POV: Elly

  "Now that you know about me, Jared, what do you intend to do with that knowledge?"

  "Well, for one, I have to punish you for holding out on me. Between getting your own body by abusing poor Maria and now even your own room you've gotten away with too much."

  "Please no..."

  "So as punishment...", he hands me a big book, "...I'll have you crack this book's nguage."

  "Where did you even get this thing? I've... never seen a book written in glitch characters."

  "We found it in the vault."

  "Huh? Normally you find this kind of stuff in the attic."

  "So, can you work on that, Elly?"

  "Sorry, no chance. I've no knowledge about this nguage. I couldn't even start to guess what this thing is about."

  "Damn, was worth a shot."

  "Well, doesn't matter. The second thing I wanted from you... is there another method for us vampires to gain protection from sunlight? Just the 'Daywalker' title alone doesn't cut it, and Lucia and I don't have enough items that we can stay outside together for a relevant amount of time."

  "There... is a way. And honestly, I wanted to keep it a secret from you because I don't fully trust you with that kind of power."

  "And I guess for the same reason you wouldn't tell me how to delete the annoying 'World Resident' title?"

  "No, there is no way to delete a title. Titles, like csses and skills, are part of your very soul. You can't get rid of them without the same month-long ceremony that is performed when a soul is recycled."

  "Months!?"

  "Yeah, you were in that capsule for quite some time before Eva let you out. Anyway, you can't get rid of titles, not without destroying your soul and starting over from scratch. And that option is not on the table. Because your soul is not part of the cycle of death and rebirth anymore it is impossible to perform that cleaning. You would just disappear."

  "Got it... Not keen on that happening. So about that sun protection trick?"

  "Oh, right. Given what you said earlier, you would have figured it out soon anyway. You first need the 'Variant' title. I still don't understand why you had that option already. Just as with Demon Lord, you don't meet the conditions, it makes no sense."

  "Well, there's a lot of other garbage in the title menu now as well."

  "Huh? Let me check."

  There really are. A lot of glitched titles, most without a readable effect... I will have to dig through them soon, won't I?

  Most have no effect as far as I can read, so it really is just a pile of garbage.

  Uh, where is the 'Ruler of Familiars' he has seen? I can't find it...

  "Okay, holy hell, how did this happen? What have you done, Jared?"

  "I've no idea. They were just suddenly there. I think it was after toying with the glitched items at the trader."

  "Of course, it would... you really should be more careful with those trash items. One day you may just accidentally end up deleting the universe if you continue like that."

  "Spoilsport. Back to the pn for sunlight resistance, how would that go?"

  "Alright... so first you would have taken the 'Variant' title. Just read its description. It isn't without a cost, though."

  "Okay, give me a sec."

  VariantYou can take up to (1 + this skill's level / 10) variants as extra csses.For each variant css added this way, 5% VIT is reserved as upkeep, this upkeep can't be canceled.You can not exceed the limit of 10 extra csses this way.Avaible variant options are based on obtained titles and (extra) race csses."So I lose five percent of a stat that is already pretty low. Well, I was already a gss cannon to begin with. And how does that help against the sun?"

  "Just as it says, if you have the title you can take some variant extra csses. You would then take the variant css to your 'Daywalker' title. This one here."

  DaywalkerVariant CssGrowth Rates6 HP, 5 MP, 6 SP, 1 STR, 1 DEX, 2 VIT, 1 MAG, 1 FTH, 2 WIL, 1 CHA Sunlight TolerancePassiveGain (skill level) points of resistance to sunlight damage.Reduce damage taken from natural sunlight through the effect of 'Undead' by (skill level).If the remaining sunlight damage after resistances is below (2+skill level/10) it is completely negated.He carefully reads the css info, "No objection to this one. But, just one skill?"

  "Variant csses don't give much. They have low-ish stat growths and one to two skills. But really, given your situation this lone skill is already a big help."

  "Do you know how exactly resistance works?"

