After Fein defeated the beast that had attacked him the moment he spawned into the maze, he continuously defeated several other beasts he'd encountered as he walked through the maze's hallways.

  Since Fein was most familiar with a sword, fighting those beasts was a bit difficult at first before he was able to fight a skeleton beast that conveniently had a sword he could pick up once it died. After all, he's always been quite lucky.

  Now, he had made his way out of the dark area he spawned in and into an area where he could finally see. And, seeing a Red Sludge beast approaching him, he was able to act quickly, speeding up, running and dodging a few acid shots, and stabbed it directly.

  Fein stood face to face with the Red Sludge monster that was twice his size.

  "Hah, looks like one hit won't take it down, huh?", he smiled as the Red Sludge monster prepared to spew more acid.

  Before he applied to the Demon Academy, he had read some books from his village and saw an entry of this Red Sludge monster.

  He thought that it would be a little difficult to defeat it, but since he had a sword, he judged it would be no problem.

  "Sadly, today is your last day.", he retreated backwards.

  However, unexpectedly, the sword's handle slipped out of his hands.

  Fein's eyes widened. Wait, what..

  His hands were too slippery from built up sweat.

  Clicking his tongue, he dodged the Red Sludge's acid, seeing it sizzle on the ground.

  Sss...

  Knowing that it would be far more difficult to fight with his fists than a sword, he tried moving closer and pulling his sword back again, but the Red Sludge monster also pulled back, slowly melting the sword down in its body.

  "No!", Fein exclaimed, momentarily halting his movement, accidentally forgetting to move as the Red Sludge gathered acid to shoot.

  Fein knew that getting injured in this maze wouldn't be good, but by the time he realized, it was too late.

  The Red Sludge prepared to shoot, more acid than normal gathering in its mouth, but just before it left its body, a mana arrow suddenly pierced it and dispersed the acid blood on the ground.

  Splash!

  Before the Red Sludge could react, two more mana arrows flew into it, weakening it even more, and the sword slipped from its grasp.

  "!", noticing the opportunity, Fein immediately ran and grabbed his partially melted sword from the Red Sludge. He slashed it in half, killing it.

  Luckily, a Red Sludge's acid is only meant to dissolve bones and flesh, not metal, allowing his sword to maintain enough sharpness to do the final blow.

  When the Red Sludge beast melted and dissolved into the ground, a smiling red-haired demon was revealed behind it.

  Fein looked at him in surprise, both gratefully and cautiously. Is this the person these mana arrows belong to?

  Turning his gaze from the Red Sludge monster, Cael approached Fein and raised his left hand for a hand shake.

  "Hi there, my name is Cael. What's yours?"

  "...Fein.", Fein reciprocated my handshake.

  I was somewhat shocked when I saw someone suddenly stab the beloved Red Sludge monster I had been following all this time, but given that I didn't recognize Fein as one of the hostile demons in the maze, I figured I could join in the fight and have a good first impression on the go.

  Rest in peace, Red Sludge. I won't forget you.

  "Are you the one who casted these mana arrows?", he asked, looking at the mana arrows that disappeared in the Red Sludge's body.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  "Yes. Sorry if I interfered unnecessarily."

  "Oh no, it helped a lot! Thanks.", Fein smiled, "Anyway, you are...Cael? What happened to your...is it inappropriate for me to ask?"

  Fein was looking at my missing hand and bloody leg. I smiled, "No, I just fought a couple monsters. I'm pretty sure demons don't die so easily though."

  Fein paused, and laughed, "Haha, you're right, unlike those feeble humans. I guess it'd make sense if a few beasts jumped on you from behind. It's not easy to fight well as a mage in a place like this..."

  I awkwardly scratched my chin. Well, I guess even though the demon and human realms aren't at war right now, they'd still hate each other to the bone.

  Seeing where he was trailing off, I said, "Let's team up then, mage and swordsman. It's nice to meet a friendly person like you."

  "Likewise.", he said, "I'm glad I finally met someone after so long of wandering! Tell me about yourself!"

  He turned around, figuring that the hallway ahead would be unsafe given what beasts might have caused my injuries.

  I nodded, and we made our way back where he came from.

  Meanwhile, far behind us, a group of monsters smelled the various corpses of ants and approached it slowly, before chowing down on the free meal.

  Crunch!

