Self-Summon [Demon Summoning/Evolution LitRPG]

[It is more sensible to start with Traits] The DGS corrected her, apparently having its own plan for the Evolution briefing. Which she wasn’t going to fight, since it undoubtedly knew better than she did. Or maybe she just needed higher Obstinance.

[Trait: Toxic has been enhanced to Potently Toxic]

[Potent Affix: Stacks of Toxic can instead be applied as Potent Toxic. These stacks are applied multiplicatively to existing stacks instead of additively, massively increasing the poison’s damage. Potent stacks are capped at max stacks squared. However, Potent stacks are purged significantly faster, and new stacks of standard Toxic cannot be applied until Potent Toxic has cleared | Race Exclusive]

Woah, woah, woah, hang on. If she was understanding that correctly, wasn’t that super powerful, and honestly something far too strong for just a second-tier Demon? Her current cap of Toxic through Toxic Imbuement was 35. Which meant that through this, she could apply 1,225 stacks at once?! It sounded like it wouldn’t last long at all, but even then, it was practically an explosive bomb of poison! Now she understood why the voices had dubbed this as turning her into a “potent soldier.”

This was undoubtedly the flagship perk of being a Pestilent Puck, which really overhauled the potential of poison as a strategy. Hell, it could even be considered crippling without it, especially since it was a Race Exclusive. Maybe that was why Pestilence was often overlooked unless there was some sort of ironically less potent version of it that anyone could obtain.

Really, though, its usefulness would come down to the difficulty of application. By the sounds of it, to trigger the execution properly, it required two hits on a target, at minimum. First to apply the base, and the second to trigger the Potent multiplication. That alone could be troublesome depending on the opponent. And the second issue was how fast Potent stacks depleted.

If she applied 35 on the first hit, but they ticked away before she could land the second hit, then that was worse than just using regular Toxic. But if Potent could be applied to existing stacks of regular Toxic and still be multiplicative, then… It required significant testing. And she currently had nothing to test it on but herself. No way in hell was she going to do that. How sad would it be if a paragon of Pestilence died to their own poison a few minutes after Evolving? Alright, next one.

[Trait: Irritating Lv.1 unlocked]

Okay, did all Traits sound like insults to the Demons, or was that just her experience so far?

[You are a pain in the butt—and skin, limbs, eyes, wherever you can spread your vexation. When using a Skill that serves to annoy, you may apply stacks of Irritant. Each stack of this poison provides perpetual grating pain that may manifest in several ways such as itchiness, aches, and general discomfort. While Irritant does no direct damage, it can still lower the target’s Health if it greatly affects their wellbeing. Stacks diminish over time until dispersed, and cannot be cured or treated by most conventional means. Stacks are applied additively. Potency and Duration scale with Trait Level, Malice, and Pestilence Attunement. Both are also affected by target’s Vigor and Resistances | Race Exclusive]

Huh, so it was basically the non-lethal version of Toxic. Where was this when she needed to poison Mart Hucklebain, because it certainly would have counted. There were definitely a bunch of places this could be useful, when she wanted to torment or cripple someone without actually killing them. Once again, her mind went to the damned security guard at the Migrore Museum and how this would have effectively made him a non-issue, assuming it worked as well as she thought. If it was just on the level of a basic bug bite, then probably not much, but at a ton of stacks, it sounded abysmal.

This could be something she was willing to test herself, but, uhhh, maybe later. Also, just by its nature, it sounded like it would be a lot more noticeable. Angelica had still yet to actually be poisoned herself, but from what she’d garnered, Toxic didn’t really seem to be of much notice to those afflicted, other than being aware that their Health was rapidly declining. Irritant, on the other hand, was designed for active suffering, and it made her wonder if that meant it would be difficult to get away with applying it without drawing attention.

[Active Skill: Bug Bite Lv.1 unlocked | Subtly break the target's skin with a delicate touch, injecting stacks of Irritant. Cost: 6 MP + 3 MP per additional stack injected. Max Stacks: 9. Subtlety of Injection scales with Competence. Max Stacks scales with Skill Level and Pestilence Attunement | Race Exclusive Skill]

Okay, the system had moved on to Skills, now, it seemed, and she was apparently completely off-base about the subtlety part. This must be the primary form of utilizing Irritant. And interestingly, it didn’t actually mention that biting was required for the Skill, so maybe that was just flavor text for the name, rather than being necessary. There was a good chance any form of touch would work, maybe with the qualifier that the point of contact had to be able to break skin, like her claws, or maybe a finger nail in human form. The urge to test it was rising, but the desire to hold on to her 100% Health for as long as she could superseded the notion.

