Self-Summon [Demon Summoning/Evolution LitRPG]

Angelica prodded at the small openings at the end of her proboscis once more. Would she actually be able to eat through them?

“Evolution troubles?” Parvello pried, notably a bit interested in his customer now, maybe as a source of amusement.

“Err, yeah, first meal in this form. Is there something you could suggest?”

“Of course.” The chef reached behind his large body and pulled out a thin, long book. Probably more apt to call it a menu. He held it up toward her, and the pages began to turn. Huh, actual paper in hell that wasn’t going up in smoke? Perhaps it was made of some special material, or maybe there was an enchantment to protect it. There was also the possibility that Gelic’s Heat Resistance had completely skewed how hot the area actually was. Though given the name of the city, and the smoldering giant arm in the center, she didn’t get the impression that it was innately cool and breezy.

“How about this?” The pages turned on their own, flipping through an array of stranger dishes that Angelica couldn’t even begin to describe. A couple made her stomach reel just by glance, looking like fleshy, purulent, off-colored blobs. She’d struggle to even draw them. But what the menu landed on looked like a fairly safe option, a bowl of blue liquid, something called Soul Soup.

“That’s, uhh, not made from real souls, is it?”

Parvello snorted through his flappy snout, practically giggling. “You two are Pucks, right? Guess not even a single Evolution is enough to smarten you up, these days. Sorry, they’re imitation, can’t afford the real thing.” Clearly, the chef was messing with her, amusing themself in the process. So it was just a name.

“Sure, I’ll have that.”

“I’ll have the Grumpy Beads, thanks!” Gawk jumped in with his order next, barely able to contain his excitement. Clearly, he had no worries about eating, which just further spiked his friend’s curiosity about how that actually happened. Absorbed through the eye, somehow?

“That’ll be seven Essence.” Parvello held out their palm, prompting gawk to stare at it intently for a second. Familiar white particles twinkled out of his eye and flew into the chef’s flippery hand before vanishing entirely. Also, damn, the meal was surprisingly cheap. Seven Essence for both of them? Meaning killing just a single Lv.1 Malignant was enough to eat, in most cases. And that was for an actual meal at a restaurant, though, granted, this eatery was closer to a food truck. Still, surely, there were cheaper foods that could be either bought or prepared on their own.

Even if Angelica averaged the cost of each meal to five Essence each, with her current stockpile, she could buy roughly fifty days of food. Well, that, of course, assumed that it was sustenance she could stomach—yet to be seen. With just the jobs she’d done as a Demon so far, she could be living, or at least eating, well in Hell. Of course, they probably had other expenses. While transport was covered, there was very likely some sort of rent and material goods to buy. She kind of wanted to attend some Hell finance course now that broke down an average citizen’s cost of living.

Though, it seemed there were quite a few Demons who didn’t venture out of Hell and engage in the summoning cycle. They probably didn’t fight Malignants, either. Fellows like Parvello, here, who ran restaurants. There were likely tons of different professions in Hell that didn’t come with the risks of otherworldly travel and Contracts. And risk would be the stickler, wouldn’t it? Fighting Malignants, yeah, there was risk there, especially when giant eels unexpectedly popped out of the ground.

And Summoners, damn, that was the riskiest of all. First, they could be asked to do labors that would risk their lives or just be generally unpleasant and dangerous. And of course, there was the stickler that each time they were summoned, there was a decent chance of being Bound, which could be something short-term, or it could be life-long enslavement. And on top of all that, there was virtually no guarantee of fair compensation.

Of course, there were Contracts and Skills to help mitigate the issues, but when really thinking about it, Demons were really the ones getting screwed over in the deal. All those things considered, especially with the average going rate of roughly fifty Essence for the simplest jobs that could turn into museum heist nightmares, yeah, it definitely made sense for those who took the risk to be better compensated.

She couldn’t blame any who chose to live peaceful lives in Hell. Heck, if her lifeplan didn’t pan out, maybe she’d become a permanent resident. As for getting Cherub to immigrate, though, that was a bigger issue. And, of course, on top of living expenses, there was the other use for Essence to consider. By spending it on anything but Demon Ranks, they were effectively crippling their own future growth. And if they didn’t do the dangerous route to get excess Essence, they could essentially stagnate forever. Man, being a Demon was tough, and she had oodles of new respect for them. Angelica also couldn’t help but feel supremely guilty for letting Gawk treat her now. She’d make sure to eat, or rather, drink, every bite, even if it was icky, so his hard-earned funds didn’t go to waste.

Speaking of, she was a bit confused and in awe of Parvello’s cooking method. If it could even really be called cooking. The seal-like Demon flipped open the lid to the chest and held the menu up to it. On the Soul Soup page, the picture of the food started to glow, producing a ball of light that jumped into the chest. The pages then turned on their own, to a bowl of big raisin-looking thingies, and a second froggy mote of light was produced that dove into the fancy box. A moment later, two bowls rose up out of an ominous fog, and the chef scooped them up while the chest’s lid slammed shut on its own.

Just what kind of magic was that? Some special culinary-related Attunement she didn’t know about, perhaps? Or could it be Fabrication? Hmm, would Reprint work on meals? The Skill description just mentioned previously created works, not specifically what kind of things, or that it had to be art. Even if it did, culinary arts could definitely count. It probably wouldn’t spawn the ingredients on its own, but maybe she could recreate meals if she had everything. Definitely worth testing. And maybe it could circumvent Poison Chef, creating something poisoned or unpoisoned perfectly every time. That definitely felt possible with a level up, if it didn’t work already.

