Chapter 25 - Perks of being a [Demon Lord]

-and instances of missing members of the Children of the Flame coincide near-directly with the warnings from System of the [Demon Lord’s] rituals.

Follow-up investigations showed that all members were returned but had sworn oaths not to speak of what had occurred. However, we also uncovered that every member taken by the [Demon Lord] was returned with the mark of the [Demon Lord’s] faction.

We can only speculate on the horrors that must have taken place.

* Excerpt from a Hero’s Shadow Report

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“I-I’m ready,” the cultist stated as he closed his eyes in terror.

“Well that’s good,” I replied. “Because I’m already done.” I unstrapped him from the table. “Feel anything different?”

“N-no? M-my lord?” he stuttered out.

“Hmm, maybe that’s because there are no actual changes yet,” I murmured. “Anyway, you already joined my faction, so now I need you to come over to the obelisk and let me know what you see when you’re looking for upgrades-“

The cultist got up, and we walked up the steps to the obelisk behind my throne.

The dungeon appeared to have recovered nicely from the explosion I had detonated to try to kill Thomas. Only the slightest bit of scarring showed in the walls at the front of the throne room.

As for why I was in the throne room and not my island… well, Mishael and Thomas showing up randomly at my island showed it was a lot less secure than I thought it should be, at least when it came to making it so I didn’t have any dramatic showdowns. Since I wanted to save all of my island defenses for the final showdown that I was still refining in my head, I decided I would use the throne room since it was also far out of the way and I could skedaddle before the [Hero] could make it all the way there.

I gestured to the cultist, and he put his hand on the obelisk and said, “Upgrade.”

I pulled out some paper and began making notes on the entire procedure as the cultist stammered through the menus.

Trial run of [[View Class]] and [[Edit Class]]. I thought as I wrote the same. Cost seems to be an order of magnitude lower than for [[View Character]] and [[Edit Character]]. Perhaps due to classes being simpler or due to the fact that a Character also has class information nested inside it?

The cultist got to the perks and tried to explain what he was seeing, but his explanation was incomprehensible. I gave up on his second try and just handed him the pen and paper.

Functions also seem to cause less discomfort. I continued taking the notes mentally. Subject seemed unaware that I was editing his class beyond the required verbal component.

The cultist gave the perk menu an odd look and then scribbled out what it showed. I took the paper when he was finished.

The perk I had tried to edit, and two next to it, were now listed as variations of &^&#*$*(&, if I could guess the cultist’s handwriting. Either way, I knew what that meant.

Trial run is a failure. Perk appears to be corrupted, and target zone was too large. I wrote out the remaining findings.

“Now, try to pay the price to remove that perk,” I told him.

He paused for a moment, and then his eyes widened. “Th-th-the red t-text,” he stammered.

“And what does it say?”

“Error, could not remove perk. Perk points refunded,” he replied stiffly.

“Thank you for your assistance,” I stated as I quickly noted his reply underneath the other scribbles. “Go wait over there with the others and send the next volunteer over.”

The end goal of all this was to make some changes to my perks. Specifically, most negative perks allowed someone to spend perk points to eliminate them. Case in point was Garrett, who used his first perk points to be able to put a shirt on... much to Sam’s dismay.

Not the time to remember that. I thought, shaking my head and trying to remove that particular bit of melancholy.

Either way, the primary goal was to remove [Decreased Skill Experience Gain (ALL)]. I figured that removal was worth just about any amount of mana I needed to throw at it since the only real hurdle I had left was magic skill levels.

The secondary goal was the removal of [Healing Inversion]. From a pure power standpoint, that was probably more important. A [Demon Lord] who could chug healing potions sounded pretty terrifying. However, the ironic thing was that after all the times when they would have been the most amazing upgrade ever... I didn’t think I needed it to complete my goals. My armor made it so most things couldn’t hurt me, and Herobane filled the role of in-combat healing.

As for the other perks, removing [Heavily Decreased Class Experience Gain] would be useless because I already hit level 25. I had made a quick trip to the infernal dire snails to hit level 18, then took a trip under the sea to fight another leviathan.

… I was glad that no merfolk were around when I took on that fight since I still only had one guaranteed way of dealing with them. Being [Demon Lord] bait was still not a good look.

