Self-Summon [Demon Summoning/Evolution LitRPG]

[Current Binding limit: 1 Demon]

That was the first thing Angelica checked under her Summoner Skills, starting by seeing if “Bind” had changed. But, nope, the limit was still one Demon, which meant she was still stuck with just herself. Now that she had made a friend, one who seemed eager to work with Summoners, the idea of actually summoning others was definitely more appealing.

Of course, she could summon Gawk without the bind attempt, knowing he’d be a friendly Demon, but that itself presented some problems. Undoubtedly, every Demon would expect every Summoner to attempt to bind them on first contact, because they’d be stupid not to. If she didn’t do that, it would be a clear indication that something had gone wrong, or that her Summoner self was supremely stupid. Either way, not a great first impression.

While Gelic could tell Gawk ahead of time that her master, Merlina, would make no attempt to bind him, that wouldn’t work for now. Merlina still didn’t actually exist. Until she got the Identity Fraud enhancement for Transfiguration, that meant summoning Demons in any capacity was completely off the table. Of course, she planned to get to obtaining that very soon, right after Auto-Color if nothing else crucial got in the way. But besides the disappointing lack of binding advancement, she had actually gotten two new Summoner Skills.

[Rebuke | Punish a misbehaving Demon with a twinge of pain. The more times it is used in quick succession, the less effective it will be, unless additional, increasing MP is applied. If the Demon’s true name is used, the effects will be severely increased]

So… it was useless to her for now. Angelica already punished herself plenty just by her life choices, so she definitely didn’t need a special Skill for it. But… didn’t mean she wouldn’t test it, though, to see exactly what she would be inflicting on others. Bad Demon—Oww! It felt like she’d been thoroughly thumped on the noggin, a way her mother used to punish her when she was a misbehaving child. Not hard enough that it could be considered corporal punishment, but unpleasant enough that it would get the side-eye from strangers

Overall, not terrible, about what she expected: slight negative reinforcement. Ideally, she’d never have to use it, and was thankful it hadn’t been used on her thus far by Summoners, but she could see its general usefulness when communication otherwise broke down. Then came the more serious test. Bad Angelica! …and she regretted it immediately.

The first regret was the pain. Holy frits, the pain! It was like claws were digging into her body, her brain, her soul, eclipsing every other anguish she’d felt not just in the last battle, but in all of her existence. The second regret was her response, letting out an uncontrolled whimper with undoubtedly obvious tears streaking down her face.

“Woah, Gelic, are you alright?!” And that was the third regret. Thankfully, the pain was pretty fleeting. It had only been a moment of utter torture, but it trickled away pretty fast. But that had been enough to floor her—literally put her on the floor. Apparently, it had caused her to fall out of her chair without realizing. If she’d done it at home, no big deal, but in front of her new friend, worrying him, and a whole cavalcade of bored Demons now gawking at the sudden source of intrigue, undoubtedly enhanced by the human form, her social anxiety was skyrocketing. At least their interest waned when it became quickly obvious that the show was over, and they went back to however they’d been passing the time.

“I’m—I’m alright,” Gelic insisted as she pulled herself back into her seat. “Just a wound from a recent Malignant fight. Definitely looking forward to Evolution so I can heal up.” Speaking of, she checked her Health after that, and it had dropped back down a good chunk to 9%.

That could be worrying, but she was pretty sure that the simple spell wouldn’t be capable of killing her, or any other Demon. Rather, it had just taken its toll on her already haggard body. Plus, since she didn’t have an MP cost for Summoner Skills used on herself, there was a very good chance she’d just used it at maximum potency, and that it wouldn’t be nearly as bad for others at the base cost. But now knowing what she could do, she was going to make her Merlina persona swear to never use the true name version on another Demon unless it absolutely couldn’t be helped, a situation unresolvable by any other means. Also, that had just been using her first name. How painful would it have been if she’d used the full thing?

