Spiritual Ascension Online (SAO AU - SI Quartet) - Chapter 3

Launch Day Part 3

The probably-a-tanuki brought her pipe back to her mouth and took a long, deep drag before exhaling a plume of smoke above Kana's head. "Still, I said I'd help and I'll be damned if I weasel out just 'cause a child has poor taste." Pointing her pipe at Kana, she continued. "Riiiight, since you seem to have a good idea of the mindset you wish to cultivate, let's just go through the mechanics of it."

"First, access your mana so that you have energy to cast your trickery with." She instructed. "But instead of feedin' it to your limbs like most magicians do, run it through your head first, while thinkin' of the image you want to conjure. Then cycle the mana to the area of your body you wish to use as a medium for your cast. Mouth or eyes are classic, but it's possible to do it through motion or a snazzy finger snap if you get the talent for it."

Looking away from Kana and towards the crowds around Place Louis-Lepine she arched with her pipe over the crowds. "We won't be botherin' Prefecture with their workload. Here's your targets. Keep it harmless and relatively non-disruptive, will you? Otherwise, as long as it's funny, go nuts."

Kana nodded, listening to the woman's instructions with a careful ear, doing exactly as she'd said. She 'accessed her mana', ran it through her head, and brought an image to mind. A series of fireworks should do the trick fairly nicely, so long as she toned down the sound severely so it didn't shock anyone overmuch. Starbursts and various images came to mind, and with a glance upwards, she snapped her fingers, "Boom."

The small gathering of NPCs startled at the sound and sight of fireworks going off above their heads. A few passing players cheered with vigorous 'wooohoo’s. One even looked curiously around trying to spot the launchers, or vendors, to add more.

'Definitely good that my first attempt succeeded and I didn't look completely stupid.' Kana thought to herself, her eyes sparkling as she gazed upon the magic she had conjured. This, this was why she'd shelled out the money for SAO and the Nerve Gear. Because holy shit, this was a rush that couldn't be beaten. Heck, even the way the mana flowed in her body had been emulated. A strange sensation, honestly, but it was definitely a fun one.

The level of detail was immaculate, honestly.

The tanuki hummed approvingly as she beheld Kana’s successful cast.

"S'ppose with the influx of people, there's cause for celebratin'." The tanuki mused idly. "Now, just don't go thinkin' you can weasel out of everythin' with'em. They are not'ere at the end of the day, after all. I guess specialising further would require you to figure yourself deeper." Sighing, she grumbled. "There's a space in Bois de Boulogne, y'know. Was supposed to be a parcel there cut for a small shrine for ours to be set up, but the construction has been... not going. If you snoop around, Miko might have a way for you to turn… foxy." She exaggerated the grimace to the point of absurdity as she said the word, but kept her tone light. "Lazy butt is gonna have you do her errands before it happens, probably."

"Thank you for your advice, sensei. I suppose it is not much, but one of my partners is a raccoon. If that assuages your pride at all, that is." She smirked a bit at that. A reaction, of course, would certainly be interesting, but it also wasn't something she needed. Teasing people was just fun, after all.

"And here I thought what me and Miko had going was scandalous enough." The tanuki NPC drawled with a quirk up of her lips as she took a deep huff of her pipe. "So, you want to make sure your 'shiftin' game is up to meet your love bird's needs too, or are you that confident in your foxy fingers?" She asked after a moment, taking another look at Kana.

'So they were fucking' Kana mused, an amused smile flickering on her face briefly before she returned to being serious for a bit. It seemed that SAO wasn't afraid of being sexual about things when the situation called for it. She considered the question for a moment, before replying, "I'm sure I'm capable of pleasing said partner as I am, but it never hurts to improve my 'game' as it were. Everyone wins, after all. I get to feel better about the pleasure they get, they get to feel better, ya know, the like!"

“Still need a countrywoman's help with somethin', eh?" The conversation finally hiccuped as the NPC was forced to recycle her earlier line because, apparently, Kana managed to stumble on another way to trigger the skill acquisition dialogue. "Right, Shapeshiftin'. Relies on cyclin' your mana through body and mind. Mind for self image, then suffuse the part you want changed." The tanuki explained. "If you get real good, combat-worthy shiftin' is on the table. Never tried extra limbs, so don't ask me if it would let you grab more weapons, though."

