Paladin left the game to go make the call to McKenna, and he was equal parts happy, excited, and terrified. Depending on how Paladin did and what sort of mood she was in, he expected one of several reactions. None of them were pleasant.

But he knew McKenna, and she was an intense woman when he met her, but that cooled as they dated and started going out. Her aggressive nature became driven and passionate without the previous need for violence. Colin wasn't exact;y sure what to expect from her when they did meet again, but he was sure she was going to enjoy beating him into the ground if he let her.

Then again, he wasn't sure who would win between them in a straight fight.

Overall, this line of thought went nowhere, and Colin had things to do. Now, on top of everything else, he had a career to work on growing as well as his personal and skill levels. Then there was his equipment and spells and his companions, and it was all a big jumble.

The arguing continued in the main ballroom, and Colin was sure that it would eventually come to a head. Where it would go, he had no idea. He understood why some players would want to play it safe and not risk their characters not respawn here. It meant any plans in this area of the world would take a huge step backward, and not everyone had all the time in the world, like him.

"It's a pity that they are all idiots," Nox commented from inside Colin's shadow. "They don't realize that they have no choice here. If the Golem's win the City, it will become a Monster Fortress, a very high-level one too. Then it will be infinitely harder to make it a livable city again."

"Monster Fortress?" Colin asked quietly.

There was a brief pause before the Goblin continued, Rielle looking at Colin but paying attention to Nox's words as well. "A Monster Fortress is what happens when a monster or group of monsters attack a settlement and win it. The leader gets access to a settlement-only ability that slowly converts the City to the monster's liking and makes it essentially a dungeon. But it could be more dangerous given that Dungeons have certain rules of fairness that they have to follow. Monster Fortresses do not."

"Well, shit," Colin grumbled. "I have a lot of options but no ideas," he mused, thinking it through. He had a few options of things he could try, namely enchanting, and rituals were the first things that came to mind. He'd already seen one good example of what a ritual could do. Still, he had very little practical training, and the only ritual he'd accomplished was heavily assisted by Nox. While enchanting was excellent and valuable, the level of the craft he'd achieved gave him more variety in his Enchanting, not necessarily more power through it.

"Hey, Nox. Have we seen any Item Quality 10 books anywhere?" Colin asked, trying to decide on his options. Getting his hands on a Quality ten book would net him five career points, letting him choose another tier one power. If nothing else, it gave him a brief goal.

"A few," Nox answered. "Your Enchanting Master had one or two, and I think I saw one mixed in at the library you frequented. High-Quality books like that are usually hard to come by, making your first career quest a tough one to accomplish normally."

"Are they normally easier?" Colin asked.

"Indeed," Nox said. "My first Career quest was to make an area-of-effect potion that affected targets in an area around ten feet in diameter. It took me a few days only because I did not have ground Human bones in my personal stock for the potion I had planned."

Colin hummed his understanding while being just a little bit curious, "what sort of potion requires ground human bones?"

"Nothing nice, DevilWalker. For that one, though, I used it on a group of creatures called Old One Callers. Practically petrified them in bone with their squidish, slimy, and tentacled faces. Let's just say that they were horrible news, and the goblins were glad I managed to kill them."

"Good to know," Colin said, unsure of what else to say about that.

Then an idea hit him; there was another underutilized skill in his arsenal that he hadn't really thought about since he'd gotten it. Which was probably a good thing until today, when he just got another skill that made it actually worthwhile.

He opened the skill and willed it to give him more than his typically condensed information.

Demonology Level 1: This skill functions like knowledge skills because the more you learn within this field of study, the more the skill levels. But Demonology is more than a study; it's an application of the knowledge gained. This means that Rituals, Spells, Potions, crafting, music, speaking, and anything else you do that reflect true Infernal Culture and power shall also increase this skill and grant you more knowledge.

All knowledge gained passively with the skill will be given to the skill holder's subconscious, allowing them to access the knowledge like a memory from a class taken years earlier. No two people who gain the demonology skill will attain the exact same understanding. Making it impossible to say what you know or don't until you try to recall it.

This skill can be affected in small ways by the Intellect and Wisdom Attributes and the skill holders general progression path. (I.E., Class, Subclass, Career, Specialized Class, Etc.)

"Okay, but how do I find out what I know if I don't know what I am looking for?" Colin asked quietly. "How do I access knowledge that I've never read, heard, or have seen before?"

"Tell me something, DevilWalker. Do you know what a Squash Demon actually is?" Nox asked, the question coming out of nowhere.

"Well, yeah, why?" Colin asked, unsure where this question was leading.

"Please remind me, if you would?" Nox asked.

"Squash Demons are one of the Larval Demon types," Colin started. "They grow and evolve into other demons depending on their personality and skills. The Inferno usually doesn't care much for them unless they possess unique, weird, or needed powers to expand their prowess. Why does this… Really?!" Colin asked, a little exasperated at himself. "It was that easy?"

