Third times the charm!

With that, the second horse got back onto its feet. While previously looking thin and sinewy, its muscles now bulged with strength, clear contours visible to the naked eye.

The issue? The horses’ first incarnation was too weak. As it turned out, pulling a wagon with five, fully-grown adults and a bunch of camping gear and equipment required more than a measly 1 in both power and endurance.

Thankfully, Riza didn’t have to bother with trying to optimise the regeneration as well, [Heal] compensating for that enough on its own, especially with the boost [Way of Life] gave it.

She finished assigning the stats and hopped back onto the wagon, checking her entity manager to see how much essence regeneration she had left over because it was definitely necessary and not because she was giddy that she actually managed to create this thing.

Entity Manager Excess Essence 5.09 es/sec

Entity Name Skill Level Health Stamina Essence Cost (es/sec) Horse Reanimate 4 200/200 200/200 20/20 1.55 Horse Reanimate 4 200/200 200/200 20/20 1.55 Daven Raise Dead 5+ 120/120 120/120 40/40 2.5 Sanders Raise Dead 5+ 100/100 100/100 40/40 2.5

8 essence being consumed every second. I don’t have much leftover but it’s still a decent amount. I can always cut off the horses if it gets risky.

“Finished with the horses? Can we get going now?” Lefie asked, arms dangling over the side of the wagon like fishing rods in a lake. Riza looked up at her as she trudged through the tall grass by the roadside.

“Yeah. Level 4 each this time. Hopefully, it’s enough.”

Lefie looked over her shoulder at Sanders and Daven doing some light sparring. Somewhat unsurprisingly, Lefie was the only one who didn’t take this break as an opportunity to stretch her legs, stating that ‘someone had to protect the wagon’.

Riza generously went along with that line of thinking.

“It’s incredible that you can do all of this. They’re nothing like your zombies,” She stated in a hushed whisper, leaning over the edge of the wagon.

“I’ve still got a long way to go,” Riza replied, walking round and then climbing up next to Lefie.

She called out to the others to return and they grudgingly obeyed as Riza got into the driver's seat. Although not necessary, it was best she was the one up here as only she could give orders to the horses.

“You’ve reminded me,” Lefie said from behind her back. “I’ve got some skill points to spend!”

“How many?”

“Four, though I don’t know if I’ll use all of them.”

“You have four skill points and you’re not going to spend all of them?” Meren asked incredulously.

“Bloody hell, how strong are you?” Daven had to ask. Sanders merely grunted in surprise, having a quiet demeanour Riza could appreciate.

“Level 22!”

“And Riza, eh? You’re even stronger?” Daven asked, only getting a shrug from the woman in return.

“Anyway,” Lefie continued with a flap of her hand, “There’s not really any skill I’m desperate to take. I was actually thinking about taking [Message] and just saving the rest. What do you think?” She asked, the obvious recipient of the question being Riza.

She didn’t reply straight away, something about hearing Lefie’s level giving her a thought.

“So, er, what skills do you already have?” Daven asked.

“A bit of everything. I’m not like Riza; I haven’t focused on one tree.”

“So, what? You’re some sort of universalist?” Universalist?

“Umm… Not really? I mostly just took what was needed and went from there. Without Riza, I would’ve died long ago,” She said with a small laugh.

“What’s your regeneration now?” Riza butted in, slightly uncomfortable with the conversation.

“Let me see… 7614 a day. Why dya ask?”

Riza was silent while she reluctantly did some maths in her head.

“That’s like 5 a minute,” She said almost to herself, bringing up [Meditate].

[Meditate+] -Learned

Regeneration is multiplied by 3 while one sense is subdued absolutely

3 times multiplier. So that’s 1.5 without [Lone Wolf]? No, that feels wrong. Remember, it started at 1. Difference of 2 over 10 levels means each level was 0.2. 20% extra. 10% extra without [Lone Wolf], so it’d be a 2 times multiplier, then.

“How strong is your maximise mastery?”

