Chương 77: [2.03] Bureaucracy is Inescapable (Part 1/4)

"Take a number!" Angelica flinched when the large monster skull at the entrance of the Demon Services Office burst to life, its eye sockets ablaze with blue flames, and its deep voice bellowing at her with the massive lungs it definitely didn't have. There was then the sound of rolling metal scratching her ears until it came to a stop with a clink. Between the skull's massive teeth now rested a glittering golden coin.

"Hey, could you get me one, too?" Gawk asked from his spot by her feet. Since the skull was mounted up on the wall, it certainly would be difficult for him to reach. That made her wonder how he accomplished most tasks in his life. With a lot of trouble and effort was probably the answer.

"Oh, sure." She handed him the coin already in her possession, which he grabbed by wrapping the tip of his fleshy cornucopic tail around it. Then she turned back to the skull, trying to figure out how to get another. Should she wave her hand in front of it like one of those motion sensing dispensers? But maybe it realized she was now without a coin, and it spat out another.

That small distraction had been just enough to briefly stave off the creepy feeling of familiarity that had been plaguing Angelica since they'd entered the building. Another glance around, and her fears had not tapered. As this was her first trip to hell, she had never been to this building before, but at the same time, had been to places just like it, more than she could remember.

The dreadfully run office where she had to wait to get her driver's license, slow and drab waiting rooms for various doctors, the tackily decorated lobbies of businesses while she waited for interviews for her actuarial internships. Somehow, the Demon Services Office felt like all of those places rolled into one. Had Hell copied the concept of human bureaucracy? Or… maybe it was the other way around.

Perhaps the institution came from the Demons themselves, having perfected the art of torturous business and passed it on to the worlds they visited. That felt very demonic, indeed. Gawk seemed unfazed, however, and began inching his way to one of the nearby chairs. Well, he actually couldn't go to the closest set, because they were much too small. Teeny-tiny even. They actually felt more like stools, raised seats atop tall seats for something the size of roughly a rat.

Maybe there were really small Demons of that size, something like a pixie, or whatever the Demon version of a pixie was. And the seats went all the way toward the other end of the spectrum. Near the back of the waiting area was a ginormous chair, a throne fit for a titan, where a behemoth could rest their bottom. It was currently unoccupied, but Gelic couldn't help but wonder just what sort of Demon would have need of it. And the door to the building certainly hadn't been that size, or even close.

So perhaps it was expected that they'd shrink down to enter, but be allowed to revert to their true form while waiting. All in all, surprisingly accommodating. And there weren't just seats. There were perches where an avian Demon could roost, like Xinder. Some more viscous-looking fellow was in what was basically a large stone bowl, where they were blobbing out.

And there were even a couple of rocky mounds with the glow of eyes poking out of the darkness at the bottom, for if they preferred to be hidden away from the light. Felt like it'd be cozy. Sadly, the last unoccupied one was too small for her Imp form, or Gelic would be genuinely tempted to try it out. Speaking of courtesy, Gawk had scooched his way past the chairs that would be more appropriate for his size before finally hopping up on one in the section which felt tailored to those more humanoid.

Clearly, he was doing it for Angelica's sake, so that they could sit together where it would be more comfortable for her. And actually, it was pretty comfortable. Despite looking like a hard slab, the seat had a surprising squish to it that absorbed and distributed her weight beautifully. Now that she was finally sitting down, the aches and pains from her earlier battle had caught up to her, but at the same time, it felt like they were sliding out of her body, absorbed by the comfy chair.

How the hell was Hell doing relaxing furniture better than her world? She really honestly wanted one. Could she buy one and take it back, maybe get a pillow out of whatever the slab was? For a moment, it felt like her exhaustion would make her drift off to sleep. A nap in the Demon world, wouldn't that be something? But her eyes lurched open again a second due to a disruptive, noisy ping followed by a loud, distorted announcement.

"Now assisting #483." At the front of the area was a long line of also very familiar-looking booths, each with their own counter separating the patrons from the staff members there to assist them. Atop every counter was a candle, one of which had its wick suddenly ignite, flickering a small yellow flame, signalling where the called Demon was supposed to go.

Nearby, what Angelica honestly thought was a weird chair, that sort of looked like a walnut, cracked open, its shell splitting in half and stretching out to either side. In the middle, a wispy ball of brown mist plumed and expanded, then the nutshell sidings rolled forward toward the designated booth. When it got there, the floor raised the relatively small entity up to the counter, so the more classically shaped staff member could assist them better. Demons really come in all forms, huh?

Gelic glanced down at her coin to see what number she had. At first it was really hard to tell, since it wasn't just scrawled in the middle like she expected. Actually, at the center was a very decorative demonic visage. Ferrul, maybe? But it honestly felt pretty generic, a representation of Demons as a whole. The number was actually etched around the outer edge of the coin, and it took her a second to find where it started because there were way too many digits.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. #665, 849, 624, 442, 530. Seriously?! Am I gonna die here waiting for my turn?! Her panic was short-lived, thankfully, when she happened to notice a very similar number etched by glowing light in the air above the counters. Only the last three digits were different. Actually, it ended in 483, like what had just been called, so they were only utilizing the last three digits to save time.

