Chapter 79

  Demons Among Us

  “EEP!” The powerful expressive eep, and definitely not the panicked shriek of someone who just witnessed the impossible. Of someone who just witnessed the fact that their mentor’s face was coated by an illusion. That the illusion of a powerful and proud warrior had dark sclera filled eyes that were only illuminated by slits of gold for the iris, and impossible purple veins rippling along his face.

  Then he spoke, and as he did, I felt a chill run down my spine. Not because I didn’t expect this, but rather the exact opposite. The fact that I had already witnessed his mutations firsthand.

  “Now you can ssseee the truth,” Mr. Yi spoke as he did his long black serpentine tongue darted out and flickered in the wind.

  “You? Your tongue. . .” was all I managed to get out. But then again it had always been there, right in plain sight. As I spoke, Mr. Yi nodded slowly, as if allowing my mind time to comprehend the fact that my instructor, someone I trusted with my life was a monster. Then something clicked in my mind.

  “The Holy energy, it reveals demons?” I asked, latching onto the words that Mr. Yi had spoken earlier and trying to make sense of what I was now seeing. At my question Mr. Yi nodded.

  “That’s why he can’t talk when he is tracking for us, as the illusion is broken by his use of his Holy attuned Skills,” Markan added. Hearing him speak, I turned to face him as I realized that he was here for moral support, meaning he already knew this about Mr. Yi.

  “You, you knew?” I found myself asking, just to make sure.

  “Yes, while I have only gotten the opportunity to see his true form once or twice, I have to admit that neither of them are all that attractive,” Markan joked, his words falling short of a laugh, but good enough to distract me from the thoughts rolling around in my head. I almost feel betrayed, but he never said he was a demon, actually, is he a demon?

  “Are you a demon?” I ask, my question coming out as being more blunt than I intended.

  “He’s not—” Markan began, clearly trying to defend Mr. Yi, but Mr. Yi stopped him with a simple hand raise.

  “I am what is referred to as a half demon. My mother was a master Yaoguai Qūmóshī, capable of slaying demons handedly, which made her a target. Demons get off on capturing women and forcing them to bear their half blood progeny, like me.” Mr. Yi stated calmly, though I could hear the distinct note of sorrow and pain resonating within his words.

  “I’m sorry,” I reply, realizing that he likely did not want this fate, then he continued.

  “Fortunately, my mother was resilient, she fought back when the demon was distracted. While she ultimately managed to escape, their task was done. My mother the most powerful female Yaoguai Qūmóshī was stripped of her title and forced to flee once word of her pregnancy spread. She could have abandoned me there, cut me out of her womb and left me to die in the forests that she fled through. But she had me, and raised me training me in the old ways of the Yaoguai Qūmóshī, so that I could fulfill two promises to her: never turn down a promising Yaoguai Qūmóshī candidate to train, and to take revenge so that no other child has to live a life like mine.”

  As Mr. Yi spoke, I felt that I was finally seeing a few more aspects of who he was. I could also understand why he was here versus his being in his own country. Once again, I was reminded of just how hard this world was, I also had a new fear added to my top fears bingo card, that of being abducted and impregnated with a half demon spawn child.

  Pausing my thoughts, I took a deep breath and truly looked at Mr. Yi. I looked beyond the initial face that caused primal fears to rise up in my mind and instead focused on what made him different, what made him unique.

  “Do you have any questions?” Mr. Yi asked. I nodded, there were plenty of questions that arose, but for the moment the most important ones were staring me right in the face.

  “Are you an example of what to look for, when it comes to identifying possible demons?” I ask.

  Mr. Yi paused for a moment, but then nodded and hissed out his reply before his reflexes took over, “yesss and no. The tongue is a feature of most humanoid demons, there are other kinds, but the scariest ones are those that can hide themselves within mortal society. Next are the eyes, which denote the relative strength of the demon, the closer to all dark, the weaker the demon generally is. If you see a demon with red eyes, know they are a tier above me in power. Then the next are the metallic silver eyes, and finally the golden eyed monsters.”

