The corners of Hattie's mouth curled up in delight. "So, Master, how about next time we try the real deep sea? This underground Darklake is just a freshwater lake, honestly, it wasn't all that fun for me…"
Charles couldn't help a wry smile, but seeing the sparkle in her eyes, he swallowed down any words of refusal, nodding gently instead. "Alright then. After we get back, we can try the deep sea for real."
Hattie's eyes crinkled into crescent moons. "Thank you, Master!"
With that, she leaned up and pressed a soft kiss to his lips.
Charles returned her kiss lightly, but didn't push for more. He simply kept holding Hattie, pulled up his system, and checked his character level.
He needed 15,000 experience points to reach Level 12 from Level 11, and he'd accumulated just enough. Now, it was time to level up!
With that thought, he tapped the interface.
Buzz—
A gentle white light seeped through his body, mystical energy swirling around, soaking deep into his limbs. Sudden insight blossomed in his mind. First, he gained a brand new Eldritch Invocation:
Lifedrinker.
This Eldritch Invocation causes your Pact Weapon to deal additional necrotic damage on a hit—damage that corrodes internal organs—scaling with your Charisma.
For Charles, whose Charisma was a maxed-out 20—the highest a mortal could reach—this invocation was game-changing. It elevated his melee sustained DPS to a whole new level!
But that wasn't all. Next, a fresh interface popped up. At twelfth level, he could select another Feat.
There were so many Feats to choose from. He'd already mastered "Power Attack" and "Revenant Blade" through relentless training, but for a player who favored twin-bladed polearms in melee, there was still "Blade Mastery," "Improved Critical," "Cleave," "Mobile," and a whole host of other options.
As a spellcaster, he would also need "War Caster," vital for merging weapon combat and magic seamlessly.
None might seem strictly "core," but every one boosted his output bit by bit, and together they stacked up for a massive gain—not something to pass up lightly.
Still, these were all muscle-memory combat feats. With some focus—and the help of the now Tier-3 Training Grounds—he could likely master one every few months.
That meant this rare, level-up granted feat should be something harder to learn: a Metamagic Feat.
Charles already knew which Metamagic he wanted:
Heightened Spell!
This Metamagic makes enemies roll saving throws against your spells at disadvantage—perfect for any effect that targets their will.
For example: with enough training and the "Eldritch Mind" invocation, mental spells like Charm Person, Hypnotic Pattern, or Fear barely touched him anymore.
But if an enemy spellcaster used Heightened Spell before casting, the spell's power would skyrocket—giving it a real shot of punching through his defenses, even against Eldritch Mind!
That's the edge Heightened Spell gives, and Charles's recent combat experience had made him crave it.
During his battles with Mephistopheles' avatar and the fallen angel Sulpharlo, both had tanked his banishing smite. For Mephistopheles, a legendary being, that was no surprise; for Sulpharlo, with her angelic Charisma—that was how she could naturally resist banishment, which made sense.
But still, each time his banishing smite got resisted, it felt like he'd just swung for nothing. That feeling irked him to no end.
If Sulpharlo was just the first—if more formidable, extraplanar foes appeared, and they all resisted banishment—he'd be ready to pull his hair out.
So, weighing his options, he chose:
Metamagic Feat: Heightened Spell.
As soon as he made his choice, new knowledge flooded his mind—a surge of fresh, potent power. The level up interface faded. As he glanced at the staggering 15,000 Purification Points he'd spent on one invocation and one feat—without a single spell slot boost in sight—Charles couldn't help but sigh.
Welp, looks like every improvement from now on is going to have to be earned the hard way.
After that brief moment of reflection, he didn't let himself stay lazy in bed. It was getting late anyway. So, together with Hattie, he got dressed, washed up, and headed downstairs for breakfast.
Everyone else on the ship was already awake, gathered in small groups. The Dark Angels, brand new to this unfamiliar place, were both nervous and curious. They kept glancing around, poking and prodding at this and that, but were careful not to use too much force—afraid they might break something.
Malena, her belly large with pregnancy, sat at the very center. Beside her, Shapiro hovered awkwardly, looking like a fidgety kid wanting to help but not daring to lay a finger on her. In the end, it was Willo, who had her own experience with pregnancy, taking care of Malena—using her nature magic to keep her comfortable.
Adele was distributing food to the girls. Even with over a hundred extra mouths to feed, there were no worries about supplies. With Willo and Adele, both druids, on board, there were always enough Goodberries to go around—just one was enough to keep a person nourished for an entire day.
The fresh water scooped from Darklake was just fine to drink, too. No matter how evil the Dark Elves might be—or how skilled at demon summoning—they'd never dump demon pollution straight into the lake, so it was still safe for everyone.
It wasn't until this moment that Charles finally had the chance to sit down with Malena and ask her exactly what had happened.
With all the nuns who'd cared for her looking on, Malena didn't hold anything back. She explained everything: how Sulpharlo had forced her here, what that fallen angel was truly after, the source of all those identical girls, and her desperate cooperation with the Dark Elves. Every detail—no matter how sensitive—was laid bare.
By the time she was finished, everyone in the room wore an incredibly complicated expression—even Hanni, who was herself a Dark Elf, was no exception.
Who could blame them? The whole story was just too incredible, too audacious, even for a Dark Elf—it was downright blasphemous.
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