<~> Chapter 42"Now, Let's talk."

  A chill ran down my spine as I looked at the old man sitting across from me. The God of Death? He said I wasn't dead but that barely reassured me in this situation.

  I hesitated. "What do we o talk about?"

  "Rex a little, if I were just going to kill or curse you this versation wouldn't be worth my time. I wao ask you about the body you found. The one you left outside the crypt you woke in."

  "Body? The guy who summoned me? I don't know anything about him."

  The man nodded. "Yes, but I was curious about what you did before you left. You pced s on his face, why?"

  "Uh... Well, I didn't have the ability to give him a proper burial and, well, from where I e from there's a story about giving the dead fare to pay Charon the ferryman to cross the rivers styx- er, the river of the dead ierlife. It was once a to pce s over their eyes..."

  "So, this was a ritual for the dead, something akin to a burial ritual of sorts?"

  "Yeah... I'm not really sure what lead me to do that in the moment but it felt right..."

  For the first time the old man smiled a weary smile. "I suppose you call me Charon then, it's been a long time since I've had a name and I've taken a liking to this one."

  I probably shouldn't tell him that Charon isn't precisely an analogue to the god of the dead. If he's taken a liking to it, it's probably best to just leave it that way.

  The old man stood up and walked over to the void and opened a book that hadn't been there a moment before. "The dy of nature and decay owes me a soul then, any soul given a death ritual falls squarely in my domain. I had hoped to crify this sooner but you missed my inal message, you hadn't figured out the system yet and thought it merely a headache." He looked up from his book and smiled his weary smile at that. "The only reason I'm able to talk to you now is that you're close enough to death for the moment." He scraped a long lihrough a page on his tome and the book was gone again.

  "Lilith, I grant you the blessing of ge. I doubt this means anything to yht now but in time you will see that this will open up avenues you wouldn't have had otherwise." Suddenly my right arm lit up in purple light. I looked over to see an intricate crest altering the color of the fur on my inner forearm to a shiny white, just below the crease of my elbow.

  "I 't give you the blessing of death, you mortals 't tell the difference from a mark of death and at this point it would just cause you havoc. Going forward you will tio have my blessing as long as you teach all of your succubi children this ritual of death. Remember to speak the name Charon while doing this ritual, I do not require nor wish for any other forms of worship. Last thing I want is a whole species disturbing my sleep over stupid shit." I paid rapt attention to every word he said as he returo his chair.

  "O thing before you leave this pce. Do not fear your past. It is not for me to tell you the answers you seek but I know the knowledge of it will n you grief or suffering. Go forward without hesitation and bring about the ge I have blessed you with."

  I wasn't able to reply before I was suddenly awoken back to sciousness. All four of the girls were around me when the ceiling came bato view.

  "Lilith." I woke up with my head ying in Bel's p, she was smiling down at me while running her fihrough my fur. I felt sore but otherwise didn't feel any pain. Not even from the leg that had been skewered earlier.

  Maed her hand on my shoulder. "You weren't waking up even after Bel healed you. We were all a little worried."

  Bel stared at my face, her eyes looked watery as if she was on the verge but she held a reassuring smile. "It's okay, I knew you wouldn't leave me yet. I knew you would be alright."

  I sat up and kissed Bel on the forehead. "Thank you for healing me Bel." I turned and looked at Mimi, she was ba her humanoid form and sat o us all looking someuzzled. "Thank you for saving my life Mimi. You stopped the Vampire Queen right before she was about to kill me."

  A smile grew on her face before she leaned in and hugged me. "You're wele Lilith! I thought you might be mad at me for stealing your prey..."

  I ughed. "Of course not, we're a team, my prey is all of our prey." I looked over at Torien. "Is everyone else okay? No other injuries?"

  She smiled with a snarky grin, "Of course not, you're the only ohat would get lost in her own thoughts in the middle of a fight."

  Ouch, she really got me there. It's a little frightening how perceptive she could be.

  I sighed. "I let myself get distracted in the middle of a fight. This isn't a game, I o treat things more seriously. I'm sorry."

  Man ughed, "Now now, don't get all serious on us now party leader. I like your id back attitude, just try not to get us all killed."

  She said it as a joke but I winced a bit inside.

  "...Lilith, what's this?" Bel asked holding my arm away from my body, revealing the mark Charon had given me."

  I hesitated but decided there wasn't really much reason to hide it. "While I was unscious I was visited by the god of death and ge."

  Man and Torien both sharply inhaled but Bel just tilted her head. Bel let go and backed up as Torien took over iing the py fur that had turned a bright shade of white. She traced through the crest but sat ba relief. "It's not a mark of death." Man looked equally relieved a out a breath.

