<~> Chapter 230Today was the day. Feyria had talked with me early in the m and gave a final firmation that the riot would happen today and where to meet her people outside the city for the pnned infiltration.

  I opened my notifications to look over the advas I had worked o few days.

  [Ritual Magic has increased from level 10 to level 16][Mana Sense has increased from level 6 to level 8][Drawing has increased from level 12 to level 18][Cartography has increased from level 1 to level 5][Internal Mana Manipution has increased from level 4 to level 5][Light Magic has increased from level 11 to level 12]

  Lots of skill levels from the st few days I've put into improving them. [Ritual Magibsp;being the clear winner in the number of levels improved. Both strug new mana circles and casting various oo test their effects had given me more levels in the skill. [Mana Sense] improved for a simir reason, I had spent so much time looking at the effects of the rituals I was testing that it was being easier to perceive mana.

  [Drawing] improved as well, it leveled both from the sketches I've been doing to rex as well as from copying intricate ritual circles into notebooks and the book of recolles. [Cartography] and [Drawing] are probably both being from my 'natural' skill being higher than the system reizes and making my improvement easier. There's a bit of a feedback loop where my natural skill improves the magic-based system skill which improves my natural skill further. It might be a while before that feedback loop evens out, but I've been able to see the rapid amount of improvement I've made in my sketg as it's increased.

  [Internal Mana Manipution] has also increased but that was mostly from practig my [Enha Magibsp;with Bel out in the garden. It will e in handy once we e into flict with people ihe sver's guild so I made sure to practice with it to keep it sharp. My css, [Novice Magian] gives bes to [Enha Magibsp;so I o make sure I keep improving it. I learned a lot with Theo but I've kind of pteaued at level eight for now, he had suggested that it might just stay there until I use it in real bat but I haven't had any opportunity until now. It would be a bit of a trial by fire but I've practiced with it enough that adjusting some of my spells felt quid natural.

  The st to level up was [Light Magibsp;a modest improvement, but the only reason it leveled at all was because I was regurly practig with [Light Scribing], which is still teically a light magic spell even if I use it to cast ritual circles. The level was still wele though because unlike most normal people, my [Light Manipution] skill had been higher level than my actual base magic skill. That would be odd already for most people, I'm told, but what makes it even odder for my friends is that it's in light magic of all things. It makes sense since I'm often doing very specifibsp;things with light rather than just bigger things with light but it's still abnormal apparently. Getting them both even at level twelve was nice.

  I dismissed the notifications and opened up my status to look over it, including all of my spells this time.

  [Status]Name: Lilith BaphometRace: Greater Succubus [Race Hidden - Dispyed as Beastkin (Sheep)]Gender: FemaleCss: [Novice Magian] Lv. 12Level: 50

  Stat Spread:Strength: 100Vitality: 100Charisma: 10 (754)Luck: 20 (764)Finesse: 70Magitrol: 100Magic Force: 100 (160)Speed: 70 (90)Endurance: 10

  Karmiergy: 7442

  Unallocated Stat points: 0

  Skills:Haggling Lv. 15Swordsmanship Lv. 38Illusion Magic Lv. 6Light Magic Lv. 12Light Manipution Lv. 12Uuna Riding Lv. 13Linguistics Lv. 10Ritual Magic Lv. 16Drawing Lv. 18Mana Sense Lv. 8Luck Magic Lv. 6Enha Magic lv. 8Flying lv. 7Intimidation lv. 1Internal Mana Manipution lv. 5Cartography lv. 5

  Css AbilitiesMert Skill - CalcutionsProstitute Passive - Resist DiseaseProstitute Passive - MagigersProstitute Skill - Ease PainProstitute Skill - Freshen UpProstitute Passive - Tight FitProstitute Passive - Group DynamicsProstitute Passive - Go UnnoticedProstitute Passive - Resist SleepProstitute Skill - ter of AttentionProstitute Skill - Nightcap

  Special Passives:Soulbound panionsSpecial drop rate upSightspeakDouble Down

  Innate Abilities:Karmic RetributionBeing of Karma

  Racial Traits:Succubus stitutionSexual Appetite Lv. 47Succubus Boer Succubus Shifting

  Titles:[World Traveler - Hidden Title][in of Succubi - Hidden Title][Dungeoroyer][First Explorer][Early Intervention][Demon Hunter][Follower of Sorsette][Mother of the Succubi - Hidden Title]

