Lefie was stunned, unable to come up with anything to say. This wasn’t just another experimentation, another instance of Riza being quirky.

And she didn’t know how to respond to… all of this.

And so, she didn’t—not verbally, at least. Lefie crawled across the table and reached over, embracing Riza as she tried not to cry. Riza failed, messing up Lefie’s torn and ripped robes with a mixture of snot and tears, something she couldn’t even clean up with [Cleanse] anymore.

The teenager didn’t care, her heart reaching out for her friend and tears of her own threatening to leak through.

No! No crying! You’ve got to be strong, Lefie.

Once the gurgling, hiccups, and erratic breathing began to calm down, Lefie decided to speak:

“Thank you.”

They hugged for another minute or two before Riza tried to pull away.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to cry,” Riza said, wiping her eyes with her hands.

“It’s okay,” Lefie said, now kneeling on the table and looking down at Riza, who looked a mess. “Also, don’t feel responsible for me. I knew what I was choosing when I chose you over Artiv. You didn’t force me to do anything.”

Riza looked at Lefie but didn’t say anything.

“You’ve helped me a lot more than the Dominion ever did and you treat me a lot better, too. I don’t regret my decision!”

Riza looked like she was about to say something but dismissed it, merely saying ‘sure’ with a half-hearted attitude. Still, that was better than when she was crying so it was a win in Lefie’s books.

“They probably think we’re dead anyway. Dead, or wanted criminals,” Riza said off-handedly, with a small smirk.

“Oh.” People think I’m dead? The thought sent shivers through the teenager.

“Yeah. We’re probably going to want to change how we look once we’re back in the land of the living.” Riza pulled at her robes for emphasis.

They were tattered and dirty, having long seen better days, but were still clearly denoting members of the Dominion.

“Why? What’s wrong with these?”

“If we’re fugitives, the Dominion is going to look for rogue Dominion members. People wearing the uniform without good reason is highly suspicious.”

“Ah. That makes sense. But…” Lefie drew out the word. “If we don’t want to stand out, you need to do something about your hair.”

Even with all the dirt, mud, and dust, Riza’s hair may have lost it’s shine but it was still undeniably blonde.

“Eh. I’ll just cut it,” Riza said, holding a few strands to her eye.

She took out her dagger and was about to cut before getting an idea.

“Could you cut my hair for me?”

A bit surprised by the offer, Lefie nonetheless accepted, Riza turning around on her seat as the sudden weight of responsibility made Lefie’s hands shake.

Fumbling, Lefie lifted up the dagger and hand and made a crude cut across some strands.

“How long is that?” Riza asked without moving her hand.

“Er… It comes to about your shoulders.”

“Too long. Cut it about here,” Riza had picked up a few strands and indicated with her fingers the desired length.

“That’s very short.”

“I prefer it that length.”

Lefie grabbed another few strands but felt like she had to ask again that Riza wanted her hair that short.

“Yes. Please. Just cut it,” She replied, annoyed.

So, Lefie did as was asked, cutting each and every strand on Riza’s head until they were no longer than a few finger widths.

Riza patted down her shoulders and back, trying to wipe away a lot of the hair, before grunting and taking her robes off entirely. She stalked over to the kitchen and dunked her head in the sink, drenching her now much shorter hair as she rubbed her hands through it.

Meanwhile, Lefie picked up the long, discarded locks and thought about what a shame it was to get rid of them.

Riza returned quickly, shaking her head like a wet dog, and noticed Lefie looking forlornly at the mess.

“It’s just hair,” She said, picking up her robes and beating it with her hand, tufts of hair drifting off it.

“I know. We’re just not meant to cut it,” The teenager explained.

“Like, ever?”

“Yeah. You grow it out and tie it up when it gets too long. The men do the same thing with beards, too,” Lefie chirped up slightly, feeling happy to explain her customs.

“What happened to yours?” And her mood fell instantly.

“The Dominion. When they brought me in, they forcibly cut my hair because, apparently, women aren’t allowed long hair.”

