Saintess Summons Skeletons

“... then I grabbed the lightning attack and… died, I guess, then I woke up here. A bit of a risky play if you ask me but I didn’t really have many other options. Also I’d already died twice by then so…”

“Hey, Sof, it’s ok.”

It was out of character for Alith to be patting Sofia’s head but she wouldn’t say anything about it. It felt nice, actually. Relaxing.

“No more dying ok, I’m the only one who’s allowed to do that. I can be brought back, you can’t. Think a bit about how I’ll feel then before you jump head first into this kind of shit alright?”

No answer.

Alith sighed.

"I'm serious Sofia. You brought me here from the dead. Now don't you fucking die on me. I'll never forgive you if you do..."

"Sorry Alith. I... It's just... I've been feeling on edge for a while. It's been mounting up and up. No matter what I do now. I'm more... Impulsive? Like I think less and act more? I try to forget it but... I feel like it's been getting worse."

"Is it the stress from the threat of the Church? It's less dangerous now but that's still a thing... Who knows how long until they teleport you back..."

"Maybe that's part of it but no... I think it started before I left the Church so.... But it wasn't too bad back then. Even now I don't notice it most of the time... But it's strange when I do.

"I feel like I've been getting more and more unhinged for a while. Maybe it's just my personality shifting... Or I didn't know myself that well..." Sofia concluded.

Alith looked worried, "It does sound like the stress is getting to you... I'll see if I can brew you a little something relaxing. Or at least some herbal tea. Get back to sleep alright? I'll go look at what plants I can find outside. Might need you to identify them to be sure though, I'll wake you up when I'm back."

"Okay... Thank you, Alith."

 

“... and after I leveled up I came to wake you up.”

“The level up didn’t hurt?”

“Not that much, like a bad fever maybe.”

Sofia stared daggers at the culprit for her suffering in her passive skills. If it wasn’t so potentially useful she’d delete it right then and there. Instead she took a sip of her cup of hot tea. “How many stat points?” she asked as she focused back on the conversation.

“Two and a half thousand health and stamina, mana still only the ten thousand I leech from you. I got some clothing too apparently, haven’t opened the box,” Alith pointed at a small pile of boxes near her bed.

“That’s way more than one box…”

“Yeah since the skill level boosts were useless to me they gave me those instead, one for one, so I got nine. Gachapon box they’re called, no idea what it is.”

“No clue either… Wait, NINE?”

“What do you know, I was in there for six whole months, did a lot, I skipped a mighty load of things in my recap earlier, would’ve taken forever if not. And I didn't even get a specialization point like you.”

“What about your skills?”

“One new classless, replaced [Menial chores], an active and a passive from my dumb class, and a special passive from the phoenix blessing. Have a look.”

[Shinobi] : Grants precise control over your body and weapons, the result of intensive and resolute practice. Additionally reduces noise produced and visibility of the user in low light environments. Efficacy tied to maximum Stamina.

“Another skill to hide your presence… you’re really going for that whole ghost charact-” She was cut short by a light chop on the top of the head.

“Don’t steal my jokes! Or at least use them on someone else. Also keep reading. I want to open those damn boxes gachapon things already.”

[Utterly unimpressed] : Strike a disinterested pose and gain 50% (0.5*Skill level) resistance to all damage and ailments for up to 5 (Class Level/20) seconds (max: 30s). Performing any other action cancels this effect. Sixty seconds cooldown.

[Presentable] : Your hair doesn’t get tangled. Your makeup doesn’t run. Your nails do not break. You do not grow any body hair. Your face is more symmetrical. Your teeth are white. Your skin is unblemished. Your clothes do not crease. You do not sweat. You smell of flowers… Under a storm or in the deepest pits of filth, a lady must always be presentable. And thus, you will.

“So this is why you don't stink after the level up...”

"Sofia, I took a bath while you were still sleeping. I was disgusting after the level up."

[Heir of fire] : Apply a stack of ‘Devouring fire’ on target for every successful melee attack, up to 100 stacks.

(An attack needs to deal at least 1 health point of damage to be successful)

Devouring fire lasts for 3 seconds, renewed upon applying a new stack, and augments damage received from all physical attacks by 10%.

