Level 12

Damien clicked on the status screen level up notification.

Damien leveled up

Summoner – Level 12

STR – 74

VIT – 78

MAG – 159

DEX – 77

Stat Share

Heal (summon)

Summon Boost

Summon XP Trade Boost

Message

Summon Start-Up Boost

Copy Ability

Summon Tether

New Ability Available

Relationship Boost – Get bonuses based on your bonds with others.

That's...interesting. I can see how this relates to what the Goddess wants, but it doesn't explain how it works, though.

'Don't worry, I'm here to explain everything!' he heard in his head.

Goddess?

The voiced giggled. 'Yes, it's me. Aren't you excited!? You finally got to level 12!'

Yeah, of course!

The voice giggled again. 'Okay. So I told you already this was special, right? I made this ability to help you in your quest of curing loneliness, and at the same time give you a tangible benefit for completing your mission. I think the easiest way to explain it would be to show it in action. First, pull up your Reader and look at Betty.'

Damien did as instructed.

Betty blushed, “What are you doing? I'll just show you my stats if you want...”

Damien shook his head, blushing back. “No, sorry, I'm actually trying to figure out this new ability.”

Betty nodded seriously. “Oh, sorry, let me know if you need help.”

The Goddess giggled. 'Betty is so cute. Now, press that little heart button I added. You should see three bars, right?'

Damien saw there was a new button as she had mentioned, and clicked it. Indeed, three bars showed up. The top was white, the middle was pink, and the bottom one was red.

'The white bar is your status of befriending them. You've made them less lonely and they consider you a friend. This bar gives you a one percent boost per person.'

Damien took a second to comprehend. Wait, so I can just make a bunch of friends and get easy stat boosts?

The Goddess sighed. 'Not exactly. I've told you before, you have to keep at it, right? Filling up a bar isn't permanent, they can go down if you do something to upset them or you ignore them for a while, and you'll lose your boost.'

Ah, okay, my bad.

The Goddess giggled again. 'Don't worry, it's okay. Now, the pink bar means they consider you a close friend, or confidant. You get another one percent boost if that is filled up.'

Damien nodded. So the red means we're even...

'Yup! The red bar means they considering you an invaluable part of your life and love you to the fullest. They might be dependent on you for their happiness, or they want to make you happy. Or both. As you can see, Betty is completely in love with you.'

Damien blushed a bit. He already knew that, really, but it was something else to have it confirmed. Betty had closed her eyes, seeming to be napping, else she'd probably be confused as to his staring.

'Any questions so far?' the Goddess asked.

Yes...what's this big heart next to the bars? Damien asked. Next to the three bars over Betty was a red heart.

The Goddess laughed again, although this time instead of a giggle it sounded a bit more...devious. 'Oh, I'm glad you asked. That's the lover indicator. That means they consider you a lover, and you get an extra two percent buff for that. I thought it would be fun to add in as well.'

Ah...wait you just added it on a whim!? Damien replied.

The Goddess kept going as if he hadn't asked that last question. 'On the bottom right, you can see your total bonus, so you'll know if you lost any. Oh, and you'll only get the bonus when you use the Reader on them for the first time. After that, it will update automatically whenever you're near them. Here, give your party a scan.'

Damien nodded. First, he turned to Bluey. All three of her bars were maxed out, and the heart.

The Goddess giggled, 'I'm sure you expected that.'

He turned turned to Aurora. Unlike Bluey, only the first two bars were completely filled. The bottom bar was only halfway filled (and of course the heart was there). Damien deflated a bit.

'Don't get down, it's not like Aurora doesn't love you! There's just something missing you need to get her the rest of the way there.'

Damien nodded. Okay, I'll have to figure it out, then.

'Exactly!'

He then looked at Poppy. Hers was similar, but the red bar was barely filled at all.

'Poppy is newer, so it's not that surprising, but I'm sure you'll get her maxed out, too!' the Goddess reassured him. 'Oh, check Feya next.'

He looked over at Feya, who was napping next to Kara (who was sharpening a knife). For Feya, her white bar was only two-thirds filled. The heart was also there, but instead of being red, it was flashing. What...

'That means this person wants to be lovers with you, but you're obviously not yet.'

But she doesn't even consider me a friend, yet!