“Oh. That seems quite controlling,” Riza said, deadpan.

“I know it’s just hair but I’d been growing it for years! It’s a stupid rule,” Lefie grumbled.

“I suppose. Hair’s hair. Doesn’t matter what you do with it. I take it you don’t want yours cut?”

Lefie actually looked horrified at the suggestion.

“Okay, okay. No more hair cuts for you. I’ll cut anyone who suggests it,” She grinned, causing Lefie to chuckle lightly.

“Thanks.”

The pair had moved on from the cafeteria, aiming to get a bit more exploring done. With the eye demon now out of the way, the place felt like a checkpoint to Riza. Concrete progress.

It was pleasing.

What else was pleasing was her new haircut. The absence of weight had her smiling nearly non-stop for the first few minutes after the cut. It was so freeing, not having annoying hair tickling the back of her neck or dropping in front of her face and obscuring her vision.

Not to mention, just a small part of her that she didn’t like acknowledging, Riza felt she looked better with shorter hair anyway. Not exactly a priority currently but the ego boost was still there anyway.

They didn’t walk in silence. Lefie was keen to talk and after all the emotional stuff was out of the way, the teenager was eager to learn about where Riza was from.

“So you’re saying there was no magic. Like, at all? Nothing?”

“Yes, Lefie,” Riza answered for the hundredth time, not quite annoyed yet but certainly tired.

“Sorry, but, like, how do things work. How does rain work without magic?”

“Rain? The same it works here; the clouds turn into liquid water.” Lefie’s eyes went wide at that.

“Rain’s not magic?” She slurred, speaking quickly.

“No, of course not. Steam isn’t magic and that’s water.”

“But… I thought the Old One controlled the weather. We’d sometimes create rain charms when we wanted it to rain and they worked! I also have access to a skill that creates rain storms! How is that not magic?”

Working rain charms? Can easily just be bias. People used charms for predicting or controlling the weather back on Earth.

Do I have any proof it’s not magic? No… but it seems strange it’d work differently from on Earth.

“Rain doesn’t need magic to work. Water turns into water air which rises into the sky. The water air then cools down when up in the air, turning back into water which is rain.”

“That sounds like magic to me.”

“It-it’s not. It’s too complicated for me to explain in your language. You don’t even have a word for gas!” Riza exclaimed.

“…Magic.”

“Are you sure you’re not an Ancient?” Lefie asked the same question over and over again, no matter how much Riza denied it.

“I’m sure.”

“You sound like an Ancient to me. From a place without the Empire, without magic, with more advanced technology than the Empire, with knowledge no one else has.”

“Well… I’m not. I’ve told you, multiple times, that I’m from Earth.” Riza said, somehow, never being annoyed by Lefie’s relentless questions.

“Yes, Earth. How do you know this isn’t Earth. Doesn’t it look like Earth? When the Ancients were alive, it was probably indistinguishable from Earth.”

I can’t deny the similarities. But it can’t be. The existence magic just doesn’t make sense.

Before Riza could respond, however, she held out a hand in front of Lefie suddenly, stopping the both of them in their tracks.

Two signals. About 100 metres away each. Strong. Feels like a humanoid demon. Probably an eye demon as well.

Few more signals but they’re weak. Moving. Coming this way!

“Some demons up ahead. Couple beasts and a greater.”

Lefie only nodded while Riza picked up the spider she was carrying and summoned it at level 18, the highest she could sustain indefinitely.

Sure enough, the torrent of spiders showed up first, so weak they barely reacted to Riza’s senses until they got close.

After them, the handful of beast demons arrived, quickly wiped out from a few, short bursts of [Leech]—It felt amazing to finally be able to use that skill again—whilst Lefie targeted the greater demon, Spidey there to assist and distract.

It didn’t take very long to kill the thing, Riza calling off her zombie when it looked sufficiently weak, letting Lefie get the experience for it.

“Anymore?” She asked, shaking her finger from the lightning.

“Two up ahead. They’re not moving. Probably another humanoid and eye demon. How are you doing?”