  I found myself nodding, not quite knowing what else to do in this case. Not only was Mr. Yi part demon, but apparently he was categorized amongst the weakest form of demons possible. Though given that he was technically a hybrid, that made sense.

  Flicker. The faint shifting of light was my only clue that I was about to run out of Mana to run this newly modified Skill. As soon as I ran out of Mana, something odd changed, the illusions that covered Mr. Yi’s face came back, but they seemed to ripple and distort at the edges. Even his eyes now seemed to have an odd pterygium, or skin growing over the eye. Mr. Yi seeing the way that I am now staring at him, and all but forcefully looking for the differences he nods in approval.

  “Yes, once you have seen past the veil, a mental projection that hides demons, your mind will instinctively know what to look for. While, the veil will still hide most of our deformities, your mind won’t allow them all to shift back into place perfectly and you will begin to be able to resist the distortions. This is important, as eventually you will be able to make this a permanent effect, if you work on your new Skill enough,” Mr. Yi explains, giving me even more reason to practice this newly evolved Skill.

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  “Speaking of which, why don’t you show us what changes have occurred to your Eagle Eyed Skill,” Markan asks excitedly, as if awaiting a present under the tree.

  However, a quick glance shows that he is bound to be disappointed, but still I make sure to share my Skill details with the members of my group that are within range.

  “What? But that’s impossible?” Markan stammers out as he knew I had gotten the Skill to work.

  Mr. Yi on the other hand just smiled a slightly unnerving smile, particularly with how wide his now serpentine lips seemed to spread on his face.

  “Now show us the recent changes to your bloodline Skill Soul Sight.”

  Unawakened Bloodline Skill Soul Sight (Uncommon) has met new threshold standards. FORCED UPDATE: your eyes and bloodline are forcing Divine Sight (Uncommon) to be advanced to Divine Sight (Rare). Note: all progress will be transferred over to new skill, with Attributes retroactively updated to meet new Skill definitions.

  After the Skill upgrade notification is displayed, I proceed to show the effects of the seemingly minor Skill upgrade.

  Seeing the update to my Attributes, I was kind of disappointed. I effectively traded one of my seven Holy Skill slots to upgrade my Bloodline Skill, something that I didn’t think was exactly possible. Though, I was glad as this meant that I could still badge out my currently MAXED out Eagle Eyed Skill and replace it with something that might be more helpful.

  “Wait, you’ve already begun upgrading your Bloodline Skills?” Markan asked, his tone cautiously curious, as if this was not entirely uncommon, just unexpected for the time being.

  “Indeed she has, though remember she is what Matriarch Bloom referred to as a True DiVoratore,” Mr. Yi responded as if I was not there at all.

  “Yes, this must be why she insisted on her choosing the golden Enhancement Crystals,” Markan mused.

  As he spoke, I felt a question rise in me.

  “Wait, she demanded that I take the golden Enhancement crystals?” I ask.

  They both nod together, their faces slightly off as they seem to nod in exact opposite patterns. But I am too focused on my own question.

  “Then why did you give me the choice?”

  With that question Markan tensed up, as he seemed to be looking for words to explain what he was likely going to use to cover up his verbal slip. But it is Mr. Yi who ultimately answers the question.

  “He gave you the choice, because he wanted to see if Matriarch Bloom’s prophecies are as accurate as ever.”

  There was a lot to unpack in that statement, but he did seem to hint that part of Madame Bloom’s powers, or at least one of her Skills seems to revolve around the idea of Future Sight? Or maybe Clairvoyance? I’m not certain of the Skill name, nor was I entirely certain that it existed, but I now have confirmation that it does. Or at least she got Markan and Mr. Yi both convinced that she does have this ability. While I think she might be able to get one over on Markan, I feel that Mr. Yi is far more perceptive than that. He has that look of someone who is well aware of his surroundings, which makes sense given his background and likely tenuous nature with anyone using Holy magic for detections near him.

