The first thing Luka did was consider what she recalled of her foe. That shitheap had exhibited an extreme level of skill with his mace, each swing exploding with a shockwave. The ease with which he directed the shockwaves was definitely that of a master. But her town had grandmasters among its defenders, some on the brink of reaching the level of ascendancy with their chosen weapons. And that lord'd been above them in skill.

What clinched him having reached ascendant skill with his mace was the way he'd casually batted spells out of the air, some with no physical form, and struck down defenders both ahead and behind him with a single blow. Not to mention those struck by his mace had their wills broken in a way that couldn't be explained just by their defeats. In fact, Luka'd had to prescribe them will-restoring pills along with healing potions and bone-mending poultices to get them back to their old selves.

In other words, to defeat him, she would have to get herself at least to the point where she could rival him. From near to scratch considering she had no combat ability. All within a year. It had all the makings of an impossible task.

But achieving the impossible was what Systems excelled at. They were, essentially, shortcuts that let you get quickly to the same level of skill as someone who'd trained for years. It likely wouldn't be easy, but she had to do this for the sake of the people living in her hometown. She didn't want to imagine what Lord Ghana would do with them, not that she had the remotest idea what he wanted. So she had to get stronger using every edge she had, especially her System. In that light, it was time to figure out what it would take to grow.

As soon as she thought that, words appeared in front of her.

Points Cost:
Apprentice: 500
Journeyman: 1000 (1500 total)
Master: 2000 (3000 total)
Grandmaster: 4000 (7000 total)
Ascendant 8000 (15000 total)
Grand Ascendant: 16000 (31000 total)
Transcendent: 32000 (62000 total)
Grand Transcendent: 64000 (126000 total)

Luka's mind went blank at that for a moment. The system was telling her she could reach the point of transcendent skill with enough points? That was virtually the stuff of legends. She didn't even have a clear idea of what was possible with it, other than the stories about people cutting off the tops of mountains and other such impossible feats.

It'd likely be a long time before she would have to worry about that. For now it was time to figure out what her status and skills meant, though many of them were obvious. At that thought, another helpful display appeared.

Physique: physical fitness, durability, and capability
Reflexes: ability to react quickly and accurately
Mana: how much mana you can effectively call upon, including amount and potency of your mana and your skill at handing it (essential for witches)
Charisma: your ability to impress and sway people
Sexiness: how much you turn on people whose preferences you meet (essential for succubi)
Willpower: mental fortitude and your determination to achieve your goals

Herbalism: your skill at identifying, harvesting, preserving, growing herbs with useful effects (common for witches)
Pharmacy: your skill at creating drugs that affect the body and mind (common for witches)
Healing: your skill at healing magic
Enchantment: your ability to bestow your mana upon people, objects, and places, endowing blessings and curses (essential for witches)
Flight: your skill using flight to your advantage (common for succubi)
Sex: your skill at pleasuring both your partner and yourself (essential for succubi)
Succubus magic: magic innate to concubi, including shapeshifting, illusions, manipulation of sexual mana (essential for succubi)

Succubus Physique: you have the body of a succubus with all its properties

Considering those descriptions, Luka figured out her priorities. Her reflexes definitely wasn't high enough and she didn't think she had enough physique to survive a mace blow in earnest. More importantly, she needed a way to kill the lord and it looked like Enchantment was it, given killing curses existed. Her mana rating was pretty good but could probably be a touch higher. She would need enough willpower to resist his will-sapping blows. Flight and succubus magic looked useful, but likely not enough to invest as heavily into them.

In short, she had a lot of areas to work on. She would just have to let anything not directly useful for combat fall by the wayside, as much as she wanted to see what ascendant skill at sex could do. When she summed up the necessary points, it was over eighty thousand. To be safe, she would try to earn at least 250 points every day.

Now then. It was time to begin earning those points. The first thing she did was take out from her spacious satchel a portable pharmacy kit, including her mortar and pestle, knives for cutting herbs and pills, her herb grater, brewing pot, and other such useful tools.

