***

Right now I'm obediently sitting in 'my room' while the girl plays a soft tune by the fire, merrily dancing flames reflect in her hazel eyes; their gaze vacant as usual, empty just like the green-tainted bottles on the table. But they are slowly regaining clarity.

It is already a second week since the girl arrived. The house on the swamp became a bit brighter with all the music; and the evening tales she shared by the fire were a nice addition to the boring days spent on brewing potions –and plotting on how to overthrow the local government.

I've realized just how much the Hag was starved for entertainment. I don't know anything about her past; she doesn't keep any personal items down here and the order to keep away from the attic was clear. Sometimes when she gets drunk, she will hole herself up there for a long time. Especially during snowstorms that on occasion passed over the area this winter.

The snow never lasted on the warm soil of the marsh, but the old woman refused to leave the house even long after it was already gone. And then always reached for a bottle -or sometimes five.

Living alone on the swamp sure isn't easy, and the visitors we get don't usually stick around. The atmosphere of the place not inviting, and nature of their business making gossip awkward.

She even shockingly stalled her preparations - missing the last new moon.

Yes, I can tell what Merta is up to from going over some of her books, and based on the potions and other preparations we made lately. I'm not sure what will happen on the next one, but I doubt our little birdie has much long left to sing.

I've learned the young girls name: it's Circe Carvell, a sole daughter of the baron in charge of this region. It's actually a pretty big piece of land for a minor noble to govern; you would think being located near the coast would make it a great and coveted spot, but the coastline here in the south is covered with swamps and marshes due to relatively low elevation of the terrain. People here are hardy, and their settlements sparsely spread out. Other nobles don't want to bother with them and everything was thrown on the shoulders of the now widowed baron Carvell.

His territory also doesn't see much traffic and is rarely visited. Swamps don't attract many settlers - those that came here, usually had their reasons. A perfect place for an old cambion to make a nest, away from prying eyes.

-Yet it seems she wasn't quite satisfied with with a quiet life.

Circe wanted to excuse herself soon after getting better; she was worried about what was happening back at the estate and needed to do something about it, but was convinced to stay for a few more days. That then turned into a week - and then another one. The weather was bad sure, but the early spring storms are now gone and with each morning it's getting warmer outside.

For me, Merta's remark about her being safer here, was not very convincing.

—It's those hazel eyes of hers that I blame for what I'm about to do. They stir something deep inside me; remind me of a dear memory, something lost that I just can't seem to grasp no matter what I try to remember them. Something from the before - and I hate this feeling, can't stand it anymore.

It is always about the eyes. The same as with the Hag and that deep blue gaze she gives me when ordering me around, filled with poorly hidden hostility. It took me a while, but these? I remember where I've seen them before... Because after all, it happened in this new life of mine -after I've become a demon. The same eyes as the ones that glared at me accusingly from the frozen floor while filled with fear, in that small decrepit house all those months ago. Deep blue eyes of the first man I killed...

The Hag is upstairs, completely smashed; she got very drunk after the sad tale Circe performed for us this evening. I was providing the liquor and filling the cups; and decided she could use something stronger tonight, it is a special occasion after all.

A sad tale of a courtesan falling in love with an earl— it apparently struck some old rusted strings wound around the witch's black heart.

I reach beyond the bars with my tail and grab an iron nail just laying there, stuck between the boards - how did that get there I wonder? A bit of fiddling with the lock, and tiny bit of magic opens the cage and I'm out; ready to Help our guest while not being a bother, just as instructed... A bit more of my demonic magic and the cloud around her mind unravels part of its black tendrils reaching under the girl's red hair, even dispersing to some degree after that. I go to add more wood to the fire, so she doesn't get cold.

Young girl blinks and shakes her head, the hand stops over the strings. —Ah, the spell was finally broken. It took some time, especially since I needed to be discreet. I consider lowering the dose of the mind numbing potions she was given, as assisting with caring for the poor lost child - again just as instructed. Yes, words are funny things, if you don't watch your tongue someone might misunderstand you.

Her eyes widen when she looks down at me, mouth parting to make noise. I grimace and put my finger up to motion for her to keep quiet, and then to keep playing. She hesitates for a moment but then starts to play where she left of as if realizing something.

