Toulif is afraid.

  He has never been more scared before. Every instinct he has is telling him to run for his life. He can feel Tiffany's bloodlust fill every inch of the dungeon. Every split second is a near death experience and all Tiffany is doing is looking at him.

  The Eldritch Horror tilts her head and the fear vanishes. His fear hasn’t dissipated entirely, but he no longer feels like he is on the edge of death.

  Beatzuly and Toulif gasp for air as they realize that they are holding their breath. Toulifs heart beats rapidly as he grabs his chest. She must have decided to not kill them.

  Tiffany speaks with a grin “Huh... level 53? Were you scared? Wait.” Tiffany gasps “You’re so cute!”

  Tiffany appears right in front of Toulif without any warning or build up to a teleport. Was that not a teleport? Is she just that fast? Toulif nearly falls backwards, but Tiffany catches him by grabbing his arm.

  “Woah there! Sorry, I got a little excited.” She turns to the demon on his shoulder “What’s your name!” She asks in a cheery and almost unnatural voice.

  The Nav Imp peaks behind Toulif’s back as she tries to squeak out her voice. “B- Beatzuly.”

  Tiffany smiles in a way that they both find unnerving. “Beatzuly huh, that’s a pretty cool name. That reminds me, where’s Geltor?” She turns back to Toulif with furrowed brows.

  Toulif can’t help but think, oh no. “Uh, he returned back to hell after we found the vice captain.”

  Much to Toulif’s and Beatzuly’s horror, Tiffany frowns at that. “Aww, I didn’t get to say goodbye.” She shrugs “Welp, that's how it goes sometimes.”

  Toulif blinks at that. That was it? No rampage? He breathes a sigh of relief.

  “Well, it’s good to meet another demon. You’re like a cat. It’s so cute!”

  Toulif's mind strains at the words of the Eldritch Horror. What’s a cat? He shakes his head. She must be trying to generate more confusion.

  Beatzuly hops off Toulif’s shoulder and runs past Tiffany. The Nav Imp goes to touch the Roach Empress’s corpse and she turns back to yell at Toulif. “Okay, the job is finished! I’m leaving now!”

  A pentagram forms at the demon's feet and the black hands of the first devil reach up and grab Beatzuly. The Nav Imp quickly fades from existence and nothing is heard except for the crackling of fire as Toulif realizes that he is now alone with the Eldritch Horror.

  Toulif slowly turns to see Tiffany looking on at where the demon vanished. He is unable to see her expression, but his soul fills with dread as her silence continues.

  Toulif finches when Tiffany suddenly deflates and clicks her tongue “Awww, man.”

  ---

  Why did the cute Nav Imp run away?! I mean, I did use Terrifying Presence. Maybe it’s way more effective than I thought.

  I shake my head at the short interaction. Beatzuly is a badass name too, I kinda wanted to befriend her. I turn back to look at the cultist. Much better than Toulif. I grin at the thought of the dumb name which, obviously, disturbs Toulif.

  Toulifs soul is filled with fear and doubt. I think I should try to calm him down, but how? I scratch my chin as I stare at him in silence. He only gets more uneasy by the second.

  I decide that I need to say something “So, how's Eva doing? Is she alright?”

  Toulif fear suddenly dissipates, only to be replaced with anger. He looks at the dead Roach Empress and sighs. “She’s fine now.”

  I blink at Toulif “Now? What does that mean?”

  Toulif hesitates, but elaborates “Eh- She was affected by the Roach Empress’s mind magic, but now that it’s dead she will be okay.”

  My eye widens as I look in the direction of Eva’s soul. It’s dimmed slightly, but she is alive. I sigh at that, but how was she affected by the roaches magic?

  Then I remembered the ‘bridges.’ My soul has two bridges. One goes to some unknown place where my mana comes from. The other is connected to Eva’s soul. I don’t know when we were connected, but all that matters is that we are.

  Did the Roach Empress somehow send her magic through that bridge? I blink as I shift my perspective deep within my soul. I’m suddenly confused.

  “What?”

  Toulif gathers enough courage to speak “What is it?”

  I blink at Toulif and shake my head “It’s nothing. Let’s return to the party, yeah. I’ll lead the way since I know where Eva is.”

  Toulif scratches the back of his head “Sure?” His fear dissipates a bit more which is good. I would say he’s confused and wary now. I think I should be direct with him.

  I speak casually as I walk past Toulif “I have no intention to hurt anyone related to Eva. I don’t really have a way to prove my words, so…” I turn and give him a shrug.

  I can see Toulif having trouble processing my words, but he snaps out of it as I start walking away. He starts to follow me in silence. I can tell he doesn’t trust me at all, but now his soul seems slightly reassured regardless. I guess that’s enough for now.

