∼ Skills and Traits ∼

Chapter - 041

Inspecting the various information on display, the demon hummed and hawed. Though much came clear before the learning demon, such as the base mana cost for casting a spell and the level associated with it. But he wasn't able to make out what exactly "effects" and "advancement" entailed.

"Minor damage demonic... and ar-cane? What that mean?" Nyx asked a bit testily, and not all because he couldn't figure it out himself.

Aria nodded knowingly as if she had known he would ask. "Like skill levels with Inferior, Moderate, Superior, and Peak - effects have a similar range going called; Minor, Medium, Major, Extreme. That is because the effects of any given spell or skill is all relative to the caster or user. When it says minor or major in effects, it is all contingent on the level of your skill and the amount of power you are capable of."

"And advancement?" Nyx added to his question.

Aria shook her head. "A skill can never exceed the rank of your class or the grade of your evolution, therefore it is not something you need to worry about. Especially since you will not be able to evolve or advance a skill before both achieving your next class rank or evolution grade and having reached the level of peak.

"That means you need to be at least level twenty-five as a warlock, and your skill needs to be at peak on top of that. But that being said, advancements are very powerful, as they can add additional effects, increase its overall potency, and can greatly change the skill as a whole. As for race skills, they are a little different, and not much information is written about them. But as far as I recall, race skills for monsters - instead of advancing - they evolve. Changing into similar, but often completely different skills."

Intrigued, Nyx almost tried simply wishing something to appear in the box noting advancement, Aria's advice to not fret over it making him only that much more excited for when he'd be able to achieve it. But as usual, Nyx wasn't able to manifest his wishes with only the sheer desire of his mind so he moved on.

[Impfire], [Wither], and [Summon Familiar] - the new skills at his call.

He was itching to use them all. So slowly, a magnificent idea formed in Nyx's head.

Eric hadn't really been paying that much attention to either of them as he himself was testing out his new capabilities, infatuated with his own new skills and class as he boxed at the air, his fists moving in a blur. A devious smile slowly formed on Nyx's lip, revealing his sharp teeth. Nyx lifted his hand instinctively and pointed it at Eric as he called upon his magic.

As Eric threw his punches, one after the other, the strength and speed behind each became significantly slower. As if he was punching through molasses. "Huh?" Eric mumbled. "What the-" He even looked rather sickly, as if he was about to expel all the bile in his stomach, but he faster than expected directed his ire towards Nyx, who he quickly determined to be the culprit.

"You-little..." He spat, beginning to walk towards Nyx in what seemed to be a great struggle.

Laughing merrily at the big human's vexation, Nyx made sure to mock Eric as the human tried to reach him.

"Nyx!" A sharp voice suddenly cut through the demon's hilarious reverie.

Flinching, Nyx froze. It was Aria who glared at the demon. Nyx was at a loss at whatever might have incurred the always kind Aria's wrath. Never had she been this angry towards the demon. In fact, Nyx couldn't remember a time where she had shown any true anger towards him. It felt oddly... cold to him. The demon found this to be distinctly uncomfortable, much to his confusion as he usually reveled in other's hatred of him. "It is not okay to use magic on others without permission - it can be very dangerous!" She reprimanded.

Nyx tried to protest, desperately trying to find a way to seem like the victim and shift the blame. "B-but..."

"No buts! I will not tolerate it." Aria did not relent in the slightest, her timidness gone as well as it did when she was using healing magic. Even Eric was stunned, his furious gait towards Nyx halted as the demon was getting thoroughly scolded by the only person he really listened to.

Seeing Nyx's genuinely downcast expression, Aria's anger finally started to calm down. Before the demon could protest, the elf had pulled him close. "Trickery and fun are all fine." She mumbled with the side of her face pressed against his head. "But you need to be careful with your magic because you can become very dangerous in the future. Will you do that? For me?"

Though the imp still fancied ideas of scorching ignorant humans here and there, he much less wanted to anger Aria as he had just done. Nyx grumbled unintelligibly in response. Which Aria understood as a reluctant acceptance.

Eric could only wonder; "Just what is she doing trying to tame and teach a demon? Can a demon even be tame?"

As the day flew by, they traveled some more, the somber mood having turned normal once again. As Eric tried his best to steer clear of the occasional monster, Aria continued her tutoring of Nyx. He was obsessed with learning all about his new skills and traits. The [Impfire] turned out to be identical to the one that the imp back at the warlock's house had used.

In comparison to Nyx's [Demonbolt] which was a projectile launched from the palm of his hand, [Impfire] was like balls of fire he could summon in his hands and throw to explode with liquidy fire on anything it hit. It was quite powerful, though the direct damage was less than the [Demonbolt] - especially now after its upgrade. And that was not also including [Demonbolt]'s ability to fester like a disease to any poor sod who might've been so unlucky to be hit. 

But what [Impfire] excelled at much more than [Demonbolt], was its ability to affect multiple targets. Using that spell correctly, he could take out multiple enemies at once as they screamed for their pathetic lives. Truly a great spell to teach some dumb humans a lesson. It had Nyx's official stamp of approval.

As for [Wither], it came in as a wonderful tool to keep any monster or man from reaching the fast demon. Eric had gotten over Nyx's previous prank, and he even asked the demon to try and use it on him again to experience its effects and find a way around it. To Nyx's surprise, Eric's sheer stubbornness and will seemed almost enough to overcome most of [Wither]'s effects, though it still hampered his abilities to a significant extent.

It lasted about five seconds from what they could count, but Aria had assured Nyx that it was possible to infuse spells with more than just their base costs to magnify its effects and damage to a certain extent - though she kept using the term "at diminishing returns" which was a concept he was still trying to get a grasp on.

Another point of note on their journey for the imp was when he presented his traits to Aria who was more than happy to indulge in praises.

"You gained an Epic-rank trait?!" Aria exclaimed when Nyx had told of all of his traits. "Minor resistance towards all types of damage... that-that is... hah - It actually makes a lot of sense, considering you have the [Mark of Pride]."

"What do you mean?" Eric asked curiously, joining the two.

"Well, although I do not know nearly as much as my father did on the subject of the infernal and demons - but do know a fair deal. With the Seven Lords of Sin, they each embody their own sin, and so do the demons born in their image. As I have told you, all demons are born with a Mark of Sin. Which warlocks too adopt onto their very bodies when embarking on the path of infernal magics. It is how they convert pure mana into demonic mana like demons naturally do. But a Mark of Sin is much more than just a sign of which god a demonic being has been born to. It will fundamentally shape the path said demon or daemon will walk, influencing their emotions, actions, and growth. And that is what I mean by it. The Sin of Pride is famously known for its both overbearing physical and magical prowess. Actually, I think that Nyx's choice to go for strength before he even fully understood might have been a result of him bearing the Mark of Pride."

"So you're saying he really will become something in between a mage and a fighter?"

"That, I cannot say with certainty. This is of course just a comparison, and Nyx can still go any which way. And it does not necessarily mean he had to find an in-between. There are a lot of classes and monsters in this world - coming in every, shape, variety, and kind imaginable." She explained, a sense of wonder in her voice.

It was first in the next morning that something happened that had Nyx's squeal in excitement and the others desperate to quiet him as they were still out in the wild.

The reason for the demon's excitement was specifically because of [Demonhide]. It reserved ten percent of Nyx's mana, which meant that he did not have a full five mana at his disposal which inadvertently had made him unable to commence the summoning of his warlock familiar.

But now, it was finally time.

He was about to contract his very first minion!