[SS 2.78] Don't Look Down on Me (Part 3/3) (Patreon)

Angelica took her time heading back. Now that her adrenaline had subsided, the desire to fight more had waned with it. And replaying the events in her head, all the flashy, borderline arrogant moves were now haunting her. Damn, even though she hadn’t technically committed the Sin again, her Pride had gotten the better of her. She was used to being looked down on, so why had it bothered her so much this time? 

Maybe it was because Merlina had been clocked as some prodigy that she felt the need to live up to it, or maybe she just really wanted to prove that she had Worth after all. Crap… that was the Demon mentality getting to her, wasn’t it? The innate desire to always grow and show off that strength. Frits. It had leaked into her mind without her even realizing, and maybe part of her had wanted redemption after her recent failure against the Ghoul.

Well, the result was what she wanted, wasn’t it? Confirmed by the glances she was receiving from the Zenmoon Summoners—awe, confusion, maybe a smidgen of fear. It was her goal for Merlina and Gelic to become so renowned that they were deemed foolish to cross or bother, and this was would undoubtedly be the start of that legend for her Summoner side. But she couldn’t help but feel like she may have skipped a few steps. 

Though when she did approach them, like good friends, the overwhelming emotion that overcame them was concern. “Merlina, are you alright?” Vystal questioned her first, running up, and grabbing her arm. Ah, right, the bites. Angelica glanced down to see the dried blood that was staining just her skin, leaving the dress untouched. Fortunately, Transfiguration was also smart enough to still make it crimson red, unlike her ichor as a Demon that had more of a golden brown tint.

“Oh, umm, I’m fine, but do you have any antifreeze?”

“Err, did you get hurt by your ice? Umm, I’m not sure that’s how antifreeze works. It would probably be better to get you treated properly.”

Rastille, on the other hand, didn't question it at all, and quickly ran to his truck, returning a moment later with a sloshing bottle. Angelica took it, unscrewed the cap, and chugged several swigs like it was a cool sports drink. It really hit the spot too, sweet and delicious, just like she imagined. But apparently the act was even weirder than all the incredible feats she’d just performed. Really, in a world where they had Demon companions, this is what boggled their minds?

“G-Gelic has the Poison Eater Passive Skill,” Angelica stammered, desperately attempting to explain like it was something rational. “Pretty common for her race. It’s great for healing.”

“No, umm, we know about the Skill,” Vystal acknowledged. “It’s just uhh…”

Since apparently she wasn’t going to finish that thought anytime soon, Rastille did it for her. “If they’re not Runes, Passives tend to be much harder for Summoners to use effectively until they reach a much higher Rank.” Ah… yeah, she didn’t know that at all. There was no indication in her Skill Sync description that there were such limitations, but it made sense that keeping something always on and regularly draining mana would take a lot of attention and practice.

Sperado seemed to be taking it the best of them… sort of. Or at least he was the best at maintaining his composure despite the weirdness. He grabbed his two companions by their shoulders and tugged them away. “Excuse us for a moment, Merlina. Now that the mission’s done, we need to report in, do some admin work, boring stuff. Back in a bit.”

While he ungraciously dragged them away, Angelica took a moment to briefly return to her ice cocoon and revert her outfit to the more basic one from earlier that evening. Mostly, it was so she could cover her shoulder wound, which would vanish for Transfiguration regardless, but would hide where it should be without raising questions. And she also went ahead and reabsorbed Angie in that moment, to get a good chunk of MP back, along with a bit of experience from the Duplicate’s own fights. 

She briefly thought about leaving her gone for the night, saying she sent her away to do something else, but that felt too callous as a master. Plus, they still had Essence to receive. From those few Malignant kills, it was confirmed that any gained by her clone went to her directly, so that was nice, and it’d avoid a conversation about claiming her Demon’s payment for herself. 

Angelica had only hid herself away for a few moments, enough time for the Summoners to get far away and begin gabbing where they thought they’d be unheard. Maybe it was her Demon DNA, or it could be a side-effect of Divining Ear, but she could actually hear them just fine, as if they were right next to her. Though, Sperado wasn’t exactly being quiet, having lost all composure.

