The Witch Tamer, Book 1
Page 48
Ring; Charm skill+1
Umbrella (Damage absorption shield enchant on activation)
Endless Water canteen
Endless Beef Stew
Pack frame (+5% carrying volume, -20 to weight enchant)
Supply bag; 1 red health potion, 2 med gels, 3 pain creams (borrowed from the house)
Bank account; $2,561
'foreign dungeon currency'; 194
Unused stat points; 0
I checked the others. My power and team are growing. This is amazing. Also, who knew there were so many powerful skills.
Name; Simone Mansfield
Race; Human
Magic job; Villager
Level; 7 → 8
Health; 69/71 → 77/79
Mana; 3/3 → 4/4
Mana Regen; 1
Health regen; 2 (per day)
Element affinities; NA
Str; 24 → 25Agi; 41 → 42Con; 47 → 48
Int; 54 Wis; 44App; 94
Skills; athletics, jogging, defend 0 → +2, block, parry, evade 0 → +1, Search, spear proficiency(new!)
Gear list;
Bikini top
Levis pants
Sneakers
Baseball bat 0 → +1 (enchanted during the day)
Buckler +2 → +3
Spear
But I'd missed something before, which the others restated.
A villager gaining a level in a dungeon will get a bonus mana point. A villager gaining a level outside the dungeon will not. So this maybe is why people are desperate to find dungeon groups.
When looking at Melanie's stats I'm trying to figure out how best to use her. Her level ups are different from the others, due to some mutation like scenario in play. She might not ever be a normal dungeon team member, though her skill is so useful.
Name; Melanie Williams
Race; Type 349F human hybrid
Magic job; Amplifier
Level; 12
Health; 124/124
Mana; 146/146
Mana Regen; 5 (per hour)
Health regen; 3 (per day)
Element affinities; Mutation Buffer
Str; 17Agi; 26Con; 43
Int; 63 Wis; 61App; 95
Skills; athletics, mana affinity (enabled), defend-4, evade, block, parry
Magic skills; Amplify +1, Mana Sensing
Gear list;
Sleeveless tank top
Shorts
Sneakers
Baseball bat
Spear
Combat boots, armor; 5
Eh? When did her Amplify skill go up?
Not that I object.
When I tested it, its doing a bit more than before on me but not by much. We 're-applied' the buff through wife intimacy methods.
When I looked at my status screen, her buff shows +18% now! (But only +13% on the others.)
So is it going up by +3 every time it gets a new '+'?! That's a lot!
Nothing unusual happened tonight.
But darklings were hunting after dark. I think they only didn't find us because they were fighting zombies so much.
And they clashed for territory, ironically, making our safe sleep...this time. It might not always go so well.
Chapter 32
I woke up early.
Everything feels good. The covers of the bed are warm, and I still feel pretty drowsy with sleepiness. I have my sleeping bag zipped together with Melanie and Simone's with the 3 of us in the same sleeping bag.
Huh? What's that sound?
It was the sound that had woke me. Carefully I took a peek while not making any noise.
I felt a nudge.
Melanie is making a shushing motion while waking me. She points to nearby. She'd gotten up slightly before I did. And her bright clear eyes are telling me she's worried more than any need to say it aloud. It figures that she'd be awake. Under the covers she nudges me to the side, and pokes me while indicating a direction.
I glanced up just long enough to see Mandy whispering into an enchanted cell phone. Because of my mana sensing skill and my enchant element, I can discern this.
Enchanted cell phones that can work in dungeons aren't unusual. A lot of people have them, because non-mages often can't use mage message spell programs. But they are kind of expensive. This is the second time we'd caught her calling someone behind our back. But that's one version. Another is a status screen plug in, for those with more magic ability and affinity.
An enchanted cell phone huh? Wonder who paid for that?
It wouldn't be cheap. Its a nice item.
But actually she does have the right to have other friends. Any of my team has that right. I have to remind myself that as a mind control specialist its too easy to dominate my companions.
I have to treat them like normal people.
Yet, its suspicious that Mandy's deliberately making huge efforts to hide it so well. A sneaky phone call in the dark.
But what if I'm false accusing her, if I say something about it?
It could be something...or it might not?
I will wait on this, but still remember it. With more time, truth will reveal itself.
Melanie didn't make a sound and went back to pretending to be asleep. So did I.
