(24) Tactical Inventory Usage

[You have completed - Level 87 Quest Series: Mending A Shattered Demon]

+505 Experience, Next Quest Available.]

[Performance Rating: A+]

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[Level 87 Quest Series: Mending A Shattered Demon (II)]

(Optional) Objective 1: Help Iovoi complete the ritual.

(Optional) Objective 2: Stop Iovoi from completing the ritual.

Note: Only one objective can be followed. Once an objective is selected, there is no changing back. Choose wisely.

Objective 1 Failure Condition: If Iovoi fails to possess the new vessel.

Objective 2 Failure Condition: If Iovoi successfully possesses the new vessel.

Objective 1 Consequence For Failure: N/A

Objective 2 Consequence For Failure: Possible Death.

Rewards for objective 1: +600 Experience, Unlock the next quest.

Rewards for objective 2: +730 Experience, Unlock the next quest.]

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[You have leveled up!]

[Level 3 > 4]

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A bunch of panels bombarded Owen with notifications.

The quest series has been updated and now, he has to choose whether he should help Iovoi or ruin Iovoi's chances of fully recovering.

Of course, Owen picked the one with more EXP as a reward. He had no plans of helping a demon who he can take advantage of.

Although technically, helping Iovoi would lead to a longer quest series, it wasn't helpful for him in the long run. But if the ritual fails, Owen can get a chance to kill Iovoi and gain a lot of EXP from them.

Or him, since Iovoi was originally male… The appearance of the split personality of a young maiden might be his feminine side if one were to think deeply about it.

Pushing away irrelevant thoughts, when Owen saw that he leveled up, he made sure to put 4 points on strength and a single point on defense. He knew that the upcoming quest would surely be a boss battle.

Owen was familiar with quests like these. There was no need to question his decision-making process.

He then asked Iovoi while the old man came to terms with occupying a female vessel.

"Is the necessary materials for the ritual ready?"

The young maiden's voice spoke enthusiastically, "Yes, this human prepared them a long time ago under our commands."

Owen narrowed his eyes at Luram. "What other purpose does he serve to be here? And are you sure that he wouldn't do anything that would ruin the ritual?"

When Luram heard Owen's words, he tensed up, feeling the close scrutiny of a 'demon' seeing through him completely.

The young maiden responded after a second of thought, "We used a conditional death curse on this human that would kill him if he ever decides to betray us. As for your other question, he is here to assist us during the ritual to ensure that nothing goes wrong."

"Is his skills useful for any reason whatsoever?" Owen's body language clearly expressed his distaste for Luram.

"Not particularly…"

"Then please restrain him immediately." Owen gestured towards Luram.

Luram was completely taken aback, he did everything that the demons told him to do, so why was there a need to restrain him?

The old man spoke up, "Is that necessary? He can still be useful in some way."

Owen shook his head, "No, during the ritual, your soul energy is weakened and it means that you are defenseless during that period. Although he cannot betray you directly, he can still do it indirectly…"

"After all, conditional death curses aren't as foolproof as an enslavement contract. I think he already outlived his purpose." Owen's smile was sinister.

Luram didn't stay there anymore. Knowing that he would be killed if he stayed, he ran away immediately.

But before he could get far, Iovoi lifted his hand and cursed him with [Paralytic Fear].

Iovoi took his hand back, the old man spoke and said, "I suppose what you said makes sense. Ivorius, you are truly a wise man."

Owen shook his hand, "Please, I was just being cautious… Now, if you'll excuse me." He walked towards Luram's frozen body lying on the ground.

Owen took out the [Iron Battle Hatchet], bent his back down and killed him without a second thought. Since he couldn't move, Luram's neck was as easy to chop as a log.

[+ 60 EXP - Luram Nawan: Level 8]

The young maiden was slightly surprised when Owen killed him so casually, while the old man didn't show much reaction to it after being used to the sight of people dying.

Owen returned the hatchet back to his inventory. He stood up, dusted his hands off and said, "Shall we continue?"

The old man replied with a friendly tone, "Of course."

Owen walked over to the wagon and saw that there was a compartment in the wagon where various materials were placed in jars, neatly arranged in a line.

One jar was filled with dead centipedes, another with charcoal dust, there's even a jar with iron nails, a jar filled with liquid mercury, a jar filled with broken glass shards, one with wooden shavings, and the final jar was considerably larger than the rest. It was filled with sheep's blood.

