Zoe was more than happy to put her trusty identify skill to good use. While she still didn’t gain another level, seemingly stuck at a measly four for now, it provided a surprisingly useful amount of information on all five of them. Some of it was also quite interesting. For instance, it wasn’t the low-budget paladin who was clearly the most dangerous.
[??? ALCHEMIST]
Level 50+ | Rank C
A modified Human adept in the manipulation of substance.
-Alignment-
> Infernal
> Life
-Strengths-
> Acuity
> Perception
-Weaknesses-
> Hallow
He was a fairly unremarkable looking dude. Handsome, in a quiet, bookish sort of way, but nothing about him signaled either a penchant for combat or a violent disposition. He wasn’t just not wearing any sort of armor—he wasn’t even wearing a coat. With his carefully groomed dirty blonde hair and dark silken tunic, he looked like he should be screwing around in a—wherever young noble lads went to screw around, which certainly wasn’t here.
Yet Zoe wasn’t going to be fooled. Discounting her terrible no-good ugly monster bits, it wasn’t like she looked particularly threatening—yet she’d already killed a level fifty-six, or five or something cultist. That guy was Rank E though. The alchemist was a whole two letters above that. Cauldrons and chemistry sets? Ha. Zoe wasn’t keen on finding out just what an experienced alchemist could do the hard way.
Of course, that wasn’t the really interesting part. No, that would be the question marks for his class—not to mention the fact that he has an Infernal alignment and Hallow weakness.
Zoe might not know much about local theology yet, but she didn’t need Lilith to put things together for her here. So what on Earth is he doing working with mister Demon-smelling goody-boy?
It certainly didn’t help that said Demon-sniffer was clearly the second most powerful person in the room.
[ACOLYTE OF FAITH]
Level 44 | Rank D
A Hallow-Touched Human, strong as his Faith in the surety of his Path.
-Alignment-
> Hallow (Faith)
> Stone
-Strengths-
> Durability
> Solid Ground
-Weaknesses-
> Oceans
> Being Airborne
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Zoe almost laughed when she got to the end of his description. Oceans? Being airborne? Honestly, the fact that both of those made a great deal of sense for what looked like a tanky, stone-wielding fighter only made it funnier.
It was interesting that he didn’t have a weakness to the Infernal. Or at the very least, it wasn’t listed. There was a pretty obvious pattern of only getting two different things in each category. No way that wasn’t artificial.
Guess I’ll have to ask Lilith about it.
Unfortunately, everyone wasn’t content to just stand around silently and let Zoe take her time figuring out what their deal was. This was mostly because all five of them were very busy with their own problem, which just so happened to be figuring out where the Demon went.
Said Demon was startled so badly that she nearly blew her cover when Lilith finally piped up. “So I get that you’re still recovering, but I think you need to come up with a plan and actually do something.”
Gritting her teeth, Zoe reeled back her impulse to even think a retort back at her unwanted mental passenger. The specter was right. Even if she hadn’t quite literally just woken up from fucking up her literal soul, constantly pushing her use of mirage was not going well.
The magic-hungry illusion was straining her so much she felt like she could faint at any moment. She hoped that it wouldn’t make her self-inflicted injury even worse if that happened.
Her horns started to tingle.
Eeeeeeh-YAAAAAAAAh! Zoe couldn’t freak out verbally, so she did it mentally instead. She hadn’t felt much at all from her new horns so far, which was just perfectly fine as far as Zoe was concerned. Simply knowing they existed was already bad enough. This freaky new sensation was way too fucking far. Lilith! Lilith why are my horns tingling?!
Unfortunately, Lilith seemed rather confused about what Zoe meant by ‘horns.’ In turn, this confused Zoe, because it should have been extremely obvious. What did Lilith mean, what did she mean by horns?
“Oh. Oh, I get it. You’re talking about our antennae. They aren’t horns. I’ll give you a pass though because I totally understand why you specifically would have assumed that.”
Needless to say—Zoe felt like that really didn’t sound right at all, but she also remembered something weird in the traits section of the Demon part of her status.
