Self-Summon [Demon Summoning/Evolution LitRPG]

[Inferno Attunement is the embracement of heat, fire, and the beauty of burning. The more you set the world ablaze, and the more time spent persevering through its passionate grasp, the more the Attunement will grow]

Why did Inferno sound so poetic compared to other Attunements, like a pyromaniac had written it?

[Heat Resistance Lv.19 | The effects from Heat are reduced. Amount reduced scales with Skill Level and Inferno Attunemen]

Nothing surprising there, but the one thing Angelica wished had been clarified was any mention of whether fire would be included. Temperature-wise, definitely, but no note on the chemical change that typically occurred. Well, she hadn’t been burned by the fires of Hell, but that could be a Demon thing and not a Skill thing. Which reluctantly meant she had to test it. As her currently highest-levelled Skill, it should be pretty significant against general heat, right? Why did she kind of want to try it out on her stove at home?

[Laceration Resistance Lv.2 | The damage and pain from a laceration are reduced, and the recovery rate from sustained injuries is increased. This includes scrapes, cuts, tears, and gashes. It does not include boo-boos, ouchies, or holes through the gut. Amount reduced and recovery boost scales with Skill Level, Vigor, and Suffering Attunement]

Also pretty standard, besides the description about what did and didn’t qualify. Maybe Ferrul got tired of explaining what exactly a laceration was. Angelica discreetly rubbed a finger across her stomach where the gash inflicted by the eel Malignant would be if she were in her Imp form, and winced. Yup, still very tender.

[Decay Resistance Lv.3 | The damage and pain from continuous decay attacks are reduced, and the recovery rate from sustained injuries is increased. Amount reduced and recovery boost scales with Skill Level, Vigor, and Suffering Attunement]

“Decay” must have been when she was getting digested inside the Eel belly. She honestly couldn’t really think of any other kinds of decay offhand, besides maybe aging. Actually… did Demons age? From what she’d inferred so far, it seemed more like they lived a long-ass time, until something killed them. Wouldn’t that mean she, too, was frozen in time? Stuck as her twenty-five year old self? She’d always looked young for her age, so it’d be even worse as she got older.

Well, that was something she could fix with Transfiguration, but it would become a mental annoyance to have to age herself up as the years passed, lest people confuse her with an immortal vampire. Somehow, that idea seemed less silly these days, and now she was wondering whether vampires were real, too, or maybe they were just Demons with a penchant for sucking blood from necks.

In the lane of digestion and problems with her stomach, though, Angelica remembered something that would suck if she forgot. This time she mentally patted her tummy, not wanting to feel the ache again, and cast Starvation to empty out its contents: the bunches of poisoned dirt she’d used for Health regeneration during the big battle.

[Hunger Resistance Lv.3]

[Vigor increased]

[Famine Attunement increased]

Well, apparently her stomach wasn’t amused by the sudden vacancy, ungrateful that it didn’t have to digest all that tainted dirt. Hopefully, her bowels would be more appreciative. Maybe besides keeping some poisoned food in Second Stomach, she should start keeping a few regular filling snacks like nutrition bars for situations like these, where food was scarce. Hmm, couldn’t Summoners turn their mana into vitality for Demons, their usual source of satiation in the human world? Whether she had that ability, she was still unsure, and even if she did, no way was her MP filled enough to provide any sort of satisfying sustenance.

Actually… what did Demons do when they were in Hell with no humans to feed them vitality and sate their hunger? Were there Demon-specific dishes? Hell cuisine? 3-skull restaurants? There had to be something like that, right, or why would the Poison Chef and Eater Skills exist if her kind weren’t actually meant to consume things? Unfortunately, from a glance around, there didn’t seem to be any sort of fiendish, overpriced vending machines that this kind of place might have in the human equivalent.

“Hey, umm, Gawk.” Gelic turned to her seat neighbor, feeling silly for what she was about to ask, but her Imp-fellow had been a very helpful swath of information so far. Maybe he just liked to show off his knowledge and play the senior for once. “I know in human worlds, most of our kind lives off of Summoner vitality. But down here, do you all, like, eat food?”

