Arthur had sent Zoe, along with Millie, back down to the town square right after he finished stating their message. Apparently the other end was linked to some kind of courier office, not this ‘Lord Darius’ specifically. That did make more sense in retrospect, given how big and sophisticated the communication device on their end looked. Zoe found it hard to imagine you could find one of those in every home.
As it turned out, the other half of the team had been much less successful.
They hadn’t found anything, basically. Lily said there were signs of fighting, and a lot of the ruins right around the area did look more recently disturbed. But Sean said his notes—Zoe didn’t expect him to have notes for some reason, but either way they indicated that was still normal. Andric agreed, as their Rank C alchemist was the only one who had ever been to the frozen wastes before.
“So, does that mean we’re just going to sit around down here and wait to be picked up?” From the way Lily said it, Zoe got the idea that the noblewoman wasn’t particularly enthused by the idea.
Which was unfortunate, because that turned out to be exactly what Sean decided. “Yes.” Heaving himself down onto the one half of a crumbling stone bench that was still standing, the hallowed warrior slumped down in his armor. He looked more tired right now than Zoe had seen him so far. It was almost uncanny, how different it was from his usual, nearly robotic posture.
“We’ve seen enough. Nothing that’s an immediate danger. Not more than we’d expected I mean. And that’s already enough for us to fulfill our duty here, given our collective ranks.”
Huh. Zoe didn’t expect that, for several reasons. Studying the prospective paladin from her position sitting cross-legged on the frosty cobbles, she tried to re-evaluate her understanding of the world.
The first thing was that she had increasingly gotten the feeling that Rank C was actually fairly powerful, and that these people were like the equivalent of a few ultra-gifted kids on a special scholarship. But for, you know, leveling up by killing things.
The second thing was that the big guy who was their official leader, and who was also named Sean of all things, was literally a paladin-recruit. Like, his primary class that Zoe could see when she used identify on him was literally Acolyte of Faith.
Zoe’s first thought would be yeah, it doesn’t get much more ‘self-righteous defender of The Church’ than that. And whatever The Church was, it ought to look vaguely Catholic. Shouldn’t he be proclaiming the imminent death of these ‘blighted heretics’ and leading them out in a blindingly holy crusade against the cultists and ghouls?
So basically, him deciding that what they’d done was ‘good enough’ and they should just sit around waiting for help—it seemed kind of weird to Zoe.
“You’re half right about both of those things,” Lilith said within Zoe’s mind. The apparition wasn’t an apparition anymore, having returned to the tiny little chibi-plushie form she used once before. That was during the crazy fight with the way stronger paladin, Zoe remembered.
“That being said, there’s a bit of nuance here you’re probably missing.”
Nuance? That might be a good point to be honest. Zoe did have to concede she wasn’t always the best at nuance.
“So first, yes, you’re actually—hey, what are you—?”
“There, much better.” Zoe nodded to herself as she set the miniature Lilith down on the ground about a foot and a half in front of her lap. The disembodied Demon, however, didn’t seem nearly as pleased.
“So ignoring the rudeness of inflicting that indignity”—Zoe snorted, which made Millie look up and give her a weird look. Oops.
“—you’re very right that hitting Rank C is a major achievement and a significant tier of power. It’s honestly really impressive for someone as young as that alchemist body-guard seems to be. Like, extremely impressive. As in, it’s already a rare accomplishment for two of the others to even be Rank D. And moving up to Rank C is infamously one of the biggest—and most difficult—advancements.”
“Huh.” That was pretty good to know—on multiple levels. One, it was obviously another thing for future Zoe to take into serious consideration. I’ve been adding a lot of those lately, haven’t I.
The other thing was that it pretty much confirmed her perception that these were a small group of special uniquely talented uber-gifted wonder-kids. Not to mention that it makes this Andric fellow into a total monster. Monster as in terrifyingly quick at advancing, not in the ‘sprouting literal horns and claws’ way.
“Antennae.”
Looking back at Lilith, the confusion must have been clear on Zoe’s face. Because “Not horns. They’re your antennae, remember?”
Zoe frowned. She kind of forgot about that. Not that she felt anyone could blame her, seeing as how Lilith was explaining it at the same time Zoe literally fainted from exhaustion and soul-strain. Also, it’s still weird. But not actually dumb, if she thought about it. It did make a lot more sense than, like, actual goat horns.
