I can't believe I forgot how great it felt to be useful!

Valkner had a smug, pleased grin on his face whilst healing a small bruise on Tuscetta's arm. Even though he knew the Gaustein dungeon like the back of his hand, the demon hadn't considered how many monsters there would be. So far, they had claimed about ten mystery bugs and fought far more; although they hadn't run into or seen signs from the bolettes in the dungeon so far, they likely had gained a lot of experience for Tuscetta's [Shield] and Jigalta's [Acidic Body]. Nothing had given him an opportunity to ask about [Masochistic] but the goo girl wasn't anywhere near as troubled as them. Mystery Bugs dealt blunt damage but most physical damage was greatly nullified by her body, which meant she could literally hug the bugs to death.

The half-orc tugged her sleeve back over her muscular arm and retrieved her club from the floor beside her, standing up and looking down at Valkner. "Are you still getting experience, Master?"

"Yeah," Val answered, though he averted his gaze and waved her toward the hall. "Just... keep moving, though. My experience gain isn't important right now, is it?"

The woman frowned but ultimately nodded. "I suppose so."

Tuscetta turned, softly thunking her club against her helmet as if to psyche herself up. Jigalta giggled and stepped out, walking with the giant of a woman whilst still digesting one of the bugs within her exposed stomach.

All of the joy in being useful, however, was more of a way to excuse the fact his experience gain compared to them. Their experiences and styles backed up the idea that they were close to leveling up, but in his case leveling up was much harder. It was the uncontested reality that mages had a terrible, awful time trying to acquire experience for two reasons: skill spread and non-direct experience gain.

Skill spread was the one that may have been obvious to non-mages, as even they could experience it. When a warrior acquires the compound skill [Armor Layering], it's often from having all three forms of armor-related base skills; [Light], [Medium], and [Heavy Armor]. Although it can sometimes be tempting to immediately use Armor Layering to gain maximum defense, wearing multiple types of armor all at the same time rather than one leads to slowing the growth of all three. Similarly, using [Heal] requires [Basic Casting], [Mana Manipulation], and [Magic School: Light]. While he can't improve it as it's only a Spell, anytime he used it he would split its experience value across all three of its requirements.

However, more unique is the factor of non-direct experience gain. Not to be confused with gaining experience through a party — which is reduced roughly fifty-percent without skills related to party leadership — non-direct experience gain is related to the actual use of a spell for effect. Using the spell [Fireball] to light a campfire, using a sword to cut fruit, or wearing armor outside of battle can generate experience but it's drastically far lower than using them for battle or dangerous situations. Healing a minor bruise or two generated some experience, but compared to the act of striking bugs down with a weapon or devouring them it was drastically lower.

Currently, Valkner's experience gain was the lowest of the entire party.

"That bitch of a goddess," he grumbled. "I bet she's laughing at me, now that I'm stuck using her magic and can barely even grow..."

Unlike the others, the restrictions on his skills had also worried him; assuming he did increase them enough, there was no guarantee his skills could still undergo Evolution or unlock Compound skills like they naturally would. The restrictions on learning skills, after all, had seen him completely master [Disguise] yet he hadn't unlocked or acquired any derivatives. Val knew, though, that part of the reason for that is [Disguise] may have been a baseline skill for AGI-focused class evolution; currently, his class was one he hadn't even realized was possible.

"I see it!"

Jigalta's excitement brought the disguised man's attention back to the present, hastily moving up and barging between the two. It had been ages since he paid his throne a visit, yet that had been a sorrowful, hopeless encounter that he didn't want to even bother thinking about. Today, he had hope! Today, he-

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-lost everything...

Valkner kneeled before his throne, feeling the weight of his body burning and staring half-brokenly ahead at the high-backed seat. The Sorcerer King held his staff high, its crystal orb radiating such a great light behind him that it cast his family's ancient throne in a purple hue. Kaden Shrive walked past him, the elven cloak hiding everything but his toothy smirk in the shadow of that same light.

"Look," he chided. "Don't feel bad; it's okay that you begged for your life. With all of that power, the humans and our gods will prosper and grant us blessings. Since you're going to be a beggar in them, you should be grateful!"

The heavy clunk of iron passing on his right made Valkner's empty gaze shift, looking at the back of Armored Titania. She pulled her javelin free from the wall, leaving a deep gash in its surface. She was the tallest of the heroes and her massive steel suit was mixed with various furs from the far north.

