[SS 2.81] Wet and Wild (Part 3/3) (Patreon)

There was no aquarium in Vulgrest, but there was one in Strocaster, which was just one city away, so getting there was no big deal. A large reason why she’d investigated aquatic animals instead of the broader spectrum, though, was because there were no zoos either. Not just in Vulgrest, but there were almost none in the entirety of her country. When she was a kid, animal rights activists had gotten them to be pulled from government funding. 

Well, that wasn’t quite accurate. They could keep their funding if they retooled into animal conservations or rehabilitations, most of which weren’t public facing and would be difficult to visit. There were still a few zoos that continued on privately, but most were in poor states, assuming they were open at all. Meaning if Angelica wanted to visit a zoo, she’d have to travel pretty far.

Now that she knew the specifics on how many animals she’d be able to Catalogue, she dug through the exhibits on the aquarium’s website. Annoyingly, she’d have to use Muse on them and then come back. It felt needlessly risky to turn into the same animal at the aquarium when there’d be plenty of visitors and staff that’d want to corral her back into a tank. Even if she found a quiet closet where she could chill and Transfigure, there was the annoying time limit when switching them out. 

Which she did go ahead and test. There’d been no issue when she took the mental picture of the bottle, and it had shoved Cherub aside. But when she swapped her cat back to the forefront of her mind, that’s when the timer came into play. Damn, roughly an hour. So it would seem if she Mused and then Transfigured into each animal one at a time, she could do so indefinitely, but if she wanted to get them all before her experiments, that was when she was limited. At least this time, it would be best to go get all three and then come back, especially because at least one of them would take a long time to get what she wanted from it.

First was the octopus, which the aquarium did have. Once she had that, it should hopefully only be a few moments to unlock Conceal. The second was a particular type of frog, which thankfully was on display as well, or she’d need to find something else. It shed its skin roughly once a day, which she hoped to utilize in order to get the Shedding Trait that Diamen had told her about. With that, she could purge Runes inked onto her body, making it a limitless canvas for training Runic Artist, which would also help with raising Fabrication Attunement.

And third… she didn’t actually decide on a third. There were a few good options. Maybe she could go with something like a jellyfish or another creature with a toxin and hope she got some new kind of poison. But ultimately, she decided to leave the spot open for now. Maybe she’d get inspired by something cool that she saw. If she was going to pay the absurd price for admission, then she may as well enjoy herself.

That also left it open for a revisit, maybe when Muse had a few more Catalogue slots, so she wouldn’t keep having to make the trek. Perhaps she’d add it to her Hellion plans. Knowledge, Runes, and animals. It sounded like a good time filled with so many free Skills. 

Before she headed out, though, she made Angie poof back to life, and gave her the fun task of going and stocking up on Cherub’s preferred food and treats since they were getting low. Now that she had certain answers, she was going to spoil the thing with what he loved, with just a smidge of variety so he didn’t get too bored. Part of her also wanted to make another Deterring Field Rune to carry around with her, since the Stalk Skill had made her paranoid, but without Conceal, anyone following her would be able to see the hazy shroud, and that’d just make her stand out even more.

For the trip, she actually decided to take the normal human route instead of bouncing her way to Strocaster. The last time they’d met, her mother had bugged her about going out more, so this would leave a papertrail of her doing just that if the woman bothered to check. So Angelica took a subway to the train station, both of which were free for her. All the while, she fiddled with her usual puzzle toy, to train Ambidextral Mastery while doing a few more edits in her mind. 

Overall, the trip to the aquarium was pretty generic. It was fun seeing the various animals and learning a few random factoids, but lost was the child-like wonder that would have boosted even more. Perhaps she should have come back when Angie was still young and lived vicariously through her, or when she was still an Imp and it was affecting her mentality. 

Still a good trip, though, overall. Well, besides the crowds of people which made anywhere less enjoyable, and having to shield her eyes with a hand from the gift shop display of all the cute stuffed animals she could buy. Angelica took a few pictures of herself at various exhibits and sent them to her mother, with the caption, “Took your advice. Went to the aquarium for some art inspiration.” That should improve Corticia’s perception of how she was spending her time, while also planting the seed that occasionally she’d be unavailable because of such art-related trips. 

[Fluid Muse Lv.3]

She also got the more important mental pictures which were stored away safely with Muse. Interestingly, she couldn’t actually delete the ones of Cherub and the soap bottle. They had to be overwritten. Apparently, the only way to get over a Muse was to find a new one. So the three animals would be with her for a while, unless she found something meaningful to replace them with. She definitely regretted taking the long way for the trip back home—too sketchy if there was no return ticket—and she was pretty antsy and excited for what was to come.