No, the dumb thing was the name of another physical trait she had in her status—her claws. Seriously, who thought ‘Demonite’ was a good name for literally anything?
It sounded completely ridiculous.
“So ignoring any stupid complaints about the system anyone might happen to have… yes, you’re right.” Lilith hopped back up to Zoe’s shoulder, using the rags they’d wrapped Zoe in to help her climb. “He is definitely a monster.”
The Demonic plush-doll paused. “Although, he might be at least a little bit of a monster in the other way too.”
“Wait, what?” Then Zoe remembered. It was one of several things that she’d found particularly notable back when she first encountered the group and used identify on all of them. In the case of Andric, it was specifically—no, not specifically. Literally three out of four of the sections have something questionable on his status. Zoe went ahead and used identify on him to double-check.
[ALCHEMIST]
Level 50+ | Rank C
A modified Human adept in the manipulation of substance.
-Alignment-
> Infernal
> Life
-Strengths-
> Acuity
> Perception
-Weaknesses-
> Hallow
If the weakness to hallow and the infernal alignment weren’t enough, the system even described him as a modified Human. There’s no way there’s no something suspicious about that.
Lilith cleared her throat. “Well, actually… that’s pretty normal for an alchemist. Combat oriented ones especially, since a lot of their power ends up coming from enhancements they make to their own bodies.”
Zoe blinked. What.
“I mean, that’s kind of a big part of what most alchemists do, right? Like a health or stamina potion is modifying the body too, it’s just that it’s temporary.”
Huh. That—made a surprising amount of sense to Zoe. It was something that was happening far too often, actually. Lilith would tell her something weird, and then the explanation would somehow make any other possibility seem idiotic. “So is it like he’s constantly under the effects of a health potion or something?” That seemed like it would be really powerful.
“Well, not really, actually—but also yes, it basically is. And it’s a whole lot more than just that. For a Rank C alchemist, let alone whatever kind of prodigy this guy is… he’s probably mimicking the effects of at least half a dozen or so highly potent elixirs just by existing.”
“Holy shit.” Alchemy immediately skyrocketed in Zoe’s valuation. She’d been wondering about how fighting as an alchemist worked for a while now, but this was way better than anything she’d previously imagined. Though that wasn’t saying much, because she’d mostly just imagined toxic gas clouds and bombs.
“Well yes that too,” Lilith admitted, “but that’s why alchemy classes are actually fairly common for both soldiers and adventurers. In a sense, you could maybe think about it as sacrificing having many active skills for being able to constantly stack a bunch of different powerful passives. So you end up not activating a bunch of flashy spells, but you’re also just really strong and fast—and often frustratingly hard to actually kill.”
That—did sound useful. It still begs the question of what’s up with his infernal alignment, though. If alchemists modified their own bodies, and he used some kind of infernal magic—was that why he was vulnerable to hallow? Because of the way he’d modified himself.
Lilith hummed to herself for a moment. “It’s not unlikely.”
Zoe was going to ask more questions—only for her attention to be drawn away just like all the others. Arthur had joined them.
I thought he was supposed to stay in the tower in case anyone in Verda-wherever tries to contact us back? The archmage didn’t look like he’d been in any hurry though. He was just leaning on that thin metal staff of his with a bored or maybe resigned look on his face.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Standing up, Zoe moved to a better position to observe at the same time as Sean stood up with a frown. “You got a message?”
Oh. Zoe thought he’d abandoned his post for some reason, but obviously he’d have to leave if he did actually get a new message. That was the whole point in the first place, after all. Actually, why did we come down here instead of all moving up to the tower? That was something Zoe didn’t understand. But for now she just listened.
“So, the good news is that Lord Darius has decided to grace us with his own presence at maximum haste.”
“Huh, that’s new.” Millie looked mildly surprised, though her expression darkened a little. “So what’s the bad news?”
Sighing, the archmage slumped down onto the edge of the empty fountain and rested the staff by his side. “Someone stole all the non-empty mana batteries for his ship.”
And with that, distraught groans erupted from literally everyone. Well, not Andric, but the alchemist did at least rub his head in his hands. “Seriously?” The scowl Lily wore could rival her own ice for the intensity of its chill. “Who is even both stupid and well-equipped enough to do that?”
Arthur shrugged. “It’s Verdanport. You don’t get much crime, but the criminals we do have are slick.”