"Leave it alone, Shrive." Her voice was cold, rugged from the blade his father had used nearly taking her voice years ago. "That thing had no honor and treating it like a person is foolish."

Titania paced over to the throne, looking at the broken demon from behind her blue-and-white closed helm; although her face was largely hidden, the light illuminated the woman's vicious red eyes.

"Watch."

She turned, setting her javelin down beside the throne before reaching to her sword. Valkner looked up at the woman's back, feeling his broken spirit crushed even further as her blade swung...

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Valkner walked into the large, ceremonial throne room and faced his once-proud seat, feeling that old sensation nag him despite his new reason for being here.

The Gaustein Throne's back had been cut horizontally, leaving part of it collapsed at its side. The seat itself had been cut down the middle, overgrown with cobwebs and collapsed into itself.

All of the interior was ridden with ruin and ransacking; none of their alliance banners remained, various seating and statues now had been cobbled into ruinous nests for the local bugs, and many of its walls lay cracked. Compared to the rest of the dungeon that had so far healed, the heart of it had never been able to truly recover. Perhaps it had been due to the loss of the true Demon King and the lack of an heir, Val hadn't ever truly found an explanation.

Tuscetta entered solemnly, coming close to set her hand on the previously excited demon's shoulder.

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"Are you... okay?"

Jigalta giggled her way in, unable to read the atmosphere. Tuscetta turned and seemed ready to scold her, but Valkner set his hand on hers, turning to meet the orc's helmeted gaze. All of the anguish from back then had to be pushed aside; he smirked, nodding.

"Don't worry," Valkner said. "I'll be fine. After all, we came here to capture you a Bolette Runt, right?"

Tuscetta withdrew her hand and nodded, looking around whilst Valkner turned to face the throne.

"Back during the infestation, we hadn't realized a lot about them but the bolette who come here were often young ones. The orcs who were able to bond considered it to be some sort of phenomenon where they were trying to pay tribute to the Demon King's lineage; a chance for various demons to try their hand at ensnaring the young as familiars or to a cage for transport to human lands."

The slime girl finally slowed her exploration down, looking over at the pair from one of the Mystery Bug nests. The curious grin dimmed when she looked at Val. "So... um... how do we draw them out if they are here?"

"... Step one is simple."

Val pointed at the nest beside her. "We need to crush these mystery bug nests and the eggs inside them."

Both of the girls looked at him but if he had any interest in joking before arriving, it was gone by now. The demon made his way over to one of the nests wedged in a pile of statue limbs, taking one of the large pieces of rubble nearby and dropping it right into the center. Everyone in the room immediately flinched, blasted by the smell of the squished eggs as it wafted out from beneath the stone. Valkner was thankful that this wasn't the first time he crushed mystery bug eggs; back when he was a lot younger, he tripped into a nest and stunk for almost an entire month.

"T-The more eggs we break, th-the more likely they come out! Worst case, w-w-w-hrk... g-get some on us! Best case, it's gonna lure in the bolettes! S-So get breaking!"

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Time until Darkenth Festival Bonus

1 days, 12 hours

They'd taken time getting to the throne room but the sheer abundance of infestation within the throneroom was impressively appalling. Even with three of them, they had been crushing nests and doing so slowly to prevent getting any on them; the only downside was that the number of nests and the mess of egg-juice spilling out everywhere made navigating harder with every time. Jigalta theoretically could use her acidic properties to clear paths but no one wanted to risk it somehow sticking to her. Not to mention that one whole corner of the throne room's floor had turned out to be a false floor guarding a far larger nest.

Mystery Bug slain; applying experience modifiers...

Updated Party Statistics

Jigalta

Level increased from 5 to 6. Valkner Gaustein

Level increased from 2 to 3. Tuscetta Horce

Level remains at 7. [Acidic Body] proficiency rose from 1 to 2.

Skills remain unchanged.

[Heavy Armor] proficiency rose from 3 to 4.

[Club] proficiency rose from 1 to 2.

Jigalta had let her disguise fall and openly sat digesting one of the dead bugs, sighing as she looked around the green juices covering most of the room.

"I'm glad I don't smell things normally," she quipped. "Sometimes being half slime is really cool..."

