Taking Stock

Irwin used to do odd jobs when he was a young man. From dishwashing to union busting, he had done it all. But when he was but a neophyte in the inner workings of doing back-breaking work, he had been duped into taking a job in 'sewer maintenance'.

One might think that it would involve cleaning out rat or cockroach dens or being a city engineer's runner, but he was more than surprised, angry even, when he found out that this job entails cleaning clogged sewage drains and replacing broken drainage pipes. The smell alone put him in a month-long misery yet that was not his greatest gripe on that particular job, it was the abysmal treatment and low pay for such a ball-busting job.

But what can he do? He had yet to finish his GED at the time and nobody in their right mind would hire a kid with a sealed juvenile record.

The reason he was reminiscing about tales of old was that the same smell permeated the chamber he was currently locked in. The musk of blood, bile, corruption, and entrails had coalesced and concocted a putrid, malevolent odor that made his stay even more miserable than the pain coursing through his constantly regenerating body.

What made his stay in the godforsaken room worth it, save for the obvious consequence of his actions, was that after that relevant skills were upgraded after that half-a-week of grueling agony.

[ Character Sheet | Skill | Supernatural Record | Status | Quest | Trade Store ]

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[Irwin Bellios]

▪︎ Alias: Sebastian… Greythorne IV; Lazlo Cravensworth; Aaron Hotchner…

▪︎ Age: 23

▪︎ Race: Baneblood (Human)

▪︎ Blood Type: O Negative

▪︎ Job: Wiccan Apprentice [Lvl 04]

▪︎ Experience: 89%

▪︎ Hunts: Demon; Demon; Natural Witch; Pagan…

…

[Charlotte Patricia Barbaro-Pamphili]

▪︎ Known Alias: ???

▪︎ Age: ???

▪︎ Race: Human

▪︎ Blood Type: AB Positive

▪︎ Profession: Witch

▪︎ Hunts: Demon; Demon; Borrower Witch; Borrower Witch; Fragmented Shadar…

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His level has gone up by one and, soon enough, it will be at the fifth level. Since he would normally have some kind of reward every time it levels up by one, it was set in his mind that a change would happen once it goes up to Level 05.

'Hopefully,' he thought, 'it's something cool. What am I thinking? It's always something cool'

He was actually surprised to see that his spree of corpse trading and killing didn't get him to Level 05, which meant that leveling up further past that would be much harder. It also meant that he either needed to up his numbers game–something he was currently working on–or increase the quality of his hunts.

The angels would be a divine target for him. Forgive his pun.

The problem with that thinking, however, was that the angels are historically overpowered. Even when they were hilariously outnumbered by the demons, one million to one, they have the superior firepower in that fight.

He couldn't consume another of those experimental Angel's Grace, not even if Chuck himself was begging him to.

That meant he would need to increase his skills and their respective levels, his repertoire of magik spells and rituals, learn how to create potions, or spend a fuck-ton of credits for the most powerful of weapons and items in the store.

'With how the Viceroy's Promise could take on Dagon's attacks, I'm partial to just going on a shopping spree, actually.' He snickers to himself.

A surge of pain interrupted Irwin's thoughts, but before it could scourge through his body, he brought up another window to distract himself.

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Skills Magik Recipes

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Personal Skill

▪︎ Marksmanship (Lvl 04)

▪︎ Alcohol Tolerance

▪︎ Natural Order (Lvl MAX)

▪︎ Unarmed Combat (Lvl 06 -> 07)

▪︎ Swordsmanship (Lvl 04 -> 06) (New Effect!)

▪︎ Krousurgy (Lvl 05)

▪︎ Pain Tolerance (Lvl 04 -> 06) (New Effect!)

Job Skill

▪︎ Human Magic (Lvl 05 -> 06)

▪︎ Arcane Resistance (Lvl 07 -> 08)

▪︎ Potioneering (Lvl 01 -> 02)

System Skill

▪︎ Natural Resistance (Lvl 08)

▪︎ Enhanced Physique (Lvl 04)

▪︎ Danger Sense (Lvl 04) (Temporary)

▪︎ Feather Form (Lvl 01) (Temporary)

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Not much has changed since the last time he browsed it. He thought he would get a new Job Skill, but found only an option to pick a new spell and a new recipe. It wasn't much of a disappointment, especially with the addition of the recipe.

As he glanced at his temporary System Skills, Irwin was reminded of the last time he did this. It was almost a week ago to this day that he was saved by the gentle giant. It was a shame that he was essentially made useless by Dagon.