Leaning back, she crossed her legs, her limbs elongating almost comically in proportion to the rest of the body. "The skill lies in the speed and complexity of the change. The better you're, the faster you will change, and the more you can deviate from your default."

Considering Tanuki's words with an expression of concentration, Kana nodded, not at all minding the sudden tongue in her face. It was, of course, mildly jarring, but it was also an extremely well done example of what she might be able to do with enough skill. Considering things, the silver-haired fox focused on a mental image different from the avatar she was currently using. Her silver hair turned white (complete with a small streak of pink), her eyes gained a heart as a pupil and turned a slightly lighter blue, her tail and ears disappeared, and her clothes changed from military to 'schoolgirl'. In the same breath, her breasts and size shrunk significantly, from 5'9" with a D cup to something closer to 4'9" with a C or B cup.

The change itself, however, was taking a while. Even with cycling her mana through her entire body, let alone her clothes, the process was taking significantly longer than the near instant transformations her teacher was accomplishing. It was, of course, to be expected, given how ambitious she'd made the change, but it was still a bit annoying. Something to work on, since being able to swap between appearances definitely appealed to her quite a bit, and shapeshifting in general was always helpful for blending in.

"Really went and decided on full scale for your refresher, hm?" The tanuki snorted. "I guess it works, partial can be tricky if you're pullin' on somethin' radically different." Inspecting Kana's appearance further, with careful prods of her pipe to make sure there was no shoring up weaknesses in the transformation with illusion, she eventually leaned back.

"Good enough." She shook her head. "Anyway, you gotta decide what you need to focus on for now until you get a better grasp of your instinctive abilities. I mean, you can practise both, but it will require more investment from you." She warned.

True to the NPC's words, the game's system chimed relatively unobtrusively with the decision to make.

[Designate a Skill to occupy a Racial Slot: Shapeshifting, Illusion]

[Do you wish to automatically assign the other Skill to an unoccupied, fitting slot?] 

Humming rather happily to herself, Kana took the warnings from the Tanuki to heart as she deftly designated Shapeshifting to her racial slot and declined to assign Illusion to an unoccupied slot. It was definitely something she could potentially look into later, but for now, she was rather content to keep Shapeshift as her combat slash infiltration option. It was, in many ways, simply just better for what she had planned than Illusion. She could pick the other art up later, provided that things went according to her general plans to play the game.

"Thank you... I never did get your name, Miss Tanuki. Regardless, I'll be heading off to see your woman now~" She chirped, giving a cheeky wave towards the NPC

___________________________________________________________________________

The last chamber, just as the tutorial NPC explained, did contain only the COMP device resting in the glass case in the middle of the otherwise unremarkable room resembling a monastic cell. Although poorly lit, Marie could tell the walls of the room still held to the same blue-red aesthetic as the hallway preceding it.

[COMP (Quest Item) - In the ages past, daemonologists had to rely on drawing complex ritual circles and long, cautious study to harness the forces of hell. Oft relegated to hidden cultists and hermits, the art had a sinister reputation for a long time. Due to their contributions during the Arcano War, there has been a push to study and develop the discipline. COMP Device (Computerised Occult Mechanical Printer Device) is a result of decades of study and development, a mago-technological device housing a series of miniaturised 'generic' occult circles cycled into focus through a series of gears. Another crucial component draws on the user's energy to offer as a 'sacrifice' to the currently slotted-in circle, allowing for a quick and efficient casting of previously unwieldy demonic rites. Each COMP device is attuned to the energy of its specific wielder, making it conveniently unusable by any potential thieves.]

All that remained was pick it up and return, which after the excitement of the previous two chambers felt a little bit anticlimactic.