'Well, yes...isn't that what you already assumed with Feya?'

I...yeah...

The Goddess giggled again. 'Well, you have a lot of work to do with her. You better check your last companion, too.'

Damien scanned over to Kara. Over her, he could see the white and pink bars were completely filled, although there was none in the red.

The flashing heart was also there.

Wait, Kara wants to be lovers!? I did think maybe she was interested that one time in the tent, but she never said anything after or made any advance on me, even though she could have if she wanted...

Instead of giggling, this time he got a 'Tsk, tsk...' from the Goddess. 'Not every woman is the same, Damien. Kara might want to be lovers, but wanting and being ready are two different things. Besides, it's not like you're doing poorly, you've filled up two bars and she considers you quite a close friend. There's nothing wrong with your relationship right now, she might just need more time.'

This feels a bit intrusive now... Damien replied.

The Goddess sighed. Of course it is, but are you saying you don't want to make them happy? Just think of it as an extra tool to help you.'

Damien wasn't entirely sure he agreed, but he knew the benefits outweighed everything else about it. And the Goddess was right, he did want to see them happy.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

'Okay, I've got to go, but I'm going to try and check in more often to see how the tool is going. You're my test subject, so I need-'

Wait, I'm just testing it for you?

There was a moment of silence, then the Goddess replied. '...I told you I made it specially for you, right?'

Well, yes, but...

'Shoot, I have to go, I'll check in later.' He then felt the presence of the Goddess fade.

What was that?...

Damien spent the downtime looking at his stats. He already had gotten a twenty percent buff to his stats, and he hadn't even 'scanned in' (how he internally thought of when he used the ability on someone) Diana or Carleen yet.

After a while, they decided to make some dinner since it was getting late. There was still no pterodactyls in the area based on what Aurora could sense.

“Master, are we going to head out tomorrow?” Aurora asked.

Damien didn't answer right away. “I guess we'll see in the morning, assuming none come tonight.”

Betty, who was stirring their stew, looked at Damien. “Did you figure out that new ability?”

Damien held back a grimace. He had been thinking of how exactly to explain this to everyone. “It's a...I get a buff from having relationships with people, and making sure they aren't lonely.”

Betty's eyes lit up. She scrambled over to Damien, holding her hands up excitedly, still holding the ladle. “It's the Goddess' Vision! It has to be! She gave you this ability to help with her quest for you!”

Damien gulped. Well... He nodded, “Yeah, I think so too.”

Betty nodded excitedly back. “This is perfect!” and hugged Damien.

Bluey asked, “Do summons count, too?”

Damien smiled. “Of course. I don't want you lonely either.”

Bluey got a big grin on her face and hugged Damien as well.

While they were eating, Kara seemed curious and looked at him. “What can you all see with it?”

Damien gulped, not sure how much he should really reveal. “Um...just some bars, and some numbers.”

Kara blushed a bit and nodded. “I see.”

Feya seemed excited. “So you can just have sex with a bunch of girls, and you'll get super high stats? That's pretty amazing.”

You're technically right, but...

He was saved from answering by a loud roar in the distance. “What was that?”

Aurora's ears were flickering, and she spoke softly. “I don't know. It's not a pterodactyl.”

The group quickly finished eating and put out their fire.

“Let's just go to bed and put our barriers up,” Betty suggested.

The others all agreed, and they went to bed.

(Attempting) To Finish the Request

In the morning, everybody woke up and silently ate breakfast, not wanting to discuss the loud roar they had heard the previous night.

Aurora grabbed his sleeve and shook her head.

So, nothing... “Aurora, Poppy, and I will go check the clearing we've been using for fighting.”

“Why do you want me to stay back?” Bluey said, pouting.

“So you can protect everyone here, and so I have someone to Message.”

“Oh...okay!” Bluey said, realizing the importance of her task.

The three left and took the short walk out of the crag and towards the fighting area. Aurora gripped his arm. “Master, there's an unfamiliar scent here. It's a really strong stench.”

Poppy grabbed her nose. “Eww, something ate it,” she said, pointing to the corpses of the pterodactyls from yesterday. Two of them had been torn up, as if a wolf or bear had bitten in to eat it. Of course, given the size, it would have to be a huge wolf or bear.