-Traits-
> Arcane Antennae
Yes, there it was. Lilith confirmed it a moment later, explaining that the antennae were a critical part of how she would now sense and control magic. “It’s different from Human mages. Unlike them, we Demons have dedicated anatomy for it. So besides your core, your antennae are close to the single most important body part you need to protect. That’s why they’re so hard and tough that they feel like horns.”
Well, now that Zoe thought about the idea, it made quite a bit more sense. Her horns were oddly straight and quite long, with only a slight backwards curve and a gentle taper as they speared upwards. It could be a genuine problem while walking through doorways.
The tingling was getting stronger and stronger. As it did, Zoe realized that she wasn’t actually feeling the majority of her horns—antennae. The odd sensations were constrained to a much thinner pair of—tendrils, for lack of a better word. It was as if the visible exterior was a stiff, protective casing. That’s probably exactly what it is.
It also seemed like Lilith was still talking. “Obviously, that’s a pretty significant vulnerability. It’s hard to overstate how much you need to protect them. If anyone captures you alive, cutting them off is one of the first things they’ll do. Which, by the way, is roughly equivalent to blinding and crippling you at the same time.”
That was pretty important to know, yeah, but Zoe had a more pressing concern right now. She could eloquently state it as I’m about to faint from mana exhaustion and soul damage—you know, while keeping up the illusion hiding us from the people already searching the room for a Demon, and also I DON’T KNOW why I’m getting sixth-sensory overload suddenly.
Hell, even her vision was going blurry and she may or may not be trembling. Can she not hear me? Lilith was still rambling on, seemingly unaware of the danger. Pushing mirage and her overstrained soul well beyond their limits seemingly left her mind without the focus to push the thoughts across their bond.
“…so yeah, seems like a big downside, but! It also means that we’re really good at using actual magic, not just system skills. It’s more about practice than theory, though—like, having a dedicated organ means we can cast with pure intent. Humans technically can too, but it’s quite a challenge. Human mages usually start with techniques using somatic gestures. Kinda like what that guy is—oh shit wait that’s not—Zoe!”
Lilith was probably still talking about something important, but Zoe could only focus on a last desperate attempt to sustain her illusion as she fell to her knees. Was one of the other three adventurers looking and pointing right at her? How could he—a streak of brilliant silver flashed through her vision.
Her skill resisted. Then the silver washed over her, and the skill shattered into tinkling shards of murky brown light.
Whatever the attack had been, it somehow failed to hurt her. The silver glow faded as quickly as the remnants of the mirage—not that Zoe could actually see anything anymore. The intensity of the magic had blinded and deafened her. No—her antennae. They’d stopped tingling.
Numb. Just numb. It was akin to having your dark-adjusted vision completely ruined by a flash of bright light, no matter how brief it was. And she was so tired. She’d pushed herself so hard. No—not here! Not here! But she’d lived through so much today. So much—she was so tired, she should rest now.
Mirage has reached level 2!
…
Mana Resistance has reached level 2!
New Quest!
…
_____
When Arthur broke the illusion of the blood-covered woman hiding in the far corner, he had hastily warned the others to prepare for a fight. He hadn’t expected for her to just keel over and die. It was—more than a little awkward, actually. Wait—no, she was still breathing. The archmage hardly knew whether that was going to make things better or worse.
Worse, probably.
“Wow, she’s naked and covered in blood,” Lily said—rather unhelpfully, because that was essentially the only part of this situation that was easy to understand.
“Sure is,” Millie added, as she nudged the unconscious woman with her foot. Doing so also seemed unhelpful, because Arthur was fairly confident that nudging unconscious people with your foot wasn’t something any healer would recommend. Not that he’d spent much time around any of those. He had a cunning strategy called don’t get injured—and should it happen anyway, Andric could probably spare him a potion for that.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.
But regardless, the foot-thing was also a bad idea because it might wake her up. There was no reason to spoil the unexpected decision-making time they’d all been granted here. Arthur was in no mood to be violently attacked.
