After Lilyth had left, Aki decided to quickly take care of her levelling situation. She opened up her character sheet:
Basic Details Name Aki Race Demonborn Gender Female Age 19 Level 5 (150/3000) Class Duelist Rank Novice Perk Points 2
Attributes Physical Progress Mental Progress Strength 10 7% Intelligence 12 43% Dexterity 16 82% Wisdom 10 20% Agility 14 28% Willpower 10 76% Endurance 10 43% Cunning 12 47% Vitality 10 87% Resilience 14 14% Perception 14 0% Faith 12 0% Appearance 11 0% Charisma 12 45%
Skills
Lore - General Name Rank Level Progress Insight Novice 5 67%
Lore - Humanities Name Rank Level Progress Dwynveian Literature Novice 2 0% Dwynveian History Novice 3 0%
Social Name Rank Level Progress Acting Novice 15 31%
Survival - General Name Rank Level Progress Sense of Direction Apprentice 22 32% Stealth Novice 1 23% Acrobatics Novice 10 42% Climbing Novice 8 32%
Survival - Nature Name Rank Level Progress Woodsmanship Novice 6 13% Herbology Novice 1 4% Tracking Novice 4 41%
Martial - Swords Name Rank Level Progress Falchions - Dual Wield Novice 9 1% Falchions - Single Novice 2 4%
Martial - Improvised Name Rank Level Progress Throwing Novice 7 34%
Martial - Magitek Name Rank Level Progress Handgun Novice 1 12%
Crafting - Cooking Name Rank Level Progress General Novice 9 54%
Arcana Name Rank Level Progress Flame Novice 1 3%
Traits Name Level Progress Monophobia 4/10 Special Duelist's Flourish 3 12%
Abilities Name Rank Level Progress Abyssal Spark Novice 3 12% Lesser Abyssal Bolt Novice 4 52%
Aki decided to put her two perk points into using her Magitek gun. She quite liked it, as the Lance of Longinus allowed her to support Lilyth from a distance with less risk of accidentally hurting her. After seeing what Löwe's fireball did to her girlfriend's stomach, Aki didn't want to put her through it herself.
Your Magitek Handgun skill has increased to level 3 (0% total progress to level 4)
You have spent 2 Perk Points (Current Number of Perk Points: 0)
She would need to ask Lilyth who this Longinus was. And for the matter… who Löwe was. Her girlfriend seemed to know a lot about him based on their banter. Aki was also very curious about the Haans insult Lilyth directed at him.
Aki sighed. She hated not being in the know. When watching them fight, she felt like she was a witness to some ancient feud.
At any rate, Aki did not want to waste time while waiting for Lilyth. She figured out she could spend the time rummaging through Löwe’s lab, as, so far, she had only had a chance for a cursory search. One thing Aki really wanted to find was more mana crystals for the Lance of Longinus, as she used quite a lot of its charge during the fight.
Item: The Lance of Longinus
Class: Weapon - Magitek - Handgun
Rarity: Artifact - Extremely Rare
Durability: 34/40
Charge: 40/100
Ammunition: Small Mana Crystals
Effect: Launches a magical bolt of any of the arcana types the user is proficient with. Each shot consumes five charges and a small amount of mana of the user.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Huh? It is now down to five charges per shot? It used to be six. Is this the effect of my being better at using it?
Still, Aki couldn't help but believe that 8 shots wouldn't amount to much.
First, she checked the dresser with the mirror on. There were two drawers and a large cupboard in it. Aki started going through them one by one. The first drawer just contained various knick-knacks, which Aki assumed to be Löwe's personal effects. There was a signed book written in a language she couldn't even begin to decipher. This was the first time she saw a script from Earth and was amazed Lilyth could even read that. She also found a booklet that had a very realistic image of Löwe in it. It was so life-like that if it wasn't in black-and-white she would have thought she was looking at the man himself. Other things there included weird button things; coloured cloth rectangles; and a red band with a white circle and a black broken cross. She saw that particular symbol on most of the items in the drawer. More things to ask Lilyth about.
The next drawer contained a number of more interesting and seemingly immediately useful items. First, and most important were seven small shiny seven centimetre-long four-sided prisms ending with pyramids.
Item: Small Mana Crystal
Class: Magitek - Power Source
Rarity: Coven-made - Common
Durability: 5/5
Charge: 100/100
Traits:
* Rechargeable (limited) - You can channel mana through the object to restore its charge. (2 recharges remaining).
Aki checked them all and saw they were all fully charged, so she put them on top of the dresser. She hoped to find some sort of a small bag to keep them in, as they would have trouble retrieving them from her satchel at a moment's notice. She didn't want them to get damaged.
The next object in the drawer was a golden pendant on a thin strap. She examined it and saw that it could be opened. Inside there was another lifelike black-and-white picture of a human woman. She had long curly hair and was smiling. There was something engraved on the side opposite of the picture.
Aki fiddled around with the image side and discovered there was a piece of glass protecting the picture. She managed to remove it and took out the image. She then dropped the two items into the drawer, closed the pendant and put it into her satchel.
If this is gold it could be valuable, she thought.
The final item in the drawer was a key. Aki looked at the padlocked chest. Could the key be used to open it? Before checking that she opened the cupboard and saw that it was filled to the brim with alchemical components. Her eyes lit up when she saw that. They could be worth a fortune. But she realised that leaving with them was not in the cards. They had limited carrying capacity and she didn't want to fill Lilyth's backpack with stuff that they maybe could sell.
