I stared and kept staring at the information displayed before me if I wasn’t certain this had to do with the floating ball of light I had thrown myself on it would be a little creepy. Whatever this was it knew my full name, I hadn’t told anyone that since before I became a slave. I suppose someone could find out if they did a little digging, my first master certainly knew. Was this what Demozas had wanted so badly? I didn’t see how knowing this much about yourself could be that valuable. It was useful sure, but I remember the Look in Demozas’ eyes when he tried to grab the light, he had been practically salivating. Was everything displayed here correct? If so the villagers were right I was a demon, that's what it said under species at least, as I focused on that there was a ringing sound and more text appeared under species.

Someone in your family has been very naughty. A distant relative or someone close to you, who can say? It could even be someone long since passed, either way, you are the result, the price one might say, of their actions. As a human/demon hybrid your demonic visage is not as prominent, depending on the strength of your blood, you might gain horns and a tail, or look almost entirely human. What everyone with a bit of demon blood shares though, is their desires, you might find it hard to resist your impulses.

As a demonic hybrid, you gain +3 Charisma every level and 50 extra mana. Demons are magical beings, you are not a full demon, but you might find yourself excelling in the arts of telekinesis, fire magic, or illusion magic. You are not limited to these, of course, but those are traditionally strong among demonkind.

What the hell, I was a demon hybrid, or whatever, because some asshole had, what, made a deal with the devil. That wasn’t fair at all, I had nothing to do with it. Was it one of my parents, they were poor farmers so if they had made a deal they didn’t get much out of it. This was actually kind of a relief, this was proof that it wasn’t my fault, I wasn’t evil. Or did my demon blood make me evil? I didn’t think so, it only said I would find it hard to resist my desires, and those weren’t evil. This might explain why I was so… well, Grog would call it annoying. Had my demon blood caused me to attack Demozas back in the healer's tent? And then Grog had so easily goaded me back on the training field. Looking back at my life a lot of things became clear, little incidents that I seemed to overreact to. I would have to be aware of this and try to resist, or I could land in a lot of trouble, more than I was in already anyway.

Let's see here what more did it say? Horns and tail, yes I had those, did that mean my demon blood was strong? MANA! Was I a mage? It said I would gain fifty extra mana, that sounded like a lot. Without even realizing it I dismissed the information about demons to look at the previous page and sure enough, there, under mana was the number one hundred and twenty. That was even better surely, but where had all this mana come from, did I have it all along and just now noticing? Could I learn to cast spells, like a real mage? I closed my eyes and focused on my body, trying to feel the magic inside me. It didn’t work, all I felt was normal and stupid. Who knew that learning to be a mage could be so hard.

I stopped trying and returned to examining my attributes. It looked like my highest one was willpower, closely followed by Dexterity. That made sense I was a pretty strong-willed girl, and you needed to have quick fingers when practicing stealing and lockpicking. Trying to fight my way free had not worked, so I had to turn to other methods. My worst attribute was charisma by far, but only because my brand and lack of tongue dragged it down. Would it change if I covered up the scars on my forehead? It was something to think about at least. I found it strange that my horns and tail didn’t affect my charisma, my tail actually helped my dexterity and agility. I had never really thought about it or used my tail in that manner, but I supposed it could help me keep my balance. How it affected my dexterity I wasn’t sure, it was very thin, and I could move it in interesting ways. Would it fit inside a lock? If I could feel the tumblers turning not just through a lock pick no cage could hold me. Why hadn’t I thought to try this before? I hadn’t actually seen my demon features as useful before, they were just things that made me different, apart from other people. I grew curious, and as I had done with the species thing I focused on charisma, the ringing sound came again, and more text appeared.

Your charisma has taken a few hits, with the brand on your forehead people think you are a criminal and mistrust you. With no tongue, you are always at a disadvantage when interacting with people. Charisma affects how other creatures view you, everything from how you look to the pure power of your personality. Whether you intimidate, persuade or charm your way through life having a high charisma will make it easier, even lying will be more effective. Be the way nature intended, any birth defects will be reduced the higher your charisma is. Be your better self, your true self.

