[2.51] And How Does That Make You Feel? (Part 1/3)

Angelica let the DGS read the various descriptions to her, but also went ahead and pulled up her Skill Weave at the same time. It automatically followed along, dragging her view from one Skill card to another, kind of like listening to an audiobook while it highlighted the words. Not too much was gained from the act, but it was helping further distract from her frozen situation, and it was nice to see what each of the nodes connected to, since it wasn’t always obvious otherwise.

[Active Skill: Shaved Ice | Unlock: 3 GP | Shave away ice from any source, milling it into a fine powder. Cost: MP Drain. Speed and strength of shaving scale with Skill Level, Might, Creativity, and Glacial Attunement]

Starting off with the new Skill that was tethered to Flash Freeze, that felt, uhh, pretty worthless? At least for outside of her current immediate predicament—likely why the DGS was showcasing this particular Skill first. It was probably a magnificent power for Demons who lived in the frozen parts of Hell. And sure, if she visited some tundras or fought others using ice magic, then yeah, it could be helpful. But for everyday life, where the majority of the ice would come from her to begin with, and could be removed with Salvager, there wasn’t much point.

She’d be tempted for the sculpting potential if she hadn’t been getting really good at it with Manifest Ice already. And perhaps Salvager could do something similar if she trained with it. The chef, Parvello, would probably love it for making his special snowcones, but had likely never committed to Glacial Attunement enough to get it. So onward to Pestilence.

[Active Skill: Buzzing Spore | Unlock: 2 GP | With each beat of your wings, spread poison to the surrounding area in the form of spores. Each successive beat will contribute to the size of the spore cloud. Bonus potency is applied to poisons suited for external application. Cost: 4 MP/beat. Spore amount and potency scales with Skill Level, Pestilence Attunement, and Malice]

Hmm, that must have been the one that the DGS said she was trying to perform while in the poison maze, when she was attempting to clear the gas with her wings. Yes, it was pretty similar, but with spores instead. It could be good for an area attack of spreading poison, but she’d also just gotten Poison Breath, which she had yet to use, and sounded like it would mostly achieve the same results. Maybe there’d be a situation where spores worked but gas didn’t. Otherwise, she’d pretty much ruled it out for now.

[Active Skill: Delayed Release | Unlock: 2 GP | Poison Stacks afflicted via various Skills can have their release delayed, either set on a timer or held in perpetuity until manually triggered. If held, should the Stacks not be released before the Skill expires, then they will become benign]

[Cost: 5 MP to begin the hold or timer. Additional stacks applied during this period will not cost additional MP if added to the existing stack count. If they are added as their own stacks with separate timers, MP is consumed again. Current Max Duration: 3 Hours. Max Duration of Hold or Timer scales with Skill Level, Obstinance, and Pestilence Attunement]

Wait, now this was actually a really good one for her poison abilities. Potent Toxic especially would be greatly improved. If she could build the regular Toxic stacks up on a target and then release them right before Potent Toxic would hit, she wouldn’t have to worry about them being used up first. She could see it being used well in tandem with Irritant too, if she wanted to infect someone but keep it subtle, getting far away before activation. This one was definitely going on her list. It wasn’t an urgent one, but would possibly move up in priority if there was sudden need for it.

[Active Skill: Demotivate | Unlock: 3 GP | Sap a target's motivation by a fixed amount, making them less likely to achieve their current goals until after enough time has passed or rest has occured. Can be used repeatedly for more demotivation, but each cast will have diminishing returns until the status clears. Cost: 15 MP. Strength of Demotivation and Range scales with Skill Level, Malice, and Oppression Attunement]

Great… They’d moved onto the Oppression section, which annoyingly appeared to be where the bulk of the new Skills came from. She should have seen that coming, but had kind of blocked out that it was even an Attunement that she had. Demotivate was obviously of no interest to her. What good would that even serve a regular person or even a Demon? Maybe calming down an overly energetic puppy at the vet or something? That was about all that came to mind, for non-nefarious purposes at least.

Still… She’d honestly rather have it than Leech Happiness, and would trade it in if that were the option. Demotivate would have a similar effect without the vampiric draw that hyped her up on emotional drugs. It was quite likely that Leech Happiness was the more advanced version, and she’d jumped the line, like when she got Poison Chef before Poison Eater. So yeah, useless. And she had three more of these? Damn. Well better to get it over with.

[Active Skill: False Idol | Unlock: 20 GP | Mark a person or object with the status of False Idol, making it the object of obsession for all targets after successful enchantment. They will do their best to appease the whims of the idol according to your discretion. Targets may be selected specifically or the idol may attempt to enchant any within its range]

[Cost: Variable MP. The more MP used, the longer the False Idol status will last. Can be topped up for continued use. Chance of Enchantment and potency of Appeasement scales with Skill Level, Might, Malice, and Oppression Attunement. If the idol is of your own creation, potency will be increased. If the idol is yourself, potency will scale with current Worth. Additional Unlock Requirements: Symbiotic Oppression Attunement, Manipulative Malice, AND Evoke Lv.30]

Okay, so Leech Happiness was definitely an evil Skill. Demotivate was its less evil but still prickly younger brother. But False Idol was undoubtedly the worst she’d ever seen. It was supervillain level bad. Damn, why did a Skill like this exist? Were the Demons out there who really used it? Were there places in her world where it was currently being used? Was this the cause of the many bad versions of cults that she’d heard about throughout her life?

It was undoubtedly the Skill that the DGS had mentioned that would be of use in the Cult Trial. Sure, it would have helped her by making the Spawns basically her zealots. Definitely not the kind of help she would have expected. Scuffing hell. She kind of wished she didn’t know about it and could continue in her ignorance. Now she’d have to go about her life worrying that she’d suddenly get manipulated by a False Idol.

