Chapter 162: Imp Inspection

"Ahem. Now that everyone is present," Gates said as he rubbed the fresh passion mark on his neck, "we can sort out parties for tonight."

The evening had already fallen, and with it a still silence. This was the Lull Forest, a place where sound and time seemed to halt after dark. In the distance, all around them were ethereal lights. To the unlearned, one would believe them to be spirits or wisps but all present knew the real source. Fulger Stag Grimlock, large deer-like monsters that had the ability to channel lightning through their antlers. The lights in the distance were the territorial creature's way of signaling their location to other Grimlock. It was also a beacon for any adventurer skilled or foolish enough to engage.

After a few minutes of chatting, the parties were set. Two groups of four -- Agni, Shula, Sypha and Merri. The other group was composed of Gates, Ariadna, Katrin and Gigi.

"The plan is simple. We've done this quite a few times this week and tonight will be no different. A red shard, under normal conditions shouldn't be too much for us gathered here to handle. The enemies are stronger, and they may activate unexpected abilities -- but I assure you everyone here is up to the task."

Agni realized the speech was meant more for Ariadna and Merri than everyone else. After all, she couldn't imagine anyone who survived their last ordeal being intimidated by Fulger Stag. To Agni this seemed like child's play.

*No black tentacles of death. No stubby golems trying to take out our knees. This should be a breeze.* She thought inwardly.

"Take a moment to assign roles within your party, then let's get a move on." Gates said. His eyes met Agni's for the briefest of moments, causing him to blush and turn away.

She sighed.

"I didn't mean to.." Agni whispered as she pressed the tips of her pointer fingers together. All things considered, she didn't really feel bad about the awkward misunderstanding. In the end it took Gigi to pull her away, but not before the damage was done. There was a huge passion mark on Gates' neck, one that would be difficult to hide under just about any circumstance. Not that he could even conceal it--most everyone knew something happened.

"He'll get over it. No worries." Sypha said with a smile.

Agni studied his face for a moment, realizing that he'd probably seen the same sight as Gates.

*I guess only one of them is shy.* She thought.

"Forcing yourself on others is a crime. Delinquent. Defective demon." Shula taunted as she bumped into Agni-- hard.

"Hey. Watch it, chibi." Agni said as she folded her arms.

"Try not to get in my way out there. I can't be held responsible if you step into another--" Shula snapped her fingers and mimicked firing a pistol, "sleep mine."

"Hey! I have questions." Agni said as she proceeded to power walk towards Shula. In response Shula hid behind the nearest person and responded in a loud, clear voice.

"Ah! Scary, she's going to mark me. Help, Gates help! Oh-- wait, she got you too." Gates' face went blank as he momentarily recalled the sight of Agni furiously fingering her pussy. Gigi smirked as the same blank expression flashed across his face.

This caused Agni to stop in her tracks and clench her fist.

"You always say too much, you know that?" She said as she ran towards the imp.

"Doze! Doze!" Shula shouted as she flicked her fingers outwards. Small sparkles floated forth from her fingertips and wafted towards Agni's face. Almost immediately the Succubus began to get drowsy. Just moments later, the sleep induced stupor was shaken off.

"Tsk." Shula said loudly upon seeing that her sleep technique had no effect. She attempted to run -- but it was no use. Agni clenched her in a headlock and began to thump her on the forehead.

"This is what you asked for. Whose face were you stepping on earlier? Huh?"

The two tussled for quite some time whilst the other members of their party looked on, thoroughly entertained by the exchange.

"Ok! Ok! I'll stop!" Shula shouted as she rubbed her forehead. There was a bright red mark in the center.

"Dominance asserted. Bwa ha ha!" Agni said as she put her hand on her hips and mimicked Shula's trademark tyrannical laugh.

"I know where you sleep too." Shula muttered, almost too inaudible for anyone to hear, all as she rubbed her stinging forehead.

Minutes later the groups were huddled together discussing various things.

"Sleep Daemon. I've never heard of that class before Shula. Could you tell me a bit about it? That way I can best determine the roles for our party." Sypha said. He'd been appointed the party leader by Gates, under the notion that he had almost the same amount of practical experience.

"Mmmm. It's a Specialist class that focuses on inflicting and manipulating status ailments." Shula said as she folded her arms.

"Really? That sounds pretty interesting." Merri added.

"I see. Can you give me a better idea of your skillset?" Sypha then asked.

"I can conceal my presence and inflict sleep ailment. The effectiveness is based on different factors. I recently got a new skill called 'Sleep Mine' that allows me to concentrate sleep element mana in a fixed place. Once I guide the mass and position it, I can no longer move it. I can also use my ability to cloak on my Sleep Mine ability -- making them invisible."

Agni cut her eyes and folded her arms as she stared at Shula.

*How come you're so compliant to him!? I asked you like seven times!* Agni transmitted via their mental link.

To this Shula simply gave a shrug. In response Agni thumped her forehead yet again.

