The small apartment bedroom that was flooded by a lake of blood a few minutes prior now looked completely clean without any damage or trace of what had happened.
Sitting on my bed, I intensely stared at the girl sitting right next to me.
Daisy is a real mystery that literally appeared in front of me like a demon summoned from hell.
Such a beautiful demon though…
And she can be the one to help me understand what is going on, I'll have to ask her everything that's on my mind.
"What can you tell me about the system? Or what you are ?" I asked, choosing my words carefully so as to not antagonize her.
She tilted her head as if to think about my question.
"Don't know... All I know… you… created me."
So… I didn't summon her but created her? This raises even more questions, like what is she made out of? Is she human? Why does she have kills and such high stats if she was just created?
As if to answer my inner doubts, the book that I had placed on my bed suddenly flipped open as it flew up beside me.
The pages magically fluttered from the back of the book to the first few pages.
These completely blank pages didn't stay empty for long as black cursive letters progressively appeared alongside small drawings and symbols.
Hexes :
Control :
-Nausea
-Broken bones
-Slow
-Drown
Hurt :
-Rot
-Hunger
-Infect
-Corpse bomb
Distract :
-Fury
-Bitter murmur
-Oppression
-Weakness
The right page was also being covered but this time what appeared wasn't a list of spells but a medieval looking character sheet of Daisy and a few sentences describing her abilities and traits.
-------------------------------------------------
Daisy Vorhees
Race: Drowned undead
Class : Berserk tank
Height : 1.70 cm / 5.7 feet
Weight : 55 kg
Age : 19
Kills : 47
[Stats]: 93
Rage : 20
Stalk : 10
Ruthlessness : 20
Deception : 6
Cunning : 1
Chase : 20
Terror : 16
[ Skill tree ]
Affection : 1/10❤
-------------------------------------------------
This… is surprising.
Not only does she have kills but she's actually 19 years old.
Her stats are incredibly high too…
I don't know exactly how they are determined nor how they work but I do know that if normal people have 0 on average then we are both monsters to be feared.
As I was reading the contents of the floating book, a thought popped inside my mind.
"What use is there to make me, us, this powerful if there's no one to use that power against?"
I stepped towards my bedroom door and snapped it open.
A realm consisting exclusively of an endless and empty plain was all I could see beyond it, its bland surface stretching out forever.
And it wasn't even a grassland, the land looked scorched and filthy, devoid of anything that could stand out
Even the air had this nasty feel to it, a feeling I had become familiar with after so many years breathing it.
Suddenly, the empty sky all around me shattered like a broken mirror.
The open cracks between the thick panels revealed something very strange, some kind of twisting rainbows made out of… vile energies which wiggled around like a Van Gogh painting.
And not the colorful and cheerful depiction of a rainbow but rather a dark and sinister version of it that seemed to ooze a nauseating sheen.
Some of that strange… stuff, entered through the cracks. But then, the shards of sky floated back into their dome shape, cutting off all matter from where it came from and bringing back the monotonous gloomy sky.
The piece that remained inside simply… dissipated.
I instinctively knew what it was, miasma.
[Achievement earned : I saw, I conquered, I rule (Maybe), visit your realm for the first time.]
[You have begun your reign as the Devil prince of chaos, welcome to the first floor of your realm and dungeon!]
[Your realm has stabilized, unlocking achievements…]
*TING! *
[Achievement : Unbreakable.
You never gave up.
You have gained the skill [Unbreakable] for free.
(Absolute resistance to mental attacks.)
[Achievement : Undying seppuku.
You have killed yourself successfully 100 times.
You have gained the constitution :
100% Undead.]
[ERROR!!!]
[Unable to fuse three races into the host's [Ư̸͍̺̗̥̞̠̣̻̲̓̈̓̍n̵̨̝̝͍͎͕̝̚͜k̷̯̹̓̈̔̀͌͝n̵͚̰̼̙̑̉͛̓͐̚͠o̵͉͝w̷̜̬̒̌̌́̚ṅ̸͓̤̀͂͊̓̑͊͊ ̷̢̨̲̱̻͓͇͖̫̾̽͒͂̑̒ȩ̷͇͈̺̈̎͆͒̑͋̎̊͆͝n̵̩̬̪͙̻̻̬̊͜t̴̡̢̪͇͚̜͚̒͊͋̈́́̍̆͆͋͊i̵̻̺̹͓̅̒̏̒͆͊̒̌̈́t̷̛͎̬̠͂y̶̟̰̹̼̻̠̼̪̤͆̋ͅ ]... Searching for an alternative solution…]
[Solution found. The reward will be given once the user finds one additional race originating from the demonic or angelic realm to fuse with.]
[Achievement : Serial killer.
Finish the games with a death / kill ratio superior to 1/10!
You gain +1000% miasma regeneration if you are against 10 or more enemies.]