But now came the moment of truth. Parvello set the stone bowls down in front of them, resting on large gems embedded in the lid as if they were coasters. They weren’t given any utensils, so she really was expected to just dig in. Gawk didn’t hesitate. From the side of the cornucopic rim surrounding his eye, a long, thin, forked tongue shot out and lapped up one of the “beads” in his bowl, before it retracted back into his body and he hummed with satisfied enjoyment.

Angelica, uhh, kind of wished she hadn’t seen that. The little dude had to do what was necessary for him, and, of course, he must have a body that allowed for that, but the veil had been lifted, in a way. Seeing it again, the tongue kind of reminded her of a snake, so maybe his Demon line was actually reptilian in nature. And she’d do her best to not let the new unsettling feeling make her view him in a less endearing light.

Not that she had better circumstances. Here goes, I guess. It was time to really give into her mosquito-esque nature. Gelic dipped the end of her proboscis into the bowl of bubbling blue liquid. She braced herself, expecting it to be scalding hot because of the aforementioned bubbling, but it was actually alright. So she gave it a suck. A big gulp flowed up her pointy appendage into her… whatever it was she had behind the mask, definitely not a proper mouth, but apparently it at least included taste receptors.

And the taste was… it was… fine. She’d maybe even go so far as to describe it as pleasant, almost like drinking a savory broth with a twang of sweet creaminess. But what really detracted from the experience was the uncanny feeling that she was drinking it through her nose. In a way, it sort of made her feel like she was drowning. Not like her life was actually in danger, but she was very cognizant that the parts of her body used for breathing were temporarily impeded. The gentle warmth of the soup wasn’t something to complain about, though, and didn’t feel too bad on her senses. Plus, her stomach was happy to finally be getting some proper sustenance, thankfully not rejecting the Hell cuisine. Still, it would be a slog to finish.

“Hey, Gelic, wanna try some of mine?” her friend offered. Maybe he caught onto her general discontent.

“Uhh, sure, thanks.” Once her nostrils were clear of the latest slurp of liquid, she reached over to Gawk’s bowl and plucked a bead with her claws. After bringing it closer for inspection, she understood the name. The shrivelled morsel had somehow been stretched perfectly for the wrinkles to resemble a grumpy face. Hopefully, it was just some cooking trick, and these weren’t actually some sort of dehydrated heads.

But how would she eat it? Just pressing it against the dents at the end of her proboscis made it very clear that there was no way the big raisin thing would fit. Maybe she could dice it with her claws and swallow it bit by bit. Ugh, that sounded like such a fritsing pain. So scuff it! Angelica had been doing her best to acclimate to her new Puck form, accepting the buggy reality, but making eating a damned chore was simply asking too much. Activate Transfiguration!

[Achievement unlocked: Regressor]

Yes, she had undoubtedly regressed, in a way, back to her Puffball Imp self. Apparently, it was an act that was quite obscure, because suddenly Parvello was looking at her funny. Surprisingly, Gawk was, too, and he was usually fine with anything. If he had an equally large monobrow to match his eye, it would certainly be raised.

[You have performed an act many Demons would consider taboo; to look back on one’s past only distracts from the way forward. But this line of thinking is reductive. Much can be learned from previous experiences, to lean on your history and accept that you may have been better at certain things in outdated forms. As a reward for your bold initiative, Transfiguring to previous Evolutions costs no MP. Additionally, any Race Exclusives that came from that Rank will have boosted potency while in that specific form. Feel free to tell others about this bonus, which they can get at any time. Most still won’t, and would never use it even if they do obtain it. Stubborn bastards, so annoying]

Well, for once, it was a good thing that Gelic didn’t share the majority of Demon sensibilities, because she could only see those as amazing positives. She could be her old squishy self as much as she wanted. And on top of that, Multi-Bounce and Punching Bag would be improved while using it. Someone about to absolutely wallop her with a blunt attack? Imp time! Actually, it did beg the question whether her ball self or her armored bug self would be better at taking hits like that, something she wasn’t enthused to test, but should probably be figured out for serious situations.

Since she’d gone ahead and committed the taboo, there was no reason to hesitate further, and she tossed the big bead into her massive maw, which made the piece of food seem much smaller by comparison. It wasn’t at all what she expected. While it had a squishy exterior, there was actually a decent crunch when she bit into it, which let out an almost meaty juice that basically punched her in the mouth with flavor. Damn, it was delicious. Oh Vissiem, it was good. Maybe her Demon tongue was skewing her tastes, but it was quite possibly the best thing she’d ever eaten in her life.

She couldn’t stop herself, unconsciously giving into an act of gluttony. Angelica’s grubby arms reached over, grabbed the bowl of Grumpy Beads, and downed the whole thing into her mouth at once, revelling in the textures and flavors as she chewed before swallowing it all down. Then, she picked up her bowl of Soul Soup, and glugged it as a chaser. Yes, it was so much better when able to be enjoyed properly. Quite good even, though not as good as the stolen food.

After setting the bowl down with a satisfied sigh, Gelic finally realized what she’d done. “Oh, Gawk, I’m so sorry. It was just so good that I did that without thinking.” She glanced over to the chef. “Umm, two more bowls of Grumpy Beads, please. Oh, and something for dessert, whatever you recommend! My treat, this time.” Maybe she was trying to act generous, but, really, she just wanted an excuse to eat another helping and try more of Parvello’s cuisine.

“I’m just glad you enjoyed it!” Gawk was back to his cheerful self, having moved on from the weirdness of the Transfiguration. “And, thanks, I’ve never actually tried the desserts here. They’re actually kind of pricey.”

Eh? She was about to double-check on what she’d agreed to pay, but the seal Demon had already flung open the chest lid once more and had gotten cooking.