“What the hell was that? What THE HELL was that? Novice my ass! She just blew away a horde like they were leaves in the wind, then dissected that snake like she was chopping up veggies for dinner. That girl is strong. Not just magic strong, but physically strong.” He then thumped Rastille on the chest. “Pretty sure she could beat you up without a second thought.”

“It must be body strengthening magic,” Vystal deduced. “She’s not scrawny, but she wouldn’t be able to do that with her physique. And her Magical Proficiency must be off the charts. Pathos mentioned she was causing some sort of error with the detector that made her potential impossible to measure. I think we just confirmed that theory with our own eyes.”

“And she just sipped antifreeze like it was a lovely cup of tea,” Sperado added, glancing over in her direction, which was followed by some animated arm waving. “She’s still drinking it! If I could use Passives like her, maybe I wouldn’t be so tired all the damn time. And I think she just might be crazy. Even with the Skill, there’s no way I’d trust that it’d work well enough to down something like that without worry.”

“Do you two…” Rastille’s thought hung for a moment, hesitating as if he was unsure it was something he should say out loud. “Think she’s stronger than Pathos?”

“I’m not answering that,” Sperado declared immediately and shot Vystal a glance, maybe seeing if his statement would set her off. “Be a fun as hell fight to watch, though. We could sell tickets.”

“No, I don’t think she is.” Vystal gave a more concrete response. “She could definitely take on quite a few of our Summoner Ranks, and maybe a few Senior Summoners, but Pathos is closer to a High Summoner in power now. I do think Merlina must also have the same condition as Pathos where her mana pool is excessively higher than the average person. I tried to count how many spells she used during that fight and keep note of their complexity, but I lost track. Even with how high I got, though, it’s far more than any of us could cast. 

“And… I think a lot of my grading comes from the lower-levelled nature of her magic. She did all that with just a Puck as her partner. I thought maybe she must have another Demon in hiding, yet she only used things we’ve seen Gelic cast as well, except for maybe the buffs, but Gelic could have them too. I think she must have used Transfiguration to change her outfits as well. No way she could slip in and out of something that complex so quickly. So if she did have a Daemon she could pull Skills from… then I think only our Archsummoners would be able to stop her if we don’t put Demons into the mix.”

“That’s terrifying…” Sperado genuinely sounded unnerved, and then he turned to Rastille. “How are you not freaking out more about this?”

“I’m still processing it…” the big man admitted. “But we knew she was strong from the start, or at least assumed so. I thought there was a chance she might try to join in, but certainly wasn’t expecting this, or for her to show off this much. The fact that she did is a good thing. It means she's getting comfortable with us, and that’s progress.”

“Yes.” Vystal almost sounded breathless. “We have to recruit her. I have no doubt that with proper training, she is a future Grandmaster in the making, possibly even obtaining it in our lifetimes unlike the others. If a Sect with fouler intentions got their hands on her, or, Vissiem forbid, one of those Rogue cabals, then I fear what could happen.”

“Well how are we going to convince her to join if even Pathos couldn’t?” Rastille argued. Thus the conversation devolved into a more boring one, discussing potential recruiting tactics that either had no hope of working on her, or were ones Pathos had already tried. Ultimately, it didn’t matter. Having Angie made great strides in Angelica being able to hide out as a Summoner in the long term, but until the Circle issue was resolved—meaning her becoming a Senior Summoner—or they agreed to a concession where she could live on her own as a full-fledged member, there was no reason to move away from her Abstainer arrangement.

But… she’d definitely gone too far. In hindsight, Angelica definitely should have studied up more on how much a Summoner Rank compared to a Demon one. It was obvious now that an Apprentice wouldn’t be as strong as their Gremlin counterpart, or even close if they were still struggling with Passives. At the very least, it leant itself to the lie that she was an anomaly that broke the scale which Pathos was apparently already selling on her behalf, so maybe she was worrying too much. Didn’t stop the annoying thoughts from running through her mind, so to distract herself, she went ahead and released the notifications that had been building up over the night.