“Really low on essence. It’s going to take like a whole day until I’m full.”

“Damn. I’m going to try something instead.”

With that, Riza went around to six spiders and resurrected them at the highest level. She watched her essence begin to drop rapidly but only after she directed them to run down the corridor and engage any humanoid demon as soon as possible.

They quickly left the range of which Riza could tap into their senses but it’s not like she would’ve seen much with the lack of fog.

“What did you do?” Lefie asked once Riza was finished.

“They’ve got about a minute of uptime. Each level 36. I want to know if that’s enough to kill a humanoid demon.”

“Ohhh. That’s probably enough. Level 36 is strong."

They didn’t have to wait very long for an answer. The whole minute didn’t pass before Riza was back to regenerating 7.7 essence a second.

Wow. A total of 216 levels was not enough. Skills really make the difference, I guess.

Lefie was watching Riza, waiting for her reaction. She shook her head.

“The demons won. Let’s head back to the cafeteria.”

“I can’t believe the demon won,” Lefie said, sitting at a table in disbelief. “Level 36! And six of them! That’s incredible.”

“It’s the lack of skills, boons, and consolidations. Pure stats and not even that many,” Riza said, carrying a spider and placing it on the table.

“Watcha doing now?”

“Testing,” Riza replied, raising the spider at level 18.

Name Spidey Level 18 Health 20/20 Stamina 20/20 Essence

20/20 Power 5 (5) Constitution 1 (1) Endurance 1 (1) Vim 1 (1) Essence

1 (1) Spirit

1 (1) Health Regeneration

100/day Stamina Regeneration

100/day Essence Regeneration

100/day Stat Points 86

First, a control.

“Five is the average in any stat?” Riza asked.

“Pretty much. Unless you trained a lot or are a prodigy.”

Riza rolled up her sleeve and displayed her bare arm for the spider, quickly giving it a command to bite once into her forearm.

The pain was sharp but short, the sting transient as the demon withdrew.

Name Riza Level 17 Health 99/100 Stamina 63/100 Essence

6200/6200 Power 5 (5) Constitution 5 (5) Endurance 5 (5) Vim 6 (6) Essence

5 (310) Spirit

95 (1440) Health Regeneration

100/day Stamina Regeneration

120/day Essence Regeneration

7/second

She healed herself back up, not that it mattered much for survival but an identical status was necessary for science.

She incremented Spidey’s power by 1 up to 10, the results she received not what she expected.

Odd. Very odd. I need more data.

More bites, power being incremented by 5 this time.

Riza took out her knife again, carving into the table where able.

A power from 1 to 6 results in 1 damage. 8 is where it changes.

1-7:1, 8:2, 9:3, 10:4, 15:9, 20:14, 25:19, 30:24. Power to damage.

It’s linear. Damage is just the power stat minus six. Why does it act funky with a power lower than 8, then? Is it just the system being weird with decimals?

Riza killed the spider and resurrected it again.

20 bites at each power this time. More data.

1:10, 2:10, 3:10, 4:10, 5:10, 6:10, 7:17, 8:27, 9:37.

That’s more like it. Seems there are decimals. For the last three, cut off a decimal place and we get our original values.

For lower power, it’s all 10 damage, so 1 damage per bite. Is that the minimum damage possible by the system? Why is there even a minimum? If I stub my toe 100 times in a day, do I die?

Regardless, the numbers show that the equation for damage is power - 5.2.

That’s again a very odd number. A decimal, even.

Another death but this time, two Spidey’s took his place.

Riza adjusted their stats, one with a power of 9 and nothing else, the other with 5 in everything.

They both acted disturbingly obedient, Spidey 1 eagerly chomping into Spidey 2 and the guinea pig subjecting itself to the pain without complaint.

Such models of exemplary workers, Riza groaned, checking their stats as she mentally counted out 10 bites.

38 damage this time. 0.1 damage higher in each bite. Power - 5.3.

The difference was who was receiving the attack, not the attacker.

Riza brought up her own stats and Spidey 2’s, comparing them.