Good to know, Zoe thought. Low crime overall sounded good, except it meant no criminal underbelly perfectly suited for aiding and abetting a Demon like her. Or maybe that’s just me having read too many novels.
Also, Zoe didn’t actually know what a mana battery was—but the general idea was also fairly obvious.
But before Lily and Arthur could get into it with each other—something it looked like they were about to do—Andric physically stepped in front of his ward, much to her shock and then frustration.
“What else? Is there anything else?”
Clearing his throat, Arthur clearly tried his best not to look around the stern alchemist. “Yes. The slightly better news is that he had Stella pay for a regular ferry to depart for here immediately. I’m fairly certain they said he’s also trying to find a compatible battery.”
All four of the others visibly relaxed at that. Millie grinned. “Oh, so that just means we’ll be spending the night.”
Lily, however, seemed less happy. “I think I’d rather not spend another night in this shithole. One was more than bad enough.”
Turning around finally, Andric shook his head. The bodyguard still looked stern, but Zoe thought she caught a hint of mirth in his eyes. “Come now, my Lady. How bad do you really think one night can be?”
_____
It took Zoe nearly a quarter of an hour after sunset to finally sneak out of their makeshift camp. She knew that she’d be missed, but that was something for future Zoe to worry about. Better to ask for forgiveness than permission was a motto that had carried her surprisingly far—and no one had noticed her absence yet.
Mostly because they were all freaking out about Lily going absent instead. Zoe took note of the priorities.
“To be fair, you weren’t even missing yet at the time.” Floating some feet before her, Lilith lectured Zoe from her cartoon doll form. “Though I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s basically doing the same thing we are.”
Zoe couldn’t help but smile a little as she hopped down over the other side of a half-rotten barricade. So far she’d avoided the ghouls with a combination of mirage, her own high perception, and a technique called ‘run really fast in a straight line and don’t worry about it.’ Not that it wasn’t working so far.
“You know, for some reason or other I don’t think she snuck out to figure out what a whole bunch of her skills actually do.” Which was exactly why Zoe was doing this. She had become too impatient to wait any longer to do a bunch of experimentation.
Whether that was by doing something potentially destructive or going around killing things. Maybe I could even try combining both.
Granted, the flying plushie did have a point. While Zoe was reasonably confident the noble ice summoner understood at least the fundamentals of most of her skills—she had expressed a lot of frustration about not being able to practice anything interesting. Zoe kind of wanted to see what kind of drama would happen whenever the other girl did get back.
Rounding a corner of the swiftly-darkening streets, Zoe took a moment to just stand still and listen. With the combination of her quite-high perception and the encroaching dark, learning to make better use of her ears made the most sense.
Ghouls up ahead… small group, I think. Zoe wasn’t going to pretend she could even begin to identify specific numbers at this point. Even determining the difference between ‘one’ and ‘a few’ was something she considered a big achievement. And I haven’t been able to hear anything from the camp for a few minutes now.
“Guess that means it’s show-time.” Zoe cracked her knuckles with a grin. Or tried to, because that wasn’t something she ever did. How do you even crack a knuckle?
And of course, Lilith just had to go and make the whole thing even worse by pointing out something reasonable. “They’re all a lot higher-level than you, so there’s a good chance at least one of them can hear farther.”
Zoe sighed. It was a good point, but also—I’ve waited long enough, and also I’ve been running for a while now. Plus what if I actually get in trouble and need to call for help or something?
Transforming from a small chibi-avatar to a full-sized illusion of a Human, Lilith scoffed. “Right, because that’s definitely the reason.”
“Shut up.” The ghouls in the darkness ahead of her were moving in the opposite direction. And while part of Zoe wanted to just run up and go crazy with blood whip—there was a whole list of other skills she needed to test.
As in, she’d literally made a list.
-Test Skills-
> Cloak of Scorn 1 (Rank E)
> Blood Magic 1 (Rank E)
> Rending Touch 1 (Rank D)
> Surgeon’s Eye 1 (Rank E)
> Unarmed Combat 1 (Rank F)
It was a handy feature she’d accidentally discovered—something similar to the way she could organize her inventory into folders. Actually, it was in a way just an extension of how she could bring up only specific parts of her status if she willed it.
The only downside of these ‘system notes’ was that she couldn’t just write random stuff in it herself.
But regardless, she’d already tested out blood whip fairly extensively on the carnivorous rabbits. In fact, four out of the five skills on the list were ones she was pretty sure she’d never even activated once. And most conveniently—I’m pretty sure I can use all five of them together.