Angelica rushed to the bathroom as soon as she got back to her apartment, barely giving Angie as much as a wave whose face was buried in a book. She set the tub to fill since she’d need more water this time, but while it was doing that, she went ahead and impatiently turned into an octopus once again. For this attempt, she managed to squeeze the right way, and her skin matched the coloration of her tub in just seconds.

[Active Skill: Conceal Lv.1 unlocked]

And back out of the tub she went, once more drying herself off as a human. Angelica went outside, and booped the floating Deterring Field Runestone. It vanished from sight, taking the field with it, along with a huge chunk of her MP. Similar to the Rune itself, using Conceal had a frontloaded cost, so she deposited a few hundred MP to see how much time that would get her, resulting in a timer of roughly a month. Apparently it was more costly to hide the field than to keep it constantly running, but that was still good enough, and she set a reminder in her phone. 

“Hey Angie, can you see me?” When she got back into the apartment, Angelica cast the Skill on herself, watching the MP drain carefully. With her current pool and regeneration rate, it looked like she could keep it active for almost a day straight at its base level. 

“Uhh, no, I can’t.” Her Duplicate squinted in her direction. 

“What about Cherub? Can you see me, Cherub?” Her voice turned more babyish, but the cat didn’t heed the call. The moment she picked up one of the newly purchased treat bags and gave it a shake, though, his ears perked up and he was on the floor by her feet in moments. Except then he looked around, confused, glancing back at Angie, so Angelica shook the bag once more. He clearly couldn’t see that either while she was holding it, and the noise made him meow incessantly, like when he was demanding dinner. So she dropped a few treats on the ground, which he could miraculously see and gobbled up, unperturbed by the friendly ghost who had fed him.

[Your personal Concealment has been shattered] 

Angie’s eyes widened, clearly able to see her real self now. And the effort made her rub face from exhaustion. “Damn, that really strained me and ate a good chunk of MP with Scrying Eye, but Detect Falsehoods finally caught you. There was no real hint at first, but the air around you started to shimmer and warp a bit the longer I stared until you suddenly appeared.” Well, at its base level, it wasn’t going to be perfect, but apparently, it was already pretty strong to begin with.

“Let me remake you, Angie, so you can have it. I wanna see too.” She reabsorbed the girl, getting a bit of knowledge about tax law she’d forgotten or never learned in the first place. Apparently, she’d run out of actual interesting books to read in the apartment, and had dug up one of her old textbooks. Well, it’d be useful for when tax time came, but damn, even just getting the bullet-points was boring. 

Maybe it was time to invest in a tablet or something for her clone. She was hesitant to let her clone use her computers except when sleeping, in case she needed to jump on them, and often used both at the same time. Currently, she’d just been using Angelica’s phone most of the time. But Angie was proving to be a reliable partner, and would only be better if she had her own devices to use freely. 

[Detect Falsehoods Lv.4]

Apparently, the transferred experience had been enough to get the level. Very cool. It was definitely starting to get to the point that her Duplicate could be used for adequate training, even if it was still heavily reduced compared to herself. Perhaps she’d be best working on the Skills that Angelica normally didn’t have the time for, or maybe even spent trying to figure out how to unlock new Skills, if such a thing was even possible with a Duplicate. Something to keep in mind.

[Duplicate Lv.24]

With that, the new Angie appeared as a year older, getting ever closer to her final form. When she activated the Skill, though, it was significantly less impressive, or maybe not triggering correctly. “I, uhhh, can still see you.” Angelica poked at her double, making the mostly translucent figure flinch. It really was like she had turned into a ghost. “Maybe that’s a Duplicate thing. Since I’m the host, I can just always see you.”

Detect Falsehoods didn’t seem like it was even trying to activate either. Hmm, maybe if she scried her, that’d do something. 

[Health: 98%]

Well that was new, and definitely not anything to do with the Conceal tests they were running. Up until now, she’d only been able to see Health on Malignants, but not humans or Demons. It was kind of hard to say what Angie qualified as, so she checked Cherub too.

[Health: 89% | Essence: 24]

Ehh, huh? Was that like how much Essence he possessed individually, or how much stagnant Essence he had maybe? Since she was entirely unsure, Angelica probed the DGS for an answer.

[That is how much Essence you would get if you killed them]

[Fun fact: Since you have the Soul Suck Skill, the maximum amount of Essence you could get from it will always be the displayed Essence minus one, unless there are other limiting factors]

What the hell? That was in no way a fun fact! Informative, perhaps, but fun, what about casually mentioning the value of someone’s death was fun?! Uhh, can we turn that off for anything that’s not Malignants? I’d rather not see living creatures as walking Essence dispensers.