"Stop it! You're going to make me as dumb as you!" Shula grumbled, she clutched her forehead as it began to throb in pain once more.

"Crybaby." Agni muttered.

"Ha ha." Sypha could only chuckle to himself, after all he had no idea of the mental exchange between the two.

"So Shula.. Your abilities can be used in a flexible way. What range would you say you're best suited to when it comes to combat?"

"I suppose that's part of the problem. My Sleep Daemon abilities have a limited range. But I can also use fire magic, so it's not a problem."

"I see. In that case, I think you should act as a secondary striker along with Agni." Sypha said as he rubbed his chin.

"My skills lend towards support and healing. Merri, you can focus on defending the strikers and interrupting the enemy with your abilities. And you two can deal with the enemies however you see fit. How does that sound?"

"No problems here." Agni replied, almost instantly. Shula nodded in agreement leaving just Merri's response.

"You're asking me? I'm.. I'm fine with anything. I mean, yes!" Merri nearly stuttered as she responded to Sypha's question. After hearing more about Merri's past, Agni finally felt she understood more about why Merri seemed socially awkward at times.

*It's almost like she expects to be an outsider in every situation.* At least this was Agni's observation.

A few moments later they were done discussing roles and moved onto gear check.

"So what else aren't you telling me missy?" Agni asked as she stood next to Shula and cast an inquisitive gaze.

"Mmm. Should I tell you? Hmmmmm." Shula teased as she inspected Agni for any signs of annoyance.

"Well, you can find out for yourself. You *can* see my status you know. I am your familiar."

"What? Really?" Agni asked as she opened her own status menu with a wave of her hand.

"Yep. Right there." Shula said as she pointed at a fixed point in the air. Coincidentally, it was a part of Agni's status screen that she'd somehow overlooked.

"Familiar Tab. Wait.. how can you see my status screen?" Agni asked as she cocked her head to the side slightly.

"I've always been able to see it. I was inside your head, remember. Though I doubt that's the reason. I'm pretty sure it's connected to being your thrall." Shula remarked.

"I'm wounded. I would never consider you a thrall. A minion--maybe." Agni responded, even as she opened the status window to take a peek.

*It's been a while since I even looked at my own stats, honestly..* Agni thought to herself as she glanced at the screen.

[Agni Heartfyre]

[Age : 18]

[Class : Succubus Lvl : 34]

[Adv. Tier : 0 ]

[Health : 428/428]

[Mana : 603/603]

[Carnal Meter : 3 / 100]

At this point Agni paused. She vaguely remembered the second number of her Carnal Meter being unreadable.

"So now there's a maximum? I wonder what that means."

[Strength : 51 (76)]

[Agility : 75 (112)]

[Speed : 38

[Soul : 76 ]

[Charm : 151]

**Growth**

HP - 8

MP - 13

Str - 2

Agl - 2

Spd - 1

Soul - 2

*Special* - 4

**General Skills / Abilities**

[Mana Well (Passive) +30% Mana, scales with level.]

[Mana Spring (Passive) +50% Mana Regeneration speed.]

[Element Manipulation (Active) {71%} - Use mana to directly manipulate the properties of ambient magic particles and create elemental constructs.]

[Toughness - (Passive) {9%} +5% Natural Damage Reduction to Physical Attacks.]

[Resistance - (Passive) {2%} +5 Natural Damage Reduction to Magical Attacks. ]

[Whip Mastery - (Passive) {6%} Gain the ability to use and master whip-like weapons, with practice. ]

"My element manipulation mastery went up by quite a bit. Everything else is pretty minimal.." Agni remarked, upon seeing

**Class Skills / Abilities**

[ Demonic Heritage (1) - Abnormal strength bestowed by your demonic bloodline. +50% to base strength and agility.]

[Succulust -(Passive) {36%} +5% Strength, Agility and Speed when activated. When the Carnal meter is full, +15 additional percent to Strength,Agility and Speed. ]

[Succubus Vision - (Passive) {27%} - Use carnal energy to activate a special type of sight which reveals sensitive or erogenous zones on the body. Heightens your senses, allowing you to react more quickly. You can also toggle erogenous vision off and on at will. ]

[Whisper - (Active) {58%} By speaking to someone you can compel them to take action. May not work based on distance and willpower of the target. Range : Intimate/1 Meter]

[Iron Fangs, Iron Claws - (Passive) {29%} Allows the user's nails and teeth to become as hard as most metals at a whim. ]

[Extend - (Passive) {13%} The ability to use mana to cause your fingers or tail to extend. The greater your mastery the longer you can maintain the extension, as well as greater lengths.]

[Fusion - (Passive) {0%} Join with your familiar. The effectiveness and duration is largely determined by the mastery of the ability.]

[Potential : 0 / 50]

[Current Exp: 232 / 1,000]

[Level Points - 26]

[ Primary Modifier : Carnality - 300%]

[ Secondary Modifier: Mysticism - 200%]

"So Fusion unlocked as a passive ability. I wonder why it's still at zero percent mastery? We practiced that with Vivian didn't we? It should have gone up." Agni said, her brow furrowing as she inspected the new ability.