"What should I do with these?" Owen asked the old man.

The young maiden was about to respond to him, but the old man shoved her away and said, "Pour the blood sparingly in a circle large enough to fit the woman inside. Do not finish it all in the first step."

"Next, pour the remaining blood in a cross inside the circle. In each end of the lines touching the circle, scatter the dead centipedes, charcoal, iron nails and wood shavings in four separate piles."

"After this, place the jar with glass shards in the middle and surround it with mercury. But that step is easy enough for me to do." The old man said without explaining the use for each ingredient.

Owen nodded. "I wasn't expecting it to be that simple."

"Those are just preparations. The ritual needs soul energy and the correct symbols to activate." The old man's voice spoke out.

"Alright." Owen got to work.

He roughly imagined the length of the woman while lying down. Owen walked to the wagon and took the jar of sheep's blood.

The woman looked at him with apprehension. She didn't let her guard down as Owen took the different jars one by one.

Owen poured the sheep's blood into the cold brown soil. He couldn't draw a perfect circle, but it roughly resembled one. He then used it to draw a long cross in the middle.

As Owen worked on the ritual, Iovoi watched the entire preparations. He looked at Owen placing each jar into their designated spots with various thoughts in his mind.

"Ah, wonderful.. You can step back now, it is my job to inscribe the necessary symbols for the ritual to work." Iovoi stepped forward and called for Owen to move out of the way.

Iovoi crouched down, reaching out both his middle and index finger imbued with his soul energy. A yellow colored light glowed as he touched the blood and began writing symbols with unknown meaning.

As Iovoi wrote, the young maiden whispered to the old man.

"Do you think Ivorius is trustworthy?"

The old man spared her a glance before going back to writing symbols.

"Since he knew who we were and our connection to Baron Praest, it's very possible that he has deep foundations within the Demon Gorge. Since we've been gone for a long time, it meant something else when he easily recognized me." The old man stated what he thought about Owen.

"That is a reasonable way to think about it… I do not doubt that he is a demon. But why do you think he is helping us?" The young maiden still had lingering doubts in her mind.

"To establish connections with Baron Praest? What else?" The old man wasn't as cunning as her. He couldn't think of any ulterior motive at the moment.

The young maiden thought differently. "My intuition tells me that it isn't that simple… What if Ivorius wants to consume our souls to strengthen himself?"

"If that was his objective, why did he stay behind to help? Wouldn't it be a better idea to strike while we're still separated? In that way, our abilities are incomplete and we are more vulnerable this way." The old man said with skepticism.

"You saw earlier, this vessel of his is pathetically weak. What if his plan is to wait until the ritual weakens us in the Soul Consolidation Amulet, after that he will grab the opportunity to absorb us and go on to deal with his original mission here and be on his merry way?" The young woman's voice grew heavy as she envisioned the consequences of this risk if left unchecked.

The old man was convinced. "That is a good point… It is not bad to ensure our safety."

"So, what should we do?" The young maiden didn't have many ideas to ensure their safety.

The old man directed their sight towards Luram's corpse. "What if you reanimate the dead human's body over there? Because the undead is under your control, make sure to use it to fight him if he ever decides to betray us."

"But that is if he does. If he doesn't and truly wishes to help us, I don't mind telling Baron Praest about his deeds." He added.

"Neither do I…" The young maiden was satisfied with the plan.

"Then it's decided." Iovoi's eyes flickered with a sharp glint as his expression became more serious.

She sent a trail of her soul energy towards Luram by manipulating the magic circle on her left hand. The other hand was still drawing symbols for the ritual, Iovoi's body and cloak hindered Owen's sight and prevented him from seeing her spell activating. The forces of the undead slowly enveloped Luram's body, successfully turning him into a dormant undead slave.

A sequence of commands entered his mind like a program. Luram's finger twitched, but Owen wasn't able to see it move.

Slowly, Iovoi finished writing all the symbols.

He stood up and said, "It is now done. We will now enter this amulet through our souls. Place it inside the jar of broken glass and put the jar in the middle of the circle. And once you do, quickly draw a small circle of mercury around the jar to prevent our aura from leaking while we merge our souls together."

"Will do." Owen gave them a simple nod.

Seeing Owen's confirmation, Iovoi knelt down the ground, the two halves of his soul escaped from the body as two masses of black mist resembling an old man and an alluring young maiden.

