Chapter 8


    He looked over the items list first, choosing the Crude Scythe for a couple reasons despite his regrets on wanting the mana regeneration from the staff or the protection of the amulet. Of course, this was all assuming that <span ss="italic">mana was essentially what powered <span ss="italic">magic—based on previous lore from Earth. The first reason was that he wouldn’t have much mana yet, and if he ran out by spamming abilities, he’d be left with what—exactly? A stick or his fists if he chose the staff or amulet. The daggers would be nice in that regard, too, as they did good physical damage like the scythe, but theycked range and Rivencked any experience in really serious fighting besides a couple brawls or gang fights he’d gotten into over the years. It certainly wasn’t significant enough for him to feelfortable using daggers here where people could use magic. Also, the scythe gave a bonus to Unholy damage—which was a category he had now chosen.


    —<span ss="bold">Crude Scythe—17 damage, +5 Unholy damage, 18% chance to apply Amplified Bleeding


    That brought him to the next choices: his two abilities. He’d already decided what he wanted before he’d selected the scythe, and he was rtively certain it was a goodbination.


    The first ability tome he picked was both a crowd-control and damage-over-time ability.—<span ss="bold">Wretched Snare [Unholy], Tier 1—fire snares of ck magic that deal damage over time


    This would hopefully give him some versatility and the ability to lock down opponents, especially if an enemy chose a tanking or closebat minion to attack him. The scythe would also increase the snare’s damage done over time by an average of five.


    </a>The second ability tome he chose was Bloody Razors.


    —<span ss="bold">Bloody Razors [Blood], Tier 1—summon spinning discs of crimson with minor lock-on abilities to slightly adjust for enemy movements


    He specifically chose this ability due to the lock-on effect it had. He was unsure of how urate his aim would be, so this would hopefullypensate. He needed to make sure he actually hit his opponent instead of wasting all his mana missing when he’d had rtively no time to practice the spells.


    <span ss="bold">[Tomes have been chosen and will be presented to you upon time warp. Please choose the rest of your selections. Once you have been introduced to your demonic servant, your time warp willmence and the battle between upstart Chalgathi’s Chosen willmence.]


    This brought him to what was probably the most important choice for his uing battle: a minionpanion. As for which minion he wanted to begin with—the options that caught his eye most were Subus, Shadow Fiend, Ravager, and Blood Weaver.


    Honestly, he was ashamed to admit that he was very curious about how the subus would turn out, but Mama didn’t raise no simp. So…with a sigh…he declined the option. At least for now, because he already had one crowd-control ability of his own, and the message pertaining to the subus seemed geared toward that category…even though it truly, truly caused him pain to turn the subus down. His Latin maid and other rted fantasies would have to wait for now.


    The Shadow Fiend was very interesting to him, but looking around his t, floating ind, he couldn’t see any real objects or obstacles the creature could use to its advantage pertaining to stealthy moves. Maybe that wouldn’t matter, but he didn’t want to risk it.


    The Ravager was a really interesting choice. Riven could use a tank, as this ss of his was probably very weak defensively. The Ravager even had passive regeneration! That was a huge plus, but the description also called it slow and dumb. So…it was basically a brutish creature of some sort. Slow was definitely a negative, but would being dumb be a huge hindrance to Riven if he was trying to use it as a meat shield? He wasn’t sure.


    Then there was the Blood Weaver. Riven didn’t like that the description called it fragile, but everything else about the arachnid screamed <span ss="italic">this is great! to him. It was very fast, stealthy, smart, and had good crowd control. Surely that wouldn’t be a bad pick, would it?


    </a>Truthfully, though, it was mostly a guessing game, as these descriptions gave very little in terms of information. Wanting them all, he eventually ended up choosing the Blood Weaver…and hoped that it wasn’t a mistake that would cost him his life here in the next twenty minutes or so.


    —<span ss="bold">Blood Weaver, Blood, Level 1—A very fast arachnid variation of demon, stealthy, good crowd control, fragile, smart


    <span ss="bold">[You have selected Blood Weaver. Please choose from the two avable Blood Weaver demons that have chosen to ept your request:]


    In a sh, Riven was staring at a pair of realistic holograms of two different spiders. The first was a pitch-ck spider the size of a hound with silver fangs, two red eyes instead of eight that looked like rubies, and simr red patches painted along its body. She had twelve long and slender legs, and they each came down to a sharp point. She looked very pretty, even though Riven had always hated spiders, and there was an elegance to it that he hadn’t expected. Its name was Ath.


