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

”Did you consider any other races?” asked Kat

”The only other races that had a chance were dryad and kitsune. The other races all seemed to have a crippling flaw. Golems for example are all asexual and require significant downtime between major activities. Not that there’s anything wrong with  being asexual of course… I just… it’s not for me? I mean they have other problems anyway… like… um… they struggle to gain power. Like, they don’t really get stronger. Mostly they are limited by what they were made from and their core. Then there was a whole suit of races that use Qi, but I ignored basically all of them. If I’m going to be picking anything, mana is the way to go and I won’t hear otherwise.”

”Qi does seem less cool than mana. Though I guess it depends on what you like,” said Sylvie.

Kat chimed in with, ”I think it sounds cooler in concept but less cool in practice”

”Oh, and why do you think that?” said Lily making her next move in the chess match that was still ongoing between the two shorter girls.

”Well… I mean… the way it was explained to me is that ’Qi lets you punch the universe so hard it just sort of agrees with you’ and that sounds really cool in theory. In practice… well… if most cultivators are anything like the ones I was hanging around then they are all extremely boring for people who can punch nonsense into the universe” explained Kat.

”I cannot deny that it does sound cool when you put it that way,” said Lily with an interested hum. ”Even I think that sounds at least somewhat cool. If I wasn’t so dead set on become a witch I might have actually considered it again. Still, I’m quite happy with Memphis.”

”Do you want to cover dryad and kitsune though? Just so we’ve gone over everything?” asked Kat

”Sure, why not?” said Lily taking another turn. ”Right. So… fundamentally the issue with kitsune is that genes play a big part in their power level. Some of them just can’t get past a certain number of tails no matter how hard they try. Sure it’s normally higher then they get… but not always by that much. Six tails is normally the cut off and I’ve got no certainty I’ll make it past that if I chose them as my race. It’s not worth the gamble when I have other races that can gain power easily.

”As for dryads… the fundamental issue with them is that they are their tree. It’s not too hard to become strong enough to wander that world, but dimensional jumping is basically impossible for them. They have to either keep the portal open or teleport their tree through as well. That would just be a nightmare because even the smallest dryad’s tree is still huge. At least a fifty metres tall, likely more.

”It actually causes two issues. I’d probably end up mana starved if I planted my tree on Earth. Dryads are capable of processing truly amazing amounts of mana, but they need that flow for parts of their vital functions so living on Earth would be a real issue for them. I actually didn’t notice just how limiting the tree was. It seemed so very free and basically a non-issue until I checked how it functions across dimensions.”

”That is a bit of a shame” said Kat, ”I’m surprised there are so many issues with some of these races”

”Well it’s not like humans are much better” said Lily. ”We have quite appalling benefits for the individual. Oh sure, our minds are most able to function outside of the box apparently, and we have a rather high reproductive rate and compatibility to nearly rival Succubi. Of course neither of those things matter to me. My mind is formed so I get to keep my predilection for out of the box thinking and once again, the children thing really doesn’t benefit me”

”Do any of those races sound good to you Sylvie?” asked Kat

Sylvie pinched her mouth together off to the side and considered what Lily had said about everything. She’d mostly just covered the problems, but that was fine. Sylvie had seen the list and even helped a little and knew just how close things were at the end when it came down to deciding. ”Plenty of them sound good Kat… none of them really call to me though. I’m not sure what will be important to me in the future when I make this choice. Actually… how old should I be?” said Sylvie.

*That’s a good question. After puberty is a must… and I want her to finish school as well… so I guess around now? Same age as Lily I suppose? Then again… I wouldn’t be surprised if Sylvie skipped a few grades at some point. She totally could. But I don’t want to just say ’when you finish school’ because that might encourage her to skip grades just to change races. I don’t want that to happen either. 

Ok. Let’s think about this. I can probably get away with saying, ’I don’t know’ but I feel like Sylvie deserves a better answer than that. I could also say ’when you turn eighteen’ even if that’s a bit later it is the age people are considered adults. Wait… speaking of adults… will I need Vivian’s permission for this? I should probably at least bring it up with her before I give Sylvie an answer. Well bother. I guess ’I don’t know’ might be what I have to go with for now.* 

”I don’t really know Sylvie. It’s a big decision and you should really take your time with it. School would be especially hard if you don’t wait for that to be finished. University as well, if that’s something you want to do” said Kat carefully.

Sylvie scrunched her face up slightly as she thought on Kat’s new words, continuing the chess match with Lily a she did so. Finally, it was a question that past through Sylvie’s lips. ”Are you going to Uni Lily?”

Lily sucked in a deep breath at the question. ”Probably not no… I mean… it might seem like I’m jumping in to things… but before now I never really knew what I wanted to do after school. No course at University was truly what I wanted for myself so it just didn’t look like it was going to work out.

”Oh sure I could have found something interesting enough and compromised. I don’t mind drudge work and I could probably end up as a high end research assistant without too much trouble and just sit in that role… but it’s not exactly a career that spoke to me. I like researching for myself not necessarily for others. I like to find out as much as I can on a topic and then move on. If it was actually my job I would have needed an area of expertise or something and that just seems dull to me” explained Lily.

”What about you Kat?” asked Sylvie

Kat let out her own long breath at the question. ”I’d probably have just found work somewhere. I’d loved to have just stayed and worked at the orphanage… but I know if I did that I’d want to take over some day from Gramps and you need a couple of qualifications to do that. None of them were things I was really interested in getting you know? I mean… why spend years getting a few pieces of paper when I’ve been looking after the orphanage for most of my life.

”It just seemed so… pointless to do it that way and I started to sour on the idea overall. I looked at other things but I never had a subject that called to me. I’d probably have gotten a job somewhere local I guess, maybe at the pharmacy or one of the corner store chains. Then worked my way up to owning my own store if possible and make my money that way.

”It’s not exactly something I WANT to do, but it was something I could have lived with you know? I would have been in town and close by you and the rest of the orphanage kids. Lily… well I didn’t really like to think about what awesome things she’d be doing before I turned into a demon, and now she’s ALL MINE.” Kat leaned over and gave Lily a light peck on the side of her lips, not wanting to go for her lips while holding onto Sylvie.

”I think you could have done better for yourself then a corner store sales rep Kat” said Lily, ”You don’t really give yourself enough credit.”

Kat shrugged, ”Credit or no, it’s not like it there were more interesting jobs on offer.”

”I think you could do really well with public speaking. You stood up for me, for a long time. You’ve stood up for yourself plenty of times as well. Perhaps you could have brought that energy into a speech” explained Lily excitedly.

”I think you’re seeing me as bigger then I am. I doubt I could right a good speech. Sure I’m pretty tall for a girl, but I’m not that charismatic..” Denied Kat.