“Strange.” Everyone who wasn’t collapsed on the floor turned to look at Sean. That single, muttered word was the first thing the armored hulk had said ever since he first detected that something was amiss. Millie stepped back as he took a knee over the mysterious woman.
Andric stepped up behind him. “Is the Demonic presence from her?”
Oh fuck. Arthur hadn’t even thought of that, somehow, despite it being beyond obvious. The Acolyte of Faith had said he sensed a recent infernal presence. Maybe it had never left—maybe it had simply been masked behind an illusion. Arthur sucked in a breath.
“No.” Arthur blinked. That wasn’t what he expected Sean to say. “Not at all. Whatever was here has already left.”
But then—he and Lily, of all people, shared a questioning glance. The noble inclined her head towards him and then back to Sean and the girl covered in blood. She didn’t react when Arthur gestured for her to go ahead—so he sighed and decided to go ahead and ask it himself. “She was hiding under an illusion, though. It was only Rank E magic, but I don’t think it’s a skill I’ve encountered before. Perhaps it could hide her from your Hallowed skills as well?”
“Mmm.” Sean seemed to think for a moment, though Arthur couldn’t see his face. “Possible. Unlikely, though. Cultists do often have ways to hide their alignment, but I can’t imagine a Rank E illusion being one of them.”
“Well…” Arthur deflated a little. He didn’t like to admit weakness, even though he was still the one who had both found her and countered the magic. “It was quite a powerful effect. I doubt any of my standard wards would have detected it. I only found her because we were all searching so thoroughly—and even then, I could only tell someone was casting something, up until I broke it.”
“But you say it was only Rank E?” It was Andric this time. Arthur managed not to roll his eyes or let any snark slip out. This was one of the more serious situations their group had been in since—well, ever, honestly—and he didn’t think the persnickety Alchemist was trying to tease him. Not this time.
“Yes, I’m quite positive. The effect was fairly simple to dispel once found. Rank E for certain.”
Arthur couldn’t help but run a hand back through his hair as Andric turned his back. It looked like the man believed him, which was nice. It was a good reminder that while Lily’s guardian wasn’t his friend, the man truly was both reasonable and competent when called for. After all, there was a reason such a young person found his way into the critical position as guardian to a preeminent heiress. Even if he were a bit too condescending at times.
Unfortunately, Arthur was still quite tired, and now the excitement from the unexpected turn of events was already dying down. Finding a seat on a low stack of crates, he rested his staff beside him. Millie joined him at his side a moment later.
“Hey! Why do you always have to move your staff away?”
A flat look as he finished transferring his equipment to his other side was the appropriate response. “Because I don’t like people touching it.”
“Heavens!” Looks like she wouldn’t leave him alone. Shouldn’t she be bothering the other three, who were still mulling over the naked lady? Sean was saying something about how she probably wasn’t a cultist, because an active cloaking skill would have broken when she fell unconscious. It seemed he still thought the source of the infernal aura had already left.
That did leave the question of why this woman was actively hiding from them, though.
Arthur’s thoughts were violently interrupted by a particularly irritating backwater lass elbowing him in the side of his stomach. “Hey! Why won’t you let me feel your staff? I mean I know you’re a bit sensitive about it, it’s not the biggest and all, but—“
“Stop.” Arthur did his best glare, only to be countered by the enchanter’s best pout. Heavens, it’s so strange that her primary class is actually Enchanter and not Archer or something. But regardless—“I know what you’re doing, by the way, but it’s thin and light because it’s strong. It’s made of—“
“Yes yes,” she cut him off, “Luminium, the fancy new metal that’s not actually new, smiths just recently figured out how to effectively extract it from common ores using powerful lightning arrays. It’s lightweight, strong, and doesn’t rust, with a mana channeling coefficient only exceeded by…”
Great, now she wasn’t just teasing him, she was mocking him as well. Typical. “Huh, looks like I told you about it enough times for you to actually remember all that. Do you perhaps remember the part about other people touching it too?”
