The round vegetables the shopkeeper had been holding hit the ground, making a soft thud. Deciding to freeze, are you? Some predators might be fooled, but I’m not ‘some predators’.

Yes, you.

“W-who… what do you want?” they reply, while slowly beginning to turn toward me.

Just saying hello. Also, please don’t scream.

Which, gets me nowhere when they finally see my hazy cloud self and scream while throwing everything else they were holding sky high and frantically back up a few paces.

Isn’t that going to damage your produce? I ask, as I materialize a feeler and catch a vegetable out of the air. It seemed like it must have taken some work to bring it here from topside, it’d be a shame if it went to waste.

And, they don’t reply, and shake uncontrollably instead.

I’m not going to eat you. I know, I’m very scary. But, I have this thing, a trait called mana thirst, right? It says I have to feed on mana-bearing lifeforms. But I thought, I can probably do that without killing people, right? I mean yeah, I’ve killed for it before, but. It just seems unnecessary, doesn’t it?

“You… you’re, very talkative for a wraith,” they reply with a nervous chuckle.

I suppose I am, aren’t I? I’m not aware of most wraiths being, well, aware. I don’t think I was always a wraith, though? My Status says I’m a Manaphage though.

“Yes, yes, that’s a wraith. Wait, Status? You’re an ascendant?”

Yep! I’m one of the lucky ones I suppose. Or, maybe unlucky. Either way.

We stand in silence for a moment, until the shopkeeper works up some courage. “So, ah. If you’re not going to attack me… what did you want?”

Well, I guess I mostly just wanted to try talking to someone. Well other than my System Assistant, she’s kind of a jerk-

(Hey!) Nyx interjects.

-but I guess I would be too if I got forced in a wraith’s head against my will. Anyway, my name is Nemesis, what’s yours?

“…Nerin.”

Nice to meet you, Nerin. So, you’re a shopkeeper, yeah? Does this town run on currency or barter?

“Yes, I run this stand here. Kind of both, some folk have hard coin, others don’t and we make do with what we have.”

Does this town have a name? I don’t remember seeing a sign on the way in.

“No, no name. Settlements with names can be magically tracked.”

Aha, I see! So this is a secret place I take it.

“Yes. How did you get in here anyway? The ward should block hostile mana – ha, not that I think you’re hostile!” they say with a forced laugh.

Easy, I followed you in. The door was a tricky one, but I just had to phase through the wall next to it, that part isn’t shielded.

“Oh… gods…”

Yeah, it’s not really all that secure if your invaders can reason. Anyway, I’m looking for a meal, something more appetizing than the giant rats outside. I should be able to drain someone of just part of their vitality without killing them, probably, so I’m looking to make arrangements. There has to be something I can offer in trade.

A look of fear washes across Nerin’s face as they take in my meaning. “Y-you don’t mean me!?”

I mean. It could be you, or anyone else. I’d rather it was voluntary. Or punitive! I don’t know how much trouble this community has with crime or I don’t know, bandits? I could offer a service while sating my hunger!

“I have to admit, the idea of a non-hostile wraith trying to barter for lifeforce is rather strange. I’m still struggling with the concept.”

Fair enough. Hey, there’s a question. What do I look like to you?

“You look like a cloud of ash, with two red eyes.”

Oho! That’s good to know. I never noticed having eyes in reflections. See? I’m learning things! Definitely better than just eating them back in the sewer.

Nyx sighs. (You took a huge risk. Why didn’t you think to ask me?)

Because you asked me to stop asking you things.

For a moment she looks like she’s going to scream, then pauses and lets out the biggest sigh I’ve seen her let out yet and hangs her arms limp.

So uhhh. Is there a village elder or chief or something?

“No, nothing like that. This is an autonomous collective,” Nerin replies.

Hey, I have an idea. I’m going to try something. This might make it easier to talk. I float a short distance back, and activate Mimic Lure. Somehow I can tell that using it without specifying an object will mimic a default humanoid of some kind.

[Mimic Lure reached Level 1!]

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

As it starts to form, Nyx speaks up. (The default should be a simulacrum of whatever the user most identifies with, usually appearing like a wraith’s form in life – wait, it looks like me. Why does it look like me?)

It doesn’t look like you, Nyx. You look like you. This looks like… someone else.

(No, you idiot. ‘I’ look like whatever you think I look like. My body is what you perceive me to have, remember? But that. That, looks like me.)

Oh. Now that I think of it, you’ve always kind of been a hazy half-person cloud thing…

(Well. Now that you know I look like that, can you perceive me looking that way?)

Probably? So I focus on that, and sure enough, she melts and morphs to look like my lure. I puppet it to turn toward her, and for a moment I’m treated to two Nyx’s looking at each other, one irritated and one blank. All while Nerin watches on confused.

(It still doesn’t make sense why it looks like me. Maybe it’s because you didn’t have an identity, and latched on to mine?)

No idea, ANYWAY!

So yeah, this is a skill that’s meant to lure prey, but I can probably use it to communicate. Is this less awkward? I ask Nerin, as my puppet smiles awkwardly and waves.

Looking no less confused, Nerin says, “I suppose so? Although… Hmm. I can still see a cloud of ash with eyes behind it, I’m fairly certain that will still make people nervous…”

That gives me an idea. I try compressing my body into a smaller area, which I struggle with at first until I feel something pop within myself and I’m suddenly a small floating rock.

[Corporeal Form reached Level 1!]

Interesting. I’m still floating… So I drift forward and affix myself to my lure’s chest, like a brooch.

Is this better?