[Acceptable]

With that weirdness set aside, they practiced with Conceal a bit more, resulting in:

[Conceal Lv.4]

[Fraud Attunement has increased from Embraced to Intertwined]

Angelica then returned to the bathroom to try her hand at obtaining her next animal Skill. She skipped over the frog for now, because that would take a while, and went with the third animal she’d mused on a whim. After Transfiguring, she dove deep into the water, only to resubmerge just a few moments later. She dried herself and drained the tub, then emerged from the bathroom with a dubious grin on her face. “Angie…” She tried to hide her intent when addressing herself. “Come give me a hug.”

“I… don’t want to,” her Duplicate refused. “You didn’t just suddenly gain self-appreciation. I know what animal it was from when you remade me. And with that stupid look on your face, it means you unlocked a Skill like what I’m thinking of. So no thank you.”

“Ah, c’mon. We need to test it, and I’m not going to try it on Cherub. It probably won’t be too bad since it’s just at Lv.1. We can make a trip to Hell if you’d really prefer, and I’d rather not use an Order.”

“Ugh, fine.” Angie crawled out of bed and glomped onto herself, bracing for what was to come. But it was nice and pleasant at first, like there was a real spark between them. Huh, maybe she really should learn to appreciate herself more. The closeness was nice. It was a shame she had to ruin it.

“Ah, fritsing scuff!” Angie recoiled and stamped, doing her best to shirk the pain. Apparently, it had actually been pretty bad. There were even a few tears coming out of her eyes, but that could have been more due to the betrayal from the electrifying hug, a gift from the electric eel.

[Active Skill: Sparking Shroud Lv.1 unlocked | Shroud yourself in a wrapping of electric sparks, damaging anything that comes in close-range or direct contract. Power of sparks builds over time in your body with a cap, reducing effectiveness with rapidfire repeated uses. You are immune to the shroud. Cost: 10 MP to initiate. Exponential MP Drain to sustain. Power cap and build-rate scales with Skill Level, Might, and Conductive Attunement]

[Conductive Attunement unlocked | Conductive Attunement is all about finding that spark in life and enjoying electrifying experiences. Really, it’s about building up power and zapping your foes. The more power your harness and dispense, the more the Attunement will grow]

Ferrul must have been feeling a bit cheeky writing that Attunement. After she used the Skill, it was like a meter appeared in Angelica’s mind, slowly filling up over time. That must have been what the Skill was referring to, and only when it was full, could she use it at its full power again. 

“Remake me right now!” Angie demanded after wiping her face.

“Uhh, I just remade you. Why would I do that? Your Health went down a decent amount, but nothing that should be detrimental.”

“So that I can shock you back! It’s not fair otherwise. Or I won’t forgive you!”

“Eh, alright, fine, fair is fair.” They went through the rigmarole again, and Angie placed a hand on her shoulder, activating the Skill. That made Angelica’s whole arm jolt as it surged with pain. Yeah, that sucked indeed, but it definitely wasn’t as bad as her clone had gotten. That was undoubtedly partially due to Angie's now only mildly diminished proficiency, but mainly due to how the Skill worked. It surrounded their entire body in electricity, so if there was only one point of contact, that meant only a bit was transferred. Unlike actual lightning, it didn’t all flow to the conductive point. It was better served as a defensive Skill for someone who suddenly got handsy.

Apparently, Angie recognized that too. “Not enough, you need the full-body experience.” So Angelica found herself tackled to the floor and hit with another zap. Except, this time it was pitiful, since Sparking Shroud barely had any time to recharge. So they wrestled for a while, both waiting for their meter to recharge enough for a sufficient shock. After a good amount of back and forth zapping, they both ended up laying on the ground, exhausted, giggling to themselves, because it had turned funny at one point. 

[Malice has improved from Acceptant to Willing]

Well, maybe there had been a bit of malicious intent at the start, but it had turned into a more friendly bonding experience by the end. Clearly, the DGS did not understand such nuances. And it had also been beneficial in other ways.

[Sparking Shroud Lv.2]

[Passive Skill: Voltage Resistance Lv.1 unlocked | The damage from being shocked by electricity is reduced. This does not negatively affect the Conduit Trait. Amount reduced and recovery boost scales with Skill Level, Vigor, and Conductive Attunement]

She’d probably get a bit more in both Skills once she reabsorbed Angie, but she planned to let the girl live for a good while this time. A notable amount of Health was gone from their horseplay, but she could replenish that with food, which she undoubtedly would with what Angelica had planned for her next task.

“Hey, while I’m going to be incapacitated for a bit, I think it’d be a good idea if you experimented with Poison Chef. Do some cooking, see if you can raise it a bit, or see if it’s reproducible with Reprint. That sort of thing, whatever comes to mind.”

