Penny looked out of the back of the bus. Nearly two dozen orcs on giant wolves were chasing after them.
"Does anyone have any ideas?" she asked. "Any skills or something?"
The rest of the girls on the bus shook their heads. No one had any offensive skills to speak of. But she might. Penny pulled up her interface. She had three levels to assign.
Class Options available:
* Fighter Class Options
* Dancer - Basic
* Freedom Fighter - Rare
* Spellcaster Class Options
* Biomancer - Lesser
* Life Mage - Common
* Air Mage - Common
* Warlock - Epic
* Rogue Class Options
* Whore - Basic
* Prostitute - Common
* Assassin - Uncommon
* Ranged Class Options
* Driver - Lesser
* Support Class Options
* Singer - Basic
* Bard - Common
* Priest - Common
* Skald - Epic
* Artisan Class Options
* Musician - Common
Penny’s heart raced as she glanced through the skills. There were too many options and not nearly enough time. She had a few new options, but she quickly narrowed it down to [Warlock] and [Air Mage].
"Does anyone know how any of the Mage classes work?" she asked desperately.
"You select a mage class, grab a magic skill and then you get a couple of spells to choose from," Eve shouted from the front.
Penny nodded before she was sent flying into someone else's chair as Eve rammed through another car as they raced onwards.
"Watch it!!" Penny hissed as she got up from someone's lap.
"Hey, you want to drive? Be my guest!" Eve shouted as the bus shot up onto the sidewalk to avoid a pileup.
"Do you know anything about the [Warlock] Class?" she asked.
"It's something to do with demons," Eve said.
Penny briefly considered her options before picking the [Warlock] class. While [Air Mage] might be what she would have picked normally, right now, she needed power and a lot of it.
She put three levels into [Warlock] and one level into [Enslaved Courtesan], bringing her total free skill points up to Eight
Warlock Skill Options
Skill Points: 8
* Summon Demonic Familiar - Epic
* You can call forth demons from the Abysse with your mana and bend them to your will. A summoned Familiar will last until it dies or the Warlock dismisses it.
* The Demons Level is equal to 1000 MP per level +2% per skill level
* Beware! While a Demon is bound to follow your orders, a Demon's only true loyalties are to its own interests. Fiends want to fight, Succubus want to fuck. Of course, these are all generalizations, and every demon is an exception to the rule. Be careful, or the demon might kill you and run off to do its own shit.
* Blood Conversion - Inferior
* Use HP instead of MP for Spells
* Chant Reduction - Lesser
* Reduce the chant requirements of all spells and skills by 0.2% per skill level.
* Air Magic
* Gain a 0.5% increase to all Air magic per skill level
* Art of Life
* Gain a 2.5% increase to all Life magic per skill level
* Channel Magic
* You are able to extend the cast time for spells, allowing you to regulate the mana flow so you can cast spells requiring more MP than you would normally be able to provide in a single sitting. Increase the cast time by 5% per skill level.
* Demonology
* +1.25% to your mastery of rituals
* The Demons level is increased by an additional 3% per skill level
* Gain knowledge of several standard and Infernal Rituals
* Increase the number of demons you can summon by 1 for every ten levels in this skill you have for a total of 11 demonic familiars.
Courtesan Skill Options
Skill Points: 8
* Slaves Privacy - Common
* Everyone has a right to basic privacy. But as a Slave, you need privacy; otherwise, your master might kill you. Now, you can block one skill level of [Appraisal], [Inspection], and [Analysis] per level of this skill. Any skill you block will instead see a status you can prepare to make yourself appear far weaker than you actually are.
* Pheromone Control - Rare
* Attempts to inflict 1 of the following status effects on all targets within range: [Anger], [Arousal], [Calm], [Depressed], [Excited], [Terror], [Nauseous]. Increases the effectiveness of this ability by 2% for every skill level and every 10 points of the CHR Attribute. Has no effect on creatures without a sense of smell.
* Slayer of Men - Epic
* Your armed attack always counts as [Manslayer] and inflicts triple damage to creatures of the [Humanoid] type.
* Get Naked - Epic
* You target one or multiple individuals and then cause all of their clothing to fall off.
* Upgrade!!! Storyteller → Fertile Fascination - Historic
* Gain true control over your reproductive rights. With this skill, you can alter your fertility, allowing you to turn reproductive organs on and off with a thought.
* Increase the general fertility of the user by 5% per skill level
* Increase disease resistance by 1% per skill level until it becomes Disease immunity.
* +10% CHA
Penny was briefly overwhelmed by her choices, but the howls of the wolves snapped her out of it again. She was going to die if she didn't figure this out. She needed to think. She really wanted to take [Summon Demonic Familiar], but she didn't have the Mana to even summon a level 1 demon, which also ruled out [Demonology]. She considered if [Get Naked] might do something. [Pheromone Control] might work against the nose of the wolves. [Fertile Fascination] sounded incredibly useful for her sex life but not for surviving today.
