-"Yaaawn..." - Garami

My first day in my new life. Outside the Dungeon. The air is nice and dry. To the level that I feel like becoming a mummy. And dusty. Not to mentioned hot. The Dungeon had just the right temperature, but there's no AC out here.

The sun is so harsh, that I've covered all of me with the Mirage Mantle, hood included. Not exactly the desert-traveler look. More like a gray-colored magician, or a grim reaper. And this outfit is hot! Not in the sexy way, but the sweating way. Even so, I don't wanna scorch my skin on those death-sun-rays. I'm probably a little anxious due to the whole [Albino] thing, but the sun is too damn hot, even for someone without this white dye.

I've eaten breakfast already (frog limbs) and left the cave. I didn't wanna have to deal with all the webs and such, even if I had space left (lots of space) in my storage, so I just gathered together all the stuff there and burned them together with the remains of the frog limbs. No evidence left. The fire would attract the attention of some clever minded monsters, but I'm long gone from the place already, so no biggie.

I want to make some distance between me and the lake before researching the item, and my new skills. Who knows what kinda monster would be attracted to a new water source. Speaking of which, what kinda monsters lives in a wasteland? Scorpions?

While keeping an eye after the unknown dangers of the wasteland, I started to follow the map that I was given alongside the other rewards. The map is made of some solid material, maybe parchment? It shows me, while not detailed, all of the Velantas Deadlands. The lake isn't marked on it, but the city of Velantas is at the easternmost part of the region, so I'll just go east. 

And how won't I get lost again, you say? That's all thanks to [Auto-Mapping]! While I walk, the mental map over the Deadlands gets filled up, so I can see in which way I'm walking thanks to that. And yes, the map is made with north at the top. 

Now that my lack of trust regarding my sense of direction is cleared..., huh? It's not cleared? Just shut it, or I'll sick an [Hydra] on you!

Gah, whatever! Back to the point, I'm currently en route towards Velantas city. The change from the watered cavern to the dust-filled wasteland hasn't done anything to my traveling speed. Quite the opposite, I think that it has increased. This could just be that I see how much ground I cover now that I'm traveling on open plains, instead of inside the caverns, but whatever.

I want to cover a good amount of ground before setting up camp for lunch. The main point is to not be noticed by any... monster! Talk about the devil. Or, the scorpion in this case?

Below the hill I'm currently on top of, I saw something that looks like a scorpion monster. It body has a dull rust color, in a pattern that looks like a sloppy military camouflage. Looking away from the size, which is around the size of a house cat, it looks like any other scorpions out there. It hasn't noticed me yet, so let's take a look.

=====================================================================

Appraisal Result:

Race: Sand Walker

Rank: G+

Type: Scorpion Monster

Element: Earth

A scorpion monster that travels the wastelands. 

The Sand Walker has no special skills to talk about, but they have the knack in camouflaging themselves in their preferred territory, without the use of skills.

Their flesh has a distinct taste of chicken, and is completely poison free, a rarity amongst scorpion-monsters. Caravans are always on the lookout for these monsters, in hope for a rare delicacy on their travels.

=====================================================================

Why is the appraisal-result telling me how good it taste? Is it working part-time as a food reporter? 

The scorpion's stats aren't that much, just around 10 for each stats. It hasn't noticed me yet, meaning it not only lacks skills for concealment, but also for searching.

One part of me wants to hunt it down to test what [Appraisal] told me is true. But the other part is not so sure.

The little thing is just doing its best to survive after all. Why should I stop it from doing that? I was in the same situation when I was a Lesser Grey Demon. And unlike me, this little fellow is doing its best without cheat skills, only its own abilities.

...Am I going softhearted? Sure, I'm finally free from the Water-Knot now, and don't need to kill anything in sight anymore, but... or maybe that was the problem from the beginning? I was born in a "kill, or be killed" environment, and had to adapt to such a mindset in order to survive. I may even have overdone it a bit. 

Yeah, I definitely did. It wouldn't be strange if I got any of those criminal-titles that Skvalv once told me about. I may even have one without knowing it. If those bandits I attacked weren't bandits, then I couldn't even raise a complaint.

...I'll just leave it alone. No need to snuff it out just because of culinary curiosity. Or maybe, where did I put it? Ah, there.

*Thud*

I threw down the remains of the frog I had for breakfast. I ate the limbs, but the rest of the body is still whole. I don't like the rest of the body, so you can have it, living monster number 1 after escaping the Dungeon.

