After gathering himself, Dave turned his attention to the blinking icon in the corner of his non-vision that signified minimized notifications. The bulk of them turned out to be kill notifications with the associated XP gains, followed by one very welcome prompt.
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Congratulations!
You have leveled up.
Max HP increased.
Max MP increased.
Max SP increased.
Ability gained: Infuse
All stats +1
Free stat points +5
XP to next level: 0/1500
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Dave opened his stat page next to distribute his stats.
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Name: Dave Kowalski
Class: Summoner
Level: 2
XP: 0/1500
Perk Points: 0
Stat Points: 5
HP: 11/18
MP: 34/34
SP: 14/14
Strength: 6
Agility: 8(?)
Endurance: 7
Constitution: 9
Intelligence: 17
Wisdom: 13
Charisma: 9
Abilities:
-Summon Rat
-Summon Cat
-Summon Small Dog
-Infuse
-Unsummon
Perks:
-Scouting 1
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Dave was thrilled to see that his resources increased according to a fairly simple formula of associated stat multiplied by level, and that he would get more abilities as he leveled without having to invest perk points. Nodding happily at his progress, Dave opened the page for his new ability in case it affected his decisions regarding stat allocation.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
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Infuse
Channel mana to boost a single stat for a summoned creature for 10 minutes. Each point of increase costs mana equivalent to the current value of the stat. Multiple stats can be boosted at once, but these are treated as separate effects.
Cost: Variable MP
Range: 5 feet
Cast time: Variable
Misc Requirements: Only affects summoned creatures bound to the caster. Will not affect party members, or another summoner’s creatures.
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After a long period of thought, Dave placed three points in intelligence to boost his mana, one into constitution to increase his HP, and one into dexterity in hopes it would help him to be more mobile. Luckily, his hypothesis proved correct. As he stood, he could feel a tangible difference to the smoothness of his motions. Walking proved easier as well; he could now manage an almost normal walking speed without hurting himself based purely on instinctive mobility.
Finished with distributing his level, Dave shoved himself to his feet with a groan. Hush eyed him balefully as he scooched her out of his lap, but moved obligingly when he ordered her to get up. Ravenously hungry, Dave ordered Hush back into search mode as he explored the woods. Ten minutes later, he received a kill notification for a “squirrelipede.” He only needed to wait another minute to find out, as Hush dropped the creature’s corpse at his feet, that it was essentially a squirrel the length of his forearm, with dozens of tiny legs. Grimacing, Dave placed the creature into his inventory.
Two hours later, Dave had three of the creatures in his inventory, and was staring at a pile of wood he had stripped from a piece of furniture in the small village he had colonized. When his annoyed glare failed to spontaneously combust the fuel, Dave prepared himself for another round of twirling a stick against a small pile of wood shavings. That was when he saw Hush alert to something off-screen. Grabbing his replacement table leg spear from his inventory, Dave turned his body to point Fear’s vision in the direction of Hush’s gaze.
Standing twenty feet away, staring at him emotionlessly, was a man. He seemed to be in his fifties, with a stripe of gray hair running through an unkempt black mane that reached nearly to his shoulder. Bright blue eyes gazed dispassionately from a craggy, scarred face, and he wore a full set of armor. Not plate mail, but a kind of scale mail that Dave didn’t have the word for. A sword was belted to his hip, and the man was calmly resting his hand on the hilt.
Gulping, Dave lowered his impromptu weapon, knowing it would be useless against the mystery man. The man’s lips moved, and Dave recognized he was trying to communicate with him.
“I’m sorry, I can’t hear you.” Dave told him, punctuating this statement by pointing at his ears, then holding his hands up in front of him to signify defeat. The man cocked his head in confusion for a moment, then pointed upward, followed by clasping his hands together in prayer. Dave understood the intent, and followed suit.
“Goddess Sonirae, would you please help me communicate?” Dave prayed.
“Yes.” came the response, now moderately less soul-crushing. “Talk, and he will understand.”
“I’m deaf, I can’t hear you, but can you understand me?” Dave asked the man. The man nodded. Dave tapped his chin in thought for a moment, then smiled. Using the improvised weapon he still held lowered in one hand, Dave wrote “hello” in the bare dirt.
“Can you understand what I wrote?” He asked. The man studied it for a moment, then nodded.
“Can you write something, so I can see if it works both ways?” Dave requested.
The man drew his sword, glanced at Dave to gauge his reaction, then used it to write “hello” in the dirt. There was a strange visual distortion akin to seeing two different images simultaneously, which Dave attributed to whatever translation magic was in play.
“Can you tell me your name?” He requested.
“Verin Grele” the man wrote.
Dave smiled. “Nice to meet you, Verin. Not to be rude, but I thought everyone was dead? How are you here?”
“Undead, no soul, can’t be infected.” Verin wrote.
Dave did his best to maintain his composure at the fact that his new contact was undead. “Interesting. So the plague infects your soul, not your body?”
Verin nodded, then wrote “How do you still have a soul?”
Dave frowned, then shrugged. “No idea. I’m sort of a new arrival, so maybe it hasn’t kicked in yet?”
Verin nodded, then clasped his hands together. Dave could see the man’s lips move in what he assumed to be a prayer. A moment later, Verin wrote “Sonirae says, different soul wavelength.”
“So, I’m immune because my soul essentially has a different frequency?” Dave guessed.
Verin nodded again, then stared searchingly at Dave, as if looking for something. After several seconds, Dave broke the lull. “What is it?”
“What do you plan to do?” Verin asked.
Dave shrugged. “Well, Sonirae said I could make a wish if I got to the hundredth floor of the divine tower. I figured that was my best bet to get out of this mess. I haven’t really had much time to think that far ahead, though.”
Verin cocked his head speculatively, then wrote “I help.”
Dave nodded thoughtfully. “I won’t turn you down, but what’s in it for you?”
“A wish.” Verin replied.
Dave snorted. “Fair enough, I should have seen that coming. Alright, welcome aboard. Do you know anything about starting fires?”
Verin glanced at him, walked up to the pile of wood, and held his hand out. A small trickle of flame flowed from his palm, igniting the fuel until Dave’s amateur wood teepee was a merrily crackling campfire.
“I have the feeling we’re going to be good friends.” Dave announced, smiling.