While Angelica focused on the Poison Chef Skill, a new window opened next to the DGS screen. It was… cloudy. She could see writing in the distance, small pockets of clarity amongst the sea of fog. Somehow, she knew which clearing to aim for, and instinctively zoomed into the mist toward the words Poison Chef floating far away.
What the inexperienced Demon found was what she already knew. It was a card hovering in the wispy space with Poison Chef printed at the top with all its details listed below. Useless on its own; however, the card was connected. To either side, there were other cards, partially obscured by the surrounding fog. But when she focused on one, the writing became clearer.
[Active Skill: Toxic Imbuement | Unlock: 3 GP | Any creatures or objects touched are imbued with poison, applying stacks of Toxic. Inanimate objects will dissipate the poison at a fixed rate. Cost: MP Drain. Stacks Applied: 2/second of contact. Max Stacks: 10. Stacks increase with Skill Level and Pestilence Attunement. Growth scales with Might and Malice.]
Well, that wasn’t helpful, at least not for her current situation. The Skill itself wasn’t bad, a more direct way to poison people, one she might even purposefully use in the right situation. It was the kind of poison magic that would have been perfect for her last job. She could have just touched Mart or poisoned one of his existing shakes to finish the Order. Its existence practically made Poison Chef feel useless, but since it was Active while the other was Passive, that was the tradeoff.
Angelica could see more lines leading away from Toxic Imbuement, assumedly to more cards. Yet no matter how hard she focused, they wouldn’t clear into existence. Perhaps she needed to acquire Toxic Imbuement first, or maybe her Pestilence Attunement needed to increase to see more associated skills. But her hope wasn’t gone yet. There was still the card on the other side. Maybe that would be more useful.
Her eyes lit up like she’d found a vault of treasure, the key to solving all of her problems. It wasn’t Poison Resistance. No, it was something far better.
[Passive Skill: Poison Eater | Unlock: 1 GP | Any poisoned or tainted items consumed will restore Health over time instead of inflicting damage. Can be disabled. Amount of Health restored scales with Skill Level, Pestilence Attunement, and toxicity of item. Growth scales with Vigor]
Holy frits! That was it, just what Angelica needed. She wouldn’t have to worry about accidentally poisoning food if she wouldn’t be damaged by it. Of course, if she cooked, she’d have to be wary about serving it to others, but Angelica was basically a loner hermit, anyways. Being healed was a definite bonus on top, but she was far more interested in the immunity aspect. By the sounds of it, this wouldn’t apply to other ways poison could be afflicted, but she’d absolutely take it for now.
Maybe the more natural way for Demons to unlock it was to get Poison Eater first and then Poison Chef later. She’d just circumvented it because of the Achievement. It felt like an obvious oversight otherwise. Or maybe the Demon Growth System didn’t actually care what happened to those who used it, whether they were hindered or killed by an effect it had. Since it was undoubtedly made by a Demon, she wouldn’t be surprised.
Now that Angelica knew about the Skill, there was a decent chance she could unlock it naturally. She’d prefer that in practically every situation. Why slave away to achieve what she could get for free. But in this case, that was a horrible idea. Undoubtedly, the way to unlock Poison Eater was to eat poison, and that was absolutely a risk she wasn’t going to take.
The much safer, simpler way was to unlock it with Growth Points, and she only needed one! Damn, it felt like a really good value. Toxic Imbuement, which cost three, was likely more useful for most, but still. Who wouldn’t buy Poison Eater, since it only cost a single point?! Those who likely didn’t expect to be eating poison, probably, but to her, it was an unparalleled bargain. So to get the GP, she needed to increase her Demon Rank level. For that, she already had thirteen Essence, and with her recent many Malice increases, the amount needed had dropped from thirty to twenty-eight, so she just needed fifteen more!
But how to get it? A Lv.1 Maligant had given her roughly half of what she needed, so assumedly, killing one or two more of those would be sufficient. Yet she had absolutely no idea how to find them.