I would gain three points in charisma every level no matter what I did, so would I get more beautiful or maybe more persuasive? What was a level anyway, and how did I increase it? Could I increase my other attributes? I would gain these attribute points every level, maybe I could spend them on making myself better, if that was the case, I could see why my master wanted this so much. I just didn’t know enough about this thing, Demozas presumably did, he had to have some idea of how he would increase his level, maybe I would find out tomorrow. From what I understood I would be forced to fight… something, speaking of fighting was that how you gained levels? It said I had gained the sword skill, I was apparently a novice level one, that seemed appropriate. My pickpocket and lockpicking skills were higher though and I could choose to advance either dexterity, agility, or perception.

Now I would see how this worked, but what attribute be the most useful in a fight? I knew from Grog that it probably wouldn’t be a straight sword fight, so some type of monster then. I went through all my attributes, focusing on them one by one. Ok if I could only choose from dexterity, agility, and perception I would have to go with agility when it came to fighting. It was already pretty high, it would make it easier for me to avoid blows altogether. Endurance and constitution would be nice to have, just in case, they would let me resist damage and recover from it quicker respectively, could I increase them if I gained a level. Dexterity seemed to have more to do with hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills, useful, but I’m not sure how much when it came to fighting. Perception would enhance my senses, make me more able to let me notice things, good if someone tried to sneak up on me. Agility would be my best bet as of right now, if only I knew more about the situation.

I lamented about not being able to feel my mana again, being able to throw fireballs at my opponent would have eased my worries. Strength was pretty obvious, it was the literal physical power your body could put out, the description warned about investing too heavily in it. If I grew too strong at once I could break my bones just by flexing, endurance would mitigate this somewhat, were there other attributes that went together like that?

Intelligence governed how much information you could hold and remember, it also affected the amount of mana you had. Willpower was the power of the mind, it changed the force of your spells, it would also let you resist various magics targeting the mind, but also your own fear and insecurities. Charisma I had already looked at, but it seemed the strangest of the lot if I wanted to become stronger it would increase with my levels no matter what, unless I didn’t level up, but that wasn’t an option. Would my horns become smaller so that I looked more human and approachable or would they “grow as nature intended”? There was only one way to find out, so with my mind made up about my point allocation I focused on my pickpocket and lockpicking skills.

7 attribute points gained

restricted to dexterity, agility, or perception

Seven points seemed like a lot, more than I had expected. It seemed I gained more points the better I got at a skill, I hadn’t gained any points for my sword skill, or my other novice skills. I still new too little about this floating box of text, I would just have to wait and see what happened. That didn’t mean I wanted to waste my points though, I wouldn’t get them back if I changed my mind or messed up. I probably wouldn’t get any armor so even if I could invest all seven points into endurance I was pretty sure it wouldn’t make my skin as hard as steel. Besides. Why would I do that when I could just avoid the damage all together? I did admit that I needed some points put into perception so I could see the danger coming. As if understanding what I wanted my agility changed from twelve to sixteen, and my perception went from ten to thirteen.

Is this your final decision? Yes/no, if you say yes the changes will be permanent and you will lose your attribute points.

I wasn’t sure how this would affect me, but I needed to change if I wanted to change my life, it needed to start with me. I focused on the yes option, and the text boxes disappeared from existence. I almost began to think I had imagined the whole thing, maybe it was all a strange dream, but then a tingling sensation spread through my body. It almost grew unbearable, just on the edge of pain, I almost cried out biting my lip to keep quiet as I squirmed between the other slaves when it stopped and the words faded back to float above me.