  Spells:Light Magic:Light OrbFirefliesLight BeamLight SignalLight Scribing]Light BurstLight Ward

  Illusion Magie of SilenceEirage

  Luck magic:Melee Hex FlipDie NudgeBckjackA Touch of Good Luck

  Enha Magic:Fme ImbueBde WaltzFocused PerceptionLight ImbueLightfootArmor of Light

  Are Magic:Are Variant Zone of Truth (Boon)

  My spell list is also getting a bit bloated, especially my light magic. There are several spells there that I'm uo use anymore since I got light scribing. [Light Signal] was just an inferior version of [Light Scribing] for my purposes and [Light Orb] was useless on most ehat weren't shadow monsters. Maybe I should spend some time repg the light magipo of the spell and wild casting a different version with a more useful element like Theo had taught us to do using my imbue spell. I'd have to find someone else with an 'orb' skill to pare it to though. I could try to identify the light magic aspect of the spell by paring it to the light magic aspect of [Light Imbue] but that sounds like a project I'm not ready for yet. Magic was so cool, I felt like there were always a million different things to explore at any given moment, I o be careful not to get swept away by it.

  I shook my head. Now wasn't the time to be thinking about that kind of thing. While looking over my css abilities again my eyes caught on [Prostitute Skill - Go Unnoticed] and I read its description again.

  [Go Unnoticed - on Prostitute Ability]Not all pces are kind to whores. Go unnoticed allows you to blend in with those around you and deflect attention away from you even when you're wearing the most eye-catg outfit. Active ability, resisted by [Will], costs mana to maintain.

  This css ability seems like it would be pretty useful right now. Maybe not for the actual infiltration, but getting bato the city without attrag much attention. It seems like it's more for blending into crowds than hiding in shadows. We still did o leave town without being noticed first though.

  "Are you ready to go, Lilith?" Bel asked.

  I nodded. "Yes, I was just looking over my [Status]."

  "Yeah." She sighed. "I'm a little nervous about today. This isn't something I ever pictured I would ever do. Breaking into the sver's guild to essentially start a rebellion..."

  "I... This has been something on my mind since I found out svery was on here in the first pce," I admitted. "I always wao do something to... I don't know, stop it or something but it always seemed like something too big to tackle. I'm not even sure if what we're doing will have that much of an impact, but I still want to try."

  "It might make us wanted criminals you know. If our disguises fail then we could all be hunted down ourselves," Bel said.

  "...Do you think we shouldn't do it?" I asked.

  Bel sighed and paused for a moment before replying, "I want to as well. Svery is... normal to me. I've lived with the idea of people owning other people my entire life and never even... questio until I was the one in a sve yself. It wasn't until after talking to you about your world that I even sidered that it didn't have to be normal. I khat some pces didn't have svery or had less of it, but all of that just seemed so... far away. And after seeing how Man and Torien were when their colrs were removed... I just didn't realize how disgusting the whole thing actually is. I khey were raised as sves but... they were insoble when they were freed... That shouldn't be normal..."

  I nodded in silence. I didn't know what to say in response.

  Bel shook her head. "We should get moving. We o get to the stables and prepare to leave. We want to be ready when the riot starts."

  I nodded a dowairs where everyone else was talking aing a light breakfast. The atmosphere seemed so... merry despite what we were going to do today. It felt at odds with the gravity of what today would bring. We were going to fight people again today. Sure, maybe bad people, maybe people that didn't even deserve to live, but people all the same. Unlike in Norta or those bandits, it wouldn't be because we were being attacked, this time we were going to where we kneeren't supposed to be to iionally get in fights with people. I could already tell that today was going to be hard on me. I wasn't hungry, I did.

  "You have that vat look in your eye, the one soldiers sometimes get." I turo see Silva sittio me. "Are you sure you're up for this? I tell by that look that you already know what is probably going to happen today."

  "How do you cope with it?" I brought my voice to a whisper. "Killing people?"

  Silva was quiet for a moment, she was studying some of the fur on her leg. It was now bck from the transformation, to hide the blood she had told me. "I get angry... and I pretend they're not people. I pretend they're monsters because they often act worse than monsters do. They're borderline demons. So I think of them that way."

  "Does that help?" I asked.