'Fuck, it felt like it's been a month at least.' Amused by his thoughts, he returned to the menu and chose the magik section.

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Personal Magik

▪︎ Mind Guardian (Lvl 04) (Human)

▪︎ Flame Whip (Lvl 07 -> 09) (Human)

▪︎ Blood Scry (Lvl 06) (Fairy)

▪︎ Blight Hex (Lvl 02) (Human)

▪︎ Enochian/Angel Banishing Sigil (Lvl 01) (Celestial)

System Magik

▪︎ Ward Of Obviation (Lvl 02) (Pagan)

▪︎ Age Transfiguration (Lvl 02) (Pagan)

▪︎ Energy Shield (Lvl 03) (Human)

▪︎ Vessel Immobilization (Lvl 02 -> 03) (Human)

▪︎ Solitary Immolation (Lvl 02) (Human)

▪︎ Summon Wildling (Lvl 02) (Fairy)

▪︎ Will Domination (Lvl MAX) (Natural Order)

▪︎ Scattering Wind (Lvl 02) (Celestial)

▪︎ Iron Spirit Sigil (Lvl 01 -> 02) (Celestial)

▪︎ Enochian Transmission Sigil (Lvl 01) (Celestial)

▪︎ Dream Walk (Lvl 01) (Pagan)

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While his Skills remained static, his Magik added quite a bit of spells and he even officially learned a new Personal Magik. He actually noticed that the banishing sigil with the interchangeable first name was added a few minutes after he consumed the experimental Angel Grace.

It appears that not only did the item not only change his physiology at the molecular level, it also created a way for him to forcibly learn Enochian magical symbols and imprint it into his mind.

Unfortunately, he did not use many of his spells during the fight. Not that it would matter much anyway, given that the Angel Blade and Flaming Whip were a pair to be feared in a battle of attrition. 

Besides, the surging power within him during the fight with Dagon made concentrating on spells hard, impossible even.

Dream Walk was the new spell he chose from the level up. Not unlike Will Domination, it was a ritual that allowed him to be lucid and conscious in his dreams. Controlling and manipulating the dreamworld was within the limits of this spell on the condition that he leveled it up, of course. Another special facet of the spell was that Irwin could learn another adjacent spell, Dream Share, which, as the name states, allows him to share his dreams or invade other consenting people's dreams.

There were other spells that could synergize with Dream Walk which he would need to learn at a later date, especially if he's going against Azazel.

Irwin returned to the menu and checked the last option.

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Potions

▪︎ Merlin's Conjoined Vision

Consumable Recipes

▪︎ None

Mystical Enchantments

▪︎ None

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A smile appeared on his face as he had finally learned a potion recipe and without needing to buy one. There were only two choices in the level up options. One was a Health potion containing rare ingredients and had a method of creation that was so time consuming that it overweight its health benefits. As such, Irwin had no choice but to pick this one.

Although it also had rare ingredients, creating this potion could be done in three simple steps. Of course, he would need some Old World alchemical paraphernalia, which he reckoned that Lady Anastasia owned in her menagerie.

'Guess I need to suck up to the witch.' Irwin sighed inwardly. It was not that he didn't like her; he adored her, in fact. She even kept his secret for the last five months and would have certainly done so forever if he had not changed his mind.

'She's just fucking scary,' He admitted to himself.

Sure, he had killed Olivette relatively single-handedly and had courageously used her to attain his vengeance, but that was because he knew what she was like and what would have happened to her in the future. With Lady Anastasia, there was an air of mystery within her. She was like an enigma of magik and fortune that he was oft scared of even thinking about her, lest she sense his stray thoughts. More so now that he did not have his Natural Immunity and would have fewer defenses against divinatory magik.

As if having been summoned by his thoughts of her, a small blue window appeared on the corner of Irwin's retina.

[Lady Anastasia - Class 3 Creature]

'She's Class 3? That… she's not even human anymore.' Irwin's mind raced to find the reason for her appearance and race.

Creatures were basically creatures created by God that were not angels or monstrous beings. They either have humanoid appearances or close enough for an uncanny valley situation.

Class 1 and 2 were still called humans and humans with magik or supernatural power in their system, respectively. After that, things get complicated enough to ache Irwin's mind.

"I know you can see me." her voice drifted past the metal door and whispered into his ears. "Do you mind if we have a chat?"

Irwin sighed, shrugging his shoulders as he gritted through the pain to don his drenched clothes. It did not at all make him presentable, but it was not that she would mind.

He rested his back on the headboard of the bed and called her in. "Hope you don't mind the smell."