“You at least don’t look like a wraith now… though you still seem to be radiating some kind of malevolence.”

Ah, that would probably be the title. Before you ask, you don’t want to know.

Nerin thoughtfully nods, and then has a look of realization. “Wait, do the things you feed on need to be sentient?”

Nope, not that I’m aware of. Just needs mana content.

“Then, what about a ghost trap?”

That has my attention. You’re not going to try to trap me, are you?

“Well, it would, if you couldn’t phase. See, the tech only works on very low leveled specters, and if they have a phasing skill they tend to just pop right back out. So I’m pretty confident you would be fine, if you were able to bypass the entry wards.”

Disbelief is gradually coloring Nyx’s face more and more. Hers, not my lure’s. I puppet making a thoughtful expression, complete with a hand on my chin. I suppose we could give it a try. As long as you promise to turn it off if I don’t come right back out, ok?

(Oh you trusting idiot. We’re going to die,) Nyx mourns.

“Sure, over here.” Nerin leads me away from their stand, through a number of alleyways toward the edge of the settlement.

Don’t you need to watch your stand?

“See that’s the nice thing, the others will watch my goods for me. Same way I’d watch theirs.”

I choose not to comment on how they had been the only shopkeeper at a stand, the square had looked mostly deserted. As we wander on, we eventually get to a runic device set partway into the ground. It resembles a donut with a number of flat square panels around the edges, one of which looks like a control panel covered in runic symbols. I recognize the ones for containment from the barrier I destroyed in the facility.

“Good, it’s already got a few wraiths in it. They should be drained and subdued by the device already and shouldn’t put up much of a fight.”

That works. Remember, if I don’t come out after a pretty short time, I want you to let me out. I can probably break it myself, since I’ve broken barrier devices like this before, but the result is pretty devastating and I’d rather not. Plus it hurts like the hells!

“Alright. I’ll wait here… mister friendly ghost.”

I’m not a mister, I’m… I don’t know what I am. But I’m not a mister.

“Alright,” Nerin says with a small smile of understanding.

I let my lure dissipate and release my corporeal form, scattering back into my cloud form, and drift in the direction of the trap. As I come within a few feet of it I feel a strong pulling sensation, and while I’m confident I could resist it, I choose not to, and the next thing I know I’m pulled into what feels like an interstitial space. I’ve only been there a moment before I sense a number of mana sources around me, and that they seem to be scattering, moving as far away from me as they can.

(Are you surprised?) Nyx asks, standing on nothing next to me. (First, you’re obviously a higher form than them with a System or equivalent, plus you’re radiating hostility toward life and creation. The title, remember?)

Oh. I hadn’t thought of that.

(It’s like I told you. Anything that identifies you will recognize you as unique and hostile to the Record. It seems even lifeforms like these lesser wraiths recognize that hostility. Even that shopkeeper noticed it, your aura of malevolence or whatever.)

I chew on that thought, while I think about chewing on these lesser wraiths – I can tell from a glance that they don’t individually have anywhere near the amount of delicious vitality as Nerin did, but I kind of expected that. These poor things aren’t even aware.

(Not that you know of.)

Fine, I’ll check. Are any of you aware?

They do not reply. I’ll take that as a no, dinner time! I drift closer to the nearest one, and hit it with Consume. At first I feel resistance to the skill, as if something is suppressing it –

(Ghost trap. They suppress skills and other abilities so the critters trapped can’t break out.)

– and then I push through it, wrapping around the terrified lesser wraith and drawing it in before I devour it. It tastes like dust, and faintly of rot and mildew.

[Manaphage (Lesser) slain, 50 Experience has been awarded!]

I can feel what little vitality it had coursing through me as it dissolves into nothing inside me, certainly not enough to sate me but it’s a start. I eye the smorgasbord around me and continue my hunt.

***

[Manaphage (Lesser) slain, 50 Experience has been awarded!]

[Consume reached Level 2!]

[Mana Thirst has been temporarily sated.]

Phew. Finally done.

[User has earned enough Experience for a Level Increase!]

What?

[Begin Level Increase Process? Y/N]

Uh.

(Absolutely not!) Nyx shouts in my proverbial ear.

Why not?

(This isn’t a safe place, idiot! Levelups can leave you vulnerable in the process.)

Oh. That’s a good reason.

Anyway, I guess we’re done in here. So I wait for a moment thinking that Nerin will probably let me out if I just wait, but nothing happens. So I try phasing, and again I feel the skill resist. I press my will against it further, until the point that I feel like I’m forcing it, and suddenly I’m floating above the trap again, feeling that pull. I drift away from it to find the shopkeeper startled.

[Partial Phase reached Level 1!]

Why are you so surprised? Weren’t you going to let me out?

“But you just went in.”

(The trap probably implements time dilation, that way those inside it wear themselves out faster,) Nyx explains.

I guess that makes sense. Well, at least I got a good meal out of it. I resummon my Nyx-lure and pop back onto its chest.

My Assistant suggested the trap uses time dilation to tire out its contents faster. Don’t worry, I’m not angry. Nerin visibly relaxes. You were right though, getting back out was no trouble. Also, the trap’s empty now. You’re welcome. I puppet patting my stomach in a satisfied manner.

“If this is a service you can provide, I have a feeling you won’t have trouble making arrangements with the community here. You’ll still stand out, considering telepathy is rare, and how you look… like that.”

Like what?

“Like that, uhh. That strange black and white and shades of gray look? You don’t look real.”

Oh, huh. I can probably still work with it though. It’ll be fiiiine. Anyway, you wouldn’t happen to have a safe place I can level up, would you?