A grin was spread on Colin’s face as he walked away from the overly cute house that the Cult had been using for their base. He’d gotten some potentially useful information on enchanting, gotten Scylla added to his Channel Effigy skill, and had killed a player. The joy in his heart over that last one was compounded by the fact that he was a member of the Krimson Spire Guild, that he actually put up a fight, and had unlocked a hidden quest for his Class.

A fucking fantastic venture by every account.

Now he wanted to use his newest skill that he’d worked to be able to use, Channel Effigy.

Channel Effigy Level 1. With the proper rite, skill level, and favor level, you can channel power from a ‘Pagan’ god. This power may take the form of an effect over an area, a temporary skill, limited ability, or title. At the highest levels of the skill, calling the deity into your vicinity is a snap if they view you highly favorably. Every rite is different from each other, and all aspects of it depend on the deity in question. This includes mana cost, ingredients, chants, skill requirements, and attribute requirements. To know what is required, just will the information forward, and your prompts will make it readable.

Besides using this skill, Colin needed ways to increase his skill gain and gather information on the Church. Anything he could get would be good. What sort of leadership structure did they have, how did they pray, what kind of rituals did they have, how did they greet and dismiss each other—stuff like that.

In his mind, sneaking into that Church tomorrow night was the best move. Both to get this quest done and to give him a little time to prepare.

He’d only gotten the news of where the Demon was a little earlier, and he wanted to move on it before they erased it.

To accomplish both, he started to go towards the south end of the city, aiming for the Church. A little scouting trip was always worth it, get the lay of the land as it were.

Once he was back on the main road, Colin thought about the Channel Effigy Skill and willed the information about Scylla’s version of the skill.

Scylla’s Scales, Level 1 Channeling. Requirements: Water Magic Manipulation Level 3. Material Components: 1 - 3” X 3” patch of scales from the Arapaima Fish. Mana Cost: 100. Channeling Time: 10 seconds. Channel Length: 5 minutes. Description: Cover your body in a layer of scales that add to your defense like armor.

Curious about what his Prompt information choice and tried to will the rest of the information.

Armor defense equals 2 times E plus F. Where E equals Channel Effigy Skill level, and F equals favor level.

The math was simple enough, but what was Favor level? He’d seen it mentioned a few times by the skill but hadn’t seen it listed anywhere. Concentrating, Colin willed the information, and another prompt appeared.

Favor level is akin to the relationship chart in that it determines a ‘Pagan’ deity’s like or dislike for you. Favor levels apply to many factors for this skill, like the strength of powers given, mana, efficiency, and powers given. For a deity to apply for the skill, Channel Effigy, they must have at least the lowest positive favor level of, Interested. The levels for this range from levels -10 to 10. Favor level, Loki +3, Scylla +1.

He has a favor level of three with Loki; why? The chaotic god did say that he wanted to be an ally of Colins. Was it possible that this was something the god had planned? Unlikely, but Loki was known for being conniving, intelligent, and unpredictable. Maybe he somehow knew…

Best to not think about it too hard; deities were weird.

Out of curiosity, Colin opened up Loki’s ability.

Silver Tongue, Level 1 Channeling. Requirements: Deception level 5. Material Components: None. Vocal Component: yes(instinctual). Mana Cost: 50/use. Channeling time: 1 second. Channel Length: 1 hour. Description: Your words flow more smoothly, your voice carries more weight, and your arguments seem more valid. Any attempt to lie, misdirect, or otherwise stretch the truth will amplify your charisma attributes effects toward it.

Colin smiled at the ability, he was getting more and more useful powers, and it was a part of a skill that would evolve more and more over time. He thought about the possibilities, and more and more, the opportunities just grew more and more. Especially since the skills description stated bluntly that more powers would become available with more levels.

Looking up, Colin found that he had actually approached the middle of the town on his musing form of autopilot. He was a little curious how he managed to come to one of the four plazas surrounding the Dungeon entrance without bumping into anyone. He paused for a moment to look at the fifteen-foot tall water sculpture of a twisted bush with large thorn-like thorns sticking out beyond the plant’s borders. Water streamed out of each of the thorns and dripped into the fountain beneath the dark stone carving.