"Who knows. Maybe we should use it more." Shula said as she hovered over, taking up position just over Agni's shoulder.

"Anyway….check out mine. Or don't..whatever…" Shula said as she endeavored to play it cool. Agni smirked, the sense of anticipation behind Shula's demeanor was pretty obvious.

"Okay. Let's have a look then." Agni said with a smile as she began to read aloud.

[Shula Heartfyre]

[Age : 18]

"You're like my kid. You have my last name and everything. Oh! You really are an adult. I had my doubts-" Agni was silenced by a sharp twist of her ear.

"Oww! Oww it's ripping off!"

"Abusive familiar. I'm going to pawn you if you keep this up." Agni muttered. Agni rubbed her ear tenderly before continuing.

[Class : Sleep Daemon Lvl : 23]

[Adv. Tier : 0 ]

[Health : 0.8x ]

[Mana : 2.0 x]

[Strength : 1.0x ]

[Agility : 1.0x ]

[Speed : 1.25x ]

[Soul : 1.5x ]

[ Sovereignty : 1.0x ]

"What do these numbers mean? Shula?" Agni asked in reference to the numbers next to Shula's stats.

"Your guess is as good as mine. These numbers don't show up on my status screen. Unless…" Shula took a moment to open her own status screen and take a look.

"Ah. I see now. These are modifiers." Shula said as she pointed towards the decimal values on Agni's display.

"See, here?" Shula asked as she pointed towards the health value.

"My maximum health is 80% of your health stat. For me, I can see the numerical value, 342 instead. I never noticed it before, it makes sense why I don't get level points now." Shula remarked.

"So your stats are dependent upon mine and based on the modifiers listed here. I guess that also explains why you don't have a stat growth chart. I wonder if this is something exclusive to familiars?"

The two shrugged in unison as they continued viewing the information on Shula's status screen.

**General Skills / Abilities**

[Well Spring (Passive) +50% faster Health regeneration.]

[Flame Mastery (Passive) {2%} Use mana to directly manipulate the properties of ambient flame energy and magic particles to create elemental constructs and advanced spells.]

[Spell Boost (Passive) {11%} Use extra mana to strengthen the effect of your spells.]

[Affliction Boost (Passive) {7%} Increases the likelihood that you can inflict status ailments on your target.]

**Class Skills / Abilities**

[ Demonic Heritage (1) - Abnormal strength bestowed by your demonic bloodline. +50% to base strength and agility.]

[Flame Dominion (Inactive) {2%} - The ability to control flame mana as an extension of yourself.]

[Shared Bond (1) - Gain a portion of your bond's accumulated experience and in return you share a portion of your own accumulated experience. (5%).]

[Night Stalker (Active) - Turn invisible at will. The skill lasts as long as you can hold your breath. Physical movement makes you more noticeable.]

[Dream Dust (Active) - Create 'sleep dust' which can be used to deepen the sleep of any sleeping target. Infusing this skill with intent allows the user to guide the dreams of the target as well.]

[Sleep Mine (Active) - Create a mass of sleep inducing mana that can be positioned for up to ten seconds after creation. The lifespan of the mass is determined by the amount of mana condensed into the construct. Can be used with the Night Stalker skill to camouflage the mass.]

"Why do you have so many more active skills than I do?" Agni said with a frown.

[Fusion - (Active) {2%} Join with your bond. The effectiveness and duration is largely determined by the shared mastery of the ability.]

"Huh!? Why is your fusion ability higher than mine? That's garbage! We've used the skill in the same amounts! Plus I'm the responsible one!" Agni protested.

"Obviously because I'm superior to you in every way." Shula said , accompanied by a smirk.

"Pfft. The only thing you beat me in is height-- Ow ow ow. I'm sorry! No, noo please! It's really coming off this time!"

[Potential : 4 / 50]

[Current Exp: 317 / 1,000]

[Level Points - N/A]

[Primary Modifier : Afflicter - 375%]

[Secondary Modifier: Groper - 125%]

"Ha. Ha ha. Ah-- now it makes sense." Agni could barely contain her laughter as she read the final line of Shula's status screen.

"Really? What's so funny about being a groper?" Shula asked as she flexed her fingers in a highly suggestive way.

"Because everytime you're asleep you practically latch yourself to my chest. And Katrin's chest. And..well..any chest." Agni said as she recalled the numerous instances of Shula's groping incidents.

"It's almost like my tail." Agni said, causing her to pause for a moment.

"Wait a minute. Shula! Was that you!?" Agni asked. Shula turned and floated towards the other party members.

"What a shame, it's time to go." She replied as she floated away.

"It WAS you! All this time you let me think it was ME!" Agni said as she moved to catch up with her familiar.

"You can't really prove it." Shula said with a devilish smile as she joined the rest of the party so that they could embark upon their exploration of the red shard.