Another elbow. Arthur winced, Millie giggled. Such an undignified sound. “So sensitive. I told you I’d let you finger my bow if you let me touch your staff…”
_____
Voices. Zoe woke up to several overlapping voices. It was, in her opinion, not a very good way to wake up. Really, the only worse way she’d experienced it was that time with the dormitory fire alarm. Fucking Greek Life people.
This time, however, she knew she had to contend with something far more dangerous—at least five Human adventurer types who had magic and powers probably way stronger than her. Therefore, Zoe decided it would be a smart idea to pretend to be unconscious for just a little longer.
Aside from eavesdropping on the chatter—surprisingly easy due to her heightened perception—there was some stuff to go over from the system as well. It looked like she’d gained one level in both mirage and mana resistance. The former was fairly obvious, the latter less so. Perhaps it had something to do with the silver light? Zoe couldn’t remember that part very well. Things got a little fuzzy near the end.
At least she wasn’t dead or dismembered. They also hadn’t stolen her core while she was helpless and vulnerable, and she didn’t think they’d cut off her horns. Not yet at least. And there were some additional system notifications as well.
Lesser Disguise has reached level 2!
Mana Channeling has reached level 2!
Due to your actions, Perception has increased by 2.
Due to your actions, Power has increased by 3.
Due to your actions, Vitality has increased by 4.
Due to your actions, Durability has increased by 6.
Huh. That was handy. Zoe didn’t know what to make of it. While unexpected, the first two messages made at least a little bit of sense. The following four just—didn’t. I’m willing to bet it has something to do with my whole passing out thing. But then—why?
“Leveling up isn’t the only way to increase your stats.”
Zoe nearly jumped up in surprise. Lilith really needed to stop doing that. She almost blew her cover, and Zoe still wanted to gather some more information while the adventurers thought she wasn’t listening.
None of it sounded very interesting or relevant though. Right now it was mainly two girls, or young women, arguing over which one was going to clean the blood off of her. Wait, that’s actually kind of interesting. Zoe doubted it was common practice to give prisoners the spa treatment. Or maybe it is. Not like she would know. Hygiene was important, after all.
It might become a problem, though, because it sounded like someone else had stepped in for them and made a decision. Now she could hear footsteps approaching. Not good! Getting clean was nice, but Zoe was not letting anyone else touch her.
Hey Lilith, can you give me a quick run down on this new stat thing while I maybe fight and possibly eat some people? Thanks.
Look, it wasn’t like Zoe had a desire to eat Human flesh, or anything like that, but she did have a trait for vampiric healing. This place was looking like a dog-eat-dog world, and Zoe was the one who had fangs. Ooh, I like that one.
Then someone poked her.
Zoe’s eyes flew open. Her fingers wrapped around the girl’s wrist before she’d even realized what she was doing—wait, fingers? The girl yelped and took a cute little leap backwards, her icy-blue eyes going wide. Annoyingly, she was almost as beautiful as Zoe. But she had black hair, so Zoe’s blonde hair broke the tie. Going by stereotypical American standards, that is.
“You’re awake!”
Very observant of you. Zoe finally used a quick identify on the woman as she idly made a token response. “Yes, that seems to be the case.” It looked like this pretty lady was some kind of ice witch—what a weirdly fitting class to go with her unusual eyes.
[ELEMENTAL SUMMONER (ICE)]
Level 29 | Rank D
A Human who probably likes things made out of ice a bit too much.
-Alignment-
> Ice
> Blood
-Strengths-
> Power
> Body
-Weaknesses-
> Hallow
> Heat
Another Rank D. And what’s with that description? This system could feel oddly sassy at times. And what’s this—her second alignment might be blood, not infernal—but that weakness to Hallow was worth at least one raised eyebrow. Just what was the deal with these people?
Zoe had the good sense to check the last two before the ice girl or anyone else could ruin things by talking or asking difficult questions.
[ENCHANTER]
Level 38 | Rank E
An ordinary Human with a tendency to make ordinary things slightly less ordinary.