Speaking of fighting the leviathan and the snails, that would have taken ages without [Monster Magnet], so there was no way I’d remove that perk. With [Disrupt] to turn it off, it was more of a positive than anything.

That meant I had two perks I wanted to get rid of that had a total cost of 30... and almost 60 stored perk points.

I’ll have to see about creating my own perk. Or maybe transferring a perk from another class. Wait. I wonder if I can use my perk points for the final plan?

I mulled that over for a bit and then realized that I had a female cultist strapped to the table who was slowly going from nervous to terrified.

Is it weird that I feel worse about experimenting on a woman? I asked myself after a moment of hesitation. Then, with a deep breath, I shook that thought off.

It didn’t matter.

“Sorry for the delay. I’ll get right to you in a moment,” I assured her. Then, drawing on the mana from one of my arrays that I’d brought, I used my first function call after several minutes.

“[[View Class]],” I intoned, targeting my own class.

I kept track of as much of it as I could and then gathered mana for the second function.

“[[View Class]],” I called again, this time targeting the cultist on the table.

The difference in scale between our two classes felt like I was trying to fix an issue with an 18-wheeler by comparing it to a power scooter, but I had to take what I could get.

That part... might be it? I nodded to myself and then called the third function. “[[Edit Class]].”

The woman looked slightly more uncomfortable after that, but nowhere near what she likely would have been had I been editing her character itself.

I guess that’s because I’m just editing an external part of her. If you can even call a class an actual part of someone. I thought as I started making changes to the target perk. It’s kinda like [[Edit Character]] is full-blown surgery while [[Edit Class]] is tailoring someone’s clothes. I paused. Admittedly, it’s tailoring their clothes while they’re in them, so it’s still a bit uncomfortable. But it’s not like I have an option to remove my own clothes.

I paused.

That analogy kinda got away from me.

I finished making my edits to the woman’s class and then had her repeat the same process as the previous cultist. Once again, her perks were corrupted, but only two of them instead of three.

I took that as progress and moved on to the next one.

My available resources dwindled, both mana and cultists, and I also got sidetracked more than once with my thoughts.

Verdict on using perk points for the final plan? I asked myself. I think it’s a no-go. Perk points seem to be pretty much bound to my “character,” and I get the distinct impression that the System cares more about someone mucking with the [Hero] class than mucking with the [Demon Lord] one.

While I was thinking that over I was mostly on autopilot.

“Write down what you see above and below the perk here,” I told the latest cultist.

So, I’ll have to edit the next [Hero’s] character directly.

He finished writing.

“Now, let me know what error you get when you attempt to remove the perk,” I continued.

That’s gonna have a huge mana price tag. I thought. Just editing Thomas’ perks a bit and shuffling things around was almost a full magicite chunk. And this will be creating a whole new perk and assigning it in one go.

“Error. Insufficient rights to delete perk, [Restriction - Mage Gear],” the cultist stated.

“Thank you,” I replied on auto-pilot. “Go wait with the others and send the next-“ I paused. “Wait. Say that again?”

The cultist cleared his throat nervously. “Err… Error. Insufficient rights to delete perk, [Restriction - Mage Gear],” he stated, and I gaped. He paled a bit. “I’m sorry, my lord! I didn’t mean to fail you!”

I shoved him aside.

“Upgrade,” I stated. “Delete [Decreased Skill Experience Gain (ALL)].”

System: Error. Insufficient rights to delete perk “Decreased Skill Experience Gain (ALL)”

“Yes, yes, yes!” I shouted the final one and couldn’t help a slight fist pump. Then, spinning back to the wide-eyed cultist, I ushered him down the steps. “Back on the table, back on the table!” I urged.

The few minutes I needed to gather mana for my admin functions were excruciating, but I did my best to reel in my excitement and stick to the procedure.

One use of [[View Class]] to look at my own class. One use of [[View Class]] to look at the cultist’s. Finally, one use of [[Edit Class]] to undo the change that I made to the cultist [Warrior’s] innate restriction perk.

Then, we headed back to the obelisk, and I crossed my fingers… behind my back and out of the cultists’ sight, of course. I did have a reputation to maintain, even if my earlier excitement might have ruined it already.

“I-it worked that time. The restriction is removed,” the cultist stated.