Status:

Name: Millie Goodfellow   Species: Human/Demon   Sex: Female

Lvl: 1   Mana: 120   

Bruised   

Winded

Prehensile Tail: +3 Dex +2 Agi

Demonic Heritage: +3 Cha/Lvl +50 Mana

Branded slave -3 Cha

Lost tongue -2 Cha

Attributes

Strength: 13   Endurance: 10    Constitution: 10

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Dexterity: 14   Agility: 16   Perception: 13

Intelligence: 12   Willpower: 15    Charisma: 7

+3 Attribute points/Lvl    0 attribute points available

Abilities

Prehensile Tail: +3 Dex +2 Agi

Demonic Heritage: +3 Cha/Lvl +50 Mana

Branded slave -3 Cha

Lost tongue -2 Cha

Skills:

Swords: Novice Lvl: 1

Small Blades: Novice Lvl: 5

Lockpick: Advanced Lvl: 7

Pickpocket: Apprentice Lvl: 9

Dancer: Novice Lvl 3

Cook: Novice Lvl 5

I noticed a difference immediately as the smell of sweaty bodies around me became more acute, this would take some getting used to. Other then that I didn’t feel any different, perhaps the night was a little less dark, but that could be my imagination. I didn’t feel more agile, but it was hard to judge from just laying here, I would have to test it tomorrow. Now that that was taken care of there was nothing left to do then follow Grog’s advice and get a good night’s rest.

I woke up with a start to the sound of stamping feet and a booming voice telling us to wake up and get moving. We had latrines to dig, and I would not be spared the work today, the sun had barely crested the horizon I saw as I blearily looked around.

“You better get a move on Millie, don’t want to look like your slacking,” Dexter whispered as he hurried past me to stand in one of the lines of slaves the mercenaries directed. Some of them had long whips tied to their belts that they would snap at us if they thought we were too slow. I shook my head to clear it of sleep and hurried to one of the two lines, with me being last the mercenaries started marching us to the edge of the tent town. Hamda was standing next to me in the other line, also last, but he didn’t say anything, didn’t even look at me. He probably didn’t want to get whipped, I didn’t either.

Digging out latrines was back-breaking work, I was more used to having roles similar to a maid or helping out in the kitchen. They had tried to teach me how to dance once, for entertainment, that hadn’t ended well. Not that I was a bad dancer or anything, it’s just that I didn’t do well with authority. I was next to a girl a little older than me, she was one of the slaves I didn’t recognize, a new one. It seemed that Demozas had a thing for unusual or outstanding slaves, for the girl had the most beautiful almost glowing green eyes I had ever seen. Apart from that though she seemed mostly human, she even had a dusting of freckles over her nose. The thing about this girl was that she talked endlessly, this never used to happen before. I suppose she hadn’t met me before I lost my tongue, so she didn’t know my reputation, but the mark on my head didn’t stop her either.

“I’ve lived on a farm for most of my life, this is a piece of cake,” she said, I just focused on digging.

“It’s boring tough, every day the same,” just keep digging.

“I did enjoy taking old Betsy out for a joy ride when I had some extra time,” dig, lift, throw.

“Betsy was our horse, the finest mare I ever did see,” dig, lift, throw. The girl did the same, shoveling dirt out of the hole we were making, but she wasn’t even winded.

“I eventually left, applied for all kinds of jobs, mercenary, tavern maid, I even took the tests at the mage guild to see if I had any talent,” dig, lift, throw.

“I do miss the farm sometimes though, aunt Betsy used to make the best apple pies I swear, and uncle Derek’s grilled fish stew is to die for,” wait, I stopped digging to look at the girl, did she say the mage guild? She noticed me looking and paused in her digging aswell to grin at me.

“Oh ho, now that you're treated to a tail of some good old home cooking you’re interested huh? Well let me tell you, Betsy is a master of her craft, her pies are baked to perfection and glazed with honey they almost melt in your mouth, no lies,” she said motioning with her hands as if she was holding one of the pies under her nose and taking in its delicious aroma. I shook my head back and forth violently, walking up to her.

“No? Was it all my jobs you wanted to hear about then?” She seemed a bit disappointed that I didn’t want to hear about her aunt's pies, but her smile returned as I nodded my head.

