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Skill Obtained:
Lv. 10 — Iron Grip
Cost: 35 Mana
Cooldown: 8 s
Effect:
Whip a flaming chain up to 25 feet away.
? Deals (70 + 60 % FAI) Holy/Fire damage.
? Pulls small enemies toward the caster and roots heavier ones for 1.5 s.
? If the target is already Burning, detonate the flames for an extra (60 + 60 % FAI).
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Enochia stared for a moment, then let her shoulders drop in relief. It wasn’t that she wasn’t excited; she was. But this one she expected. When she was alive, every single one of her main abilities scaled absurdly off FAI, and her chains were always her signature. Even in this hellspawn body, the system must’ve remembered who the hell she used to be.
It wasn’t surprising, but it was comforting. And better yet, her FAI was her highest stat by a mile.
But before she could test anything, another prompt burst into existence, this one framed with a darker trim.
─────────────────────────────
Racial Skill Obtained:
Lv. 10 — Darkness
Cost: Variable
Cooldown: None
Effect:
? Converts Mana directly into life force at a rate of 50 HP per 100 Mana.
? Cannot overheal beyond max HP.
? While regenerating, movement speed is reduced by 90 %.
─────────────────────────────
“…F—wait—” Her voice cracked. “FUCK. I FORGOT I GET RACIAL SKILLS TOO!”
Her eyes bulged as she read the description again, scooting closer like the text might change if she got a better angle.
“THIS IS SO GOOD. WHAT EVEN—!”
Enochia ran the numbers in her head… If she dumped her entire Mana pool into Darkness, she could restore all of her HP.
“…holy shit,” she whispered. “This basically doubles my HP bar if I’m not using Mana.”
Sure, that was a big if, since mana was the thing she needed most down here, and she wasn’t about to blow her casting ability just to feel healthy. But still. Even as an emergency button, even as a last-ditch survival skill?
“Okay… okay, this one’s really nice,” she muttered, rubbing her hands together like a shady merchant about to scam someone. “This is a whole-ass insurance policy. I’m a big fan.”
Her gaze snapped back to the pond.
“Alright….” She extended her arm toward the foul water, palm open.
[Iron Grip]
A flaming chain erupted forward, spiraling through the air with a hiss. It shot out nearly twenty feet before snapping shut midair. And just as quickly as it extended, the chain reeled back, slithering into her palm and dissipating into her skin.
Enochia nodded, satisfied.
“Still works the same. Good.” she murmured.
“As for Darkness… yeah, no,” she said, snorting. “I’m not testing that by punching myself in the face. I’m sure some little freak is gonna sneak up on me soon enough. I’ll test it then.”
She turned to leave the reeking pond behind, eager to get away before the scent made her nose fall off, but her boot pressed down on something brittle. Something that snapped.
She looked down, and saw a skeletal arm, now cracked cleanly at the elbow. The question rose in her mind with uncomfortable clarity.
“…Roo?” she asked slowly. “How is it possible for people to have died in Hell? Isn’t this supposed to be a place for… souls? Eternal suffering? Torture? Whatever?”
For once, Roo actually answered immediately.
[This region of the Ring is inhabited by residents similar to you, Enochia. Those who rejected the grace of God may enter Hell by their own volition. Their sin, held tightly, prevents ascension. Having nowhere else to go, they are sent here.]
She blinked at that. It made sense in a theological way, logical, even. But also deeply unsettling.
“So I can run into other people here?” she asked.
[Yes.]
“Good,” she murmured. “I… could really use some actual people to talk to.”
She glanced back at the skeletons and her little smile faded.
“That still doesn’t answer the real question, Roo,” she said quietly. “How can someone die in Hell? Souls aren’t supposed to die. This place is supposed to be… eternal, right?”
The silence stretched for one long, uneasy heartbeat.
[Do not die.]
A shiver crept down Enochia’s spine at Roo’s answer, but she smothered it with a bark of laughter.
“Ha ha! Yeah, wasn’t planning to, hun. Don’t worry about that.” She waved a dismissive hand, pretending her voice hadn’t wobbled for a split second. “I get the gist. Very ominous. Ten out of ten delivery.”
But even as she joked, her eyes drifted back to the skeletons. Something tugged at her thoughts.
“…Wait.”
Stolen novel; please report.
─────────────────────────────
Name: Lesser Observer
Tier: Grade 4
Function: A drone used to gather intel and environmental information.
Cost to Create:
? 10 Souls
? 1 Skull
? 5 kg Grade 5 Material
─────────────────────────────
Then continued looking at them, then whispered, “…I’m so sorry, guys, but I gotta use you for a bit.”
With genuine reluctance and a gag already forming, she crouched next to the kneeling skeleton. She braced her foot against its ribcage, grabbed the skull with both hands, and pulled.
A wet, horrible crack-schlk noise tore through the air as the spine snapped free.
“GHHH—WHY WAS THAT SO SQUISHY?!” she gasped, nearly throwing up. She held the skull at arm's length, pinched between two fingers like it was a moldy sock. “Oh my GOD. I hate this. I hate this so much.”
But after a moment, she couldn’t help herself. She raised it higher, tilted her head, and smirked.
“To be or not to be?” she recited dramatically, even though she still looked faintly green.
She cleared her throat and glanced around. “Sooo… what now? Do I—do I shake it? Throw it? Chant something?”
Nothing popped up, making her expression flatten instantly. “…Ok? Summon Lesser Observer!” she tried, holding the skull like a magical orb.
Nothing happened.
“Blueprint summon!” she demanded.
Nothing.
She sucked in a breath, struck a dramatic pose with one leg raised and her arm extended.
“WABARABA!”
Absolutely nothing.