“You’ve been fighting Malignants?! So cool!” Well, at least the display of weakness hadn’t gotten Gawk’s spirit down. “Never seen one of those, either. Don’t think most Imps ever do, since there aren’t any at that place. But I hear that they look pretty similar to Demons. Hopefully I won’t get them mixed up.”

“Hmm, yeah, I guess they do,” she recalled, thinking back on the Malignants she’d come across. “But I guess they’re simpler, more animalistic, or don’t really look like they have strong sentience or personalities. Just… monsters.” Only the kangaroo boxer she’d fought at the construction site didn’t fully fit into what she’d just described. It did make her worry a bit, too, about what would happen if she came across a more concealed, more unique Malignant. Problems for the future, so back to the other new Skill.

[Skill Sync | Use the available Active Skills of a Bound Demon at the same MP cost. Skills of unbound, but Contracted, Demons can be used, but for an additional MP cost, due to the lack of a circle. Passive Skills may be used through perpetual MP drain, also increasing if Unbound. The ability to utilize and control Demon Skills varies based on the Summoner’s Rank, Magical Proficiency, and general ability]

Huh, so, basically, it was like using Runes. Imprinted Passive Skill Runes like Gelic’s Weathering Resistance also had minor MP drain. But unlike Runes, it was completely and totally useless to her for now. Well, it was still good to know about. Once the Merlina disguise was up and running, she could use her Demon Skills openly and not draw suspicion.

With those done and ultimately disappointing, it was time to move on to her Skill Weave, where, hopefully, she’d find something more interesting. As expected, her Order directed her over to the new Inferno Attunement, where she found the solitary Skill connected to Heat Resistance.

[Combust | Unlock: 2 GP | Spark a flame on any flammable object within range. Additional MP may be spent to cause the flame to grow and spread. Cost: 12 MP. Range and size and intensity of initial flame scales with Skill Level, Inferno Attunement, and Might]

Now, there was a classic Skill for a Demon, if she’d ever heard one. Gelic had been using flashy Demon magic with ice now for a little bit, and poison, to a lesser extent, but neither felt quite as mystical as the ability to conjure fire. It was just such a fantasy trope staple, one she’d been asked to draw many times in her commissions. And while cool, it didn’t really appeal to her, for now, at least.

What would she use it for? Lighting candles across the room when she was feeling too lazy to get up? And technically her apartment didn’t even allow candles—not that she wouldn’t be fine breaking any of her landlord’s rules—but they were an innate fire hazard. Hell, the Skill could probably be renamed to Fire Hazard. Yeah, that sounded dope.

And Angelica knew the intent: combat. It was meant to light enemies or Malignants on fire, then possibly laugh maniacally to build up Malice while they desperately tried to put themselves out. But what happened when they ran into something, caught a nearby tree on fire? Next thing, there’d be a raging, unstoppable forest fire that wiped out an entire ecosystem. So unless she planned to fight a lot of battles on sandy beaches or in concrete bunkers, there likely wouldn’t be many places she could use it safely, at least in her world. Thinking back, she hadn’t seen any fire magic during the recent Malignant battle, and now it felt obvious why.

Malignants had to be the primary target for Inferno abilities, too, since it sounded like pretty much all Demons had at least her level of Heat Resistance, probably even higher, from living in Hell most of their lives. Which meant the only other real uses for such a spell would be to commit arson, maybe while hunting to cut out the cooking step when catching animals, and… on humans. That part she really didn’t want to think about. So, yeah, something for the “maybe someday, but probably never, unless it becomes significantly more useful” pile.

Okay… Contract Complete… No? Hmm. That should have been it, right? So there must be another new Skill available somewhere. Alright, guide me to it, I guess, Order. She found her eyes guided to Gnostic Attunement. Since she’d just recently maxed Tongues, that must have been the catalyst to unlock the new attached Skill, likely because it was also heavily mouth-related.