    <span ss="bold">[Ath:


    —<span ss="bold">Blood Weaver Demon, Level 1, Female


    —<span ss="bold">Starting Skills: 1—Bloody Strings (crowd control), 2—Necrotic Venom (stamina-draining effect and damage over time)


    —<span ss="bold">Trait gifted to you upon choosing this demon: Adrenaline <span ss="bold">Junkie—you find yourself teeming with energy, and your muscles pump blood faster than ever in response to the bodily change. +15% to Agility.]


    The next Blood Weaver was rather different in its presentation. Its coating was ck, with orange spikes down its back up to its head, and it was a littlerger. It had an extra pair of fangs, one of which dripped acid, but it, too, had a pair of simr red eyes to Ath—and it, too, had twelve legs instead of eight. Its name was Veriksha.


    <span ss="bold">[Veriksha:


    —<span ss="bold">Blood Weaver Demon, Level 1, Male


    —<span ss="bold">Starting Skills: 1—Bloody Strings (crowd control), 2—Acid Spray (ranged damage)


    —<span ss="bold">Trait gifted to you upon choosing this demon: Thermal Insides—you have 90% increased resistance to cold weather and cold-based abilities.]


    The choice was a rather hard one. Ath’s starting skills were about the same as Veriksha’s, though Veriksha did have a ranged attack and Ath </a>didn’t—Ath’s blood venom and therefore closebat seemed to be more potent. At least that’s what he got out of the description.


    Veriksha’s Thermal Insides trait was interesting, though he didn’t look favorably on it whenparing it to Ath’s Adrenaline Junkie trait. Thermal Insides would basically make him immune to cold weather or cold-based attacks, while the Adrenaline Junkie trait made him faster with an outright percentage. The problem with Thermal Insides was that it only helped him in very specific situations, and Adrenaline Junkie would help him all the time.


    So that’s what sealed the deal for him, and he selected Ath as his first minion choice.


    <span ss="bold">[Your pact with Ath has been sealed under the watchful eye of the administrator. The demonic seal representing Ath will be etched into your flesh, and your body has been restored to perfect health. Congrattions on obtaining your new demonic minion.]


    <span ss="bold">[Demonic contracts enable you to revive your demons at the significant cost of a blood price that will ever increase the stronger your servants be, but Holy resurrection magics won’t be able to bring them back. Holy healing magics or buffs will have zero effect on them. You have two minutes to introduce yourselves.]


    In a sh of light, the holograms were gone, and in their ce a red pentagram with a spider in the center was etched into the ground in front of him.


    Then he lurched forward, grimacing as light of a simr color began etching itself into his skin. He looked down, gritting his teeth as a numbing, chilling cold blossomed along his sternum. Again the symbol of a spider was drawn first, and it was then surrounded by a red pentagram that remained inked into his skin as he got yet another notification.


    <span ss="bold">[The demonic seal etched into your flesh may be touched and concentrated on to unsummon or resummon your minion from theher realms. This applies to any future demonic minions as well, and again, congrattions on obtaining your first demonic servant.]


    The tattoo was rather neat now that he looked at it some more and the pain had gone away, but he didn’t have too much time to appreciate it. A momentter, Ath began to rise out of the ground in the center of the pentagram. The creature was exactly as the hologram had depicted her—arge red-and-ck spider that was a rather pretty creature for an arachnid, which was odd, </a>considering how he’d always thought most spiders looked disgusting. Ath’s blood-tipped legs tapped rapidly in excitement as she looked around, and as her two red eyes settled on him, she lifted the two front legs and spread her fangs while getting up on her hind legs. “Hi, there, Master! How’s your day going?”


    Riven was taken aback. The spider could talk? The voice was high-pitched, feminine, and was the equivalent to a soft summer’s breeze or wind chimes—it was nice, pleasant to hear, and he couldn’t help but chuckle. Not only was the spider very pretty for an animal, but even her voice was pleasant and friendly?


    He gave Ath a mixed expression of confusion and amusement before getting up and walking over to the dog-size arachnid. Extending a hand and shaking one of her rather cold, sharpened front legs, he smiled down as she clicked her mandibles together. “You’re rather cute. How’d I get so lucky with my minion choice?”


    He could have sworn that the spider flushed pink for a moment before she shook his hand vigorously with dramatic affect.


    “Now, now, human, I can’t have you hitting on me right after summoning me. We’re different species and it wouldn’t work out.”


    Riven stifled augh, and he felt himself rx as he heard the clickingughter of the arachnid when Ath got back down to all twelve legs. “Seriously, though, you’re not what I expected. At least when concerning your…demeanor.”