Waking Up, Already There

Damien felt trapped. What's going on? Did the bear kill me? Am I really dead this time?

“No, you're not dead. Actually, you're very much alive.”

What? Who is this? Wait...goddess?

“It's me, yes. I was checking in on you but...it seems like something unfortunate happened. Or maybe fortunate? Who's to say?”

I feel like getting killed...well, almost getting killed by a bear isn't fortunate.

“Yes, but who might you have met due to this? Or might you meet? And how does Bluey feel about all this?”

Bluey! Where's Bluey!?

“Just open your eyes,” the goddess whispered.

Open my eyes?

“Open your eyes,” she repeated, sounding as if she was fading into the distance.

I need to...

Damien felt like reality came rushing back to him, opening his eyes, sweating profusely, and gasping for air.

Bluey was sitting on his stomach.

“Bluey!?” Damien shouted.

“Huwah!” Bluey cried back, jumping up into his face.

“Eug, Blughh, Bluey, I'm right here,” Damien chuckled, barely getting Bluey off his face.

“Huwah!” Bluey shouted again, jumping back onto him.

A door opened and suddenly a tall woman in silver armor appeared, holding a large sword. “What's going on!? Are you-” she stopped as she saw what was going on.

Damien pulled Bluey off and got a better look at the person who had walked in. She looked to be about his age, was about his height as well, and had golden hair tied back in a bun. She also had a slight scar under her right eye, that had faded slightly with time.

“Is your summon attacking you?” she said, holding up her sword. “I didn't think that was possible.”

Damien held out his hand. “No no no, I think Bluey is just happy I'm awake. This is normal.”

The woman raised an eyebrow, “Normal?” she repeated, but lowered her sword. Pulling up her status screen, she looked at Damien, “Well, you're almost a full HP, so you should be fine.”

“You can see my HP!?” Damien asked.

The woman raised her eyebrow even farther. “Are you actually alright?”

“Um...maybe I forgot something?”

The woman shook her head, “You can see other creatures or people's stats in the Reader menu.”

“Oh, yeah, of course, guess I'm still shaking off the cobwebs,” Damien tried to cover, rapping the side of his head with his knuckles.

The woman seemed to buy this, nodding. “Do you remember what happened to you?” she asked, leaning on her sword.

“Yes. Bluey and I were traveling to Silaro, and we stopped for the night. A bear attacked us, and...” Damien winced. “I was trying to protect Bluey, and the bear slashed me.”

The woman leaned forward a bit. “You were protecting your summon? Why not just leave them and run? You can just summon a new one.”

Damien blinked, and looked down at Bluey, who was happily spinning around on his stomach. “I...I'm not just going to leave Bluey behind!”

The woman blushed and looked away. “Sorry, I guess I don't understand summoners...”

Damien nodded. “But...yes, I tried to get away with Bluey, but then...I must have fainted from the pain.”

The woman nodded, “Yes, you only had a few HP left when we found you. We were coming from Ancona when we came across your summon dragging you along the road.”

“Dragging me?”

The woman nodded. “Yes, towards Silaro. Made it a decent way from where we found the bear, too. Your slime must be fairly strong.”

Damien smiled, petting Bluey again. “Yes, Bluey is pretty awesome.”

“Huwah!”

The woman gave a smile. “I think I understand a bit better now. I'm surprised, though, you aren't very high level for defeating a bear.”

“Yeah, we-...wait, defeated the bear!? You didn't?”

The woman shook her head. “No, it was already dead when we passed it. It had a hole seared clean through it's chest, so I'm assuming your slime defeated it while you were incapacitated.”

He looked down at Bluey, who was happily spinning in a circle.

The woman giggled, “I guess I need to learn about summoners a bit more.”

Damien glanced back over at her. You know, she's actually really pretty, now that I'm looking at her. “Well, thank you for helping me and Bluey, err...”

The woman smirked, “Why don't you pull up your Reader menu?”

Damien blushed, hurriedly pulling up his status screen. After frantically searching for a few moments, he found it and opened, looking at the woman:

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Carleen – Level 27 Knight

However, he wasn't able to see the rest of her abilities, or HP, or anything else. Not sure if it was appropriate to ask, he just replied, “Thanks Carleen,” blushing a bit.