There! Vim is different. Essence and spirit are different but I doubt they’d contribute anything to physical damage or defence.

Meanwhile, I have a vim of 6 while Spidey only has a vim of 5.

Another test, this time with Spidey 2’s stats matching her own.

Riza squealed at the results, prompting a confused look from Lefie.

Yes! Yes, yes, yes! 37 damage. Vim contributes to damage reduction. Do the other stats do anything?

It wasn’t an exhaustive test this time—with 4 stats, it’d take an inordinate amount of time to test even a small selection of numbers—but there was observable data she could use.

Each instance had one stat set to 10 with the others set to 1 and only constitution and vim had any noticeable effect on damage reduction.

And so, from there, Riza tested a few different values for constitution and vim before dismissing both spiders and collapsing onto a chair loudly, letting out a large sigh.

“You okay?” Lefie asked, controlling a small, water figurine of a man to run over towards Riza. It was only about two inches high and lacking all details, and moving what could only generously be called a ‘walk’, but Lefie was smiling with her accomplishment.

“I’m ecstatic,” Riza answered, deadpanned. “Constitution gives you a flat damage reduction equal to your constitution. Your [Lightning Bolt] deals how much?”

“100 damage unmodified,” Lefie swiftly answered, scrunching up her face in the process.

“Yeah. So. A constitution of 50 means it only deals 50 damage. 100 means it’ll deal 1 damage because the system has set 1 as a minimum.” Lefie’s eyes widened.

“But that’s not all! Vim decreases damage by a percentage. I haven’t worked out the formula yet but at a vim of 90, it’s a 9% reduction. You need a shit ton of vim to have it reduce damage by a lot.

“At some point, when the incoming damage is high enough, it’s better to have high vim than high constitution.”

“I already knew about constitution.” A laugh escaped from her lips, unable to be controlled. “You could’ve just asked me instead of doing all this!”

Riza’s mouth opened wide before closing itself.

“Did you know about vim?”

“Well… no,” The teenager replied after calming herself.

“So I discovered… something!” Riza leaned back even further in her chair, a smile upon her face.

“That you did. Well done, oh wise scholar.” Sarcasm dripped from her words.

“Shush, you.” Riza closed her eyes, not even looking at her friend as she took deep, relaxing breaths.

A new day, a new attempt at killing a humanoid demon.

After yesterday’s discoveries, it was clear why the six spiders lost; each only dealt 180 damage per attack, and that was before the damage reduction was applied. A simple [Well of Constitution] with a base constitution of 60–obtainable with only 11 or 12 levels—would’ve reduced them down to measly pinpricks dealing 1 damage each.

Fewer, higher levels are better than many, lower levels, it turns out. Something like Lefie’s [Lightning Bolt], dealing upwards of 1000 damage with each hit after enough time, was far more suited to taking out a humanoid demon.

The maths had also made Riza realise her value in a fight wasn’t as bad as she thought it was; her dagger did great work against regular beast demons and that, combined with her exhaustive ability to [Heal] herself, meant she was a threat on the battlefield even without zombies and [Leech].

If she took [Distinguish Life] then she’d be able to use [Leech] to take on entire crowds of beast demons, all in a few seconds.

If she somehow had a way of making the levels of her zombies translate to strength more efficiently (like taking a higher tiered animation skill) then she’d have all her bases covered: ability to [Heal], ability to take out a large group, and the ability to take out a single but strong enemy.

If Riza managed to figure out how stats amplified weapon damage in order to optimise her own stats, she could even be the single-target damage dealer. It’d certainly be more convenient with her being able to [Heal], as well.

But, alas, such discoveries would need to wait for another time.

For now, after having topped Lefie up, the pair of them had left the cafeteria, returning through travelled tunnels as Riza’s mind picked up a few dozen signals.

He’s got backup?

They were a little ways away but still close enough for whatever esoteric sense Riza was using to pick up the details.

Eye demon and humanoid demon--if that’s what they are--are still there but also two--no, wait, that’s three--greater demons. The rest are beast demons.