Of all the things, that was definitely the most confused look she’d gotten from her new friend. But remembering her circumstances of having never been to Hell before, it quickly clicked for him. “Ah, yeah, of course we eat things! I was planning to go to one of my favorite places after this to celebrate my Evolution. Come with me! I insist! It’ll be my treat!”

“Err, yeah, okay.” How could she turn down his sincerity? “I’ve only eaten human food so far, so hopefully my acclimated tastes will like it, too.” Great, now she was having anxiety about finding it disgusting, spitting it out, and ruining their budding friendship.

“Wow, you’ve actually eaten human food?!” Another big surprise apparently. “Most Demons won’t even try it, and those who do, hate it, and will only eat it as a last resort. Apparently, it’s so bad that even Malignants will want it!”

“Err, I don’t think it’s that bad…” Well, Angelica couldn’t argue on the Malignant front. There was some super heavily processed stuff, riddled with preservatives that definitely wasn’t good for anyone. Tasty some of the time, but mostly there for convenience. And it sure wasn’t healthy. “I’m guessing most Summoners just aren’t feeding their Demons the good human foods.”

“If you say so…” Gawk clearly wasn’t convinced, probably having heard plenty of tales of foul human food. It was a funny reversal she hadn’t anticipated. In her previous life, if she thought about the kind foods she’d imagine a Demon eating, it would be gross horrors. But as it turns out, they’re actually the pickier eaters. Well, she’d have to see Demon dishes firsthand before making that call. “Ah, maybe when I start going to human worlds, you can recommend something.”

Yes, she could do that. Would it be offensive if she served a meal from a cornucopia? Probably, but damn if it wouldn’t be hilarious for the memory. With the promise of food on the horizon, she could refocus. But before moving on from her Passive Skills, something else caught her eye: Multi-Bounce. There was nothing new or different about it, no real reason to be looking at it. Rather, a new fear instilled in her.

DGS, will I lose Multi-Bounce and Punching Bag when I Evolve? It felt like a reasonable assumption. She would no longer be a Puffball Imp, so it made sense that she would become unable to do things that were unique to her soon-to-be previous form.

[No. Race Exclusives will persist through all Evolutions. Demon Lord Ferrul is very proud of that fact, since it makes each Demon unique, even if they have crossover races at points. However, it should be noted that the usage and usefulness of the Skills and Traits may vary and depreciate if they are ill-conducive to your new form]

Okay, overall, she felt relieved, and the latter part made sense. If she Evolved into the nutty-wispy mist demon thing from before, she probably wouldn’t be doing a whole lot of bouncing, at least well. Please don’t Evolve me into a nut thing. And more of her curiosity had also been piqued about Gawk.

“Hey, so what kind of Imp are you, if that’s alright to ask?”

“Oh, that’s okay!” The eager eye was happy to share. “I’m an Omniscient Imp, or an Omniscimp, as some call us. Okay, just me. I’m the only one who calls us that. We’re a pretty rare breed!” His pride was unquestionable, even if he was pretty slow and looked a lot weaker than the other Demons, not that she had much room to talk as a Puffball. It was admirable. “What about you?”

“Puffball Imp.”

“Oh, wow, I’ve never heard of that one! Does that make you even rarer? So cool! What do you look like? Can I see?”

“Uhh, sorry, but I’m pretty beat up right now.” She didn’t really want to refuse, but also didn’t want her dishevelled form to be the only impression he had. “But basically, I’m just a big ball of blonde hair with arms, horns, and tiny wings.” Yeah, that pretty much summed it up.

“Ah, so kind of like your human head right now!” He made an interesting comparison. “Just with the hair wrapped all the way around the skull. Okay, I can imagine it.”

She still had questions, though. “What kind of Race Exclusives did you get for being an Omniscimp?”

“Hmm… we’re not really supposed to tell strangers about those, in case they want to use the knowledge against us.” Gawk pondered on it for a moment, likely repeating a warning he’d been taught before during Imp bootcamp, or whatever they actually called it. “But… you’re not a stranger! You’re Gelic! So I can tell you!”