"Good kid, we don't want our host to come down to check on how we are doing. That would be a bother for her don't you agree?" I nod to myself, but the girl just keeps staring like if she saw me for the first time - maybe she did. "Yes, Merta needs some rest right now." I grab myself a low stool and plop down in front of Circe. We have a lot to talk about and the nights are getting shorter.

The kid seems to have some talent for acting, so what I have in mind should work out fine.

"I need you to listen to me very carefully...." I have a plan.

...

——

I get up from the sand annoyed of being reminded of the idiot.

But hey, good news. The backlash is gone! And damn, I feel fantastic - almost forgot how much progress we've actually made recently, all this power again available to us. Working out any sore spots I take a peek at the results of the last few days.

> Absorbed essence:

>

> Hell Beast (1), Chilopoda (2).

>

> +1 Resilience

That's all I've Managed to squeeze out of it, and not for a lack of trying. I had to actually struggle to get just this much; After the backlash was gone the essence wouldn't stick properly where I wanted it in my inner landscape, felt almost too weak to fit and stay. Had to compress and refine it - hmm? Is there something that prevents me from using weak demons to grow stronger? Doesn't feel that way, rather like it was the issue of quality and amount. I'm sure I should be able to work around it, were I to simply collect more and repeat what I just did. Some experiments will be required.

-If we are willing to spend some extra time doing it, that is... But it seems like we aren't going anywhere, so seeing as demons are already immortal then who cares about time? -Although I feel like suddenly there is an awful lot to do.

I reach out to check on my pretty flowers and everything looks to be fine, no immediate threats and they are slowly growing stronger. I do get a complaint over the link we have about something tasty escaping but it can't provide much details. I will go take a look around the tunnels later just in case and check on the nest while at it.

-Then we should also attempt to deal with all the sand at the entrance to the tower, yeah sounds like a plan. We are finally ready to tackle at least this problem. Since we are already here I retrieve a set of enchanting tools from my new ring; those lovely gifts are also the courtesy of a certain dead Genie - they really do grant wishes! who knew? This beautiful band of gold wasn't empty when we got our hands on it, and those aren't even the best of the presents he delivered us like it was Christmas -Ha! it was fat and fell in through something akin to a chimney...

Anyway, finally we have some proper equipment - this brings another smile to my face and I can't wait to try them out; see what can be done. The claws are great –maybe even better for carving runes, especially after gaining a new Attribute, but they can't do everything. With these, I might soon be able to recharge the shield ring as it's on its last charge.

No matter how I look at them they look even fancier than what the Alchemist had in his laboratory... Sadly I had to abandon some of the loot back then.

I'm sure the people from the church gave him a warm reception, the guy deserved the best they had to offer - Fucking creep.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

—Also, that memory finally helped me decide which skill I want to pick now, it will help in the tunnels as well even if its combat potential is limited. The available list is getting ridiculous, new stat opening a lot of paths; can I please get a filter option?

I make my way upstairs then climb the ladder to the top of the tower.

This room is still filled with a lot of sand, some of that slips down through the hatch and fall down as we make our way towards one of the buried windows.

"So how should we go about this?" I'm not that good with sand.

My senses aren't picking anything nearby so I dig my claws inside the pile and extend my magic into the loose grains to start guiding them. The sands of the dessert are not making it any easier due to the taint contained within - working with them using earth magic is hard enough by itself - There is something different about sand and its nature, but I hold a firm grip over my magic not allowing any mana to be lost in the process.

I'm moving slowly and open up a path, as narrow as would reasonably fit me. The small size of my body has its advantages, nothing bigger will be able to pass through here when I'm done - I will also make sure intruders end up buried under the sand if they try.

Hellfire *roars! to life. Moving according to my will it creates a vortex, and the extreme heat fills the emptied space; turning the walls into molten glass in a matter of seconds and then slowly cooling to prevent internal stress. The crust when done will be just thin enough to support the outside pressure and my light form.

"This should work well." I murmur to myself while holding back the sands until the walls of this new passage harden.

Wile the glass is still hot I get to work, carefully tracing the future formation that will protect this— Hmm?

And of course that's when we get interrupted. Suddenly one of my flowers asks for my immediate attention.

-For fucks sake why now when I'm busy? Need to make sure the walls don't cool to rapidly or... A notice of danger, in need of help. Damn.