Colin could almost hear the shrug in Nox's voice as he spoke. "Some things just are, DevilWalker."

"What did I miss?" Rielle asked.

"DevilWalker, whatever you are planning, I suggest we continue to talk about it elsewhere before more people think you are talking to yourself," Nox suggested.

Colin looked around and found that a few of the people around him were indeed giving him strange looks. Most of them were NPC's and at least had the decency to look away when he noticed them looking. The handful of players that were looking at him mostly just gave him confused and curious looks.

Trying to play it off, Colin nodded his head at Rielle and started up to their room; she was only a few steps behind him as he reached the stairs and away from the people in the Lobby. He didn't say a word until they were far enough away from people to avoid being casually overheard.

"Our Goblin friend has just helped me realize how to use the Demonology Skill," Colin stated, a little sour that he couldn't figure it out. It wasn't like it required him to make any blood sacrifices to access the information.

"And?" she asked.

"I don't use it; it is sort of like a channel. The higher the level, the more knowledge I get access to, and then I just know it," Colin said, shrugging helplessly. "Nox, ask me something else please, make it more complicated, though."

The Goblin took a moment to answer, trying to figure out what to ask. "Do you know how many types of Hellhounds there are?"

"Uh, I have no idea," Colin stated after a moment of hesitation. "Another one?"

"What do Demons eat?"

The Antagonist paused as if unsure how to answer. "It depends on the Demon. As a whole, though… I think they eat emotions, intentions, or maybe wishes? I'm not really sure. I know they can eat human food or humans as food, but that's not what they subsist on."

Nox hummed appreciatively, "that is the general idea of what Demons eat. What sort of intent, emotions, or wishes they eat depends on the species. Like Larry, he's an Incubus. Meaning he could eat the idea of lust, obsession, or unfulfilled desire. Who knows, you'll have to ask him when you resummon him."

Colin nodded, only hoping that the Demon was getting some kind of sustenance in Hell so that he wouldn't have to feed him here. He didn't necessarily object to the idea, but it could get him in trouble.

With the understanding of how Demonology worked, Colin simply put his mind to work at the thought in his mind and simply knew what he could do.

Instead of going to his room, Colin opted to go to the third floor and headed to a familiar area. This floor was where he fought and caught that Krimson Spire party before he killed them on the roof. He didn't think that the hotel's housekeeping was doing its job amid the crisis, the thin layer of dust covering almost everything crediting Colin's assumption.

He hoped that this meant that the paid room was currently untouched, and he was more than grateful when he found the door still unlocked.

He stepped inside, finding a room very similar to his own, the main difference being that there were five beds in here compared to his two. Otherwise, it near-identical, with only minor changes in art on the wall and plant choices strewn about the room.

Rielle closed the door behind them, and Colin immediately got to work.

Drawing one of his knives, Colin cut away the carpet to reveal the thick wood paneling under the floor. He didn't need a large amount of space for the ritual to work, but he did need a surface that could be easily marked upon, and the carpet was not it. Using the same knife, he cut a circle into the floor about two feet in diameter. He then cut a simple pentagram in the middle, the stars five points reaching the circle's edge.

With the circle done, there was only to bait the circle then open the door. So Colin took out one of his pages of blank paper and looked at it. Demonology told him that he only needed to write a few words on it in his blood for it to work, so Colin cut his pointer finger with the knife and used the tip to write the first thing that came to mind.

He then set the page in the middle of the simple circle and directed his attention back to the circle itself. Placing his fingers along the center of the circle and channeling Infernal Magic Manipulation, Colin triggered the Summoning.

Using the Summoning Magic Skill in conjunction with the Ritual Magic subskill, Circle Summoning was supposed to make the effect more powerful and increase a successful summon chance.

In the middle of the circle, the blood-inked page simmered along the edges as the infernal magic started to affect it. Then the page plastered itself to the floor as if it were glued down, and the page vanished into a plane of red light.

Then a small creature, two feet tall most, climbed out of the rectangle in the floor and looked at its summoner. The Imp was soot-black, well-formed, and inhuman. Its fingers and toes ended in tiny claws, and portions of its body looked sculpted from stone with the grainy texture, especially its face. Its eyes were the one contrast the Demon had in its complete form; they were orbs of pure white that made it hard to know for sure where it was staring.

Your Circle Summoning Subskill is now level 2. Summoning stability, summoning success chance, summon bonding chance, and energy efficiency has increased by a small margin. Your Demonology Skill is now Level 2. The Demonic Lore and Knowledge in your head has been expanded due to use.

The little Demon spoke, its mouth opening to reveal jagged stony teeth, "Hello Master, I am bound to your will until the summon ends. What do you need?"

