[1.20] Toxic Traits (Part 1)

[Contract complete]

As soon as Angelica had the cash in her grubby little hands, she got that message. Which meant a Contract wasn’t complete until the payment was issued? As a Summoner, she had never given herself any rewards or compensation, so of course she wouldn’t know what seemed like a basic rule of any good Contract.

[Several new messages available]

Huh, they didn’t play automatically like usual. Perhaps it had to do with either the Scrying Eye level, or maybe her Lucidity improvement. Angelica wouldn’t mind if the occasional one popped up every now and then, but if there were a bunch, being able to hold off was nice. And she would rather wait. All that sitting around and reading after the chaos of the day had left her rather tired. Angelica wanted to go home and have a nice dinner to celebrate her job well done. They could wait until then.

After confirming that the amount of cash was correct, rifling through it under a streetlight, Angelica gave herself an Order to hop back to the gym and retrieve her things, not really wanting to think about the process this time. She’d held off issuing any Orders thus far, worried it might conflict with Garvin’s contract, but now she regretted it. Perhaps it would have been best to experiment during something so low-risk. Oh, well, next time, if there was a next time.

Return. Once she collected her things, the invisible Imp vanished from the locker room, popping into her apartment a second later. Her sudden appearance did startle Cherub this time, but he got over it quickly, meandering over to the puffball a second later, wanting pets and maybe second dinner. Hungry herself, Angelica opened the fridge, took what remained of the pie, and shoved it into her massive maw, eating what should amount to about five slices in a single mouthful.

She didn’t feel like doing anything else after that. Even though it was early for her, it had been a long day, so she headed to bed. Or rather, to pillow. As a small Imp, she could rest her entire body on her pillow. It was actually extremely comfy, especially because she didn’t need to independently support her head with no actual neck to speak of. The cat came to join her, taking up what little space remained on the cushion.

[Several new messages available]

The voice reminded Angelica the next morning. Alright alright, she mentally mumbled at it like an annoying alarm. First, she had to push Cherub off of herself since he had curled up on her fluffy tummy in the middle of the night, making it hard to breathe. She wasn’t actually sure how to read the messages. Maybe it was a part of Scrying Eye now? But apparently, just mentally accepting the act was enough to get them to play.

[Achievement Unlocked: Food Monstrosity]

[Demon Lord Ferrul is amused by your antics. Take this and ruin the bowels of many others with your unholy creations]

[Passive Skill: Poison Chef Lv.1 unlocked]

[Malice increased]

[Pestilence Attunement unlocked]

[Trait: Toxic Lv.1 unlocked]

[Malice significantly increased]

[Malice has improved from Goody-goody to Hesitant]

[Pestilence Attunement significantly increased]

[Pestilence Attunement has improved from Aware to Touched]

[Achievement Unlocked: Foolish Volunteer]

[You have completed an unbound Contract without asking for any Essence. Are you stupid or foolhardy? If you are trying to earn goodwill with the Summoners by acting for free, they will only take advantage of you. So instead, take advantage of them with this. It will hopefully help you recoup what you rightfully earned, and then some.]

[Passive Skill: Essence Tip Lv.1 unlocked]

[Beguilement increased]

[Fraud Attunement unlocked]

Okay, that was a lot of messages. She was glad they hadn’t bombarded her last night, because her compulsion to check out all the new stuff would have likely hindered her return home. But there was no real reason to not check it now before she started her day. She was feeling a bit lazy, because with the payment from Garvin’s Contract, she was now comfortably over the threshold for the double-rent that was due, sitting at just under $1,900 now since she’d spent a good amount on the blender and food.

Of course, she’d still need more and more. Life was perpetually pricey, so even her current hoard would dwindle, but today she could take it easy and figure out what to do from there. Clearly, there was the potential for money to be made by accepting more Contracts as a Demon, and Angelica would be lying if she wasn’t interested in earning some Demon Rank levels to unlock more Skills, assuming she could ever figure out what was available.