Self-Summon [Demon Summoning/Evolution LitRPG]

Well, it wasn’t a direct greeting. They heard Ba further down the main hall of Morgo’s manor, which they found themselves led toward by the Gremlin. As the voice got louder, the two Pucks were pointed toward a table opposite an open pair of grand doors. Clearly, they were supposed to load it up with the food they’d brought, but that didn’t stop Gelic from repeatedly glancing into the room.

Damn, that’s a lot of strong-looking Demons. She didn’t dare stare for too long at any one time, not wanting to draw attention to herself while she upchucked the huge food delivery from Second Stomach one container at a time. Since she was so distracted, and not doing a good job of keeping things tidy while placing them down, Gawk helped by making everything neat and organized.

The room she was fascinated by contained a long table, surrounded by Demons on all sides. She couldn’t even see the other end properly, since many of their large bodies obstructed the view, billowing out onto the table or reaching the walls of the room. At the closer end, was the Legion Heir that had given them their trial, and by the sound of his words, he was clearly vamping.

Though, not for much longer. Ba glanced over his shoulder, saw the delivery Demons, and shot them a smirk. “Well that’s enough of my rambling.” He wrapped things up. “It looks like our food is here, so don’t let me keep you from your lunches any longer.” There was a lot of floor creaking as chairs were pushed back, along with many rumblings from those who were too big for chairs to begin with.

A veritable stampede came flooding out through the double doors, and Gelic desperately hopped to the side of the table to get out of the way after she placed the last meal. Greedy hands, paws, tentacles, and other appendages she couldn’t begin to describe grabbed at the various labelled meals. With each one that swung right by her, she had to suppress a shudder, feeling their power as if they were flexing it for their comrades. She didn’t properly count, but there were at least two dozen. And they were all Daemons or Devils? Damn. Zebub was supposed to be considered a lesser Cult, but they were still stacked with powerhouses. How did the big ones compare then?

The legion of Legion Heirs then paraded down the hall, into a circle at the end, which teleported them to… yeah, she had no idea. Back to their own offices probably. And of course there was a circle. That made total sense. She doubted very few if any ever went through the main entrance, or if they did, that the maze wouldn’t trigger for them. It was specifically there to keep out unwanted guests, and if it hadn’t been a trial, they likely would have met an even more aggressive response.

One Demon didn’t join the others, though, and instead walked, err, hovered straight for the Pucks. “So you two defeated my Spawns.” The floating purple, pulsating, and clearly very poisonous mushroom cap that sort of looked like a flying saucer spoke with a surprisingly girlish voice, almost like a squeaky teen. “I should be pissed from being humiliated by two low ranks, but I only find myself impressed. Are you sure you want to join Ba Skin? He’s only a Daemon and trounces around as a disgusting human. Why don’t you join the Cappy Legion instead? Serve under me, and you will be the pride of the Zebub Cult in no time! We even get to—

“Keep your mycelium off them, Cappy.” She was interrupted by Ba Skin who had quickly snuck up from behind. “You know the rules about poaching potential recruits within the Cult. Or do we need to go back in there for another meeting with Morgo?”

“Such a stickler for the rules, Ba,” Cappy teased. “You’re no fun. What would I want with two Pucks, anyways? And I should be the one blabbing on you for talking down to a superior rank. But I will forgive you since you brought my favorites.” The aforementioned mycelium creeped out of the mushroom cap and formed a web of tendrils that wrapped around one of the last remaining meals before Cappy flew away toward the circle.

Before anything else, the vast majority of what remained was scooped up by the Gremlin who had previously guided them. They then went into the room with the long table, closing the doors behind them. Just before they shut, all the way at the other end, Gelic caught a glimpse of the one who could only be the leader of the Zebub Cult. Morgo Gorgo, an Archdemon. He was huge, almost as big as the Slothful Spawn they’d just fought.

But she barely caught a glimpse of his silhouette. Before the doors closed, the only thing she could focus on was the eye at the center of his body, the massive single eye with a gaze that was staring straight at her, piercing her, making her shiver on the spot. Not only from the Demon’s obvious absurd level of power, but a realization of what her cute little friend, of what Gawk could one day become.

Ba opened his mouth as if to address the two of them, but was suddenly interrupted by another Demon. It was some sort of slug-like thing, but despite the implications, they were actually moving quite quickly, zooming even, dragging a loaded cart behind them. “Order for Ba Skin.”

“Ah, yes, thank you.” The Daemon went to receive the order but then requested, “Actually, could you please change the delivery to my office. We’ll share this with the members.” He got a nod from the slug Demon who turned around and rushed back into the circle before vanishing.

“Really, you ordered a whole second batch of food?!” Gelic fumed. “So you didn’t believe in us from the start?!”