  Onto more important things. I shift my perspective to my soul once more. That's so weird… The bridge that mana flows from has changed. It’s no longer coming from beneath my feet, but directly above me. Did the source of mana move at some point?

  I focus on my soul as I think on what this could mean. I blink as I get an idea. Maybe magic comes from space… Mana comes from some celestial object and the world just rotates?

  My eye widens as I realize something. I could just ask Toulif. I glance back at him and he doesn’t react, but his soul is tense. A weird question shouldn’t scare him right? It wouldn’t scare me, but if it came from someone I was already scared of?... Eh, fuck it.

  “Hey Toulif, do you know where mana comes from?”

  Toulif’s soul goes dim for a moment “Er- uh.” He doesn’t know what to say.

  I sigh “It’s not a trick question, cause I genuinely don’t know.”

  Toulif looks at me for a moment as we walk and his soul brightens slightly “Mana comes from the source.”

  So it has a name. I smile at his response “What’s the source?”

  “The source is where everything comes from. As for what it is, I don’t know.” He shakes his head.

  I grin as I think of something funny “So that’s why it's called sorcery!” I hold back a snicker and Toulif stops walking for a moment to stare at me. Surprisingly I’m unable to tell what he is feeling. Maybe it’s too complex an emotion, I don’t know.

  We continue walking in silence.

  For now I have some introspection to do. My skills have changed and I don’t really understand them right now. I want to change that.

  The first class skill I meditate on is Instant Position. I found that this is not teleportation in the traditional sense. It’s way weirder-

  I'm sure that this is the same thing the roaches use. I take the ‘data’ that’s my current position and rewrite it to be somewhere else. That changed data is then forced to become reality with mana and I effectively teleport. Space itself isn’t even affected in the process. I can’t distort space with an inward flow of mana after all. That would be magic that affects the world, not the body.

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  I wouldn’t even call it space magic! It’s like I’m manipulating the concept of my position. I’m glad I didn’t go with The Way of The Space when I had the option. It was completely incompatible with my soul's structure. Well, maybe it would have changed my soul so it would be possible. I guess I’ll never know.

  Next I move onto Aura of Constitution, and I don’t find anything that exciting. Though the aura is far stronger and way more efficient. Also, every level seems to add 5% to the strength and durability increase. At level 4 it's 65% more strength and durability. The efficiency of the healing is also increased, but it doesn’t state by how much in the description of the skill.

  This in conjunction with Magical Aura Manipulation… Holy shit dude. It’s a 260% increase if the aura coats one limb. That’s an effective durability of around 480 and an effective strength of around 350. At the same time!

  I’m so grateful to Ydri for giving Magical Aura Manipulation. I didn’t realize at the time and was super pissy about it, but if it didn’t give me that, I would be 100% dead right now.

  I tried to increase the multiplication of the modifier, but trying to condense my whole soul to just my hand for increased efficiency was dangerous. My soul started to crack and if I didn’t let go, it would have detonated in my body and it would not be pretty. I think I should be happy with just the x4 multiplier.

  Next it’s time to play with Soul Conjuration. It can basically do everything SoulFire could do and more.

  Soul Conjuration wouldn’t be possible without Magical Aura Manipulation. I create a new section of soul and push it out of my body. A ball of black fire floats in my hand. It doesn’t hurt from being outside of my body, because it’s not part of my original soul.

  Toulif flinches at the sight of the black fire, but doesn’t say anything. He averts his gaze and that seems to calm him down somewhat. I knew it-

  I had a feeling that the ‘presence’ skills are affected by line of sight. The less of the aura someone sees, the less effective Terrifying Presence and Obscene Presence would be. Having confirmation is nice.

  I turn my attention to the ball of SoulFire.

  With Magical Aura Manipulation, I can freely move the ball of fire around my body. I can also send the fire away from me, about 20 feet before I lose control over it. The ball of soul retains its shape past that point, but can no longer freely manipulate it. I can feel that I can still crush it to make it explode if I wanted to though.

  I pull the ball of black fire back to my hand with Magical Aura Manipulation, with Soul Conjuration however… The fire rapidly shifts into a soul-dagger and I grab the handle.

  That’s so cool-

  I can make weapons out of my own God. Damn. Soul. I mess around with it, making several weapons that come to mind. A soul-sword, a soul-sledgehammer, a soul-scythe, and others.

  I would say these weapons are about as durable as my base durability, maybe a bit stronger. I think their durability scales with the skills level and not my own durability.

  I let the conjured fragment of soul return and the mana lost creating it returns to me. I make a mental note of the trade off. Manipulating the soul with Magical Aura Manipulation doesn’t cost any mana. So, creating a conjured soul fragment and flinging it around the room and having it return to me, makes the effective mana cost zero. Shifting the soul fragment into a soul-whatever does cost mana however. Something to keep in mind.