What was that thing in science called? Only testing one variable at a time? That was lame, so Zoe wasn’t going to do that. She was a busy woman with undead monsters to kill.
Cloak of Scorn!
Blood Magic!
An icy wind seemed to envelop Zoe as she activated the first skill. It was like cold shadows slipped away from their stationary posts, cloaking her in a lightly swirling dance of—yeah I have no idea what.
But the freezing night air no longer felt quite so biting, and the cool darkness now felt far more inviting. As she hastened her pace to catch up to the pack of ghouls, it felt almost as if her footfalls were oddly muffled. Like how it sounds to wake up after a snowfall.
So that was all good and well, but was it more than just another stealth skill? Zoe supposed she would soon find out. As for blood magic, that one did just about nothing.
Which meant that there was probably a particular way Zoe needed to use it—she just didn’t know how. Lilith, as she sometimes could be, was strangely silent on the issue.
Whatever. The ghouls showed no sign of reaction as Zoe finally caught up to them. Whether that had anything to do with cloak of scorn or was just because she still had mirage active.
Surgeon’s Eye!
Information about the ghouls flooded Zoe’s mind. None of it seemed particularly useful for fighting these four creatures right now—but that didn’t stop her from nearly squealing with joy. When she’d first gotten the idea of using the diagnosis skill as some sort of vulnerability-highlighting predator vision, she’d unfortunately doubted it would actually work.
Turns out, it sort of did. The main difference was that it was far closer to feeling their bodies than seeing them—but that was alright with Zoe. The only shame was that she had to first know where her target was to activate it. No wall-breaking hunter-sight for me.
Zoe sped up to push into the very center of the shambling group. That finally got the four undead’s attention—so Zoe activated her final two skills.
Unarmed Combat!
Rending Touch!
A quick parry of one ghoul’s swipe, a kick behind and two short punches one after the other. All four monsters sort of exploded.
What.
Mirage has reached level 3!
Cloak of Scorn has reached level 2!
Surgeon’s Eye has reached level 2!
Unarmed Combat has reached level 2!
…
Unarmed Combat has reached level 5!
Rending Touch has reached level 2!
Blood Magic has reached level 2!
You have leveled up four times! You are now level 12.
+60 stat points.
+44% core progression.
…
Zoe just stood there for a few seconds, probably in shock. What just happened? She didn’t know which was more surprising—the monsters just erupting in a spray of foul and rotting guts, or the slew of unexpected system messages. Level up… FOUR times?!
And what was with all the skills? It had taken her ages to even get blood whip to level up once, and mending touch hadn’t done it at all even after nearly fainting from healing so many different minor wounds.
A suspiciously guilty cough echoed in her mind from behind. Zoe turned to see Lilith rubbing the back of her neck while half-avoiding eye-contact. Zoe narrowed her eyes.
“About that…”
Zoe glared. “What did you do?”
Shrugging, the apparition seemed to regain a bit of her usual composure. “I’m not the one who didn’t do anything. You just happened to kill four monsters a whole rank above us.” Zoe’s eyes narrowed again. She had forgotten to use identify… but she had a strong instinct that accidentally taking on a too-strong opponent yet somehow winning wasn’t the main reason.
“Well, you might finally be getting the full portion of our collected system-energy now. You know, since I’m done using it to fix our soul damage, and uh, a few other things.”
“The fuck?!” Zoe couldn’t even manage to be angry—yet. I knew I shouldn’t have trusted this Demon. Although, there was an obvious and more specific question. “What other things?”
Had that been the real reason Zoe was progressing so slowly? She had a parasite siphoning off all of her gains? But then, why would she tell me? That wouldn’t make sense.
It was a few seconds before Lilith finally cleared her non-existent throat. But she didn’t actually answer when she spoke. “Chill out, I’ll explain soon. But first, uh, you might want to check our system.”
Check our… Zoe pulled up her status. Nothing else looked to have changed. She then pulled up her latest notifications to double-check that it matched.
Oh. “Well, shit.”
Your Nascent Fiend Core has reached 103% development.
Your core evolution is now in progress. Do you wish to proceed?
[WARNING: Delayed Evolution]
Delaying your evolution carries a high risk of adverse or lethal effects, increasing with the duration of the delay.
Do you wish to proceed?
Zoe swallowed. I don’t have much of a choice, do I?