The mood soured after that talk, and it kept sour for a whole week. We didn't go outside, I didn't go to the plantation. Anjou and Mirabelle ignored me at all times. The envy they were feeling was something hideous. Every cold glance, every scoff was a knife on Apricot's delicate heart.
News of the catastrophe came through servants and passersby. The people dislodged by the demon started to buy huts outside the walls. Nobody wants to live where a freaking twelve-stories tall demon died. I bet the elite of the city was cheering, now that they wouldn't have to worry about the dregs of society inside the walls.
The former slums, however, would need to be purified before the land could be used again. Priests would need to be dispatched and a very complicated and expensive ritual would take place. A Church doing what it does best, sucking money from the economy for no tangible benefit.
Which led me to think. This is a world with magic, but magic is seldomly seen. I mean, spells, spellcasting, not Skills and Perks that use MP. The requirements for a spellcaster Class must be hideously difficult to meet.
Three weeks after the incident, I was summoned before the Master. I took the core with me and went to the plantation. I found Gloria by the gate. She just said, "He's in the training room," and followed me. Training room meant the gymnasium-dojo.
I entered and a lot of black-clad [Assassins] were assembled, forming two rows with the Master in an ornate but entirely matte black leather armor in the middle. In a corner, there was a table with three kegs ready to serve booze. Once I entered, everyone started hooting and raising mugs of ale. The Master raised his own mug, whistled, and silence reigned.
"There she is! Our {Demon Slayer}, the champion from Bundeus' quest! Killer of the Demon Lord, an anointed {Hero}! Our very own Death Princess!"
I wasn't expecting this. No, sir.
"We saw the cat mirage climbing the demon. The clean cut that beheaded the behemoth! And we know she has a magic core of insurmountable power with her."
It would be nice if I had any idea how valuable that shit was.
"We also learned her Class rank up. A [Silver Slayer]. The bane of demons and all creatures of the night. We are proud of you. We truly are. We are not even angry that you went and murdered your niece's suitors. After all, a more caring aunt does not exist in this world!" He said, making a show and a standup comedy act.
The [Assassins] assembled laughed and downed their drinks. Some of them went for a refill and soon the whole assembly was one big confraternization.
His face became serious, "Now, why the fuck did go and murder them?"
Oh, boy.
"The Pellows were plotting to murder one Lord Ackerton and my niece once the wedding was confirmed," I reported formally.
"And who the fuck would they hire to murder me?" He guffawed. Everyone laughed with him. That kind of "oh boss you are so funny" laugh everyone that ever worked in a corporation has to know. "Anyone want to get a try?" Gloria raised her hand. "Fuck you, Gloria."
Another burst of peals of sincere laughter. Gloria winked and blew him a sultry kiss.
He waved his hand in a "go on" motion. "Pavel Hendra was hunting people."
"And you killed him and released the prisoners. Okay. Nevermind he was the Baron's son. You're a {Hero} now. You outrank pretty much everyone in this city. And the third? What happened that the Grenfell's' apothecary blew up? Did they {Overcharge} you again?"
"Is that a Skill?" I gasped. Some laughed.
"Of course it is. Makes you pay more and you don't even notice. You also don't remember to check the log until a long time passed."
Damn. They were ripping me off. "No. They were bleeding a little girl and summoning a demon."
"The Grenfells summoned a Demon Lord? How the fuck did they gather enough energy to summon one? Did they kill only the little girl?"
"Yes," I answered with a clean face.
The Master looked at me and gasped. "You killed them and their blood added to the ritual."
"I am in no position to either affirm or deny that," I replied. "I gained no Diabolism related trait."
The master waked next to me and put a hand on my shoulder. "You are a genius. Do you think we can summon the other twelve and get their cores as well?"
"How much is that thing worth anyway?"
He snorted. It was the first time I saw the Master with that face of disbelief. "The core is worth two Kingdoms like the one you live right now. I'm not lying."
"It is the kind of thing people will commit genocide for."
"You bet."
"How do I get rid of it?"
"Sacrifice it to the gods. They will grant you a perk or two. You have little time. There are groups already on their way to fight for the core."