Only a few seconds later Mandy went back to bed, after shutting the folding cell phone. These folding cell phones are cheaper models,...often for burner phones. That could be a possibility of more mischief for a budget operation.
What does Mandy really want then?
For now I have to be careful and go slow. Confronting her won't work.
Before shutting my eyes, I glanced at my wrist watch; its around 4:30 AM.
If you see a normal guy on the street with a wrist watch, it might just be a real murim player in the dungeons. This is because in the era of cell phones nobody else uses wrist watches. But for murim people its one of the few electronic devices that works in dungeons without problems and without needing special enchants.
...
Around 5:30 AM
I had marital intimacy with Melanie.
Then I cleaned up and did morning routine.
And 7:20 AM also marital intimacy with Simone. I think Melanie was watching with an eye open while pretending to sleep. I caught it because she started moving her hand around her hips frequently doing something.
This is so cool.
This life...
The life in a demon lord clan.
But its also a trap.
And a lie, because I have to break away from the clan at some point to avoid the 'villain route'. I want to avoid the villain route at all costs, but I'm sort of trapped. The villain route, has some problems with it for what I would end up with for my eternal warfare and after this life also.
This is why it always bothers me.
But its not so simple to break free of my family right away.
How many years will it take to get ready to go into hiding I wonder?
I have to be careful to not let it get to my head now that I've got more than one woman. This life style is also so seductive to have this much power. This wouldn't probably be possible without some unique situation like being a part of the demon lord's clan however.
I'm a bit thankful for it even though I'm rejecting being evil. Evil can't really win in the end. Only good does, though it sometimes looks scary for awhile. And that doesn't mean there aren't time periods of turbulence.
So this is why I have to also plan an escape from the demon lord clan also.
But a part of me aches inside, because I know at some point I'll either become a pariah by my family or get hunted and killed.
Oh shit...I just realized I need to talk to Miguel to make sure he doesn't mention my name to his family! If he does, they'll find out who I am!
Freak...
...
7:42 AM
I got dressed and nudged Miguel, who was asleep. (Mandy had been on morning guard since around 4 AM to 7 AM. We'd also taken turns with me taking the first watch. Shelly had t
aken the watch from 2 AM to 4 AM. But Mandy had also taken an hour longer than normal. Plus, Miguel started guard duty at 6 AM, but fell asleep.)
Miguel...I felt like I wanted to yell at him for screwing up. But being wounded recently can make people weak without them wanting to.
The others will be more mad at him than I will. And hopefully that will help him learn his lesson. I hope he understands doing that can get a whole team killed.
Mandy should have been more careful on the shift change, when it was time for her to hand it over to Miguel. But that might not have been his fault, I guess. Or he could have just screwed up, with her having handed off the shift change right.
"Yeah, what is it bro?" Miguel asked sleepy eyed.
He then realized he screwed up.
"So you know what you did wrong?"
"Yes, boss. Sorry."
"You fell asleep on watch. Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?" I asked.
"Shit. I'm so sorry. I don't know why I did that," he apologized over and over several times.
"..."
"Please don't hold it against me or kick me out bro. Also please teach me how to score with women, please, please, please!" he pleaded when I didn't respond right away (by intent for intimidation).
"Well...there's one thing you could do for me to make it good. But...nah, you probably can't do it," I mused.
"Wait! I can do it! Please! Let me make it good," he sounds energetic.
"I need you to keep our names, especially mine secret from your guild and family clan," I said.
His face fell.
Looks like he'd been really excited to tell them he'd found help and who we were.
"But bro...seriously! We need the morale bonus!" he pleaded again.
I had to pull him aside to not wake the others.
Too late. They are getting up and getting dressed.
I managed to make him promise me with very little threats. In fact, I didn't threaten him but told him we had a good reason for it and that it could wreck any future together with him, which is true.
"Fine. I won't tell. But someday you'll have to explain it to me," he said.
"I will. But it can't be for quite a while. But I can promise you I won't harm you or intend harm for now," I warned.
He flinched.
Miguel is ironically good for his word, despite a few weaknesses. He's a pretty decent guy, so we got lucky.
...
But today also I need to figure out what Mandy is up to, I thought while watching them make breakfast.
But she seems so nice. She's smiling at me really big during breakfast, almost more than Melanie.