  “And?” I ask. Markan first looks confused, but then seems to nod to himself before responding.

  “And she is still accurate, even with her insistence that Mr. Yi be the one to instruct you.”

  At that disclosure, I feel a slightly creepy sensation run down my spine. Did she know that Mr. Yi would teach me the way to awaken a Bloodline Skill over a Free Skill, making it so I was more likely to alter my own Bloodline Skills to a more advanced True DiVoratore strain? If so, then just how powerful is this Skill of hers?

  “Know that you want your Bloodline Skills to evolve, particularly with magical features as that does not count against the number of Skills you can have for your magical potential. Which is important for you as you are listed as having mediocre magical talent. So while this might not seem like a lot, it will be huge later on in your development,” Markan consoled.

  While I could understand his comments, it did make sense, I only had so many slots available, so being able to get more for less is important.

  “That said, she didn’t think you would be able to do the same for this next one,” Markan stated. As he spoke, I almost felt a flair of challenge rise up in me as I felt he was wrong.

  “He is right, fundamentally you aren’t ready for a full bloodline awakening,” Mr. Yi said.

  “Not to mention all of the Holy Enhancement Crystals are rated as Rare, and your Awakened Bloodline Skill is already rated as an advanced Rare, making it so this wouldn’t be able to help you the same way.” Markan added, a note of sadness in his voice.

  “I’ll be the judge of that,” I declared, picking up the second golden Enhancement crystal, and focusing on the same injured finger, one I purposefully didn’t heal as I knew I would need to stab it again, I continued with the madness. Though this time, I felt that the pain would be worthwhile as I had already succeeded once in these Skill conversions.

  This time as the golden energy infused into my body, I could feel that the dense golden flakes were easier to pick up and spin around. I sucked in the energy quickly, then quickly dropped the empty Enhancement cone and quickly drew my practice sword from my side.

  The moment I picked up the sword, I began moving and pushing energy into the practice sword, in a pattern that was similar to my use of Soul Devour. However, there was a slight problem. I had the energy, I had the technique, but my Soul Devour Skill seemed to repel the new golden energy in a manner that was slightly concerning. Almost like I was trying to mix oil and water. No matter how much force I tried to apply to the new energy to get it to fuse with the old energy, there was resistance.

  Worse, the longer I took, the more energy I could feel getting lost and absorbed with my own body. Realizing I only had but so much time to work with, I decided to instead try to infuse my golden energy into the blade. Or at least that was my initial thought, but then I realized that would be the epitome of redundancy. I already had my Bloodline Skill that could do the same thing.

  For a moment I tried with Improvised Weapons, but I didn’t think that I had a good enough grasp over that Skill to make such a change. That or my mind couldn’t imagine how to switch out the energy linked to my Soul Devour Skill for a different Holy version going down the same pathway. While I already had the pathing for going through my core and going up to my eyes. Focusing on the easier method, I realized that by dropping the final resting point from my eyes to my mouth was far easier. Even the idea of coating my lungs with flecks of Holy energy seemed easier to comprehend. That’s when I focused and just tried to see if I could alter the final resting spot for the golden mana.

  Logically this should have been a dead end, one that would force me to stop and redouble my efforts back to improving my Improvised Weapons Skill, but there was just one problem. The change, as minor as it was, was simple. Or at least I felt the noted changes settling easily, eroding away a few minor edges of my rigid Music Resonance Skill, and allowing me to alter it just enough to be able to infuse the Skill with Holy attuned energy.

  “Wha?” Was all I managed to say, but it came out as a high pitched musical note that I could feel resonating with power and unbridled energy.

  As the note erupted, I felt a wave of holy infused magic flow out of my mouth and easily wash over Mr. Yi, causing his recently resettled mask of obfuscation get burned away, revealing his true face not just to me, but everyone.

  That’s when Markan asked the obvious question, “what did you do?”

  There was just one problem, I didn’t know what I did. It wasn’t until I read the system messages that I realized exactly how badly I had messed up.