20 Chapter 20-If I Could Just See It All
Disclaimer: I don't own Highschool DxD.
If I Could Just See It All
[Bond: Morag has gone up a level.]
'I thought I would never see this kind of screen again,' Joshua mused as he continued his drawing. Nagini seemed to be especially motivated this time, having decided to do something more than just lie there coiled around herself. The snake raised her neck in the air, curving to one side as the spider made a web for herself with Nagini's body as support. It was quite the picture, really.
[Bond
Cheshire - 10/25
Determines the user's bond closeness with Cheshire.
Nagini - 10/25
Determines the user's bond closeness with Nagini.
Morag - 11/25
Determines the user's bond closeness with Morag.]
'That's still weird to look at,' Joshua thought. The game changing just like that had taken him off guard, he'd admit. He'd always assumed that maxing a skill was it, that there was nothing after that. However, this literally changed the game. Maybe there were some other things that he wasn't aware could be altered too. Who was to say? It was both intriguing and frightening. Who was to say that one of these changes wouldn't screw him over?
"We are done here, girls," Joshua told them, his tone subdued by the topic that occupied his mind. Still, he managed to give both of his familiars a smile as he showed them the drawing.
Nagini let out a pleased hiss as she looked it over, tilting her head from side to side as if trying to get every detail. Morag, meanwhile, was almost bouncing on her little legs. He was just happy that they liked it, really.
"Ok, Morag, get those webs off Nagini and let's go back to the table, yeah? I want to look up some stuff," He told his smallest familiar, who seemed to sag at that. He just rolled his eyes together with Cheshire as they both started moving, not waiting for the other two.
Joshua really needed to do some research.
He was grateful for the blessing, he really was. And while he wasn't sure about what the Charm did, he thought it wasn't anything bad either. Still, not knowing was eating at him. He wanted more information.
Thus, Joshua stopped by the shelf that housed the Charm and picked it up, bringing it with him to the table. There he took out his phone too, intent on searching for information about Egyptian gods and creatures and anything else. Although, he was pretty sure that what he was dealing with had to be a deity or something similar.
He also took out the notebook with his familiars' stats and skills, to note down their progress and such. It seemed like a good time, really, what with this bringing his attention back to the Bond skill. The man wondered, as he often did when thinking about his familiars' training, if they'd ever be strong enough for some of the stuff he knew lived in the supernatural world. He rather doubted it, but he couldn't help but hope. After all, the thought of fighting without them made him feel… lonely, he supposed.
'Ok. First things first,' He decided, shaking his head. His blue eyes looked at the crystal lotus charm for a moment before he actually activated Appraisal.
[Charm of ####
Rank - C]
'Huh, I can see the Rank of it now,' Joshua realized instantly. 'I can see Rank C now? What changed? Appraisal level? Am I a higher rank now and thus can see it? It would be nice to know my own rank, that's for sure. Shame I can't…'
'... Can I?'
Pausing, he slowly brought his own hand in front of his face. His eyes narrowed and he activated the skill once more. He hadn't expected it to do anything, so imagine his surprise when a blue screen actually appeared in front of his face.
[Joshua Davis
Rank - D]
'Well, that's kind of sad,' He thought with a slight grimace. He'd almost expected to be Rank C or something like that. Don't get him wrong, Joshua knew he wasn't much, but seeing the screen acknowledge him as rank D made him feel even worse.
Still, continuing with that line of thought, he turned to his familiars. Could he see their general Rank instead of their full screens? That question was answered rather quickly.
[Cheshire
Rank - D-]
[Nagini
Rank - E+]
[Morag
Rank - E]
'Huh, so - and + are a thing outside of their stats too? Good to know,' He noted, adding that information in the pages that he would dedicate to their progress. With that, he decided to get their check up out of the way before diving into research. He supposed he could let them do whatever they wanted afterwards, so better to get it over with as fast as possible.
'I wonder though, are Ranks based on species? Cheshire is awesome, yes, but she's not on the same level as I am. Even if she has a D- Rank, still...' Joshua mused, frowning. That was interesting, but also a bit confusing. That was nothing new though, so he quickly shook his head and continued.