[Masquerading Transfiguration Lv.15, Malignant Tracker Lv.6, Manifest Ice Lv.26, Stab Lv.9, Seeking Projectile Lv.11, Delayed Release Lv.5, Malignant Bait Lv.8, Biting Hailstorm Lv.5, Starvation Lv.7, Evoke Lv.28, Embody Lv.6, Editable Reprint Lv.8, Cold Resistance Lv.30, Parry and Riposte Lv.4, Swipe Lv.16, Slash Lv.5, Venomous Strike Lv.8, Ambidextral Mastery Lv.16, Puncture Resistance Lv.4, Skewer Lv.3, Fluttering Bumble Lv.6, Salvager Lv.8, Suspecting Skin Lv.5, Fatigue Resistance Lv.7, Duplicate Lv.20]

[Beguilement wildly increased]

[Beguilement has improved from Unremarkable to Present]

[Might, Competence absurdly increased]

[Might has improved from Edged to Sharp]

[Malice heftily increased]

[Creativity, Vigor notably increased]

[Lucidity, Obstinance increased]

[Glacial, Destruction, Fraud Attunements heftily increased]

[Suffering, Fabrication, Egoism, Pride Attunement notably increased]

[Gnostic, Pestilence, Famine, Balletic Attunement increased]

[133 Malignants defeated]

[A requirement for Scourge-Cleanser - Rank 5 has been cleared]

[Gained 3,739 Essence]

[Summoner Rank: Novice Lv.23]

Wow, that was a good bit more Essence than the Malignant Geyser despite nothing coming close to the eel’s level. While she’d killed quite a few more Malignants, it also seemed they were skewing on the Essence they gave. That was likely because they had time to exist and siphon it away from humans and other sources. 

Seeing Suspecting Skin amongst the levels was a bit of a surprise. As far as she could remember, it had never triggered. The whole point of the Skill was to notify her if someone was looking at her with strange intent or suspicions, so she definitely would have remembered that, outside of the weird looks she’d gotten from the Summoners. And as far as the knowledge she’d gained from Angie, no one had targeted her that way either. The best reason she could pinpoint was when she used Starvation the Malignants to make them go berserk, and it could have warned her about suddenly looking like a snack, though the heat of battle and seeing their intent overshadowed it.

Also, all those Evoke levels hadn’t come from just this venture. They’d been steadily trickling in while she’d been focusing on rearing Angie. She’d been adding a bit to new chapters, testing out her control, but most of the experience still came from what was already there—a seed well-planted, though it was starting to show signs of slowing, both in new readers and the rate of improvement. Embody, though, had all come from the little display for her friends. 

Apparently, it had been quite a show, since Beguilement had jumped up like crazy, and now the DGS was even forced to acknowledge that she at least had some form of charm. The new Might rank was nice too, especially since it felt like she’d just gotten one recently. Sharp, huh. With how she’d been tearing through the Malignants, that felt right, all without the alleged buffing magic. Well, she did have one buff that came from Malignant Bane, but she probably shouldn’t mention using that Passive with how stunned they were already. 

“You’re both overthinking it.” Sperado dismissed the other two’s efforts with a handwave. “If she’s still wary about joining, then you’re just liable to run her off if you try to throw too many incentives at her. So instead of being recruiters, let’s just be her friends. She clearly doesn’t have many, or she wouldn’t be out here spending the evening with us schleps.”

Ouch. The words that she wasn’t supposed to hear stung a little, but he wasn’t wrong.

“And if she ends up wanting to join us because of our amazing friendship, then great. If not, that’s fine too. Just hanging around with us a lot, and if our leadership continually goes to bat for her, that should help keep the grabby hands at bay, even if she doesn’t join us in the end. You want to protect her from the big scary world? Then be there for her and ask nothing in return. That’s how you do it right.”

“Huh, that’s…” Vystal let out a sigh. “A lot wiser than what you usually say, Sperado. I’m on board.”

“Well.” He smirked. “As one alleged prodigy to another, I can somewhat understand where she’s at.”

“So how do we start?” Rastille pondered. “Usually bridging the gap between Summoners and Abstainers isn’t so easy.”

“Ughk.” Sperado slid his hand down his face with exasperation. “You two have been out of normal society for far too long. Watch and learn. It’s so simple.” The man changed his stance a bit, and began to walk back over to Angelica with a bit of swagger in his step, and threw a supposed comradely hand on her shoulder. “So Lina, that was good stuff. Great fighting out there. We’re done for the night, but it’d still be a shame to turn in so early. What do you say, come enjoy a meal with us? It will be a lovely time, and all the more lovely with you there.”