“Er… It makes my skills 4 times as strong."

That’d be an 8 times multiplier then, bringing her essence regeneration up to around 50 a minute. Nearly one a second. That’s enough to no longer need me to help her.

“You should take [Meditate] and then [Meditate+]. It’d take your regeneration to 50 a minute.”

“Wow. That’s a lot. Okay, okay. I think I will. I’ll save the remaining skill point for later,” Lefie said, shutting down the conversation there. Her fingers then danced in the air as she interacted with whatever she did to purchase the aforementioned skills.

“Okay! [Meditate] involves being really quiet, right?”

“It’s very boring.”

“Urgh,” She whined, then looked at the rest of her fellow passengers. “Bye, I guess? That sounds weird. I’m still here, just quiet. Er, bye,” And then was finally quiet.

The next minute or two passed by in relative silence before someone thought to break it.

“This is what you did to Daven and Sanders earlier, right, Riza?” Meren asked, looking from the teen to Riza and then back to the teen.

“Yeah. Now, you’re the only one who doesn’t have the skill. Feeling a little left out?”

“Not particularly. What was it like for you guys?”

“It’s… It’s strange. Like I’m trapped in my own head, but not really. I could’ve stopped at any time but it was like there was some sort of pull, ya know, to keep me in there. Like… I don’t know. Like it was quieter. Happier,” Daven said, head hung somewhat low.

That’s nothing like what it felt for me. How strange.

“And you?” Meren asked, turning her gaze on Sanders.

“Some freaky shit. Felt like a little girl in there. Nu-uh, don’t want to go again.”

And it gets even stranger. I wanna hear what Lefie has to say when she comes out.

“Can’t say that’s been particularly convincing to get me to take [Meditate], Riza. Anymore glowing recommendations?” Meren said with a sarcastic tone.

She had gotten a bit more combative since the storm, Riza noticed, though it didn’t feel malicious so she hadn’t commented on it.

“[Cleanse] and it’s passive might be useful in the future,” Riza answered, straitlaced.

That drew a light-hearted chuckle from Meren.

“And after that, I suppose I should start raising the dead as well?”

“If you want.”

Another chuckle but Meren ended the conversation there.

“You know, how did you make me take [Meditate]?” Daven asked, sounding a bit concerned.

“Oh shit. I forgot,” Riza promptly replied, turning round to face her undead. “I’ve still got to assign your stats and skills!”

“Wait. Assign-”

“Yeah. I control that now. Don’t worry about it,” Riza said, about to turn around before stopping herself. “Or, do worry about it but [Meditate] afterwards, okay?” And actually did turn around, stifling whatever words Daven was going to say.

Entity Manager Excess Essence 5.09 es/sec

Entity Name Skill Level Health Stamina Essence Cost (es/sec) Horse 1 Reanimate 4 200/200 200/200 20/20 1.55 Horse 2 Reanimate 4 200/200 200/200 20/20 1.55 Daven Raise Dead 5+ 120/120 120/120 40/40 2.5 Sanders Raise Dead 5+ 100/100 100/100 40/40 2.5

You have reached level 5 and can now choose a Consolidation Boon

[Boon of Labour]

Effect: Non-combat skills level up twice as fast

[Boon of Body]

Effect: Physical skills level up twice as fast

[Boon of Mind]

Effect: Non-physical skills level up twice as fast

Hidden Boon

[Source of Spirit]

Requirements: Spirit is 2 times greater than any other stat

Effect: Spirit is multiplied by 3

Hidden Boon

[Lone Wolf]

Requirements: Have never been in a party

Effect: Intensity of all skills is multiplied by 2 when not in a party

Hidden Boon

[Self-Actualisation]

Requirements: Be summoned

Effect: For each level gained, the cost of maintaining existence is 1% cheaper

The expected ones as well as a new one. That certainly throws a spanner in the works.

Ugh. So many boons. Which ones buff regeneration?