They circled around the body before quickly entering the purple amulet on its neck. After a few seconds, the crystals darkened until they turned into a rough gray stone.

The crystals began clattering against each other, the surrounding temperature slowly dropped as gusts of cold wind filled the forest.

Four seconds later, the atmosphere regained its calmness. The amulet seemed to have quietened down as well.

"Ivorius, you may now place the amulet inside the jar." The overlapping voices of the two spoke out loud.

Owen walked towards Iovoi's original body that was now an empty shell. He took the amulet from its neck and checked out the details of the item.

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[Level-76, Demonic Soul Consolidation Amulet (Master) - A tool specifically used to stabilize damaged souls of demons. Recuperating the soul by using external soul energy to fix many underlying issues.

[Currently Occupied By: Level 43, Iovoi (Male) & Level 44, Iovoi (Female)]

Note: The soul inside can be consumed. It is through the user's choice if they wish to consume it all at once, or through small portions. The soul inside the amulet can still regenerate.

Charges: 4/4 - Effect (Demonic Soul)

Additional Effects: (Active) If character is a dark type class, +30% Soul Energy Regeneration. If not, -40% Soul Energy Regeneration, -10% Fortitude.

Note: Additional Effects will only be active whenever the equipment is fully charged.

Durability: 1,594/2,500]

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'Well I'm certainly not going to wear this any time soon.' Owen knew that the additional effects did not affect him in reverse like debuffs. Only special effects did.

However, he was more interested in the item itself.

From what he knew from his experience playing GOTG, this amulet was practically an infinite source of the [Demonic Soul] effect. If he consumed one charge from the amulet and let it regenerate for a few days or so, he could use it again if he was in a dangerous situation.

In the original game, this was very hard to get. The fact that he was holding one right now so early on was exciting.

He knew how valuable this was not only to dark type classes, but for current self as well.

He involuntarily smiled.

"…"

"Damn it! I knew Ivorius had other plans in mind!" The young maiden began lashing out in anger when she saw the change in Owen's expression.

"Calm down, I'll try speaking to him." The old man wasn't sure why Owen wasn't following the instructions he gave.

His energy seeped out of the amulet, letting his voice reach Owen's ears.

"Ivorius, can you place the amulet inside the jar to complete the ritual?" The old man was trying to see if Owen truly intended to betray them.

This was the last chance Owen had to maintain their trust.

Owen laughed, completely disregarding him. "What about no?"

The old man's expression darkened. "What is this about?"

"Oh, nothing… I just realized that this amulet is more precious than I previously thought." Owen didn't bother explaining his side.

The young maiden couldn't take it anymore. She screamed at Owen, saying, "Ivorius! You made a big mistake! Say goodbye to this vessel of yours!"

"If you think a single undead will be enough to kill me, you are looking down on me too much." Owen turned around and watched as Luram's body slowly stood up.

His bones crackled while trying to gain its balance. The previously lifeless body picked up its own head and reattached it like normal. His flesh began rotting at a considerable rate, showing the muscles under the darkening skin.

[Luram Nawan (Undead) - Level 30]

[Affiliation - Demon Iovoi]

[Skills - Unavailable] (You do not have the necessary detection skill/s to view the following information.)

Owen saw this and immediately consumed three charges of the amulet.

"Consume!"

Not knowing what Owen was trying to do, the two split personalities of Iovoi suddenly felt a great wave of weakness washing over their souls.

Because 75% of their soul was consumed in one go, their presence dimmed quite significantly.

"What's…. happening to me….?" The young maiden became dizzy.

The old man gritted his non-existent teeth and gathered all his strength, "We have to… get out! He's consuming our souls!"

He tried rushing out of the amulet, but a strange barrier wasn't letting him out at all. When his black misty body struck this ghostly blue barrier, he only bounced back.

With a cold snort, he casted several thorns of black smoke and tried to destroy this barrier, but the moment his attacks hit the barrier, they were all reflected, dealing zero damage.

His mind eventually regained its clarity. He was astounded.

"What is this…??"

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---Inventory---

[Woodcutting Hatchet]

[Simple Knife]

[Plunderer's Iron Sword]

[Iron Battle Hatchet]

[Nulmiap Water Jug]

[Nulmiap Water Jug]

[Nulmiap Water Jug]

[Nulmiap Water Jug]

[Demon Soul Consolidation Amulet]

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Owen quickly stuffed the amulet into his inventory.

