Ali didn’t have additional time to resolve all of his outstanding matters because, shortly after their airship took off, a lightning struck it. The damage was enough to force the airship to crash land into a large valley. When the teenager regained consciousness, he sighed as he surveyed the aftermath of the crash. There were many Dark Cult members killed from the crash. The remaining members were wounded to some degree. Kurata was the only survivor with healing abilities while both Belen and Kamis were missing. With enough time, Kurata was able to heal everyone. However, the situation was still dire given their limited supplies.
“We need to find a town to acquire supplies,” suggested one Dark Cult member. “Otherwise, we’ll starve to death before we even face any enemies.”
The Dark Cult members might have agreed on the plan but they soon fought amongst themselves for the leader position. Nearly everyone present believed that they would make a better leader than everyone else. Ali and Kurata stood on the side, unwilling to get involved in the mess.
“Any news on Belen and Kamis?” asked Kurata.
“Tian is already searching but there are lots of caves and crevasses along the way. This will take time.” Ali then pointed at the fight. “Looks like you’ll be busy healing after this.”
“We won’t be surviving this if they all act like children. I don't even know if we'll reach a town at this rate.”
The duo decided that they should spend their energy more wisely. After a short discussion, the two of them went into the crashed airship to search for more supplies. They wished Belen was there because her grade D storage would be useful in taking away things too big to carry. As they went through the airship, they heard a growl. To investigate, they chose to circle around whatever made the sound. As soon as they got close, a baby mink jumped out.
“You poor thing,” said Ali. “Kurata will heal you up.”
The teenager cautiously picked up the mink. He expected resistance but, upon touching the creature, he realized how weak it was. The growl and the jump earlier were all an act that took everything out of it. As soon as he picked it up, the mink collapsed. He urged Kurata to heal the tiny creature and, a few minutes later, the mink’s condition appeared to have stabilized as it slept in Ali’s hand.
“Don’t creatures all have natural HP regen?” he asked Kurata.
“They should. I don’t know what makes this one different.”
Kurata offered to keep looking while Ali cared for the mink. An hour later, Kurata returned empty handed, stating that the other Dark Cult members were very thorough with their earlier search. Nothing valuable was left on the airship. He then asked about the mink but Ali replied that the creature was still asleep. When they exited the airship, the fight had also ended with all the participants nursing their injuries. No victor came out of the fight.
“I’ll go heal them! It’s a good way to level up my healing abilities.”
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With Kurata busy with his healing, Ali turned towards the direction where Tian went. The air serpent was too far away for him to communicate directly and, the longer Tian spent looking, the more worried he became. As he went through the worst case scenarios, he felt the mink move in his hand. He looked down in time to see the mink leaped at his face. He braced for impact but the mink simply disappeared. He looked around for the mink before the prompt came up.
<
You have gained a new ability.
Loading ability information….
Loading complete!
[
Ability: Lightning Mink
Level: 1 ( 0 / 26 XP to Level Up)
Level Up Requirements: Inflict damage or kill foes of equal or higher level using the lightning mink.
Type: Support (Summoning)
Description:
Summon a lightning mink to do battle with the enemy. Creature’s level matches the ability level. Only one creature can be summoned at one time. The lightning mink stays around until it is unsummoned or the summoner can no longer pay the cost. Can be summoned alongside other summonees.
{
Creature: Lightning Mink
Level: 1
HP: 7/7
MP: 0/0
Strength: 2
Constitution: 2
Intelligence: 1
Survival: 1
Wisdom: 1
Attack Type: Elemental (Ranged)
Damage: 2
Defense Type: Elemental
Defense: 0
}
Cost: 2 MP per use and 1 MP/min while the air serpent is summoned.
Cooldown: None
]
>
No wonder the mink could have natural HP regen. It’s from a different realm and lacks a summoner. Why did it select me…and where did it came from...
Since there was nothing else to do except to wait for Tian’s return, Ali sat down to access the summoner’s realm. He was curious if, by gaining a second summonee, he could have unlocked something. As soon as he arrived, a mink flying at a speed he couldn’t discern knocked him back. He looked up to see the lightning mink staring down at him with curiosity.
"How is someone weak like you able to unlock the summoner realm? Who are you?"
"Just someone who got very lucky. Keep up with me! We’ll see if we can help make you stronger too, like Tian."
"Who is Tian?"
Ali began explaining how he came across the air serpent and how they had managed to overcome many challenges. As soon as he finished sharing his story, the two of them arrived at the pillar with the temple. At least, that was what the teenager was expecting. However, he was shocked to find two temples now resided atop the pillar. He turned to the mink.
"Do you know which is your temple? And what is your name?"
"Mine is the one on the right and you can refer to me as Mika."
"Alright, Mika! Let’s see if anything is unlocked in your temple. We might find something that can make you stronger than your current state. We may need all the help we can get after our crash."
Ali led the way inside, hoping to find an altar with choices, similar to his first time entering Tian’s temple.