Chapter 8

[Quest ~ Call to arms (Complete)

You have been called out for your recent actions in massacre the inhabitants of Hope Springs.

Defeat Militia Zealot 1/1

Defeat Militia Fodder 6/6

Rewards:

- Lowered reputation with the New Republica Militia (Neutral -> Hatred)

- Exp

- Leather Boots]

"Really, that's it." Mercy said even as she slipped into the System generated leather boots.

"Yeah, so did I." Mercy said with a sigh.

[You have slain the following:

Militia men Lv. 7 x 6

Militia Zealot Lv. 10]

[You have gained the following stats by using Devour:

+ 4 CON

+ 2 INT

+ 2 STR]

[Due to blessing of Luxuria you gained +4 CHA]

[Firearm Proficiency increased. 1-> 3]

[Devour has increased. 5 -> 6]

[You have leveled up. Lv. 8 ->9. You have gained 3 free stat points]

"Not even enough to get me to level 10. What a rip off." Mercy mumbled testing the boots by tapping her toes on the ground.

Deemed good enough, Mercy started walking around the rest of the village. She kept one of her guns out, and hid away her tail. She decided to be vigilant for any one thinking of ambushing her as she cleared the houses along her path. As she went along she made sure to pick up anything that seemed mildly interesting or valuable. Pretty much all of it wound up being junk. Still she stored it away.

Going through the entire settlement she determined that there was no one left. That or they were super good at hiding. In either case Mercy figured it was as good as time as any to put the continuous indiscriminate murder on hold for a bit. Instead she found a comfortable spot in the best looking house, which really wasn't saying much, that either belonged to the local head honcho, or a mildly successful merchant. In either case the place had a nice carpet. Sitting down she took the classic meditative pose and closed her eyes.

"Getting in the zone so as to tap into the metaphysical underlying of the universe."

"I'm trying to feel the magic in the air so as to regain my magic based skills. Natural as I am at the fista cuffs and wanton slaughter I prefer to deal with the arcane." She explained.

"Meh, it's as good a place as any." She said and shut out her passenger from her mind.

The last time Mercy had done this, it had taken her weeks. She had strained and struggled to feel even a spark. I her pursuit she had studied every bit of magical theory she could get her hand on. Considering the influence of her family there was a lot. Upon finally getting it, she had been beyond proud, yet at the same time horribly disappointed. As much as she loved magic, she was in the end lacking in natural talent. Her capacity for magic was small, destined to forever be at the level of a hedge witch. Still that was fine, and she had made peace with it. Then her all of her hard work was stolen from her, forcing her to do it over again.

"Mercy, you've done it once, you can do it again." She said to herself as she blew out a breath. "Hells, it should be easier this time."

As it turned out, she was right. Barely a few seconds into meditating she found the spark. Though rather than a whisp what she found was an inferno, and upon touching it she burned.

Mercy didn't reply. Her teeth were grit as she attempted to hold back rush of magical energy flowing through her. It filled her every portion of her being, running through her veins, and past the metaphysical parts of body like meridians and datians. Within her the Symbian attempted to stemmy the surge to no avail. More to the point, Mercy actively pulled her back.

"No, let it go!" Mercy practically yelled. "Let it flow."

The Symbian did as told, if reluctantly, and let the magic flow. Feeling it, Mercy moved to direct it in a similar way to how she had come to direct the ooze, only without relying the System as a crutch. She closed her eyes, her mind going through the countless notes she taken over the years. While her innate talent had been low, her capability to learn was not. Focusing her magic in her finger tip she drew an intricate magic circle in the air. Desire, will and power in tandem she pushed the torrent residing within her toward the circle. She kept pushing until it no longer felt as though she were about to pop.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Able to breath a bit easier Mercy watched as the magic circle activated. She watched as her energy swirled and mixed with the ambient magic in the air. Her innate demonic flavour coalesced with the alien taint of the void, and the abundance of death in the air thanks to her little murder spree. It all came together concentrating into a tiny black ball that shaped itself into an egg. Standing up right on the carpet before Mercy the egg grew. It went from the size of a chicken egg, and rapidly increased to ostrich, before stopping at Griffin. All the while it sucked in magical energy like a glutton, draining Mercy.

The inferno within her died down to the level of a brilliant bon fire. It settled into a natural flow made easier by her expanded channels. Her body settled, no longer being ripped apart by the seams, and the parts that had were already being repaired by the Symbian. Mercy breathed heavily, her face coated in sweat and blood. Her own blood at that. She noticed a few System messages waiting to be read, but ignored them for the moment as she focused on the egg. It shook as fine hairline cracks started to form. The cracks grew, along with the shakes, until before long it burst entirely. From it a tiny figure emerged.