“Well let me tell you, being a mercenary is a lot of hard work. I thought I was pretty handy with a bow, at least my father always said so. I figure I could make it as an archer, but these mercs showed me a thing or two. The good ones, the ones who survive train in melee combat, hand to hand fighting, and with the bow or crossbow, that was too much for me so I got out of there before I saw too much action,” not being able to speak was more frustrating than I had thought, I lamented as she misunderstood me again. I shook my head again and grabbed her by the shoulders, looking into her eyes.

“Alright already,” she said and pushed my hands away. “Was it the tavern maid?” I shook my head again before she could get started, this girl could really talk once she got going. “Oh, the mage guild?” I should have probably lead with that one huh?” She chuckled, and I nodded my head in enthusiasm as I smiled. Finally, we were getting somewhere. Before she could begin talking, there was the snap of a whip and a burning line of pain spread on my back as I shrieked. There was a second snap, and the girl I had been digging with yelped in pain.

“Get back to work,” came the snarl of a guard from above, “if you’re not done by lunchtime you can go without,” I picked up my shovel again and returned to digging, we hadn’t had any breakfast, so I was working on an empty stomach. The guard hadn’t said anything about not talking though, or so my working neighbor seemed to interpret the order.

“There was not much to the test if I’m honest, I was taken to one of their reception halls, it was the swankiest place I ever did see, let me tell you. The building had a high ceiling, with marble pillars holding it up. The windows were of colored glass, it would reflect a myriad of different colors as the sun shone through it. It was almost like a church come to think of it, except this was more… I don’t know opulent, you just knew that everything inside cost more than the kings crown jewels. Anyway, I’m getting off track. I was brought into a room where a guy in pyjamas shot mana into me. I’m not sure what he did cause I sure as hell didn’t feel a thing, I was told I had a very low potential and ushered out of the building. I never heard from them again,” I chuckled when she called, what was probably a robe, a piece of nightwear. It was true she had gotten off track, but I listened to every word she said with interest. It looked like I needed to find another mage if I wanted to learn magic, I needed a teacher.

The girl kept talking as we dug, she was actually pretty funny when I took the time to listen to her. I learned her name was Astrid, she had become a slave a night when she had been too drunk to remember. Despite waking up in chains in a carriage on her way to being made a slave, her optimism remained. Astrid hadn’t been a slave for that long, only a year or so, she seemed to think that if she just worked hard, she could by her way to freedom. Slaves were paid, it might be a minuscule amount, but we were still supposed to be paid. You could technically buy your own contract, but it happened so rarely that the stories of it were almost legendary. Not to mention that your master would hold the money in trust for you, trust my ass, that money was probably wasted on booze. Time passed quickly like that as we kept digging, Astrid talking me silently.

The guards came by the time the sun was high in the sky, apparently satisfied with our work they allowed us to get out of the hole to get something to eat. Lunch consisted of stale bread and a pitcher of water, I gulped it down despite its condition, Astrid did the same but with a less hurried pace.

“Easy there, tiger, something might get stuck at the pace you're going,” I slowed down as requested until all my bread was gone.

“You sure work up an appetite when working on an empty stomach,” Dexter said as he walked up to us, Hamda in tow. “I don’t think we’ve been introduced,” he said as he held out his hand for Astrid to shake. “My name’s Dexter, and this fine looking gentleman's name is Hamda, nice to meet you.”

“Astrid,” Astrid said as she took the offered hand and shook it, she turned to Hamda for a handshake, but he only grumbled and waved her hand away.

“Don’t mind him he’s just grumpy,” Dexter said and shrugged, “but don’t go spilling any secrets around him, he’s a real snitch,” he whispered conspiratorially.

“Yes, I heard,” Astrid answered and glanced at me, “last night.”

“Bah, I can hear you, you know,” Hamda grumbled, but Dexter only grinned.

“Yes, you use your ears well my friend, it’s your mouth I’m worried about,” both Astrid and I stifled our laughter at that, Hamda gave us a dirty look before continuing his grumbling.

“Ungrateful brats, it’s not wise to make fun of the cook you know.”

“Oh, and what are you going to do, poison the broth?” Astrid cut in suddenly, Dexter grinned at her before he delivered his own remark.