She sighed as the fight just seemed to get a whole lot harder.

“Okay, Lefie,” Riza began tired. “It seems that sending the spiders yesterday was a bad idea. They’ve brought in backup; three greater demons and a crowd of beast demons.”

Lefie screwed up her face in resignation, hanging her head dramatically.

“What are we going to do, then?” She said after an expressive sigh.

Doing some quick calculations, Riza grinned and straightened her back, rolling her joints as if she was limbering up.

“Well, well, well. There’s no fog this deep in the bunker. Hand me Spidey.”

Without explaining herself further, she whispered some orders to the little zombie, causing it to dash off in the direction of the demons.

“If all goes to plan, they’ll hopefully come running this way. You’ll handle the beast demons while I take on the greater ones.” Lefie’s eyes went wide.

“All three of them?” She gasped.

“All three of them.”

Life was simple. The moment little Spidey opened it’s metaphorical eyes, it had a purpose. A Reason to exist.

Obey it’s master.

And said master gave it an order. An order it was eager to carry out.

As soon as it’s spindly little legs hit the ground, the spider flew down the barely visible hallways, obediently following the directions it was given.

Swiftly, it took one final corner and entered a room filled with bodies. Other demons.

Two looked straight at it, clocking it’s entrance, while the rest paid it no heed. To Spidey’s barely-existent mind, however, none of this mattered.

It had a job to do and it would do it’s job even if it would die.

So, at the first opportunity, it sank it’s mandibles straight into the first demon it found, provoking a reaction.

All according to plan.

Detaching itself from it’s victim, it bit more and more until the humanoid demon began to move.

Taking this as it’s signal to leave, the little spider dashed back out of the room, following it’s journey back to whence it came, only with a horde of greater and beast demons following in pursuit.

The plan worked flawlessly for getting attention.

Riza, admittedly, wasn’t sure if it would but based on the previous day, she had a suspicion.

A suspicion that was proven right.

The humanoid demon had sent his backup chasing after the spider demon.

Which, now that she thought about it, they probably weren’t backup if he released them so eagerly.

With a metaphorical shrug of her shoulders, Riza filed that thought away for later.

For now, Spidey was rushing down the corridor, high enough level it could outpace the demons chasing it.

Like a tsunami of white, the large bodies of the greater demons looked trapped and constrained in these narrow tunnels, visibly shifting interest from the small spider to Riza herself.

They were at an intersection, Lefie hiding behind a corner and barely resisting the urge to peek out. Riza was standing tall, dagger in hand, waiting for the time to strike.

The cacophonous sound of feet on meeting signalled their approach, followed by the demons themselves.

The greater demons weren’t leading the pack. Riza stood strong as small beast demons broke past the 40 metre threshold.

She didn’t react when they were 30 metres away.

All three greater demons had shown themselves by now.

One looked suspiciously like a hairless dog, a quadrupedal build oddly familiar but with a face closer to that of a horse--just one with two jaws.

The other two were a familiar type, her face screwing up with disgust as they came into view.

Their backwards-jointed legs pounded along the ground hideously. Their huge forearms threatened to bend the metal of the ground as they threw themselves forwards like hairless gorillas.

Riza clamped down on a burbling anger inside of her, her mind stilled by the calming presence of [Meditate]. She knew she mustn’t do anything rash, even as her emotions suggested otherwise.

No range. No fliers.

The beast demons got within 15 metres and that was when Riza gave her signal.

Lefie darted out from her hiding spot and immediately began conjuring pillars of water.

They splattered harmlessly against their targets heads, the demons just shrugging them off like a bit of rain.

Fuck. I hadn’t thought about the ceiling.

“Two maximised [Lightning Bolt]s!” Riza shouted, doing some quick maths in her head.

Excessive but enough.

The first of the greater demons got within her range. The handle on [Leech] was released, the essence surging out of Riza as the familiar and almost euphoric feeling of energy began to fill her.

The comforting, mental click was back.

A bit over 14 seconds and it was dead.

Too long.