Maybe it was a mistake? Am I overreacting?
Our food technically will be stretched a lot today. We'll have enough food to get through today but after that our last meal will be breakfast tomorrow.
So the goal of getting a 'forage' skill user, is extremely important today. We'll really have to be careful about hunting for XP.
"Everyone, let's work hard for XP today. We need to level up. Today has to count," I said.
Everyone agreed. Some took it as cheers, hefting tin cups of water up in response.
Eh?
While eating a spartan breakfast I had an idea.
I used my enchant skills for the enhancement skill's effect. Success! I ended up with an enhanced beef stew can to +2.
I hadn't thought that I could enhance or enchant canned food. And I wondered, what will happen if I do?
Because I'd failed it twice it cost me (-40 mana).
That's sort of worth it still.
But on the flip side, I'm excited when my idea came through!
Amazing! The volume of the can inside contents has gone up by +10% from the +2 enchant enhancement, according to the blue screen's skill description box!
The enchant element really is fun to use.
Strange, it doesn't look like its changed from the outside. But when you look inside or pour the contents out they are bigger. It also uses a magic seal to open and close the can, that costs -1 mana to open up. When shut it looks like a soup can straight out of the store, bought only minutes before!
So container enchants eventually if they kept up upgrading the enhancements would be like full on, time space slots probably.
So does this mean if I got to +4, it would then be at +20% volume? Or would that be at +3? And in theory, couldn't I have a chance to make another can if I can find the right ingredients?
More cans would be good, if I end up with a big team. And it will also bring up our comfort and lifestyle to have more food options, when combining this with hunting, fishing, and forage skills.
I did have 2 flashlights...although one wasn't finished yet. Or started.
...
Sponge bath around 8 AM, with help from Melanie and Simone, while the others are in the other room. After that I got dressed.
EH?!
Then I began spell crafting again, and trying to upgrade my skills.
To do this you have to play with the code and symbols, like a computer language.
I was looking over the spell formula coding when I found a bug in it. I'd touched the screen to try to look closer at the bug. And then I played with it a bit.
In my mind, I'd been thinking, 'shouldn't the coding actually be...X' while I touched it! This had then fixed it.
But it was shocking to me when it gave me a new skill for it!
[Status notification; 'repair enchant' magic skill acquired! Bonus +1 mana and +1 wisdom.]
Whoa!
But then I was surprised when I'd accidentally corrected the coding! This was amazing! The enchant element can help me with spell coding also?
Does that mean then that I could later on get into writing custom spell programs, when I've learned more about spell coding?
It seems that the revelation to my mind about the effects and long term building of these principles caused me to have a natural stat gain internally! This pushed my max mana up by bonus stats of +2 bonus, and my mana regeneration by +1 additionally also.
It isn't unusual to get big bonuses like this when you gain skills. Its very worth it.
The others heard me getting excited and came over. A slew of excitement also occurred because the others care about being with a winning team that can survive hell.
"I knew it. I knew you were bad ass!" Melanie told me, hugging me and hopping up and down.
Simone and Shelly also gave me a hug, though Shelly was giving me the grin of someone who was being an ass, a fake scoffing grin like usual. (She still doesn't talk to me much. In other words, a real haughty piece of work.)
Mandy didn't say much either, but did high five me and congratulate me.
Miguel and Shelly have mixed looks of slight jealousy still. But with Miguel he's still friendly and looking at me like a master to learn from.
The others are anxious to move.
Using the repair enchant skill doesn't actually cost me hardly any mana to use it seems. But then I realized I was wrong. The repair enchant skill works almost like an electrical circuit.
So it won't use mana until I try to use the 'circuit' after working on the individual connections.
Thirty minutes passed. I got about a third of it done.
But the others are impatient.
"We need to work hard today, " Mandy told me.
...
By 9 AM we'd left this temporary shelter.
Only then did we realize how badly we'd risked death by sleeping at that particular shelter.
The monsters...
It appears they'd tried to sneak up on us in the night, but had then run into each other completely. And that turned into a brawl. They had skirmished and eaten each other down to the last man, at the end.
Then when the last guy was left, he was too injured to continue.
We finished off the last zombie. By then he had no arms left, and a bad leg, so it wasn't much of a fight.
The yard and street outside where
we'd sheltered was full of undead parts and loot.