Magum looked at me, stunned. “Did you just punch a demon aristocrat unconscious?”

“Barely. It won’t last long.”

“It shouldn’t last at all!” He said, flustered. A moment later, regaining his composure, he continued, “that is to say, her healing factor should make it impossible.”

“We’ve been over this.” I said, before pointing my thumbs at myself. “Full. Of. Surprises.”

Lydia took the opportunity to chime in. “I find it’s best if you just stop trying to apply logic to him. You’ll never get through a conversation.”

Upon hearing her words, his dour expression returned. “Exorcism can be a bit tricky for my skill set. It’s not typically resolved through alchemy.”

“Not typically? So, it can be?”

“Anything CAN be. Alchemy is the process of extracting magic from matter and reshaping it to the alchemist's desire. However, that doesn’t mean it’s a practical way to approach it.”

“What would you need?”

“No idea. I’ve never done it, so the first step would be research. It’s far easier and faster to find a high level priest to perform the ritual than to have me figure out the process.”

I activated Meditation to speed up my thoughts

‘Goal: Make Jessie well. There isn’t a particular time limit as I can keep rendering her unconscious, especially if I max out non-lethal methods. However, there are people after her. First, that demon, Durzog may still be alive; in fact, he probably is since I didn’t get an XP notification. Although, he is sentient… so it’s unclear if he would generate XP. I’ll ask Magum later. Also, there is whoever that other guy worked for. Best to get this done soon.

‘Method: If we take Jesse to a priest, it involves another person in the process who could purposefully or inadvertently betray us or reveal our secrets. Whatever the priest is doing… is it a skill or magic. If it's magic, I’m SOL, but if it’s a skill, I can learn it.’

“Magum, is exorcism a skill or magic?”

“It’s both. You can do it through holy magic or you can do it through diabolism, though the later is frowned upon”

“Because…”

“Because you can also use the skill to summon demons, control demons, and put demons into people. Also, learning it has a tendency to, at best, make people unhinged and, at worst, become downright evil. It’s a restricted skill. If you have it, you’re outcast from society.”

‘And we have a winner.’

“Great, do you have any books on the topic?”

Magum looked back at me, exhausted. “You want to learn a mind corrupting skill to a high level? Are we trying to free your friend in a couple decades?”

“Do you have a book or not?”

“Do you even listen when other people talk?”

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

“I’m sorry, what was that?”

“... No, I don’t own any books on how to summon demonic spirits to this world because that is a bad thing to do.”

I turned, “Lydia, can your people-?”

“Noah, this one is a terrible idea, even for you. The knowledge fucks with people. Especially at higher levels.”

“My mental resistance is off the charts. I can manage the risk.”

“You always do this! Even you have limits.”

“Haven’t I always been right!”

“Remember when you lost your mind and I almost died?”

“One time!”

“What the hell are both of you talking about?” Magum interjected.

“Shut up!” Lydia and I shouted in unison.

“Noah…,” Lydia slowed herself, “what if you're wrong?”

“I'm not wrong.”

“Think, do you know what happens to the world if you go evil or insane? Do you think anyone survives that?

I activated Meditation and considered the possibilities. ‘Shit… she's right.’ I paused. “I just want to... need to save her.”

Lydia gently placed her hand on my shoulder. “And we will. Just in a way that doesn’t risk reducing the planet to a fiery ball of ash.”

The tension eased out of my body. I chuckled. “I knew I kept you around for a reason other than your table manners.”

“You’re an ass,” she said, punching me playfully.

Magum, whose presence had been completely forgotten, cleared his throat. “Did she say fiery ball of ash?”

“Don’t worry, Lydia talked me out of it.”

“... … … I’m still worried.”

“Well, I can’t control that.”

“... … … She’s right.”

“I usually am.” Lydia chimed in.

“Right about what?” I asked.

“You are an ass.” Magum replied.

I smiled and cracked my neck, “So we need a plan B.”

Magum sighed, “Plan A made no sense to begin with, but I suspect you don’t want to clarify that. Regardless, I know a priest who can be trusted to keep a secret, but his circumstances are a bit strange.”

“Stranger than you?”

“You must realize by now that that is just a role I play.”

I rubbed my temples, “How do you know that this priest will keep this a secret and how will it be strange?”

“He’s a friend, and he works in the forgotten library.”

“The what?”

Magum looked at me, incredulous. “You’ve never heard of the forgotten library?”

Lydia chimed in, “Didn’t we tell you. Noah is a deranged hermit that I found living alone in the woods. I took pity on him and am now teaching him the ways of civilization. ”

Magum looked me up and down. “I suspect that that is truer than either of you believe it is.”

“You BOTH are free to leave whenever you want.” I snapped.

“Gre-,” Magum cut himself off, pausing momentarily. “You want to save your friend, right? Then, you need me.”

“”... Fine, tell me more about the library.

*****************************

Noah had set Magum free when told him to leave. So Magum could have walked away, free of the system’s retribution, but, in the moment before he left, he had had a realization. He understood why the system was working so hard to push them together, and it had nothing to do with making Noah a Hero.

‘Without some guidance, this idiot is going to kill us all.’