Chapter 88: Ch. 85 – Catch Up

POV: Elly

I look up from the notes about classes and skills Karen gave me to read, "Do you have any idea how much trouble we'll be in if I tell you that, Karen?"

The bunny girl folds her hands above her head and pleads, "Pretty please? I won't tell a soul, promise!"

I sigh, "What will you even do with the secret of how I linked myself to a spirit body?"

She looks at me incredulously, "Huh? What would I do with it? Dunno, I'm a researcher, my main goal is to attain new knowledge. Figuring out what to do with that knowledge comes second."

"Karen, just researching for knowledge's sake is a luxury we don't have!"

She twiddles her thumbs, "I guess I could figure out some use for it but nothing comes to mind currently."

"Goddamnit... Please think of a very good use for that before asking that again. We'll be in very serious trouble if the wrong people find out that this secret was leaked and in even much bigger trouble if it falls into the wrong hands. Sorry, but we only know each other for three days now and I appreciate that you let us copy your research notes for classes and skills but I'm not willing to trust strangers with secrets of that level. Not that you could even use it. You would need a genuine AI that is used in World Navigator, without that it is useless."

She hangs her head, "Fine... Anyway, did you find what you were looking for?"

I shake my head, "No, not really. I didn't find any new skills for Jared to strengthen his summoning skills or anything else of major interest. And pretty much as expected there was nothing about familiars at all."

She tips her chin, "Yeah, why would we have anything on that? Vampires were never our allies before, lords are rare and certainly not in a mood for an interview."

"Yeah, I can see that... Well, it's getting late and tomorrow is again time for a dungeon crawl. I'll head back, so see you tomorrow."

Karen agrees, "Yeah, no problem. And don't worry about keeping the spirit trick secret. You've already helped us plenty with the formula for stat requirements, the rundown of vampire abilities and the cheesecake recipe."

"Yeah, yeah. Just when anyone asks you don't have that from me", I stash away the documents and leave. We wave to each other goodbye.

I'm finally back home.

I've slept the last couple of days in a plain tent down in that underground area, I want a proper bed again. But first...

Jared is in his office alone, it seems Lucia is busy elsewhere.

"Hey, I'm back."

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Jared looks up, he was looking at a map, "Hey, Elly, learned anything worthwhile from your time with Karen?"

"No, not really. I can tell you what a few of your unknown level 15 skills will be but not much more. Where's Lucia?"

He leans in, "You don't have to worry about her today, she's out with Iris visiting the orphanage."

I sigh, "I hope she doesn't see it as dinner..."

"Funny", he sighs, "I know you're suspicious of her. Admittedly I don't fully trust her either, she was transformed into a vampire after all, and her skill only said that it prevents further change but not that it undoes any, and who knows what damage was already done by the time she got it. But... I still can't imagine her doing anything that would cause us harm."

"I understand you but..."

Jared scoffs, "What, are you afraid she's planning world domination or something? Elly, we both know that her goal is to get back at the church for denying her freedom and self all those years. I can't fault her for that, and as long as she doesn't go overboard and mostly keeps it to those that are actually at fault I'll support her."

I slam my fists on the table, "But what if she really is up to something like that!?"

He grabs my hand, "And would that really be so bad? The fortresses clearly work much when they are ruled over by a lord, so uniting all remains of mankind under us would certainly not be for the worst for everyone. If Justo was right about the potential teleportation between fortresses owned by the same lord, this would make defending against the flood easier, we could move elite units to whatever area is under the most pressure at a given moment. Especially with those Glitch Zones around, any form of stability should just be welcome, we can't afford to lose a single fortress connected to a major dungeon. Just consider, the deva even gave me explicit permission to rule the world as long as we don't join forces with the demons. But until I know what really is going on, I won't even really rule out that option."

I can't believe what he says, "Jared..."

He continues, "Let's just hope we'll never have to make that choice, Elly. I'm not really looking forward to that possibility either, but considering the shady stuff I've witnessed about the devas, it is very unlikely to be a simple black and white situation. Or can you explain to me why 'demons' are supposedly the ultimate evil but reincarnating as a demon lord was even a sanctioned option and obtaining the demon lord title is a-ok? No, of course not, it doesn't add up. So I'll say saving my new home and family should simply have priority over some ideological bullshit I don't care about."

"I can't really refute that, I don't know what's really going on either... Please promise me that we won't side with the demons. I don't want to go against what remains of my family."

Jared asks, "But throwing our hats in with the lich is okay?"

"Probably not, what can we do about that?"

He smirks, "I might have an idea how to deal with that. But anyway, what did you find out about classes? Anything to look forward to or do we just stick to the original plan?"

"If you're that unconcerned about it...", I sigh, "So Summoner will get [Elite Summoning] as I guessed, that's this skill."

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