The scorpion is surprised, or maybe spooked, of the corpse that suddenly appeared before it. No wonder, since it can't detect me with my [Stealth] on. It checks out the corpse, probably on guard it's fixed with something, while also looking for the source of the corpse. Again, no way the little guy can find me.

Suddenly, the scorpion made a U-turn back where it came from. Aw, here I was trying to act like a good guy for once. There are moments when even demons feel like that, you know?

Maybe I should take back the cor-! What the!

A small army of scorpions came back, with the little guy in the lead. I think its the same one. It got the same pattern as the one from before. The other scorpions have notable different patterns on them, but only that guy had a huge triangle in the middle of its back.

Did it get its family so that they could share the corpse? A quick [Appraisal] revealed that all the scorpions are weaker than the triangle one, and there's even some Lesser Sand Walkers mixed in. Those have weaker stats than even the weakest regular Sand Walker and are just the size of a mouse.

*sniff*

I'm getting a little sentimental here. Triangle scorpion is such a good guy, caring for its weaker folks, eh, scorpions.

I'll give them another frog, but wasn't there some saying that fits this situation? Hmm... let's do that. I just need to make some fixes on this huge rock here, and then push the frog corpse down the hill, so that they notice it. There. Time to skedaddle. It's up to them now to work something out with what I left them.

Huh? Aren't I too soft when I'm confronted with weaklings? Are they my greatest enemies? Not the big-shot C, B, and A ranks, but the G and F ranks? ...Let's keep that to myself...

---

*Gurgle* 

Lunchtime. I think so, from what I can guess from the position of the sun. Or is it called something different? Thinking about it, I slept through the whole night, so I missed the chance to see if the moon was like back at Earth. Damn it!

The sun, err, star(?), of this world, is just like the sun back at Earth. I don't know yet if this world's days are the same, but time will show that, quite literally. Even so, when one's hungry, they have to stop and eat. 

Where shall I eat, where shall I eat... there! Around a bunch of boulders that cast large shadows, there's a set of two rocks. I'll just cut one of them to chair-size, and the top of the second one, making me a table. Tch, the quality of my cutting threads have weakened. Must be because I'm not under that vengeance curse of the Emperor spider. And that was one of my best moves. *sigh* 

Oh well, nothing can be done with it. Let's just eat. I still have around 30 frogs left in my storage. They were just for the picking in the river area, and I got some more in the middle-level as well. Speaking of storage, I haven't checked out my new skills yet. Good timing, let's do that while I eat.

---

*chomp, munch, munch, munch, gulp*

I want real food. Not just frog legs. It's too gory watching a beauty munching on raw corpses.

Okay, complains done. Time for checking the skills. The new ones are the enhancement skills, which I already know off, the reduced cost skills, the auto-recovery skills, [Weaving], [Silence], [Aerial Movement], [Golden Ratio], [Darkness Resistance], the kin skills, the vault, [Lewd Demon], and finally, [Body Replica].

Including the enhancement skills, I already know what [Weaving] and [Silence] can do. I checked out [Silence] on my way out of the Water-Knot, and it reduces the sound created by the skill user. The higher the skill level, the less sound. Simple, but useful.

And I got what [Weaving] can do when I camped in the cave yesterday. It helps me with, you know, weaving. I know, I know, that explanation is lackluster as hell, but that's what it does. It even says so in the appraisal-result.

Luckily, that's not the only thing it can do. Whenever I make something with the help of the skill, I can register the finished product as a recipe in the skill. When I want to make it again, my body moves on its own, and reproduce that work. It's not a complete copy, but it helps with mass-production. I need the materials to make the product though. The auto-movements can be canceled halfway, so there's no need to worry about being unable to act in case something happens. It is only reproducing though, so the result won't be any better than last time, except if you use some better materials than the first time. 

I've got webs. pillow, duvet, and hammock registered on the recipe list. I don't think there are many people that have such a strange recipe list like this.

Over to the unknowns: first up is the consumption reduction skills. They improve my abilities to use mana and stamina, so they reduce not only skill costs, but everything that needs MP and SP. Like running. That's way easier now than before. It can be the difference between the species, but I believe in you, [SP Reduced Consumption]! Ah, and you too, [MP Reduced Consumption]. Despite having it, I still need to pay full price for [Hydra]. Do I need a stronger reduction skill for Unique Skills?