I nodded. “Very good. Go wait with the others and send the next volunteer over.”

Did I want to try this again on another volunteer? No. I wanted to do perk surgery on my class immediately and become the most powerful being who would ever walk the face of Placeholder. However, I also knew that this was precisely when I needed to take things slow and be 100% confident that I could make the same manipulation.

Amateurs practice until they can get it right. Experts practice until they can’t get it wrong. I thought, with my half-remembered and probably half-misquoted wisdom from Earth.

Before I moved on to the next cultist, I made sure to do a quick time check.

“Grant me sight into the distant beyond to track both friend and foe. [Advanced Scry], Alder Orinala,” I cast as I pulled out my mirror. Alder and his party flickered into view. Given that I didn’t see any ash blowing around them, I assumed that meant I was still in the clear.

However, I didn’t have to settle for that guesswork. [Advanced Scry] was worth its name.

Treating my mirror like a touch screen, I zoomed out to get a wider view of the area around the [Hero’s] party. Then, spinning the view a bit, I got a good look.

And… there’s the mountain pass separating the Ashlands. I give them… 4 days ‘til they get there? And then they have the entirety of the Ashlands to cross? I nodded to myself and dismissed the spell. “Plenty of time,” I muttered.

I gestured to the next volunteer and did the same process I had for all the others. And it was a good thing that I practiced because I actually did slip up on the very next attempt.

This volunteer had taken the [Wizard] class, and their negative perk was [Restriction – Martial Gear]. I must not have considered the difference in restrictions because I ended up bricking his ability to remove the perk… and then also bricked his ability to see his positive perk when I tried to fix my initial goof.

Fortunately, the next 5 in a row all succeeded as planned. And then, since the cultists didn’t need to be there for the next part, it was time to send them all back.

The good news was that it would only take two trips. For bringing my test subjects to my castle, I had tested out if I could bring along other people with me, and the good news was that with all of my levels in [Spatius] and [SpatialTemporus], I could bring along a few dozen at a time.

The bad news was that it would still take two trips. One trip there, a wait for mana to regen, and then a trip back.

I could just get rid of them instead. Came an unbidden thought. I discarded that after a moment. While my cultists were a bunch of crazed zealots, their loyalty was not unlimited, as I had learned in my second life with Lizzie betraying me. Also, they had proved useful to me, and I wanted to ensure they weren’t afraid to be .

Finally, it would be needlessly murdering people. And it made me pause that that came up so far down the list of reasons why I shouldn’t do it.

I guess I only really draw the line at needless. I thought dryly. If someone’s in my way, at this point I don’t think I’d really hesitate.

Either way, killing the cultists wasn’t on the table. So, I gathered some of the remaining mana from one of my arrays and prepared to send them back.

Wait. Can I send just them with a [Teleport to Beacon]? I thought. The worst case scenario was that they all died horribly instead which was against what I had just convinced myself I shouldn’t do. But… I was pretty confident it would work, and they had all signed up to be human guinea pigs anyway.

That was good enough for me.

I cast the [Teleport To Beacon], doing my best to exclude myself, and it seemed to work. They all vanished, and I confirmed their arrival with a quick [Advanced Scry].

Then, with the scry still up, I flipped it over to the [Hero].

Gotta make sure that the [Hero] can’t suddenly fly or teleport to me. I thought with a brief chuckle. Then, I furrowed my brow. Wait. He could fly if he got picked up. That stupid flying unicornisus. What was its name?

“[Advanced Scry] Skyquake,” I stated. After confirming that Skyquake was in the Time Wastes and headed away from me, I figured it was finally time to remove one of my negative perks.

I paused, then cast another spell.

“[Message] Anger, gather the leaders and meet in my throne room in an hour. Be prepared for combat with a [Hero] in a worst-case scenario,” I stated.

Anger: Yes, your lowliness

I nodded in satisfaction. Even if I got another situation with a randomly appearing archangel or [Hero], I figured having some high-level demons backing me up should at least make for good cannon fodder.

And then my paranoia kicked in. I tuned my scry to Anger, and I was glad I did.

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“Leaders, meeting!” Anger bellowed as he stomped through the castle. He grumbled to himself and batted aside several imps who were too slow to get out of the way.