“No, I believed in you,” Ba Skin refuted. “This was just in case you didn’t believe in yourselves. Plus, I had a feeling someone might intervene. The trial was supposed to just be the maze, but someone suggested that Cappy throw some Spawns in there to both torment you and mess with me. She was happy to oblige. Really, it should have been shut down at that point, but… forget it. Point is, you definitely passed the trial. So why don’t we go back to my office and continue our conversation.”

Assuming he was telling the truth, which the Pact was still active where he couldn’t lie about recruitment, it did make Gelic feel a bit better. But she did have one more bone to pick, though less of a stickler. “And I suppose you didn’t let us use the circle on purpose.”

“Of course,” he openly admitted. “Well, more specifically, I purposefully didn’t mention it. If you two somehow learned of the pathway yourselves and got someone to authorize access that allowed you to use it, then that would have been a perfectly valid completion of the trial. But that would have led to exposing a major security flaw, which would have been an entirely different issue.”

The three of them passed through the circle at the end of the hall and appeared elsewhere in Suciraga, about a block from Ba Skin’s bulb headquarters. When they got inside, they found Crectal sitting at the reception desk, gorging herself on food. She had already fully eaten two of the delivered food containers, and was about to reach for a third.

But Ba jumped in to chastise her. “Embrace your Gluttony even more, and I’ll call Nexeph here to stuff you until you pop.” Gelic had no idea who Nexeph was, another Legion Heir perhaps, but assumed the threat involved the Force-Feed Skill. And apparently it was a substantial enough warning to cause the Ghoul to drop all intent of snagging more food, and even made her glance away with guilt and shame.

“Grab whatever meals from the cart you fancy,” he offered. “These are more generic options since it was from a different restaurant. We’ll eat in my office.” The man himself grabbed what looked like a thermos and headed into the room. Gawk happily picked up a container labelled “Mush Cream,” and flapped in afterwards. Gelic took a bit longer, not really knowing what anything was, but she followed her nose, guiding her to something called a “Sweaty Meat Wrap.” Was the meat wrapped by something, or was the meat wrapping something else?

She didn’t care at this point. Not what was inside, nor the kind of meat. She was starving. Sadly, the free meal she’d been given at Laced had been deleted by Starvation. Coupled with all the calories she’d burned from copious amounts of bouncing, and she was definitely in a deficit. And showing no shame about what she’d need to do to eat it, she turned back into an Imp once more and joined the other two.

Ba Skin was mid drink from his thermos. And the way he was slurping down the liquid, letting it fall from the container into his open mouth while lapping with his tongue was so freaking weird. And yet… kind of tantalizing… Nope, just really weird, and it was his Incubus nature that was making her think anything otherwise. After finishing his gulp, he screwed the cap back on the thermos, glanced curiously at Gelic’s new form for a moment, but then continued as if nothing was off.

“So congratulations again. You have proven yourselves beyond my expectations. It is my honor to formally issue you both an invitation to the Ba Skin Legion of the Zebub Cult. Hopefully, you both had some time to read through the Pact. If not, take this opportunity while you eat to do so. I’ll send the proper version now. You can make your decision when you’re ready.”

Gelic, who was still unwrapping her food, barely had a moment to see the magical document appear before her eyes once before Gawk chimed in. “I signed it!”

Even Ba Skin was taken back a bit by his eagerness. “Well, alright then. Welcome aboard, Gawk. Happy to have you. Here, take your reward.” Ten crystals floated out of the Daemon’s hand and flew over to the eyeball who didn’t even look remotely interested, now engaged in his Mush Cream. “And you, Gelic? Have you made up your mind?”

Unfortunately, she had. Her eyes mentally skimmed down to the bottom of the Pact and signed her name in the box that wasn’t there before. There was still a lot about Cults and Demon society in general that she was unsure of. She didn’t care for how they’d been toyed with during their trial, but it was honestly nothing more than the sort of nonsense scuff she’d had to face when dealing with Summoners. Hell, she’d even go so far as to call it more rational than what she’d become used to.

Ultimately, the positives outweighed the negatives. Maybe she’d feel differently with another Cult, another high-ranking Demon that she’d have to report to. If she was required to be a regular active participant, that would have been a non-starter. But so far, since there’d been no lies detected, she did genuinely believe him when told her involvement could be minimal. And the Growth Point bonus was another big reason, huge even, but still somehow not the most important.

The decision maker had been her Order, her lifeplan Order. It knew what she knew in her subconscious, that joining a Cult would ultimately assist with her end-goal of not being bothered by anyone. While they may not be the strongest Cult, aligning herself with a group of some notoriety was definitely better than being a singular Demon all alone in the big wide world, several worlds, even. It was the equivalent of joining a Sect, something she still needed to consider for her human side, but that was a different problem she didn’t currently care to dwell upon.