[Source of Spirit], [Lone Wolf], [Touched by Essence], [Way of Primordial Magic], [Way of Metamagic], and now [Self-Actualisation] as well.

Six boons but only three can be taken by level 25. If I had a calculator, I could work out how many different permutations there were.

How will I go about doing this? All of them apart from [Self-Actualisation] buff regen so I suppose I can just calculate for regen and then compare them all, since they have little cross-boon interaction.

Simplest ones first. [Source of Spirit] is 3 and [Touched by Essence] is 1.5.

What about skills? Let’s use placeholder numbers. Default of 10, [Well of Spirit] increases that to 30 which is 50 with its respective boon. 1.7 times multiplier.

[Meditate] makes the 10 into 20, [Maximise Mastery] increasing that to 60. [Way of Metamagic] then increases that to 100. 1.7 again.

[Lone Wolf] now.

Default: 10 to 30 then 60 then 180 by [Well of Spirit], [Meditate], and then [Maximise Mastery] respectively.

[Lone Wolf]: 10 to 50 to 150 to 750. 4.2 times multiplier.

That leaves [Self-Actualisation]. How do I do this? A quarter cheaper by level 25 is equivalent to increased regeneration but by how much? I need concrete numbers for this.

Say there’s a cost of 10. [Self-Actualisation] brings that down to 7.5. That’s basically an additional 2.5 es/sec being gained from [Essence Monarch]. 40% equals 2.5 then, so 100% is 6.25. 10 divided by 6.25 is… 1.6.

Okay. [Self-Actualisation] is 1.6 by level 25 but gets higher the higher the summons level.

Unless I messed up somewhere, that looks like [Lone Wolf] is the best, then [Source of Spirit], and then the rest are quite comparable.

Do I want [Lone Wolf]? The downside is needing separate humanoid demons to increase their caps to 25, they can't be in a party with Lefie, and it makes levelling a lot slower. I don't think it really fits with what I want from them in the future.

Between the other skill boons, I think I prefer [Way of Primordial Magic] as I know that has pretty good synergy with [Source of Spirit].

So, boon order is: [Source of Spirit], [Way of Primordial Magic], then [Way or Metamagic] at levels 5, 15, and 25 respectively.

With that taken care of, Riza finally purchased [Source of Spirit] for both of her undead.

“Finally awake?” Riza heard from behind her.

“Huh?” She turned around, finding Meren watching her.

“Your eyes were closed. [Meditate]?” One arm was stretched along the wagon wall as she exuded confidence, a self-satisfied grin on her face.

“Uh, no,” Riza replied, shaking her head. “Just some calculations. I don’t have to lose my sight for [Meditate], by the way. That’s what the upgrade does. It’s always active.”

“It’s always active?” That wiped the smile from her face. A nod. “But… How does that work? You can’t use skills with it, can you?”

Riza shrugged.

“[Leech] and [Heal] are my only active skills.” That wasn’t giving too much away, right?

“Wow. I thought mages always had more active skills.”

Unfortunately, Meren ignored the perplexed look on Riza’s face and sat back, engaging the undead in conversation once more. Conversation that Riza drowned out as she focused elsewhere.

Boon acquired. What skills next? They’re only level 5s so no way they can make an impact in regeneration or combat while Lefie and I are here so I should focus on long-term skills.

They already have [Meditate] so 4 skill points left over. If I want them to be level 25, that means humanoid demons and so fog. That makes [Cleanse] and [Cleanse] (passive) a priority. Taking both of the wells is probably the next best line. Unlocks [Knowable Essence] so good to start early.

In the end, Riza purchased [Well of Spirit], [Well of Essence], and [Cleanse].

“Alright, fuckers,” Riza said, twisting round in her seat, her body going from bundled-up nerves to undisguised amusement at their reactions. “You two have new skills. Start using [Cleanse] whenever you can. When you run out of essence, tell me and I’ll fill you up. Understand?”

She received grunts of acknowledgement in return with a smile on her face. It was oddly liberating talking to the pair of them. Something about having absolute control helped with her fear of judgement.

