Self-Summon [Demon Summoning/Evolution LitRPG]

Hmm, some kind of well? Gelic stared curiously at the group of Demons that were loitering around some strange hole with a stone lip. They were staring down into it, acting pretty chatty and chummy, clearly enthralled by whatever was going on in the dark recesses. They then all turned to one of their comrades, whose turn it apparently was. With an outstretched… cricked tentacle thing, a weird, prismic clear jewel jumped out of the Demon and into the well. There was a slight rumbling, and then the jewel returned, now pulsing with what looked like dark red, evil energy. It flew back into the Demon who had made the offering, and the crowd around them cheered.

“That’s the Gambling Pit,” Gawk explained. “You spend a Growth Point and get a completely random Skill. It can be anything, from Skills that would only cost a single GP to begin with, to those that would cost dozens, even some no Demon has ever seen before! More powerful Skills seem to be rarer, though, but also the more you use it, the higher chance you have to get a Skill you’re gunning for!”

Why did that last part sort of sound like a scam? That the actual explanation was there were less Skills in the pool, so of course the odds would be technically better. “Have you ever used it?”

“Of course!” He flapped happily. “Pretty much all Imps use it at least once. It’s often one of the main bonding experiences a brood will really have with each other outside of that place. After they graduate and get registered, they’ll often come here. I just happened to tag along with everyone else, though because I fell behind. Since most of us only start with Inferno Attunement, it’s a good way to get a foothold with the rest if you wanna branch out. Though, some definitely use it too much. I’ve heard of Demons who only ever get Skills via the pit. And while it can lead to powerful combinations, most just end up with a bunch of Skills that have no real cohesion with each other. Imp of all trades, Demon Lord of none, as they say.

“I guess I lucked out and didn’t get a stellar Skill on my first try. Kind of made me not want to gamble more, but it was fun to do once for the novelty and brood bonding. Been mostly keeping the GP I earn in reserve, since I don’t know what sort of Demon I want to be yet. And I may just spend them on Lucidity improvements. Because all of my Race Exclusives scale with Lucidity at least partially, so if I wanna keep being me but better, then I can’t go wrong there.”

Huh, so he was pretty much the opposite of her who had a hard time saving any amount of GP. “What’d you get?” Angelica couldn’t help but be curious. She knew it was generally considered impolite to pry too much into other Demon’s abilities, but her wanton nosiness persisted regardless. And hey, they were friends, right? Maybe she was leaning into that too much.

“Eh, it’s a Fabrication Skill, so it’s already not great.” He sounded genuinely disheartened by that fact, meaning it was likely true that the majority of Demonkind took little stock in that Attunement, along with Pestilence, apparently, by the way the Evolution Chamber had spoken of it. “And the worst part is, I can’t even use it! The Skill costs 500 MP per cast, and even with my Evolution, I’m still short.”

Huh, weird, why was there so much disparity in their MP? A little made sense, due to differences in the Worths that gave MP; Competence, Lucidity, and Creativity, the latter of which Angelica would have in spades compared to others. Oh, right, her Summoner Secret. She was pulling double gains since her Summoner Self improved in tandem with her Demon self. Meaning on average, she’d have twice the MP as a demon of the same Rank and level. But damn, that Skill did sound expensive, something she could only cast twice before being tapped out. Just what sort of Fabrication Skill could it be?

“It’s called Ton of Bricks. The name is pretty literal. It summons a ton of bricks at a spot of your choosing. And I hear that as it's levelled, you can change the material makeup of the kinds produced. But, like, what would I even do with so many bricks?!”

I want it. Gelic could definitely think of a few good uses. First, and most hilariously, it could be dropped on an enemy. What a way to go. But second, and more practically, that was castle building fodder right there. The idea had kind of been placed on her lifeplan as a whim, since the dream of obtaining or buying a castle was a bit absurd, and would likely draw too much unwanted attention. But what if she built one? Somewhere remote without a lot of eyes. She’d just need to figure out how to move her circle there, and it’d be perfect.

Maybe there were even builder-type Skills somewhere along that Skill line where she could manipulate the materials without all the perilous labors, but she didn’t want to bother her friend with a bunch of questions about it, especially since he had little interest. And yet… he could also be the key to setting her down that path, even if he didn’t really want to be involved. After Merlina was well-established, she could Summon Gawk, and then use the Skill through her own MP with Skill Sync. Maybe that wasn’t such a useless thing for her after all.

As for the Gambling Pit, “I guess I’ll give it a go.” She could spend a GP and still have enough for Auto-Color. If it could give her something as amazing as Gawk’s Skill, it’d be well-worth the spend, and even if not, she wouldn’t have lost much. And maybe it could form a baseline with a new Attunement she didn’t even know about yet. Plus, it would seem taking part was basically a rite of passage for young Demons. And while Angelica had basically recused herself from human society for the most part, it didn’t mean she wouldn’t want to feel included sometimes, even if it was amongst her more hellish kin.