Damien shook his head. “Does it smell close?”

Aurora shook her head. “I think it ate and moved on. I do smell new pterodactyls, but I think they're far away. I can just barely smell them over...this.”

Damien nodded. “I guess we're gonna pack up then.”

They went back and told the others of what they had seen. The others didn't seem too worried, or at least not as worried as Aurora was. They packed up and started heading out, with Aurora and Kara leading the group towards where the new pterodactyl scent was.

“How would a group without someone who can smell as good as Aurora ever find them?” Poppy asked. They were currently making their way through a crag, as they tried to keep out of walking on the open plain when they could.

“Well, we saw some before Aurora knew what they smelled like. And the status screen map will show their territory,” Betty explained.

“I can sense creatures a bit, too, though not on the same levels as Aurora,” Bluey added.

“So they can, it's just a lot harder,” Damien said, patting Aurora's head.

Aurora gave a small 'piyu' of happiness, before blushing a bit at her own reaction.

Kara stopped them with a hand, putting up a finger to shush them. “Something's coming,” she whispered.

Damien didn't hear anything at first, but suddenly Aurora tensed up.

“It was downwind,” she said, before crouching down.

Damien followed suit, and so did the rest. After a few moments, he felt the ground shake a bit, then stop.

Nobody said anything, and their breath felt caught as they tensed up, trying to not even make breathing sounds.

After what felt like an eternity, but was actually a minute, the shaking resumed, until it got softer and softer.

“It left,” Kara said. She started climbing up the sides of the crevasse.

“Kara!” Betty said.

“I want to see what it is,” she explained.

Damien's curiosity got the best of him as well, and he also climbed up. He could see Kara pointing and in the distance was a large creature, probably close to ten meters tall from what he could tell.

Damien instantly recognized it from the corners of his brain. It looked like a picture of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, or at least that's what it reminded him of. It was walking away, with it's thick tail going side to side. There's other dinosaurs in this world, so I guess that's here too?

The Rex suddenly stopped and turned it's face, as if to look back at them.

Damien and Kara both ducked and slid back down.

“Let's get out of here!” Kara shouted in a whisper.

“What was it?” Betty asked.

“Uh...” Damien explained what it looked like as they followed Kara.

“That sounds like a Tyrannosaurus Rex!” Betty responded. “I've never seen one outside of drawings, but it has to be. That's a Gold-Rank Monster!”

“Yeah, I don't want to get involved with it...”

The group continued at a brisk pace for a while. Eventually, they rested, and Aurora and Poppy peeked out.

“It looks like its gone, Master. Or at least it didn't follow us.”

Damien let out a sigh of relief.

Betty, trying to bring up the mood, took out her bag. “Come one, let's have a little snack to get our energy up.”

Aurora started flicking her ears, “I hear a pterodactyl.” She started to climb up the rock face.

Betty grabbed her back and shoved a piece of bread in her face. “Eat first, you need your energy.”

Aurora blushed slightly and came back down, and took it with a 'thanks'.

As they sat, Kara asked, “Are we going to set up a bait again?”

Damien thought for a moment. “We might have too, but I'd like if we could just quickly finish off the request and head back. I don't want to spend more time than needed in case that Rex comes back.”

The others agreed, and so they decided they would instead try to chase down any they found.

After finishing, they climbed out of the crag. Not one but two pterodactyl's were flying nearby, with one even being directly overhead.

“Poppy, lure them, but be careful. Use up all your MP on Speed Boost if you have too, we'll take care of the rest,” Damien said, grabbing her hand to help impose the importance of her safety.

Poppy blushed slightly and nodded, before taking off. She didn't take long, as the pterodactyl seemed interested in her right away, flying down to meet her, causing Poppy to quickly turn around. She flew into Damien, who caught her in a hug as she came down.

“Good job,” he said, before sitting her on the ground.

As the pterodactyl came down like it was going to dive-bomb them, Feya and Betty used Bind on it. It's wings seized up, and it fell to the ground with a crash.

Everyone was stunned for a moment, as it fell harder than they thought, but quickly jumped in. The pterodactyl was so hurt by it's fall that it couldn't do much, and the group finished it off quickly.

After they were done, they all stood around the dead monster. No one had even broken a sweat.

“That worked really well!” Betty said.

