Chapter 19: Devils Eyes Watching

'Thinking'

"Talking"

"Talking"

- Dungeon -

After finishing with school for the day, I wasted no time in getting home before jumping into the Dungeon. I've been fooling around too much and not taking things as seriously as I ought to be.

After finally blowing off some steam with my Servant, my head cleared up enough to realize that I was leveling far too slowly. I should have been putting off sleep and pulling all-nighters to get as many levels grinded out as possible, instead I had been sleeping in and messing around with school.

I nearly had a heart attack on my home when one of my Spirits caught Raynare moving throughout the city; which meant the main story was about to begin, and I was vastly unprepared to take her on.

I had quickly recalled some of my Spirits from Kuoh to watch over my house while I took every single Servant I had into the Dungeon, selecting Skeletons before setting off on a warpath to kill as many of them as I could. There was no time for playing things slow and steady now, not with my life on the line.

And make no mistake, my life is very much on the line. I had foolishly believed that Raynare would only go after Issei like in the anime, but that was before I had a Sacred Gear of my own, which made me a target now too. The only thing that was holding Raynare and the Devils back was my [Humanity] perk, allowing me to appear as just another ordinary human to their eyes, but that perk went away at Level 10.

Something which I had already hit, and gone past with all of the Skeletons that I and my Servants had killed.

Sora Sakai - Level 14 [63%]

Human - Sacred Gear User

Quest Completed!

[Finish the Tutorial]

Reward:

[First Impression] (Perk)

Gain a random amount of Affection the first time you meet someone.

Amount ranges between 1-10.

Perk Removed:

[Humanity] (Perk)

That [First Impression] perk is going to become useful once I begin interacting with more people. Having a small amount of Affection right from the get-go will hopefully keep any outright hostility from being directed my way. But that last textbox leaves me terrified.

My protection is now gone, and the next time I go to school I'll be a massive target for a desperate Rias and a calculating Sona.

Which is why I'm now swarming through the Dungeons with my slowly growing army, killing everything in sight as we cleared out groups of Skeletons. Some of which were different than the ones I've been fighting against previously. '[Observe].'

Skeleton Archer - Level 12

It had been a small surprise to see one of the Skeletons holding a bow instead of a rusted sword, and I had to slightly adjust my strategy to account for their ability to attack from range. Since the number of Skeletons had grown to a whopping 10, with half archers and half regulars, I had my Servants go in first and make a beeline for the Archers. While the risky plan usually led to one or two Servants being killed before my summons could take them out, it also provided me the chance to join in on the fighting.

My Holy Swords made quick work of the Skeletons, the Light properties of the blades allowing for us to carve through their bones like it was nothing. And with each group we killed, my skills leveled up and my small army of summons grew.

Leveled Up - Class:

[Class: Summoner] - Lvl. 15 (Novice)

Leveled Up - Skills:

[Observe] (Active) - Lvl. 23 (Novice)

[Summon: Servant] (Active) - Lvl. 18 (Novice)

[Sacred Gear: Blade Blacksmith] (Common) - Lvl. 18 (Novice)

[Swordsmanship] (Passive) - Lvl. 20 (Novice)

The levels were all still Novice in rank, but Observe is nearly Level 25, which will make it my first Apprentice level skill. [Student] is constantly causing it to level faster than the others, and I'm already guessing that it'll be my first skill to get to Level 100 without having already been MAX'd out by the Game.

I'm also now able to summon a total of 15 Servants to fight alongside me, and quick [Observe] reveals a fact that I'm not too sure how to feel about.

Servant - Level 18

They're officially four levels above me, the skill to summon them is leveling faster now that there are more being used, and each one is carrying a Holy Sword while I've swapped mine out for the iron sword that I made one of them use until now. I can actually summon enough Holy Swords now that I don't have to use the iron blade, but the reason I am is because I finally started working on my Artificer Profession in preparation for my eventual dealings with the Supernatural world.

Leveled Up - Profession:

[Profession: Artificer] - Lvl. 9 (Novice)

I had originally been stumped as to how I'd level it up, before Gaia gave a much-needed hint by pointing out the rusted swords that the Skeletons kept dropping after being defeated.

[Rusted Sword] - (Common)

"A barely held together blade."

Now, while I had no plans on ever wielding one of these crappy pieces of metal, they did count as an item I could practice my Artificer on. Through several trial-and-error attempts, I eventually worked out that I could create a golden magic circle on the ground, where I would then place the blade on it before determining what enchantment I wanted added to the weapon. The options were limited, with only your standard Ice, Fire, Lightning, Wind, and Light for now.

[Rusted Sword] - (Enchanted: Fire)

"A barely held together blade, warmed with a spark of Fire."

Deals additional damage to those weak against Fire.

It seemed that I needed to get up to the higher levels before I can start adding truly unique abilities to things beyond just some basic elemental damage. So for now, I spammed every rusted sword I could pick up with all of the enchantments, leveling up the skill several times before I ran out of the shitty blades.

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