He’d seen this piece of art before, in passing, but decided to take this opportunity to look at it a little closer this time. The white quartz pedestal and reservoir were a stark contrast to the dark stone of the water sculpture. Water generation runes could be seen along the pedestal’s side, and Colin could see a prime example here of the connecting runes for perpetual effects. At the bottom of the water pool, he saw a set of consumption runes connected to the water generation runes.

Interesting, but not useful yet since he was given advice not to use it until his Knowledge Enchantment skill was level ten or higher. But he studied the runes and the format used to remember it when the time came to capitalize on the information.

It was a beautiful piece of art that he would come back and look at later when he wasn’t on the job. Lore was essential, and you never knew what you could find if you followed it where it led; he was living proof of that with his Class. He added this fountain to his list of things to do after he finished with the Demon retrieval and got back on his way.

Colin decided to do one thing along the way, though. He walked close to as many people as he could along the way. Close enough that they definitely noticed him and activated his most recently gained magical subskill, Memory Lapse.

The subskill in question allowed him to remove things from memories and make the target simply forget them. It required him to be close to them when he activated it. The memory in question had to include him, and whatever he made them forget had to be considered inconsequential. That last one was the real trick because what was deemed inconsequential was different from person to person. His first attempt at the skill was a failure when he tried to make a passing female Outworlder in purple robes forget his skin color.

Memory Lapse Skill Failure. The target now takes more notice of what you tried to make her forget than before.

She’d paused, looked him over, and shrugged. Colin had gotten the impression that if what he’d tried to make her forget was more valuable or more important, like his Mythic Xiphos, she’d probably have asked questions. But his skin color? No, it was not considered inconsequential but wasn’t important enough for her to comment on before walking away.

His second attempt was a success; however, his choice was more abstract than merely forgetting something. At later levels, he might make people forget things entirely, but for now, he had to be smart. He made the few people he used the subskill on forget which hip his Xiphos sat on. It did the trick for the most part.

Memory Lapse skill blocked. The Target is defended against Mental invasion and influence of any kind that she does not allow. Since the effect was shielded and not beaten, the target has no awareness you tried to effect her.

Colin let out a sigh, at least that was good news. He observed the woman for a moment to try and remember her for later. A tiny thing, pale enough that he doubted she ever got any sun and wearing an ankle-length forest green dress and a white blouse. A whip hung loosely from one hip, and a small bearded ax on her other. Her straw blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and her passing smile to the rest of her party spoke that she did indeed not know what he did to her.

He moved on and checked his mana and had enough for another use. So he did so, on a passing man in dull steel armor. He got no mention that the effect failed; even better, he got a prompt.

Your Memory Lapse Subskill is now level 2. The time limit for subskill cast and target distance has increased by a small amount. Due to the subskill leveling, Mental Magic Manipulation has leveled as well and is now level 2.

Colin internally cheered at an easy level. Three more times, and he’d have an incredibly useful weapon at his disposal. He couldn’t even begin to count on his fingers and toes how many ways magic that had to deal with the mind could come in handy. For the moment, though, that was just a thought for the future, now was only practice time.

He waited until he had enough mana and cast it again, and again, on weaker looking people until he reached the Southern Chapel of the Church of Anaheim.

The building was right along the main road and was easily within sight of the city’s defensive walls. It was modeled after the stone brick churches from medieval Europe. It even had a tower in the front of the structure with religious iconography set into the top. Off to the building’s side, a courtyard blocked off by a brick wall no taller than his waist. The courtyard was perfectly manicured and decorated with colorful herbs and flowers surrounded a sword thrust into a stone pedestal.

He kept walking, but his eyes roamed the nearby buildings looking for a hideaway spot for him to observe the structure. Across the street, Colin found a three-story building that was a medical clinic on the first floor and living quarters on the upper floors. It was empty at the moment with a sign on the front door that said they’d be gone for three weeks.

Perfect.

He walked around to the back of the building and crouched into stealth. He moved through an open gate into the herb garden behind the backyard and stepped through the colorful flora. None of the plants triggered his Knowledge Herbs skill, and he checked the back door finding it locked.

