Lilith: Origin of Succubi

<~> Chapter 77

Looking around I saw a vacant look in a lot of people's eyes. For a moment I thought that it was a look of trauma before I realized what they were actually doing. They were checking their status now that he fight was over. I stared off into space and did the same.

[Your party has coordinated to defeat a horde of Shadow Stalkers]
[Your party has defeated a Shadow Horror]
[Your party has defeated thirteen Demon Mimics]

It was interesting to see how some of the entries were grouped as 'a horde' and other entries listed specific numbers. The fact that there were thirteen mimics among the monsters killed was a bit concerning. That meant there was the possibility that some of them escaped.

[Your level has increased from level 34 to Level 38]
[Novice Magic Swordsman has increased from level 1 to level 8]

[Swordsmanship has increased from level 35 to level 37]
[Light Magic has increased from level 5 to level 9]
[Light Manipulation has increased from level 4 to level 8]

[Learned Enchantment Magic Spell Flame Imbue]
[Learned Light Magic Spell Light Burst]
[Learned Enhancement Magic Spell Blade Waltz]
[Learned Enhancement Magic Spell Focused Perception]

[You have acquired the title Demon Hunter]

Lots of levels, I was especially happy to get a few levels in my new magic swordsman class. Lets what these new spells do.

[Flame Imbue - Enchantment Magic Spell]
Imbue a weapon or object with fire magic making it apply fire damage when it hits enemies. The strength of the enchantment is increased by Magic Force and the duration of the enchantment is increased by Magic Control. Larger weapons and objects takes a proportionally larger amount of magic to enchant. Flame Imbue can be applied to others' weapons but the wielder of the weapon determines who is considered an enemy for the purposes of this spell. The effects of objects imbued with fire vary.

This looks like a really useful spell. It would make my melee attacks more powerful based on my Magic Force. It sounds like I could also do things like imbue Torien's arrows with fire if I wanted as well. I'll have to test this spell out later and see what different things it can do. I assume I got this spell when my [Novice Magic Swordsman] class leveled up but it's pretty interesting that I got an enchantment spell even though the class doesn't say anything about that.

[Light Burst - Light Magic Spell]
Create a large burst of light in an area. It can be targeted at an enemy or object, or cast off yourself. Brightness and damage is affected by Magic Force. Color, intensity, and number of pulses is affected by Magic Control. Light Burst can only directly damage dark and shadow aligned enemies.

This might have been useful when I was actually fighting those shadow type enemies earlier. Actually, this has similar wording to [Light Orb] so I probably could have used that spell in that fight too. Well... I was probably better off doing what I did anyway. Using magic and a sword would probably be better but I did use that enhancement spell I got mid fight. Lets read that one next...

[Blade Waltz - Enhancement Magic Spell]
This spell temporarily imbues your body with magic that improves your speed, finesse, and swordsmanship skill while wielding a sword. This spell reserves a portion of your mana and drains your mana as upkeep as long as it stays in effect. A larger portion of your mana can be reserved for stronger effects up to a cap.

This is the definitely the spell that I used mid fight. I didn't bother reading the spell before using it but I can clearly remember how it felt when I cast it. It didn't seem to be a very large drain on my mana to keep it up and I didn't even notice the mana reserve at the time. I wonder if that means I'll be able to pump up its effects even further later.

[Focused Perception - Enhancement Magic Spell]
This spell temporarily imbues your body with magic that improves your sight, nightvision, hearing, and sense of smell. This spell reserves a portion of your mana and drains your mana as upkeep as long as it stays in effect. A larger portion of your mana can be reserved for stronger effects up to a cap.

This one is worded very similarly. While this one is less useful in battle it's probably much more useful outside of battle. Rather than speculate I just cast it right away at its default improvement. My senses instantly sharpened, all of my senses became much more acute all at once. I could suddenly see much more at a much higher clarity. But while my senses were improved, my ability to actually distinguish them hasn't gotten any better. I didn't have any issues with sight, it was the most straightforward of the senses but hearing and smelling were just a jumble of information I couldn't sort through at all yet. The sounds all overlapped and became muddled, the smells became stronger and more distinguishable but it was hard to recognize any of them at their new intensity.