She smiled and walked out, saying “Come down for dinner in a couple hours” as she closed the door.

As Damien stared at the door for a few moments, Bluey jumped back on his face.

“Yes, yes, I love you too-” Damien said, before realizing what he'd said.

“Huwah!” Bluey replied.

Damien smiled, “Haha, I guess that's fine then.” Realizing he still had his status menu up, he noticed that Bluey had leveled again. That's amazing! I guess it's been a few days, and that bear must have given a decent amount of XP.

Opening it up, it read:

Bluey leveled up

Slime – Level 5

STR – 48

VIT – 38

MAG – 23

DEX – 41

STR +11

Lightning Attunement

New Ability Available

The abilities for selection this time were:

STR +7

Lightning Bolt – Learn the Skill Lightning Bolt

Lightning Bolt? That sounds pretty awesome. I'm assuming it's a ranged attack!? Damien looked at Bluey, who already had it's own status screen up, as if anticipating getting to choose. “Now, Bluey, I'm gonna let you choose, but I really think you should take Lightning Bolt. I think having a ranged option would be a good idea.”

“Huwah!”

Damien clicked the the option to allow the summon to choose, and Bluey immediately bounced against its status screen.

Lightning Bolt learned.

Damien scratched Bluey's head. “Thanks for taking-” he started, but then stopped as he noticed his status screen.

Bluey leveled up

Slime – Level 6

STR – 54

VIT – 45

MAG – 23

DEX – 47

STR +12

Lightning Attunement

Lightning Bolt

New Ability Available

“You leveled up twice!? While I didn't get a level!?”

“Huwah!” Bluey said, excitedly jumping again.

Damien shook his head, Maybe summons just don't need as much experience every successive level. I guess that makes sense, actually, if we think about how having multiple summons.

Deciding that must be why, he clicked the New Ability Available again. It's an even level, so is it only going to be stat boosts again?

STR +9

VIT +9

Yup. “Alright, here you go,” he said, clicking the 'let summon choose' button once more.

Bluey hit the STR button again.

That's fine, at least Bluey picked Lightning Bolt when I suggested it.

Bluey seemed excited by the leveling, jumping up and down on him.

“Oof, be careful, you're really strong now Bluey,” Damien said, catching Bluey and holding it close.

“Huwah!” Bluey replied, seeming content in his arms.

After a couple hours, Damien got up out of the bed. His back was stiff, and he felt it. It was just then he noticed the tears in his jacket and undershirt, and he could feel fresh bumps where scars were forming. I guess your HP restoring doesn't necessarily heal your skin, he thought, remembering the faded scar on Carleen's cheek. He then blushed again thinking about Carleen's face.

Since he had nothing to change into, he left anyway, walking to the door. Outside revealed a hallway with many other doors. Where am I? A clinic? Do they even have those in this world? Walking a bit, with Bluey hopping behind, he heard the clamoring of music and talking from one end of the hall. Walking towards it, the sounds got louder and louder, until he reached a flight of stairs. At the bottom, it opened up into a large tavern area, where dozens of tables had many dozens of people sitting around.

As he struggled with the sudden sensory overload, he heard a “Damien!” call out from a few tables away.

Damien looked over, and there was Carleen. She was now wearing a white shirt that clung to her body, and her golden hair was hanging down, going well past her shoulders. Damien had to struggle not to look at her large chest, which had apparently been well-hidden under the armor she wore earlier.

“Come sit with us!” she smiled.

Damien blushed, ashamed of his own thoughts, before heading over. She was sitting with three others. A large, muscular man, a woman with a stereotypical witch's hat pulled down to hide her face, and a handsome young man wearing a fancy, puffy shirt.

“Th-thanks...” Damien got out, sitting next to her. Bluey jumped in his lap, causing Carleen to stare before giving a quick smile. “Nice to meet you...”

The muscular man grunted.

Carleen glared at him. “This is Baurus. The witch is Sevana. And that's Rufius.”