That meant she would likely have to gamble with another Summoning. But so be it. Even if she got stuck with something that sucked, it beat the life of dread that lay ahead without getting the Skill. However, it apparently wasn’t so easy. Ever since accepting Garvin’s contract, the voices had ceased entirely. And now, a day later, they were still keeping their mouths shut. Not even a whisper.
Maybe if I just… Angelica sat down, trying to let her mind clear. Summoners, I am looking for work, you may call upon me. She didn’t know if such messages were a two-way street, but maybe opening herself up to the concept would get the words flowing. And it worked surprisingly well.
“Come forth, Demon.” She got a bunch of those pretty quickly. It was probably the standard chant by Summoners.
“Give me your power!” Well, she didn’t really have a lot of power to give, so she was liable to disappoint whoever was at the other end of that call.
“Join me in my conquest!” Erm… that sounds a bit too ambitious for me. Maybe she could try to focus on more meager requests.
“Easy work for Essence.” Now, that sounded more like it! Well, the way it was worded, the call sounded a bit like a scam recruitment ad. But Angelica was definitely willing to take that gamble. It sounded just like the kind of thing an inexperienced Demon like her could use, so hopefully it was something suited for upstarts. Without further thought, she reverted to her puffball form and accepted the summons, dissolving away from her apartment.
[Bind Resistance failed]
[You are Bound. Contract Type: Order Exhaust. No time limit. Orders Remaining: 3]
Ah, scuff! Apparently the buff from Soulbound wasn’t all powerful, and Angelica found herself practically immobilized. She glanced down at the floor. The Summoning Circle was far more intricate than the one Garvin had used. It still paled in comparison to her Soulbound circle, but it was clearly drawn by a far more experienced hand. Maybe she could try to wriggle out of it. So with all her Might, she started to vibrate on the spot.
[Would you like to break the Bound? Chance: 20% | Cost: 15 MP]
Uhh, sure, why not! The odds were very low, but what did she have to lose? It was a good chunk of MP, but not too bad.
[Active Skill: Bind Break Lv.1 unlocked]
[Obstinance increased.]
[Bind Break failed. You remain Bound]
So the Demon tried it again.
[Would you like to break the Bound? Chance: 10% | Cost: 30 MP]
Damn, half the chance for double the cost. Bind Break wasn’t as lenient as Order Resistence. But screw it, worth a shot!
[Bind Break failed. You remain Bound]
[Would you like to break the Bound? Chance: 3.5% | Cost: 70 MP]
No. Even if Angelica wanted to keep trying, that surpassed the MP she had left.
“Huh, a little Imp,” the Demon’s so-called master suddenly spoke. “I was expecting at least a Hellion—something with a bit more height. And you don’t need to try so hard to resist. I’ll only be giving you simple tasks… if you can even do them. What’s your name?”
The small creature had been so caught up in her Bound predicament that she hadn’t given the rest of the situation any credence. Her Summoner was a… relatively older girl. Maybe mid-thirties? Though going by her dishevelled appearance, she was certainly acting younger than she looked. In a way, the woman reminded Angelica of herself, a fellow layabout, or at least someone who didn’t care about their appearance at home.
Activate Scrying Eye. Angelica figured she may as well try it, not knowing if a Summoner would have some sort of protection against it. And it actually worked well, even providing more information than before thanks to the recent level.
[Human | Alias: Lustre | Summoner Rank: Apprentice]
Being able to see the Summoner Rank was definitely neat. Angelica didn’t know how high up Apprentice was, but it was definitely greater than her Initiate, and almost assuredly above Garvin’s Novice. Maybe it was the next step in line, or it could be even higher than that. Sadly, it didn’t display her real name, just her Summoner Alias, by the snoop’s speculative guess. Maybe to them, names were equally as important to keep secret, akin to Demons.
