[2.10] Accomplice (Part 1)
[Contract complete]
As soon as Angelica stepped out of the Evolution chamber, her own Order to Evolve completed itself.
[Lost 12 Essence]
[Gained 10 Essence]
[Essence Tip Activated. Gained an additional 2 Essence]
[Warning: The Demon Growth System has identified your actions as an exploit to the system, and has reported the log to Demon Lord Ferrul. But since no Essence is being impossibly created, your actions will be allowed to continue. Note that further exploits will be scrutinized, and may be either lauded or hindered, depending on the method and result]
Oh, cool, so it did work! While Gelic wasn’t particularly jazzed about the extra attention, at least she wasn’t going to be punished for it. And she learned another neat fact: it rounded up the bonus Essence, because she should have only gotten one Essence if it rounded down. The question was how much experience it gave. Was it a flat rate per trigger, or did it depend on the amount of Essence swindled? Regrettably, she hadn’t checked the past two times it had triggered. There wasn’t much reason to not do bigger amounts if it was the latter, but she’d rather not have her personal Essence tied up in Orders if it could be avoided. She was going to check, but got sidetracked by another message.
[Achievement unlocked: Evolved - Rank 1 | So, when coming up with the leveling system for Demons, it wasn’t taken into account that each Evolution would start at Level 1, thus making the maximum GP per form be one short of what was intended. This Achievement will give you that missing 1 GP with each new Evolution]
Oh, wow, that brought her up to 7 GP total. Her trip to Hell had been damn lucrative so far, in a lot of ways. And one of those ways appeared a second later.
[Demon | Alias: Gawk | Demon Rank: Puck Lv.1 / 30]
Good for him, he’d gotten the name he wanted. And this was also how she found out that the new level cap for Pucks was thirty. Was it right to assume, then, that Hellion would be forty, and it increased by ten thereon? Seemed like it matched her Novice Summoning Rank too, likely using the same levelling scale to keep things simple. It was also probably wrong of her to go ahead and scry him, in case it was another Demon by mistake, but, honestly, unlike her, he’d barely changed at all, at least in general concept.
He was still generally a cornucopia with a giant eyeball at the end. Actually, that may be an even more accurate descriptor now. The end of his fleshy tail had sort of wrapped upward over his body and was now tethered to the ring around the eye, making his body a conical circle. Though he was far less fleshy now, his skin appearing hardened, almost like it had become a spiraling shell one would find on the beach. In a way, he now kind of reminded her of one of those circular horns that looped.
And the biggest change, at the peak of the arc at the top of his body were now two fluttery wings that were continuously flapping, keeping him afloat about two feet in the air, matching her eyeline. With that, his mobility and speed should be significantly increased, hopefully upping his quality of life. It did beg the question how he would hold things—previously using the tip of his tail, but that was restrained now. Maybe the wings could serve as appendages like hers, though that would be very awkward.
Gawk just sort of fluttered for a little bit, not really acknowledging Angelica’s existence, until he suddenly turned to her and squinted happily with his eye, “Gelic!”
“You scried me, didn’t you?” She playfully accused him, as if she hadn’t just done the exact same thing. Huh, my voice?! It was completely different than before. Gone was the gravelly toddler voice, replaced by something far more akin to her normal human tone. But it was deeper, with a slight reverb, like she was actually wearing a mask, but not really muffled. Really, it was sort of like if she were voiceacting a young boy character in a show, a practice not too uncommon for women to do.
“Well, I didn’t know that it was you,” Gawk argued. “Your new form doesn’t look anything like how you described your old one, so I didn’t make the connection until you stuck around for a bit.”
“Yeah, well…” Gelic stretched out her arms and sighed. “I didn’t expect to turn out like this. Can’t say I saw turning into an insectoid in my future. And my ignorance duped me in two ways. I didn’t know we could make requests for our Evolution, and I thought I was turning into a Hellion, not a Puck. Didn’t even know Pucks existed!”
“Ah, yeah, I could see that.” He nodded, which sort of entailed making his whole body rock back and forth. “A lot of Pucks will do grunt work around Hell while they’re still figuring things out, only taking on a few Summoning jobs when they’re more confident. Hellion is when most who choose to be Summons really start dedicating themselves to it. Especially if you were in a restricted world, then, yeah, you wouldn’t have seen many Imps or Pucks.
“Oh, but if you want to know the Ranks for future reference, my Brood was taught the Ranking Anthem, which they’d have us sing regularly to make sure we didn’t forget the hierarchy. I still sing or hum it to myself pretty regularly when I’m bored or can’t fall asleep. Here, listen!”
“First you’re an Imp, which means you’re a wimp.Hats off to Tongues for being able to translate all that while still making it rhyme. And it was actually pretty informative. Nine ranks total: Imp, Puck, Hellion, Gremlin, Ghoul, Daemon, Devil, Archdemon, Demon Lord. From the sounds of it, the first three were basically considered low-level, Ghoul and Gremlin were sort of their own second tier, while Daemon sounded like it was practically considered its own tier in the middle.Then you’re a Puck, so you only kind of suck.
