Chương 37: [1.37] Stuffed (Part 3)

Next on the docket was discerning edible from inedible, and whether she could limit the transfer to only specific things at a time. Angelica took some more of her leftovers and wrapped them in a paper towel, figuring that wouldn't upset her stomach too much if she was forced to digest it. Originally, she'd planned to consume a still-sealed snackbar, but decided she didn't want to risk the foil lining. After folding the paper into a nice little package, she shoved the whole thing into her mouth and made it vanish.

Okay, move just the food, not the wrapping. Once more, she felt a glob of food pile into her stomach. On that end, she couldn't actually tell what had entered her gut, but Second Stomach informed her that the paper towel remained. Now it was time to test the upchuck part of the Skill, which she couldn't say she was really looking forward to. If it involved her needing to perform similar actions as to actually throwing up, she might very well end up voiding her main stomach right along with it.

Fortunately, it wasn't that involved. After placing two fingers in her mouth, ready to pinch, she mentally made the paper wrapper return from whence it came, pulling it out with no problem. Instinctually, her Demon side told her she didn't even need to bother with that much effort, so she tried it once more. Paper towel in, paper towel out. It almost felt like she was performing a party trick.

Now she could add side-show attraction to her list of potential careers if either artist or powerful Summoner didn't work out. This time, she held her hand out flat in front of her face expectantly, and the paper towel ejected with a little bit of force before landing softly in her waiting palm. Angelica then unwrapped it to see how it had fared, and frankly, she was amazed. Every scrap of food inside was gone.

The paper towel itself wasn't completely unscathed, a little bit stained from the food, but that had happened before she'd eaten it. There was also a single drop of saliva that had scraped against it during the transfers. Which was likely due to the small size of her human mouth, however, and wouldn't be a problem in her Imp form, because of the much larger jaw.

Angelica was pretty confident in the Skill now, and her expectations of it, but just to be safe, she wanted to do at least one more test, grabbing two water bottles from a cabinet. Honestly, she had no idea how long they'd been there. Since she'd moved in, probably, leftover from her dorm days when she had no water access in her room.

To be safe, she should just throw them away due to the plastics the liquid had inevitably eroded over the years, but she hopefully didn't have to worry about such things now, assuming it qualified as a "tainted item" under Poison Eater's description. Both bottles went in and down her reality-breaking gullet. She'd thought about changing form to consume them, but they actually fit easily enough when she tried.

Compared to the small bites of food, those two bottles definitely took up significantly more space in Second Stomach. She still had quite a bit left, but it was certainly a noticeable difference. Just drink the water from one bottle, but not the other. It felt like a water balloon suddenly appeared and popped in her stomach, causing the existing contents to take an unexpected shower. The sudden volume made her belly bulge just a bit, and she had to stifle back the desire to barf up the stew she'd created.

Once the nausea settled, she coughed up the empty bottle, now perfectly dry on the inside despite never being opened. Then she removed the remaining one, which was thankfully still full, because she really would have burst if she'd drank a double dose. Back down the hatch the full bottle went. It was an item she planned to keep permanently until she either drank it or absolutely needed the space for something else.

Never again did she want to be stuck on the verge of death because of an Order, or some other crazy situation. Angelica also planned to stuff her Second Stomach full with as much poisoned food as she could, but only after filling it with everything else she might need. And there was still one more test to do. It was time to properly check the stasis effect. She grabbed her phone and started playing a video, then shoved it straight into her mouth.

It did fit, but just barely, and she planned to let it sit for a bit while she figured out what else she'd want to store. If the space wasn't limited, she'd probably throw in basically every essential item she'd ever need. For now, she went ahead and scarfed down every key she came across.

Angelica was also tempted to devour her wallet, so that she never had to fear losing it again, but decided it would probably be best to keep that in her pocket so she wouldn't weird people out in social situations if she suddenly had to pull it out of her mouth. However, she did snack on a few bills of cash in case of an emergency, and Coterie Trust was sending her two debit cards, as well, so she'd have one forever on hand, or rather, inside.