The one thing that gave her solace was the high purchase requirements. The Attunement level wasn’t the highest she’d seen, but Lv.30 in a Skill definitely was. She hadn’t seen Evoke yet. Maybe it was up next. But it honestly didn’t get her excited since it was undoubtedly Oppression too. Except, her view of her Skill Weave shifted over in the direction of Fraud Attunement, landing on a Skill node that laid between them. Oh damn, and it was actually something she needed!

[Active Skill: Conceal | Unlock: 7 GP | Hide an object or entity in plane sight, including yourself, making the eyes of unaware observers gloss right over. This Skill will be defunct by detection Skills of higher power. Concealment can be cancelled at any time, but unused MP will not be refunded. Cost: Variable MP. The more MP used, the longer the concealment effect will last. For self: MP Drain until deactivated. Strength of concealment and MP conversion scales with Skill Level, Obstinance, and Fraud Attunement]

Yes, that was exactly what she needed. It was a bit surprising to see it linked to Oppression, but making people unable to see things was oppressive in a way, she supposed. Assuming the MP cost wasn’t insanely high, she could hide away her Deterring Field and reduce the eyes on her from passing Demons and Summoners. Sadly, the damage had already been done to an extent, but hopefully by nobody with too nefarious intent, just those interested in her after the Malignant Geyser. It made her wonder if they’d be more suspicious when the field became invisible, but that was probably better than getting new eyes just from its existence.

Then there was of course the rest of the Skill’s usefulness. Most notably, she could hide her Summoning Circle. It wouldn’t solve the issue of it being tied to the apartment, but if she needed to leave for a while, or if strangers were shown in by her landlord to view the place, that’d be one less worry. Besides that, she didn’t have too much to hide personally, but could imagine how useful it was for most Demons and Summoners.

As for making herself invisible, that was definitely intriguing, but less of why she wanted it. She was already invisible to most humans unless she wanted to be a fashionable Demon. So it would only be super useful in Hell or to hide from Summoners. That made her wonder if Hell had a general rule about not using Conceal on oneself in public spaces, since it sounded like it could lead to a lot of problems. But yeah, unless something else amazing came up, this would definitely be her next top priority. Which she was pretty set on until she saw the Weave shift over in the direction of Fabrication.

[Hybrid Skill: Evoke | Unlock: 3 GP | Indwell a creation with an emotion. The emotion will be transferred to all those who witness it, evoking the feeling inside of them. Pre-existing and dormant emotions will be boosted further. At higher levels, multiple and more complex emotions may be indwelled. If the art is a new, original creation, the emotions will be indwelled at no cost]

[Active Cost: 20 MP if the creation is pre-existing but original. Variable MP if the creation originated from another depending on the intricacy of the piece and connection to its creator. Strength of Emotion scales with Skill Level, Creativity, Fabrication Attunement, Oppression Attunement, and witnesses' resistances]

Angelica could only sigh. Forcing someone to feel an emotion was wrong but… Damn it. I need it! She didn’t expect a new Skill to speak to her soul so quickly after Auto-Color. This one was definitely even more of a cheat too, relying less on her own Skills and more on the perception of others. She could definitely see why it was mixed with Oppression. Maybe it had its uses after all.

Part of her morals felt like they’d be shattered with this Skill, but what if she used it cautiously, leaning more into the aspect where it boosts already existing emotions? If those reading her comic or viewing her other works felt joy from it, maybe she could dial that up and make them have an even better day. Honestly, that’s all she really wanted from her art, to share it and for people to enjoy it. Yes, the Skill could definitely be used with good intentions.

The fame and monetization was a secondary aspect, but annoyingly necessary to keep growing the attention it got and for her to devote the time to make it. Ugh, it was conflicting, but also… it was cheap. Maybe not 1 GP cheap, but cheap enough that she currently had enough Growth Points exactly. For whatever reason, Fabrication Skills were on the cheaper side compared to most other Attunements despite the power they had in her opinion. Maybe it was because they were so unpopular, or maybe they weren’t as mystical.

Damn it… She should save for Conceal. She really knew that. But… she had a huge payday coming whenever she met up with Pathos from Zenmoon. And that would definitely give her enough to buy it then, so it’d just be another week or so, and that was assuming she couldn’t get it for free. Besides, she was on an art break from her Demon double-life. It made sense to lean into and improve her art as much as she could during the time, and it’d definitely be part of that. During which, she had absolutely no plans of leaving her apartment, so it wasn’t like anyone lurking around to spy on her would get any good intel, assuming there were any after she scared off the first one.

[You have spent 3 GP to unlock Hybrid Skill: Evoke Lv.1]

[Creativity increased]

[Fabrication Attunement increased]

Well, that was the motivation to finally break free from her icy stockade, her new purchase having ironically evoked a burning passion to try it out. Getting her hands free was a lot easier than her wings, which hurt quite a bit when she tugged. But she was then able to use her claws to chisel them out. Hopefully, the whole ordeal hadn’t done too much damage to the tub. Annoyingly, the drain was blocked, so even what had melted wasn’t going anywhere. But she still turned the hot water on to a trickle, to help the process, since that would go into the overflow drain.

Maybe once it was loose around the edges, she could pull the whole block out. Damn, her dismissal of Shaved Ice had already bit her in the ass, but spending 3 GP just to solve this ultimately miniscule problem would be a waste. Now with her prideful stint done, she could get back to work with a calmer head and test out Evoke properly. Hopefully, this new Skill wouldn’t lead her down the path to another Sin.