  Silva shrugged. "Sometimes. It's easier the less I know about them. A soldier that is running at me with a spear and is trying to kill me, I'm happy to kill him before he kills me. That be easy. The ohat are hardest for me are actually the ones I target for assassination. They're the ones I learn the most about. I learn all of their vices, their habits, how vile they are, the people they hurt. But I also learn about their family. The ohey love. The mostly i sons and daughters they'll leave behind. I know that I'll be taking their father or mother away, sometimes both. Their parents might be pieces of shit, but it be hard not to pare the orphaned children with myself. After I lost my own parents. Killing people isn't easy... and it shouldn't be. But I still think some people deserve it."

  I sighed.

  She shook her head. "I knorobably didn't help much. I 't really offer you aer advice that isn't just 'get over it.' If I'm ho, I don't even want you to get over it. I like that you don't like to kill other people. As long as you stay like that, I won't o worry about you being as bad as the people I assassinate, or even as bad as I am myself. I will do my best to take that burden from you whenever I , whe's appropriate."

  A moment of silence passed between us before I nodded. "Thank you, Silva. I think that helped plenty."

  She reached over and patted my arm. "You're wele."

  A sudden realization came to me. "Uh, Silva. Have you eaten since being a succubus?"

  Silva's smile faded a little bit. "Raya, Sibyl, and Cecilia helped me out st night. As a succubus, I 't ighose needs. I don't want to be the first of our kind to bee starved."

  "How are things ing with Torien? Any ges?" I asked.

  "Slow, but in the right dire since we talked that time. She isn't avoiding me anymore but a lot of the warmth I used to get from her hasn't returned yet. She's still upset with me but I don't think she's mad at me anymore at least. It won't be a problem on our mission but it seems it will still take time to heal the rift between us."

  I nodded. "I'm gd you've at least made that much progress."

  "Yeah," she replied.

  It was still fairly early when roup finally left the embassy with Tenna and her apprenti tow. Cecilia and Sibyl had gone ahead of us to prepare the carriage and uunas for transport but the rest of us were walking in a rge processioive to the other people out at this time of day. Things got busier once we got to the part of the city he stables though. There were still lots of carriages loading and unloading cargo to other pces. An... unfortunate number of them were loaded up with sves too. These people won't be among the ones who will get a ce to escape during the uping riot today. All I do is hope that the bck eye we're about to give the sver's guild will be a big enough hit to cripple their operations. Wishful thinking but not impossible.

  Tenna was impressed when she saw e carriage and the powerful uunas that pulled it. I got to see the whites of her eyes when she saw how casually I walked up to Nikka and ruffled the fur on her giant head. Nikka gave me a rge messy lick with her rough feliongue, I was less amused by that, but I could see the amusement on the big girl's face. Tenna and her apprentice suddenly felt a lot more fident in Cecilia's, Sibyl's, and Raya's ability to protect the two of them while they waited for us outside of town. The two uunas that pulled our carriage were intimidating and Cecilia's ability to hahem made it clear that she wasn't a pushover herself.

  The carriage pulled up to the gate and the guards did a quispe of the inside of our carriage and asked us a few questions before waving us through. It had holy gone much better than I had expected it to. We didn't eve held up by the Tamin church or questioned why demon hunters were leaving town before the demon problem was rooted out. They took a look at the esissio from the adventurer's guild a fident that everything was normal. Esc Tenna to Traehall had been a great cover as expected.

  Outside of town our carriage pulled off the road after half a bell of travel and doubled ba a less traveled path. We found a secluded yon the elves had directed us to, it ce often used for smuggling because it was hidden from pin view of the town and was a little too far to check stantly. With the tighter security focused on the capital, it's unlikely we would run into anyone here. Once we found a nice shaded spot for the uunas to rest we met with a small group of elves. There was a small stone house rge enough for everyoo meet up in. It was a well-used building by both the smugglers that use this pce as well as the guards that patrol the area when possible. I could guess this pce had a rich history of cat and mouse games between criminals and guards in this city.

  One of Feyria's aides that I reized from the meetings we had, bowed to me. "It's great to see that everyone made it here without any trouble. We best hurry, we don't have much time left."

  I braced myself as I prepared to be transported back to the city.

  Saine

  Hello! We're getting close to the infiltration now! Lots of excitement in the chapters ahead. This is the first day bay normal schedule again, which means the update will be at the normal time Wednesday. I really enjoyed my break, it's helped a lot. I hope everyone had nice holidays, and I look forward to a great new year!

  I almost fot to post this chapter in time haha...

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