“And welcome, Gelic.” Ba Skin repeated the act with his handle, and she more graciously received the payment. There was a little extra sprinkled with hers, since she was still due for the trial as well.

[Pact upheld]

[Gained 200 Essence]

[Gained 10 GP]

[Would you like to consume 401 Essence to reach Puck Lv.5?]

[Demon Rank: Puck Lv.5]

[Ba Skin has been registered as an Accomplice]

[Crectal has been registered as an Accomplice]

That had been part of the terms of the Pact. As the leader and second-in-command of the Legion, both were to be automatically added as Accomplices, and the members had no right to reject them. They couldn’t be removed, either, unless there was a change in leadership or Gelic, herself, left the Legion or Cult.

[You have joined the Zebub Cult]

[Achievement: From Cradle to Cult | Wow, you’ve managed to trick a Cult into letting you join while you’re still just a Puck. Impressive. Hopefully, it’s a good one. Loyalty is important, understood? And to help incentivize your loyalty, with each further Evolution gained while remaining a member of your current Cult, this Achievement will provide a new reward. If you leave the Cult, you will immediately lose access to them. Next reward: Hellion]

[Additionally, since you have joined a Cult before the typical Rank of Gremlin, viewing Cult Tags through Scrying Eye has been unlocked early]

[You have gained 1 stack of Amusement]

Huh, what was that for? Joining the cult at Puck, defeating the Spawns, someone just enjoying the craziness of her life? It was hard to say.

[Demon | Alias: Gawk | Demon Rank: Puck Lv.1 / 30 | Zebub Cult]

Gelic took a moment to scry her friend just to see the difference. Assumedly, any Demon with their own Cult association, or maybe even a Summoner borrowing their Skill, would now see the same bit of info when they scried her. And also of note, apparently Gawk hadn’t gained any levels. It had only been two days since they’d first met, which he’d likely spent soliciting Cults and looking for places to live, so there probably hadn’t been many opportunities for him. But at the same time, it made her feel worse for taking his share of Essence. He didn’t appear bothered at all, the kind who revelled in the small wins.

“Ooo, yay, I got an Achievement!” he cheered as a perfectly timed example. Assumedly, it was the same one as hers.

She then had to inquire, “Did you get a stack of Amusement too?”

“Err, no what’s that?” Hmm, apparently not then. Was it because she had put in more effort, or maybe since she was already marked as a Jester that it came more easily. Before she went to explain, Ba Skin interjected.

“Ah, yes the Cult loyalty Achievement. We all get it, but depending on the rank you join at, it’s called something different. I honestly don’t know what it is for a Puck, since it must be exceptionally rare. For Gremlin, it’s ‘Regulation Cultist,’ and for when I just joined as Daemon, it’s ‘Late Bloomer.’ Which means I won’t get anything out of it until I reach Devil, and I’d lost the few bonuses I had. The rewards come in the form of random buffs, usually dealing with Cult activities, such as gaining more Skill experience or doing more damage when in proximity of a fellow member.

“Since you’re joining as Pucks, assuming you make it to Daemon or Devil, you’ll gain quite a few buffs, each of which gets stronger with additional Ranks. Hopefully, neither of you gets the buff that makes it so we have to pay you more Essence when completing Cult-assigned jobs, or if you do, it’s one of the later ones. That’s a budgeting nightmare, and if we try to circumvent it, or even try to give you less work as a result, we get punished. Now then, since you’re done with your meals, shall I show you to your quarters?”

Gelic wanted to jump on that, confused by the prospect, but then remembered Gawk had mentioned lodging being one of the main reasons he wanted to join up. So she decided to follow along just to see what it’d be like before raising objections or refusals. “You’ll have to share a room for now. At least until you become Gremlins, or until Morgo approves my proposal to build a second dedicated dormitory, whichever comes first. Likely the former, because as with Growth Points, additional funds outside of our dedicated operating budget, how much we get and when we get it is entirely based on his whims and our merits—merits that you two will hopefully now contribute toward.”

Ba had taken them down a hallway that shot off from the main reception area. They passed a shared kitchen, of which the appliances Gelic could mostly identify, but they were all a bit off or obscure compared to normal human ones. What she had to assume was the fridge was a warped box exuding misty frost, and it had a Rune on the front, presumably Frost Touch. Which, she didn’t need, but still definitely wanted just for her own Reprint library just in case. Sadly, all of her art supplies were currently back in her Casniem apartment. Not that she was sure they’d survive if she brought them out in Hell. At some point, she’d need to get art supplies that could endure any element.

After that, they were taken to the end of the spiraling hall, passing several rooms, with the doors getting closer each time as they reached the center of the spiral, indicating that they were definitely getting smaller. So of course, as Pucks, they got the last and smallest one. Even still, it actually wasn’t too bad. It was about the size of her college dorm rooms, and since she and Gawk were the size of young children, it was actually pretty spacious.