He leaves us stuck here for months, and then what fight does he give us? Another fight with a [Hero]. Anger snarled as he found their usual meeting room. Anger was the first one there, which didn’t improve his mood.

He picked up one of the chairs and hurled it heavily into the wall.

“Wow, like, the [Demon Lord] is going to be totally ticked if he catches you wrecking his stuff,” Spite said as he entered.

Anger turned on him.

“But he won’t know it was me, will he?” Anger threatened.

The two stared at each other, but Spite eventually turned away and sighed. “Yeah, like, whatever.”

The other leaders filed in. Avarice even brought along a sleeping Tiredness that he dumped unceremoniously on the ground next to one of the chairs.

For a brief moment, Anger wondered what had happened to Self-Importance. He hadn’t joined any of their meetings in decades, and a part of him missed pulverizing the puny weakling into the floor.

“Why have you gathered us here, Anger?” Avarice asked to start things off. “Do we finally have orders from his lowliness?”

“Yes,” Anger seethed. “He wants us in his throne room in an hour.”

Avarice raised an eyebrow. “Then why are you wasting our time? Time is money, after all.”

Anger glared at him, but Avarice matched it. Anger could have escalated… but he needed the others on his side.

“Because I think that it’s time that the [Demon Lord] goes back to his rest,” Anger stated.

“Does the…” Tiredness stopped and yawned for a moment. “[Demon Lord] even sleep?”

“Not rest like that, you worthless imbecile,” Anger growled. “I’m saying that we kill him and get a break from his stupid orders for the next 50 years.”

Trickery giggled. “Backstabbing the lord of demons? How fun, how fun.” He pulled out two demonite knives and began rubbing their blades against each other back and forth.

Anger assumed that meant he was on board. Which didn’t actually mean much. If anyone was going to rat out their plans, it would be the deceit demon.

Spite scoffed and rolled his eyes. “But, like. Why would you even expect that to work? He’s in his armor, and most of us can’t even hurt him.”

Anger gave a malevolent grin. “Then we just have to get the [Demon Lord] out of his armor, just like he taught us with the [Hero].”

The wrath demon looked at each of the others. Most of them seemed to be considering it… except for Desire.

Desire looked like he wanted to leave the room as soon as possible.

“Any misgivings?” he asked the lust demon.

Desire froze. “J-just that my charms do not affect the [Demon Lord]. I would only get in the way, so perhaps it would be best if I did not attend the meeting.”

Avarice stepped in his way.

“We either all go, or none of us go,” he stated, pulling out a demonite sword. “And I agree with Anger. The [Demon Lord] has cost me my entire trade empire. It’s time that he pays for it.” And then, he gave a wide grin. “Besides, I’m sure that the nations of Placeholder will be happy to grant a reward to the ones who slew the [Demon Lord].”

“I don’t like it, don’t like, hate it!” Hysteria spat. “The [Demon Lord] is the only, the one, the one and only that let me go past the wall! All of you would just leave me here again to die, to die, and to not kill!”

“This time will be different,” Anger lied. “Surely we can find a place for you in the mainland of Placeholder.” The others all nodded along.

Hysteria looked at each one in suspicion but then slowly nodded his head.

“Good,” Anger bellowed. “Then let’s plan our defeat of the [Demon Lord]. He said to be prepared for combat with a [Hero], so that means that he will likely be vulnerable-“

There was only so much planning that Anger and the others could do. The primary one was for Anger, Avarice, or Hysteria to pin the [Demon Lord] down so that the others could pull off his armor piece by piece.

Any other plans were useless. No demon would trust his back to another.

The remainder of the hour went painfully slow, but they all trudged together to the throne room when it was up.

When they got there and opened the doors, they were greeted by the sight of the [Demon Lord] up on the steps to his throne in full armor, radiating his black flames, with his dark staff in his hands.

The double doors slammed shut of their own accord.

“Your lowliness!” Hysteria immediately screamed. “They all plot treachery, betrayal, treason!”

The [Demon Lord] seemed slightly taken aback while the others turned to glare at Hysteria.

“What?” Hysteria asked. “I’m crazy, insane, a lunatic. Not stupid.”

Anger pulled his club and was about to repay that treachery, but the [Demon Lord’s] voice cut him off.

