Chapter 2: Preparations

The extra point in strength definitely came in use as Sarah pushed the basement door open. Shoving the debris that blocked the passageway away, she squeezed through the gap in the doorway out into the corridor. A quick glance around was all she needed to know that something had gone horribly wrong, with half of the dorm room wall scattered across the carpet and opening the room up to the chaos of the outside.

And there was plenty of chaos to see.

Casting her eyes across the city in front of her, she was met with the sight of destruction everywhere. Collapsed buildings, split roads, it looked like an earthquake had torn the city upside-down. Which judging by the tremors that still came from below, it probably had. Pillars of smoke rose up from the collapsed skyscrapers, accompanied by fire that lit up the now rather empty skyline. An eerie silence was continually punctuated by the sounds of explosions and gunshots in the distance.

An explosion nearby shook her out of her musings, alerting her to rapidly increasing vibrations that first made her leave the basement, and were suspiciously coming closer. With a glance, she noticed what could only be a head sticking out from above a house the street over.

“A half giant, level 30, you’d best flee while it is distracted. I’m surprised such a beast has appeared so early.”

The head let out a roar of frustration, likely caused by whatever seemed to be annoying it inside the building it was occupied with. Needing no more incentive, she quickly moved in the opposite direction. As much as she wished to help whoever was there, from sight of the creature alone she could tell she would be useless.

“Your class is virtually useless against such a monster unless you have proper ritual ingredients and a focus. However, your [Demonic Mana Manipulation] may still be used without these.”

Lucifer seemed oddly informative for a literal demon from hell, maybe he actually did want her to survive.

“Of course I do, there is no need for me to lie to a weakling like you. I’d also suggest you equip one of your titles, just concentrate on it, and familiarize yourself with [Demonic Mana Manipulation] so as to not get yourself killed immediately.”

Quickly after thinking about her titles, text again appeared in front of her eyes;

Equipped Title: None

Available Titles:

- [Magical Forerunner] 5% increased Mana Efficiency

- [First Among Equals] +1 All Stats

- [Spiritualist] Reduces Soul Damage by 10%

“While the title of [Magical Forerunner] is both rare and by far your strongest title, it is best you equip [First Among Equals] as the stats would help you the most in your situation.”

It only took a though for it to equip, and she could feel the change in her body from the title as a warm energy seemed to flow into her body. It only took her a moment to infer from her ability [Demonic Mana Manipulation] what this energy flowing inside her was. It seemed the higher her stats, the greater the amount of demonic mana in her blood.

“Your endurance will increase your body’s resistance, whether to wounds or poisons, and will also help you to heal. Your vitality however will allow you to carry more internal mana, in your case demonic energy in your blood. However, as a summoner you should be more focused on the mana outside you rather than inside.”

Following this energy from where it entered her body, she could sense a slightly colder energy flowing in the air around her. As her senses brushed over it, the energy began to change into something warmer and gather around her.

“As a caster class, you are able to manipulate the energy of the world, called mana, while physical classes would typically only be able to use their mana internally. However, your class has already specialized to now convert that mana to give it a demonic attribute, referred to as either demonic mana or demonic energy, a more… destructive form of your typical mana.”

How do I use it? she thought back to the demon.

“Your wisdom score reflects your manipulation over mana, the amount of mana you can control and its rate of recovery, while your intelligence will allow you to condense it to hold greater power. With your current high wisdom, you should be able to pull the mana in the air, converting it to demonic mana. From there, with your intelligence, you can condense it into a simple shape, such as a ball, and launch it at your target. Your intentions throughout the whole process are important in shaping the spell to do what you desire.”

So, I pull it together, condense it, and boom- magic. Sounds simple.

And surprisingly it was. Maybe it has something to do with having over 20 wisdom and intelligence, but I expected it to be harder. A small ball of smoky dark red energy formed in front of Sarah, similar in appearance to the smoke that billowed out earlier when the demon first appeared. She found however that it would not fly out at a thought, but instead required a brief throwing motion for it to launch outwards. However, after only travelling 20 meters it had decayed into nothing.

“As you progress, you will be able to launch spells at a thought. For now, your stats are too low and you require some motion to help control the mana when it has been condensed.”

What else can demonic mana do?

“Demonic mana is mostly combative. Mana can be converted to different elements, and to other forms of mana alike to your demonic kind such as holy mana. However, neither of these are a possibility for you now, as the only attribute you can now give your mana is the demonic kind.”

“At your level, you could manipulate the demonic energy in your blood to increase your strength temporarily or use outside mana cast basic spells like you have done. Your [Ritual Magic] being at level 10 would also allow you to imbue an item with demonic power temporarily. I can guide you in this process as having such an item would help you greatly at this level.”

Her first ritual almost ended with her death, so she was hesitant in doing so again. I need some assurances, how do I know you’re not going to hurt me?

Another sigh rang out from the demon in her head, and she could feel his eyeroll once again.

“I can only leave your body when your soul has expanded. For now, your soul is tiny and located in your heart, but it will eventually grow and form a core at Level 25. As you progress, your core will grow, and at Level 50 evolve. Then it will condense at Level 75, and finally at Level 100 it will expand, and the energy of your soul will fill your whole body instead of just a small core. Here, I will then be able to leave you, so until then know that I have your interests at heart.”

Her instincts seemed to think the demon would not be lying to her, and so she decided to take his word for it. Following instructions, after a quick search she found a large kitchen knife lying in a house that had been broken open due to the tremors. She cut a small line on her forearm and concentrated to move the mana into the blood that now covered the knife. Concentrating on the notion of destruction, she converted that mana to the demonic attribute, and after a short moment the blade seemed to glow a dark red.

Ominous, but effective.

“With your Level 10 [Ritual Magic] this process is far easier than it would typically be, and the drain on your body is only minimal.”

With a glowing knife, a shiny new title, some definitively unscientific magic bolts, a strangely demonic case of multi-personality disorder, and smelling strongly of sheep’s blood, it was time to begin her hunt.