Chapter 21: Core formation
Sarah peeled her eyes open and her brain froze as she stared down the face of the salamander in front of her. She let out a squeal and crawled backwards with surprising speed as adrenaline pumped into her before her brain caught up and registered the charred corpse the head was attached to.
The jump scare had shocked her awake and she felt remarkably well rested, which was strange as she couldn’t remember the last time she had a proper night’s sleep. So far the only form of sleep she had was falling unconscious, first by the apocalypse arriving, second by the explosion, and now by levelling up to 25. It made her uncertain of how much time had passed, and seemed like poor writing style to be honest.
“The apocalypse arrived late in the day for you, so if you count that as the first day then we are coming on the morning of day four now. You have been asleep for around twelve hours.”
You sound… happy?
“… be silent, mortal.”
Despite its attitude, the demon did sound much less strained than it was previously. It was hardly willing to even give her the time of day before, whereas now it was willing to give her… the time of day.
“Now open your status so I can see.”
She was just as curious as to the changes herself, so with a thought she willed open her status and took a look at the notifications that appeared.
You have levelled up.
Your core formation was successful and your body has evolved, granting you:
* +5 to all stats
* Improved perception and senses
* Improved manipulation of mana and abilities
Please select a path:
* Path of fire
* Path of mana
* Path of steel
* Path of the earth
…
* Path of pride
* Path of the demon
* Path of the solitary
There was a huge list of maybe 100 different paths that appeared of all different kinds, and when asking the system it gave her absolutely no information as to what each provided or what paths even were.
So she decided to ask someone else.
Lucifer, what does this mean?
“A path guides the direction of your class. Picking something like earth will mean you gain bonuses for summoning earth-type creatures, and similarly you would find it impossible to summon creatures that are air attuned. Likewise, fire for water attuned, and vice versa. Mana can help reduce the cost of abilities, demon other races can help you with race evolutions. Most also help with understanding laws, such as the laws of fire which I specialise in.”
So should I go with demon? I would rather stay at least half-human…
“The path of the demon would aid you with your demonic summons and help you evolve into a real demon. Otherwise, you should select fire. It will still help with demonic summons, you will remain human and, most importantly, it will help you learn the laws of fire which I am deeply acquainted with. Understanding laws are what is key to your and all of our paths.”
She considered a few of the other paths, ones like the path of enchanting or solidarity, but in the end she believed bonuses directly to combat would help her over the accessory areas like enchanting and she also did not want to be the kind of person that stayed solo forever. Not to mention, personal guidance from the king of hell sounded pretty good.
Path of fire.
Congratulations, you have advanced down the Path of fire.
* To help you along your path, you have been granted one fire-aligned law treasure that matches your ability.
She felt a faint tingling sensation in her hand, and after lifting it up a flower suddenly materialised between one blink and the next. It was a small daisy-shaped flower, barely a few inches long and glowing a faint red that made her hand feel warm. She gave it a quick inspect to see what the system told her, and was left fairly confused.
Ember Daisy – Tier 3 (Epic)
* Consuming will aid in the understanding of the laws of fire.
It gave her no information on how to use it or what it does, so once again she decided to ask the big boss.
“You eat it, then meditate and - not now you idiot.”
…
With a sigh, the demon continued. “Find somewhere safe to meditate and contemplate fire as a law, I will explain more later.”
Could I use it for a ritual?
“Yes but an epic law treasure at this stage is extremely strong. Your summons already have enough power, especially now that you can summon multiple past the level 25 barrier. What makes laws so strong are that they, like advancing a tier, provided bonuses to all stats. These bonuses are what stops a level 10 assassin from taking down a level 100 mage. Incorporating laws are also one of the easiest ways to break past rank barriers for your skills.”
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
This talk of stats made her eager to see her own, and so without further ado she decided to take a look at her status and see what breaking the level 25 barrier had given her.
Name: Sarah Rose
Race: Half-Greater Demon
Class: Hellbringer (Epic)
Level: 24 -> 26
Strength: 7 -> 12
Agility: 8 -> 13
Wisdom: 114 -> 123
Intelligence: 114 -> 123
Vitality: 20 -> 25
Endurance: 7 -> 12
Charisma: 13 -> 18
Unused Stat Points: 0 -> 10
Abilities:
* [Ritual Magic] Rank 2 Level 2
* [Demonic Mana Manipulation] Rank 1 Level 9
* [Soul Sense] Rank 1 Level 2
* [Enchanting] Rank 1 Level 1
* Empty -
Perks:
* [Adaptive] - +1 free stat points per level.
* [Ritualess] - You may substitute reagents for mana in your rituals.
* [Demonic] - Your mana has the demonic attribute.
* [Intelligence Prodigy] - Identic Memory.
* [Wisdom Prodigy] - You learn abilities faster.
* [Solo Diver] - 10% buff while fighting solo.