[Discerning Palate | Unlock: 1 GP | Learn of an object's disposition, composition, and origin through taste. Cost: MP Drain. Amount and Accuracy of information scales with Skill Level, Lucidity, and Gnostic Attunement]

So if she were to become a chef who wanted to reverse-engineer recipes, a detective who would be fine licking the evidence, or an archeologist trying to uncover the history behind relics and ruins, this would be an absolutely amazing Skill. Besides that, as an artist, unless she wanted to go into art history—absolutely not—it didn’t sound really useful at all for her. There’d undoubtedly be more uses that demanding Summoners could come up with, but for her personal life, meh.

However, unlike Combust, Angelica was far more tempted to get it. This was due to a caveat of the Detect Falsehoods Skill, which she was absolutely planning to buy. Its cost of purchase was reduced for each sense Skill she had, and this undoubtedly counted as one, rounding out the pentad of the basic senses, since she possessed the other four Skills already. Maybe there were more for the more specific senses, but this was probably the last of the initial set.

And since it cost only one GP to purchase, which would reduce the cost of Detect Falsehoods by at least one, maybe more, it was basically a free Skill. Hell, she could purchase it right now, but nope! Nothing until Auto-Color, dammit! Being frugal was hard, but it’d be worth it! And… and the Contract still wasn’t complete. What now? The Skill Weave shifted over to Destruction.

[Skewer | Unlock 3: GP | An enhanced version of Stab. Pierce forward with increased force and damage, making it more likely to skewer the enemy. Cost: 11 MP. Damage scales with Skill Level, Might, and Destruction Attunement. Accuracy scales with Skill Level and Competence]

Finally, something she actually really wanted. That was just more combat power in general, and would be a direct upgrade to Airstrike, since she could swap out Stab for Skewer in the Combo Skill. A bit strange that it was its own Skill, though, rather than an Enhancement. She had to guess that was due to the differences of MP Cost, since Stab currently only required 3 MP, so it made more sense to use in times where it was good enough.

While Gelic still wasn’t going to buy this Skill right now, if ever, since she could probably unlock it by making shish kebabs, or something, she was still a bit annoyed that she didn’t know about it sooner. DGS, could you please let me know when I have a new Skill available for purchase in the Skill Weave, even if I can’t afford it? Assuming it's not an inconvenient time, of course. Actually, even if you think it isn’t, it’s probably best to just let me know I have one and if I wanna know the details.

[Acceptable]

[Contract Complete]

[Lost 10 Essence]

[Gained 10 Essence]

Dang, Essence Tip hadn’t triggered, but it seemed to prove that the method could work. At least, there was no loss for continuing to try, so why not continue with more tests? But at least she was officially done with all the new stuff now… except there was still something new to see, somehow, that didn’t qualify under the terms of her Order, apparently.

She glanced at Bash, which clearly had a Skill connected to it which she couldn’t see. However, on the connecting thread of the Weave, there was a floating message.

[Requires Bash Lv.7]

That must have triggered due to her new Scrying Eye level. Assumedly, that meant when she reached the quoted level, it would reveal the next Skill in the chain, likely the Skewer equivalent for Bash; maybe Wallop, or Crush, or something. And she’d probably unlocked Skewer as an option when she hit Stab Lv.7. Swipe didn’t have a message on its connection, but that was assumedly because she didn’t own the Skill yet. Perhaps she should go ham on a scratching post as a cat. Plunge didn’t have one, either, but that was a weird Skill, or maybe it needed an even higher level of Scrying Eye. Glancing over at Seeking Projectile, though, it, too, had a listed connection requirement, an even simpler one that just said:

[Hellion]

Well, since she was about to become a Hellion, she should be able to see it immediately, right? But it was odd. Some Skills had special unlock requirements, yet she could see them fine. Maybe this was the Growth System purposefully limiting options so that Demons didn’t get too bogged down by the burden of choice, something like “you can have goals for the future, but focus more on what you can get right now.” It honestly made her want to go through all of her other Attunements and see all the unlocks she could work toward, but that’d have to wait.

“Now assisting #529.”