The more Raphael read, the more he felt a quiet satisfaction building. None of these skills were exceptional on their own. But together they were comprehensive.

Remarkably comprehensive.

And the three remaining skills were better still.

He paced the room, turning the possibilities over.

The four Demonic Senses, with the exception of the last one, all came with costs. Nothing like the raw destructive power of the Moonlight Blade or the ceiling-breaking physical amplification of Blood Frenzy. But the coverage they provided was immense. Every gap in his current profile had something fitting into it.

The final three skills formed their own series. Alp had grouped them as the Shadow series.

And the one Raphael found most interesting, without question, was the one called Shadow Merchant.

[Mutation Skill 5, Shadow Merchant: Items can be stored within one’s own shadow, up to a volume not exceeding the shadow’s total capacity. Shadow volume is determined by the host’s arcane reserves.

Items can be transferred between shadows, within a range determined by the Arcane Reserve skill level, objects can be sent remotely by routing them through intermediate shadows, including the shadows of other people.]

"I finally have a storage compartment that travels with me. I’ve been buying coats with four hidden pockets specifically because of this problem. No more." Raphael turned this over with a quiet satisfaction. No briefcase required. "A shame I only have it for three months."

[Mutation Skill 6, Shadow Double: The Contracted Party can inhabit the Contracting Party’s shadow, temporarily animating it. This shadow has two functions.

First: it extends the host’s senses, anywhere the host’s shadow can reach, the host’s perception can reach.

Second: the shadow can take a designated attack in place of the host. When a fatal strike lands, host and shadow can exchange positions, allowing the shadow to absorb it. This substitution does not function against area-of-effect attacks, it only applies to targeted or small-scale precision strikes.

After the shadow is destroyed by acting as a substitute, the host enters a shadowless state for a period, during which Arcane Reserve level is halved, until the shadow reconstitutes after one week.]

"This one is excellent if used correctly. A hidden last resort. The limitation is the targeted-only condition." He thought through his recent encounters. "Looking at the attack types I’ve actually faced, moonlight blade, wolf venom, wraith possession, those would qualify. But against anything with range or spread, lightning arcs, wraith shrieks, gravity magic, it does nothing. The window is narrower than it first appears."

He noted this carefully and moved to the final entry.

[Mutation Skill 7, Shadow Jump: Within a range determined by the Arcane Reserve level, the user can jump between nearby shadows instantaneously. Each jump consumes between 10% and 50% of arcane reserves depending on distance. Two consecutive jumps in quick succession are not possible.] 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Flat description. Unimpressive on paper.

Anyone who hadn’t watched Alp’s Shadow use it in an actual fight would underestimate it. Anyone who had seen it knew exactly what it meant in practice: as long as there was a light source near an enemy, there was a shadow, and through that shadow, the user could close to point-blank range in an instant and strike before the target understood what had happened. Or, in the reverse, vanish through a distant shadow and open the gap to nothing.

The cost was significant. Fifty percent of arcane reserves meant that even using the ability to disengage from a fight left almost nothing for a second engagement. Running on empty wasn’t comfortable for anyone, less so for a hunter.

At the bottom of the contract, the payment terms.

Unlike fusion-type users, Demon contract users had to pay a cost to access the Demon’s abilities. The nature of the cost was negotiated through the trial, analogous to Death Crow’s soul requirements. Alp’s cost, however, was distinctly unusual.

[Contract Cost: Each day abilities are used, one gold coin must be paid. The next day’s use requires one coin more than the previous day.]

Raphael’s brow drew together. The contract still had a few moments to finalize, and he took the opening.

"You’re a Demon. You don’t exactly have a shopping list. What do you do with gold coins?"

Alp’s voice carried a slight weariness.

"We have need of currency too. There are plenty of Demons who arrange for humans to exchange money for health, or lifespan, in practice, it amounts to paying or being killed, so humans always pay. The thing is, Demons don’t have territory of their own. We live inside the nations of other peoples. To do that, maintaining disguises, managing human relationships, staying invisible to the hunters, not being exposed, costs money. It’s unavoidable."

Raphael found himself genuinely curious. He had a reasonable background in the world’s major peoples, most of whom had established their own territories. The human federations across the northern continent, now split after their old unification.

The Dragon Kingdom in the Black Forest continent. The Elven Republic on another. The beast-kin’s Union of States across the central continent. Even the sea-folk, spread thin across every ocean, had a Principality of the Seas that held more in name than in substance.

"Why don’t Demons have one? Historically you’ve built states, the Blood Moon Empire from the vampire branch, the Nation of the Dead from the undead lineage."

Alp made a quiet sound, not quite a laugh.

"Because the wheel of history ground those things into dust without particular sentiment about it. We built a great deal at one point, too many names to list now, all of them reduced to something to feel sad about." He paused.

"We were too powerful and too careless about it. Unlike the dragons, who keep to their own corner and don’t trouble anyone unnecessarily, we expanded without limit.

We attracted the hostility of nearly every other people. From what we once were, the dominant force in the world, to what we are now: the world’s collective enemy."

The hood shifted in what had become, after long residence in human societies, a reflexive motion mimicking the habit of shaking one’s head.

"As for the gold coins—" Something in the voice shifted, taking on a faint note of resigned amusement.