She stared at her first-aid kit for a while after she'd dug it up, deciding if it was worth it to eat the whole thing. Ultimately, she concluded it wasn't worth the space, but still downed a small box of bandages and a tube of antibacterial ointment. She didn't know how well it would work on her Demon form, but better than nothing, and she could have it for someone else if needed, enough to patch them or herself up until they could get better treatment.

Next on her vital items list was one she would need to turn into an Imp for, needing the extra mouth space, because there was no way she was getting it into her human hole. Fioso had told her to hide it somewhere safe, after all, and she could think of no better place than in some metaphysical pocket dimension inside of herself. That did actually make her mind drift, wondering what would happen to the items in Second Stomach were she to die.

Would they remain there, appear outside, or burst out of her like a pinata? She shook the weird thought away, and returned to the task at hand. But before deactivating Transfiguration to eat the thing, she found herself caught up in a bit of whimsy. Angelica placed the Quilllaced Tiara on her head and went to check it out in the mirror. Admittedly, it looked rather out of place and silly with its contrast to the very basic clothes she was wearing. Well, they weren't actually real clothes.

When changing to her human form, she had habitually started fabricating clothes to go with it each time. It was certainly better than needing to actually get dressed over and over. Not wanting to bother with repeatedly coming up with clothing ideas, she'd unconsciously been defaulting to joggers and a plain t-shirt. Or maybe not plain. Only now, looking in the mirror, did she realize that the shirt had one of her characters from Merlina's Boutique printed on it.

Apparently she'd left herself an unconscious treat to discover later, and she genuinely wished it existed for real. Maybe she'd have to get it printed now. However, if she actually went outside as a human, she would need to remember to put on proper clothes. While she could enjoy the weight and feel of the fabrics, they still provided no resistance to the temperature or weather whatsoever, so she may as well be naked. Winter was nearing its end, but that didn't mean it wouldn't be damn cold.

For now, however, Angelica altered her dress entirely, into an actual real dress with frills and all, even changing her hairstyle, braiding it into an ornate weave—something she didn't know she could do. While growing up, she'd never been into that side of fantasizing, but damned if she didn't look like a pretty princess now, a depiction of herself that would make her childhood self cry with tears of joy. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Admittedly, it was still a little silly with the large jewel in the center of the tiara missing, unable to glance away from its absence. Angelica focused a little harder, trying to manifest a replacement into existence, but apparently it didn't work that way. She couldn't alter existing outfits. So instead, she removed a tiara and forged a fake—really, a perfect copy—with an orangish-pink gem in the center now, that matched her new eyes. Another weird thought entered her mind.

She deactivated Transfiguration, but not fully. Gelic did her best to try to retain her dress, tailoring it to match her Puffball form. It was, uhh, a result… a very silly one, sort of like trying to put a tutu around a coconut. At least the tiara remained as it was, shrunken just slightly to rest neatly between her horns. She was now a Princess Puffball Imp. Praise her highness, long may she reign.

Having had enough fun, she made the fake garments disappear, quickly deciding that her hairy self definitely looked better as is. In that outfit, she'd honestly looked like a pet that was very displeased to be dressed—forced to put up with it due to the whims of her owner. Really, nothing would look stylish on her as long as she remained an Imp, but perhaps after she Evolved, she could craft a cool look.

A later worry, and she shoved the priceless jewelry—hopefully priced, someday—into her mouth and out of existence with a single gulp. Next, deciding enough time had passed, she went ahead and pulled out her phone. The video resumed playing immediately where it had left off, but more importantly, the battery percentage hadn't budged at all. Notably, though, the clock seemed to have a glitchy fit, but finally figured out the right time, after a second. So the stasis effect really existed, and it worked perfectly.

What would happen if she ate something living? No, no, let's not go down that path. With her phone back in its new organ case, Angelica went over and began portioning out the leftovers into old takeout containers. She could just slop it all down her wormhole-like throat, but this would both make it cleaner to consume while also making it easier to perform the mental transfer. Telling herself to consume one serving was a lot simpler than giving a percentage or a rough estimate.

Down the hatch they went, piling up until Second Stomach started to feel a little bloated. She only had one serving left after that, but decided not to cram it in. Better to save the bit of extra space, just in case, and she also didn't want to deal with double the amount of anguish from overstuffing. With no other preparations she could think of, it was time to initiate the last piece.