[Cheshire
Title: Familiar of Joshua Davis
Race: Familiar Cat
Gender: Female
Strength: E+
Speed: D+
Dexterity: D+
Vitality: E+
Perception: D
Magic: E
Perks: 3
Skills: 5]
She was coming along nicely, but that was nothing new either, Joshua noted as he wrote down the changes from the last time he'd checked on her. He wondered, not for the first time, how his stats would translate into letter ranks. Maybe he could make a bit of a study out of it with some calculations taking his average Rank into account? Something to think about.
For now, he wanted to check Cheshire's skills progress.
[Bite – Lvl 11]
[Scratch – Lvl 13]
[Hunt - Lvl 9]
[Extrasensory - Lvl 7]
[Electric Resistance - Lvl 4]
'Nice,' He thought, smiling at the screen while his hand reached towards the cat and started scratching her head. The feline purred contently, leaning her head against his hand. He wondered if he looked weird to the animals right at that moment. He was kind of staring at the screens a little too much, something that he tended to avoid most of the time, since he was usually at least in Jeanne's company.
They didn't seem to take notice of it, or if they did, then they didn't care. 'Maybe they get a general idea through Bond like I do with their thoughts and such?' Joshua wondered, tilting his head. It was a possibility, he supposed.
'Next one.'
[Nagini
Title: Familiar of Joshua Davis
Race: Familiar Snake
Gender: Female
Strength: D+
Speed: D
Dexterity: E+
Vitality: D-
Perception: E+
Magic: F+
Perks: 3
Skills: 5]
'Ok then,' Joshua nodded, once more, his pencil scratching the page. It filled him with pride, to see the difference between the past and the present. Same as it did when he checked over his own skills and how their levels increased. He still remembered those first few days with few and underleveled skills and stats.
[Venomous Bite – Lvl 4]
[Hunt - Lvl 8]
[Wrap - Lvl 11]
[Leer - Lvl 4]
[Heat Resistance - Lvl 4]
'Her Venomous Bite is really falling behind,' Joshua thought with a grimace. It was a real shame that he didn't think he was quite there with his Poison Resistance skill to withstand Black Mamba venom. Evidently, using it against her prey wasn't working quite as well as they had hoped, probably because it wasn't really a challenge or anything to kill them. She didn't even need to use it, really, with how strong her Wrap was. Did the Game take that into account? He was pretty sure it did.
'Maybe there's another way to go about it?' Joshua wondered, making a note on the side of Nagini's page to look into that some more. 'Now, last but not least.'
Blue eyes turned towards the small, black spider on the table.
[Morag
Title: Familiar of Joshua Davis
Race: Familiar Spider
Gender: Female
Strength: E
Speed: E+
Dexterity: D-
Vitality: E+
Perception: E+
Magic: F
Perks: 2
Skills: 2]
[Venomous Bite – Lvl 8]
[Silk Weaving - Lvl 10]
'She has few skills,' He noticed instantly. This wasn't new information though, but it always bothered him when he checked the arachnid. 'Look into getting Morag some new skills,' He thought, noting that down on the side of her page, much like he had done with Nagini. The Hunting spider idea had been a bust, but maybe there were some other spiders they could try to emulate to get skills?
Finding something that Morag could use her magic with would be nice too. Cheshire had her Extrasensory, the spider having something of her own would be nice. It would be a waste to leave her now unlocked Magic stat unused, after all. Same for Nagini, really.
'Thoughts for later,' Joshua decided, closing the notebook and unlocking his phone. Time to research some mythologies. That was the idea, at least. However, the man found himself growing more and more frustrated the more he read.
Most, if not all, Egyptian gods and such were connected to one or a few specific animals, yes, but none of them seemed to be about animals in general. The closest he could find were Hathor, who seemed to be the goddess of cattle, which didn't really apply much to his case, and Osiris, who was, apparently, the god of life in general. Those were flimsy connections though, but he noted them down regardless. There was Neith too, but that was even more of a stretch, to him at least.
'So, it's either more of a broad connection, or this could just have been done by any Egyptian god...' He frowned at that last possibility. That would mean that there was no way for him to find out who seemed to have taken an interest in him. 'That, or I just haven't found the right information or the right god yet...'