  "Not exactly. I know that the effect scales with the actual level of the reted title or skill but not the exact formu. I estimate you would need to keep your title level and the level of that css at about eighty percent of your highest-level css or race to offset the damage from [Undead]."

  "So about level twelve for both currently? Sounds about fair. It will be quite a while before I can raise any css above fifteen anyway."

  Jared seems to ponder about it for a bit.

  "So, what else do I need besides more titles to take the 'Variant' title?"

  "Between you and Lucia you should have enough variant options, so only the title count and title level ten. But I'd say to not rush it, you'd only have four title picks left afterwards, and there are a few more options than that you may want to consider."

  "And those options are?"

  "Not telling. You have to prove first that I wasn't mistaken in trusting you!"

  "Fine. Do you see any reason why I shouldn't take 'Ruler of Familiars' until then?"

  "Where is it? I don't find it in the list."

  "Uh, it is there."

  R???u???l???e???r??? ???o???f??? ???F???a???m???i???l???i???a???r???s???If you allow it, your familiars can add csses without using a Css Core.Other requirements and limitations apply as normal.They can take csses this way only until they have as many csses as one of your summoned spirits.Such a benchmark spirit must have been actively summoned at least once.Y?o?u?r? ?f?a?m?i?l?i?a?r?s? ?s?t?i?l?l? ?c?a?n?'?t? ?p?r?o?f?i?t? ?f?r?o?m? ?t?i?t?l?e?s?.?"Hold on. You can read it? The title is a glitch! How could you even read that?"

  "I... can't. I just kinda knew what it was..."

  "Nonono, that makes no sense!"

  "Really, it was just a gut feeling."

  "...if you say so."

  This title is madness. It breaks basically all the rules regarding titles.

  "Jared, I'm not comfortable with you taking this title."

  "Why is that?"

  "To put it into numbers... a regur title should only make you two to five percent better at a reted skill or action or whatever. Regur skills should never exceed twenty-five percent. And then there are Divine skills that just take the ws of physics and kick them to the curb. And this title... is in the same realm. It shouldn't exist."

  "What about titles like 'Progenitor' or 'Variant'? These titles let me add whole csses with regur skills attached. By your math, those titles are like a fifty percent increase."

  "Kinda, additional csses take exp away from other csses so they count more as a tradeoff."

  "That sounds like a loophole but if you want to look at it that way, two can py this game. 'Ruler of Familiars' is a zero percent increase, I personally get NOTHING from it. What now?"

  "Hey, I don't make the rules, I just read them."

  "I'd like to say that some rules just exist to be broken but as a ruler myself now... eh, I'll say it anyway, some rules are dumb and need to be broken."

  Click

  "You just took it, Jared? We haven't even figured out what the garbled sentence could be! What if it turns your familiars into mindless monsters?"

  "...yeah, maybe I should've thought about it a bit more."

  "Ugh, I'm getting fshbacks to the Css Core EX disaster. You didn't think that one through either. We really need to work on your self-preservation skills in regards to glitched stuff..."

  "Yeah, sorry. I promise I'll be more careful with those things in the future."

  "I'll hold you to it!"

  But what are the odds of that...

  "So, what is your pn with that title? Currently, we spirits have only one css, so it does nothing yet."

  "That is simple. Once I reach Summoner level ten, we can design the third spirit, just with a single css for now, and then unlock the 'Summon Master' title by bringing you three out at the same time. After that, we can just dump three more csses on one spirit to give the familiars an additional css, well except Chloe, she already has four csses."

  "And what would that spirit then do? I doubt you can afford the two-thousand MP to have it out at any time."

  "Yeah, but someone has to pay a price. We can't count on random Css Core drops. Those are not happening. Maybe one or two but not twenty to thirty, that's not happening before the demon artifact has fulfilled its purpose. So if we have to designate one spirit as a sacrifice for that then so be it."

  By default, spirits can only have three csses. The title allows him to add one more. But what after that?

  "Okay, but that is only four csses. To make some proper use of that title you need to increase the limit of how many csses you can give to a spirit. Well, that and a lot more MP."