Drawing his Drenching Dagger, he created a pair of lockpicks from the water with Frost Shaping and got to work. The lockpick snapped a few times before finally managing to turn the lock’s tumblers and unlock it.

Opening the door, he stepped inside the clinic and looked around really quickly at the assortment of items on the counters. He grabbed a few pill bottles, one of each even though he had no idea what they cured. He wasn’t as concerned about most other things, but pills could be fenced for good money or used. Besides, he wasn’t here to rob the place.

He found the stairs that led up to the second floor and immediately skipped looking around that floor and went directly to the third floor.

It was just the attic where whoever owned the building stored their unused things. Unused, because everything up there was covered in a layer of dust.

He then immediately decided against going in there because he didn’t want the people who lived here knowing he was here. The area was a living area consisting of all bedrooms, one master bedroom, and two normal ones. The master bedroom’s window is aimed directly at the front of the Chapel.

Opening the window, Colin actively listened and watched the front of the building where a member of the Clergy was greeting priests as they entered. Greeting them all and referring to most with the term ‘Comrade’, whether male and female.

But the equalism ended there. Everyone who entered the building wore the same gray robes worn the same way. Only each person wore a different color sash about their waists. From what he could tell from the clergyman’s responses, the order of importance was dark red, black, silver, gold, white, and the lowest being gray. They bore no outward equipment, so Colin couldn’t tell how they did the rankings. Level, achievements, years of service, there was no way to know.

He knew more than he did before, and it had only been a half-hour. He kept watching and heard something that made him smile.

“High Priest, have you heard the rumors?” one particular gold sashed man asked, taking the older man’s hand. When he shook his head, the man continued, “apparently, there is a woman somewhere in the sewers cursing about some obnoxious Goblin and his insane training methods. After an hour, the guards went down there to find her, but couldn’t.”

“Couldn’t?” the dark red sashed old man asked.

He nodded, “couldn’t. Anytime they got close to where the voice was, it would disappear and reappear the complete opposite direction they were going. My brother was one of the Guards that spent a few hours in that stink, and he reeked of it.”

“How odd,” the old man said in thought. “Did they have any idea what was going on?”

He shook his head, “just theories. Mostly ghosts, vampires, escaped demons from the Dungeon, that sort of thing.”

“What about the Undersewers?” the old man asked.

The gold sashed man waved his hand, dismissively, “no way to check. Legends are hard to check.”

Colin continued to passively listen but became lost in thought as he wondered what on earth Nox was doing with Rielle. Whatever it was, he hoped they kept it up for the sheer shits and giggles factor. Also, now he had something else to look up, the UnderSewers, oh goody.

The young man gave the high priest a little bow and hurried inside. He kept watching for another hour, the High Priest being switched out for another same ranked, younger man. This one was a bit more talkative, asking questions from every entrant who wore the right attire. Those who weren’t, were asked to leave and come back in a few days; the Church was closed to non-members for religious rites.

He needed a few more things if he was going to pull off his idea. A map of the structure, a uniform, and some asked for advice from someone in town. He even knew where to go for each of them.

So Colin closed the window and scurried out of the clinic before anyone noticed him.

His first stop was back to ‘Skillets of Power’. Where Henrietta was nowhere to be seen. Which was odd considering that Colin had always seen her here and working. Instead, a healed, clean, and vibrant older teen girl hurried around the place in a blue and white peasant dress. Daphne, the girl he’d rescued from Lord Forrem, chatted pleasantly with customers before taking an order and returning to the kitchen to turn it in.

It took a few minutes for her to notice Colin standing by the front door just watching her. Her smile dropped a little, but she made her way over and eyed him suspiciously. She stopped in front of him, cocked her hip, and pressed a fist into the outward hip, “can I help you, sir?” she said, her tone warning.

“Daphne, right? I’m looking for Henrietta,” Colin stated. “Is she here?”

“I’m sorry, she’s not. But I can tell her who was here looking for her if you like,” she stated dryly.

“Yes, Could you tell her Walker was here looking for her about some previous business? I need this ASAP so if-”

Her eyes widened, and Daphne looked him over with surprise, “Wait, You’re Walker? I, uhm, I can tell her that, yeah.” Her eyes moved away from his face, and he thought he knew why. A moment ago, he was some pervert staring at a teenager, now he was the man who’d saved her from a lifetime of Fey slavery.