“My name is…” The trapped puffball finally started to answer in her gravelly voice that still sounded a bit like baby talk, but she hesitated at the most important part. What was it going to be? She certainly wasn’t going to use Angelica, having learned her lesson.
“My name is Gelic.” She went with her online artist handle. At this point, more people called her that than her real name, so it felt natural. Gelic also had no holy connotations on its own, so it shouldn’t be suspicious in that regard, and no one would guess that it was short for Angelica without prior context. And should anyone actually know of her artwork, it would be a huge leap to jump from that to an unknown Demon.
Yes, whenever you’re in your Demon form, you are now Gelic. Do your best to remember as such, she made a mental reminder. Not an Order, since she’d become beholden to that and not much else, but more of a conviction. Hopefully, it was something she’d get used to quickly.
“Alright, Gelic, can you reach high things?” Her master’s intonation really sounded like the woman was addressing a very young child.
“Yes. I am… bouncy!” Gelic decided to lean into it, making her words short and more playful. Which she was happy to do, because speaking as a Demon was a lot of effort, for some reason. Perhaps they weren’t native in human languages when they were born, probably why the Tongues skill existed.
“Good enough,” Lustre shrugged. “Then if you look around, you’ll see that this room is a right mess.” It really was. They were in a study, surrounded by books, desks, papers of all kinds, trash, random things that looked akin to magical; shiny stones, half-melted candles, an ashy incense pot that had been tipped over. Maybe it was standard practice to perform summonings in studies, since Garvin had as well, though this one was much bigger, clearly a space used by many people. But both were definitive steps up from the oversized Soulbound circle taking up most of the floorspace in Angelica’s cramped apartment.
“My parents keep getting on my ass about getting it cleaned up,” the older woman continued. “So that’s what I’d like you to do. For your first Order, tidy up this room until it would satisfy a snob without breaking anything or throwing away anything important. For more specifics, I’ll give tools to assist you. Divvy up any papers you find based on who wrote them into neat stacks. Work until either it reaches the expected level, or continue to provide your best effort before nightfall. In return, I will give you fifty Essence for each Order. Do you accept?”
Angelica found it a bit odd that she was even given a choice at all. By her best understanding, one of the main benefits of having a Bound Demon was that they really didn’t have any option but to obey. Maybe it was easier to get them to cooperate this way and still provide incentive rather than having them fight the Summoner the whole way through.
And according to the Contract, she’d have to complete three Orders no matter what. So if not this, then something else, possibly worse. Might as well go with something simple. The pay was worth it as well, far more than Gelic needed to get her first Demon Rank level-up. Though there was one thing she wanted to clarify. “Can I have Essence after each task? Instead of waiting till the end?”
She wanted to unlock Poison Eater as soon as possible. And if this Contract was going to be an all-day affair, possibly even multiple days, she would need to eat at some point. Who knew if her master would be so gracious as to provide her with food, and even if she did, there were no guarantees of quality. There was a founded chance she’d want to have such reassurance regardless.
“Sure, I don’t mind.”
“Then I accept.”
[Order accepted without resistance | Current Contract: Complete 3 Orders for Lustre | Current Order: Tidy up the study. | Order Reward: 50 Essence]
Angelica found herself immediately released from the Summoning Circle’s hold, free to move about the room. And Lustre showed no signs of fear of her like Garvin had. Could a Bound Demon not attack their master, or were there possible repercussions of doing so? Maybe the higher-ranked Summoner didn’t fear a lowly Imp.
The woman left the room, and the Imp attempted to follow. But after crossing the threshold, she was hit with an overbearing amount of Order Obligation. Every fiber of her being urged her to return to the study with haste, damning her for disobeying her master. And she was only a step away, but those few inches were causing her unbridled agitation. Gelic wanted it to stop as soon as possible, desperate to ease the tension gnawing at her existence. But at the same time, she saw opportunity. She could leverage the pain for her own advantage.