“Very good, Hysteria,” he stated. “I didn’t need your warning since I was already aware, but I will remove you from the punishment the others have earned. Wait over on the side while I deal with the traitors.”

Hysteria scampered away, and Anger almost followed him, but the [Demon Lord] interrupted again.

“Nuhuh,” he stated. “Eyes up here. If you want any hope for your rebellion, you’ll need to deal with me first.”

The plan was already going sideways. Anger thought it might be time to go for a different strategy.

“Your lowliness, I have no idea what Hysteria is talking about,” he said. “None of us are foolish enough to betray you! It is simply his madness speaking. There’s no need to concern yourself with his words.”

“Very well, I won’t concern myself with his words,” the [Demon Lord] replied, and Anger felt his shoulders relax. “But how about yours? What were they? ‘I think that it’s time that the [Demon Lord] goes back to his rest?’”

Anger felt the icy grip of terror.

“Did you really think I wouldn’t notice you planning against me in my own castle?” the [Demon Lord] laughed. “No, the rest of you have made your choice.”

A copy of the [Demon Lord] appeared and walked off to their left. “And your only hope of survival now-“

A second copy walked over to the right. “Is to defeat me.”

The System made that official.

System: You have been removed from the Demon Lord Faction

System: You have entered a dungeon boss room! You will be unable to leave by any means until the dungeon boss is defeated.

A boss health bar appeared for Anger, and he was assuming for the others as well. It simply read “Titus.”

“We can still do this,” Anger muttered to the other demons. “Split up. I’ll take the one in the middle.”

The others nodded, except Trickery, who was looking around the room frantically.

“Trickery, we need you to focus,” Anger bellowed.

“They’re illusions! It’s a shell game!” Trickery replied not stopping his urgent look around the room.

Anger looked back at the three [Demon Lords]. “Of course, I can see that, you imbecile. That’s why we’re hitting all of them at once.”

“No!” Trickery shouted. “It’s a shell game. That means that the correct answer is-“

“[Hurricane],” came a calm voice behind the gathered demons.

And that let Anger fill in the blanks.

The correct answer was none of them.

With a sudden blast of air, the whole party of demons was tossed bodily into the wall at the room’s far end. And that wasn’t the end; spears of solidified air crashed heavily around them with several impaling Anger.

By the time that was over and they fell to the ground in pain, the [Demon Lord] was already there with a boot on Trickery’s chest.

“Please, your lowliness, be not angr-“ Trickery started.

His words were cut off by a bolt of lightning from the [Demon Lord’s] staff.

Trickery slumped to the ground, and the [Demon Lord] paused.

“Huh. Wasn’t sure non-lethal takedowns would work on demons,” he shrugged as the others regained their feet. “And that was probably a bit overkill for just Trickery, but I couldn’t have him spoiling any more of the illusions.”

Anger bellowed and charged the [Demon Lord]. He swung his club down at the unconcerned foe… and it passed through him as if he wasn’t there.

That’s because he wasn’t. There was a smaller peal of thunder, and Anger staggered from the blow to the back.

“Hmm, I could really use some intermediate spells between [Lightning Spear] and [Shock Bolt],” the [Demon Lord] said as he casually sidestepped Anger’s follow-up swing and blasted him in the face with another small bolt of lightning.

The [Demon Lord] tripped, and Anger finally had his opening.

“[Power Strike]!” he bellowed as his club crashed down… into the floor.

A bolt of air, followed by a bolt of earth, slapped Anger on the side of the head.

“Good thing I still have a few other spell schools to practice,” the [Demon Lord] said from the side and from the illusion that sat unharmed in front of Anger.

Anger gave another wild swing that the [Demon Lord] ducked under. Then, there was a piercing pain in Anger’s side. An odd feeling, like a tinge of lethargy, followed that.

“Thanks for the mana and stamina. I’ll make sure to put them to good use,” the [Demon Lord] mocked as he bowed.

Anger growled but didn’t bother swinging his weapon. He simply waved his free hand through the illusion and then looked around to the rest of the fight.

None of the other demons had any better luck. And it looked like it was Avarice’s turn to be the one pelted by spells.

“Attack the one that’s casting, you idiots!” Anger bellowed as he ignored the closet illusions and charged the [Demon Lord].

“Aw, you figured it out,” the [Demon Lord] stepped away from Avarice. “For your prize… how about an [Air Cutter]?”