"Um, Penny, if you're going to do something, we could really use it now!" Eve said.
"Give me a minute," Penny said.
The three skills she could think of that could be useful were [Summon Demonic Familiar], [Get Naked] and [Pheromone Control]. But how to make them work? [Air Magic] would boost [Pheromone Control], but what would she need for [Summon Demonic Familiar]? Then she felt the warm sensation of Eve's [Aura of the Sun]. What if she also picked up [Blood Conversion], [Channel Magic] and maybe [Demonology]? She immediately assigned her skills and put everything into Intelligence.
Intelligence felt weird. She had taken drugs before, and this was a bit like that. Her mind felt cleaner, bigger, and sharper, like she was shaking the imaginary rust off her brain. She checked her mana pool, noticing she now had enough mana for at least a level 1 Demon. Then, the entire bus lurched to the side of the road. They bounced off a parked car, smashing the windows on the left side of the bus.
"PENNY, we just lost a tire?!" Eve called out.
"Everyone, I need you to heal me as fast as you can!!" Penny said as she activated her new skills.
Her mana and health started to drop. Fortunately, her health was dropping a lot slower than her mana. Unfortunately, [Channel Magic] was next to worthless at level 1. Penny looked up, noticing that the wolves were nearly on top of them. The orcs were maybe a meter behind the bus, getting ready to pop a second tire, but her skill was fully charged.
"Eve hit the brake," Penny called out.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
"What?!" Eve screeched. "Are you out of your mind?"
Eve’s knuckles whitened as the wolves loomed closer. Penny’s eyes darted between the rear of the bus and her dwindling mana.
"Don't argue, just do it!!" she shot back.
Eve slammed her foot on the brake. The tires screeched in protest just before they crashed into them like a wave of fur and fury. Their bodies broke against the back of the bus like a bunch of crash test dummies. There was the sound of metal ripping as the back of the bus seemed to drop by another foot, but it was the sound of bones cracking that made Penny want to throw up. But she had just hit 2000 points of mana. Releasing her skill, she prayed for the biggest and meanest demon to appear on top of the pile of orcs.
She didn't quite get her wish; rings of Infernal script appeared at the back of the bus, and a Demon dropped on top of them. The Demon was painfully thin with no skin, its muscles completely visible, and two horns rising from its head. Its eye sockets were empty. It had sharp black bone claws on its fingers and toes and large knee and elbow spikes, almost looking like the Shredder was only made out of meat and black bones instead of metal. Two massive blades of black bone emerged from its wrist as every single spike across its body started to glow molten red.
DING!!!
Congratulations!!!
You have Summoned (Des - Lesser Fiend)
Due to Summoning in combat, the system determines your summoning. For further summons, we recommend you take the time to pick your summons from the list. The system will determine your summon based on immediate needs, not long-term needs.
If you wish to change your summon, please refer to the [Demonology] skill for the correct ritual or sunder this skill.
All the other girls on the bus immediately moved towards the front and away from the literal murder demon at the back. It stood there just staring at her as the orcs got back to their feet. Penny realized it was waiting for orders.
"Kill the orcs!" she screamed.
The demon didn't even acknowledge the order. Instead, it just turned and ripped through the back of the bus, tearing apart the metal with its superheated bone before it started to hack and stab at any Orc in range. It danced through the orcs, sliding past them as its spiky body ripped open flesh.
"Holy shit," Penny breathed.
"Go go, go." someone said.
"I can't. The gas pedal isn't doing anything." Eve screamed.
"Everyone off the bus," Penny called out.
She led the way as she opened the bus door and lept out into the winter air. An Orc stood there, knife at the ready.
"[Get Naked]!!" Penny screamed.
The Orcs' heavy furs all flopped to the ground like a bad porno. The orc was so startled it tried to cover up its genitals, which was when Penny shoved her bronze dagger into its neck. The orc spat blood as it grabbed her. Penny raked her nails across the demon's arm as she kept frantically stabbing at it with her knife.
She wasn't even sure if it was the poison or the neck injury that caused the orc to drop to the ground. She didn't even care. Eve was already directing the other girls to run east past 152 St and down 56 Ave.
Penny didn't have time to think. She just followed after them as the Orc and the Demon battled each other behind her. Penny turned to see what was going on and nearly stopped as she spied the demon. It was a creature of pure mayhem, yet it was weirdly elegant, almost like a dancer mixed with a superheated blender. It didn't so much attack the orcs as dance among them, allowing its many super-heated bone spikes to drag across their bodies, leaving painful burns and cuts.
Penny tried not to focus on it. As she raced to catch up with Eve
"How long do you think it will last?" Eve asked.