After a moment I noticed Tarklin was waving at me, he was speaking but there was so much noise that I couldn't actually isolate what he was saying. I released the spell and instantly a pressure that I didn't realize I was feeling left my head all at once, causing me to feel a bit lightheaded.

Morrigan placed her hand on my shoulder. "Lilith? Are you alright? You looked like you were in pain all of a sudden."

I rubbed my eyes, everything looked kind of blurry now but I was pretty sure it was just the stark difference to when the spell was up. "Yeah, everything is fine. I just cast a new spell I got that heightened my senses and I wasn't used to it. Did I really look that bad? I didn't even notice it until I turned the spell off."

Tarklin was the one that answered me. "Yes, spells that enhance senses are a bit more complicated than some other ones. They're a bit rare and are both powerful and versatile but they take a lot more practice to master than most other spells. They're predominantly given to scout classes but your version would probably be a caster variant of it. A lot more brute force than the scout version but since you can use Magic Control on it, it is also more adjustable. It would be a terrible spell without that though, since its default state is just all of your senses cranked up with no filter."

"You seem to know a lot about this," I said. "How could you even tell all that?"

He smirked. "I have magic sight too, it's not hard to tell. I've been around the block for a while and traveled with many different adventurers. You're not the first one I've seen suddenly get that classic look of suddenly getting a hangover right after a battle." He laughed at me but I could tell it was meant to be lighthearted.

I shooed him away. "Yeah yeah, I'll have to turn it down a little next time I try it. I got a headache so fast I didn't even realize it. Now leave me alone, I'm still looking over my status."

"Sure," he said with a laugh. Morrigan smiled at me and squeezed my knee and Torien went back to eating. ...how many bowls has she had? Ehh... not important.

Lets see what this title is now.

[You have acquired the title Demon Hunter]
[Demon Hunter - Rare Title]
The bearer of this title has hunted down and killed hundreds of demons alone or in a party. Whether this was done over the course of a lifetime or in a single night matters not. The bearer of this title will forever be infused with the mana of the demons they've hunted, strengthening them for their future hunts. The title bearer will now be able to sense the traces of miasma that collect and follow demonkind and their magic will be empowered against them. Do not become what you seek to destroy.

This title is much more ominous than the previous I've received. It also really puts into perspective just how many demons everyone killed tonight. In a way I am surprised I didn't level more than I did but I suppose I did level a lot considering the vast numbers of people who participated in enclosing the dungeon. I wonder if the church adherents already had this title. Could they have been suspicious of me from the very beginning because I used to be a demon and they weren't sure what to make of what this title was telling them?

Lets put those thoughts aside for now. There are just too many things I don't know and right now I need to focus on making the best choices I can. I looked over my stats. I received 4 primary levels so I have another 40 points to distribute. My class went up to level 8 all in one go and gave me a free 40 points of Magic Force from its class bonus. Assuming I stay on this class for a while I'm probably better off putting my points into magic control. Though my Strength is starting to fall behind some of my other heavily used stats so maybe I should split the points between them...

Yeah since I'm getting a bunch of free Magic Force, and I can get a lot of free Finesse from that new enhancement spell I got, Strength and Magic Control is where I need the most stats since I don't have another source for them right now. I'll put 20 points into each bringing them both up to 70. With that lets look over the status sheet as a whole.

[Status]
Name: Lilith [Surname Undefined]
Race: Succubus [Race Hidden - Displayed as Beastkin (Sheep)]
Gender: Female
Class: [Novice Magic Swordsman] Lv. 8
Level: 38

Stat Spread:
Strength: 70
Vitality: 100
Charisma: 10 (179)
Luck: 20 (189)
Finesse: 50
Magic Control: 70
Magic Force: 80 (120)
Speed: 50 (70)
Endurance: 10

Karmic Energy: 1690

Unallocated Stat points: 0

Available Classes:
Black Cat Lv. 10
Seductress Lv. 1
Novice Prostitute Lv.2
Novice Merchant Lv. 7
Novice Light Mage Lv. 5
Novice Illusion Mage Lv. 1
Novice Swordsman Lv. 1
Apprentice Swordsman Lv. 1
Intermediate Swordsman Lv. 1
Novice Magic Swordsman Lv. 8