Unlike the first time where a panel appeared before me, the opened book which had been gently floating next to me rushed in front of my nose and furiously wrote down everything in a bright red ink that moved across the page as more and more text appeared.
I furiously grabbed it and pushed it away, it reminded me of a facehugging creature that I didn't want to see anywhere near me.
"Get off my goddamn face!"
I half expected it to come back to shove its ancient text into my face but it simply stayed at a reasonable distance as the last few words appeared.
[Compiling all the other effects gained through achievements…]
+15 Terror
+2 Stalk
+1 Ruthlessness
+3 Cunning
+Skill [Lost]
+Skill [Pacifist]
+Skill [Creator]
+Constitution [Tireless]
+Constitution [Cold blooded]
+Constitution [Heartless]
+Constitution [Breathless]
[A pending species change has been detected, obtained constitutions will be fused once the change is in progress.]
The words remained on the atlas of Chaos for a short time before promptly disappearing again.
I didn't feel any different compared to two minutes ago and Daisy who silently stood next to me didn't seem to have noticed anything either.
[The abyss of discord, Anarchia, is ready for management…
Further floors of the ϱ̷͎̭͔͑̾̎l̴̦̠͚̋̋̃ȋ̴̲̲͙̌̈Ɉ̵͕̘͔̃̔͝ɔ̵̢̤͍̈́̔͠ʜ̵̣̙̪͊̓͂ǝ̸̬͍͈̒͐͝b̴̭͈͉͑̈́̚ ring of hell are… Unavailable.]
[Selecting appropriate dungeon type in accordance with the ruler's character and class…]
[Dungeon type *Black tortoise* has been chosen! All constructs within the Dungeon now have infinite durability!]
[...]
[As this is the devil's first Dungeon, a small tutorial will be presented.]
[ACCEPT] [SKIP]
The prompts didn't appear on the book this time and instead took the appearance of light panels hovering in front of me.
I didn't immediately give my answer as there was something I needed to make sure first.
I thought about my information panel and it popped out next to the other sinister light panels.
"Hey Daisy, can you see these screens in front of me?"
She tilted her head as if to show she had no idea what I was talking about.
I then caught the hovering book and showed her the page with her description.
"And what about this book and what's written in it, can you read it?"
She nodded, "I can see it… and the text… but… I don't know what's written… I don't know how to read."
So my hypothesis seems correct.
The book which holds all my spells and summons is visible to outsiders while the system holding the core part of my system is only visible by myself.
"Great, let's continue."
I tipped my index finger on the accept button and everything turned pitch black for a second before finding myself in a plane similar to mine.
As if I were a cinematic camera, I floated around as illusionary structures appeared and a calm voice started their introduction.
"Welcome young lord of hell, welcome to how to run and build a dungeon 101.
Let's begin, your realm, generously granted and molded by the great devil kings.
And it is your duty to make use of that land to support the demonic faction against those ***** ******* ****** ** ***** angels.
This realm is a land created through the modeling of miasma by a devil's sinful imagination.
And that's also how you will build your personal Dungeon with your own two hands!
Using your imagination, mold the surrounding miasma into whatever shape or construct you desire."
An entire medieval village took form on this large plain, then appeared a mall, a stadium…
Many locations or buildings I recognized from my torturous life.
In the end, all of them melted down like hot wax and seeped into the disgusting muddy ground.
"But be careful with your consumption! Miasma is the most valuable resource possessed by the demonic race and is used for everything!
Luckily for us miasma is naturally formed within the sea outside your territory, a wild space which serves as both unclaimed land and borders between the different rings of hell.
As you probably know, we devils are carnivorous beings. To survive and strengthen ourselves we consume energy that exists in many forms and can be consumed as long as it originates from another being.
Some eat fear, some drink blood, well you know…
What you might not know however is that you can turn those resources into miasma while within your Dungeon!
And here is where the mortal realm comes into play.
To get rid of the angelic snobs we need to root out their believers first, the humans!
Once your Dungeon is fully formed you will not only be able to lure in humans to increase your miasma but also siphon mana from the living world into your dungeon!
Mana can be used within your Dungeon to grant additional properties to your creations.
And to reach the mortal realm you first need to use the gate. "
A small arch of stone materialized in front of me, but it neither looked like a gate nor like an interdimensional portal.
Just a pile of strangely stacked black stones.
"Please don't pay attention to its appearance, that can and will change. Especially once it is open. Indeed, as long as the gate remains shut all access in and out of your realm is impossible.
But once it is opened for the first time, it can never be closed again.
Everyone is out to get you, other demon lords want your resources, humans will try to slay you while angels want to smite you.
And be careful! Your soul has been linked with the Dungeon core! This new part of you has many uses, including the energical and structural management of your Dungeon!
Protect it at all costs.
So prepare, become stronger… or perish."
*BIP !*
1705 words