“Thank you,” Colin said, extending it for her to take. “It was a pleasure to officially meet you, Daphne.”

“Uhm, yeah. It was nice to meet you too,” she said, taking his hand and shaking it. “Would you- Would you like anything before you go?” She asked, a little awkwardly.

“Depends, what do you have ready now?” Colin grinned, “I have other things to do today.”

She nodded, “yeah, Henri said you were always running around doing stuff like your ass was on fire or something. Hmmm, hot ass,” she said, her voice becoming quiet and trailing off into thought.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that,” Colin asked, eyebrows furrowed.

“What?” she asked, confused, then realized what she’d done, and her face went red. “Oh, n-n-nothing important.”

Colin shrugged, and they proceeded on. She told him what the restaurant had ready and what was almost ready since most of their dishes were in larger batches. He took a fresh steak sandwich that she refused to charge him for and took a written message. It was short and only a few sentences long detailing what he wanted and what he’d pay to have it. On the whole, he doubted that Henrietta would have an issue with it.

“Are you sure about this? From what I know, that money will add up to quite a lot,” Daphne stated, finishing writing the note and folding it up into a neat little square.

Colin just gave her a smile, “its fine, a little unfortunate, but fine. It’s not like I broke my back getting it, am I right?” He took a bite of the sandwich and pleasure-filled him with the food’s superb taste. He’d had a few steak sandwiches on earth, but none were quite this good. Except for one McKenna made once, and he was sure that it was a happy accident.

She agreed, “alright, if you say so. I know where she went, and she will be back today. Does she know where to find you, Walker?”

“Yeah,” he said, remembering the letters he’d gotten from her this morning. “She’s been there already.”

With that, he completed his first objective for the moment—next, the Churches Raiment.

He already knew where he would get one of those, and it would not be fun. While watching the Chapel houses entrance, he saw one walk in with a key that Colin recognized tied to his sash. It was a simple Wrought Iron key with an M.E, carved into the metal and inlaid with a pearly metal. The key was one that he’d held in his hands and used for several days before having to abandon the room a few days earlier.

Going back to The Miranda’s Echo was something that Colin had planned for a while to level up his Bardic skills. They did seem to like him there for only having one performance, and he was procrastinating going back. The reason was simple, time. He wanted to wait until he’d finished with his Favor with the Demons before focusing on other, more time-consuming tasks like a skill training regimen.

But it was on his to-do list.

Now, he was going back to burgle a holy man’s room. Yup, he was going to virtual hell.

After walking, casting his Memory lapse skill on people as he passed to level up the skill. This time, casting it once, then waiting for his mana to go back to full before doing it again. He wasn’t in a rush to level up the skill for the moment, since it was easy to use. The walk ended with him reaching the Tavern a little after, eh, two pm, and staring at the door.

He took in a deep breath and opened the door, letting the smells and sights engulf him in as he enjoyed the familiarity.

His luck was with him because as he opened the door, he quickly made a look to his left and found no one at the pedestal that they used to register for the rooms above them. From his experiences with this place, it was rare and short-lived for this spot to be empty, so he quickly took a look at the register book.

He smiled at the large, thick, leather-bound book and took in the page quickly. A name, amount of days paid for, and notes for the book included personal problems and apparent affiliations. Out of curiosity, he dragged his finger along the page and found his own name with two notes. Loud at night and traveling Bard.

He went back to the beginning and found one marked ‘Acolyte of Anaheim’. He got the room number and hurried up the stairs; he just got fortunate and didn’t feel like pressing it. He jimmied the lock, rushed inside, grabbed the clothes he needed, grinning at the spare set of clothes on the bed, and a golden sash laid carefully next to it.

He threw everything the man had laid out onto the bed into his Dimensional Bag. He knew this might cause some issues, but he just knew things were coming together for him.

Given that the Acolyte was likely to notice and report the clothes missing, He moved up his time table. He planned to try for tonight if he could help it, tomorrow if he couldn’t. He needed to get that Demon out of there to finally complete his quest.

Especially if everything came together like he hoped. He only hoped Nox and Henrietta came through for him.