That was an even more frustrating possibility, really. After all, he would be the first to say that the internet was an unreliable source of information at best. Who was to say that what he'd been reading so far had been right in any way? If it wasn't a book directly connected to the supernatural, it was best to think it was completely incorrect, as far as he knew. Even if that was the case, he still didn't think tales of gods and such would be entirely accurate.
Joshua sighed, leaning back on his seat. His eyes flickered between the Charm resting on the table and the screen that showed his newly gained Blessing. It wasn't like he was worried per se. This was a good thing, as far as he could tell, but he just didn't like the fact that he seemed to have gained the attention of a deity and he had no idea who it was. It meant that he had no idea who else could be looking at him or just what this deity could do to him.
Joshua sighed again.
'Better focus on something else, yeah?' He thought with a wry smile as he heard Jeanne move inside the study. Apparently, she was done with her stuff too. Once the girl walked into the room, he cast Appraisal on her. He'd just remembered that he wanted to do that while casting it on his familiars.
[Jeanne
Rank - C]
'Someone up there really hates me,' He thought, deflating a bit.
[}-o-{]
"Come on, girl, just do it. It doesn't have to be anything epic, just give it your all and that'll be enough," Joshua encouraged. Next to him, Cheshire let out a meow that he was sure was agreeing with him, or maybe giving her own cheers for the little spider. Nagini, for her part, simply looked on from a little further away.
"You can do it, Morag," Jeanne cheered and the man couldn't help but be surprised. It wasn't that the girl didn't usually get along with his more… scary or creepy familiars, but it was at that moment that he realized that she did. Joshua still remembered when she'd first arrived and was supremely uncomfortable in the presence of the spider and the snake.
'It's either a testament of how good Jeanne is or of how easy humans can adapt,' He thought with a grin. 'Maybe both.'
His focus quickly returned to Morag though. This was one of the training exercises he'd thought up for the spider. Although, to be fair, he hadn't thought about many, really, with only one day to do so. Still, he quite liked the plans he'd made. If they worked, they would work well for Morag's mobility. Nothing out there, but it would be something, at least.
If they worked.
Still, he looked on as the spider tensed up, and bent her legs, lowering her body as much as she could. Then, she pushed up as hard as she could. Her body stopped touching the table under her for a split second before she fell back on the wooden surface.
Her whole body sagged, disappointed.
"Hey, hey, none of that," He chided, slightly shaking his finger at her. Joshua could feel the pitiful look she was shooting at him, like a child tearing up because they failed at something. "You jumped, Morag, that's what matters. You actually went up in the air."
He wasn't even just saying that to cheer her up, really. He'd pulled up her information screen to check up in case it worked. It had, indeed, gained her a new skill.
[Jumping - Lvl 1
Determines the user's ability to jump.]
'Wonder if she can get Parkour too… although, that's weird,' Joshua mused with a frown. 'Cheshire should have this, at least. I've seen her jump a bunch of times… Are the skills only related to special things? But then why would things like Bite and Slash appear? God, this is weird...'
"This is what training is for, remember? To get better," He continued, extending a hand and gently petting the spider's body with his finger. "Now you have something else to work with while we start working out, huh?"
That seemed to cheer the spider up some. Joshua had noticed, with some time since even with Bond it wasn't easy to pick up stuff from something like a spider or a snake, that the spider felt a little… left behind. After all, the only thing she had to really work on was her Silk Weaving. Her Venomous Bite was trained with normal "hunting" and biting him, the last of which made things worse instead of better.
"Ok, that's one thing taken care of. I just wanted you to try it, really. We'll work on it from now on, yeah?" Joshua asked with a smile, to which Morag gave her awkward leaning forward, a gesture that was her version of a nod. "Great. The second idea I had was regarding walking on water..."
From there, the man went on explaining what he'd found about the Raft Spider, or Dolomedes fimbriatus, if one wanted to be technical. A species of spider that walked/floated on water and sensed prey through the vibrations on said liquid. It was a really interesting read, if nothing else.
To try that out, Joshua had decided to start small. Not with a pot of water but simply taking a plate and "filling" it with water. That would give Morag a surface to work on without risking accidentally drowning. After all, if it worked, it wouldn't matter the depth of the water, and if it didn't, then the less water under her, the better.
