Out of nowhere, a hand landed on the succubus' shoulder. Turning her head slightly she was greeted by two blue eyes brimming with curiosity, looking a bit closer they seemed a bit glazed over, and judging from the stench coming off the man in waves, that could be attributed to alcohol. He seemed to be in his early 30s judging from his unremarkable face, which was fairly young. But the lack of any discernable aura was a bit worrying.
"Hey... What was that?" Seemingly ignorant of the succubus' concerns, the man voiced his doubts. "What was that spell, I've never sensed anything like it before."
That almost confirmed what the succubus was concerned about. She was confident in her mana control, she could almost guarantee that there were only a few if any on the same rank as her who could sense any spell from her, never mind discerning its nature just from the aura. Such a feat could only be done by someone whose cultivation is past Core Formation, a Noble. Someone who is tens if not a hundred times stronger than her at the least, someone she shouldn't piss off no matter what.
"It's a secret from my sect, I'm sorry but I'm not allowed to reveal anything about it."
Which was why she quickly and respectfully avoided the question by revealing the presence of a sect.
"Sect secret, huh. That's a bit annoying. From what I can tell, the spell has something to do with physique, but it shouldn't be a booster type otherwise you wouldn't have deactivated it with the two hounds on your tail. It should be pretty high level though, and judging from your skill in mana control you're from a powerful sect. But which sect is it? I haven't come across a similar spell before. Even if you're a genius you should at most have superior versions of the spells the ordinary folks have, maybe it's a sect which I haven't come across yet. But that's impossible, I should know every sect in the Gorgon Domain. Maybe you're from one of those super shady secret sects, yeah that's probably it. But wait, if you're from some super powerful sect the hell you're doing in this piece of rubbish formally called Tusk Town. Judging from the hounds you're probably alone for some reason. That doesn't make sense, shouldn't the old monsters from your sect arrange some escorts for their genius. Or maybe they're hiding in the shadows around here itching to kill whoever goes too far, they're fairly confident allowing someone my level come this close, don't you think?"
The succubus was confused, she didn't know whether the man was talking to her or thinking out loud or whether it was a mix of both. No matter what, the alcohol was to blame. All she wanted to do was subtly reveal the existence of a non-existent backing, how it got to this point she was unaware. The man was looking at her with expectance, problem was many things were said and she could quite follow which resulted in her and the man blinking at each other for a while.
"Excuse me Sir, we of Phoenix Quill have business with that woman and are in a bit of a rush," the seemingly older recruiter finally came to the succubus' rescue. Pretending to be respectful while revealing a powerful background, as long as she was concerned either the man had an insufficient number of brain cells or had forgotten his importance to the organization and judging from the younger one's reaction, probably a mix of both.
"Phoenix Quill, Phoenix Quill... Yeah don't want to piss those people off," the man said with a nod. He turned back to face the demon before returning his sight to the man who spoke after thinking a bit a couple of nods followed, "You're a recruiter, right?"
Being certain never hurt and the recruiter was kind enough to nod in accord. "Then stop pretending you're someone important," with his piece said he turned back to the succubus, brought his hand to his chin and continued to look at the succubus, seemingly in thought.
The recruiter was obviously angered by this and seemed to be ready to say something when his younger brother pulled him back and seemingly explained something to him, after throwing a few glances at the succubus they announced their leave.
The succubus now was back at having a staring contest with the man, she considered reactivating the skin-shift spell but decided against it since the man would probably notice. Teleporting would be a waste so she decided to wait and see what the man wanted first.
"You're not human," the man eventually spoke. He leaned forward a bit to take a closer look at the succubus, which was pointless since she was currently wearing both a cloak and a mask, "You're a demon, now that's pretty interesting."
The succubus found the certainty with which the man spoke a bit unsettling, she was sure she had retracted her aura so she wasn't sure what gave it away.
"Surprised?" the man asked with a laugh, "You're a demon kid, you affect the world by merely existing. You can't hide from the plane itself. Don't worry about it, you're so weak that no one would notice unless they're used to being around young demonic beings," saying this much a frown appeared on the man's face.
"Wait, aren't you too weak for a full grown demon," the man asked with an incredulous expression.
"There's been some problems with my cultivation," the demon spoke for the second time in this entire conversation and this time more truthfully, mostly because the comment about young demons jogged her memory and she finally recognized the man's voice. He was the man who sat behind her in the dining area, the one married to a demonkin woman. She was at least sure that the man didn't have any apprehension towards demons.
"You're don't have any backing at the moment do you, any self-respecting sect would have kicked you out by now, mid-level Commoner stage at 20 something. You sure you aren't hopeless?"
That bit deep.
The succubus could only nod her head slightly, "I'll be fine, thanks."
The man merely nodded and with a curt bye, was on his way to his room when the succubus stopped him.
"Can I ask for a minor favor?"