Five bonus points to every stat definitely helped round out some of her stats that were lagging behind. She remembered a previous message noting extra experience would be stored, and it looked like that was enough to push her to level 26. She decided to hang on to the 10 free points for now until a situation pops up where they may be useful in a specific stat.
For now, it was time to bring her backup… back up.
She first went to the body of the boss to find any loot that had dropped and found an odd-looking rock next to the corpse.
Terranut – Tier 3 (Common)
* Consuming will aid in the understanding of the laws of earth.
Checking with Lucifer that they wouldn’t conflict, she slipped the nut in her pocket next to the daisy. Then, following Lucifer’s directions, she began the gruesome work of sticking her hands into the open wounds of the dead boss to spread its blood into another pentagram. It only took around two minutes before she sketched out something acceptable on the uneven ground that was around 10 feet from point to point, then she injected about half her mana and waited for the result.
Imp – Summon Level 31 (Uncommon)
Thankfully the lizard still had plenty of blood left. Going through the same steps she soon had another companion with her, and this one at a slightly higher level.
Imp – Summon Level 32 (Uncommon)
From Lucifer’s explanation before, the summon level was her level + 5% int + 2% int if demonic as she was partly a greater demon herself, meaning a maximum of 34 right now rounded down. Their tier was just the rank of her ritual magic, so at rank 2 it was only uncommon unless she used some extra materials. The mana cost was equivalent to their levels, taking up 63/123 points of her mana currently, which therefore meant she could manage one more imp before she would be left with about 27 points remaining.
Currently empty from using half her mana with each summon, and with 1% of her mana regenerating each minute, to get back to half her mana which she needed to do another summon she would have to wait 50 minutes.
“Now is a good time to use [Soul Sense]. Start by looking inward and I will guide you from there.”
Sarah ordered the two imps to stand guard while she did some literal soul searching. She first sat down in a meditative position, then shut her eyes to concentrate. It took a few minutes just to get in the right headspace, but soon she was met with a very different sight than before. Previously it appeared as a planet in which half of its surface looked as if it was undergoing a volcanic eruption, but now it looked far more dormant. The half she was sure was hers had a similar appearance to before, like a polished marble covered in faint red and blue swirls. The other half had the appearance of a dark obsidian with streaks of lava flowing through cracks and bubbling from just under the surface.
Not the nicest sight to have in her soul, but far better than it was previously. And a new addition to the picture was some kind of atmosphere around the pseudo-planet. Some kind of white sheen enveloped the whole area, encasing it all in into a solid bubble.
“That is your core. It not only protects your soul but acts as a medium for absorbing and distributing energy. Now look closely and find the strings that tie your soul to your summons, then follow them.”
It took some searching but eventually, with a bit more guidance, she started to relax and began to see a faint red line that reached out past her soul and into the distance. Following it was tricky, as when she began to move out of her soul the connection disappeared, but with some trail and error she was quickly able to see the lines moving into the distance then connecting with a new soul.
The impression she got was of a faint red circle, but in comparison to hers the soul felt… fake? It made sense, being a summon and all, but it really did feel like it was made of plastic rather than the substance that her own soul had, although she would need to find more to compare.
She switched between her two summons, but couldn’t find any noticeable difference between them as she would have hoped with them level 31 and 32. While trying to see if she could guess which one was a higher level, she noticed a faint impression in her soul sense pressing up against the imp’s soul.
Then it disappeared. She opened her eyes to see the corpse of a salamander that had just been eviscerated by the imp.
“Keep concentrating, but with your eyes open this time.”
She was soon able to sense the souls of the imps either side of her, and with a bit more pressing she was able to see a vine serpent perched maybe 30 meters away but unable to reach her with the length of its vine being too short.
[Soul Sense] Rank 1 Level 2 -> Rank 1 Level 7
She checked her mana as a way to see how long had passed and it was full, meaning it was likely around an hour or more. She was surprised at the speed, gaining seven levels so quickly seemed out of the ordinary.
“You have [Wisdom Prodigy], usually given to those with over 1000 in wisdom which would take you until your levels are in the hundreds to reach. It would be surprising if your rank 1 abilities did not level up quickly.”
It made sense, so why not mess around with [Demonic Mana Manipulation] too so it can crack rank 2.
First though, she drew up another quick ritual and brought along her final level 32 companion to help her. She wondered why she always got imps, hopefully something that would change as her level increased but right now with their speed and mobility they made for pretty good guardians to keep her safe from surprise attacks.
Ill push my [Demonic Mana Manipulation] up a level while my mana regenerates then we can get going.
Lucifer gave a grunt in agreement, and now with three minions all close in power to the level 28 (Rare) infernal she had previously, not to mention with an improved [Soul Sense] that let her track monsters around her and over 50 points added to her stats, she felt even more confident than before.