Oh, Vissiem, he was even more innocent and naive than she was. It hurt her heart and made her want to hug him even more. She was suddenly hit with a compulsion of big sisterly vibes that she’d never felt before, wanting to protect Gawk and see him thrive. Calm down, Angelica. It’s okay to make friends, but don’t get too attached to Demons if you can! Not an Order, but rather advice to keep herself in check and from getting too deep, with also maybe a sprinkling of her religious upbringing fighting against the idea.

“The first is an Active Skill called Molting. It lets me shed layers of my skin into a pristine, healthy set. So if I get any physically afflicted Status Effects, that helps me shake them off really easily. Like when my broodmates would petrify or freeze me, which they did quite often, I could just slide out of that skin and wriggle myself free.”

“That sounds terrible!” Gelic couldn’t stop herself from commenting. “That they’d do that to you, I mean. Not the Skill. That actually sounds pretty useful.” Actually, wouldn’t that be a strong counter to physically afflicted poison? Could he shed away the stacks? But it probably didn’t help against poisons that were ingested or inhaled.

“Nah, it was all in good fun,” he insisted. “They liked to play a game where they’d see how long I’d stay stuck before I eventually gave in and freed myself, taking bets. Sometimes, I’d stay stuck for days just to mess with them! Yeah, good times.” Well, it may not have traumatized him, but if she ever came across these broodmates, hands, or paws, or whatever she had at the time, would be thrown on sight.

“The next is a Passive; All-Seeing Eye.” Wait, didn’t that sound super amazing and broken? “I know what you’re thinking. That sounds super amazing, especially when tagged with a race like Omniscient! And while it is pretty good, it’s not quite as powerful as the name implies. Basically, I don’t have peripheral vision. Instead, I just see everything around me at all times, in all directions. What’s above, what’s below, what’s behind me, even the parts that are covered with my flesh. I can see the chair I’m sitting on, too. But the sight is blocked by normal things, like walls, bodies, whatever obstacles would normally impair someone’s line of sight. Would you like to see it?”

“Err, huh?”

“My last Race Exclusive is Ocular Transmission. I can send what I see straight into the mind of someone else. Ready?”

“Umm, sure.” She honestly wasn’t quite ready, still wrapping her head around the idea, but didn’t want to put him off. Her own vision faded away, replaced by a depiction of herself in her mind, but that wasn’t all. She could see the entire Demon Services Office, just as Gawk had depicted, every aspect of the room, all angles at once. It was a lot, and it quickly made her mind reel. This was really how he saw the world every second of his life?

It sounded like a miserable existence, but something he was probably used to. And it was also a bit more than what he’d described. His vision was somewhat warping around objects, able to see sides of them he shouldn’t be able to, bending slightly around corners to see some of what lurked in the shadows. It felt weird that he hadn’t shared this aspect, but perhaps he didn’t know that it wasn’t considered normal. Maybe when the Skill leveled up, it would truly become an “All-Seeing” Eye. Angelica’s vision suddenly snapped back to her own eyes, making her clutch her head.

“Sorry, hope that was enough to give a good idea,” Gawk apologized. “The MP usage is still pretty high, so I can’t sustain Ocular Transmission for too long without burning a bunch. It’s only at Lv.2, meaning the range is pretty bad, as well. Unfortunately, I need a willing partner to train it, and most Demons don’t like it. Yeah, I guess it’s a pretty bad Skill.”

“No, it’s great,” Gelic uttered when her senses had settled. “I can think of a bunch of cool ways to use it. Just keep training.” Yes, it actually was pretty remarkable. With growth, Gawk could become an amazing scout or spy. Maybe he wasn’t destined to be a top-tier fighter, but that was just as valuable. Perhaps it was Hell’s, Ferrul’s, plan for him, how he was supposed to contribute to “the cause.”

The experience had both sated her curiosity and also killed any motivation for more questions at the moment, however. Plus, Order Obligation had started bugging her to stop fooling around and actually finish looking at her new stuff, so she finally let her gaze drift to the Summoner section of Scrying Eye.