Eventually, after some talking, the entire party is filled in on the plan. Not everyone will be going to the party. I will be, despite everything. Bay stays behind at the colony, trying to fix my headphones, but her job in the fight is already done. She’ll be earning plenty of supremacy if we just use the weapons she made.

  Jess is staying behind in the tunnels with Dar and Richard. Elis and the warrior-ants, now decked out in plates of metal, are preparing a few… welcome gifts. Amelie seems rather intrigued by the possibility of snapping a trap, and with her puppets, she can ideally bait other insects in.

  Over the next few days, as far as we can tell them passing by the changing glow of the mushrooms, we prepare everything. Sylves and Amelie spin clothes, Opal sharpens their sword, Inu and Bay work on a set of better fitting armor that can be reasonably hidden under a nice cloak.

  Norman… well, he does whatever it is that he does. Anxiously pacing is a chunk of it. He is also so proficient at nagging I’m almost sure he has a skill for it. Maybe. Probably. Still, I would’ve thought that having Jess yell at him might’ve done away with the complaining for a while longer.

  Old habits die hard. Maybe I oughta kill him.

  Inu looks at me, and I quickly discard the thought. “Please stop considering murdering my parents,” she says.”

  “It’s mostly your dad,” I say.

  “Please stop considering murdering my dad,” she rolls her eyes.

  “I can try,” I reply easily.

  “Will you succeed?” she asks.

  “Almost certainly not,” I say.

  Inu gives me a sigh and shakes her head. “Dummy,” she says. Then she shakes her head some more, giving a soft snicker. “Seriously. You’re such a weirdo.”

  I smile, just a little. “And yet you choose to stick with me.”

  At that, she beams a smile at me. “I do!” I wait a few moments for her to add anything, but apparently, she has no desire to do so. Instead of boring into the topic, I just roll my eyes, and tussle her hair a little.

  She protests, but that’s okay. We banter a little bit more, but there’s not too much to talk over. Inu tells me more about her skills and how she’s been using them. [Resistance] is especially interesting, since it has a somewhat passive effect, and kinda “sticks” a bit. Anything she gets hurt by hurts her just a little less the next time around.

  So, logically, she asks me to heal her when she stabs herself. Classic, entirely sane behaviour.

  She also tells me about her new skill, [Reservoir], where she chucks all the pain that comes from training her resistance to be unleashed on unsuspecting victims. It’s devious, because while [Resistance] makes her more resistant to pain, it takes up less space in the reservoir, letting her store it in an almost compressed form.

  So, we add resistance training to our routine.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Luckily, I have the great idea of practicing biological inscriptions on Inu since she wants to get hurt anyway, so the minor explosions aren’t really a bother. Between [Resistance], [Reservoir] and [Suppression], she barely feels the sting of it, even when one of the runes goes out of control since her body fights my mana.

  With all that practice, I do catch another level.

  [Inscription 7 > 8]

  [Job up! Enchanter 9 > 10]

  With that, my job is capped and I need to earn my advancement. Via tithe, tribulation, or simple skill. I think I’ll aim for the proof of ability, though, since I can feel more essence flood into me now that I’ve reached level ten.

  It’s a scrambled packet of knowledge, consisting of common runes for durability, a horribly complex package on how to repair something, and a hundred tiny scraps of information about biological enchanting.

  A smile spreads on my lips. I see how it is, dear tower. It must’ve seen my efforts and the direction I wanted to develop in, so I was given a package that helps me move that way. Were the Eyes on me involved in this? Nah, surely one of them would have sabotaged the package.

  Maybe they can’t. Maybe some old crafter sent me this? The essence is still so low tier that there aren’t any flashes of memory. The magic breaking essence from my class is a little different in that way. It’s stronger, vibrant, and concentrated.

  All it does is wanna destroy things.

  It meshes well with [Deconstruction], but it’s just not quite the same. That’s okay, though, I don’t need it to be. I can mix the two as the situation arises. There are still skills I wanna steal, after all. First and foremost among them, Bay’s [Pulse], since it can create electricity and I am really missing my music.

  Soon. I know Bay’s working on it. She’ll get there. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

  I sigh, just a little, letting the days drift by. I chat with Sylves and Thatch, the former more than the latter. Me, her and Amelie work together quite a bit for the clothing. A few ants, interested in the ordeal, help out too, so Richard is there to communicate. And, by the end of it, I’ve got rather dashing clothing.

  “You’re looking gorgeous,” Sylves assures me. “We could use more stitching and stuff but…”

  “But I’m a whiny creature who cannot stand the scratching of the embroidery on my skin. So your only options is to add it to overcoats, where there’s only so much you can do without it being gaudy,” I complete for her.

  The girl gives me an awkward smile, spinning in the air until she hangs upside down. “Yep, that’s it. You got me~”

  I shoot her a smile. “You’re looking rather pretty yourself,” I say. Her leaf-dress is more fleshed out than ever, and she’s woven literal light into it. Moonlight, specifically. It pulses ever so faintly in tune with the general vibe of the floor, casting pale shadows onto the grey walls.

  She spins, the dress flares, and the shadows of the leaves dance like bony fingers. It’s magical and sinister. I tell her as much.

  Sylves beams at me. “Perfect! A fairy has to have some terror to the allure, right? Oh, I can’t wait. This’ll be so fun!”

  I give her a smile, fidgeting with my clothes a little more. They’re soft, and comfortable, and the inside is lined with wide strips of the softest thing Amelie could make. The shoulders and waist are a little tight, so it’s not everyday-wear, but I’ll live. I’m still wearing the same boots, and they look a little rugged compared to the refined and elegant vibe of the rest of the fit, but that’s alright, too. They’re comfy.

  And, of course, the last thing I do with Jess and Bay and Amelie and the ants is trap the tunnels to hell and back. Bombs, secret tunnels, pitfall traps, puppets tucked away in dark corners… Everything. We map things out with the help of the colony, and once things are ready, we group up.

  Norman wears a dark suit, Opal an even darker one, Thatch a somewhat pale one, and Inu sticks with a pale grey cloak-blazer hybrid thing that nicely hides the dull steel of her armor underneath. Sylves’ moonlight dress really rounds out the fantasy aesthetic. And, of course, they’ve styled my hair to cover half my face, as well as adding a half-cowl to my outfit. No more skull sticking out… for now. I blow against my hair, sending a strand or two flying.

  I smile, just a little. Parties suck. I’m excited to go and ruin one.

  is 40 Chapters ahead!!!

  Party Wrecking there!