Seeing Lefie completely motionless and with her eyes closed reminded of her something she needed to try.

“Hey, Lefie. Can you hear me?” She said through [Message]

“Yeah, of course. Why would-oh. [Message] works with meditate.” Riza smiled.

“[Message],” She explained to Meren, nodding her head at the teenager.

“You have to speak for the skill to work?”

“Er… I do. But there’s probably a way to use it without speaking.”

Meren took that in but apparently didn’t have any more questions to ask.

The wagon quietened down afterwards. They went through times of talking, and then times of silence, as the horses trotted along down the path.

A bit over an hour later, Riza suddenly perked up from her lazy state.

She had been watching the road ahead, watching the horses, when, all of a sudden, it was like a finger gently caressed her brain. Her head whipped to the side, eyes scanning out over the waist-high grassy hills up to the treeline off in the distance.

Demons. It was an unmistakable feeling.

“Halt,” She called out to the horses, standing up and jumping into the back. “Wake up, Lefie,” She got through to the meditating girl.

“Hold on. What’s all this fuss about?” Daven asked as Riza watched carefully.

“Demons. Everybody, collect your gear and get off,” Riza barked orders.

A scrambling of equipment quickly followed, with people donning armour and picking up arms to defend themselves with. Lefie remained on the wagon, crossbow in tow.

To our West. How many… five. No, six, but the last one is a bit weaker. No greater demons, but closing in quickly.

Her eyes watched closely at the grass but was unable to make out even the slightest of shifting or rustling.

Stealthy, as well. Or maybe they’re just small. Hidden, probably an ambush. Doesn’t matter; this is a great opportunity. How do I wanna run this?

“Ever killed a demon, Meren?” Riza asked, a smile on her face, as the woman climbed down the back of the cart. Fully geared up, back straight and spear at the ready, she looked down-right intimidating.

“No, not yet. Did you see them?”

“I’ll explain later. Daven and Sanders, spread out. You too, Meren. There’s six demons but I’ll take it down to three. Each of you will take on one. If you get hurt, tell me. Lefie, be on the lookout for anything strange.”

No arguments were made as the troops spread out on the ground, Riza standing above them like an army general. She brought up her entity manager so she could keep a track on both Daven’s and Sanders’ health, so she could top them up without needing them to tell her.

Next, she focused on the feeling in her mind. Like an itch at the back of her head, it danced and played, forcing Riza to close her eyes to follow along.

Once they got within distance, she opened her eyes back up but still failed to see the creatures amongst the tall grass.

“Damn,” She muttered under her breath.

“I-I think I can feel them”

“The demons?”

Lefie didn’t answer verbally, instead stepping forward on the wagon and holding her arm out straight. Her arm tracked an invisible target, then stopped, and then a sudden blast of lightning shot forth from her fingertip, arcing through the air and landing amongst a bunch of grass.

A small shockwave blew back the nearby grass, creating a ripple like a stone dropped in a pond.

“Yes!” Lefie said quietly, her arm adjusting its aim as Riza sensed the number of demons had decreased to five.

“Aim for the weak one next.”

“I can’t tell apart their strength,” Lefie replied, quickly firing off another lightning bolt.

The grass was crushed by a brief burst of air but it missed, Riza could tell. Five were still standing.

“I missed.”

“That’s fine. You did better than me,” Riza reassured her, walking back down to the edge of the wagon.

She could sense the demons darting about like frightened mice, but still closing in on the group.

“Meren, Sanders, you both have one demon on you. Three will gang up on you Daven. Defend yourself while I take out two.”

Words of affirmation were shouted followed by a tense couple of seconds.

Then, all at once, the demons pounced from the grass. They were small, rodent-like creatures, with long, scraggly tails, and massive teeth protruding from their jaws. Feet were tipped with claws short but sharp, like a mole.

Meren dodged out the way of her attacker before quickly skewering it with her spear. It’s hide must’ve been tough as the spear failed to penetrate deeply.

