Chapter 243

Cecilia waved me over as our group approached the canyon where we hid the carriage. She looked over the large group we had following us. "Are we taking everyone here with us?" she asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, we sent most of the people we freed to the embassy, and from what I heard, they made it there safely. At the same time we were in there, the cult let loose a demon in the bazaar. There had to have been a lot of casualties," I told her.

"Alright, if we're taking all these people with us let's get everyone on and packed up. It's normally not that safe to travel at night but it's probably even less safe to be near the capital right now." Cecilia started kicking out the fire that she had started.

Silva nodded. "I'll get right on it." She headed over and started getting the former slaves loaded in and comfortable to move with Kal'daeryn and Nelly's help. While she was doing that, I walked over to where Raya and Sibyl were talking with the twins while everyone else was getting organized for transport.

"I told you there would be more than ten, you owe me a drink!" Raya told Sibyl with amusement.

Sibyl sighed and shook her head. She then turned to look at me when she noticed me approaching. "I thought you'd bring a couple people, not this many. And one of them is a kid."

"These are the people I thought would benefit from becoming Succubi or would have otherwise been left behind. I sent the rest of the people we rescued to the elven embassy. It's a good thing too, the cult of Amphores didn't even try to save anyone, they just released a demon and caved the building in. There were hundreds of slaves in there, everyone would have died," I replied.

Raya whistled. "Does that mean you saved hundreds of people on this mission?"

My eyes widened at the realization and the thought was suddenly paired with a notification.

[Karmic Energy increased by 3098][Karmic Energy capped at 10000]

I focused on the notification. Why had it increased now? It didn't increase when I saved people it increased when I realized I had saved people?

"Lilith?" Raya asked. "Did you suddenly level up or something? You have that look in your eye."

I dismissed the notification and refocused on her. "No... my karma just went up a ton and capped at ten thousand. I was just confused why it increased when you made me realize how many people I saved and not when I actually saved them."

Morrigan rubbed her chin. "This is the first time I've heard of something in the status being affected by your perception of something. Although, I have heard of skill descriptions changing once a previously unknown application becomes widespread."

I scratched my head. "In the case of skill descriptions, I think Sorsette is adjusting stuff like that manually like she did with my race. I never asked her about it, but Karma has been something tied to the succubi since I first came here. I discovered it right after I found out about the system. I always had assumed that it was working on its own in the background, I didn't think how I saw things affected it."

"You wouldn't ordinarily notice it," Torien pointed out. "If what it measures is how you see your actions, anytime it changes, the change would be paired with an action that you think should affect it. This is just the first time there was a mismatch between what you did and when you realized it."

"Does that mean that everyone's karma is based on their own perception? That would make it even more unreliable." I said.

Morrigan shook her head. "I don't think that's exactly what's happening. Since it's something you've had from the start, it might be inherent to the Succubi. Because you're the Origin of Succubi I think that karma might be based entirely on how you see things, not how each person sees themselves. Maybe the only reason it didn't update right away is because it didn't have a frame of reference for how saving that many people should affect their karma."

Torien's ears went back. "What's Silva's karma at?" she asked.

I frowned but looked over at her. "A little over a thousand."

"Positive one thousand?" Torien asked.

"Yeah. Why?"

Torien nodded. "I think it probably is based on how you see things then. If she doesn't have any remorse for the people she's killed, wouldn't it be higher? If she thinks that killing someone is saving someone else, couldn't it even go up from assassinating people?"

I scratched the spot where my horn should be. Man it was weird not having horns. It won't be until tomorrow that the potion wears off. I shook my head and continued. "I don't know. Silva has told me that she does have some remorse for assassinating people. She says they can be the hardest to kill because she intimately learns about the kind of people they are. Still, I see your point. Silva's karma would be drastically lower or higher based on how she sees herself. After hearing about her past... I feel like her karma is about right..."

Morrigan shrugged. "There's no way to really know. This kind of thing would be hard to guess at. Trying to test it would be... a bit unethical."

Silva walked over to us. "We're all loaded up... Also, I could hear your entire conversation." She gestured at the big ears on her head. "Honestly, I think Torien is right. Despite the assassinations I've done, I feel like I've made the world a much better place. I don't think one thousand would be reasonable if you have ten thousand."

"You were eavesdropping on us?" Torien said with an unimpressed tone.

Silva shrugged. "It's hard not to. You guys are talking about me out in the open and I have good hearing. If this was such a secret conversation you shouldn't do it so close to me or put up a zone of silence or something. Anyway, we're ready to go and I think Cecilia is anxious to get moving. You should get in the carriage. It'll be a bit tighter in there than last time. Some of them are sitting on the floor to fit. I saved all of you spots though. We might be able to cram more into the seats if we try to."