The [Demon Lord] swung his staff in a horizontal line, and a blade of solidified air crashed into Anger and a few others behind him before dissipating.

Anger ignored it besides a small grunt of pain and continued his charge. He dodged the [Air Bolt] that came as a follow-up, and then as the [Demon Lord’s] staff sparked with electricity, he finally landed his own attack…

On yet another illusion.

Anger spun around to look at the chaos that had started back up. Now all of the clones were casting illusory spells at the demons, and to make matters worse, copies of Anger’s voice were adding to the mix.

“It’s this one!” he heard his own voice shout. “Now he’s over by Avarice!”

The [Demon Lord]… was toying with them.

“Face me, you coward!” Anger raged as he uselessly slew illusion after illusion.

That was the wrong thing to say because he had his own voice mocking him after that.

“Face me, you coward!” came one copy.

“I can’t stand my own face!” said another.

“I have the face of a coward!” said a third.

Childish insults at best, but they were backed up by a hint of the [Demon Lord’s] aura. Anger saw red and swung wildly at anything and everything… until he was finally driven unconscious by a final bolt of lightning.

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Desire knew that things were not going in their favor. In fact, he was pretty sure that not a single attack had even touched the [Demon Lord]. So, while the others tried in vain to strike a blow, Desire changed form and cowered.

He did his best to pick one that his instincts said would be pleasing to the [Demon Lord], but he also ensured it wasn’t that one.

He wouldn’t make that mistake again.

And so, eventually, the battle wound down with the [Demon Lord] as the clear victor. His health bar, which had made the slightest moves downward from his own lightning attacks, was still well above half while all the other demons were on the ground in the throes of unconsciousness.

“What are you doing?” the [Demon Lord] asked, leaning over him.

“I’m sorry, my lord! They made me do it!” Desire said shakily before bursting into tears. “I didn’t want to betray you, but they’re stronger than me!”

Desire wasn’t sure it was working, but he was hopeful. He wasn’t currently being shot to death by spells after all.

He celebrated internally when the [Demon Lord] finally sighed.

“Here,” he said, holding out his free hand. “Stand up.”

“T-thank you, my lord,” Desire said as she gently took his hand.

Inwardly, Desire grinned. None of the other demons would stop him now. He would have the [Demon Lord] wrapped around his finger soon. All it would take was-

The grip on his hand turned crushing.

“By the way, I’m not nearly as stupid as you seem to think I am,” the [Demon Lord] stated. “[Zap].”

Ignoble memories of his first death at the [Demon Lord’s] hands assailed him, and Desire frantically tried to break free. He rapidly shifted the size and shape of his hand and even tried attacking the [Demon Lord] with transformed claws. Still, nothing could remove the [Demon Lord’s] iron grip or stop the steady current of electricity that continuously fried him.

Desire could only comfort himself with a small consolation prize that the [Demon Lord] was also suffering the same damage that he was.

I may have… even damaged him the most. Desire thought with a hint of irony.

Then, the world turned black, and he collapsed to the floor.

-------

All the demons were down except for Hysteria, who was still watching off to the side.

“Hysteria, gather them up and put their bodies in front of my throne,” I ordered. “Make sure not to kill them by accident. I’m not done with them yet.”

“Yes, yes, affirmative, your lowliness!” Hysteria immediately replied. “Right away, your lowliness!”

With a grunt of acknowledgment, I walked up to my throne and sat down. I wasn’t sure how long it would take them all to regain consciousness, but I figured it didn’t matter since I would be waiting for about an hour anyway.

Using [Wordless Cast] on everything sure ate through my mana. I thought as I went back over the combat. “And illusion magic is way stronger than I gave it credit for,” I said with a chuckle.

Using [Blink], [Flash Step], and [Telehop] to swap places with my illusions was glorious, and I immensely enjoyed the confusion on the demons’ faces when they got shot or stabbed from an illusion they swore they had just checked.

And I even got some more skill experience. That’s because I finally caved and made some purchases right before our combat. I finally removed the lower cap on [Electricus], which jumped to 7, and I purchased the tier2 skill for my illusion and detection magic; [Discernerio].

