My Succubus System (18+)

Chapter 226 : Oracle Vision
There was a moment of exploration where Dora had an epiphany, a realization of sorts. Prior to her battle with the Atlas Grizzly she made an effort to utilize her new abilities together. This was inspired by Zero’s words, he suggested that doing so would allow her to tap into the full powers of her role.

The result was something akin to soul shaking. The moment she activated both Far Sight and True Sight simultaneously the world fell away, revealing innumerable flickering flames of varying colors amidst a backdrop of black.

She was so jarred by the sudden and complete deprivation of all senses that Dora quickly disabled the techniques. After getting a better feel for Far Sight she decided this disarming experience was the last thing she needed to master before finding civilization.

She used True Sight to make sure that no Grimlock were nearby, then she found the highest rock nearby and took a seat atop it for extra insurance. Once she felt confident that she would be undisturbed for a while, Dora settled into a lotus meditation stance and closed her eyes.

After several deep breaths which served to sync both her heart beats and breathing Dora activated the pair of abilities simultaneously. Immediately a sensation of falling away overcame her. She could no longer feel the weight of her body, nor the rhythmic breathing of her own breath. The sensation was strange to say the least. She felt aware of herself, but extremely distant -- as if her spirit had been firmly detached.

What presented before her was a world of black, unlike normal True Sight. There were no distinguishing outlines of creatures, entities, plants or the surroundings. Rather, there were only flames which danced in the darkness of it all.

Dora also realized she was one such flame. The color of bright white, burning gently in the sea of an abyss. Having a better handle on using Far Sight allowed Dora to shift her own consciousness and focus in this state. She zoomed outwards, as if she were floating higher and higher above an empty scape of darkness.

Soon hundreds of thousands of flames began to flicker, all dispersed and spread out. Dora struggled to comprehend what it meant as she “looked” at the multitude of flames. The vast majority were either green or blue colored. Like herself there were several hundred more white flames and she couldn’t help but notice a vibrant golden flame.

*That must be Zero.* She thought, and even as she did so her shifting curiosity began to fill her with all sorts of feelings and ideas. Then a clear picture of the man himself came to mind. Dora watched as this image of Zero seemed to dance around a battlefield in which the earth was scarred and gouged.

There was another man she didn’t notice initially, perhaps the vibrancy of Zero’s own golden flame completely concealed her vision. He was no one she’d ever seen before but his appearance was striking. His body was well chiseled and despite his youthful and wild appearance, the man had gray hair.

Zero seemed to be enjoying himself, but the young man wore an expression of annoyance and desperation as he sought to strike Zero. The two were apparently sparring.

Dora was surprised to find Zero’s gaze shift from the young man towards her point of view. He even smiled, offering a wave at her as he ducked and dodged the man’s blows effortlessly.

*Is this the present?* she thought inwardly.

As if to answer her question Zero nodded then redirected his full attention towards his opponent. He waved his hand in a dismissing way, this suggested to Dora that he wanted her to turn her attention elsewhere.

She obliged, having a better idea of the man’s eccentric nature than most and so she reigned in her curiosity. In turn her “view” returned to the abyss of black and a general image of Zero’s golden flame, flickering in the darkness.

*So all of these are..adventurers then?* She thought inwardly. She decided to test her theory on the nearest green flame. Focusing on it revealed something she rarely saw -- an animal. Grimlock were often mistaken for animals in Adventia, according to Zero. It even led some to believe that animals simply didn’t exist, but that was far from the truth.

The specimen she was currently viewing could be called no less than majestic in it’s own right. A four legged horned creature that had dark colored fur around its head and neck like a mane.

Four long, curved horns grew from the animal’s crown. It resembled a deer with a lion’s mane. There was a certain aura from it, Dora could immediately tell the creature was extraordinary , perhaps even amongst its own kind.

*So the green flames are animals? Then the blue ones are…*

Her “gaze” next fell upon a cluster of flickering blue wisps not far from her current “location”. By focusing there she saw many people, young, old and all ages between. It looked like any rural village. People with simple clothing leading simple lives. They went about their daily routines, speaking with neighbors or catching bugs. She quickly moved from perspective to perspective and each time she caught a glimpse of someone or something new.

Green flames were animals , wildlife. The blue flames were humans -- or what this world called ‘normals’ -- non adventurers. Gold denoted who had transcended humanity, white represented people like herself, who must have been touched by divinity. There was only one color left, red. Those humans who were reborn into a strange new world and blessed with bodies and abilities far beyond normal comprehension.

The color green was immensely numerous, near unknowable. Followed by blue in sporadic bunches across the landscape of the world. Next came the color red, adventurers, also bunched in places which Dora assumed were hub cities.

She continued to watch and observe the flickering wisps of flame, their fire resembling incense smoke the way it sometimes danced or twirled. After a period of time Dora began to notice many things about the landscape of flames. Some were obviously larger than others, and yet there were some that were so small she had to focus to realize they existed.

Some flames burned more vibrantly than others, this phenomena seemed more pronounced in the red flames, the adventurers. Dora quickly came to understand that this was for a singular reason -- strength. Generally, the higher an adventurer’s rank, the more vibrant the color of their flame. She surmised this after taking a closer look at many of the red flames. She was beginning to think of this as a hard, fast rule when she noticed two flames that seemed to deviate from this “rule” altogether.

Curiosity got the better of her, after all she didn’t have a specific task for the most part -- not at the moment anyway. She peered closer, focusing on one such red flame, one that burned just a few degrees hotter and more vibrant than others in its vicinity.