Sanders, meanwhile, cleaved down with his large greatsword, slamming the lunging demon into the ground and creating a puff of dust as it landed. His strike was incredibly swift, probably able to slice a limb of a human with ease.

Riza focused on the trio that all jumped out at Daven. He blocked two with his shield but the last managed some deep cuts at his leg. Nothing life-threatening but a good chunk of health was lost. His legs were relatively unarmoured, with nothing but some thick trousers covering them.

Riza sniped two rodents as she hopped to the ground, one second each to kill as she jogged past the others to close in one Daven.

However, he didn’t need any more help. His shield arm moved like it had a mind of its own, darting in front of swipes and bites with ease as he picked off the rodent with his sword. The cuts weren’t that deep but numerous, quickly felling the demon as soon as Riza arrived to heal him up.

The demons were killed one-by-one, Riza could tell. It was over as fast as it had begun.

“Good job, everyone,” She called out, mustering the confidence necessary for the one in control. “What are your new level caps?”

A six and two sevens were the result, with Meren drawing the short end of the stick.

“Well, there’s always next time,” Riza attempted to reassure her, but she was obviously a bit annoyed.

“Is there a reason we weren’t in a party for this?” Meren asked, arms crossed.

“Fuck, yeah. I forgot that parties exist.” Meren failed to hide her surprise at this.

“I’m never in them! Join a party with Daven and Sanders, but keep Lefie out of it. She’s too high level,” Riza said. That seemed to satisfy her as she called out Sanders’ name, walking over to him.

Interestingly, Riza never received a notification for either Daven or Sanders partying up, so she wasn’t in control of everything for them.

“Ugly little fuckers,” Sanders muttered to himself, gently kneading a demon corpse with his foot.

“First time seeing one?” Riza asked as she walked over. While she had seen many before, each one seemed unique.

“Up close,” He answered laconically.

“They’re all different. This one looks a bit like a mole…” Riza said.

“Aye. Disgusting.”

Riza looked up towards the treeline, where the demons originated from, she assumed.

“Are demons very common here?” She asked, turning around to face Daven and Meren as well.

“Kind of? They’re a large reason why people don’t travel. Never know when a group will sneak up on ya,” Daven said, confirming what Riza thought.

But demons aren’t random. They can only be out of the fog for so long, right? And they need to bring corpses back to their nests for parasite implantation, so… There has to be some fog nearby.

Again, her gaze drifted to the treeline.

“Take [Message] yet, Lefie?” Riza asked without looking.

“Er, not yet. Should I?”

A plan was beginning to form in her head.

“Yeah, but don’t grind it up right away.” Riza replied, finally turning around once everything had sunk into place. “There’s probably a fog hole in the forest somewhere, where the demons came from. I want to check it out so, Lefie, stay here with the wagon. You too, Meren.

“If there’s an emergency, kill one of the horses. I’ll know instantly when that happened. Otherwise, use [Message]. I’ll check in with [Message] periodically as well, so if I don’t send something and I don’t respond, come looking for me.

“Daven, Sanders. You’re coming with me.”

“Alright.”

“Wait. Fog hole? Like the crater that showed up?” Meren asked.

“If there’s demons nearby, there’s fog. That’s how it works.”

Meren nodded loosely, looking slightly fazed but walked back to the wagon and climbed onboard with Lefie, offering them both a vantage point.

Bringing up her entity manager, Riza sequestered that at the side of her vision, always visibly but not obstructing anything important.

She gathered both Sanders and Daven and began to trudge through the grassy hillocks as they made their way for the wood, occasionally glancing at her entity manager every now and then.

With each step she took, her body tensed and then relaxed, taking another step, as if each little movement could set off a trap.

Skin sweaty, she felt like a bundle of wound-up energy, jittering and ready to burst. The incessant tickling of grass on her legs exacerbated her distracted mind, errant thoughts bursting across her cranium.