Already level 2 on [Discernerio]. I thought as I took a quick peek into my status. Maybe I should also up the cap on [Obscurio] to spam even more illusions. I toyed with that for a bit but eventually tabled that purchase.

That would use up my last 10 skill points, and I’m never getting more. I don’t know that illusion magic is where I want to spend it.

After all, there was still [Magnetismus] and [ElectroMagnus] to consider, or possibly spending points on a Tier2.5 or Tier3 school.

I’ll figure that out later. I told myself as the demons started stirring.

“So, what did all of you learn today?” I asked as I lazily slouched on one side of the throne.

They all looked to Anger as the spokesdemon, and he swallowed. “That… we are no match for you, your lowliness,” he replied.

“Very good. Though, it is ironic that the crazy one was the only one smart enough to realize that from the start.”

They turned to Hysteria, who was fidgeting nervously.

I clapped my hands to get their attention back to me.

“Now, as I was going to explain before your pitiful attempt at a coup, I’m about to start the next stage of my plan, and this is where [Heroes] and archangels tend to magically appear right at my doorstep even though it makes no fricking sense. So, once all of you are back at full resources, we will begin.” I stood up and pointed my staff at each of them in turn. “Not that I expect you to win in a fight against the [Hero] or Mishael. No, I simply need you to stall them until I am no longer distracted.”

I walked down to Anger and prodded him with my staff. “You’re speed bumps. Cannon fodder. Meat shields. You will die a horrible, painful death before you let them interrupt me. Are we clear?”

He ground his teeth.

“Yes, your lowliness.”

“Good!” I nodded and, with a mental command, added them back into my faction. “You’re all dismissed. Be back here in an hour when your resources are back.”

I heard them grumbling under their breath as they walked away, which mostly confirmed what I already knew. The final battle was going to have demons on the other side.

However, despite my misgivings and all the data points I had collected up to that point, nothing happened the next hour. In fact, the demons all shuffled back in, I called [[Edit Class]], and I modified a perk without any issue.

Well, aside from my increasingly mounting paranoia and the fact that the other demons looked confused as to why they were there.

It was almost a relief when something went wrong as I accessed the obelisk and tried to remove [Healing Inversion].

“Delete [Healing Inversion],” I told the obelisk as I put my hand on it. There was a slight hitch, and then my thoughts seemed to slow down.

Not another patch. I groaned inwardly.

Normal time resumed soon enough, along with a few unhappy messages from the System.

System: Warning! Removal of perk “Healing Inversion” causes a power level for the class outside of acceptable limits! Cannot remove perk!

System: Error. Perk point expenditure unresolved.

System: Resolution. Perk “Healing Inversion” has been changed to “Healing Negation”

System: Warning. Unbalanced System change made by candidate Titus. That is strike 1. At three strikes candidate privileges will be revoked

I wasn’t sure what part frustrated me the most. That I didn’t get to fully remove [Healing Inversion] even though I shelled out 15 perk points, or that I might only get to make two more changes to my class before I was completely locked out.

No. Even worse, I might need that last strike to edit the [Hero]. I thought with a sigh. Dang it. I should have led with the other perk.

The only reason I had removed [Healing Inversion] first was that I cared a bit less if I messed up. It wasn’t vital to my plans, unlike getting more skill experience, so I figured it would be a good test case.

Well, might as well see what those perk points bought me. I thought. “[Heal],” I cast at myself.

I initially cringed, expecting the same horrible feeling as always… but there was nothing. Just a smooth flow of mana and then a feeling like it ran into me and then slid off.

Being able to heal people without wanting to hurl was a decent consolation prize, but the even better one was that removing that perk jumped my [Animae] skill to 3.

Still not a good healer, but at least the cap at 1 wasn’t my actual talent. I thought. Just for the heck of it I checked my subclasses too to see if [Priest] went up at all, but it hadn’t budged an inch.

That’s fair. A [Demon Lord]-[Priest] is weird enough as-is. I thought with a slight chuckle.

I gave the mana-gathering array a once-over after that. Surprisingly, even after all the cultists whose classes I had tinkered with, it seemed like there was just enough left for one more [[Edit Class]].

Maybe the skill levels helped? I asked myself. Unfortunately, I didn’t have an accurate way to measure the mana I was converting into manipulation points, so I could only guess and cross my fingers.