"For the rest of the day, until you would want to go to bed, follow your life plan to improve yourself, giving a reasonable amount of effort and taking breaks, deviations, and making adjustments as needed while staying as close to the plan as reasonably possible." That was her motivation to drive her forward. She specifically didn't make it a Named Order, since it would essentially dictate every move she made.

At the very least, she still wanted some free will, but with a persistent push that wouldn't let her slack. The decision to only make it a day had taken some tuning. There was still the fear she'd wake up one morning and not feel motivated to give herself the Order, so she'd originally thought about doing a week at a time, or even a month. However, if she had to cancel the Contract suddenly, she'd lose out on all that Summoner Rank Experience.

This way, at least, she wouldn't be too terribly set back, and would see consistent progress. It still left the other Simultaneous Order available, so hopefully, she wouldn't ever have the need to cancel it, except for maybe extenuating circumstances that required her to take a day off. Before moving forward, Angelica took a moment to psych herself before turning back into a Demon.

This was especially needed after lingering a bit more on the disaster of her previous Summoning, but she was feeling quite a bit more confident now, ready to tackle the future and risk being Summoned again so she could start making progress toward the Skills she desperately wanted. Or that could just be her own Order driving up her desire.

At the very least, she knew better what to expect, some tricks that the Summoners could use, and that she really needed to focus more on understanding the scope while leaning more into negotiation. Advocating for herself was hard, so she'd try some baby steps, and try to get better deals and terms… assuming she could overcome the anxiety. That felt like it'd be easier as a Demon, but didn't exempt her entirely. Now really ready to go, she lifted the mute on Divining Ear and tried to focus on the solicitous voices.

"(+#(beg <{#&! Demon!" The first call she heard she only understood half of, so she had to assume it was in another language. Which she couldn't place, not sounding even remotely like any she knew, so probably not in a country near hers. That meant she'd be avoiding it, for sure." [][][][][][][] my prayer!" Huh, a second semi-garbled one. Weird that she'd never heard any until now, and then suddenly got two in a row. This language was even weirder than the first, sounding like noises rather than syllables. Also… prayer? That was certainly a weird way to summon a Demon. Divining Ear, please block out any calls that I can't fully understand." I summon thee!"" Time for mayhem!"" I have a job for you." Now they were back to the usual ones. Well, maybe not usual with that mayhem one. Which should she check?" Giving out simple tasks." That sounded like a winner, but she'd been fooled by such things before. Alright, what can you tell me about what kind of Summoner they are? [Summoner Rank: Summoner] Ah, hellllllllll, naw! Any dissatisfaction with Divining Ear was gone immediately. That had just saved her from another Lustre situation. This one was probably even stronger. The rank of Summoner was likely the next step after Apprentice, perhaps the halfway point, or the baseline in their hierarchy. She speculated that only when they reached a certain proficiency could they really call themselves Summoners, and then everything else after was probably a variation, like High Summoner. Ideally, she'd want another Initiate like herself. But Garvin was a Novice who'd just done his very first unsupervised summoning, so maybe they normally didn't really do them until they'd at least reached that rank, and just did so with their master's guidance until then. So she asked for a new filter from Divining Ear: Disciple or lower, please. While the Demon hadn't yet met a Disciple, if they were only a bit more powerful than a Novice and not yet on the level of Apprentice, hopefully, she could resist the binding or reject any unwanted Orders." Recruiting for a Malignant hunt." Oh, now, that was interesting. While the snake creature had certainly terrified Angelica the first time she faced one, with a bit more context, now, she was genuinely interested. On the one hand, they were definitively monsters, dangerous ones at that, and she'd only faced one of the weakest. But on the other hand, they gave Essence when they were killed, making them the only other source as far as she was aware. If she could find out more about them, and more importantly, figure out a way to locate them, then that could become her main method of growth. Frankly, the idea of becoming a full-time monster hunter didn't really appeal to her. Yet it was undoubtedly better than the idea of potential perpetual enslavement. [Summoner Rank: Disciple] Gelic had just done a quick check to make sure Divining Ear had followed her instructions. So screw it, why not? I'll join the hunting party!