  I saved the most upsetting for last. Excessive Momentum. This skill is strong, but unfortunately, it’s not a magical skill. It’s completely unaffected by my aura, so no focusing the skill to make it stronger.

  At level 4 it has the potential to increase all my stats up to 65% and it stacks with Aura of Constitution.

  It fucking stacks-

  That’s an effective durability of 800 and an effective strength of 570 at full momentum. That’s disgusting. I think because the skill affects the stats directly, Aura of Constitution applies on top of it and isn’t additive.

  I want to test this as soon as possible but-

  How do I increase momentum? During the fight with the Roach Empress the momentum was completely maxed out the moment I got the skill. Right now though, it’s hovering around 3%.

  I think I know why, “Toulif!”

  His soul flashes bright and he grips his sword. The momentum increases to about 5%. I knew it-

  I give him a smile and wave “Hi!”

  I continue walking like nothing happened and Toulif reluctantly follows. The momentum is now sitting at 4%.

  The description of Excessive Momentum literally says I come at the cost of others. So, the more I negatively affect those around me, the more momentum I receive. Anything negative, from damage, I glance at Toulif, to fear.

  I sigh, this sucks. It’s a really powerful skill, but doubles as a constant reminder.

  I decided to punch the wall. I wanted to see if damaging the environment also increased the momentum. My fist crashed into the dungeon wall and digs into the rock. Cracks explode outward and my momentum goes up to 7%.

  My hope rises slightly, but I immediately frown. I look over at Toulif as I pull my hand out of the wall. “Sorry, I was testing something.”

  The momentum drops to 5% as Toulif stares at me. I ignore him and keep walking.

  My eye widens as I remember a certain trait-

  My head snaps to the left as Magical Aura Perception picks something up.

  “Toulif, we’re taking a detour.”

  I can almost feel Toulif frown behind his mask “Why?”

  I grin at him “I want to test something, you’re welcome to watch of course!”

  I expected him to protest, but to my surprise “Alright, then.”

  My smile deepens “Sweet, follow me!”

  ---

  Toulif is disturbed.

  The presence of the Eldritch Horror is completely erratic in every way. Before she revealed her level she mostly talked to the other demon. She was mostly passive if anything until the incident with that Roach Gladiator.

  But now she says things at random. She punched a wall without warning to ‘test something.’ Tiffany even set him up to make a fucking pun.

  Toulif knows that this is all just to confuse him, but even so, it bends his mind.

  And now he is following Tiffany for her to once again ‘test something.’ He felt like he couldn’t say no so he didn’t upset the dangerous demon.

  Eventually after a few minutes of walking they came across a monster.

  (Abominable Serpent / level 24)

  Tiffany immediately speaks up “This monster is mine. Do. Not. Interfere.”

  Toulif shakes at the threat. Does she want to test her abilities on the monster? Is that why they are here?

  The serpent roars/hisses at them as Tiffany creates two daggers made from black fire. The black fire unnerves Toulif. It feels like the fire is about to jump at him to attack him at any moment. Even the monster suddenly goes quiet.

  She’s intimidating it? Those kinds of monsters aren’t intelligent enough to avoid fights with those higher leveled, but even they aren’t immune to the sheer fear the Eldritch Horror emanates.

  Tiffany appears right in between the two heads of the serpent and stabs her daggers into each neck.

  Toulif catches a glimpse of her face and it’s filled with joy. It sends shivers down his spine.

  Tiffany starts laughing as she runs down the length of the monster. The two daggers have formed into a scythe and she drags it through the creature.

  Once she reaches its end, the serpent goes to hit her with its tail. As the tail almost reaches her, Toulif notices white air come from Tiffany’s mouth. She flicks her hand at the tail as it reaches her and the tail shatters like glass.

  The Abominable Serpent roars in pain as Tiffany jumps off the trashing creature.

  The creature stares at the Eldritch Horror with hate in its eyes. Tiffany madly grins back at the monster as her right arm erupts into black flames. As she raises her fist, Toulif starts sweeting. It’s like he’s looking at a devil. One of the serpents heads starts to whimper, but the other head steals itself.

  The serpent blows fire at the demon and she vanishes. Toulif immediately catches her at the base of the large serpent with her flaming fist pulled back.

  Tiffany throws the punch and the serpent evaporates-

  A shockwave blasts Toulifs ears as the bloodied gore of the serpent slams the back wall and the dungeon quakes. In the direction she threw the punch rocks exploded outward and an adjacent path collapsed. Tiffany’s laughter over takes the rumbling of the dungeon as rocks start to fall from the ceiling.

  Toulif watches the spectacle in horror. For some reason, without thinking, he asks Tiffany a question. “Why are you laughing?”

  Toulif immediately regrets his actions as Tiffany’s head snaps to him, her face filled with a sadistic glee. “Because it fucking stacks!”

  Toulif is confused-