"You summoned a Text Imp?" Nox asked curiously. The Goblin stood next to Colin, looking down on the little Demon who simply kept its eyes on Colin. "Why?"

"I need you to help me find a book," Colin said. "The type of book doesn't matter as much as the quality. You can tell the quality of the book, right?" Colin asked, unsure if it had the Appraisal Skill.

"We can, yes," it replied, another hand reaching up from the still open infernal door. Seconds later, another Imp, identical to the first appeared, then another, and another. A solid dozen of the little creatures were in the room after a few minutes and looking at him expectantly.

Colin grinned. Imps aren't singular Demons; they are a collective. Each clutch of Imps evolved in a single area, becoming a mental collective. To help them stand up to the more standardly strong denizens of Hell, they made up with numbers what others had in strength. Text Imps were considered the brightest Imp type with access to low-level magic and higher processes than 'run,' 'hide,' and 'hit with heavy thing.'

"Is there any book type that you want in particular?" the original Text Imp asked, all the white eyes around the summoning circle staring at him.

"Enchanting, Rituals, Summoning, Demons, Magic, really almost anything," Colin told them. "If you find any- Oh, you may not be able to bring them in here due to the safe zone… Hmmm, bring them to the roof of that building," Colin said, pointing to the nearest building that had an open roof. "Will that work for you? How long will you stay summoned?"

The Imps all looked at something Colin couldn't see, eyes moving back and forth as if reading. "One hour and twenty-three minutes, Master," they all said in perfect unison.

"Creepy," Rielle said, slipping away from the group to another portion of the room.

"Alright," Colin said, enthused about his Summoning Skill now more than before. "Don't let anyone see you if you can help it, and just know that golems are attacking the city, so don't let them find you."

"Yes, Master," they repeated in unison. The group turned and ran for the window; the first to reach it opened the window to allow the others to leap from it with abandon. The voices screeched out a high-pitched 'WHEEEE!' as they fell with the last saluting Colin before it did the same.

"Fucking Imps," Nox spat as Colin hurried over to the window. The little Demons' sounds vanished the second he touched the window and looked out, finding nothing but empty and smoky air. They were simply gone, no trace of smears on the stone below the window, and no indications that the Imps went elsewhere. "All Imps are mischievous trickster Demons, who act in a horde. If they are truly bound to you, then this was probably one of the few ways they could screw with you, DevilWalker."

Colin heard him, but like a child watching a magician, he had to ask, "how did they do that?"

Nox just shrugged and looked at the circle where the Demon had appeared and kicked at it. The page that Colin used to summon the Imps had lost its power and were just a basic piece of paper with blood used as ink. The Goblin looked it over and raised an eyebrow as it looked at Colin. “What does Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo mean?”

"Oh, it was a spell from a story produced by Disney," Colin answered quickly.

Rielle hurried over to look at the spell and blink at it a few times before looking at Colin, "was he a great wizard?"

"Some say he was the greatest wizard ever," he told her. Taking the page from Nox, Colin used the subskill Ignition to incinerate the page. Letting it fall to the cutaway portion of the floor before stomping it out the second the page was ash. He then covered the circle again with carpet and shrugged. Someone would find it eventually, but hopefully, that would be long after any chance he would be suspected of demonic Summoning.

"So, DevilWalker, Those things are going to help finish your Career quest with any luck; what are you going to do?" Nox asked curiously.

"Let's go see if those Players came up with a plan or if they are still bickering. We may have to take care of this ourselves, guys," Colin told them, smiling at the idea.

Every step as he left the room and walked down the stairs, Colin used the Earth Magic Subskill Temorsensing. This was a subskill that Colin had a lot of hope for, the ability to see people using the earth's vibrations? Yes, please.

A little before halfway down, Colin stopped using the skill to avoid bottoming out his Mana and let it recharge before doing it again. By the time he reached the Lobby, both Earth Magic Manipulation and Tremorsensing had reached level 3.

Your Earth Magic Manipulation Skill is now Level 3. Your Tremorsensing Subskill is now level 3. You can now sense what is happening in a 360-degree area for 7 meters around you.

It wasn't much, but it would help him avoid getting sneaked upon in the future, especially with a few more levels under its belt.

When they reached the Lobby, every NPC was standing and cluttered around the windows, looking out into the street. While players were standing just outside the door, weapons raised and aimed out, blocking Colin's view. The tension in the air was unnerving, and Colin noticed how it was affecting Rielle.

"Come on," he told her, keeping his voice low and calm to keep her relaxed. "Let's see what's happening."

The Antagonist stepped up to the door and looked out to the street, now able to see past of the crowd of thirty-ish Players. Standing in front of the entrance was a single Golem with two humans standing to either side and behind it, like security. The Golem stood around six feet tall, built beefier than its basic counterparts, and looked like it was built to impress, being actually shiny in the dim sunlight. Its hands were clasped behind its back, and it looked forward as if observing the crowd watching it.