"That's why you recalled everyone here," I said and looked around. Even the [Assassin] working as a maid in my family's mansion is here.
"Indeed. Forget Prince Bodivka's insurrection. We are talking about churches, Kings, Archmages coming here to get that core. Things will get dicey."
"Fuck," I groaned.
"Indeed. There's more. The Baron received a Royal order summoning the demon slayer. And now that the amount of people that know it is you is not zero, you have to answer. Your niece is already lamenting her woes to her friends. How her attention-hogging aunt is bragging endlessly how great she was."
I looked at the woman that works undercover protecting my family. She nodded slowly.
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"Fuck," I groaned.
"You know, a maiden shouldn't say 'fuck' so much. But we are proud of you. In other circumstances, I would have to censure you for murdering when I specifically told you not to but that was before you fucked up your investigation so catastrophically that you came around through the other side."
I looked at him. "You didn't use to speak like that. Is that liquor I smell in your breath? Have you, of all people, Master, been drinking?"
"Yes. And now everybody will drink. We have a lot to celebrate," He slurred a bit. "Someone get Her Highness here something to drink!"
----------------------------------------
I withdrew to my bedroom at my lab after I had enough alcohol. Which was as much as I wanted. I couldn't get drunk. I changed into a linen single-piece dress that was what went for nightwear and laid on my bed. I looked at the core glowing in my hand. A useless piece of garbage. Unless what the Master said was true and I could trade it for one or two perks with a god. It didn't even need to be good perks.
"Wyxnos, are you there? Are you listening? Wyxnos?" I said in English.
Nothing happened. Why should he answer my call? He was a god and he was busy managing the System. "Speaking of managing the System, I liked the new Class system. Much better and also focused."
I expected him to pop in his business suit and say "thank you". He didn't show up.
The next day, I went back home. I went through the back so I missed the two ladies that came for tea with Anjou. But I picked up some of the conversations.
"... Introduce us to your {Demon Slayer} aunt, [Lady] Anjou."
"Hehe," Anjou giggled. "She's very busy, you know. But I'll give her your regards."
I went to my room and found Olive there on my bed. She smiled and jumped off when I entered. "Apricot, there's something I need to tell you."
"Anjou is using me to gain popularity. I know that."
"It is bad. People are demanding to see the core. The Baron sent a message."
"Where it is?"
"With Anjou, who else. She read it. The Baron wants to offer a banquet in your honor tomorrow."
"Well, too bad I'm busy. Anjou can go as my proxy," I brushed it off.
"I'm worried, Apricot!" She tapped her feet nervously. "I researched around. That core is too valuable."
"Yes, I know. Word has already spread. We will have all sorts of factions fighting for it. That's why we are going to destroy it."
"Destroy it? But it is too valuable!"
"I don't care about money. Anjou's boutique can pay for this household. Why should I keep an item that carries such a curse with me."
"What are you going to do with it?"
"Give it to an old acquaintance. Maybe he will even reward us with something good. Let me focus a bit here."
It was a loophole to avoid my unspeakable curses. which weren't unforgivable, thankfully. I used Nenandil to tell Olive how to pray for Wyxnos and we tried calling him. It took some time for the girl to vocalize the word "Anomaly" in English but she managed it. Olive's prayer went unanswered. Either Wyxnos wasn't interested or he couldn't make an appearance. Maybe the other deities were keeping an eye on the core too and it would devolve into a dispute.
"It didn't work," Olive lamented.
I hugged her. "Don't worry!" I also sent a message to Nenandil.
"Wyxnos is the God that rules over the System. He's very busy," The fairy said.
I talked to Olive for a while longer and she went to sleep. Alone in my room, I looked at the core.
Staring straight up, I said. "Well, you don't want this. Do you, Wyxnos? Last chance. I'm going to eat this core."
I took a bite of the crystal spokes. It tasted of sulfur and the crystal shards hurt my mouth. The damage was minimal and I kept eating and swallowing crystal with blood.
"Delicious," I lied.
I had to shift to regenerate as I ate. But little by little the spokes vanished down my gullet. I felt a bit of heartburn but nothing my enhanced regeneration couldn't handle. I bit the center of the core and I felt as if electricity was running down to my stomach. That tingling and numbing feeling. My health started to go down fast. A hundred points per second. I forced myself to keep eating. The core was glowing and I feared it would blow up. Instead of stopping, I started to swallow whole chunks without chewing.