When the black demonic soul entered his body, he received a level 3 debuff from it.

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(Effect) "Iovoi" Demonic Soul-3

(1) -25% Soul Vigor, -36% Soul Energy Regeneration, +40% Soul Energy Consumption, -70% Learning, -43% Soul Defense, -36% Magic Damage, -20 Soul Energy, -10% Acid Resistance.

(2) Character will attract nearby demons with a level 435 detection.

Duration: 20 Minutes.

(Class Ability Activated)

(1) +25% Soul Vigor, +36% Soul Energy Regeneration, -40% Soul Energy Consumption, +70% Learning, +43% Soul Defense, +36% Magic Damage, +20 Soul Energy, +10% Acid Resistance.

(2) Character will disinterest nearby demons with a level 435 detection.

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[You have completed - Level 87 Quest Series: Mending A Shattered Demon (II)]

+730 Experience, Next Quest Available.]

[Performance Rating: S]

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[You have leveled up!]

[Level 4 > 5]

+1 Skill Point

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"Thank you Iovoi…" Owen extended his right hand towards the undead Luram.

"... And thank you Ezella!" Owen immediately activated [Firestrike], the red magic circle appeared on his palm and spewed out fire.

*Vhoom..*

[Firestrike: +17 Mastery]

[Mastery Required To Level Up: 27/1000]

With the points of soul energy that the debuff gave him, it instantly filled up his soul energy bar from 3 to 12. The remaining 11 points of soul energy had nowhere else to go, so it immediately lingered out into the air, unabsorbed by Owen because his soul energy capacity was too low. The 25% increase to his soul vigor gave him an extra 2 points to his soul energy capacity, so that's that.

*Fwoosh!*

A bright orange flame erupted from Owen's hand like a flamethrower. Since Luram wore clothes made of wool, this made it easy for the fire to stick on his body and burn him.

Luram was now an undead, so pain was easy for him to completely ignore. Even if he was burning, he still attacked Owen regardless.

"Grahh- Yiahrahh!!" Luram growled savagely.

He ran madly towards Owen. Probably because his brain was still intact, the anger the undead showed felt real.

Owen had no reason to fight him head on. He decided to fight him the best way he knew.

Hit and run tactics.

The undead Luram was faster than him, but it had low body coordination, which meant that it couldn't turn to another direction that quickly.

With the boost given by [Paralytic Fear-5] Owen has the ability to lead Luram by the nose.

Owen watched as Luram lunged at him. He tracked his movements closely and dodged, he took out his sword from his inventory and slashed Luram in his chest.

Luram landed on empty soil. He turned around and saw Owen, he pounced at him with all of his limbs like a wild animal.

Owne kicked his right leg against the ground, sidestepping away from the burning Luram and delivered a nasty slash to his face.

If Luram could feel frustration right now, he would've died from it a long time ago.

Since he only attacked through instincts, it made the fight a whole lot easier for Owen. And the worst part of it all, Iovoi's plan was to use the undead to stall as his two personalities merged together as one failed miserably. In the worst case scenario, they thought that they could still escape the amulet any time they wanted to.

The inventory feature was the one that ruined it all. Owen knew that the reason why getting a demonic amulet is so difficult is because the demon must stay inside willingly. They can leave if they want to and the player cannot stop them.

Then why did he trust the inventory so much?

Well, when he first woke up in this world, the soul of the demon in the epic tier amulet didn't attack him at his weakest. Now it made him wonder, was it because that demon didn't want to attack him, or was it because he couldn't?

If he remembered correctly, when he fought that demon back then, he made the demon agree to be contained in that amulet after blackmailing him that he would kill his daughter if he didn't do so.

Thinking back to that moment, Owen could see that the method that he used was a little too harsh… just a little bit.

And because he consumed the demon inside the inventory without letting him out, it didn't get the chance to even attack him!

So, if a level 100+ vengeful demon couldn't escape the inventory, what chances did Iovoi have?

Owen's original plan was to store the amulet in the inventory permanently until he was strong enough to kill them. But the series of events that transpired was more favorable for him.

"My goodness, I can't believe I'm being a demon towards demons. Isn't that ironic?" Owen laughed his heart out.

He truly gained a lot from Iovoi.

What a great guy!