“That... was not supposed to happen.”

The cool violet flames continued flickering on my hand and up my arm for a few seconds before finally fading away. I looked over at the wide-eyed Arswen.

“So... does that journal of yours mention anything about this?”

He shook his head. “No. All pages concerning the demon Father summoned were ripped out.” Then, in a mumble, “That’s a large part of the reason why I was so interested in the circle.”

Ha, now he admits it.

I leered. He glared.

“Why don’t you ask those screens of yours what they are?” Arswen snapped.

“Oh, good idea.”

Remembering what it had referred to itself as, I thought out, Oi, System, what’s the deal with the flames? Like, they’re pretty, but what the hell are they?

Demon Flames

Magical flames exclusive to High Demons. Every High Demon's flames are a unique colour. Can substitute MP. Inexhaustible. Tied to one's life force.

First thought: Thank you.

Second thought: Wait, there’s something wrong with that description.

Third: ‘Magical flames exclusive to High Demons’, ‘exclusive to High Demons’, ‘exclusive to High Demons’…

[Status]

Name: Joan Wang

Level: 1

Age: 16

Race: Human [Details]

Afflictions: None [Details]

Occupation: None

HP: 50/50

MP: 100/100

[Attributes & Titles]

[Background]

[Skills]

Ooookay, first off, my level was a pathetic 1. Did that mean that experience points came purely from killing monsters? (If there were even monsters in this world. But Arswen had mentioned dungeon diving, so I was working under the assumption that this was your typical fantasy RPG world.) But then that would mean that Arswen, a tiny ten year old had been sent out to the field several times before, and that was just fucked up.

Or maybe the experience points started gathering from the moment we entered this world and came from doing, well, anything really. Well, I'd been in this world for less than an hour, so I guess I could figure the level thing out later.

Second, High Demon? What was the difference between High Demon and a normal one? Were there even normal demons? What even was a demon? I had so many questions.

But no, that wasn't what I should have been focusing on. What I should have been focusing on was:

Race: [Details]

[Details]

Pure human blood. Of East Asian descent.

So, yeah. That, combined with the 'exclusive to High Demons' thing, made no sense whatsoever.

"So," Arswen demanded, "what were they?"

"'Demon Flames: Magical flames exclusive to High Demons that appear when using-'"

"'Exclusive to High Demons?' What's a High Demon? I thought you said you were human!"

"I'd like to know what a High Demon is too! And I am human!"

"Liar!"

"It says right here on my status screen that I'm of 'pure human blood'!"

"Then why can you use this 'exclusive to High Demons' skill?!"

"That's what I'd like to know!" I threw my hands up in the air, dismissing the screens with a thought.

"Wen? Who are you talking to?" A voice from outside the door suddenly broke in.

"Crap!" Arswen hissed and lurched forward. "It's my brother! Hide, quickly!"

I stared at him and gestured around the room. The big, metallic smelling room devoid of anything save for a few candles, a book, and a whole lot of blood.

"Where?" I inquired. "Behind the candles? Under your dad's journal? Or shall I attempt to submerge myself in this oh-so-deep pool of blood?"

"Wen?" the voice asked again.

"No one, Ral! There's no one in here but me! I was just reading something out loud."

There was a moment of silence, during which Arswen crossed his fingers and muttered pleas to a higher power under his breath.

"...I'm coming in."

Higher powers were evidently not in the boy's favour today. The door opened even as he leapt up to block it, and a teenager with hair the same bright shade of red as Arswen looked down at where the boy had tripped and fallen. He did not look impressed. Then he looked up, spotted me, and looked even less impressed.

"Hi," I said, and waved. His eyes travelled to the circle behind me, to the open journal, and finally back on a guilty looking Arswen. I could practically see him putting the pieces of what had happened in this room together in his mind.

"Arswen," he said finally, "we need to have a talk."

He gave me a curt nod-

"Please excuse us."

-and dragged an unresisting Arswen out of the room, shutting the door behind them.

"Yeah, okay," I said to the closed door. "Take your time. I'll just be sitting here... in this room... with only a few candles for light... and an overactive imagination..."

I lit myself on fire. It didn't help.

The flickering light of the Demon Flames only made the dark seem more likely to jump out at me and gave everything an eerie purple hue. So I concentrated on them, imagining the light condensing into a single solid white ball.

Skill proficiency reached. [Light Orb] has reached Level 1.

Nice.

I let the orb float out of my cupped hands and nudged it up towards the ceiling, where it came to rest on the wood, bouncing slightly.

Time to check out my skills list.

[Status]

Name: Joan Wang

Level: 1

Age: 16

Race: Human [Details]

Afflictions: None [Details]

Occupation: None

HP: 50/50

MP: 100/100

[Attributes & Titles]

[Background]

[Skills]

Nothing had changed since the first time I brought it up, which meant that Demon Flames actually were used when MP usually would be.

I called the ball back into my open hand, and let it float there for a moment.

[Skills]

[Deal] Level 1

[Light Orb] Level 1

Two skills. Two. Deux. Zwei. Duo. Два. 두. 二つ. 兩個.

I sighed. Well, I supposed it made sense. If my 'experience points' - or whatever was used to determine my level - from my original world didn't carry over into this one, of course any skills wouldn't either.

Oh well. Might as well check out the description of Light Orb. I chucked the one floating in my hand across the room and pulled up [Light Orb].

[Light Orb] Level 1

A ball made of light.

No really? Why, I could have sworn it was made of something else!

Has no offensive or defensive abilities. Illuminates up to 2m in every direction. You can maintain up to 1 Light Orb(s) at a time.

Level 2: A ball made of light. Has no offensive or defensive abilities. Illuminates up to 2m in every direction. You can maintain up to 2 Light Orb(s) at a time.

I tried to summon another Light Orb, and as it formed in my hand, the one I had thrown across the room faded away. I summoned another in my right hand, and the same thing happened to the one in my left.

Glancing towards the shut door, I decided I still had plenty of time before the brothers finished their 'talk', and went back to experimenting with the Light Orb.

I imagined tendrils of pure white light stretching out, and twisting together to create a four strand braid of light. Then I made another braid and tied the two together in a reef knot.

Skill proficiency reached. [Light Manipulation] has reached Level 1.

Very nice. I let the knot undo itself and melt back into a ball of light.

I wondered what other shapes it could take, and whether I could make it solid.

I stretched it out until it looked like a giant toothpick and compressed it until it was the size of one. The light it gave off was still as strong as its untoothpicked form. I threw it at the opposite wall.

It lost its toothpick shape as it flew and by the time it reached the other side of the room, it was back to being a perfectly round ball of light.

"Oh, boo."

Maybe if I created it from scratch its shape would stay? I gathered a bunch of Demon Flames and did the same thing I had to the Light Orb. I focused on the image of a toothpick as it grew smaller and smaller.

There was flash of light. A wooden toothpick fell from midair and clattered onto the floor.

Skill proficiency reached. [Conjure] has reached Level 1.

"Eh."

Imagine how the Cleimeph brothers must have felt when they came back.

Me, lying on the cold stone floor, making an toothpick angel in the toothpicks that blanketed the floor.

"Hi," I greeted, snapping my fingers.

Another toothpick appeared in mid-air and bounced off my arm.