Valkner and Tuscetta weren't so lucky; he had borrowed taken his shirt off and wrapped it tight around his neck to make a facemask while the orc had torn some of her shirt loose to properly cover her nose.

"I thought this would be easy," Val muttered, looking around the room with disgusted eyes. "We've already been down here too long crushing nests. At the rate things are going, how are we going to get back and open the inn up?"

Tuscetta beat her club down atop a rock, crushing another nest with a satisfied chuckle. "At this point, I'm just getting into my groove... we should keep fighting."

"Fighting?" Jigalta looked over, frowning and putting her hands on her blue stomach as the last of the bug melted away. "I think it's more about eating, isn't it?"

Val felt a bit jealous with the two of them so confident; Jigalta could keep going as long as she had food, converting each and every kill into more mass to replace any that burned to generate more energy. Oppositely, Tuscetta's [Regeneration] let her steadily fight longer and longer. Although her Endurance wasn't fantastic, it was a skill that scaled the stronger and longer orcs fought. Both of their racial benefits were like cheats at this low of a power scale and it truly showcased the superiority of their demon blood compared to any of the insects.

If I ever get mine back, I swear...

The room's silence post-slaughter, however, ended; the walls around them rumbled, bringing all three of them to the ready. Tuscetta stepped in close while Jigalta slipped half behind him, leaving Valkner wedged between the big and big-chested women.

Tuscetta looked about, trying to track the rumbling. "Is that-"

"Yes." Val raised both of his hands and started collecting his mana. "If we end up fighting, you may need to use [Berserk]; my mana is running low as-is."

The slime mumbled, keeping her eyes on the wall.

"There's something in the walls; only one of them, I think. It must be strong... able to hit me harder than these bugs, right?"

Val looked at the girl, wanting to question on how she'd even know... but instead was left staring breathlessly at Jigalta. The girl's normal happy demeanor had been absent ever since the other night, but now she had a far larger smile than he'd ever seen on the goo-skeleton gal's face whether disguised or not. Her body glistened with slime sweat, each drip stinging and burning at the floor when it slipped free. Val wanted to reach over and grab her, but doing that would only hurt him; Jigalta's skeleton was grinning, smoking and bubbling within her body's gelatinous skin.

"Jigalta, your skeleton is-"

"There!" Tuscetta yelled.

Neither of them was going to get a chance to talk; the innkeeper turned his head and saw the flash of three rows of teeth crunch down, stopped mere inches from him by the orc's iron club. Tuscetta swung and flung the creature, sending it flying off toward the wall it had just burst clear from. Jigalta giggled and charged forward, knife in hand and not even slightly shaken. She swung at the creature, yet without a proper skill it was obvious how underclass she was; the knife broke off its head and it hastily bodyslammed her away and onto the ground at their feet. His orc servant raised the club again, looking at the bite-shaped dent in the weapon before summoning her bound shield.

"That's a bolette!?"

Valkner nodded but said nothing at first, focusing on casting [Heal] on Jigalta. The slime girl staggered to her feet clearly wounded, yet she didn't seem dissuaded at all from her masochistic grin. As the magic dimmed and his spell ended, Val confirmingly nodded.

"That's definitely a bolette... and it's a runt."

A bolette runt stood about four feet tall and weighed several hundred pounds; it looked like a furless demonic hound bearing skeletal plates on its head, back, and legs. At the end of its legs were powerful hand-like paws, perfect for crushing and pushing rock aside when burrowing. The main difference between it and hounds, however, was the large shark-like fin that ran between its head plate, another on its back, and the finned tail. Its rows of teeth and those fins were for combat and crushing through its often hardened, subterranean prey. Once dwarves found out how to domesticate and raise some of them, most people accepted the human-made term that followed.

"Land shark." Tuscetta raised the shield higher, stepping forward and bumping Jigalta backward with her club. "Master, I am ready; teach me!"

Although the slime's disappointed groan filled the throne room, she slowly stopped her sizzling display and Valkner calmed down. This was what they had come for. Even if it had been a few hours, refreshing all these bad memories... if they succeeded here, the potential for Tuscetta to grow would exponentially increase.

"Follow my instructions," Gaustein shouted through his shirt, raising his hands. "I'll heal you as much as it takes. As long as you don't let it bite you, your armor will endure anything it can throw at you!"

After all this time, old man, I'll make sure your daughter shows the world that the orcs can't be underestimated. And that I can't be underestimated, either!