"You return more than successful." The old monk noted idly once Marie and Sloth came back to the main chamber. His gaze lingered on the summoned demon for a moment before he indicated the circle. Sloth wordlessly made over and turned around, giving Marie a grunt of acknowledgement before disappearing into the cloud of dark red particles. "Few novice daemonologists not brought into this path from within Church's ranks give Sloth such a positive impression."

Taking the COMP device from Marie, the tutor put it on the altar. "Now, the most important part. Learning how to attune and activate the COMP device. Once you know this, you will be able to practise the craft freely and safely." Motioning her to come closer, he continued. "It's not complicated, but the air of mystique helps prevent any two bit troublemaker from just absconding with a COMP and making trouble." Carefully, the old man split the device open and indicated a small, pearl sized component at the heart of the machine. "Largely, it relies on feeding both your blood and mana to the core of the COMP, imprinting your spiritual signature onto it. It's easiest done with a fresh device. If you were to find one out in the field, it would require exponentially more of both to overwrite the previous owner. Here, have a try."

Gauntlet away, knife out. This time, a cut lengthwise through her right index, to more carefully daub the crystal in blood charged with mana. 

"How does one go about obtaining a familiar, elder?" Rockefeller asked as she worked. One of the biggest reasons she’d gone for Daemonology, really. She just didn't know how to get there beyond levelling the damn thing.

"Took a liking to Sloth, have you?" The old monk chuckled heartily as he oversaw Marie's actions, a healing spell ready to fix her up. "He and I go a long way, even if our first meeting was something of an accident."

"I would love to hear the story some other time, maybe over some abbey beer?" Rockefeller asked. Delicious, delicious lore, come to momma.

"Normally, you need a name of the daemon you wish to bind closer to you. That is the easiest way to do it, for most often, only notable demons have names by which they can be called. On the other hand, with notable demons, the pact is more equal, if not lopsided in their favour. I'd advise against making that kind of deal, dear." The monk wagged his finger. "It gives you a lot of power quickly, true, but the strings attached tend to weigh one down more oft than not."

"Outside of a properly sealed pact with a named demon? The first step, as you can probably guess, involves giving your prospective familiar a name. It's no guarantee even then, you see. Demons most likely to be subservient to you at this stage are some of the weakest, and weak demons tend to lack in memory permanence, acting more on instinct and impulse than long term plan. It takes a fair few repeats for the connection to properly imprint. Feeding such named demon your mana before it returns home is another step, further establishing tighter connection between you and them"

"Finally, you must provide them with proper sustenance. Mana is all well and good, but they are creatures of Hell and Hell is, at the end of the day, a realm in which Sin pools. The final step after that, once they internalise their name, accept your offering of energy and begin feeding off the Sin you surround yourself with is complicated." His brow furrowed. "I'd advise a deeper grounding in Rituals, or if you baulk at studying the field, finding an open minded expert to perform a proper binding rite."

[Daemonology: Familiars - Using the Summon feature of the Skill summons a specific maximum tier of demon. These demons are impermanent summons with a fixed level and abilities and a set personality template. It is, however, possible to bind one closer to you, allowing it to grow and change depending on your needs and circumstance (as well as its Sin template). The process, however, is somewhat lengthy.]

[Quest Started: Familiar Face - Bind a demon as a familiar,]

[Requirements:]

[>Summon a demon]

[>>Keep a demon summoned for a minimum of 3 hours.]

[>>>Name a demon.]

[>>>>Have a demon Summoned when gaining a corresponding Sin and offer Sin to the demon.]

[>>>>>Use Ritual of Binding.]

[Note that certain actions outside of combat allow you to gain Sin without the need for using Hellbolt or other Sin-generating skills. Caution is advised as most such actions are considered unlawful.]

"I'm confident the right bit of runesmithing will get the job done without need of a ritualist!" Then after a beat, she coughed, "At least for binding a simple imp. I figure helping one rise as I grow will be safer."

"Thank you for your time, elder!" With that and a sharp bow at the waist, she was off to get her Axe Fundamentals tutorial out of the way. Really, just filler to give her time to fiddle with the COMP fitted around her right forearm. She needed to figure out what the imps looked and acted like before choosing one as her familiar-to-be!