----------------------------------

“Get up. You’re heavy.” Agni groaned as she struggled to push her sleeping familiar off. Shula was currently sleeping on Agni’s chest. The little devil was unmanageable once she fell asleep.

“You’re like a kid. It’s ridiculous.” Agni said, her brow twitching in annoyance as she pushed Shula by the forehead. Unfortunately the imp would not budge. She gripped tighter, refusing to move.

“Stop stupid.” This was the only reply Shula gave as she nuzzled her face deeper into Agni’s bosom.

“You need your own bed.” Agni spoke, deciding to forego her annoyance. The moments of silence for Shula were far and few between. She decided to give the imp a bit more time to rest before they started their day. Regardless of how rushed it might make them.

It had been several days since the end of the Twilight Festival. Agni and her friends had come to settle into a routine of sorts. After speaking to Vivian Lex and Oliver Pagnal about her encounters at the Twilight Festival, the mood surrounding the whole of Mystic Tower Chapel seemed to shift.

Agni doubted she was the catalyst for change, her intuition spoke of a different reason -- but she was affected all the same. Vivian Lex, doyenne of the Mystic Tower Chapel summed it up in roughly two words.

“Get stronger.”

As it turns out, being “sweeped” by a chapel of low renown caused many of the chapel leaders intense displeasure.

Amongst themselves they spoke and then decided, and this simple directive was the result. In order to outpace Memento Mori’s growth, the established chapels used a tried and proven method -- quality over quantity.

By raising the overall level of each of their chapel members, the hope was that each chapel could contribute to making Enzo Gaines cry next year.

“There won’t be any more clean sweeps on my watch.” Oliver Pagnal would often be heard saying this as he trained the newest recruits as thoroughly as he could possibly manage, given the difference of strength.

Soon after Vivian’s directive was issued, training classes became available. All new recruits were required to attend, thus Agni and all of her friends (with the exception of Gates and Gigi) were expected as well.

The purpose of the training classes was to expose chapel members to a number of “real world” situations in a safe setting. The idea was simple: by preparing people for unforeseen emergencies and the act of “adventuring”, the chapel could be more productive in general.

The plan was simplistic, but Agni couldn’t argue its effectiveness. It was during the past few days that she realized there was much more to adventuring than slaying Grimlock.

*I guess with Bracha as a teacher, that’s to be expected.* This is what Agni thought as she and Shula made their way to one of many “classrooms” in the chapel.

In reality, the chapel had taken on more of a university style system that allowed freedom and flexibility for completing tasks. These tasks took the form of quest-like alerts through the systema. By completing these within a certain time period, the user could “graduate” with the long term goal of accepting jobs on behalf of the Chapel.

Agni quickly began to feel like a “real adventurer” as she began to acquire adventuring knowledge. She learned that Grimlock were only half of the challenge. Camping, animal and Grimlock warding techniques, food and supply storage -- all of these were considerations.

She found all of these things informative and interesting. It wasn’t as if she didn’t enjoy her daily life before, but this gave her a sense of being in highschool once more. In a way this calmed her heart, giving each day a certain freshness.

From what she remembered of her past life, highschool was the most tumultuous time in her existence. One that would come to define the deeply rooted trauma within her heart. Thus, Agni was determined to make her second “academia” a golden experience.

“Good morning Agni.” Merri Magstrani greeted the succubus, nodding to a sleepy eyed Shula as well. Agni smiled then looked around the room. The area she was now in was less of a classroom and more like a natural gymnasium. This was due to the magical capability of the chapel to customize training areas as the chapel leaders saw fit.

“Where’s Ariadna?” Agni asked, directing her words towards the minotauress before her.

“Oh. She’s taking a day off. She had some shopping to do.” Merri replied. Merri was a muscular, tall, bronze skinned woman with a somewhat mousey voice that did not match her appearance. From what Agni knew of the woman, she was a Beastia who enjoyed reading, honing her level of physical fitness and shopping. Due to the nature of her Beastia class, Merri was humanoid with animal features -- in this case the mythical minotaur. This meant she had long curved horns which protruded from either side of her head and a long cow-like tail. Her hair was dual colored and spotted, resembling the same sort of pattern you might see on a cow as well.

Merri’s adventure class, Guardian, specialized in tanking -- that is the absorption of damage in a party based setting. Ariadna, her black haired partner in crime, was by contrast skinny and pale skinned. Unlike Merri , Ariadna preferred to avoid being roped into risky situations. Her adventure class, Trickster, allowed Ariadna to manipulate and control sleight of hand techniques that are mainly used to distract and confuse foes.

Agni had just got done taking in Merri’s features when she noticed two young women standing behind the Minotauress.

“Oh. Hi Kara, Suina. How’s it going?” Agni waved to the two young women, their faces barely peeking out from around Merri’s physique.

“F-fine.” Suina said.
“I’m well, thank you for asking.”

The two women couldn’t have been more different in appearance and attitude. Suina was a slimeoid, a humanoid Beastia with a semi translucent body. Her flesh was blue colored , her hair a deeper shade blue which contrasted sharply with one another.

By comparison, Kara was extremely pale. It reminded Agni of an albino person. Her eyes were also reddish. These features, coupled with her straightforward way of speech, gave a wildly different impression than the day she and Agni first met.

“Gather around. It’s time to get started.” Oliver Pagnal’s voice rang out. The elven man was short in stature, but great in sense of self worth. He was an amazing magic user and he knew it, thus his every word and action oozed authority. At first Agni found this to be somewhat annoying, but after witnessing his prowess during their last foray into a red shard, her mind quickly changed on the matter.

The four young women decided to cut their conversation short and join the other ten or so adventurers who awaited Oliver’s tutelage.