While Sofia was still busy pondering over the worth of these skills…

“Hurry up already!” begged a muffled voice from somewhere in the room.

Both girls turned to the source of the voice, Alith’s reward boxes. They looked at each other, then at the boxes again.

“Come oooooon… I’m staaaaarving…” It was a rather weak voice, now without a doubt coming from the boxes, more precisely the bigger one, that held the clothing reward from the additional task.

“What… Say Alith, what was the prompt for your clothing reward again?”

“Eh… Give me a second… Here,” she said, the old system message now showing up for Sofia too.

[Additional task reward : Clothing piece (Doppletopper) * 1]

“Well…”

“I’ll go open it,” Alith confidently informed her as she stood up.

“You sure?”

“It’s a reward, no? Can’t possibly be dangerous.”

Sofia had the reflex to start preparing an [Angel’s bolt] just in case, but Alith was way too fast and was already taking a thing out of the box.

It looked like… A ring of smooth and stretchy black cloth. Maybe as wide as a hand, with not much else going on. Sofia could tell it contained some mana, though not much. Alith was going straight to the point, talking to the lifeless piece of cloth she held at an arm's length, pinched between two fingers. “You’re the one talking?”

“...”

“Yes…” it finally answered, followed by another silence.

“I need food, please, give me… your shirt…”

Alith looked back at Sofia, they exchanged worried and confused looks. Seeing Sofia shrug, Alith threw the thing on her bed and started to take off her pajama top. “You’re really going to give it your shirt?” remarked Sofia, dismayed, as a topless Alith threw a pajama shirt on the talking piece of cloth.

“I’ve learned not to ask too many questions when things make absolutely no sense, made life much, much, much easier in the place I was in for my trial. Sometimes you just need to trust the process or you end up in an endless cycle.”

“I-... If you say so…”

Meanwhile on the bed, the pajama shirt was sinking into the black ring of cloth. As if pulled into a sand pit, it completely disappeared into it. Which was followed by a loud burp and some sighs of satisfaction.

“You don’t have to stare, you know, that’s rude. But thank you for the meal,” the thing on the bed expressed, its voice neutral, different from before.

“Sure… Who are you though? A shirt crazed cloth demon?” Alith asked.

“Who? Are you alright? I’m clearly a piece of clothing,” the thing said as if addressing the dumbest child it had ever met. “Oh, unless, are you asking for a name? That’s a thing you breathers like to have, well, anything is fine really, I do not really care much for such things.”

“The band; magical strapless bra; the pec ring; tube top; censor bar; annoying fucker; the jiggle canceller; priceless artifact… you name it, I’ve heard it all, pick whatever you like and put me on already, or do you like exposing yourself?”

Annoying fucker? Yeah I already feel I can get behind that one.

“So that’s it? You’re clothing, and we should wear you?”

“We? Uh. No can do sorry, I mean, your friend over there, too much for me, I’ll get nauseous, no thanks, I don’t go on breather males either, once was more than enough. Oh and I need some free space for myself ok, no capes, no shirts, coats, jackets, armor, no huge straps across the chest or anything like that, and no pants that go too high either, please keep that stuff far away from me.”

The more the thing talked the less Alith managed to keep up with the situation. All the while, the cloth kept blabbering “...it’s disgusting, really, I mean, you put legs in them! Can you believe this? LEGS! Disgusting! It makes me sick just thinking about it, these sub-clothes have not an ounce of self respect I tell you, and…” It was Sofia that cut his rant short.

“Do you always prattle this much?”

“Are you insulting me, nauseating breather? Well, I will let it slide, it is beneath me to get mad at the likes of you, I suppose. The answer you’re seeking is no. I sleep most of the time. Then I eat. And I help a bit in battle, I should pay for my meals, after all. Today is special, as I see myself forced to educate you.” This whole thing irked Alith quite a lot and it showed on her face.

“You’re talking an awful whole lot of shit for something that was begging me for food a minute ago.”

She grabbed one of her mithril sickles.

“Hey, hey, no need to get violent! I- I’ll be good! Please. I- I’m sorry? Get awaAyaay-”

The mithril blade stopped right above the thing.

“Now you speak when I ask you to.”

“Y-yes master!”