Thankfully, the bodies piled up from Lefie’s attacks, severely slowing the approach of the other two greater demons

“Keep the back one at bay a little,” Riza called out as she quickly switched her focus to the closer demon, [Leech] connecting once more.

Lefie was about to say something but stopped herself, stepping closer and flinging water at the floor and at the greater demon itself.

It slipped and skidded and just about closed the distance by the time it’s friend fell.

[Level up]

You have gained 10 stat points and 1 skill point

Too close.

Lefie was far away by now, dashing off when prompted by Riza.

Her mind ran through possibilities before resorting to the most obvious one.

She leapt to the side, narrowly dodging a large hand that came smashing down where she just was.

The ape-like demon’s face turned towards Riza, jaw hanging open like a dog slobbering over food.

Her hand tightened on her dagger as the lack of [Meditate] failed to quell her emotions.

Riza turned down [Leech] a little, tapering off at 500 points of damage as her mind clicked again.

“You’re not the same demon but it doesn’t fucking matter,” She spat out, rushing towards it.

Her mind pricked as she quickly fell to the ground, a hand swiping just over her as she scampered back to her feet, scraping against the slick surface.

It’s head followed her as she tried to focus on counting out the seconds.

In an instant, Riza’s mind shouted at her again. A sudden signal, and her body obeyed, flinging itself to the side as the ape’s leg kicked out abruptly.

Riza pulled herself up, breathing hard, but ran right up to the ape.

She dodged another swing of it’s fist, reacting too fast to be relying on her eyes, and skirted behind it, dancing between the corpses like a trained professional.

The greater demon, uncomfortably large for this situation, struggled to turn around as Riza continued to retreat past the bodies. Her essence ticked down as her mind ticked up.

The damage was accumulating. The ape, in a fury, shoved all the corpses in front of it, it’s arm swinging out wide.

They hit the wall like bags of flour as the ape roared in anger.

Riza hurried her steps.

The demon withdrew it’s arm slowly, back hunched over from more than just the environment.

It took a step forwards but slowly, it’s body heaving with exhaustion.

The skin on it’s forearms tightened even further, it’s muscles bulging but then receding.

It’s legs shuddered and shook with each step, having to lean more and more on it’s arms to keep balance.

After about 15 seconds, the ape fell forwards, struggling to balance on hands alone, trying to drag itself along the ground towards Riza.

She stopped walking backwards, waiting for it to get closer and then walking towards it.

It’s arms shrunk down, the muscles atrophying like a time lapse. Soon enough, even they were too weak to continue lifting up it’s body, slumping to the ground like a tired hiker.

She only had a few seconds left.

Riza walked up to it’s head cautiously, dagger held out in front.

The demon’s head couldn’t even follow her, mouth forced closed by the weight upon it.

Without any quips or comments, she stabbed the dagger down into the brain with all her strength, falling to her knees with it, both hands on the weapon.

Still alive.

The dagger twisted, squelching against the flesh as she carved out the inside, never looking away.

They’re weak. And I’m strong.

Riza let go and just slumped down before the body, staring at it.

Seconds passed before the pitter patter of Lefie’s footsteps resounded down the wall towards her, drawing Riza out of her reflective reverie.

She shook her head and she got to her feet, mentally tired but feeling a lot better now that [Meditate] was active once more.

Emotions are addictive. There was no need to get that close.

She looked at the greater demon once more, unable to find the anger that had so recently burbled because of it.

Just another creature.

Name Riza Level 18 Health 100/100 Stamina 32/100 Essence

6800/6800 Power 5 (5) Constitution 5 (5) Endurance 5 (5) Vim 6 (6) Essence

5 (340) Spirit

105 (1590) Health Regeneration

100/day Stamina Regeneration

120/day Essence Regeneration

463/minute

It didn’t take many minutes for both of them to be topped up once more. A single greater demon only took a bit over 2 minutes to regenerate all that essence back.

Riza had briefly thought about allocating her stats to power, constitution, or vim, to make herself less squishy, but decided to stick with spirit.