“Yeah, we barely had to do anything,” Bluey added.

“It was nice but we can't expect that to happen every time,” Damien replied.

However, as they kept going, this happened twice more. I guess this is even better than the bait strategy...

The fourth time, however, two pterodactyls attacked them at the same time, landing slightly away and out of Bind range on its descent. Betty and Feya, however, scurried into range after, and each used Bind on one to buy them some time.

Bluey ran over to the larger one, wrestling it as it broke free from the Bind.

The other pterodactyl ate a barrage of spells from the others. While it was reeling, Kara jumped up and sliced its neck. Blood start spurting out, and it started thrashing at them in anger while it cried out in pain. Everyone rewnewed battering it with spells again, until it finally lay dead.

They then turned to the other, where Bluey had it by one of its wings. Damien felt a sinking feeling as he saw some blood coming out of one of her arms, where it seems the other one wing had clawed at it.

“Kara, try and stab it from behind. Poppy, try and blind it,” Damien yelled as they ran over to help.

Kara ran up its back and landed a knife blow to the back of its neck. It didn't seem as effective as a slash from the front, but it still started to bleed as she jumped off.

While it was distracted from the wound on its back, Poppy took the opportunity to fly eye level with it and use Pixie Sparkle directly in its face. It started to thrash about as it was blinded, turning in circles.

“Bluey, let go a moment,” Damien shouted.

Bluey seemed reluctant, but let go, which caused the pterodactyl to trip slightly as it adjusted to not having one of its wings weighed down.

Damien ran over and put his hands around her arm, using Heal.

“Master, I'm-” Bluey started, but then blushed. “Thanks Master.”

Damien kept healing until her HP was full and the wound was healed up. “Okay, try and give it a kick in the face.”

Bluey gave a fist pump and then ran over. Aurora had just landed a Fire Ball to its front, and it was having trouble staying upright. Bluey's dropkick landed squarely on top of its head, slamming it into the ground and seeming to kill it instantly.

After the fight they all started to group up to catch their breath, but Aurora ran up to Damien in a hurry. “Master, that...Rex is nearby.”

Damien's face drained. “I thought it went a different direction!?”

Aurora shrugged and shook her head. “It might have turned around, or it might even be a different one.”

The others heard, and they all quickly went to grab their stuff.

“We finished the request, so I think we should leave,” Betty suggested.

Damien nodded. “I thought maybe doing some extra training could be useful, but not if that Rex is prowling around.”

Kara gave a thumbs up, “I remember the way we came, so we should be safe. I think we can get back to our last campsite before dark.”

The group followed Kara's lead, going as quickly as they could manage through the crags, and sprinting whenever they had to go over exposed plains. Aurora was alert, but they didn't stop to check, instead keeping on the rest of the day. As sundown was approaching, they came upon some of the corpses from the previous day again.

“Master, it's nearby,” Aurora said, her tail on end.

Bluey also seemed to sense it, looking back behind her shoulder a couple times.

Damien put and arm around her as they jogged. “Don't worry.”

Bluey smiled, “I'm not, I know Master could take it!”

Damien sighed, “I wish I had that much confidence in myself...”

They soon reached their previous campsite, the remains of the previous days fire there. They all agreed it would be too risky to cook anything, so they ate some scraps and drank some water from their flasks before quickly setting up their tents for the night.

As they were setting it up, a storm suddenly swept in. While they were protected from the wind in between the crags as they were, a bit of rain was getting through the opening above them and they moved the tents slightly out of the way.

“Do you smell the Rex at all?” Damien asked.

Aurora shook her head. “I can't sense anything besides the rain.”

Betty grabbed both of them and pulled them into the tent. “Don't worry, I'll put my Barrier up and we'll be fine,” she reassured them.

Feya also but a Barrier up around Kara's tent, and they cuddled up for the night as well.

In the morning, they woke up a bit later then intended, due to the sunrise not hitting them right away in their secluded spot.

They all quietly grabbed their items and prepared to leave, silently agreeing to skip breakfast to get out as quickly as possible.

“Master...I can smell the Rex a bit, but it's faint,” Aurora said.

They walked out and above where they had been, and in the muddy ground above their campsite were giant tracks.

Everyone looked at each other, then briskly started walking south towards Brento.