The auto-regeneration skills work on similar concepts as the reduction skills, were my inborn recovery abilities are powered up through the skills. That explains why I recovered HP and MP by sleeping. I didn't get the SP variant, so the reason must lie that I don't have any self-recovery abilities for SP. Then, the spider queen from the Water-Knot must in fact been a rarity despite its lack of battle skills. Kinda wasted opportunity there. Its materials would probably fetch a nice price from some Adventurers Guild if that's a thing.

[Darkness Resistance] is an obvious one, but I still don't get the whole "darkness" thing. Is it like dark energy? Let's check with the Kigal-Note.

... I see. That's how it is. Not sure if I'll get some use out of the skill unless I dive into a darkness-Dungeon. Not planning too, in the nearest future anyway. Maybe if the rewards are good enough. A summonable succubus for example. Oh, wait, if I get into the Dungeon Master business myself, I don't need something like that. I can get as many as I want! If I have enough of those Dungeon Points, according to the Kigal-Note.

Now that the boring skills are taken care off, let's look at the more mysterious ones. Let's start with [Aerial Movement].

=====================================================================

Skill: Aerial Movement

Skill type: Active

Attribute: none

Effect:

• +correction for movements while in the air.
• Creation of footholds while in the air by utilizing MP.

=====================================================================

Shouldn't this be a passive skill if it helps while I'm in the air? Or is the foothold part the main, while the correction is second? It's a cool skill, so I won't fret the details. I mean, it's a real life double jump! That's gonna be awesome together with [Acrobatic].

Let's test it! Here, and, go! ...The foothold cracked the moment I stepped on it. Have you ever tried to walk on water, by moving your feet so fast you don't sink into it? It's like that. The foothold breaks too easily when I step on it, leaving me just 10 MP lower. 

Is the skill malfunctioning? Or is it the skill level? Yeah, it's the level. All skills are trash in their baby-stages. Just gonna be diligent and train it whenever I get the chance. Not many that have a skill that needs 10 MP to use, even from the beginning. Should I push up the level with some skill points? Nah, better to just train it like usual. I'm able to recover my MP on the move, so why not spend it on the move as well?

And then, there's these two:

=====================================================================

Skill: Kin Creation

Skill type: Racial (Demonic, Vampire)

Attribute: none

Effect:

• Allows the creation of kin. Available kin:
  • Kur Reha

=====================================================================

=====================================================================

Skill: Kin Promotion

Skill type: Racial (Demonic, Vampire)

Attribute: none

Effect:

• The ability to grant kinship to other being. By being granted kinship, the target can be gifted with the following powers:
  • Title, [Kin of Demon]. Compulsory. The "Demon" part will be replaced by the skill users name.
  • Skills originated from the user. Available skills depend on the target.
  • Race Change. Not available.

=====================================================================

So, you can allow someone to become you "kin" with the promotion skill, or just create a new being with the other one. Not that creating a living being can be justified with "just" though.

The reason for the Race Change part of the promotion skill being unavailable must be because it's more of a vampire thing than a Kur Kigal thing. That's a template thing for vampires, being bit by one, and you're a vampire yourself. Not sure if creating more Assassin demons like myself would be so good, so I'm actually glad I'm not able to do that.

The whole granting my own skill deal sounds good. I could use that to power-up potential allies. The only problem is to find such people...

And that title, is that the same as the one Virt and the others got? Sound's a little different. From double-appraising the title, I get that the title's effect is to give the title-holder a boost when they fight together with me. No demerits if they rebel against me. Or is it a secret effect that they cannot do that? Anyway, better rethink the whole "free skills if you join me" deal a little. It would be bad if they back-stabbed me the moment they got the skills.

I'm not so eager to test out [Kin Creation]. There's no description of how the kin gets created. And just the name of the species makes it sound dangerous. And why does something like Kur Reha come up? Wasn't Kur Kigal something that I made 18 years ago? Let me appraise it a little...

No description. And it's a darkness demon. Is kin something different from evolutions? Oh, they are. Those character sheets I made were for different evolutions, and only as a template. The gods must have added possible kin that Kur Kigals could create, before implementing it to the World System. Or maybe they just added the Reha kin since I was a potential Kur Kigal. 

Ugh, all this kin talk is just making me confused at this point. I'll just skip those till I get some knowledge from someone who really knows the theme. Maybe a 'kin professor'? Or maybe a fellow demon. Even a vampire is acceptable at this point.