Vim, at such a low value, would probably be around a 1% change. Constitution, whilst increasing her flat resistance from 5 damage to 15 damage didn't seem like it was worth sacrificng the points in spirit for it. If something did enough damage to threaten to kill Riza in one hit, she doubted taking 10 away from it would've made a big difference.

Power was the best option for defence, since it had the greatest return. 1 point equals 20 health. An extra 5 would double her health pool.

What finally made her not err from her path was the lack of any synergy between those stats and what she was trying to do. To be stronger, she needed more spirit and that improved her survivability. Furthermore, both Lefie and her attacked from range so if they were careful, there shouldn't be much danger in any fights. The last reason was [Parasite], a skill that essentially increased her health pool whilst scaling with spirit. If she wanted to improve her survivaility, that was the faculty she had chose.

Restoring Lefie’s essence, even though she used much less, was what took up most of the time, Riza cursing the inefficiency of [Heal] for half of it.

But, soon enough, they were back and raring to go, standing at the hallway littered with bodies.

Still just the two of them.

“You ready?” Riza checked one last time. Lefie nodded eagerly, displaying no hesitation or fear in the face of what they were about to do.

Riza, too, felt confident, giving the teenager’s shoulder a squeeze as the last dredges of essence seeped into her.

The battle was quick but fierce.

Unlike last time, the humanoid demon didn’t approach neutrally, spitting out whatever strange gurgles and then trying to hold Riza.

Instead, this one was swift and immediately hostile. As soon as it caught sight of the pair, immediate spikes of earth pierced up from the ground, rending and bending the metal floor as they shot up.

Riza managed to push herself and Lefie out of the way in time, somehow able to sense the incoming danger.

Thus, the dance was set. This humanoid wielded earth as a weapon--spikes, walls, mud, all were thrown at the duo as it kept a safe distance.

Lefie was able to see the quick movements, shifting of arms of the demon, announcing another attack but Riza, through some preternatural sense, felt the surging attacks more than saw them.

The lack of a fog was a major boon. Lefie blasted away like a gattling gun, her arm constantly ratcheting up and down with the force of the shots while Riza maintained a constant [Leech]ing attack.

The longer they fought, the weaker the demon would become.

With the full resources Riza now had at her disposal, the fight was far easier than expected.

Midway through, after some mental math and observing the ever worsening health of the demon, Riza let up on [Leech], ensuring Lefie got the last hit.

And, thus, the battle ended. The demon collapsed, body black and white with bruises and burns--some sections of flesh even blasted off completely.

Riza breathed deeply, ushering the oxygen back into her body as her chest heaved.

“Did it work?”

No immediate response.

Riza turned to look at Lefie, picking up an expression of subdued confusion rather one of elation.

“It’s strange,” The teenager said, taking steps towards the downed demon. “My level cap only increased by one level.”

“22?” Riza asked. Lefie nodded.

It’s not consistent?

Now that I think about it, there’s no way to know the levels of the demons we’re killing. Unless your cap gets raised, you have no idea; it could be anywhere between level 1 and your level.

“Still. It’s an increase.”

“Yeah.”

“You okay?” Riza asked, placing a hand on Lefie’s shoulder as a burst of healing energy flowed through them.

“Yeah. Yes. I am. Just an ache. And tiredness. And disappointment,” She sighed.

Riza pulled her slightly towards herself, not knowing what to say.

The greater demons are stronger than the beast demons, and even the flying demons. No cap increases from them suggests they’re only in the range of levels 9 to 15. Did we just get lucky with the first greater demon we found being max level?

Humanoid demons meanwhile are levels 22 to 23. I don’t think it’s too far to believe they probably go up to 25.

However, there’s arguably a more important question to ask:

“This one had earth skills. The previous one had ice ones. The differences between demons were mostly physiological so far. Some greater demons could also produce fog.”

Riza crouched down by the humanoid, carefully looking it over.

“What’s different?”

It’s got a smaller stature than the last one. Shorter but still taller than us. Wider as well. Quite some muscles on it.

