The spoiler contains part of the next chapter.
I thought about what I needed to get through this dungeon. The two teens I was with seemed unreliable at best, so I wasn't counting on them. But I needed too many things to be a one-man army. I could put everything into my perception to raise it from thirteen to sixteen with the hope that I could detect most of the traps. But even if that worked, if the teens left or tried betraying me, could I survive the waves of the monsters without upping my stamina? I actually had the answer to my problem; I just didn't want to do it, so I kept trying to come up with other alternatives.
Charisma was the obvious choice. Being the driving stater for both my Holy and Summoning magic, even one point should have an exponential affect. On top of that, I also had the 'All Natural' boon. The last time I increased the charisma stat to twenty-three it had gone up by five making it twenty-eight. The time before that, it had given me an extra four so it the pattern held, I would get a serious boost. it sounded fantastic in every aspect but was it all sunshine and rainbows? With every increase I had become prettier, which in itself isn't a big issue. It was that the last increase had also come with a new ability Charm. It was one I couldn't control and several men and even females had become charmed in my presence. I had been wearing the illusion ring to get the negatives so that didn't happen but, in a dungeon, I couldn't handicap myself like that. The thought of becoming like those Nobels in school made me feel queasy.
I had thought long and hard about the 'All Natural' boon and had not planned on increasing charisma. It wasn't all about the charm effect, although it didn't play a heavy role in my decision. The other reason was that it was too overpowered. So far, those extra bonuses were increasing my stat from twenty-three to thirty-five. It was too much, and I began to look for negatives. I found one. It was exactly pretty easy to see once I began looking at it. All Natural required me to be... well all-natural. Any illusion and makeup would reverse the boon and create negatives to my stat. The greater the increase the greater the negative. The cheap illusion ring, I was currently using as a benefit, showed that to be true. All it would take to weaken me would be for somebody to toss makeup powder in battle and I could end up dead.
Between the two I was happy to not advance that stat any further, I was trying to keep it balanced so the negative and charm effects didn't get out of hand; but... I gritted my teeth and upped my charisma. My body began to change. I had before so I expected some minor changes, but I felt my armor adjusting as my chest and ass swelled. My legs itched unbearably as they lengthened a few inches. I wanted to cry, not in pain but frustration. When I designed my "character" I had made her smaller in both size and "assets". I had ended up as a pretty girl but not to the point that I'd be auctioned off. The prior changes caused by upping my charisma had made me more alluring but still not to the point where people wouldn't take me seriously.
As the changes finished, I knew that I made a huge mistake. My waist had slimmed and any extra weight I might have collected had obviously traveled northward. My chest had increased at least a cup size, causing the skintight leather to look like it was painted on. It might stretch and shrink but there were limits and it had obviously reached it. My 'Armor of the Night' had to become thinner to stretch enough and now left nothing to the imagination. It looked more like a spandex body glove compared to the leather armor it was. It should still possess the same protection values but as I looked at my nipples that poked out, I wasn't positive that was true.
From what I could see, I had become my idea of sexy to the N'th degree; it seemed to be a merger of my favorite supermodel and an erotic porn actress I might have had a crush on. I was voluptuous in all the right ways... if I wasn't an adventure. Now, I wasn't even sure how realistic swinging a mace would be. Even if I could, would anybody take me seriously? I was oozing sex appeal and looked like a bedroom decoration. I had been already having a hard time dealing with men hitting on me. I took out the small, polished piece of metal that I used as a mirror and wilted. This change was like a nail in the coffin. I was a walking calamity; a beauty that nations would probably war over.
I put away the mirror and looked over my character sheet hoping it was all worth it. Not much changed on the main page. I wasn't surprised to see my magic pool had increased and brought up my spell page since that was what I was counting on to get through this. The Holy and Druidic pages had all the same spells. The only difference was that all the holy spell names were now outlined in gold. A boost in their strength? I wasn't sure. The Summoning page was completely different. It had categorized the summonables into sub-labels 'Plant', 'Beast', 'Demon'. The last one was what had me nervous and wasn't even sure if I should open it. Demons were dangerous. Everybody knew that. I ran my fingers though my hair, trying to think of what I should do and ended up curling a piece of it around my finger, enjoying its silky feel. Should I look at the demonic tab or try a few spells to see their effects?