For a long minute, the spider tentatively touched the liquid from the edge of the plate, not really stepping on it. Joshua and the rest simply let her be, simply watching from the sidelines. The man imagined that it must have been a little frightening or at least uncomfortable for the spider. After all, he was pretty sure that most spiders wouldn't approach water much, let alone try to walk on it.
Thus, he simply watched her try, keeping an eye on her skill list.
Eventually, when Morag was half-standing on the water, the screen expanded a little and added a new entrance. Joshua remained silent as he read it though. His spider familiar didn't seem to need reassurances this time. He would even go as far as saying that she had gotten over her awkwardness and was rather enjoying the exercise. That, or she was at least intrigued by it.
[Water Walking - Lvl 1
Determines the user's ability to walk on water.]
"You are doing great, Morag," Jeanne half-whispered, looking awed by the spider's progress as she slowly but surely started standing more and more on the water, successfully if it needs to be said.
Cheshire chose that moment to call for his attention, tapping his arm with her paw. Turning towards her, Joshua noted that both the cat and Nagini were pretty much huddled together, the latter of which staring intently at him. He blinked then, wondering if he'd missed something.
"Do you need something, Cheshire, Nagini?" He asked, looking between the two of them. He blinked again when both animals looked between each other and then back at him. "Ok? I need you to give me something to work with, gir-"
He never finished that sentence though. Joshua's mouth and tongue stopped moving, frozen where they were and his eyes would have widened if he could. However, he couldn't, all his body seemed to have stopped listening to him, stopping locking in place as if someone had hit the pause button on him.
Surprised, he tried to get a hold of himself and move, which he did, fortunately. He didn't want to know how it would have felt if he hadn't been able to do that. His eyes ten darted between his two familiars, who were trading another look. Eyes narrowing, Joshua called for their screens once more, immediately finding what he was looking for in Nagini's skill list.
[Disable - Lvl 1
Defines the user's ability to stop a target with a look.
Consumption - F]
'Well, I won't have to think up a way for her to use her magic, at least,' Joshua mused, taking a deep breath in. His eye twitched at the proud preen that Nagini did at him.
"Never do that again without warning, am I clear?" He told her, with a tone that he was sure he'd never used any of his familiars yet. All three animals froze where they were, even Jeanne seemed to straighten. "Nagini?" He urged, raising an eyebrow while the snake wilted under his stare.
A second later, the snake hissed something that he understood as an apology.
"Ok," Joshua accepted then with a nod, sighing as he deflated. "How did you even manage that, girl?" He asked, noticing how everyone else seemed to have relaxed too. 'That was weird,' He mused, somewhat surprised. He'd never been too imposing a figure. Although, to be fair, he'd never interacted much with people to begin with.
Nagini answered the question with a hesitant pointing of her tail.
"Cheshire?" He blinked at the cat. How had she…? "Oh, you explained to her how you use your magic, I imagine?" He guessed then. His first familiar nodded, the cat looking at him curiously. "But how'd you make it like that?" He returned to questioning the serpent.
Her reply was a glare, which confused him for a second. 'Oh, so she combined Leer with her magic and it created Disable?' He theorized to himself. His eyes then moved to Morag, now the only familiar of his that couldn't use her magic. 'This opens possibilities. Maybe we can make more magical skills? Would something like that work for me?...'
He'd tried to make skills like that before though and it hadn't worked. 'Why can they and not me?' He wondered, more curious than annoyed. He'd admit to being a bit jealous, yes, but now that he, apparently, had a chance to learn more magic with his deal and had already much to study with his Wards. If this had happened before finding his first book, or even before looting the Hunter's house, he might have reacted worse.
"I think I get it," He voiced after a moment. "We'll have to work with it some more and see if you guys can learn anything else… That, and teach Morag, so that she can do stuff like that too."
"Stuff like what?" Jeanne asked, clearly lost in the conversation. Joshua turned to her, blinking as he realized that, obviously, the girl had no idea what was going on. He'd been the only one affected by Nagini's nea skill and it hadn't had any visual tells. 'Which might come in handy if we have to use that at some point.'
"Nagini?" Joshua called, when he saw the snake turn towards Jeanne, just in case the serpent thought it was a good idea to show the girl instead of just telling her.
Apparently, he had assumed wrong, as Nagini turned back towards him and all but pouted at him, which was a weird thing on its own. He'd yet to get used to how expressive his familiars could be sometimes. He hadn't even known snakes could pout.