I nodded. "Let's get moving then."

Three of us climbed into the carriage while the others went to the coach seat. Silva had saved a spot for me inside with the twins and Bella. Silva, Raya, and Sibyl were going to sit up in the front with Cecilia for this stretch of road. I was a little surprised that Silva still had energy after everything we did today, but she said that listening for threats wouldn't be too difficult for her. There were so many people that seven people had to sit on the floor. The ones that volunteered for that were the two hyenakin sisters, Nelly, the kid we found who's been attached to Nelly since we found her, Kal'daeryn, and two of the girls that had been crying when we saved them. I hadn't learned their names yet but one was a rabbitkin beastfolk and the other was an older feline beastfolk. She didn't have any markings or anything that would distinguish her as a more specific kind of cat like Kal'daeryn did. Someone had put blankets down but I didn't envy their butts, the bouncing was probably going to hurt after a while. We might need to figure out some kind of rotation if we're going to travel all the way to Goldenhearth like this. The last trip took nine days at a reasonable pace and it was going to get uncomfortable pretty quickly with this many people here. We might also need to take more frequent breaks. I still needed to talk with all of them and get to know the people I saved, but I was much too tired to be sociable at the moment.

That was an issue for another time though. Maybe we could figure out a better way to squish in or something, but right now I was too tired to worry about that. I knocked on the outside of the carriage to signal that everyone was ready before taking my seat and leaning into Bella. All of us that had gone on the mission were wiped out so most of us quickly fell asleep, including the former slaves. They had done a lot of walking and running today and judging by their looks, I didn't think that was usual for any of them.

I decided I wanted to finally look through my new spells before I passed out though. I had gotten a lot from this mission and I wanted to check through the results before I completely knocked out.

[Learned Enhancement Magic Spell Hasted Perception][Learned Luck Magic Spell Wager][Learned Luck Magic Spell Carousel][Improved Luck Magic Spell Blackjack][Learned Light Magic Spell Light Siphon][Improved Light Magic Spell Light Signal][Learned Enhancement Spell Augment Strength][Learned Enhancement Spell Augment Speed]

The first spell I got was [Hasted Perception] from the fight I had with the [Bone Thresher] demon. It was also when I finally broke level fifty that I had been sitting at for a while. Well, a while relative to the growth that I had been enjoying. This was probably what most people's growth normally looked like. Anyway, [Hasted Perception],

[Hasted Perception - Enhancement Magic Spell]This spell temporarily slows your perception of time and increases your ability to process stimuli quickly. This does not increase the physical speed your body moves but it does indirectly improve your reaction time because you are able to process information faster. This spell reserves a portion of your mana and drains your mana as upkeep as long as it stays in effect. A larger portion of your mana can be reserved for stronger effects up to a cap. Mana Control reduces the amount of mana required for upkeep.

This spell seems similar to [Focused Perception] but for the perception of time rather than the effectiveness of my senses. The mana reserve and upkeep cost was similar in how it operated. I haven't really trained with [Focused Perception] since it requires tweaking, but now that I have [Internal Mana Manipulation], I should be better able to use both of these spells. I have a feeling it pairs well with the [Augment Speed] spell I also learned. I'm not sure how much [Augment Speed] affects things yet but it would be annoying to use a speed increase if it was too hard to control.

[Augment Speed - Enhancement Magic Spell]This spell temporarily imbues your body with magic that increases the speed at which you can move your body and your reflexes as if you had increased your Speed stat. The intensity of this effect is increased by your Magic Force and the amount of mana you allocate to it. This spell reserves a portion of your mana and drains your mana as upkeep as long as it stays in effect. A larger portion of your mana can be reserved for stronger effects up to a cap. Mana Control reduces the amount of mana required for upkeep.

Hmm, looking at this now, it might be redundant with [Hasted Perception], I'll have to test these out alone and in conjunction with each other to see how well they work. It looks like a pretty useful spell though, artificially increased stats seem good based on how much even a minor increase in stats can feel. I can also cast these enhancement abilities on others and since I got both [Augment Speed] and [Augment Strength], I might be able to teach the spell and its variants to Morrigan to wild cast which might give her even more versatility. I quickly skimmed [Augment Strength] but it was basically identical to [Augment Speed] in its description. Let's move on to the luck magic spells I got.