Colin looked to one of the Players near him, a woman in heavy furs holding an Axe in both hands. "Hey, what's going on?"

"That there Golem," she said, her accent heavily Norwegian. "It asked a minute ago if there was anyone here who wanted to try and best its new creations. No one wants to go out there and try it, too risky."

"What new creations?" Colin asked, not understanding as he looked at the two humans behind it, standing abnormally still. Their heads didn't move, and Hell, their chests didn't move because they weren't breathing. "The bodies?"

The Player nodded, "yes sir, No one wants-"

"Will no one here takes my offer?" the Golem asked, the yellow eyes of ALAN marking him present in this Golem. "Defeat my design, and I will let you leave the City; defeat it fast, and I will even let you go somewhere in the City get some of your belongings first. This is a good offer, and I will not offer it here again if no one takes it up!" ALAN stated, gesturing to its sides at the bodies standing rigid.

Colin was not going to leave the City, but the offer was an appealing one. If nothing else, he'd love the option to run an errand unhindered by frequent Golem attacks. No matter what that was, it was a dead body; what could it do?

He opened his mouth to accept when another called out behind him. A plate mail-covered man walked past Colin and the other players as he made his way out in front of the crowd. He wore a bucket helmet over his head with a slit visor allowing him to see the threat before him. From his belt, he drew a longsword that caught the sunlight in a very holy seeming way.

"I accept your offer! I know what these abominations are, Golem Master, and I will smite them to where they belong," the Crusader man aimed his sword at ALAN.

"Good, good, defeat one and earn your release," ALAN repeated, then pointed at the Crusader.

The Corpse to the Golems right moved forward towards the challenger. It raised its arm, clenched it, and threw a punch that the challenger casually blocked with the sword's flat. At least it looked casual for a moment; the Knight let out a surprised grunt as the fist pressed against the weapon and shoved. The man stumbled back as the Corpse took another step forward and threw another punch.

Stepping to the side, the Knight dodged as he swung his blade, slicing at it with the tip. The edge bit in but stopped before passing through like he expected. Stepping away as the moving Corpse swung its arm and tried to grab at him.

This went on for a few more brief exchanges before the Knight raised his sword to the sky in triumph. "Sunlit Sword! Holy Smite!" he cried out, activating two abilities at once. His sword gathered the sunlight around it, the light around it growing in intensity as the blade was powered by the skill.

He ran at the Corpse, the Holy Sunlight Sword swinging through the Corpse's neck and slicing through the front half. The wound glowed with pure white light that spread and erupted from the Corpse's body as the damage overwhelmed the creature. The light burst out, the body becoming more akin to charcoal than flesh.

The Knight walked forward, approaching the Golem and aiming the sword at its torso. "I have defeated your creature. Now grant me my boon."

"No, it's not over yet," ALAN stated.

The body stood up, the flesh around it disintegrating to reveal the creature within. Metal was framed around the bones with wire and coils shifting around the limbs. It drew back a fist and sucker-punched the Knight in the back of his head. The clash rattled the Knight and knocking him to the ground as the Skele-Golem rode him down and kept throwing blow after blow into the Knights helmet.

He struggled valiantly, trying to get the amalgam of bone and machine off of him but failing after so many blows to the head. Eventually, the Knight died and left the Skele-Golem with bloody fists as it climbed out of his body.

"Introducing my new Horror!" ALAN announced, pride exuded from him with every word and movement as he gestured at the remaining monstrosity. "The Corpse Golem! I hope you enjoy yourself in what will soon be my City and enjoy these and their future iterations!"

With that announcement, ALAN turned around and left the street, cackling as he walked away.

"Hey, fuck tard!" A Player yelled as he charged it. He raised a heavy two-handed ax over his head. He leaped, adding as much power and momentum as possible to increase the damage.

With no hesitation, ALAN turned around and raised a hand. The Axe fell and impacted against a dome of blue energy that snapped into place. The Player roared as he applied even more force, but it still held.

With a final yell, he announced, "Splitting Blow!"

The Axe glowed a pale yellow as the blade broke through the barrier with a sound like shearing metal.

Then ALAN announced his own attack, "Helium-Neon Burst!"

A flash of red light exploded from ALAN's palm, bursting forth as a dome that exploded from its metal hand. When the light vanished, ALAN was standing on the Player's smoking body.

"A piece of advice to everybody. Do you want a real fight instead of a one-sided slaughter? Find me in my lair, and you'll get what you're looking for!" ALAN announced, walking away from the scene of the short-lived battle.

"Well, shit," Colin said, grinning at the scene before him. New ideas formulating in his brain as he saw what ALAN had done. "I need electrical magic," Colin said as he walked away from the stunned crowd. Needing to summon Larry before attempting anything else.