I leave the tools on the sand since using the ring to store anything is still a hassle, and immediately jump down instead of using the ladder. Feeling the rush of air in my ears I'm starting to regret this decision- Oof! That was hard on the knees. We sprint down and teleport past the floor and into the basement, since I keep the staircase shut all time now. Not to prevent anything from crawling from the sewers anymore, but rather in case something were to cross the sands and find the tower.

Making our way down past the breached floor, and then through the tunnels while running full speed towards the alarm; we can now pick up a familiar signature, as without the backlash my range increased significantly... I'll be damned —well, to late for that... But it is still a surprise.

Standing just out of reach of the lashing vines, and methodically probing the defenses outside my thorny garden; there is that abomination we've noticed roaming the canals a few weeks ago

—This guy was still around?

Where the hell was it hiding all this time? I can feel it building up some magic attack, but when we get closer the bastard abandons the attempt and starts to roll away. Must have felt us, interesting. Smarter than it looks... A mass of limbs and heads, growing from a shapeless piece of dark flesh huddled up into a ball and is trying to escape like a rolling stone.

I'm a bit torn myself now, between pursuing or allowing him to go for now. I'm currently very busy and won't have time to absorb its essence - so leaving it for another day is tempting me. It might also be worth it to try and follow the thing later, to see where it came from...

-Sure...

On the other hand— now that I think about it, there is no need for that. Rose could just take care of it pretty fast, this is nothing compared to the size of the Giant Centipede, even smaller the the Genie. She could use a nice meal and maybe this would be enough for more spawns. A very wide and evil smiles spreads over my face.

Ah, choices.

I nod and pull a gold coin out from the ring, one of many we now own - and flip it, while watching the abomination turn the corner. The ugly blob of flesh and deformed limbs even leveled up once since the last I've seen it. Heads you are dead, tails you live - at least for now.

*ting!

The coin lands heads up, tough luck you shapeless bastard. I pick it up and twirl the golden disk in my fingers —Oh, would you look at that... Who knew this thing had heads on both sides! You have a really shitty luck pal.

After this little dramatic performance we give chase, it's not that fast and actually stopped not far away while we just stood there fooling around. The creature's grotesque form shifts as it tries to squeeze itself into a pipe jutting from the wall. Well, that is one mystery solved... Good.

—And yeah, no. I make a face at the creature further up the tunnel.

I hit the corridor wall with my palm and send mana into the stone. The pipe embed inside of it at the end of the tunnel collapses on its other end, crushed under enormous pressure of the earth —Ah, great to be back at full power. Sometimes when stressed you just need to let loose -If you get my little joke.

Grinning at the now trapped demon - with its escape route cut off, I deliberate at how to go about disposing of it - Since Rose will be getting this bastard why not let her deal with this, have some fun - She sure is willing... Yeah we both really don't like this fucker now.

As we are getting closer the abomination shift back into its multi limb form. In response thorn covered vines erupt from my back, arms and chest, lashing out and skewer the mass of flesh before me.

-Amazing, this thing is almost like some kind of slime. Its form flows around the attack, and even starts to prepare some king of magic— but it is useless, Rip and Tear activates and its chaotic energy shreds the cheeky bastard, interrupting whatever skill or ability was about to manifest. The attempt failing, It then grabs at the long, thorn covered whips and surprisingly manages to hold some of them down with an impressive show of strength - meanwhile more still come and drill into their victim. I'm forced to crouch down on all four to support the massive weight of what Rose unleashed, as roots join vines - there is so many of them now inside of me, it's amazing how they all fit. But just to make it more interesting I use the Empower skill, and the limbs holding onto us get torn off.

The image of all these dark, writhing and twisting vines covered in long black thorns coming out of my crouched form, taking up almost all of the wide corridor - lashing at the poor bastard while the roots spread near the ground towards our victim, must be awe inspiring if not outright scary. The slight aura of the Empower skill adding to the effect.

-Rose you crazy girl.

The roots reach it and start to siphon its power while it is still alive, causing a scream of agony to escape from the demon. A thick branch released by Bark Guard ability lashes out and almost splits the thing in half.

This is already a game over. We approach closer while on all four, letting more roots to reach the target. While Rose is busy I make sure to direct one of the vines inside the pipe, to scoop out a part of the creature that it left inside there. Mind fucking bastard thought I wouldn't notice this attempt?

The sharp tip of the vine pierces something important.