“Uhh, okay.” She agreed without much reservation. After overhearing what she had, there was definitely some doubt to their genuineness. But if they really wanted to be friends, then great. And if it all turned into an annoying ploy to shove marketing efforts down her throat, then well, she was even better at ghosting. However, the frugal side of her would throw a fit if she turned down free food, at least without obvious strings attached. “But I have one request.”

“Anything for you, lovely Lina.” She didn’t mind the impromptu nickname, definitely easier to say than the full thing, and felt nice that he’d gone to the effort of giving her one. But the adjective absolutely needed to go.

“I like girls, so please stop flirting with me.”

“Ah—” That struck Sperado speechless for a moment, somehow the most dumbfounded he’d been all night. But he finally clawed back his dignity and shifted gears, acting as if that hadn’t rattled him in the slightest. “Well that’s fantastic. Then we have so much in common already! Tell you what, I know of this diner with the cutest waitress you’ve ever seen. C’mon let’s go.”

◆◆◆

In Sperado’s defense, the waitress was actually pretty cute. But none of them ever would’ve had a chance with her, since her eyes were entirely focused on another. The woman, an Abstainer, was completely smitten with the Puffball version of Gelic that was sitting on Angelica’s lap so that she could eat too. Their waitress kept bringing extra plates to her, and had even asked to feed the Demon a few times herself. 

Angie was a bit resistant at first, clearly embarrassed. She must have thought the waitress was cute too, since it was right around that age that Angelica first had such realizations. But she eventually caved, and was allowing herself to be stuffed full of waffles. Thankfully, none of that would go to the main body’s stomach, since anything consumed was proven to be destroyed upon reabsorption. It only affected the potential Health transfer. They still needed to test how Second Stomach worked between them, but Angelica was a bit more hesitant on that, just in case something was unceremoniously destroyed in the process.

“It’s crazy that she actually eats human food,” Rastille commented when the waitress wandered off to seat the only other person that had come in since their arrival. It was a pretty dingy diner, not the sort of place that fancy pants Summoners would grace with their presence often. Well, except for Sperado who slid right in as if he was a regular. The other two, however, seemed to be struggling a bit with how squeaky and sticky everything was.

“Well, I didn’t know they didn’t at the time,” Angelica explained. “And she just ate everything I gave her without question. But she was also basically a newborn, so she may not have known it was a weird thing. You like it, right?” She gave Angie a mental nudge.

“Yeah, human food good,” she answered between bites. “Especially when I add poison.”

“So that’s where Merlina got the idea,” Sperado huffed. “Still a bit absurd, if you ask me.”

“Well, it is good,” Angelica corroborated. “It’s kind of like adding salt to something that you didn’t realise was bland. And the healing is great too. I can’t do it yet, but I suspect it’s far more efficient than using mana directly. You guys should try it sometime if you ever Summon a Demon with the Poison Eater Skill.”

None of them jumped to volunteer, but Vystal did make an offer of her own. “Would you like to try some, Xinder?” She held up a spoonful of oatmeal to the back of the booth where the bird was perched. He prodded around the utensil for a moment, and suddenly, he took a bite with his beak. Except, it wasn’t the food. The bowl of the spoon went tumbling down into the seat, taking the oatmeal with it. Xinder had snipped off part of the handle, and began chewing it thoroughly.

“Hmm, not bad. May I have more?”

“Uhh, sure.” Since he’d already ruined the spoon, may as well let him finish it off. Apparently, him being a metal bird made him want to eat the stuff too.

“So, Lina,” Rastille changed the subject. “Next week, we will be filling in as support staff for a Summoner event a few towns over. It’s a fairly large event where a bunch of Sects get together to dance and schmooze, but we wouldn’t be involved in any of that. Since we’re not part of the lineup of talent to show off, we’ll mostly be in the back, helping out the kitchens, running food, that sort of thing. It’s nothing glamorous or exciting, but the staff need to be in the know just because of the nature of it all. 

“Getting Abstainers to work such an event, which is far deeper into our secretive world than many are comfortable with, can be quite the hassle. So any hand to help would be very much appreciated. It'd be a few hours in the evening, and we’d pay you well for the time. For this type of thing, we’d usually just pay cash, but could probably swing some Essence if needed, though it likely wouldn’t be a lot.”

