CH 57.2

“Command system.”

[Julia Vestra]

STATUS

▷PROGRESS

▷SKILL

▷ITEM

▷SETTING

As Julia murmured softly, a faint glow started to appear on her palm. In the menu window that had just popped up, a new notification was displayed in the ‘Skills and Settings’ command.

She first went into the skill window and picked up 3 unused skill points. There were two skills that she could learn as of now.

[▷ Resistance Steal Lv.1

Steals 50% of a specific target’s Magic Resistance that is designated by the player for a certain period of time. Consumes 70% of one’s remaining HP. SP 60]

[▷Physical Shield Lv.1

Protects the player’s body from physical shock for one time. Consumes 70% of one’s remaining HP. SP 60]

“70% of my HP consumption is just too much…”

Julia, who saw the number that was much bigger than she had thought, became somehow troubled, albeit briefly.

Originally, she had planned on increasing each skill by one level, but then, there was also the possibility that she would become unable to move immediately after using the skill. Considering the fact that she would usually use the skills in case of an emergency, it was quite the risk.

‘Each time the skill level increases, my stamina consumption will be reduced by 10%. If it’s 60% consumption then, it’s not like I can’t really afford it.’

However, she needed a total of 3 points in order to make it to skill level 2. It was due to the fact that level 1 required 1 point and level 2 demanded 2 points in return. In other words, she could only learn one skill altogether.

Julia remembered that the location of this episode was the ‘Mountain of Death’. That place was deeply related to magical powers. Besides, having the Resistance Steal at this point in time obviously meant one thing—it was an essential skill for this episode itself.

Nevertheless, Julia couldn’t just make a decision easily. How she had been troubling those around her all because she possessed no strength to defend herself so far eventually passed through her mind.

‘At that time, if only I could use the physical shield…… I’m not just going to increase the shield, but wouldn’t it be okay to learn both of them one by one instead?’

In the end, Julia increased both her Resistance Steal and Physical Shield one by one and let go of the remaining points yet again. A golden leaf softly floated in the air and landed right next to the skill tree.

“Setting.”

In fact, Julia did not expect much from the SETTING menu. She had entered it countless times, but there were only environmental settings or introductions to the company that had been common in existing games. And in truth, she was even blocked from reading that as well.

But this time, a different screen had opened.

[▷SYSTEM

Switching to administrator mode. Some functions may be restricted depending on the administrator’s privileges.]

[▷ERROR

ERROR?? ERROR?? ERROR??]

“Uht!”

The error window flickered and her eyes instantly flashed red. As she tried to adapt to the light, she could barely open her eyes to check the screen. Most of them had been grayed out, but some of the menus were still accessible.

[HIDDEN STATUS]

CHARM

▷FAME

▷DEVILISM

▷STRESS

Next to the hidden status, there was a rather small question mark that could convey its explanation. Julia eventually decided on choosing it.

[▷SYSTEM

This STATUS is a section where players are not allowed to be involved as it increases or decreases arbitrarily according to the play process. It is an important factor that affects the ending.]

Even if she had been aware of this, it still meant that there was nothing that the player could actually do. Nonetheless, Julia selected the status individually with the feeling that she just had to make ends meet for now. Eventually, four windows appeared in succession.

[▷CHARM : 420]

[▷FAME : 110]

[▷DEVILISM : 80]

[▷STRESS : 780]

She tilted her head once again. She didn’t have a strategy book and she never knew the initial numbers, so there was no way for her to evaluate it in the current situation. The only thing that she could tell was the stress level, which had been rather high, and that devilism value that existed in the stats.

‘What is devilism anyway? Does that mean I’m already addicted to magic? I was being careful about the food though, but……’

Still, she thought that she might have accidentally eaten some after all. Fortunately, the number was still low. Julia then closed all of the windows and eventually moved on.

[HIDDEN STORY]

▷EPISODE

▷QUEST

▷CHARACTER

▷ERROR

Regrettably, all of them were utterly disabled. Nevertheless, from the outside of it, she thought that it might have been some kind of album instead.

Julia soon exited the screen once again. She must have stayed in the system for a longer time than one had expected since the sunset sky was completely dark now. Tomorrow, Paimon would be leading her here and there as well, so she had to go to bed early in order to keep up with the child’s stamina.

She then changed into her negligee and lay down on the bed. However, as she had always been falling asleep lying next to Bael all the time and since she would also be sleeping alone for the first time in a while, her side felt rather empty in return.

‘I guess this is the reason why habits are simply terrifying.’

She didn’t really mind being alone all this time, but as she had been with someone for a few months, she could already feel quite lonely even then.

Julia smiled bitterly before she soon closed her eyes. The curtains of the day at her own voyage destination had finally come to a fall.

* * *

Right in the middle of the desert where darkness had already fallen, a man suddenly stumbled while holding his waist before he soon took a seat down with his back against a rock. A thick bloody smell wafted in between his own breaths. It was a tempting smell that could seduce many monsters.

“Ku-ugh, it really hurts so bad.”

Legion swallowed his groan that was leaking out as he took off his blood-clotted shirt. He succeeded in knocking down the Tree of Death, but he had to give away his body in return. And amongst them, his side was in the most severe condition.

The black magic had gnawed deep into his wounds. He wanted to wash it off as he took a closer look at his condition, but the Western Part of the Demon World was originally a desert area, so it had been rather difficult to find water itself.

He had no other choice but to cease using mana in order to stop the magical power from eating away at his body. Then, he wrapped the torn shirt all over it just like a bandage. The blood that seeped from his wound had soaked the rock which he sat on. If Legion had been a normal human being, he would have already died earlier.

“Yes, I had been absolutely careless. I never thought that it’d actually be this hard