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Scent, feelings, more meta-physical Votes: 11 42.3%
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Super model meets porn actress Votes: 0 0.0%
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Both because a goddess should be sexy while inspiring awe Votes: 15 57.7%
I can't recall what the story was but there was one I read about a succubus-like character who had absurdly high charisma as well. In her case the stat made her less "sexy" and more an object of worship/veneration/to protect that affected not only people but animals and even stuff like weather (It was always a pleasant day around her). That seems to be what you should aim for. Like you said, only so many times you can play the super tramp card before it gets boring, better to change it up when you cross some charisma threshold.
Effect should be gradually in the direction of mercy (such as feeding the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, shelter strangers, clothe the naked, nurse the sick, visit the captives, bury the dead, teach the ignorant, counsel the doubtful, comfort the mourners, correct sinners, forgive offenders gladly, endure troublesome ones patiently, pray for the living and the dead)
Perhaps her beauty evokes a kind of aura of purity that makes others want to protect her so she can focus on support as well as others emulating the above values
I like that better than super tramp. the later would add some comedic value but not much value after a few reverse ML moments. the "he pressed Alice against the wall while looking adoringly into her eyes; Alice POV, a strange man used his arms to encase me against her wall while staring provocatively into my eyes. Should I us use nutcracker on him." kind of moments would get old quick
I will think on how to describe it... See this is why I ask the readers
In many stories and films, beauty creates a sort of zone of sanctity, meaning that everyone sees themselves unworthy of being around alice, but hopes that if they act on the qualities of mercy (see bracket of my last comment), become worthy to look at alice or something along the lines of "don't touch, just look"
I really like this a lot better than "super tramp" as well. It fits the idea of being an angel too. Angelic beauty is generally viewed as awe inspiring rather than hyper sexy.
@LunaSoleil I am going with this. While Alice won't notice for a while, I will use POV changes to detail it out. For now it'll be something like "Between the two I was happy to not advance that stat any further, I was trying to keep it balanced so the negative and charm effects didn't get out of hand; but... I gritted my teeth and upped my charisma. I waited for my body to begin to change... and waited. A sweet scent mixed with the earthy scent of the glen I sat in. The pleasant aroma permeated the area around me, and I felt myself relaxing. Still, my body didn't seem to change, at least not much or I would have noticed. I pulled up my display and saw 'Charisma: 24 (42)' so it did upgrade. Weird, I had expected some major changes.
Did I make a mistake and waste the points? I took out the small, polished piece of metal that I used as a mirror and looked for changes. Everything looked the same except my eyes. They glowed like precious, golden jewels. I put away the mirror and pulled up my character sheet looking for any new skills or abilities that might explain the change to them."
Sounds great to me
@kabi-chan I think that was why it wasn't sitting well with me. It just didn't fit.
@Todesengel
And with the aroma that alice exudes, you can do a lot (increasing credibility, attracting like-minded people, promoting the need for protection and and and)
And later you can level it up if you want
@Deathangel The special effects LunaSoleil and DThorn came up with are certainly great but I don't see why you need to throw away the last bit of physical changes you came up with in the above spoiler. I actually think it would be better to keep them since according to the rules of the world you've created charisma normally increases one's looks so maxing out the physical beauty before the charisma stat starts bugging out and begins doing other things makes more sense. Plus the thought of Alice not turning into a total bombshell might be a little disappointing.
@AnimeFreak1982
But beauty is relative
A woman used to be beautiful when she was chubby and curvy
Today woman has to look like a model
@LunaSoleil True, but I'm just working off what's considered the current standard for beauty in today's world which as you put it are supermodels. I don't think it's a stretch to say most people (myself included) agree this is what maximum PHYSICAL beauty looks like which is why they're chosen to be models in the first place. The more people you appeal to the more you can sell after all. More importantly though the world the author created operates on this standard of beauty so it doesn't make any sense not to go there if she's maxing out her charisma. I'm also of the opinion that if things get too big though it starts to look more grotesque than sexy (I'm looking at you Eikan) which is why I think the physical changes the author came up with in the above spoiler are the perfect final stage for her physical changes.