“Sure, I’d be open to it.” Angelica went ahead and agreed for now. “But I’ll let you know if something else comes up.” Honestly, rather than some other commitment, there’s a good chance she’d cancel based on her anxiety. That sort of work was far from anything she was remotely interested in. And they’d obviously asked her in an attempt to create more opportunities to spend time together and build friendship. 

Which… she wasn’t opposed to, even if she knew the true intent behind it. Plus, the more she associated with them, the more she’d learn about the Summoner side of things. This evening had already been eye opening in a lot of ways, and could be problematic if she interacted with a lot of others who weren’t as keen on her ignorant and bizarre mannerisms. After that, the conversation switched to some pretty random things, and went on for almost another hour before the fatigue of the hunt really started to show in everyone.

“Let’s get everything settled before we head out.” Vystal jumped on that after the check for the meal was paid, ensuring every bit of book keeping was accounted for. 

“Ah, right.” Rastille, who was clearly just about to stand up from the booth, got comfortable again. He checked the time. “Let’s say four hours.” Hmm, interesting. The actual hunt had clocked in at right about two hours, and now they were a little over three after the meal. So not only was he counting their bonding time afterward as part of the pay, he was rounding hard. “Do you know how many Malignants the two of you killed combined?”

“133,” Angelica answered confidently. Having the DGS track it the entire time certainly came in handy. 

“Alright, I’ll umm, uhh.” He had pulled out his phone to calculate the total and then flipped it to Vystal. “Would you mind handling Gelic’s part? I’m a bit short at the moment.” The woman agreed instantly and sent sparkles over to the Demon in Angelica’s lap, which in turn, invisibly flowed to her. In a way, this was far less secure than having a Demon Contract, because there was technically no obligation for them to proceed with the payment. It was a deal between humans, and those were far less strict. Still, she had no reason to doubt them with their good track record.

[Gained 1530 Essence]

[Gained 200 Essence]

[Essence Tip activated. Gained an additional 32 Essence]

Of course, the tip had to trigger on the little extra hourly pay she’d received from Rastille and not the bigger batch from Vystal. Oh well. She also got a bit more than $17,000 in cash from the sheer amount of kills. That definitely felt like robbing them in a way, since the small fry were so easy and not worth the amount. But ehh, it averaged with the lesser pay for the actual high level Malignants.

 “Do you need a ride home?” The big man asked after he stood up for good this time. 

“No thank you. I’ll be fine.” She politely declined, for three reasons. One: she didn’t want to impose on them further, especially when she could just cover that distance with a magical poof. Two: she kind of didn’t want them knowing where she lived just yet until there was absolute trust. And three: she especially didn’t want them knowing just what sort of scuff hole her apartment was when they lived in incomparable luxury. They departed with a friendly wave, as she and Angie walked in a random direction just to put on a show. Then once the coast was clear, they vanished into the night, back home, where a good night’s rest was in order before they started their work once more.

New:

Active Skill: Slash Lv.5

Combo Skill: Parry and Riposte Lv.4

Passive Skill: Puncture Resistance Lv.4

Updated:

