Chapter 44: Awkward Wait

Despite the four girls(+Tom) having reached the obvious conclusion that they were in a village of bandits… They didn’t do much. This of course led to Tom looking around nervously, feeling his shirt sticking to his back due to his cold sweat. He could see movement every now and again even if he was no Eel and he didn’t like what he saw. Quite clearly these ‘villagers’ hadn’t given up on their promising harvest but were gathering for one last ‘sneak’ attack…Meanwhile the four ‘produce’ were sitting on chairs at table with a game of cards being played among them. They didn’t have chips but rather ‘gems’ (shaped like an obelisk with points at either end) that glowed a strange but warming light that filled one with strength just by getting closer. These gems came in three sizes with the largest being the size of one's palm. The girls weren’t alone at their table as at the head was something ‘else’ that shuffled the deck in its hands. A shadowy figure - that seemed to be made out of  goo that seemed to link to a view of the stars & galaxies in space - was the dealer apparently. It’s upper body seemed human shaped enough but calling it human-like was incorrect since it had no features other than the white buttoned up shirt and black vest it wore. The lower half didn’t even try and just faded into the shadows bellow.  At the start of each round it gave each of the girls two cards while putting five face down in the centre. The rest of the deck was held between two human shaped hands however whenever it flipped over the first three cards (or one of the two afterwards), moved the ‘pot’ or recollected the cards it didn’t use these hands. Instead gooey black tentacles came out from its mouth to do the tasks - the mouth itself just an empty hole with gooey tendrils connecting it. The table and chairs matched the ‘dealer’ in appearance so quite clearly they were linked - the table itself was perfectly suited for this game of poker. Tom meanwhile was left speechless at the attitude of these girls who seemed to not be paying any attention to the going ons around them.“Huh, so this is something ya can do with magic?” <Fuka>Tilting her head to the side Emily took a second to consider her answer before speaking again.“Technically what mortals call magic and what immortals call magic is different. What we commonly see used is actually more similar to the branch of ‘summoning magic’ as a blessing from {The Infinite Mother} allows us to use her ‘mana’ to create a phenomenon by manipulating the probability of it occurring. Each god or being of equivalent status is able to do something similar but with their own unique powers. The being most similar to Mother though would be the one we’re going to - {God of Chaos - Chaos J Faust}. Most gods won’t do what Mother does and even Mother doesn’t provide the full blessing otherwise everyone would be able to do far more. In this aspect, Spirit Magic is actually the true representation of magic. It allows us to share and summon the powers of a superior being to aid us - this ‘magic’ was part of {Faux God of Fate & Chance - Munzumira Stratos} though apparently her spirit’s ‘Faux Gods’ go by another name with the ones we commonly see being just the tip of the iceberg… Elder Itch god or something like that? They mostly seem to sleep though so succubus often get to see them so we know about them. We’d have to go there {Spirit Realm} to see them but it’s apparently one of the hardest realms to get into for flesh and blood beings apparently. I’m not sure as my mom only told me a bit about it sorry…” <Emily>“Wow… Well I feel like I wasn’ supposed ta know that.” <Fuka>“Fufufu~ the things I learnt from my Bloodleaf bloodline could get me kicked out this realm~!” <Eel>“I’m only allowed to say since Succubus’ have strong ties to spirits and demons…” <Emily>“What…” <Fuka>“He~ I win~!” <Lyada>“Hey, that was cheatin’! We were all talkin’ so didn’ have time to focus!” <Fuka>“Everyone else folded.” <Lyada>“Grrr…” <Fuka>Despite Fuka’s grumpiness she did have the second biggest pile of gems due to having an advantage of reading people while Lyada had the smallest. Elizabeth Jr’s hadn’t actually changed much but had the uncontested largest as their starting points weren’t the same - she did win though but also lost quite a few times to Emily and Fuka. Fuka through skill but there were some doubts with the former…Lyada on the other hand was quite pitiful in comparison with her hardly in the game except for when Fuka was distracted with the prospect of knowledge. But, as a whole, everyone was a winner except for Lyada. None of them really cared for winning and losing (except Eel) though - the dragon will be a dragon though so she was more focused on protecting her treasure trove than raiding anothers. In her own words ‘taking is a human habit’.It didn’t take long for the “So… Is it possible to use ya own power for magic?” <Fuka> “Mhm~ it’s called sorcery and it’s what I apparently use fufufu~!”  <Eel>Saying that Eel lifted up a crystal with just her own power before it quickly shot up into the air with far more force - a grey glow glowing around it - before it quickly vanished from sight. Soon afterwards it fell into her open palm - stopping abruptly. This was obviously her momentum manipulation that she had been practicing allowing her to more freely control her own momentum as well as objects around her.Controlling other people at range was harder though since the stronger one was the more they were able to resist outside forces/control.