  "Ah, a swordsman. Your village seemed to have trained you well."

  "Haha, thanks.", Fein scratched the back of his head.

  So far, it's been a huge boon having another person around. Around 5 minutes ago, I'd just watched his back while he took a piss. Although my limp slowed our movement down considerably, a lot less pressure was on my shoulders now.

  I looked at him up and down. Dull indigo hair, an orphan named Fein that lived in a village...I didn't recall writing him at all. He must have been a background character. However, his skills are decent so I don't think he failed the entrance exams.

  I exclaimed, "The Demon Academy's entrance examination sure is meticulously designed. All respect to the great Demon Emperor!"

  "All respect!", Fein agreed, slamming a fist to his chest.

  I smiled. He wouldn't be a traitor either.

  But, after a while of walking and talking with him, I'd also realized one thing about him and how he manipulated mana.

  "You've formed a mana core already?", I tilted my head.

  "Oh, how'd you know?"

  "..."

  I held my chin in thought. If he's already formed a mana core, then that means his Mana Vein system must be fully completed, right?

  A Mana Vein system. Something my body sorely lacks right now.

  Even if my main reason to find other people was to seek additional protection and find Lully, that doesn't mean there wouldn't be other benefits too.

  Just as we were about to enter another dark area, I tapped his shoulder.

  "Hey, I feel tired. Mind if we take a short break?", I pointed to my injured leg.

  It's pretty inconvenient to have an injured leg in the maze...but I'll have no choice but to adapt around it throughout. I subtly kicked away an emerging feeling of hopelessness and despair.

  Fein widened his eyes slightly, "Oh, yeah. No problem."

  Sitting down near the wall, I examined my leg.

  My regenerative powers as a half-demon were doing some work, as it seems I wouldn't die to blood loss. I could put a little bite more pressure on it than before too, despite its morphed shape. If I was willing to have to limp for the rest of the test, I could probably afford to run for my life one last time.

  "Damn, that looks like it hurts, man...", Fein winced, imagining the pain I would be feeling.

  Hm, it does, but the headache I felt before dying on Earth was way worse. This would likely take a toll on me over time, but I can bear with this much.

  "It does.", I sighed, but shrugged, looking at him, "If you have a mana core, your Mana Vein system should be complete, right? I made a mistake with mine. Could I see yours?"

  Fein raised his eyebrows, "A mistake..? Hmm, sure, I guess."

  He turned around while sitting, and I put a hand on his back.

  Dun, dun, dun- I could feel his heart beating. At the same time, when I manipulated mana to enter his body to peer inside, I was faced with an almost overwhelming dense sphere of mana centered on his heart. Extending out from that sphere was millions, or perhaps billions upon trillions of veins, pumping nothing but mana throughout his body at a rapid pace. The patterns of the veins were so intricate that I could barely discern them with my naked eye.

  However, in my head, something in me vaguely clicked. This sort of vein system was nothing like I've ever seen before. The feeling the entire system gave off was that of a dense forest, vast and endless. It was as if the very essence of a forest was captured in its patterns.

  Sss... At that moment, I felt burning. What...

  "Ugh!", suddenly, I coughed up blood. However, inspecting what was happening inside my body, I was anything but worried.

  This is...enlightenment! A well-documented phenomenon throughout the two realms.

  "What the- are you alright??", Fein didn't know whether to turn around or just let me do whatever I was doing.

  "Yes, fine. This is tomato juice." - Oh wait, tomatoes don't exist here. It's fine, he won't doubt it.

  I bumped my chest with my other injured wrist. My heart was beating faster by the moment, and yet, felt like it was burning up in a fire.

  Pain ran through my body and when I closed my eyes to focus my senses...I heard something akin to a tree growing.

  Krrkr- Veins of mana slowly grew from the mana core on my heart.

  It grew, and grew, developing intricate patterns, but acutely different to Fein's Manavascular system.

  However, just as I could feel the anticipation boiling in my blood, it stopped.

  "..?"

  The burning pain in my heart dissipated, blood stopped running from my mouth, and the mana veins stopped growing, only reaching a small distance away from the mana core.

  Is that it? I narrowed my eyes, evaluating the length of the new veins of mana. About...1 centimeter?

  I inspected the mana veins that had barely grown out from my mana core, in color equally as dark red as the core.

  ...I guess it won't be that easy.