[Wager - Luck Magic Spell]Activate this spell to summon a six-sided die. Wager up to half of your total maximum mana and roll the die. If you roll a one, double the mana you wagered is reserved for a day and cannot be used. If you roll a two, the mana you wagered is reserved for a day and cannot be used. If you roll a three, the mana is spent and nothing happens. If you roll a four, the mana is spent, and any spells that cost less than the wagered mana can be cast at twice the speed that you could normally cast them for a day. If you roll a five, the mana is spent and any spells that cost less than the wagered mana have twice the effect for a day. If you roll a six, the mana is spent and any spells that cost less than the wagered mana do not cost any mana. Results four, five, and six, cannot stack and will replace the previous result. This spell does not benefit from the luck stat.

This spell was an odd one. The negative results of the two low rolls would be quite harsh to deal with. At the maximum bet, all of your mana would be gone on a one, and half your mana would be gone on a two for a whole day. The three roll is a waste of mana, but the four, five, and six, rolls seem really good. Faster casting is useful but not crazy depending on how it works, double the effect of spells could be pretty good, especially since any spells that cost less than half mana would make even normally weak spells a lot more useful, but no mana cost of spells was insane. If I was willing to risk bricking my mana for a day, I could do so much if mana costs weren't an issue. Well, for anything that costs less than half my mana on the maximum bet. I would have to test if that included ritual spells.

[Carousel - Luck Magic Spell]Create a random magic animal construct of a random size to attack a target. The strength of the magical construct is affected by Magic Force, the type and size of the animal created, and Luck. The ability to direct, order, and control the animal is affected by Magic Control and the type of animal created. The duration of the construct is affected by Magic Force, Magic Control, and Luck.

This was another strange one. All the luck spells tend to have very odd effects. It creates an animal construct, since it's a carousel, presumably a horse or something else ridable. I have no idea how useful this spell is, I'll have to try it out later. It also seems a bit strange that it's a Luck spell. Aside from what is summoned, what does this have to do with luck?

[Improved Luck Magic Spell Blackjack][Blackjack - Luck Magic Spell]Create two palm sized English pattern playing cards. Kings, Queens, and Jacks are worth 10 points. Aces are worth 11 points. After drawing the first two cards, you may choose to take another card, if the value of your cards total over 21 points, you bust. The cards can be thrown to create an arcane explosion with the magnitude of the face value multiplied by Magic Force. Bonus damage applied when drawing a Blackjack, any ace paired with any card worth ten points. If you bust, you take magical feedback for every point above 21. If you haven't bust, the cards can be folded to negate the explosive effect. Higher luck increases the chance of drawing higher values and Blackjacks. Mana use is a flat amount governed by your Magic Force.

This spell has been upgraded to include the ability to 'hit' and take an additional card. That sounds a bit fiddly to do in the middle of combat but there have been times when I had a really low hand and could have taken another card without any risk. I don't know what magical feedback is like though, I'll have to ask Morrigan about it the next time she's awake.

The last two are light spells, one is new and the other one is upgraded.

[Light Siphon - Light Magic Spell]Create a ball of light that absorbs the light nearby. The collected light can then be redirected into another light spell, released, or absorbed as mana. Strength of this effect is affected by Magic Force. Conversion rate of light into a different spell or when converted into mana is affected by Magic Control.

This looks more like an anti-light magic spell. The idea of this is bizarre. I wanted to test it out immediately but I got yelled at the last time I started casting mana while others were resting. Even if this spell didn't seem particularly dangerous, it was probably a good idea not to mess with it while traveling in a moving carriage. If nothing else it could spook the uunas or make our guests panic.

[Improved Light Magic Spell Light Signal][Light Signal - Light Magic Spell]Create a ribbon of light magic you can use to create light magic constructs or write messages with. Strength, intensity, and hardness of the light is determined by [Magic Force]. The size of the construct, fine control over the construct's shape, the shape of the ribbon, and the mana cost to maintain or harden the construct is determined by [Magic Control].

Huh, interesting. [Light Signal] was a spell that I kind of stopped using once I developed [Light Scribing]. It ended up becoming entirely redundant and useless outside of, well, signaling people. And that wasn't something that had been necessary very often. Now it looked like I could create hard light magic. I was really curious what that would be like, and it was another spell I'd like to test, but I won't while traveling. Bah, too bad.

I was interested in looking over my status and deciding where to allocate my points but I was too tired to think clearly about that right now. I'll sleep for a while and look at that when we wake up. The caravan continued to bump along the road on the way to Goldenhearth. When I finally closed my eyes, the entire caravan was filled with light snoring.