I stepped through the door and it slammed closed behind me. Before I even had the chance to survey my surroundings a notification popped up on my HUD as if it was bursting to get out. It flashed over and over, blocking my vision until I accepted it.

I sincerely hoped it wouldn’t do that during combat or it could get me killed.

Achievement Unlocked!

Holier Than Thou

You have met a god. Though not uncommon in Celestia, it’s still an achievement for an outworlder like you. Gods are the most powerful beings in this world and you got to meet one, you lucky devil.

Now prostrate yourself and prepare for a divine dicking!

Reward: Divine Loot Box

I was a little shocked that meeting a god was so common in this world. Getting another loot box was pretty cool though, especially considering that all I did was walk through a door.

It felt almost too easy, but I wasn’t going to complain.

You have received a divine blessing:

Blessing of Divine Wealth

You have received a blessing from the God of Wealth. Blessings are rare even in this world which has more gods than it knows what to do with. Consider yourself lucky mortal, a god is more likely to kill a man than bless him.

You will now be able to loot gold from every kill or assisted kill.

You can only hold one blessing at a time.

That was a pretty good perk! It was a shame I had to get it from such an egotistical, maniacal sociopath, but beggars can’t be choosers.

It basically awarded the same perk as the cloak did but now I wouldn’t lose it when I found better, less dubious clothing. I wondered if the skill stacked. Would I be able to loot more gold whilst wearing the cloak now I had the blessing too?

Achievement Unlocked!

Child Prodigy

You have received a blessing from a god on your second day in this world. That’s like a toddler going through puberty. I don’t know what he saw in you but be thankful for it, you lucky sod.

Reward: Brown nosers don’t get rewards.

Well that achievement was a bit pointless. Why give me it if I don’t get a reward? I thought.

It was almost like the system just wanted to talk to me, or more likely that it wanted to be a dick. I didn’t understand how the system worked fully, but it certainly enjoyed profanity and being a colossal asshole.

Either way though, the meeting with the god worked in my favour no matter how you sliced it. I was still alive, despite being ruder than I usually am and I got to walk away with a nice new blessing.

I could be a full-time level chaser now. I wouldn’t need to worry about earning money like normal people. Not that I had time to worry about things like that in this world of monsters and hunters anyway, but it was still nice.

As I clicked for the final notification to go away my vision was finally unobscured.

I hadn’t returned to the hallways, but instead found myself in a large room. Turning back to the door I quickly opened it to check the hallway was still there and it was.

I breathed a sigh of relief. I was worried for a moment that Chrysus had teleported me somewhere random.

Turning back to the room I’d landed in I took a moment to survey my surroundings. It seemed to be a library.

There were bookcases on three of the four walls, filled with colourful, hardbacked tomes. The middle of the room was pretty bare, but there was something strange on the floor.

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It seemed to be a massive magic circle, for want of a better description. It was etched into the floor in what appeared to be melted gold. So it was a permanent magic circle.

I wondered if that was rare here. It reminded me of a pentagram, with jagged lines that formed a geometric shape. It was certainly intriguing, though it further reminded me of my lack of mana and how I’d missed out on getting the Basic Sceptre when I chose my starting weapon.

Man I really wanted that sceptre. Bows were ok and I was growing fond of my dagger, but shooting fireballs from a sceptre was top tier isekai. Everyone knew that.

Bows and daggers and swords existed on earth. They were a little outdated, but they were real things. Magic on the other hand was the stuff of dreams. Only a complete idiot would choose a normal weapon over a magical one. It was just common sense.

But I had no choice in the matter.

This stupid game is rigged! I thought angrily.

Still, my love of magical things drove me forward within the room. Perhaps there were books in here that could help me learn more about it. With a silly grin on my face I went around the room taking all the books off the shelves and adding them to my inventory.

I didn’t know when I’d get the time to read, but there didn’t seem to be a weight limit so far in the inventory so I had no reason not to loot them. Besides, if the cultists wanted these then it stood to reason that I should take them away.

By the time I was done I had over 500 notifications, and 500 new additions to the travelling library of Kaleb Akabane.

I waved the notifications away. I didn’t have the time to sift through that many of them and they were only item notices anyway.

After that I decided to take a closer look at the magic circle. As I approached I felt like there should have been some power coming from it, even a wave in the air would have been enough. I felt nothing.

Feeling a little disheartened I moved into the middle of it. Now, I know what you’re thinking; what kind of idiot steps inside an unknown magic circle? Me, I’m that kind of idiot. Curiosity may have killed the cat but so far, it hadn’t killed the Kaleb.

As I stepped onto the golden etchings a bright red light filled the room. The gold began glowing as if it was turning molten and a wall of light surrounded me. I still couldn’t sense anything magical happening though. If I closed my eyes, I’d have never known any of this was happening.

It was like I was magically blind. I was the Stevie Wonder of wizardry.

