17 years

Over the past several months, Leigh and I have been slowly rebuilding our relationship. It hasn’t been easy, and occasionally she still looks at me with that unshakable fear in her eyes. Thankfully though, her trepidation seems to fade with each passing day. After a few weeks, we resumed our magic lessons, and she has made significant progress. The initial overflow from her birthday carried her to level two in her tier 3 class and Leigh has since progressed ten levels further, nearly halfway to her tier four class already.

Of course, this new influx of levels has only widened the gap between her stats and my own, and with the influx of free points she has spent on upgrading her intelligence stat, Leigh has recently passed me in that regard. A temporary issue, almost assuredly, and her willpower and fine mana control remain leagues behind my own. I will admit though, it has wounded my pride slightly. Having to leverage every skill and trick I know to compete with her system-assisted talents is frustrating, to say the least. However, a little frustration is much better than her ignoring me for days on end.

Though, I do have an idea that should help with that. [Summoning]. After her father left town, Leigh moved into the house with Mom, Dad, and me, and yet I failed to consider the possibility that she had somehow been lonely or struggling with the concurrent loss. Leigh had both of her parents taken from her in a relatively short period of time, and in my endless stupidity, I didn’t consider that she might be trying to hide her pain from us.

Cain, in his limited mental capacity, has been a grounding rock for my own emotional state since I raised him. If I manage to convince Leigh to form a bond with a more traditional summoned minion, hers stands to be a much more intelligent creature and provide the same companionship as a more traditional pet, but without the looming threat of animal mortality. If a summoned creature is killed, simply resummon it. The average dimensional spirit lives for an exponentially longer time than even the most long-lived mortals. I still have to convince her that it’s a good idea though.

So, I’ve decided to meet her at her forge early this morning and discuss it with her. Maybe help her find a skill to supplement the spell, carve a ritual circle, and get all the preparations we can do ahead of time done. I want to help her summon the best familiar possible.

When I arrive at the forge late in the morning, I can already see smoke rising from the chimney and hear the sounds of ringing metal echoing inside. No point in knocking, Leigh won’t hear me anyway. Opening up the door, I stepped inside the aging building to an immediate assault of heat and sound. I start waving my hands over my head and shouting the best I can to get Leigh’s attention, but even then it takes a while. She has a tendency to hyper-focus on her work.

She walks over, gently tapping her amulet to purge the sweat from her brow, and greets me casually. “Hey Vincent, what’s up?” for a moment I swear I see a touch of anxiety cloud her gaze, but it’s gone before I address it so I grit my teeth and move on.

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“Uh, Hey Leigh. I just had something I wanted to talk to you about, didn’t mean to interrupt” I stammer awkwardly, casting my gaze to the ground. Unfortunately, that didn’t do much to hide my eyes from Leigh. I was taller than her when we were both kids, mostly in part to her dwarven blood, but with time that gap has only gotten wider.

Our mutual growth spurts have supplied us both with a slurry of changes in the past few years. For my own part I have gotten significantly taller, though my weight and musculature still remain below average. Mother likes to call me ‘slim’ but I just think I’m lanky. I stand only a few centimeters shorter than Dad, but nowhere near his weight. It’s embarrassing at times, but I just try to remember I’m not a warrior like he is.

Leigh, on the other hand, has dramatically come into her own. While still standing significantly shorter than I do, she has sprouted up about as far as a dwarf-kin can be expected to. I am approaching nearly an even 180 centimeters, and Leigh is easily below 160. Though for her lack of stature, she is surprisingly imposing. I will never venture as far as to call her ‘dense’, but she is certainly compact. With her high vitality and strength scores, not only is she broad and healthy, but surprisingly muscular as well. A combined side effect of her system stats and a lifetime of working in her forge. As we grow older, though her height seems stagnant, her figure continues to fill out in various ways.

I find myself lost in a train of thought for several moments before Leigh sighs deeply and leans forward to catch my downcast eyes. She looks frustrated. “Vincent, I appreciate you coming down here to check on me from time to time, but I don’t appreciate unnecessary interruptions” she explains softly. I’m not sure I like her tone, part of me feels condescended to. “What’s this about?” Leigh asks before I can voice my complaints.

“Oh, uhm, right” I stammer nervously. “So uh, a few weeks ago when I ‘introduced’ you to my, uh, well, yeah” I wilted under her skeptical gaze. I know truthfully that if I just come out and say what I’m thinking Leigh will make her own decision, but I find myself afraid to upset her again. Whenever I think about how she reacted to Cain, or what I could have done better or how to tell her the truth about my memories, that horrible buzzing behind my eyes comes back. I would like to avoid that, so I’m choosing to do my best without thinking too deeply about it.

“Well, it got me thinking. I know you don’t really like my own methods, but I’ve been worried about you and how much time you spend alone…” My voice trails off and my face feels hot very suddenly. I don’t think the forge normally bothers me this much.

“I know things have been hard on you for a long time, and I can’t really fix anything like that, but I thought I could help?” I take a breath before I start rambling too far. “I was wondering if you’d be interested in learning a more traditional summoning spell? For a familiar of your own?”

Leigh’s eyebrow arched up in response to my question, clearly displaying her curiosity towards the idea. “I definitely want to hear more about it, but I have to finish this project for your mom first.” Leigh gestures to the piece of steel sitting by her forge.

“She asked me to use [Mana Crafting] to make her a new stove for the house. Self Lighting.” Leigh paused before lightly punching me in the shoulder. It was playful, but with her stats still a bit painful. “Wanna help?” She asked tentatively. I did not hesitate to answer. “Yeah!”

Truthfully I don’t care too much for forge work and crafting beyond more traditional magic trinkets and mage gear, I was just happy to have an excuse to be with my friend again.