-Alignment-
> Life
> Wind
-Strengths-
> Acuity
> Perception
-Weaknesses-
> Time
> Power
So the bow-wielding rogue-looking one was actually an enchanter, of all things. Interesting, but not as interesting as his supposed weakness to time. Sure, it wasn’t obviously questionable as some of the others, but what was that even supposed to mean? Zoe could come up with just about zero theories for how that worked. Time magic was one thing, sure, but how did you end up having a specific weakness to it? Bizarre.
At least the borderline cliche-looking wizard boy lived up to expectations.
[ARCHMAGE]
Level 21 | Rank E
A Human with a particularly arcane expertise.
-Alignment-
> Metal
> Force
-Strengths-
> Mind
> Acuity
-Weaknesses-
> Power
> Vitality
Honestly, aside from being specifically listed as an archmage—wasn’t that for super powerful old guys? Really, this guy almost stood out for how completely ordinary and just plain reasonable his whole description looked. The weirdest thing would be his alignment with Metal, and that was barely even weird.
But alas, Zoe’s time to speculate on the mechanics of other people’s systems came to an abrupt end—and Lilith hadn’t even gotten a chance to explain the stats thing to her.
As it turned out, it was the Rank C alchemist noble-lad who spoke. “Tell me, healer, who and what are you—and what do you know of Infernal Cult activity in this area?”
Holy cats, this guy was direct. Zoe had expected at least a little bit of lead-up—but no, this guy just went straight for the throat. Impatient or just down-to-business? Zoe cleared her throat.
“They don’t know that you’re a Demon.”
Huh? Zoe didn’t understand. Then she remembered her claws—or rather her lack of them when she grabbed the ice-mage by the wrist. Actually, her hands still looked normal—the only oddity was how they felt a bit—fake. Not to mention how their leader addressed her as a healer.
Something strange was afoot here—it might be suspiciously convenient, but Zoe wasn’t going to waste it.
Only a couple seconds had passed, but the scary Rank C was waiting for her response. And Zoe knew just the tool for that.
Acting!
“Uh, I’m—my name’s Zoe.” Why did I give my actual name? Well, she couldn’t take it back now, and the instincts the skill kept feeding her made it feel somehow right. “I’m… I’m just a healer, not even a strong one, but…” she was shaking now. Like she was scared. And she was, but the fear and how her body was reacting felt weirdly disconnected. Like they weren’t even related to each other.
“It’s—that’s how I—I don’t know if anyone else—“ Holy hell, this is so cheesy, what? There was no way what the skill was prodding her to do was in any way believable. Not that she had any choice but to push onward. “A really strong paladin tried to stop them, but… they’d already created some kind of Demon, and I don’t know what happened then, but I was able to get away for long enough to heal myself a little, I mean, I was going to try to heal some others too but I couldn’t until… and then, I promise I didn’t mean to leave everyone, but—“
Holy hell! It felt like she was having a complete breakdown, not even speaking coherently anymore. But at the same time, Zoe was fully lucid as she listened to what she was saying. It was a surprisingly disconcerting experience.
Someone was rubbing her shoulders, like they were trying to comfort her. Zoe had to fight the urge to rip their hands away. It got a little better when someone else wrapped her in a blanket.
Sniffling, she looked up to see two of the men retreating to the far side of the room, talking in hushed tones. That left the two women and the scrawny archmage to sit around her awkwardly.
None of the three said anything, which was fine. Zoe had been getting increasingly distracted by the incessant flashing of a new quest anyway. It took a great deal of will to suppress a silly grin as she read through it.
Quest Complete!
[INFILTRATE THE HumanS]
Oh no! You, a Demon, have fallen unconscious—right in front of a group of Humans searching for a Demon! They’re also all stronger than you. It’s probably a good thing that your magic still makes you look like nothing more than a naked, blood-covered Human—though not for long.
Can you turn this sticky situation into a powerful opportunity? After all, they say looks can be deceiving—and you sure do have the perfect class for that.
-Rewards-
> Not Dying
> A Title, Maybe
-Penalty of Failure-
> Ostracization and Potential Death
For completing your first quest, you have earned a new title!
Now rolling for rewards…