@AnimeFreak1982 well let me put in a poll to see what the masses think. I can easily do both if the readers want it
@Deathangel That's fair but I was wondering if you could answer a question for me. You see my main issue with Alice not turning into a voluptuous supermodel isn't that she wouldn't meet my preferred level of eye candy. Rather I think I've spotted some potential serious logical/narrative/world building problems with it but it's your story so maybe you could tell me if I'm getting something wrong here. As I stated earlier there's a limit to how much you can improve one's physical assets before it starts to have a negative effect so adding a mental aspect like the one LunaSoleil came up with to the charisma stat in addition to a physical aspect is a great idea. The problem I'm seeing is having that mental aspect come into play while the physical aspect still has room for improvement. If she has room for physical growth then the charisma stat has that much more room for growth as well on top of the extra charisma points needed to fully develop the mental aspects of charisma. Putting her that far from the max charisma value would mean her charisma is only relatively high. If she were to gain the mental aspect of charisma at that level then it stands to reason that other people with relatively high charisma would also get it. Given that there are multiple categories of entire skill sets that depend on a high charisma value there must be a lot of people in the world with relatively high charisma builds. If every one of them gained brainwashing abilities like what LunaSoleil is describing the power balance of the world would be broken beyond repair as it's flooded with high charisma people who brainwash everyone around them by simply existing. I mean have you ever read one of those "reincarnated as a villainess in an otome game" novels that try to explain the heroine's popularity with some kind of magical high charisma brainwashing ability? If even ten percent of the people in your novel with high charisma builds couldn't control that ability or used it for selfish purposes and let's face it ten percent is a mighty generous estimate given human nature society would straight up collapse. The only way I can think of to avoid that would for there to be enough people resistant to the ability to make the ability itself meaningless or to limit the mental aspect of charisma to the select few who have taken it so far that every possible physical aspect of it has been exhausted and then taken it even further. Only the MC and maybe a couple other important characters should have this kind of ability. That way the one or two that use it for evil can be dealt with by Alice or some other hero before they cause too much trouble. Any more than that and you've got too many people brainwashing too many people to keep the world from descending into chaos. You could even add a Tamamo No Mae like villain to the world's history that used her high charisma mental ability to manipulate world leaders and destroy entire countries to add some legitimacy to the people hunting Alice since the whole Herald of Destruction thing is going to fall flat pretty quick when everyone going after her starts getting brainwashed as soon as they see her.
@AnimeFreak1982
Rather I think I've spotted some potential serious logical/narrative/world building problems with it but it's your story so maybe you could tell me if I'm getting something wrong here.
She is one of 13 experiments by the leaders of Endalasia and dumped into her current nation Ofrait. This is because the prior 12 have not gone well.
The problem I'm seeing is having that mental aspect come into play while the physical aspect still has room for improvement.
The physical stats will change her in other ways.
Strength would add muscle mass and give her a more athletic look. If she goes all po*n star, raising her strength would give her a more of a fitness TV actress and reduce her breast size a little because of that.
Stamina would add density and weight. Raising this higher would add a bit more thickness to her frame for cushion and damage control but change her to a more Spanish or Serbian version of beauty
Dexterity would make her more flexible, lighter and a bit thinner. Raising this higher would reduce her weight and change her to a more Chinese version of beauty.
Because her strength (11), dexterity (13), and stamina (11) are really close she is changing into her version of beauty.
If she were to gain the mental aspect of charisma at that level then it stands to reason that other people with relatively high charisma would also get it.
She absorbed a lot of the "liquid corruption" giving her access to abilities that are both beneficial but also come with a negative. For example, (this is a spoiler so you are warned) dark thoughts allows her to pick up negative thoughts directed at her from anybody within a three meter radius. But if you think about it, how long would it take inside a crowded city to hear these negative thoughts and the more it happens the more she likely she'd become jaded and cynical. Cops are a good example of this. A lot burn out and judge others by the criminals they deal with everyday. Think of her dark abilities with that in mind. Mistress of Pain boosts her spells IF her teammates take damage. It's subtle at this time but as she grows I plan on morality issues cropping up from time to time
You could even add a Tamamo No Mae like villain to the world's history that used her high charisma mental ability to manipulate world leaders and destroy entire countries to add some legitimacy to the people hunting Alice since the whole Herald of Destruction thing is going to fall flat pretty quick when everyone going after her starts getting brainwashed as soon as they see her.
Not a horrible idea. Although like any bad novel the hunters will upgrade as the book progresses, both in abilities and resistances. I do like the idea though.