And right then, it ticked to 484 with the corresponding announcement, so the wait actually didn't seem like it would be too bad. Still, it looked like she'd have a good amount of time to kill. If she didn't do something, she was liable to fall asleep in her chair, her exhaustion from the fight catching up with her now that she'd finally stopped moving. That would be horrendously embarrassing, so she needed to keep herself awake and engaged.

Of course, the first thing that came to her mind was to dig into her Demon Growth System with Scrying Eye, to see what all had changed since the Malignant fight. Really, it shouldn't be too much, just some new Resistance Skills since she last checked, but checking now would also give her a good comparison post Evolution, to see how much of a boost it really was. There were a couple notes of interest at the top. Her Health had increased a bit, up to 18% now, almost out of the critical danger zone.

Angelica was eagerly looking forward to the jump to 100%, the graceful sun she'd only touched once so far for a fleeting moment, and it had been great. And… frits, everything still ached, like she'd been punched in the gut, and head… limbs… tuchus… everything, really. She had a first-aid kit in Second Stomach, which she briefly thought about pulling out, but decided it wasn't worth the effort or embarrassment of trying to treat herself in a place like this. Her Manifest Points were also still scraping the bottom.

Would that be replenished with Evolution, too? Otherwise, she wouldn't be casting any Skills for a while. She currently had 672 Essence reserved, a good chunk, but it didn't actually show how much she'd need for her next level. Made sense, because currently, there was no next level. Hopefully, this would be enough for at least one. The exponential increases worried her a bit. Part of it was due to how little she'd gotten from the Eel Malignant. Well, in the grand scheme, it hadn't been little at all.

Almost three thousand Essence completely eclipsed any amount she'd had so far. Except, it was probably a bit lower, since that was the grand total of the whole endeavor, and she'd defeated bunches of small fry, too. But if the costs for levels were going to grow exponentially, shouldn't the amount Malignants gave do the same? It felt unfair otherwise. A Lv. 189 should have given her something closer to ten thousand, or some absurd number, even with the other Summoners and Demons taking a cut with their damage.

Actually, now that she thought about it, maybe they did actually scale exponentially, but rather, it was something off about those Malignants in particular. The weak little fishy ones she'd killed had given far less than others of similar levels she'd faced before. So maybe it had more to do with their recent birth. The Malignant Geyser was caused by the build-up of mana which popped, creating the horde, but most of that mana was probably used in their creation.

They were essentially being born as empty shells, yet to have any time to harvest Essence from humans or other stagnant sources. Yes, that made sense. But if that was the case, wouldn't it be beneficial to allow them to roam rampant for a bit? Fatten up for the harvest? That made Angelica unconsciously shiver. No, she couldn't think like that, not when it could cause suffering and damage in the meantime. It had to be her Demon brain and burgeoning Malice that would make her even consider such a thing.

Best to move on before dwelling on it too much. So she went to check her new Skills. It should just be those few Passive resistance Skills, right? She honestly hadn't been paying too much attention when she got the messages about them to even remember their names. Oh, right, and she should check the Summoner section, too, to see what was different now that she was a Novice, if anything.

Fortunately, all new Skills were listed in the order she'd obtained them, so the new ones would be easy enough to find, but at the same time, when glossing over the list, it sort of made her eyes want to glaze over. There were just too many of them already, and she was only an Imp. What would happen when she eventually became a Daemon or higher? It'd be a headache-inducing wall of text that would be a nightmare to sift through. Hey, DGS. I just got Heat Resistance, and I already had Cold Resistance.

I don't suppose there's some way to combine them just into an all-encompassing Temperature Resistance? Maybe like a Combo Passive Skill? She honestly didn't expect an answer, or unhelpful snark if she did get something. But it shared surprisingly useful information. [Only Hellions or higher are allowed to graft Skills. Lower Ranks cannot be trusted yet] So that totally meant it was possible. And she was about to become a Hellion, so it was something she could dive into later. Promising, indeed.

But for now, she did want to make sure she hadn't overlooked anything new, so Angelica decided to give herself an Order. Plus, she may as well get some Summoner Experience for an otherwise menial task. Oh, and there'd be something else she'd been meaning to try, a potential way to train her Essence Tip Skill. Go through your DGS and Skill Weave to find anything you didn't yet know. I'll give you ten Essence. It would be interesting to see what'd happen if she tried to pay herself Essence for Orders.

Hopefully, it would do effectively nothing, take it then give it right back. Worst case, it would delete the Essence, which was why she was going with a small amount, but she figured it was best to still be high enough where Essence Tip could actually trigger an increase. [Order accepted without resistance | Current Contract: Spot the difference | Reward: 10 Essence] Okay, the way it broke the task down with a hint of condescension, that's more what she was used to.