“Prepare yourselves again,” I told the demons. They nodded and at least pretended like they were paying more attention.

I was willing to take it at that point.

The System gave its usual spiel that it did whenever I was about to cast an admin function.

I dragged the mana in from the array. I converted it into manipulation points. And when there was no sign of randomly appearing archangels, I used the function once again.

“[[Edit Class]].”

With no fanfare, I flipped the few bits corresponding to the ability to remove the perk and then went over to the obelisk.

“Delete [Decreased Skill Experience Gain (All)],” I stated.

And… it did. With no fuss, no warnings, no strike against my record as a candidate, nothing. One second I had that negative perk, and the next it was gone.

I must have stared at the obelisk for longer than I thought because Anger interrupted my thoughts.

“Your lowliness, is something wrong?” he asked.

“No, and that’s what’s strange,” I muttered. I pulled out my hand mirror, did another [Advanced Scry] on the [Hero], and confirmed that he was still days away.

“Huh,” I muttered. “Maybe because this wasn’t a big enough part of my plan or something?”

It didn’t make sense that anyone could make it in time to interfere, but that was exactly why I was expecting it. Mishael’s random appearance as I made Herobane was becoming more and more of a mystery.

“Alright, well… I’m out of mana arrays, so I need to go visit my island,” I said as much to myself as to the gathered demons. “Maybe as a bonus, since you did a good job playing guard dog, I’ll do a quick admin function over there. It should throw the [Hero] off the trail so that he doesn’t come and murder you all while I’m gone.”

The demons looked as confused at my ramblings as I felt.

“Dismissed,” I stated after a moment.

I shook off most of my paranoia as I prepped to head back to my island. A quick pop of my gauntlet’s [Strengthen], and I easily hefted the mana arrays into my inventory. Then, it was time to wait for the mana for [Teleport To Beacon]. I used that time to plan my next steps.

I still have 29 perk points left, thanks to those achievements I got for beating a boss as a kid. I thought. Nothing to spend them on… unless I can recreate a perk from another class and shove it on my own.

While I was unfortunately missing copy and paste, I didn’t think it would be all that difficult based on my experience.

That is definitely going to be strike 2, though. I’ll have to make it count.

I was debating something like Sam’s [Elemental Sorcerer] that got a perk for increased elemental skill gain, but I wasn’t sure that would be enough to make a difference.

Just something to think about. I thought. I cast my [Teleport To Beacon] and reappeared in my pocket dimension.

It was the normal dungeon in the middle of the island. With the usual mana-gathering arrays scattered around. And with the typical Upgrade Sword boss hovering threateningly over a merfolk in landform who was poking and prodding at the arrays maintaining the pocket dimension.

I have to admit, my mouth dropped open.

How the frick did he get up here? I asked.

Then he reached to one of the mithril channels and jiggled it a bit.

I reacted purely on instinct. I [Flash Stepped] forward and slapped his hand away.

“Are you insane!? Are you trying to kill everyone!?” I shouted.

He fell to the floor. “Th-th-the calamitous one. You’re real!”

“Congrats, Sherlock, yes I am!” I sneered. “What the frick do you think you’re doing besides trying to genocide your entire race?”

“My humblest apologies, calamitous one!” he cried as he pulled his knees up to his chest… which I only belatedly realized was his attempt at making the merfolk submission pose while not having a tail. “Please, show mercy! I just wanted to learn! I didn’t mean to intrude!”

My oaths to the merfolk still prevented me from hurting him, so I couldn’t do much more than just toss him out.

Unless I give him what he wants, I thought, and a wide grin broke over my face. I fired off a quick [Wordless Cast] [Appraise], confirmed that he didn’t have an advanced class, and then made my pitch.

“If you want knowledge, I can supply it,” I stated. “How would you like to become the most powerful [Wizard] Placeholder has ever seen?” I asked as I offered him a hand.

He trembled but eventually nodded his head. I could only assume he thought it was an offer he couldn’t refuse, and I didn’t bother to correct him.

But I wasn’t lying about my offer, either. After all, my mind was already swimming with the rare perks and classes that would be awarded to a [Wizard] who learned a spell from every school before picking their upgraded class.

He took my hand, and I helped him to his feet.

“Welcome, my apprentice,” I said with a wide smile.