"No idea. But we should be as far away from that fight when it ends as possible." Penny said as the scene of carnage disappeared, and they made their way down 56 Ave and into the freezing cold of the night. Everyone huddled around Eve, and her [Aura of the Sun] was their only heat source in the winter night.
Penny took a moment to look at some of her notifications. She found out she could learn three air spells. She picked up the spell wind shell. It created a sphere of wind around her and the other girls. It protected them from the wind but not much else. Normally, it would only take five kilometres, not even an hour, to get to Surrey. But it was dark, freezing cold, and the ground was covered in a carpet of snow.
If that wasn't bad enough. Some of the other girls were having difficulties keeping up. Their clothing was taken from the kwantline gift shop. So most of the group were shivering around Eve and her [Aura of the Sun] for warmth, their faces pale and exhausted. Penny tried to wipe the blood from her clothes. But she realized that, at this point, her sweater was permanently dyed red. Her heart was still racing. She had killed things. Orc and goblins, maybe. But it was still murder, right?
“We need to keep moving,” Eve said, ushering them onwards like a mother hen. That demon can't last forever. When they kill it, they'll be hunting us again."
Penny glanced at the faces of the girls walking beside her. They looked exhausted, their eyes hollowed. Every step seemed a struggle, but what choice did they have? They couldn't go back. Penny gritted her teeth. She had been gambling with their lives about what would happen if the orcs came again. She was basically out of mana. She wasn't sure if she could pull off a third miracle. She didn't even know if they would make it through this death march.
"We should've grabbed a car," Penny said bitterly, her teeth chattering.
"Well, we didn't. If we find one on the road, we can try to get it working. In the meantime, keep moving," Eve said.
She came around to each of them tapping them on the shoulder. When she came to Penny and tapped her on the shoulder, she felt like she had just drunk a cappuccino with six shots of espresso.
"It's my level 11 skill called [Caffeine]," Eve explained. "I'm hoping it will be enough to get us the rest of the way."
Penny nodded as they managed to pick up the pace.
“We head east,” she said, her voice firmer now, trying to push down the fear gnawing at her gut. “We find a safe place and bunk down for the night?”
There were nods, though no one spoke. They didn’t need to. The only sound was the crunch of snow beneath their boots and the distant howls of wolves that sent a chill deeper than the winter air.
It took them nearly an hour to cross into Surrey proper. One of the girls had the keys to get into the McDonald's by 180 St. Apparently, she worked there. They all clambered when Penny got the notifications she had been expecting.
<[Pursuit Hunter] has Reached Level 2>
<[Pursuit Hunter] has Reached Level 3>
<...>
<[Pursuit Hunter] has Reached Level 10>
<[Get Naked] has Reached Level 2>
<[Summon Demonic Familiar] has Reached Level 2>
<[Summon Demonic Familiar] has Reached Level 3>
<...>
<[Summon Demonic Familiar] has Reached Level 5>
<[Channel Magic] has Reached Level 2>
<[Channel Magic] has Reached Level 3>
<[Channel Magic] has Reached Level 4>
<[Demonology] has Reached Level 2>
Penny gripped her knife as she tried to stay awake. But as time ticked on, her eyelids got heavier and heavier until she fell asleep.
You may skip to the next chapter.
Name: Penny Noel
Race: Human
Type: Humanoid
LVL: 10
SubRace: Caucasian
Age 18
Health: 320
Stamina: 400
Mana: 1260
Health Regen: 4.0 per hour
Stamina Regen: 4.8 per min
Mana Regen: 1.6 per min
Titles: Free*, Breaker of Chains
Immune
N/A
Resistances
N/A
Weakness
N/A
Bane
Manslayer
Classes: Courtesan 4 / Warlock 4 / 2 Levels Unassigned
Total
STR: 0
AGIL: 0
DEX: 0
CON: 24
END: 16
PER: 0
INT: 63
WILL: 0
SPIRIT: 16
EGO: 8
CHA: 53
LCK: 0
Base
STR: 0
AGIL: 0
DEX: 0
CON: 24
END: 16
PER: 0
INT: 63
WILL: 0
SPIRIT: 16
EGO: 8
CHA: 49 +10%
LCK: 0
+56 INT
Racial: +3 CON +2 END +2 SPIRIT +1 EGO
Skill Slots: 12/60: Skill Points: 1
Personal Skills
- [Pursuit Hunter] - Level 1 >> Level 10
- [StoryTeller] - Level N/A
Courtesan 5/11
- [Charm Speak] - Level 8
- [Poison Nail] - Level 4
- [Walk of Shame] - Level 7
- [Pheromone Control] - Level 1
- [Get Naked] - Level 1 >> Level 2
Warlock 5/11
- [Summon Demonic Familiar] - Level 1 >> Level 5
- [Blood Conversion] - Level N/A
- [Air Magic] - Level 1
- [Channel Magic] - Level 1 >> Level 4
- [Demonology] - Level 1 >> Level 2