Self-Summon [Demon Summoning/Evolution litRPG] Chapter 83: [2.09] What the Puck?! (Part 3)

[It is more sensible to start with Traits] The DGS corrected her, apparently having its own plan for the Evolution briefing. Which she wasn’t going to fight, since it undoubtedly knew better than she did. Or maybe she just needed higher Obstinance. [Trait: Toxic has been enhanced to Potently Toxic] [Potent Affix: Stacks of Toxic can instead be applied as Potent Toxic. These stacks are applied multiplicatively to existing stacks instead of additively, massively increasing the poison’s damage. Potent stacks are capped at max stacks squared. However, Potent stacks are purged significantly faster, and new stacks of standard Toxic cannot be applied until Potent Toxic has cleared | Race Exclusive] Woah, woah, woah, hang on. If she was understanding that correctly, wasn’t that super powerful, and honestly something far too strong for just a second-tier Demon? Her current cap of Toxic through Toxic Imbuement was 35. Which meant that through this, she could apply 1,225 stacks at once?! It sounded like it wouldn’t last long at all, but even then, it was practically an explosive bomb of poison! Now she understood why the voices had dubbed this as turning her into a “potent soldier.” This was undoubtedly the flagship perk of being a Pestilent Puck, which really overhauled the potential of poison as a strategy. Hell, it could even be considered crippling without it, especially since it was a Race Exclusive. Maybe that was why Pestilence was often overlooked unless there was some sort of ironically less potent version of it that anyone could obtain. Really, though, its usefulness would come down to the difficulty of application. By the sounds of it, to trigger the execution properly, it required two hits on a target, at minimum. First to apply the base, and the second to trigger the Potent multiplication. That alone could be troublesome depending on the opponent. And the second issue was how fast Potent stacks depleted. If she applied 35 on the first hit, but they ticked away before she could land the second hit, then that was worse than just using regular Toxic. But if Potent could be applied to existing stacks of regular Toxic and still be multiplicative, then… It required significant testing. And she currently had nothing to test it on but herself. No way in hell was she going to do that. How sad would it be if a paragon of Pestilence died to their own poison a few minutes after Evolving? Alright, next one. [Trait: Irritating Lv.1 unlocked] Okay, did all Traits sound like insults to the Demons, or was that just her experience so far? [You are a pain in the butt—and skin, limbs, eyes, wherever you can spread your vexation. When using a Skill that serves to annoy, you may apply stacks of Irritant. Each stack of this poison provides perpetual grating pain that may manifest in several ways such as itchiness, aches, and general discomfort. While Irritant does no direct damage, it can still lower the target’s Health if it greatly affects their wellbeing. Stacks diminish over time until dispersed, and cannot be cured or treated by most conventional means. Stacks are applied additively. Potency and Duration scale with Trait Level, Malice, and Pestilence Attunement. Both are also affected by target’s Vigor and Resistances | Race Exclusive] Huh, so it was basically the non-lethal version of Toxic. Where was this when she needed to poison Mart Hucklebain, because it certainly would have counted. There were definitely a bunch of places this could be useful, when she wanted to torment or cripple someone without actually killing them. Once again, her mind went to the damned security guard at the Migrore Museum and how this would have effectively made him a non-issue, assuming it worked as well as she thought. If it was just on the level of a basic bug bite, then probably not much, but at a ton of stacks, it sounded abysmal. This could be something she was willing to test herself, but, uhhh, maybe later. Also, just by its nature, it sounded like it wou