> You displayed a willingness to devour one of the most valuable objects in the world.
>
> You already have the Eat Anything perk. Selecting Alternative.
>
> You gained the Eat Magic (ultra-rare) perk. You can gain nourishment from magic. Reduce damage taken from magical sources by at least 25% up to 80%, depending on your hunger.
>
> You devoured a level 59 magic core.
>
> Source: Demon.
>
> Your silver blood negated demonic corruption.
>
> Divine energy sent to [REDACTED].
>
> You gained 536,691 Exp (34,810 base x 10,000 perk x 0,0001 curse x 3.05 perk x 3,37 perk).
>
> You gained +10 Strength.
>
> You gained +10 Endurance.
>
> You gained +9 Mind.
>
> You gained +10 Willpower.
>
> You gained +20 Magic.
>
> Attribute bonuses were split with your familiar.
>
> Attributes above the cap were redistributed.
>
> You cannot gain Attributes from lower-leveled cores.
Half a million was a drop in the bucket. I needed more than two hundred million Exp for the next level. Regarding the core, that was the best I could do. Eat the damn thing and be done with it. I summoned my familiar.
"Nenandil, how are you feeling?"
"You are insane, did I ever tell you that?" She starts to buzz around me, angry. There was an undertone of joy in her voice.
"Maybe. Did you gain the Attribute points?"
She grinned. "Yes. Twenty-nine points."
I sighed, "At least half of them weren't wasted."
"I don't think your Attribute Points were wasted. Think about it. The System is all about fairness and balances. Did the message say the points were lost, or something else?"
"Redistributed. But to where? Of course. How couldn't I see it? There are hidden Attributes. That Spiritual Power you mentioned, should come from some Attribute that's hidden! That's where all my points are going!"
But it was a LOT of points. Let's see... More than three hundred. I spent a few hours looking at my Status when I saw a curse I've never paid any mind to.
> Dumpstat X (ultra-rare): Your starting Attributes have a -100 penalty.
Each hidden Attribute took a hundred points to get back to the starting point. How many existed?
"Nenandil, compared to a normal person, how strong is my spiritual energy? How much SP do I have?"
She looked at me. "Compared to a normal person? Several times. Compared to your boss or that Gloria woman, about double or triple."
So it was high. That was very good to know. But when I started as an Amoeba, I had values closer to zero. Not minus one hundred. But I gained sixty or seventy-five points back then. Maybe the amoeba wasn't the first life, but the first one in which I gained consciousness.
I had no way of knowing that. It was strange enough I had the sensations of moving as a unicellular organism.
Pushing those thoughts aside, I fell asleep.
----------------------------------------
Wyxnos, god of Logic, watched the Anomaly logs. He was tempted to go after that core. He could use its attunement to strengthen the planar boundaries and block stronger demons from crossing over. Maybe even make it costly to cross, sharply reducing the amount of time they could spend in this dimension.
It would cause trouble with the other gods. Bundeus, for example, was keen on getting the core to parade around the world as a Holy Relic. And in recruiting the "Hero" to his church. After all, he sponsored the quest to kill the demon.
He still hadn't figured out that the one to grab his Quest was the Anomaly. That could lead him to raze another settlement.
But Wyxnos had another, more important, and long-term piece of information to obtain with the core. He knew that the two most probable outcomes were either offering it to a deity or consuming it. She tried both and fortunately it was Wyxnos they'd called.
Consuming the core allowed him to track the path of the Divine energy as the curse hidden in the Anomaly's status did its job. While he couldn't see the curse, he could study its effects.
The energy went through a well-hidden conduit back to the Earth dimension. He captured its particular resonant pattern and confronted that data against the known pantheons.
The result was one of ten he expected. Nordic. The Norse gods weren't ones to use such subterfuge. Except for one.
Wyxnos grinned. "I found you, Loki."
He looked up and started to program a routine to track that conduit. Finally, he gave the System an order.
"Change [REDACTED] on the Anomaly's status to "Loki."
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