“Your magic is also probably closer to sorcery since you're a direct descendant to Mother… Or will be one once you fully awaken…” <Emily>“Guh…” <Eel>Being accidentally team killed caused Eel to slam her head against the table and yell into her pile of gems. Everyone else - even the tentacle space man, Tom and the ‘Villagers’ - just looked at her while trying to understand what she was saying. What was audible to those nearby was the heavily muffled screams of “I wanna be an adult dragon” over and over again in different forms with various ‘colourful’ language used in between.Deciding that Elizabeth Jr. wouldn’t be in the next few rounds the group of three girls continued some rounds while awaiting their enemies to finally finish grouping up. Taking far longer than they would like to in this village due to the villagers not being too organised as bandits; they also seemed to have some lingering fear around Elizabeth Jr. or maybe it was newly acquired from the ‘incarnations’ she was currently chanting with vigor. As such, the unlucky girls just had to wait for the villagers to get their shit together while gambling.Winning yet another round Fuka picked up one of the smaller gems and studied it.“So these were called [Qi Crystal] or [Spirit Stone]?” <Fuka>“Hm, they have several different names as well as forms but this is the most commonly seen and they produce ‘qi’. I made them using the ‘Spirit’ of those we’ve killed through a power gained from {True God} and the purity is very high… It’s why Eel has so many of each type since she’s killed so much over the years. They also apparently are the main currency in the {Lands Abandoned by God} as only those who are considered weak in their lands use gold as a currency...” <Emily>Emily couldn’t help but glance at Eel as she thought for a second before continuing.“It may be a reason why Beth is so attached to them - dragons naturally are attracted to things perceived to have great worth. Whether it be items, places or people…” <Emily>“Huh, if they’re abandoned how do they level up?” <Fuka>“All I know is it’s through many different techniques that are ‘Cultivation Techniques’ and the process of cultivating is called’ Cultivation of Immortality. When Eel absorbs blood it could be considered culti-’” <Emily>“I won.” <Lyada>“Dammit…” <Fuka>Letting out a long sigh Fuka had to just watch with pain as the pot of (mostly her) [Spirit Stones] being dragged towards Lyada with the long dark tendril. The group of course weren’t just ignoring their own preparations for the upcoming fight… Rather they didn’t need to prepare anything. They already had all their equipment on themselves and it wasn’t like they could go out and buy some more equipment when the entire village seemed to be a bandit den in all but name.As such they just continued to play and occasionally joke around… Well Elizabeth Jr. no longer did as it seemed Emily had managed to be the first person who wasn’t a Toppler to take her down. It was also certainly a feat that wouldn’t be done again today.“Drop your weapons then give us the dragon and we’ll let the rest of you all go!” <’Decent’ Man>The man with a decent appearance stood on top of a home that looked more like a shed - as was common in these poor villages - with a self-righteous tone as if he wasn’t mugging a bunch of girls under twenty. Two of them barely into double digits. Fuka just lazily grabbed her shield and sword while standing up at the table. The dealer just continued to deal as he did while the other girls just lazily glanced as ‘villagers’ surrounded them; chuckling at the girls 'despair’.“Well I’ve heard more ambitious requests. Certainly brave for a bandit...” <Fuka>“Have fun.” <Lyada>“Mmm, Fuka needs levels so I’ll keep Eel here-” <Emily>“Eh I at least get to chew on them a little don’t I!?” <Eel>Of course, the only one feeling despair was Eel and Tom. Tom obviously was worried about the whole ‘dying’ thing but Eel was more worried she wouldn’t get to snack on these little non-names before continuing on her journey!“We’re not bandits! We’ve all lived in this village all our life but with the land desp-” <’Decent’ Man>“All bandits begin as villagers or mercenaries and I don’t care which ya were - what I care about is ya threatening my pals… Also sure you can Eel but just wait till I clean them up, ‘kay?” <Fuka>“Hu~m okay I guess…” <Eel>But as Fuka walked off to face the bandits Eel suddenly felt an uncomfortable feeling along her neurons - as if something was watching them with an insatiable hunger. Looking around her connection with nature quickly drew her attention to brambles of thorns slowly tying around the tree’s; puncturing through the ancient woods and even capturing the wild animals. Predators and prey alike could hardly struggle as they all soon were tied up and left to slowly bleed out. A large distortion in the dark forest seemed to show something seemed to appear but it was formless in the darkness. For a mere instant though she was the eerie glow of a navy sparks across its body and and a bloody flame like a cloak made her shiver - soon it vanished from her vision. It felt like it may have just been her imagination…But a cold sweat that reminded her of one figure slowly dripped down her spine making her unable to pay attention to anything else as her eyes darted about the forest trying to catch that figure desperately...