As Aki got up, her gaze fell on the magic mirror. She didn't like it. Something at the back of her head told Aki that it was possible someone could be watching her through that. Was it just paranoia?
Still, she didn't like taking chances. She pulled out the Lance of Longinus and shot the mirror dead centre. Several blue lightning bolts flashed around the resultant hole, and one of them arced into the mana crystals Aki left on the dresser. The girl realised what was about to happen and threw herself on the ground. She wasn't fast enough and the resultant explosion slightly singed her back and the tip of her tail.
'Ow…’ Aki moaned, as her hearing slowly returned.
She slowly gathered herself from the floor and looked at the results of her work.
All that was left of the mirror were mangled parts of its frame and shards of glass. There was also a massive hole in the top of the drawer and the insides of the first drawer have been vaporised.
'Oops,’ Aki laughed mirthlessly, the fact she just lost all the extra ammo for her handgun dawning on her.
I could have just removed the mana crystal from the mirror, she realised.
Out of frustration, Aki kicked the mortal remains of the dresser and, feeling horrible about the situation, she walked over the chest. The girl tried the key on the padlock, something inside clicked and it unlocked. Aki slowly opened the chest and found two thick books and a pouch inside.
The first tome was an alchemical formulary. Aki’s heart beat harder after seeing that. She had wanted to learn alchemy ever since her mom taught her a bit about plants and herbs before she passed away. Unfortunately, the village herbalist said that “the day she would teach a hellspawn the Art, would be the day the Abyss froze over”.
Tears started flowing to Aki's eyes at the memories. She quickly wiped them off. This was no time for them. And who knew? Maybe they would find a teacher willing to take her on in Ror-Bhyk. Rumours said people were more accepting of her… her kind there.
If not… well… she could always use perk points to learn it, but based on her experience with learning skills with those it just wasn't the same. It was the easy way, and perk points were hard enough to come by as it was, and would be harder with each level.
Eager to check the book out, Aki browsed through it. Most of the formulas were written in disciplined minimalist handwriting, but all the later ones were the weird script Aki saw on Löwe's trinkets. She put the book aside, assuming Lilyth would also like to take a look at it.
Maybe I can ask Lilyth to help me with this.
Upon looking through the second book, Aki realised her girlfriend would be very interested in the second book. It was a journal with entries written by the same two authors as the formulary. Out of curiosity, Aki started reading the first page and frowned. The entry was dated to Year 1327 of the Imperial Calendar. It was now 1643, meaning the entry was made over three hundred years before. How was that possible? Moving on from that, Aki saw that the author was talking about some experiments and their results, but the girl couldn't make heads or tails out of it, so she closed the journal with a sigh. Maybe Lilyth would understand this stuff better.
Aki put both books on the catafalque to keep them out of any potential harm’s way and then picked up the pouch. There was a rune inside of it.
Item: Rune of “Necrotic Blast”
Class: Magical - Umbral Arcana
Rarity: Extremely Rare
Durability: 10/10
Description: Allows the user to learn the “Necrotic Blast” Spell. Casting the spell without sufficient knowledge of Umbral Arcana may lower its effectiveness and/or cause it to fail
Spell Effect: Sends a torrent of corrosive necrotic energy towards the target
Cost to learn: 2 Perk Point
Aki put the rune inside the pouch and placed the bag back into the chest.
Yeah. No need to give that one to Lilyth.
Everything she saw about her girlfriend suggested she would not want to use that spell, but… why tempt her?
Aki checked out the other rooms next. The one to the left actually linked to two more chambers. One contained a sink and a pump-like silver pipe. There was a round metal circle on top of it. Aki turned it both ways and eventually water started flowing out of it. Aki touched it and noticed it was warm. She used the chance to wash her face. It felt so good. She turned the wheel the other way and the water stopped flowing. She examined the pipe more closely and found water and fire runes on it powered by a mana crystal. Feeling a bit guilty, she removed it.
Item: Small Mana Crystal
Class: Magitek - Power Source
Rarity: Coven-made - Common
Durability: 5/5
Charge: 32/100
Traits:
* Rechargeable (limited) - You can channel mana through the object to restore its charge. (1 recharge remaining).
It would have to do.
Wait a minute… it’s possible the crystal from my gun can be charged a few more times too.
Removing it took some work, but it was good to figure out this in a calmer setting.
Item: Small Mana Crystal
Class: Magitek - Power Source
Rarity: Coven-made - Common
Durability: 5/5
Charge: 40/100
Traits:
* Rechargeable (limited) - You can channel mana through the object to restore its charge. (2 recharge remaining).
Okay. Feeling much better about it now. Too bad I will likely have to rely on Lilyth to charge those here. I really envy the amount of mana she has.
The last room was Löwe’s bedroom. There was nothing special to it - just a bed. Aki really wanted to lie down on it, but there was no time for it, which was a shame since it looked very comfortable. She checked under it, but there was nothing there.
Maybe there is time to lie down a bit after all. But then a message appeared before her eyes.
Notice: You have assisted in destroying a forbidden substance. You have received 1 perk point for this action. (Current Number of Perk Points: 1)
So Lilyth managed to destroy it after all. Figure I might as well go meet her along the way.
Aki grabbed the books and headed out.