She stared at the empty air for a solid two seconds before her eye twitched. “I swear to FUCKING—”
A screen finally appeared.
─────────────────────────────
Would you like to create 1 Lesser Observer?
[YES]
[NO]
─────────────────────────────
“…Yes,” she hissed through clenched teeth, because if she said it normally, she would yell.
The skull floated out of her grip at once, rising slowly into the air as her required materials ripped themselves from her inventory. The bone bleached itself pure white in seconds, losing every flaw, every crack, every remnant of the person it once belonged to.
Then it began to change.
The crown-like ring materialized first, shaped of gold, forming a halo. It spun before locking around the top of the skull. Dark cables slithered out next, sprouting from the base of the skull where the spine should’ve connected.
And the eyes... They became orbs of piercing, electric blue, glowing with a cold glare that made her take a step back. They weren’t light. They were like… apertures? The transformation finished with a resonant metallic hum as the creature floated in front of her.
Enochia stared at it… “The FUCK is this weird-ass Vatican Terminator?”
The Lesser Observer tilted its head at her, staying true to its name, and observing her.
“Hi?”
The Lesser Observer did nothing.
Right. It was a floating skull drone.
[System Updated]
[New addition to the System added: Creations]
Her curiosity snapped awake instantly. She opened the new tab without hesitation, eyes brightening as the interface unfolded in front of her.
It looked somewhat like her inventory, but instead of neat categories or rows of items, it was barren. A single icon sat in the center like a lonely display piece. She clicked it.
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STATUS:
Name: Lesser Observer
Level: 10
Grade: 5
HP: 250 / 250
STR: 0
AGI: 5
VIT: 5
FAI: 0
LCK: 0
DEF: 0
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She stared at the numbers for a long, silent moment. “…Okay? That’s honestly pretty shitty,” she admitted, dragging a hand down her face. The stats were garbage across the board.
But as she scrolled down, something else appeared beneath the stat block. “A skill?”
Because the Lesser Observer sucked at fighting, sure, but it wasn’t meant for combat. It was a surveillance drone. And if it had even one halfway decent utility skill, that could change everything about how she navigated Hell.
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Lv. 1 — Veil Protocol
Cost: 1 HP per second??Cooldown: None
Effect:
Engage optical distortion.
? Renders the user invisible to visual detection.
? Sound produced is reduced by 99 %.
? Attacking, colliding with an object, or taking damage immediately dispels the camouflage.
─────────────────────────────
Her brows shot up and she let out a low whistle.
“…Okay, nevermind. You are kinda useful.” she muttered, glancing at the skull again.
“But, like… how the hell am I supposed to use you guys?” Her words hung in the air for a half-second before another message appeared.
[Creations may be given orders. The complexity of the orders depends on the rarity and tier of the unit. As an Uncommon creation, the Lesser Observer is capable of simple reconnaissance directives, environmental scanning, and autonomous pathing.]
She blinked, processing that, then clapped her hands. “Damn! So he’s smarter than I thought.”
[The Lesser Observer transmits visual information directly to the creator. You will receive a secondary minimap adjacent to your primary one. It will display whatever the Observer perceives within its detection radius.]
Enochia nodded. “Nice, I think that’s the most practical way of using them too, tho it might get confusing if I make more…
Now fully invested in this new mechanic, she turned back to the bodies without hesitation. Any disgust she’d had before seemed to evaporate under the overwhelming joy of unlocking a new toy. She crouched again, grabbed another skull, far less gently this time and with a twist and pull, she detached it from the remains. The sound was still awful, but she only winced a little this time. “Sorry, dude. Your sacrifice is appreciated. In like… a very weird way.”
The moment she held the skull out, the blueprint window appeared again like a well-trained assistant anticipating her needs.
─────────────────────────────
Would you like to create 1 Lesser Observer?
[YES]
[NO]
─────────────────────────────
“Yes!” she declared with all her might! The skull floated upward, materials tore out of her inventory, the bone bleached, the cables grew, the crown formed again, and in seconds, she had two floating observers hovering above her.
“Now what to do with you…” she murmured, tapping her chin thoughtfully.
Roo intervened again.
[Creations may be dismissed and summoned at will, provided they are within one hundred feet of the caster. Outside this distance, dismissal is not possible.]
She shifted her focus towards the edge of the hole she was in. “Alright, I’ve got a plan. First stop is that tower, but before I go there myself…”
She turned to the skull on her left, leaning in close enough that its glowing eyes illuminated her face. “You, buddy. You’re going to the church we passed earlier, and then from there you go east until you reach that Imp camp the diary mentioned. There’ll be monsters stronger than you, sure, but as long as you don’t get too close, your invisibility should keep you safe. And when you get there, ping me, okay?”
The Observer tilted its head, then drifted upward and began flying toward the distant church at what she could only describe as “aggressively mediocre speed.”
“Ehhh… faster than walking, I guess,” she decided aloud.
She turned to the second skull. “You’re doing the same thing, except instead of east you’re going north. Ping me the moment you see something interesting, dangerous, or weird. Preferably weird.”
The skull nodded and floated off, rising slowly, then gliding forward across the crater and into the open hellscape. As they passed overhead she cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted after them:
“BE SAFE! RETURN IF YOU’RE IN DANGER! AND FEEL FREE TO USE YOUR SKILL IF YOU NEED TO!”
They didn’t look back, obviously, being emotionless skull drones. But the sentiment made her chest warm anyway. These were her first creations. Her first minions. They were creepy, sure, but they were hers, and that meant something.
“I can’t believe I got this awesome thing,” she said softly to herself, practically glowing. Then, louder and joyfully: “Thanks, Roo!”
There was a pause, like Roo hesitated.
[You are welcome, Enochia.]