Skills:
Haggling Lv. 15
Swordsmanship Lv. 37
Illusion Magic Lv. 3
Light Magic Lv. 9
Light Manipulation Lv. 8
Uuna Riding Lv. 13
Linguistics Lv. 10
Ritual Magic Lv. 10
Drawing Lv. 11
Mana Sense Lv. 4
Luck Magic Lv. 1

Class Abilities
Merchant Skill - Calculations
Prostitute Passive - Resist Disease
Prostitute Passive - Magic Fingers

Special Passives:
Special drop rate up
Sightspeak
Double Down

Innate Abilities:
Karmic Balance
Karma Awareness
Karmic Resonance
Karmic Retribution
Dominating Authority
Karmic Hypnotism
Soultouched Connection Lv. 3
Induce Arousal

Racial Traits:
Infernal Heat Resistance
Infernal Cold Resistance
Darksight
Sexual Appetite Lv. 5
Soultouch
Succubus Shifting
Soulbound Companions
Lubricating Saliva
Pleasure Sense

Titles:
[World Traveler - Hidden Title]
[Origin of Succubi - Hidden Title]
[Dungeon Destroyer]
[First Explorer]
[Early Intervention]
[Demon Hunter]

Spells:
Light Magic:
[Light Orb]
[Fireflies]
[Light Beam]
[Light Signal]
[Light Scribing]
[Light Burst]

Illusion Magic:
[Zone of Silence]

Luck Magic:
[Melee Hex]
[Coin Flip]
[Die Nudge]
[Blackjack]

Enchantment Magic:
[Flame Imbue]
[Blade Waltz]
[Focused Perception]

All in all I think I made a lot of progress tonight. We got involved when we probably didn't need to but it probably went at least some of the way in getting the crazy church people off our back and we got some levels to boot. While the fighting was exhausting and we killed an endless number of the demons, the situation didn't feel nearly as dangerous as when we were in the dungeon.

I looked over and saw that Morrigan had fallen asleep leaning on me. I must have been looking at my status for a while. Torien had finished eating and had her head down on the table. Looking at her I was honestly a little worried about the table supporting her weight, it was a bit flimsier than I would trust laying my head down on.

"They've been asleep for ten minutes now. You must have been thinking hard about whatever you got from that fight last night."

I shrugged. "I got a decent number of levels and gained some spells from it. Had a lot to read through." I looked at Morrigan leaning against my side. "It's been a long night. I don't really want to wake them but we should probably head back to town as soon as possible to give the guild master the news. I'm not sure where the Tamin Church people went but surely they believe us that demons were in that dungeon now."

"It would be hard not to considering everyone here probably got the [Demon Hunter] title last night, including you. Now that I have it too I'm not surprised they were interested in you."

The hairs on the back of my neck went up. "What do you mean?"

He put his hands up placatingly. "I didn't mean anything by it, it's just that you have the miasma of demons clinging to you. I can see it clear as day now. It's more than would be normal if you only fought them. I don't need you to tell me your story to know you're no friend of demons though. I watched you cut them down all night next to me after volunteering to do so. I'm just giving you a warning. The Tamin church were probably interested in you because they have a demon hunter in town and could see the miasma clinging to you. This whole thing was probably just a façade to get you alone and interrogate you, just like the guild master feared in the first place. I would be surprised if this fiasco didn't reorganize their priorities a bit though. I doubt you're off their list entirely but watching you slaughter demons last night probably made you look more like an independent demon hunter than a cultist to them."

"...what do you think?" I asked.

He shrugged and smiled. "I don't know what to think. You don't strike me as the demon hunter type. I've met some of them, they're... not all there. The kinds of people who are in that deep aren't the types to secretly flirt with each other all the time."

My jaw dropped, I was about to say something but he quickly put up his hand.

"No need to say anything. I doubt they noticed and I'm a follower of Morkinnen, no need to worry about me standing in your way. I would be open to joining you and your harem for a night when we get back to town though if everyone would be open to that. I've quite grown to like you and your group."

I was left speechless. I truly had no idea how to respond.