As I sulkily looked around in wonder at the light show, a notification popped up.

You have entered a summoning circle!

Summon daemon familiar?

Y/N

A familiar? Like a monster who would fight for me? Hell to the yes!

Now that’s more like it!

If I can’t wield magic then having a minion do it for me would be the next best thing. Did I say minion? I meant to say familiar of course. I’m not a whacko tyrant or anything.

Also, if I was summoning a demon you could bet it was going to be crazy powerful.

I immediately clicked yes on my HUD.

The red light seemed to glow brighter and soon I was blinded to everything outside the circle. It was like the light was becoming more and more corporeal by the second.

It spun around me, getting faster and faster. I was excited. If the fanfare was this extreme then I must have summoned something pretty powerful. Maybe it’d be a litch, or a succubus or a dragon. I wasn’t sure if dragons were actually demons but I still wanted one.

Please God let it be a dragon that would be the coolest!

The red light spun and shimmered, dancing across the circle before my eyes until it hit a crescendo. Then the light blinked out. With no further fanfare the light was gone and I was once again looking around the room, dumbfounded.

There was nothing there. Where the hell was my dragon?

“Down here moron.”

I looked down, and sat at my feet was a small panda smoking a bamboo pipe. It was about the height of my knee when it was sat down. So smaller than a regular panda, at least by my limited knowledge.

“A panda? How is a panda a demon?” I asked incredulously, taken aback by the sudden appearance of a cute, fluffy animal.

“A demon? Kid are you illiterate?” The panda laughed. “You summoned a daemon.”

“Isn’t that just an old timey spelling for demon?” I asked, raising a single eyebrow as I stared at the creature.

He had sharp teeth and claws, so maybe he wouldn’t be completely useless. He was a far cry from what I’d expected though, definitely not as a good as a dragon.

“No. A daemon is more like a guide. We were originally go-betweens for gods and mortals back when the system tried to ban direct contact, but since it changed that rule back in the 12th century, we now act as guides… sages if you will. Yeah I like that, I am your sage.” The panda grinned, showing me its sharp, fangy teeth, and took a drag from its bamboo pipe.

“Ok,” I began. “I could definitely use some help understanding this world that’s for sure. You can fight too right?”

Now it was the panda’s turn to look at me incredulously as it raised both its tiny eyebrows and cracked a bemused smile.

“I’m a fucking panda, what do you think? It’s a miracle my kind aren’t already extinct. We’re black and white yet we live in the jungles, I mean what kind of camouflage is that?

“On average we spend 16 hours a day eating, and literally all we eat is bamboo. That’s like you living on a diet of nothing but bread. Hell, the average panda poops 40 times a frigging day. Not to mention the breeding issues. Did you know female pandas are only capable of conceiving a cub for 24 to 72 hours of the year.

“So no, I can’t fight. I can give you advice, I can smoke and I can sing a mean Elton John cover, but I can’t fight.”

Shaking its head the panda took in a long drag from its pipe and blew the smoke in my face. It smelled like burnt bamboo.

Fantastic.

“I guess that’ll have to do then.” I sighed, waving the smoke out of my face. “What do I call you?”

“Call me Panda.” He said, extending his paw as if he expected me to shake it.

“Panda the… panda?” I asked, taking his extended paw. It was soft and fluffy.

“Hey, it’s not like I named myself kid. We’ve all got parents don’t we, mine just obviously wanted me to get bullied in school.”

“Fair enough, nice to meet you Panda.” I laughed as I took my hand back. “I’m Kaleb Akabane and if I ever end up going home I’m gonna google all those panda facts you just dropped. There’s no way you poop 40 times a day.”

“Those are verifiable facts kid; they don’t hand out diplomas for nothing at sage school you know.”

“You went to school?”

“Of course I did, we’re civilised people us daemons you know. Education is what separates men from beasts and I am most certainly a man. Just ask your mother.”

“Nice. We’ve just met and you’re already cracking mum jokes. This is going to be a long isekai.” I sighed.

Panda continued smoking his bamboo stick and staring at me. It looked like he was sizing me up. I had an exclamation mark in my HUD’s top right-hand corner meaning I’d missed a notification. I opened it.

Congratulations! You have successfully summoned a daemon!

Panda is now your summoned familiar.

Daemons are pretty rare as far as summons go, and they can be very useful for outworlders.

*Familiars cannot die, if they drop to 0 HP you can resummon them in the options menu*

That was useful to know. So even though Panda would be useless in a fight if he died I could just resummon him. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too expensive.

I wasn’t sure what to think of my new familiar, but he could be useful. It wasn’t like I really knew anything about this world and by my estimations, things were only going to get more complicated.

“Ok Panda since you’re my guide now, what should I do next? I’ve pretty much just been wandering around trying not to die so far.” I asked.

“Oh, that one’s easy kid. We need to get you a class. I think there’s a city not too far from here. I say we head there.”