Taking out the ingredients for the hardest recipe she could achieve at least occasional success at, she went into a storm of practiced activity. As a full day's cycle passed, she exhausted every reagent she had on making drugs in order of the difficulty of the recipe.

That done, Luka surveyed her points total. She had achieved a good number of points, largely from brewing drugs in addition to a little from having sex with Ochilysse, but she had blown right through her reagent stock, including some very difficult to find ones that had taken years to amass. She couldn't easily continue earning points that way, not without finding more which would slow down her progress considerably. Not to mention that she was running low on food.

At least she had one thing in her favor, but it wasn't without its risks. From what she knew, ordeal sites created by the gods, like the Tower of Dreams, tended to have unusual plants growing in the vicinity. The problem was, those areas tended to have unusual beasts and monsters as well. Their parts often made for good reagents, but the danger level would rise considerably.

But Luka hadn't come this far without being prepared to risk her life to achieve her goal. Climbing the Tower was quite dangerous in the first place, not to mention reaching it. Full of resolve, she placed enough points in her enchantment skill to bring it from Apprentice to Journeyman. Just like that, she had skipped over likely a few years' worth of apprenticeship. That was a strange feeling, almost as strange as having her head suddenly fill with new knowledge that faded away, to be recalled when necessary.

After sitting down to recover from the mental strain, she noticed that the mana inside her body was also moving in different ways that made it easier to twist into blessings or hexes. She knew studying skills changed the body in that manner, for example, a swordsmaster's mana would move in ways that facilitated their bladeplay, but it was another thing having it happen that quick.

She turned her attention to another matter: that random box in the shop with a name telling her to buy it. So she spent the remaining 500 points on it. Immediately she got a notification that 500 points each had gone into her enchantment and succubus magic skills, bringing the latter up to Journeyman since it was already partway there. Additionally, three items appeared before her: a dildo, a two foot wide cauldron, and a paper with some writing, all of which had the feeling of divine power. Picking up the paper, she read it.

Salutations to the one following the path of the witch as we did. This purchase contains 1500 points' worth of skills and items, which is the best deal for your points you will ever get. Those 'random boxes' for the largest part contain a ratio of 3 points' worth to 2 spent points and won't always contain things relevant to your immediate goals.

You have set yourself a great trial with the slaying of the Lord Ghana; as you know, not only will that be a feat in itself, but consequences will follow such an act. Still, we applaud your decision to judge him for his actions regardless of what hardship it might bring. Such is the path of a witch. By the nature of the magics we practice, we influence others' fates. Such is not done so lightly and we must accept the consequences that follow. That does not mean we cannot fight unjust consequences, but they will naturally occur as others judge us for our actions. However, the judgment that matters the most is our own. A witch acts by their heart.

Such is the message we agreed upon between the three of us after our discussion. This is Scar, Weave, and Brew signing this document. Now we shall turn it over to the Horned Beast to write their own message.

Hey, cutie, Horned Beast writing here. I don't have much to add. The Three are far more serious than I am. Seriously, all that talk about judgment and fates and consequences? There are times when we have to get serious, but I'm all about the fun. And it's good that you haven't forgotten how to have fun. That elf you tapped was really hot. Just keep that up among all the judging and whatso you're doing. Here's a nice toy to help you out. Fuck well.

The message dissolved away into a puff of divine power, leaving Luka stunned. Those gods weren't quite what she expected, especially the Horned Beast. True, she had heard many tales of the gods' foibles, but it was one thing hearing them and another thing getting a letter with such personal touches.

It was good to have gods on her side, she supposed. Even if one of them gave her a dildo. A dildo that was apparently a minor divine artifact. What would that dildo be like? She filed that away as something to find out later on.

In the meantime, it was time to go hunting for herbs and any monsters she could scavenge reagents from. She gathered her things, including her new travel cauldron and dildo, and put them into her satchel. It was a good thing her town had a very good bag-maker or the cauldron wouldn't have fit. Spreading her wings, she took to the air.