And then, mere metres away from the forested area, her mind blossomed with a sensory sea of feeling. A sudden, inescapable itch crawled up through her brain as she felt her knees buckle, like a massive gravitational pull was pulling her downwards.

Every step resulted in more and more signals alighting in her mind as a forest of invisible lights revealed itself.

Each signal had a distance. A strength. A unique identifier. Riza struggled to sort through them all, having to stop herself and rest upon a nearby tree.

“You okay there?” Daven asked, shoulders hunched low in what appeared to be a reassuring manner.

“Yeah. I’m… fine. Just, taking a moment.”

Closing her eyes and focusing on a meditative breathing process,

I don’t need to go further. Let’s take this one at a time. What can I see? What can I feel?

Closed off to the world around her, Riza sank into her mind as she swam towards those signals, reaching out with an astral finger as the flower buds bloomed into a full array of data.

Oh so many demons resided beneath her, far too numerous to count.

The first one she looked at was simple–weak with the characteristic signature of a beast demon. Level 7, she’d have to guess. Located some good number of metres below her.

From there, she danced to the next one. Then the next one. Then the next one, like an arcing bolt of electricity. The only thing keeping her from losing herself amongst the vast sea of signals were the periodic [Message]s Lefie managed to send to her.

More and more information. After about a dozen minute of endless investigating and categorisation, she licked her lips, tasting iron. Her throat was dry and pain was beginning to burgeon beneath her eyes.

Finally, she opened them, bringing up her hand as her eyes took a few seconds to adjust to the bright sunlight.

“Back in the world of the living?” Daven asked gently, sounding a bit concerned.

“Yeah,” Riza replied, voice tired. “Sorry, I was.. I was counting. It’s a whole hive down there. Let’s go back. Cook up a plan.”

Deep breath. Riza stretched out the kinks that had formed from her lack of movement. She felt as stiff as a statue and not even [Heal] could help.

“And you felt all of this?” Meren asked, leaning forward, a confused frown displayed on her face.

“It’s hard to explain. Sorry.”

“But you’re certain what you felt is correct?”

“Yes! Why is this so hard to believe?”

“Well…” She shook her head. “Sorry. You’re right. I guess-no. I believe you.”

“Wow. Thanks,” Riza replied sarcastically, leaning back against the wagon, looking up at the sky. Cloudy, but not looking like there could be a storm.

“It’s just hard to believe something without seeing it.”

Riza restrained a laugh, choosing silence instead.

“Well, what are you going to do about it?” Lefie said, eager to talk about practicalities.

“Fuck,” Riza breathed out slowly but not moving. “My brain’s fried. You come up with something for a change.”

With that, Riza closed her eyes and shut herself out to the world.

“I expected something bigger.”

Standing in the middle of the forest, with the wagon protected only by a stoic Sanders and a disgruntled Meren standing guard, Riza, Lefie, and Daven were standing over a hole large enough only for two of them to crawl through.

No disturbed ground. No fallen over trees. No corpses dotting the landscape.

The hole itself was inconspicuous and very hard to find, requiring the group to wait around until a demon had emerged and Riza managed to locate where it came from.

“Yeah, well, it makes sense that they can’t all be momentous entrances,” Riza said, tossing the reanimated demon onto the ground. It was another one of those rodent-mole things.

“Run down there for about a hundred metres, then come back up. Or, return after ten minutes; whichever comes first,” She ordered, the demon immediately scuttling into its hole afterwards.

Multiple orders. A contingency in case it failed to understand one or simply didn’t meet the requirements.

Riza wasted no time sinking into its vision, feeling as blind as a mole until the demon submerged itself into the fog that was inevitably at the bottom of the place.

Preparations had already been made, Daven having finished levelling [Cleanse] to level 10 and now had obtained [Cleanse] (passive).

Sanders had the requisite skill levels as well but Riza didn’t want Meren on her own with the wagon so she grouped them together. Her entity manager hung in the corner of her vision. No problems so far.