"Anyway, she apparently learned a new trick," He explained to Jeanne, who was looking between man and animal trying to make sense of the situation. "She seems to have learned to use her magic to freeze people with a glare."
"Oh? How'd that feel?" She asked then, once more looking between them, now excited instead of confused.
"I guess she can show you, if you want to," He offered instead. "I'm just warning her not to do so without permission from us or at least asking."
"Hm, sure?" Jeanne accepted, only to blink as Nagini, once more, faced her. The girl opened her mouth to say something only to freeze, evidently falling prey to the snake's new skill. A second later, she regained control of her body. "Wow, that was weird."
"Yeah," Joshua nodded, extending a hand towards Nagini and scratching between her eyes. "Don't get me wrong, you did great, girl. Just don't do stuff like that without warning, yeah? It was an unpleasant surprise when it shouldn't have been."
The snake hissed something at him, a low sound that, accompanied with the way she looked slightly down, told him it was an apology. He sighed, picking the snake up and placing her around his shoulders. It was the best way he could think of to tell her everything was alright. Once there, Nagini gave him a slight squeeze.
Joshua wondered, not for the first time, when he'd stopped feeling the slightest bit afraid with such interactions. Instead, he was only comforted by the snake's actions. 'Who would have thought my life would turn this weird in just a few months?'
'Then again,' He mused as he looked around. 'I died and came back to life. How much more weird can things be?'
"So, you feel like continuing, Morag?" Joshua asked the spider, who was still standing over the water on the plate. His fingers continued lightly scratching Nagini's scales as he relaxed even more. Suddenly freezing without knowing what was going on had been a slight scare, he would admit. He felt silly though, thinking he had overreacted to the snake's new skill.
'Getting some more information about magical creatures would be nice,' He mused, grimacing as he realized that his only way to do so was through the Devils. Joshua really wished he had some other way to get stuff related to the supernatural. Then again, he wasn't sure he would trust some other magical being or person more than he did the demons. After all, it wasn't like he'd had any good interactions with that side of his world.
"Ok then, let's continue some other time," He replied when he saw Morag get out of the plate, evidently done for the moment. "I feel like just sitting around and reading something, wanna come?" He asked, offering his hand to the spider to climb on, which she eagerly did.
'Well, haven't had any good encounters until now, that is,' Joshua thought before letting out a wry smile. What did it say about his world that he's best encounter with the supernatural had been with a Devil of all things? He really wished that wouldn't continue to be the case.
[} Chapter End {]
(Joshua's stats)
Status
[Joshua Davis
Title: Novice Magician
Race: Human
Strength: 22
Speed: 24
Dexterity: 23
Vitality: 25
Perception: 22
Magic: 35]
Skills
[Language
English - Lvl 47/50]
[Meditation - Lvl 25/100]
[Cooking - Lvl 21/50]
[Appraisal - Lvl 21/100]
[Parkour – Lvl 19/100]
[Physical Conditioning - Lvl 20/50]
[Unarmed Combat Mastery - Lvl 9/100]
[Physical Resistance – Lvl 11/100]
[Treatment – Lvl 4/50]
[Healing Magic - Lvl 6/100]
[Bond
Cheshire - 10/25
Nagini - 10/25
Morag - 11/25]
[Spatial Magic – Lvl 14/100]
[Drawing – Lvl 23/50]
[Throwing Weapon Mastery – Lvl 18/100]
[Bloodlust – Lvl 4/50]
[Dagger Mastery – Lvl 25/100]
[Piloting
Car - Lvl 13/50]
[Ward Magic – Lvl 16/100]
[Spell Modification - Lvl 10/50]
[Revolver Mastery – Lvl 13/100]
[Magic Sense - Lvl 15/100]
[Poison Resistance – Lvl 10/100]
[Mind Resistance – Lvl 10/100]
Titles
[Novice Magician
Increases the growth speed of Magic by 10%.
Increases the growth speed of all Magical Masteries and Spells by 15%.]
Perks
[Human
Increases the growth speed of all stats and skills by 20%.]
[Holy Element
Allows the use of Holy Artifacts.]
[Minor Blessing of ####
Increases the potential of the user to connect with Animals.]