“Okay, yeah, I can do that.” She readily agreed. “Are you seriously going to be a frog for a whole day?”

“Yep! Well, it says it can take anywhere from three quarters of a day to a few extra hours into the next. So I’m gonna get ready.” Really, there wasn’t too much to prep. She filled Second Stomach with a good amount of food, so she wouldn’t have to worry about eating, and had her Hydration Rune that would magically stay equipped despite the form change. Her MP was doing okay—probably shouldn’t have wasted so much on Conceal—but it should last out the clock. Thanks to Muse, that drastically increased her familiarity with these animals, which also reduced MP consumption. Plus, she’d likely sleep for a good amount of it.

Just to have something to do, Angelica very quickly sketched a barebones Merlina’s Boutique chapter that she could edit in her head. Maybe she’d do a bit of Skill training, but the options were very limited, and she didn’t want to waste MP. For most of the time, she’d probably just chill, a bit literally. After filling up the bathroom sink so that Angie could use the kitchen’s, she made a colored icy lily pad in the water, cold enough that it wouldn’t melt during the venture. Might as well get some Cold Resistance experience at the same time.

After setting her phone to a calming music playlist so she wouldn’t go insane from the silence, it was frog time. She took a quick dip in the water and then hopped up onto the lily pad. Surprisingly, even after a good amount of time passed, she wasn’t really bored. The simplicity of it all was nice. She was unbothered, moisturized, happy and content to just be a frog. Maybe it could even be called flourishing. The call of the wild was tempting her more than ever before.

But after a nice frog nap, her peace was disturbed by a sudden call from an unfamiliar Summoner.

New:

Active Skill: Fluid Muse Lv.3

Active Skill: Conceal Lv.4

Active Skill: Sparking Shroud Lv.2

Conductive Attunement: Aware

Passive Skill: Voltage Resistance Lv.1

Updated:

Max MP: 2,235 > 2,373

Demon Rank: Puck Lv.22 > Lv.26

Auto-Color Lv.17 > Lv.20

Evoke Lv.28 > Lv.29

Duplicate Lv.20 > Lv.24

Parry and Riposte Lv.4 > Lv.7

Bash Lv.9 > Lv.12

Pummel Lv.4 > Lv.8

Ambidextral Mastery Lv.16 > Lv.17

Scrying Eye Lv.4 > Adaptive Scrying Eye Lv.6

Lucidity: Heightened > Keen

Detect Falsehoods Lv.3 > Lv.4

Fraud Attunement: Embraced > Intertwined

Malice: Acceptant > Willing

DEMON GROWTH SYSTEM

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

Demon Rank: Puck Lv.26 / 30 | Essence: 1,091 / 1,785 | GP: 2

Summoner Rank: Novice Lv.23 / 30 | Experience: 82%

Health: 71% | MP: 1,494 / 2,373

Worth

Might: Sharp

Vigor: Stable

Competence: Shrewd

Lucidity: Keen

Obstinance: Compromising

Beguilement: Present

Creativity: Inspiring

Malice: Willing

Attunements

Glacial: Intertwined

Famine: Embraced

Destruction: Intertwined

Fabrication: Embraced

Gnostic: Intertwined

Pestilence: Symbiotic

Fraud: Intertwined

Suffering: Embraced

Balletic: Intertwined

Inferno: Embraced

Oppression: Touched

Pedant: Touched

Pride: Touched

Egoism: Embraced

Conductive: Aware

Active Skills

Masquerading Transfiguration Lv.15 | Stab Lv.9 | Order Rejection Lv.4 | Editable Reprint Lv.6 | 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.12 | Bug Bite Lv.6 | Leech Happiness Lv.10 | Swipe Lv.16 | Malignant Bait Lv.8 | Poison Breath Lv.3 | Skewer Lv.3 | Pummel Lv.8 | Discerning Palate Lv.2 | Flash-Freeze Lv.1 | Delayed Release Lv.5 | Duplicate Lv.24 | Slash Lv.5 | Fluid Muse Lv.3 | Conceal Lv.4 | Sparking Shroud Lv.2

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.20 | Detect Falsehoods Lv.4 | Ambidextral Mastery Lv.17 (Sinful) | Fatigue Resistance Lv.7 | Puncture Resistance Lv.4 | Voltage Resistance Lv.1

Hybrid Skills

Inspiration Lv.10 | Divining Ear Lv.4 | Fluttering Bumble Lv.6 | Seeking Projectile Lv.11 | Scrutinize Lv.5 | Evoke Lv.29 | Adaptive Scrying Eye Lv.6

Combo Skills

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

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