Max MP: 2,173 > 2,235

Plague Resistance Lv.8 > Lv.9

Masquerading Transfiguration Lv.13 > 15

Malignant Tracker Lv.3 > Lv.6

Manifest Ice Lv.23 > Lv.26

Stab Lv.8 > Lv.9

Seeking Projectile Lv.8 > Lv.11

Delayed Release Lv.4 > Lv.5

Malignant Bait Lv.2 > Lv.8

Biting Hailstorm Lv.3 > Lv.5

Starvation Lv.5 > Lv.7

Evoke Lv.23 > Lv.28

Cold Resistance Lv.29 > Lv.30

Swipe Lv.14 > Lv.16

Venomous Strike Lv.7 > Lv.8

Ambidextral Mastery Lv.13 > Lv.16

Skewer Lv.1 > Lv.3

Fluttering Bumble Lv.5 > Lv.6

Salvager Lv.7 > Lv.8

Suspecting Skin Lv.4 > Lv.5

Fatigue Resistance Lv.5 > Lv.7

Duplicate Lv.16 > Lv.20

Beguilement: Unremarkable > Present

Might: Edged > Sharp

Summoner Rank: Novice Lv.21 > Lv.23

DEMON GROWTH SYSTEM

True Name: ******a ***** | Alias: Gelic | Species: Pestilent Puck | Cult: Zebub

Demon Rank: Puck Lv.22 / 30 | Essence: 7,472 / 1,484 | GP: 2

Summoner Rank: Novice Lv.23 / 30 | Experience: 41%

Health: 52% | MP: 626 / 2,235

Worth

Might: Sharp

Vigor: Stable

Competence: Shrewd

Lucidity: Heightened

Obstinance: Compromising

Beguilement: Present

Creativity: Inspiring

Malice: Acceptant

Attunements

Glacial: Intertwined

Famine: Embraced

Destruction: Intertwined

Fabrication: Embraced

Gnostic: Intertwined

Pestilence: Symbiotic

Fraud: Embraced

Suffering: Embraced

Balletic: Intertwined

Inferno: Embraced

Oppression: Touched

Pedant: Touched

Pride: Touched

Egoism: Embraced

Active Skills

Masquerading Transfiguration Lv.15 | Stab Lv.9 | Order Rejection Lv.4 | Editable Reprint Lv.6 | Scrying Eye Lv.4 | Bind Break Lv.3 | Frost Touch Lv.7 | Second Stomach Lv.8 | Hunting Nose Lv.6 | Jump Good Lv.8 | Plunge Lv.6 | Toxic Imbuement Lv.7 | Manifest Ice Lv.26 | Starvation Lv.7 | Bash Lv.9 | Bug Bite Lv.6 | Leech Happiness Lv.10 | Swipe Lv.16 | Malignant Bait Lv.8 | Poison Breath Lv.3 | Skewer Lv.3 | Pummel Lv.4 | Discerning Palate Lv.2 | Flash-Freeze Lv.1 | Delayed Release Lv.5 | Duplicate Lv.20 | Slash Lv.5

Passive Skills

Cold Resistance Lv.30 | Hunger Resistance Lv.3 | Tongues Lv.5 (MAX) | Order Resistance Lv.8 | Bind Resistance Lv.4 | Poison Chef Lv.1 | Essence Tip Lv.6 | Poison Eater Lv.9 | Wallop Resistance Lv.6 | Multi-Bounce Lv.12 | Malignant Tracker Lv.6 | Suspecting Skin Lv.5 | Runic Artist Lv.4 | Malignant Bane | Laceration Resistance Lv.2 | Heat Resistance Lv.20 | Venomous Strike Lv.8 | Plague Resistance Lv.9 (Grafted) | Auto-Color Lv.17 | Detect Falsehoods Lv.3 | Ambidextral Mastery Lv.16 (Sinful) | Fatigue Resistance Lv.7 | Puncture Resistance Lv.4

Hybrid Skills

Inspiration Lv.10 | Divining Ear Lv.4 | Fluttering Bumble Lv.6 | Seeking Projectile Lv.11 | Scrutinize Lv.5 | Evoke Lv.28

Combo Skills

Airstrike Lv.7 | Frostbite Lv.9 | Biting Hailstorm Lv.5 | Manufacture Lv.11 | Embody Lv.4 | Parry and Riposte Lv.4

Summoner Skills

Simultaneous Orders | Summon | Bind | Forge Contract | Give Order | Command | Recall | Mind-Link | Banish | Rebuke | Skill Sync 

Traits

Potently Toxic Lv.7 | Punching Bag Lv.8 | Jester | Irritating Lv.5 | Salvager Lv.8 | Sinner Lv.1 

Runes

Malignant Sense | Deterring Field (1 Active) | Hydration (1 Equipped, 1 Active) | Weathering Resistance (Imprinted) | How Intriguing 

Secrets

Soulbound | Humanborn | Summoner | Self-Summon | Soul Suck

Achievements (22)

Enslaved | Scourge-Cleanser - Rank 4 | Food Monstrosity | Foolish Volunteer | Poison Hands | Babysitter | Divine and Dash | Round of Applause - Rank 2 | Registered | Achievement Hunter - Rank 2 | Evolved | Regressor | Gambler | Shaking Our Heads | From Cradle to Cult | Careless Buffoon | Self-Imbuement