That's when the demon's form collapses, losing most of its shape; a mass of bloody flesh spreads on the stone floor —It's dead, and we can enjoy the spoils.

...

Rose was able to pick up on its mind fuckery back there at the beginning almost immediately and slap its attempt away - we were just playing around after that, it was a farce -Good girl, now properly finish your meal. We don't need any flesh slimes around.

——

Since we are already down here we decided that checking out the sewers with our power fully back seems like a much better idea then going back to making the path to the surface. Need to make sure we really didn't miss anything like the abomination whose essence Rose is currently munching on.

-Cheeky slime bastard.

> Consumed essence: Hell Spawn (10), Flesh Shaper (12).

>

> Strength +2

>

> Resilience +1

>

> Magic +2

>

> Intellect +2

It's not just the big room with the centipedes, the temperature in the surrounding corridors also dropped significantly. I might have underestimated the power of the Greed core's original ability. Speaking off, I still need to figure out how to fix it.

> Warning: Unable to upgrade the Trait: Greed Core in its current damaged state. Restore your Core before attempting any further modifications.

Tsk, this doesn't work either - it was still worth a try.

I was kind of hoping that would be restored together with my attributes but no such luck; although the damage does seem to be less severe then at the beginning, at least feels that way from the feedback I get using the ability. How do we even go about fixing it? Rose was the one to 'install' this thing in the first place, and I'm unsure what did she even do with it. I can feel the presence of the core inside me - especially when triggering Dark Ice, and can poke around the crystalline structure during deep meditation but... When trying to put any mana inside, it gets consumed and everything just turns cold.

Essence we take doesn't stick to the cracks felt on the surface at all, when I attempted to patch it with the stuff the core wouldn't take it in. The trait's description mentioned that it was formed with the taint...

—Eh, was never really good with the stuff; left it all to Rose to deal with but even if she was able to eat the darn thing, I'm getting a vague feeling of helplessness from her about how to attempt any repairs. Another thing to worry about when the time comes, for now let's focus on what's in front of us.

The bugs are all huddled together in one giant ball of gross in the middle of the room. None are swarming and skittering around anymore, yet they are still alive and twitching on occasion. The brick walls inside are now thoroughly frosted over, but the things won't leave the nest - I'm very curious what they have in there that would be so precious...

The tunnels are now starting to be filled with Lemures instead, and the other demons are slowly creeping closer, moving in on the territory -Do they also have nests like this? We will have to track one of them later. My new skill should allow me access to more of the underground. Not like I have mapped all available paths anyway, there is just so much to do all of a sudden. And I've been avoiding going to the street level ever since her majesty's visit to the tower.

—I want to go check on the old lair. Sigh, let's move back for now, I would give the nest another week. Those bugs are fucking resilient.

...

——

The sand is slowly shifting under my feet as we stand on a tall dune. The weather is fine...

-Finally we've broken through.

At least three tall stories worth of desert's menace was what we had to dig through. Thankfully the abomination provided enough juice that I've felt comfortable with going through with it in one go.

Now though, I slightly regret using all that mana on making this passage. We are standing on a very wide and flat dune that with time will either uncover the tower, or bury it even deeper -depending on where the wind blows. My new way in exits on the side of the huge mass of sand, so I'm unsure how long it will be serviceable but the sand seems to be slowly moving away from around it. May be after a storm or two there will be a spire of glass jutting out of the landscape among the dunes.

I did want to have a second way in from the surface, but we might need to figure out something else.

-Now then, I believe we have enough time to go visit the old lair. Especially with our much higher stats we should be able to make the trip in a reasonable amount of time. Checking my equipment I turn towards the lone mountain visible from this high—

And a bright red light erupts from the sand, just as I've made that first step...

-The fuck. Now of all times?

I can feel that this ritual is a very poorly made one, sloppy job. I could likely just ignore it and not even bother, won't even be that hard.

The provided offering though makes me take a deep *Sigh. —Fucking finally, I was beginning to worry. A mischievous idea paints a sly smile on my face. With this new skill I can get back on Circa for having me wait this long for my share of loot. *Huhuhu This is going to be golden, can't wait to see the look on her face.

Activating it - and after making sure everything is in order, I accept the summons that offer me a small rabbit for the trouble. Glee clear in my expression in the anticipation of the prank.

...

————