Up to a Hellion, the start of rebellion.
They grow up so fast, now show your Worth at last!
Gremlin’s the start, where you’ll find life so funny
But when you’re a Ghoul, you’ll think it’s way too sunny
You’ll be stuck in a mood, not doing much but brood
Lash out, scream, and cry, it’s all very crude
Then reach the other side, and you’ll stop being a layman.
Hold your head high, because you’re finally a Daemon.
All those left are on another level
Work hard, so that you too can someday be a Devil
While it’s fine to dream big, be calm and keep your head
Piss off an Archdemon, and you’ll surely wind up dead
If you make it that far, rejoice, you’ve reached the end
Because who stands above them, they’re not foe or friend
It’s the one we all serve, for whom you raise your sword
Get down and kneel, praise the Demon Lord
As you all know, they are the only one
Rally the cause together, and see their will be done”
Then Devil and Archdemon were considered high-tier, fairly exclusive, and requiring a lot of work, or more likely, a lot of Essence, to achieve. And then, on their own, more literally than expected, the Demon Lord. So Ferrul was the only one that existed, then? Maybe the only one that would ever exist? Perhaps they were excluded from the Ranking system entirely. Or maybe the Essence requirement was so absurd that it was virtually impossible to achieve.
It could also be that Archdemons just died in other ways before reaching the goal. Maybe Ferrul saw to that so they’d remain as the sole tyrant. And the end of that Anthem, it sounded awfully close to a prayer that was regularly repeated in the teachings of Vissiem. Maybe they fancied themself a comparable deity, and that may not be too far off from the truth. Up until this point, Angelica had always pictured Ferrul as a chaotic, unpredictable, but somewhat whimsical entity. Now the mental image was shifting to a being more malicious in nature. Which given that the Demon Growth System highly valued Malice, was probably not too far off the mark.
“Thanks, Gawk, that does help. You’d make a good teacher.”
“Aww, shucks, Gelic!”
“And you look a lot like your past form, so I’m guessing you didn’t ask for a lot of changes.”
“Nope! They say it’s best to not make too many demands, since that can interfere and conflict with Hell’s plan for you, possibly leading to inferior results. And if you’re too demanding, it may twist your requests. But that’s fine, since I didn’t want much, anyways! I just asked to be me, but better!”
That was certainly another apt descriptor for the Demon, him but better. With one of his major handicaps alleviated, he had just taken a large leap in becoming a useful member of Hell society. It made Gelic wonder what sort of new powers he’d gotten. She was getting ready to ask, but he proposed something of his own first.
“Say, I know I said I’d buy us food after Evolving, but would you be willing to go to the Training Grounds with me first? I’d like to test out the new Skills I got!”
Gelic saw no reason to refuse. “Oh, sure. There’s some I’d like to test out, too. And if it’s a safe spot to do it, then that’d be great.” Maybe it had, like, training dummies that they could use their Skills on and see how they worked—wacky, waving, inflatable arm-flailing Demon targets. Okay, probably not.
“Ah, before we go, would you be willing to become my first Accomplice?!” There he went with his eagerness again, his eye wiggling so earnestly that there was no way she could refuse. “I think it’s a good idea, especially since you’re new to Hell. It’s not common, pretty rare, actually—never actually met someone who it happened to, myself—but apparently, sometimes the teleportation circles can mess up and send you to a completely random place in Hell, or even to other worlds.
“And if that happens, I could help you find your way back. Some say they’re trials that Ferrul throws at you to overcome. Others say it’s Summoner interference messing with it, like trying to Summon you at the same time. And a couple guess that the circles just wig out sometimes. Could just be Demons using them wrong while inebriated, too, I suppose, and just not wanting to admit it.”
Hurray, new irrational fear. By the sounds of it, could really just be some urban legend meant to scare Imps, but on the off-chance it did happen, yeah, being able to phone a friend was invaluable. Not that she needed any more reason to add Gawk. They’d inevitably part ways in the near future, but that connection would make her feel just a bit less alone.
[Gawk has requested to add you as an Accomplice? Do you accept? He will be unable to contact you if you refuse]
Yes, I accept.
[Gawk has been registered as an Accomplice]
The floating eye flapped with a little more enthusiasm, clearly happy that he hadn’t been rejected. “Great! Now on to the Training Room.” He flew over to one of the nearby circles. “This one will take us here. Yes, I would like to go there with Gelic.” It seemed he’d started talking to it. “Oh, nice, there’s a completely free one for now. Let’s take advantage before someone else comes to join. Just in case we do get separated, it’s Room 665.” He then dove into the circle and vanished.
Gelic did the same, but with a bit more trepidation. As soon as she stood on the circle, a voice spoke into her mind.
{Would you like to follow your Accomplice to Training Ground 665?}
With confirmation, she vanished from the Demon Services Office.