  "Charon said it was a blessing of ge. He said that he could have given me a blessing of death as well but um, 'mortals' couldn't tell the differeween a mark of death and a blessing of death."

  Man flicked one of her cat ears, cute. "Charon? Eh, unimportant, anyway, the god of death marks people from time to time. In a way it doesn't matter which you get, one means yoing to die soon, the other makes you better at killing... Most of the people who have the blessing of death are assassins and are ruthlessly hunted down by the different Churches and the adventurer's guild. There's essentially an open bounty ohat almost everyone will cash in on. Even this one, while it doesn't have the same otations, might not be looked at too fondly by some of the churches."

  "I guess I uand the blessing of death part but why would they care so much about other blessings?"

  Man and Torien looked at each other for a moment before Man tinued. "Most people who receive a blessing of the gods do it through a ritual ducted by one of the Churches and are generally ordained as Heroes... Anyone found with a blessing from outside one of the churches is looked at with skepticism at best, it happens from time to time when a gnizes a great deed but a lot of the time it's a artist trying to get the bes of being a hero. I... trust you Lilith, especially since you don't eveo know what we're talking about, but killing a dungeon boss shouldn't be enough to get blessed by a god..."

  I looked at my arm and traced my finger along the crest. "He said that I created a death ritual when I found a body maybe... five days ago? There's a story where I e from about pg s onto the eyes of the deceased to pay Charon to ferry you across the river of the dead. He took that name and told me that I would have this blessing as long as I taught others to follow this ritual too. At the time that this happened I wasn't... in a position to access the system so I missed his message. He waited till today because I came close enough to death for us to talk..."

  There was silence for a moment while everyone processed my words. Mimi was staring ily at me for some reason and Bel was leaning against me.

  Torien finally broke the silence. "You're a strange one Lilith. I hope whoever ends up being our master doesn't have any issues with you, because if anyone else heard any of this story people would bee very ied in you ht."

  I nodded. "So what do you think? Should I try to find a way to hide this crest?" As if in respoo my words I received a system message.

  [Blessing of ge] alters [Minor Physical Shapeshifting (Succubus)] into [Succubus Shifting]*[in of Succub has upgraded [Succubi Shifting] into a core [Succubus] Racial trait. All [Succub will now have automatic access to this trait.

  [Succubus Shifting - Racial Trait (Succubus) - Hidden]The god of ge has upgraded your ability to alter your form. You are now able to alter any part of your appearance, features, or proportions as long as you afford the strain on your mana. Alterations that deviate too far from your true form will be harder to trol and maintain. You are able to shapeshift your tohiess ah and trol it like a prehensile an as well as shapeshift yenitalia. Shapeshifted genitalia are not virile or fertile unless naturally so in your true form. This skill and its effects are uable to system identifiana is reserved to maintain this ability’s effects as long as it’s kept active.

  I looked over at Bel and noticed she had gotten that far away look people get when they're looking at something in their system. From the message I got, it was a safe bet that she just got access to the [Succubus Shifting] trait as well. I looked down at my arm and willed the rait to make the crest blend into the rest of my fur. O was indistinguishable I looked back up to Torien who just looked at me with a ft look on her face. "I'm not going to ask," she said in a deadpan voice.

  "Well, at least it shouldn't cause any problems this way."

  I had no way of directly measuring my mana pool but the alteration to my fur didn't seem to have a noticeable effe it. Bigger ges were probably more noticeable but it really wasn't the right time to test it ht now. Man, I keep getting weird sex upgrades faster than I'm able to use them. I haven't even gotten a ce to properly use my pseudo-penis on Bel and now we both transform.

  I stood up and looked at the thro the end of the hall where the Vampire Queen had inally been sitting. I looked down at myself for a moment, my clothes were covered in dried blood and the pant leg where I had been pierced by the blood spear was torn to shreds. I ripped off the torn remains of the pant leg so I wouldn't trip over it, unfortunately it left my leg feeling a bit drafty.

  "All that should be left is the treasure and the dungeon cht?" I asked Torien.

  "Yep, then we finally get out of this dreary pce."

  I looked around and saw that everyone seemed ready to go. Mimi stepped over to me and id her hand on my sword sheath. She began to shift, her body looked like it turned into liquid metal as she reformed into the sword on my belt.

  I gently squeezed Mimi's hilt. "fy?"

  "Mhmm!" I smiled, the mimic's cheerful attitude was iious and touched me a little bit. I probably would have died had I not vinced her to bee a succubus earlier today and she seemed happy just to be ing along.

  "Alright, lets go check out that treasure then!"

  Saine

  Hello! I hope this chapter was iing! chapter irls finally get out of the dungeon! It's ly smooth sailing from here though. I hope you e and I'll see you ime!

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