D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

--- Kat ---

Hunter 23HX443 did a strange wiggling thing with her body. She remained in place and let the upper half of her body that wasn't touching the ground undulate from side to side for a bit. Kat could mentally hear Lily wondering if this was the lamia equivalent of pacing, or if it was closer to looking down at your feet and shifting around in place.

Kat cracked a smile at the two different mental images, though Hunter's deadpan face made it hard to guess which was which.

"My final power is complex, as such I've decided the best way to explain it is to explain how it functions then retell a short story of two of my hunts. One in which it worked wonderfully, and one in which it functionally did nothing except cause me to waste time.

It is usually not so extreme, but even with the research my clan has done on the ability it has only appeared twice in our extremely extensive history.

"My third power, is the power to do anything… at least on paper. In practice it is much less, and even then it still sounds like a more impressive power then it is. If I designate a task that can be completed, it provides me a set of mental instructions. Upon completing those instructions I receive an ability tailored to the situation.

"Which, once again, sounds fantastic. I do not deny that this ability sounds powerful and extremely useful, especially one I have received at Rank 3… but I am afraid that is simply not the case. The ability given is rarely the best for the situation. It is rarely ever the best I can conceive of, and assuming that I am thinking of the best ability is foolhardy.

"This is also not taking into account that I need to complete tasks for these abilities and such tasks can regularly be exceptionally time consuming or in rare cases more difficult then the task I am trying to complete. Additionally, I can only request an ability once every twenty-four hours.

The final, and perhaps most devastating restriction is that I do not know how many or what all of my tasks shall be.

"Just what the 'current' task is. Oh, and of course the regeneration doesn't start until I either refuse a task or complete them all. It is exceptionally hard to train and part of using it is knowing when it simply isn't worth going after the additional power it represents,"

Hunter paused for a moment and saw the questions on Kat, Kamiko, and even Lily's faces. Still, the rest of the group held their tongues. "Now, let me discuss two of my hunts and how this ability functioned at each extreme of usefulness. The first story I'll tell is actually the more recent of the two.

"I was sent out to face a 'Great Desert Tunneller' also known to the locals as a 'Sand Worm'. In that world, they're giant worms that average about 1km in length and have a weight measured in tonnes before you even get to the rocks they eat. They are a massive and deadly foe.

"I managed a glimpse at it early on in the my hunt and tagged it with my first ability, then asked my third power for help. It instructed me to find a dessert oasis and scatter a handful of apple seeds, then spend an hour meditating in the sun, before eating a handful of sand. It was not a pleasant experience, especially that last action…

"But despite the strange requirements I ended up with a truly useful ability. I was able to enhance my gun to be able to shoot through inanimate objects without losing any power. So I sprinted off in the direction I knew the worm to be, lined my shot up with the first of its brain and then simply took out each of its main nervous branches,"

"Wait, hang on, it had multiple brains?" asked Kamiko.

Hunter was happy to answer that question, it was something the clan had covered during her training. "Yes, some larger creatures use multiple brains to help pilot their bodies more easily. It is not something that is required in high mana worlds, but the lower the mana in the area the more it seems to be required. Though some monsters develop the trait without true need for it.

Nevertheless we have digressed.

"As you can tell, this was an exceptionally useful ability that while costing me some time saved me from using the traditional method of fighting such a beast, which is to dive into its mouth and kill it from the inside. It is normally a deadly and gruelling gauntlet that ends not when the beast is dead, but after one manages to dig themselves out of the ground.

Occasionally hunting contracts do not require proof of completion, and you can simply teleport out but most are not so generous.

"This was one such case. So it is likely that even with the detour I saved a significant amount of time. Now, I am sure that from this story you can see how useful my ability is. How powerful it can be, and how it might seem to be exceptionally useful in all situations. Let me tell you of another hunt. Of my first kraken hunt.

"It did not take me too long to spot the beast once my hunt began. A kraken is huge and deadly, not afraid to attack ships that stray into its waters. I was able to spot it, mark it, and designate killing it as my objective. The list of tasks I was assigned in that moment were already a considerable effort, yet I had not had proper access to the ability long.

"Though… I suppose you would not consider it such. This is after I had the ability for three years," Kat and Kamiko looked a bit sheepish and the statement. "The first task was to find a pearl that had been washed ashore. It took me three days of searching beaches for the pearl in question. Once found my next task was to feed the pearl to a fish at least the length of my arm.

"That was much easier but still took considerable effort to do. The third and luckily final task was to grind up a conch shell the size of my head and bake the dust into a pie. Luckily, I did not need to eat the pie, nor did it need to be a good pie, something I did not know how to make while accounting for the additional calcium. Even with that, finding such a large shell was still an issue.

Luckily it only took me two days.

"Once those tasks were complete, I was looking forward to the ability I would receive, hoping for something that would allow me to easily bring down the kraken, for this was one of my more specific tasks that took me considerable time to complete. It was water breathing. The ability I gained was water breathing,"

Kat stared in slight awe as emotion finally showed through on Hunter's face for perhaps the first time since they'd met her. Hunter's jaw was clenched tightly and her eyes narrowed just a touch. "The worst part of this ability? I knew I was hunting kraken and had taken a water breathing artifact from the clan's storehouse to deal with it. The ability was completely useless,"

Everyone winced at the statement and Kat had to ask, "Did… was the water breathing better then the artifact?"

"I do not believe so. I was very angry at the time and did not perform a proper comparison test of the two. From what I can remember I would say that they were roughly equivalent but it is hard to say for sure when looking back on the incident. The nicest thing I can say about the 'reward' is that the anger allowed me to bring down the kraken swiftly.

"Perhaps you might consider that my true 'reward' for completing those tasks… but I would like to mention that I was injured significantly during the fight because I was not at my best. My spine was shattered in three places, my left arm was ripped off and I was missing me right tooth,"

The three listening to the story all flinched back at that but Hunter waved them off. "I have field medic training and I was able to complete the contract. It was my own fault for charging into a hunt without my usual calm. It was a good, and thankfully, non-permanent lesson. It was hard but unlike other species of demons damage to a lamia's spine is not as serious,"

"I would think it more serious if anything," said 'Lily' through Kat.

Hunter shook her head and stated, "It is still a serious injury. I do not mean to imply that it is not crippling in many ways but a lamia is fully capable of moving around with that damage, and simply far more mobile then most other demons with even half the damage to the spinal collum. Perhaps a development from having such large spines in the first place.

The arm was a greater concern at the time in fact. I am glad I was able to retrieve it before leaving the area to report my success,"

"Wait you still had to report after all that!" hissed Kamiko.

"Yes," stated Hunter.