Additionally, Bug Bite specifically mentioned stacks of Irritant, sounding like she could not apply Toxic that way. Along a similar vein, she probably couldn’t imbue Irritant into things using Toxic Imbuement, since it literally had Toxic in the name. But what about the others, like Poison Chef, and if she bought them, Poison Kiss and Poison Breath? Maybe the DGS could simply tell her, so she wouldn’t have to go scrutinizing Skill descriptions. After posing the inquiry, she actually got a reasonably helpful answer.

[Bug Bite is limited to Irritant. Toxic Imbuement is limited to Toxic. Other Pestilence Skills, such as Poison Chef, allow a poison to be selected for use. Note that only one poison can be utilized at a time, and switching the currently active poison will make it primed for all universal Pestilence Skills]

[Irritant engaged. Toxic engaged. Irritant engaged. Toxic engaged. Irrit- Tox- Irr- To- I- T- Irritant engaged]

She may have gone a little overboard having fun flipping back and forth between the two poisons now that she understood how to do it with a thought. They could be shifted instantly, so it felt like it would be no concern during battle, with only the issue of remembering to do so. It felt like it would be generally safer to keep Irritant primed, so she didn’t accidentally make deadly food with Poison Chef, since she still wasn’t totally clear on all the triggers. And now, she kind of wondered what Irritant tasted like. It should be fine to eat it too, right? That she would have to get lucky with cooking to try since she couldn’t imbue the food.

[Passive Skill: Venomous Strike Lv.1 unlocked | With any melee attack, armed or unarmed, be it stabbing, punching, biting or anything else involving your body directly, chance to apply stacks of selected poison. Chance: 17%. Stacks: 2. Chance and Stacks scales with Skill Level, Pestilence Attunement, Might, and Malice. This Skill can be disabled | Race Exclusive Skill]

So that’s definitely what her claws were for. And maybe her proboscis, to a lesser extent, but that was clearly more in line with Bug Bite. And it was all the more reason to keep Irritant at the ready, in case she accidentally triggered an unintentional attack. Though being able to be turned off was definitely a plus. Clearly the DGS understood why having this Passive constantly enabled could be a hindrance to daily life. So why didn’t it with Poison Chef?! The system was rather inconsistent with its cruelty.

But the Skill actually seemed pretty great. On its own, kind of a low-yield passive that wasn’t worth her time if she had MP for Toxic Imbuement or Bug Bite. But if she was low, and could land continuous blows, like when she was shanking the eel Malignant repeatedly from the inside, this was actually kinda amazing. And… most importantly, there was no stack cap! Death by a million stabs. If she built up to a hundred stacks somehow from Venomous Strike, then slapped it with Potent Toxic, it felt like she could kill Malignants well above the eel. The potential was absurd, but again, execution would be the stickler. She was definitely happy with that, though, hoping it was a Skill that wouldn’t go to waste.

[Flutter has been altered to Hybrid Skill: Fluttering Bumble Lv.4 | Sustain flight by constantly and rapidly beating your wings, up to a maximum height. Body can then move in any direction at speed along a bumbling path]

[Flutter Affix: When reaching the crest of a jump or are about to splat from a fall, your body will automatically provide additional lift to either increase/sustain height or prevent damage. When Flutter is triggered, allows for temporary free Bumble usage]

[Active Cost: MP Drain. Amount decreases slightly per second of Bumble until maximum height or momentum is reached. Maximum Height, Speed, Stability, and Fluttering potency increase with Skill Level, Might, and Balletic Attunement]

Okay, that was interesting. It was weird to see a Skill just deleted like that, especially after she’d been assured she wouldn’t lose her race bonuses, but Flutter had never been an exclusive. And by the sounds of it, while a different Skill entirely, it kept all the benefits of Flutter, including its level. This must be the new Skill she’d triggered earlier while testing her wings. It sounded… okay.