Well then, the next skill is... ugh. [Lewd Demon]. Let's take [Golden Ratio] first. Procrastinating the embarrassing one. I'm saving the best one for last after all.

=====================================================================

Skill: Golden Ratio

Skill type: Passive

Attribute: none

Effect:

• Makes the skill user's body grow into their preferred shape and form. 
• Negates changes to the body shape due to excessive calorie intake. Excessive calories are stored as pure energy.  
• Inflict the Charm-effect on anyone who sees the skill user

=====================================================================

And this is weirder than I first thought it would be. The first effect, which makes my body the kind that I fancy isn't too weird. When I read about my current species, or better said, when I found out about my closest relatives, I kinda figured out that either this, or [Lewd Demon], was gonna have this effect.

That negation of excessive calories though. Isn't it the kind of skills women all over the world, the worlds, would give anything to have? Even I like this part. But what would happen to someone who liked being chubby? Not that I will figure that out myself. Not gonna diss those who like being chubby, but it's not my cup of tea. 

But that Charm effect is just plain harassment! It's bound to attract pests all over! Good thing skill effects can be turned off without affecting the other parts of the skill.

I lost a little wind out of my sails there, so let's take some more frogs first. I don't put on weight anyway, so let's see if I can make a surplus here!

---

That didn't work. Despite having the extra calories, not on my body, when you're full, you're full. Can't change that part. And here I thought I could amass 1.000 SP with this idea.

Despite the small setback, let's finish off the skill check before moving on. There's been no monsters coming close to this rock formation, so it's fine to see what the last three can do. Next up is [Demonic Vault].

=====================================================================

Skill: Demonic Vault

Skill type: Racial skill (Demonic creatures)

Attributes: Space

Effect:

• Able to make a space in a different dimension to store items in.
• The size of the storage is determined by the skill level. 
  • Start size: 1000 slots
  • Size increase per level: 100 slots
  • Objects of higher item-rank will take more slots.
  • Able to store up to X0 of the same type of item in the same slots.
    • X starts as 1 and increases by 1 each time the skill level reaches a multiple of 10.
    • It only works for items of rank D or less. 
• Access the storage through gates created by the skill user.
• Items stored in the storage is unaffected by the outside world and time.

=====================================================================

Hey, this is way more detailed than the appraisal-result of [Demonic Storage]. Is it because Vault is a stronger skill, or is [Appraisal] growing? I'll stick to the latter, and praise it. Go, go, [Appraisal]!

Jokes aside, Vault is way better than Storage. 100 extra slots per level, isn't that a whole LV1 storage?! The whole multiple of the same item talk, does that mean I get to have 20 of the same item when I reach LV10? It is! If not, I'm gonna complain!

All the other stuff is about things I already knew about, so I think that's enough for this skill. Then, it's time for, ugh, [Lewd Demon].

=====================================================================

Skill: Lewd Demon

Skill type: Racial (Dream Demon)

Attribute: Heretic

Effect:

• Combination skill of the following skills (Skill levels are the same as the main skill):
  • [Charming Demon]
  • [Libido]
  • [Sexual Mastery]

=====================================================================

...I'm not gonna complain at this point. However, no one can deny me in being embarrassed with this one stuck on me!

And wasn't it Unique Skills that should have been a combination of skills? Or is it that I can't add more skills to this one

Sigh, the explanations? Do I have to? Fine, but you guys owe me.

[Charming Demon] is a skill that grants a plus correction when interacting with the opposite gender of any intelligent species. And as I'm of both gender, the first limitation doesn't apply! And then there's a plus correction in inflicting Charm. Again with the Charm?!

[Libido] is, well, increased stamina for sexual activities. For both genders. 

[Sexual Mastery] allows one to perform the craziest sexual acts easier.

In short, the higher the skill level of [Lewd Demon] gets, the more alluring I become, I can go for longer in sexual activities, and I become better at doing it as well. ...Damn, that was embarrassing! I'm never gonna do something like that again!!

---

Dammit, I finally managed to calm down. I'm too much of a virgin. 

Good thing I spared the best skill for last. I hope it's the best since I have great expectations for it.