Baurus grunted again, Sevana dipped her hat further, but Rufius smiled. “Glad to see the bear didn't get the best of you,” he said, pulling out a lute and playing a few chords. “Saved just in time, by your summoned slime, a tale most sublime,” he sang while playing.

Damien was impressed. “Wow, you're really good.”

Rufius smiled and laughed. “Haha, thank you. Bards are the best class, both helpful in battle and delightful out.”

Carleen smiled. “Just don't compliment him too much, or he'll never leave you alone.”

Rufius chuckled, “You wound me, Carleen. I'm simply in awe of your beauty.”

“Shut it,” Baurus grunted, looking over at Rufius.

Rufius recoiled a bit, his smile slipping somewhat.

Carleen coughed. “These are my party members. Despite what you see, we usually do alright. We just came back from killing a golem.”

Damien, assuming that must be impressive, nodded.

Rufius asked, “What were you doing, walking to Silaro? We didn't find any guild card on you.”

Damien shook his head. “Uh, yeah, I was hoping to sign up, actually.”

Carleen nodded. “Silaro is an excellent place to start. There's a wide range of requests to get here. And the nearby areas are good for leveling up for beginners.”

At that point, an ale was placed in front of him, and a large plate with what looked like a small boar was placed in the middle of the table.

The others all started cutting off hunks of meat.

Carleen, noticing he wasn't grabbing any, said, “Oh, don't worry about it, it's my treat.”

Damien blushed, “Sorry I don't have any money.”

Carleen giggled, “I assumed as much, since you hadn't signed up with the guild yet. You don't need to worry about the room, either.”

Damien meekly nodded at the generosity, before taking a sip of his ale and grabbing a hunk of meat off the boar. Tasting it, he was hit by the amount of flavor it had compared to what he'd been eating recently. Yeah, this beats anything cooked over the fire. Or raw slimes.

“Huwah!” Bluey said, looking up at him.

“Oh, sorry, here you go,” he said, pulling off a few pieces for Bluey.

Carleen giggled again watching him feed it.

After eating for a while, Damien felt stuffed. The boar had been mostly cleaned to the bone, with Baurus slurping the final meat off some off a hind leg.

Rufius pulled out his lute again, playing a few chords. “Where are you from, Damien?”

Err...I probably shouldn't say 'another world'. Thinking about where he had come in from, he said, “Across the sea.”

Rufius nodded, and started playing, “A mysterious summoner from across the sea, but Silaro is the place he wanted to be, eating a meal that for him was free.”

Carleen frowned, “Don't make him feel bad.”

Damien shook his head, “Sorry, I promise I'll pay you back when I can.”

Carleen shook her head. “No, like I said, you don't need to worry about it.”

Baurus grunted again. “No point in being soft on losers who can't take care of themselves.”

Carleen sighed, “And that's why we can't get any new members.”

Damien just smiled nervously.

“Huwah!” Bluey said.

Carleen reached over and pet Bluey, which Bluey seemed to enjoy. After a moment, it hopped into Carleen's lap.

Carleen seemed surprised. “Oh! Is this okay?” she asked, looking at Damien.

Damien chuckled. “Yeah, it's fine. Bluey likes you I guess.” He quickly looked away as he noticed Bluey was (probably unintentionally) causing Carleen's chest to jiggle.

After another rounds of ales, they started leaving one by one, until just he and Carleen (and Bluey) were left.

Carleen set Bluey back in his lap. “Thanks for letting me pet...err...Bluey.”

Damien shook his head. “I think Bluey enjoyed it.”

Carleen giggled, “Well, I rented your room for another night. Will you be okay starting tomorrow?”

Damien, not wanting to take advantage of her generosity, nodded quickly. “Yes, thank you again. I'll get to the guild tomorrow and starting earning some money!”

Carleen smiled and nodded. “You can buy me a drink the next time we meet!” She then left and went upstairs.

Damien was distracted for a few moments, thinking of Carleen's smile. He was brought back to attention by Bluey squirming in his lap. “You ready to pack in for the night?”

“Huwah!”

Damien held Bluey and walked up to his room (receiving a couple stares along the way) until he laid back in his bed.

Petting Bluey as the slime curled up into his chest, he said, “Well, I guess we made it to Silaro.”