“He couldn’t pull that off even if he knew what to use, where would a poor slave get the ingredients?”

“Oh, I have my ways,” Hamda said as he palmed his crotch and leered at us. They were all quiet for a moment as that mental image got stuck in their heads.

“You win this round, but the war continues. You are replaceable you know, anyone could do your job,” Dexter said in an exaggerated way.

“You wish, I am the best chef we are ever going to get,” Hamda answered. I believed him too, last nights stew had been delicious. Before they could start bickering again, Grog walked up to us and grabbed my arm tightly.

“It’s time, little demon, you’d best come with me,” he tugged me along, and I had to keep up or risk losing my balance. I looked back to the other slaves, they had all stopped to see what was happening, not just Dexter and the rest but all the slaves allowed to eat lunch were looking at me. There would be a lot of questions when I came back if I came back.

Grog led me to the place we had used to spar yesterday, the ring was still there but a few meters away from it, closer to the wilderness was a big pit. It had smooth wooden planks fitted to the sloped walls, making it hard for someone to climb out of there. Around the hole stood four guards, all wielding crossbows, Demozas men. The man himself came to greet us as Grog led me to the hole. He looked terrible, a bandage covered his throat and wrapped around to his injured ear. Despite this, a smug grin was plastered over his face.

“At first I was very angry with you little hellion, but then I had some time to cool down and think. This is actually better when you think about it, I can see the effects of the menu, but I won’t have to take any of the risks, and guess what the best part is.” He leaned into me, his eyes practically sparkling with malice. “Nothing to say, we’ve had such peace and quiet around here without that bothersome tongue waggling around in your mouth, haven’t we Grog?” My watchdog only grunted in response, but the answer didn’t seem to matter to Demozas as he continued to wag his own tongue. “That’s just it isn’t it? You have no tongue to go blab about my secrets to anyone. Now, do you have any last advice for our little demon Grog?” This fucking limped dicked pig fucker would lose more than his ear when I was done with him. My blood practically sang in my veins with the desire to kill this piece of filth in human form. But I was aware of it now, so I was able to restrain myself, barely. He would get what was coming to him, just gain some levels and I could end him forever.

“Don’t die,” Grog said, wiser words I had seldom heard. I couldn’t die here, justice needed to be done. Grog walked me up to the pit, and I slid down to the dirty ground below. The other mercenaries readied their crossbows and pointed them not at me, but something beyond the hole out of my sight. A man crested the edge of the pit, he was dragging a sack with something moving inside. This was what the guards were aiming at, my opponent. The man handed the bag off to Grog who struggled to hold it still. Demozas handed the man a purse of coins, and he was gone from my sight again.

Grog upended the big sack over the pit, and a green blob popped to the ground, he also threw down a rusty sword which I grabbed as quickly as I could. This was my enemy, this was the big fight? It didn’t seem that dangerous, the thing just sat there, ripples traveling over its viscous form. I walked up to it slowly with my sword held in front of me, tip pointed at the blob. It may look harmless, but it could pounce at me at any moment. I poked it a bit before I jumped back a few steps, nothing happened, the blob didn’t even react. Maybe it was harmless, what could it do, roll after me?

Feeling more confident I bent my arm back and pushed my sword forward, it skewered the blob, going all the way through to the ground. I was elated I had actually done it, and the thing hadn’t even put up a fight. I was surprised as in the next moment it traveled up my blade towards my hand, quick as a snake. I was to slow to react as it reached my hand, agonizing pain shot up my arm as the thing engulfed my hand. I flailed my arms around wildly trying to dislodge the blob. Finally, I let go of the sword, and it went flying into the wall of the pit taking the blob with it. My vision darkened from the agonizing pain, my legs suddenly gave way from beneath me, and I fell to the ground. Text floated in my view, and I smiled in victory before I passed out. I had at least managed to do enough damage to kill the thing.

Slime defeated

75 experience points gained

You have leveled up 3 attribute points gained 3 points added to charisma

you have leveled up 3 attribute points gained 3 points added to charisma

6 attribute points available