As it turned out, the hole didn’t go very deep until it opened up into much wider tunnels, more reminiscent of what Riza had wandered around in before.

Unfortunately, the demon didn’t manage to get that far until her vision cut out, and then she had to wait for it to return. What she did see was many, many demons, running around like ants in an anthill.

When Riza’s sight returned, a crow was perched on the top of her head. She killed her reanimated demon once that emerged, her movement prompting her friendly crow to take flight.

It darted through the trees, dodging branches erratically as Riza chased after it. She was always a runner but every stride she took felt like walking on air. Boundless energy and reinforced muscles sent her powering through the forest, chasing this flying crow until it swopped low, perching on a branch while looking ahead.

Riza slowed down to a jog and then a walk and then a stop right under the tree of the crow.

She didn’t know exactly what the bird had found but hopefully, it was something useful.

Walking forward a little further, taking care to be quiet, Riza checked her surroundings. Her senses were tingling with only the demons beneath her feet, none above ground, and the only sounds she could here were the gentle winds rustling leaves and her footsteps on the leaf-laden ground.

The autumnal colours had transitioned to the bare branches with winter seeping in. It was not yet snowing, if it even would, but the temperature was low enough for the chill to sink to her bones without the coat she was wearing.

A couple of corpses lay on the ground before a patch of stones, piled up haphazardly like they were tossed there a millennia ago.

Two wolf corpses and a beast demon. The wolves were somewhat intact except for what were likely the fatal injuries while the demon showed some signs of being eaten. Not much, as if someone was interrupted just after starting a meal.

The provenance of these bodies was unimportant so Riza quickly got to work raising only the demon, at level 1.

It only took a minute before Riza was leaping through the forest again, working her way back to the tunnel. The exertion was beginning to wear on her–breathing was becoming more difficult and an ache was beginning to seep into her limbs, though she could still ignore it for now.

When she arrived, Riza wasted no time in killing her demon and then raising it again at a far stronger level. Stronger than she had ever raised something before.

[Reanimate] (10/10)+ -Learned

Raise a corpse into a level 72 zombie

Casting Time: 1 min

Cost: 28 es/sec

Requirements: [Animate Critter] (5/10)

The essence flowed from Riza like a tumultuous wave of energy, ripping through her and coursing through the lifeless corpse in front of her.

The muscles bulged with power, expanding in size as the skin grew taut and thin before rippling like a flag in the wind, growing to accommodate the body’s new size.

Limbs lengthening, head enlarging, the entire body was growing by the second until, finally, the minute was up, Riza taking a few steps back as the slumbering giant roused from sleep.

With sudden alacrity, the demon jumped to its feet, its form much larger than before–nearly as large as Riza herself.

At her current level of essence, she had only eight minutes of up-time.

“Dig,” Riza ordered, pointing towards the tunnel. The demon got to work.

This one wasn’t mole-like but more canine in form, reminiscent of the wolves she saw earlier. While not specialised for digging, it did mean its disproportionate paws were sufficient, as the piles of dirt that were quickly forming proved.

The demon dug through the earth like a hot knife through butter, sinking into the ground as it kept going, following and expanding the diameter of the tunnel. Part of Riza was worried about the tunnel collapsing but they’d deal with that if it happened.

It didn’t take very long for the demon to finally get deep enough to make contact with the fog but continued to dig past that. Lower and lower it went until, finally, the tunnel bottomed out, levelling off and opening up.

Luckily, the entire way down, the dirt ceiling hadn’t caved in.

Riza shot a [Message] down to the demon to return back up, where she promptly killed it and began to regenerate her essence. It’d take a while to regenerate to full but not too long; should only be around half an hour.

While they waited, the trio went over the plan.

As far as Riza knew, there were no distance limitations to parties and everyone in a party would receive the same experience and level cap increases, meaning Daven was a proxy for both Sanders and Meren.

Their goal, to begin, was simple; find a greater demon and get Daven to kill that. Anything more was a bonus.

Half an hour later, Riza was ready.

Once more unto the breach.