There were a few grunts of what sounded like consolation after the most recent gamble, and the orange ogre-like Demon who’d made the offering received some cordial pats on the back from the crowd. They must have received a scuff-ass Skill. Which did lower Gelic’s spirits a bit, but from what she’d learned, her opinion of usefulness appeared to waver greatly from the norm.

The majority of the crowd thinned out. A few were sticking around, just loitering, but not really showing intent to partake. Maybe they were just nosy too, wanting to live vicariously through the gamblings of others. But it felt like a window of opportunity, so she slowly padded her way over to the well, and a voice entered her head in the same way that the DGS normally spoke to her, but sounded completely different, almost like a circus ringmaster.

{Welcome to the Gambling Pit, where it is unlikely for your dreams to come true! Will you place your bet, regardless?!}

Uhh, yes. She was feeling even more unsure now, but the lingering eyes of those around had made their way to her, curious about the Puck and what she’d receive. At this point it was better to spend the point regardless than to be viewed as a coward who backed out. Her social anxiety would short out her brain for the rest of the day if that happened, and she’d already been drawing way too much attention to herself during this trip already.

Gelic felt a compulsion to raise her clawed hand, and a clear prism pried itself free of her palm.

[You have lost 1 GP]

That alone was a strange and mildly worrying concept. The fact that GP could be lost at all opened a lot of possibilities. Could they be transferred between Demons like Essence, or worse, stolen? Hopefully, the system would intervene to prevent that, but this was Hell, after all, so she had no idea what the laws of the land were.

Down the well her crystalized Growth Point went. It vanished into the void, and for a moment, as she stared into the dark abyss—worried now that there were no guardrails—she briefly panicked that it may not return for whatever reason. But then there was a flash, and the whole well illuminated with a vibrant yellow. As the prism returned, radiating with a matching color, there were cheers all around, even a gasp from Gawk.

“Oppression!” “Lucky-ass Puck!” “Tch, I should have thrown mine in and gotten that, but she cut in line!”

As far as she knew, Angelica had done no such thing. It was more likely a self-pitying excuse why they hadn’t won anything good. And now she was a bit excited, though also disappointed. Since while it seemed to be something rare or valued by most, envied even, Oppression wasn’t exactly topping the charts of paths she wanted to take. Oh, unless it was something like Deterring Field that would make her peaceful life easier, then she was down for it! The anticipation spiked as the yellow jewel flew up to her chest and dissolved back into her body.

[Active Skill: Leech Happiness Lv.1 unlocked | Deplete a target's happiness and steal it for yourself. Can be used at a range, but the draw is more potent with physical touch. Cost: MP Drain. Some of the happiness gained may be converted to cover the cost. Range and potency of leech scales with Skill Level, Might, Malice, and Oppression Attunement]

[Malice notably increased]

[Oppression Attunement unlocked]

[Oppression Attunement is measuring your will against others and forcing them to accept that yours is more worthy. The more you take from others for your own gain, or even just to ensure their continued subservience, the more the Attunement will grow]

[Achievement unlocked: Gambler | Everytime you gamble a Growth Point at the Gambling Pit, your odds of getting a Skill you know about and desire increases. Current chance: 9.6%]

Leech Happiness?! Fritsing hell, why did a Skill like that even exist? A rhetorical question, obviously; to oppress. It fit the Attunement perfectly. Stealing a whole ass emotion, the one that significantly contributed to most people’s will to carry on in their lives, was about as oppressive as it got. And it had the malicious greed of claiming it for the user. Damn, of any Skill, this was the first that she could describe as inherently evil. And Oppression Attunement as a whole was rather similar to Malice’s description.

[You now have a total of five new, unknown Skills available for purchase in the Skill Weave. Would you like to be informed of the details?]

No! She mentally spat back, still trying to get over this new Skill thrust upon her. Besides the earlier reasons for ignorance, they were probably stinky ass Oppression Skills too, and she wanted no part of them right now. She’d undoubtedly dig in at some point when her curiosity got the better of her, but she was just too annoyed at present.

“So, what’d you get?!” Gawk asked eagerly after the two of them had wandered away from the Gambling Pit. At least he’d been kind enough to wait and not ask her on the spot. But she still honestly didn’t want to answer. If she could banish the Skill away from her mind and Scrying Eye screen, that’d be fantastic. But since she had pried earlier and he’d been amenable, it was only right to share.

“Ooo, wow!” He was still just as excited as ever after she explained the details. “Never heard of that one, but it sounds powerful. Hey, try it on me!”

“Err, I don’t think I should.” While he was openly offering, stealing happiness from a friend sounded like one of the most despicable things she could do.

“Nah, go ahead, it’s fine! You need to know how your Skills work, right? And I’ve got plenty of happiness! Some of my brood, and even our caretaker, said I maybe even have too much. Because no matter what hardships come, nothing gets me down. So have at it!”

Well, it looked like Gawk wasn’t going to drop the idea, so Gelic caved. She gingerly reached out with a claw, barely touching his shell, and activated the Skill.

[Leech Happiness Lv.4]

[Malice greatly increased]

[Oppression Attunement notably increased]

What the heck, she barely touched him, only drained him for just a second, but it jumped that much. And… and it felt… so good…