieces, allowing me to successfully reincarnate high-ability, high-potential targets into Demons using only one piece."
This was undoubtedly a good thing.
High-Class Devils who are "Kings" often have such worries: should they focus on the quantity of Retainers, gathering all fifteen, or on the quality of Retainers, recruiting potential servants even if it means wasting slots?
If this dilemma fell upon Leo, it would be particularly significant, as both the quantity and quality of his Retainers would affect how much feedback and enhancement he could gain through his "Familiarization" characteristic.
Now, he probably wouldn't have to worry anymore.
If all his devil chess pieces possessed the same properties as Mutation Pieces due to the "Familiarization" characteristic, then he wouldn't have to worry about his gains diminishing due to too few Retainers. From now on, he only needed to consider the potential of his Retainers, recruiting as many high-ability, high-potential servants as possible.
"This is truly an incredible change." Sona Sitri exhaled in admiration, saying, "Fifteen pieces all being Mutation Pieces, such a thing is unheard of. I can't even imagine how much benefit this will bring you."
"The changes so far have indeed only brought benefits, but whether there are any drawbacks still needs further exploration." Leo was particularly rational this time, not gloating, and calmly said, "Currently, I've only discovered these two changes. As for whether there are any other changes, that remains unclear."
"I will submit the report to Lord Beelzebub. I believe he will be interested in this report." Sona Sitri's gaze at Leo became serious, saying, "And so, these are all the changes to the pieces for now. What about your own changes?"
"According to what you said, 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 seemed to want to see through him, Leo smiled slightly.
"Swish!"
Three pairs of Demon wings unfolded behind Leo, and at the same time, Leo's body seemed to ignite with flames, erupting with astonishing magical power fluctuations.
"This is...? !"
Sona Sitri's eyes narrowed.
"Six wings?" Shinra Tsubaki was even more shocked, saying in astonishment, "And this magical power..."
This magical power was already stronger than her master, Sona Sitri.
How was that possible?
Shinra Tsubaki clearly remembered that Leo had only recently been promoted to a High-Class Devil, and his magical power was actually quite a bit weaker compared to her master.
As a result, now he not only possessed magical power exceeding that of her master, but even his demonic status had risen?
"This is my gain this time." Leo retracted his magical power and wings, smiling, "How about it? Not bad, right?"
As for Blazing Heaven Thunder Prison, Leo did not mention it.
It wasn't that he was unwilling to say it, but rather that he felt it was too early.
As a top-tier god-slaying tool, ranked second among all god-slaying tools, if this thing were exposed, it would surely cause a sensation throughout the entire Demon world.
Leo had not yet mastered the use of Blazing Heaven Thunder Prison. He felt it was better to appropriately conceal his abilities for now and expose them when his strength was sufficient; it wouldn't be too late then.