Mercy had to agree as she looked upon a small ball of black fluff. Making absolutely no sense on a biological standpoint what came from the egg was a puppy. It had black and silver grey fur with glowing ruby red eyes. It sniffed the air and looked around for a bit until it centered Mercy, at which point it began taking some awkward first steps. It tumbled once or twice receiving a doule 'aww' from Mercy and the Symbian. However it quickly got the hang of walking on its own, and pretty much dashed into Mercy's lap.

[Please provide a name for new familiar]

Mercy paused to think on that. She picked the puppy up and it close to her face. She cocked her head to the side a few times before something came to her.

"Alright, I'm gonna call you Pudding." Mercy said.

"What? You don't like it?" Mercy asked.

"And, your point is?" Mercy asked scratching her new familiar behind the ear.

"Probably for the same reason my grandmother named my succubus mom Chasity, and she in turn named my sisters and I after virtues. We clearly don't have the best naming conventions." she explained. "Besides, he, oh wait, she looked liked pudding, I imagine."

"Well, then that just gives Pudding extra motivation to tear their throats out."Mercy said serious right before baby talking her familiar.

"You're just jealous, that you don't have a name. You don't have one right?"

"Well then, from this point on your name is Grace."

"It's that or Pity. Pick one."

"Good, glad we aggree. Now, lets take a look at what the System has to say."

[The name Pudding has been registered. You may now access your familiar's status page]

Mercy held off on doing that as she checked on her previous messages. Many of them were the usual fair about her being on the brink of death blah, blah, blah. She skipped over those and moved to the good stuff.

[You have gained the skill Mana Manipulation (1)]

[Mana Manipulation has increased. 1 -> 7]

[You have gained the skill Chantless Casting]

[You have succeeded in the creation of a Familiar Beast Egg]

[Your familiar beast egg has successfully hatched into a Grim Hound puppy]

[You have gained the title Arcane Awakening]

[Arcane Awakening ~ Title

You have tapped into the core of being and awoken the true power that laid dormant, while managing to stay alive in the process.

Base MP x 2]

[Your have gained a level. Lv. 9 -> 10. You gain 5 stat points.]

[You have unlocked the right to choose a class]

Mercy smiled, particularly at the last one. She gripped Pudding tightly to her chest, earning a small squeak from the small puppy.

"Alright, let's see what you have for me."

[Class selection is now in progress. Classes ar-]

Having been through it once, Mercy skipped ahead to the good bit.

[Calculatiing class options... 6 options have been found. Please select one of the following:

1) Scion of the Pale ~ Epic

2) Hexen Magus ~ Rare

3) Infernal Caller ~ Uncommon

4) Abyssal Priestess ~ Uncommon

5) Voidmaiden ~ Unique

6) Scholar ~ Common]

Mercy frowned a little that her previous class

[Hexslinger] was no longer there, but understood why. Though seemingly in its place was another class called [Hexen Magus]. In fact most of her classes were rather interesting. Naturally there were some that were simply off the table from the get go, such as [Scion of the Pale]. For one thing, which was perhaps the most important thing, scion classes meant working for the goals or concepts of others. Going by the name she figured it had to do with that tall skinny bastard.

"So, its between [Hexen Magus] and

[Void-maiden]." Mercy said.

"Nope." Mercy replied simply.

She already knew about the classes. She knew how they worked to a certain extent, and felt they didn't really fit her. Plus, it meant dealing with demons or the residents of the abyss on a daily basis which was an automatic no go.

More interested in the other classes she brought them up.

[Hexen Magus ~ Rare

A class that mixes marital combat with mastery of the arcane arts, often fusing the two disciplines.

+5 STR, +5DEX, +5INT +3 free points per level]

18 points per level was nothing to sneeze at considering it was tier 1 class. Still she chose to look at the other interesting choice on the table.

[Void-maiden ~ Unique

You have touched the void, and it has touched you, yet you remain yourself, and intact. Yo-]

The wording was cut off and her vision began to blur. She felt bile come up her throat. She dropped Pudding and scrambled to the side, hurling up a whole lot of nastiness. It was pitch black and almost resembled tar. It burned her throat on the way out and the stench of it all just made her want to hurl out more. It streamed from her mouth in a torrent of awfulness. Her bones shook, and her head felt dizzy.

"What in the hells was that?" she muttered after emptying her stomach of everything she'd ever eaten in her life. Then she saw the System box in front of her face. Wiping her mouth she made to scream out, "Seriously, what the fuck?"

[Congratulations! The class Pale Maiden has automatically been applied to use via the System in conjunction with one or more of your affiliated patrons]