=====================================================================

Skill: Body Replica

Skill type: Racial (Demonic)

Attribute: none

Effect:

• It can create an X amount of bodies that are based on the user.
  • X = skill level
  • The bodies will have X0% of the original's strength, divided by the amount of bodies in use
  • The highest possible strength of the bodies are 80% of the original
  • Senses are shared between the bodies and the original
  • Bodies disintegrate upon 'death', or when the skill user turns them off

=====================================================================

I knew it! This is this world's answer for a shadow clone skill! The bad part is that I can only create one of them at the moment, and they'll never be as strong as myself. Hm-hm, but that's only stats. They didn't say anything about skills, and that's where one's real worth lies in!

Therefore, without further ado, [Body Replica], activate!

Ugh! A hell of an amount of SP and MP was used there. It feels like half of my total amount was used right there! This isn't something one can use on the fly.

A large amount of black fog, the same kind as when I transform into something else, comes out of me at the same time as I lost my SP and MP. The fog converged on one spot and started to take a human shape. Then, it started to turn white, and look more like a human body.

Now there's another me standing before me. It's like a carbon copy of my human form, or maybe a twin would be better in this situation? Aaaaand, it's naked. Clothes, clothes! It needs some clothes! Ah, the cloak! I quickly removed the Mirage Mantle and used it to cover the clone.

Phew, that was close. I was starting to want to assault my own clone there a sec if I wasn't too freaked out over it being without a thread on it. Kinda obvious when you think about it a little. It says "body" in the description and doesn't mention "equipment" at all. That's one huge letdown.

And there are some strange things about the clone as well. Why did I have the feeling of wanting to assault it there? I'm not that hungry for sex, am I? Or maybe...

=====================================================================

Garami

Body Replica

Skills: 27

 

Main Class: Assassin LV18

Sub Class: none

 

HP: 20/20   | MP: 46/46   | SP: 25/25

STR: 18   | VIT: 10   | MAG: 25

RES: 21   | SPD: 33  | DEX: 33

INT: 120   | LUC: 150

=====================================================================

This thing shares my name, but the race is Body Replica? There's no level, titles, nor any Karma Value. Assassin is still at LV18, but the stats went way down, but that's something I knew would happen. The amount of skills are lower than mine as well.

=====================================================================

SKILL LIST

Attack Skills: [Assassin Arts LV1] 

Magic Skills: [Light Magic LV1] [Darkness Magic LV1] [Shadow Magic LV1] 

Crafting Skills: [Thief Tool Creation LV1] [Assassin Tool Creation LV1] [Weaving LV1] 

Active Skills: [Stealth LV1] [Silence LV1] [Thought Acceleration LV1] 

Passive Skills: [Acrobatic LV1] [Magic Talent LV1] [Parallel Minds LV2] [Golden Ratio] [Language Adaption]

Resistance Skills: [Darkness Resistance LV1] [Paralyze Resistance LV1] [Pain Resistance LV1] [Faint Resistance LV1] [Heretic Immunity]

Perception Skills: [Appraisal LV8] [Judging Eye] 

Racial Skills: [Lewd Demon LV1] [Transformation LV14]  [Body Replica LV1] 

Elements: [Darkness Divinity] [Shadow Element LV22] 

=====================================================================

Iik! Almost all of them are at LV1! I can't use this in a fight! The only skills that I can see wasn't affected are [Parallel Minds], [Appraisal], [Transformation], and [Shadow Element]. 

And now I can see why I almost pushed down the clone. It still has [Lewd Demon] and [Golden Ratio], and they must both be active. I was hit with a double dose of Charm. No wonder. I only resisted it with the Daredevil title and my own will of steel. Yup, let's go with that.

Seriously though, this clone is quite the looker. Now that I can see myself from another's perspective, I'm starting to see why Alvatria wanted this to be her Champion. But, wouldn't the male form be just as good, or is she just into girls? Whatever, I'm not gonna ask her. 

"Not that it will be of much use on its own." - Garami

"Probably not." - Clone

"!! I-i-i-i-it t-t-ta-talked!" - Garami

Why?! Does this thing has a mind of its own?!

"Of course I can talk. You can, so why can't I?" - Clone

"Bu-bu-b-b-b-but you're-" - Garami

"? Ah, I see. This body would usually be controlled paralleled with the original one, and not with an auto-pilot." - Clone

"Then, what the heck are you?!" - Garami

"Hmm, not sure, maybe your subconscious Parallel Mind?" - Clone

Why as a question? Not that there's anything but questions here.