Since there was still consistent MP Drain, even if it lowered overtime, which was definitely an improvement to Flutter’s exponential cost, she couldn’t see herself using it a lot as long as Multi-Bounce still functioned well. Which it better, or she’d have to re-open her ticket with Demon Growth System customer support about a refund. Still, there were definitely some times where it would just be simpler, like crossing from one roof to another instead of building a bounce chain. For anything long-distance, though, she’d prefer to hippity hop her way there. What she definitely liked, though, was the free usage after triggering Flutter. Probably not super useful, since she had Jump Good, but free was free, and she could see its usefulness if she had to suddenly dodge being impaled on something without needing the time to think.

[Grafted Passive Skill: Plague Resistance Lv.2 unlocked]

[Decay Resistance has been Grafted to Plague Resistance]

[A combination of Resistance Skills against forces designed to plague you. Currently Grafted: Disease Resistance, Poison Resistance, Agitation Resistance, Decay Resistance. Skill Level is an aggregate of all Grafted Skills. Amount reduced and recovery boost from any associated afflictions and injuries scales with Skill Level, Pestilence Attunement, and Suffering Attunement]

[Special Note: Poison Resistance will not hinder beneficial poisoning]

Finally, there was Poison Resistance! She just didn’t expect it to come in such a weird way. The DGS refused to let her make Grafted Skills until she reached Hellion, but then gave her one at Puck, anyways. System knows best, apparently. And nice that it wouldn’t negatively affect Poison Eater, a worry she hadn’t even considered, but had been solved, regardless.

Besides that, she was combating several forms of Pestilence. If she levelled it up sufficiently, no more colds, no more itchy skin. Maybe no more headaches or fatigue, too, if those resistances existed and she could Graft them, because they were definitely things that plagued her. And it looked like she was starting with this Skill at Lv.2 since Decay Resistance had been Lv.3, but the rest would be at Lv.1. Made sense.

[Evolution Bonus distribution has concluded. Here are the additional increases]

[Malice absurdly increased]

[Malice has improved from Acquiesced to Intrigued]

[Vigor heftily increased]

[Might, Competence notably increased]

[Suffering Attunement notably increased]

[Balletic, Pestilence Attunement increased]

Intrigued Malice, huh… Angelica wasn’t quite sure how to feel about that. It had jumped a lot since her goody-goody days. But with all the new Skills designed around harm and her eagerness to test and use them. Maybe she was a bit intrigued… Stupid Demon brain corrupting her. Totally. That had to be it. And despite all the new Pestilence Skills, its Attunement had hardly budged. At this high of a level, it must be significantly more difficult to increase them.

[Puck Rank Bonus - Demon Growth System: Accomplices feature unlocked | Register a Demon as an Accomplice. If the registration is mutual, you will be able to contact them anytime through the Demon Growth System via mental letters or direct telepathy. Connections on the same plane of existence are free of charge, but long-distance communications will cost MP for the initiating party]

[Before you ask, we do not give this feature to Imps because they would just annoy everyone with it. Now go accomplish great things with your Accomplices]

Okay, valid, and neat! She’d honestly been wondering how Demons got by without phones in Hell, since they’d probably just melt, unless they had, like… rock phones. But it definitely made sense that there was a system in place akin to the mental connection that Summoners had with Demons, probably originating from the Demon side to begin with. And it was probably better for their mental health than staring into the hubris rectangle of human technology all day.

[You have 1 new Skill available for purchase in the Skill Weave. Would you like to be informed of the details?]

Well, yes, but actually, no. And really? Just one? Well, it made sense, because the majority of what was just received were Race Exclusives, and those didn’t tether to new Skills. While Gelic was definitely curious about the details, and had been the one to request this notification, she wanted to stay in the dark for a few reasons, at least at this moment. First, she didn’t need any more temptations to stray her away from Auto-Color. It would be next, damn it!

Second, it was almost certainly a Pestilence Skill, and she’d just gotten a bunch of those. Being thrust further along the path completely not of her own volition didn’t bother her too much, minus the bug form, but she definitely wanted more input on future direction, and to focus a bit more on other Attunements, especially Fabrication, before she reached the point of no return on Pestilence zealotry. And last, she’d been in the Evolution room for a good while now, to the point that Gawk had likely wrapped his business and undergone his changes himself. As his new friend, she didn’t want to keep him waiting.

Spoiler

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