  "MP will just come with more levels. If I could assign that many csses to a spirit I would have enough MP for a spirit with six csses by the time I unlock the third Summoner skill. So raising the css limit is the only restricting factor for now. Is there a variant css for that?"

  "Maybe. I at least know there's one that is reted to summon skills. You would need to take the Variant title first so I can check properly."

  "So we can't count on that. Well, if we ignore the css from the Joker Core - which for some reason seems to be stuck on the same option - we could misuse the Css Core we have reserved for Iris. As it is she will already be able to take two more csses as my familiar, so won't need a core for quite some time."

  "Shouldn't you consider giving it to Anna? She's stuck at two csses and not one of your familiars."

  "Maybe. And maybe I should reconsider that stance as well. Do you have any intel on what constitutes a hero in the system?"

  "Not really. The relevant restrictions are something unique to this world. Can't help you there."

  "So it is still just guesswork. But that should be a topic for another time. I think getting myself another css to increase the css cap on my summoned spirits has priority. That helps five people total instead of just one. Also, she has the same amount of csses Marca currently has, so she still has enough room to grow with her two csses and her race, those are barely at level ten. Might not be ideal for an aspiring hero but a dey shouldn't be a deal breaker."

  "If you say so. Shall I look for css options to increase the spirit css cap?"

  "Yeah, please do, but it isn't urgent. Need the Css Core first and there is none in the vault. Could be a matter of weeks or months."

  "Gotcha."

  "I think that is enough on that topic for now... say, Elly, what were you reading when I came in? It kinda looked like you were trying to hide it from me."

  "...that I do but... well, Graham snuck a letter into Gzeph's documents. To be honest, I've no clue what he is thinking."

  "May I see it?"

  "You make it sound like I have a choice."

  "Hey, I'm trying to build some trust between us, so I'll leave that decision to you."

  "Well, it was for you anyway, so here it is."

  Dear recently diseased,I'll get straight to the point - and this is nothing personal - but I don't trust you with this task.We've sent several of your kind to Deteoh in hopes to achieve something and as you can see nothing came out of it.There are even rumors that several switched to the other side. Don't you dare add to that statistic!

  B?u?t? ?t?h?e?r?e? ?i?s? ?o?n?e? ?p?e?r?s?o?n? ?I? ?c?u?r?r?e?n?t?l?y? ?t?r?u?s?t? ?l?e?s?s?:? ?G?z?e?p?h?.??E?v?e?r? ?s?i?n?c?e? ?h?e? ?l?o?s?t? ?h?i?s? ?w?i?f?e? ?i?n? ?t?h?a?t? ?w?o?r?l?d? ?h?e? ?h?a?s?n?'?t? ?b?e?e?n? ?t?h?e? ?s?a?m?e?.??I?f? ?y?o?u? ?h?a?p?p?e?n? ?t?o? ?f?i?n?d? ?h?e?r? ?o?r? ?a?t? ?l?e?a?s?t? ?h?e?r? ?r?e?m?a?i?n?s?,? ?s?e?n?d? ?t?h?e?m? ?t?o? ?u?s? ?b?e?f?o?r?e? ?G?z?e?p?h? ?p?r?o?d?u?c?e?s? ?a?n?o?t?h?e?r? ?m?a?d? ?s?c?h?e?m?e?.?

  I would greatly appreciate your assistance in that regard.

  I regret not being able to be of proper assistance but despite everything, I must count on you.

  signedGraham, Chief (and st) System Developer

  Jared seems angry, "Aside from the corrupted mess, why should I believe anything you write? You've made several patches to the universe that were actively detrimental to me!"

  "Calm down, Jared! Graham is not the enemy!"

  "He isn't? Then expin to me why all patches at least in part were to my disadvantage. Or why he kept you in a cage."

  "...I'm certain there were good reasons."

  "I have a hard time believing that but either way, this letter was so useful it would be ideal as a speech bubble during a rapid punch."

  3QGN73