“You don’t think… This is Jakks, do you?” Lefie asked tentatively, voice tinged with fear and trepidation.

Riza froze, her hand hovering above the corpse.

Jakks? No, no. It can’t be. We buried him.

But it’s the right height. Too wide, though.

“It can’t be. Level 22. Jakks wasn’t even level 10. Not to mention, Jakks was human.” They didn’t sound convincing even to Riza, but the logic made sense.

To think this is Jakks… That’s just too many assumptions.

“You’re right. Sorry. That was silly of me.” Lefie shook her head.

But another human? Is that possible?

“What do the demons want?” Riza said quietly, voice straight and serious.

“Huh?” Lefie crouched down besides her.

“Why do they attack people? They climbed up from the pit in the village. Why?”

Lefie looked away for a second, thinking.

“For food? I don’t know,” She shrugged.

Food? I doubt that; you can’t get demons and gain sustenance from them. That implies they don’t eat. There’s nothing to pass on.

Why do animals attack humans? Food, but that’s rare. It’s often to protect something, like territory or family. Humans are dangerous and deadly to animals, so attacks are often a last resort.

What could the demons be protecting? Do they have something they don’t want people to find?

No, that doesn’t make sense; the fog is enough of a deterrent alone. No human can survive in it without cleanse, and that’s forbidden magic.

It was like a switch was clicked in her mind.

The first humanoid demon. That one wasn’t immediately hostile. Why didn’t it attack right away?

Simply being in the fog is not a threat, then?

The beasts and greater ones attack but they’re all just animals. They’re primitive, probably programmed to be aggressive.

But the humanoids are different. The demons crowd around them like leaders. They can speak, or at least seem to communicate; the gargles didn’t feel threatening but rather inquisitive.

Higher form of intelligence. Commanders, perhaps. Where do the eye demons fit into all of this? They can see us. When one was killed, the massive worm demon moved or attacked or whatever. Did it communicate? Sense the death?

So many unknowns.

But the humanoids reacted differently to our presence. I can’t say whether it was the attack by the spiders that made this one so ready to fight or something else, but they’re not mindless animals.

Fuck, they’re… it’s like… they’re human.

Riza fell back onto her butt as the realisation dawned.

Looks human. Not immediately hostile. Attempted communication. Has some intelligence. Uses recognisable skills.

So many coincidences. Maybe convergent evolution but the fog is such a different environment it seems a little strange. And, besides, all the other types of demons exist. The worm demon is probably stronger than a humanoid one so it’s not like being a human is the pinnacle of evolution.

“I don’t think it’s Jakks, Lefie, but I do think it’s human.”

“Human?” She asked, sounding scared of the answer.

It’s falling into place. Both humanoid demons are stronger than the rest. If they had the same number of humanoids as they have beasts, they could easily wipe out the village or the quarry.

They’ve gotta be rare, then.

Another thought. A question.

“How long was the Dominion at the village for before you arrived?” Riza asked, her mind rapidly connecting dots, constructing theories.

“Er… not long. They were still setting up as you got there.”

“There’s an abandoned village in the forest by the village. Demons are there, both beasts and flying ones, but I didn’t see any greater or humanoid demons there. Although, I didn’t stay to watch.

“The village only had beast demons and a few greater ones, though far fewer than this place.

“And now worms and humanoid demons. There’s a correlation between how long the Dominion has been near the fog and the strength of the demons inside it.” Although, with a sample size of three, there’s nothing conclusive.

“Are you saying that demons get stronger the more humans are nearby?”

“Yes. No. Not exactly. The Dominion. Humans with essence. Levels. I could be backsolving, attributing demon strength to Dominion presence when it’s actually the other way around, though.”

Sounds like a strong possibility, actually. This is just conjecture but it could be wrong. It gives a reason as to how demons grow stronger, though.

Shit. Wish I was at the village. I need to know if there’s more greater demons, or even humanoid demons now.

Fuck. Stop thinking about the specifics. Just get the general idea out.

“I think they’re turning humans into demons.”