Anna woke up to the snoring of Levi and Piper. She didn’t know how long the two had been away; she had fallen asleep shortly after they left. Getting up and brushing herself off she looked at the fire. It was still going strong; two of Levi’s metallic familiars were still patrolling the area. Anza was up and had joined the ranks. Anna didn’t know what to make of the mimics; they were kind enough to her and Piper. They were world-eating organisms, though, and that was enough to make anyone truly question true intentions. She wanted to believe that because they were with Levi, they would be good. They just were so evil-sounding, two familiars with the power to annihilate an entire planet completely. It was a scary thought.
She did her best to hide it from the other two. It was not going to help anyone if she was constantly scared and worried about familiars who were not doing her any harm but the opposite, helping her. Anna pulled out some bread from her inventory, she warmed it next to the fire for a little until it was good enough to eat. She took slow bites, meditating and focusing on the journey of the day.
It was her time to return home after leaving. She was worried. Levi wasn’t exactly the kind of person her parents wanted her around. Not that he was bad or wrong or anything they just had a thing with being around those of a certain wealth threshold. She understood perfectly how awful this position was to hold, but what was she to do? She was barely 21, a 2-star rank without her class evolution. She wielded no power.
She sighed and looked over the valley of ice. It was vast, and she couldn’t see the end in sight, but she knew it well. Anna took a long, deep, cleansing breath.
“Anna,” Levi said. “You good?”
“Jeez, Levi,” Anna said, startled. “Less now. When did you get so good at your aura control?”
“I’m not sure, just been working on it. What’s up?”
“I’m nervous to go home,” she said nervously.
“Cause your friend is an otherworlder with two world-ending familiars and an affinity for chaos?” Levi asked.
“Yes,” Anna said, shocked once again. “That’s exactly it, how did you?”
“Anna, I’m not an idiot. Okay, so I’m not a complete idiot. I see how you look at my familiars. I see how you looked at me when I gave you the chaos book. I saw it when I was explaining to you how it works; everything inside of you looked like it wanted to attack me and put me down. I was lucky that you were too tired last night to put any resistance to having the emberites protect you.”
“Levi, I’m sorry. Do you see it from my perspective,”
“Of course, I do, Anna.” Levi interrupted. “I’m not mad at you and I definitely don’t blame you. I’m just tryna tell you that you’re not that good at hiding how you feel. That’s a gift. It means you haven’t had the need to practice it. You ever wanna know why I am so good at lying, or those lying games?”
“Why?”
“Because I had to be. I had to pretend that I was okay, when I was not. Where I come from men are told to suck it up, keep your feelings to yourself, rub some dirt on it, or ‘man up.’ So, I learned how to be what I needed to be. Where I knew it would be the path of least resistance. But I always knew when to put the mask on. Sometimes I think I put the mask on so well that I forgot who I was trying to fool. Don’t learn. Keep being you, keep wearing your heart on your sleeve.”
“Levi,” she paused. She was not used to someone being so kind to her when she has not been reciprocating. She was at a loss for words. “I don’t know what to say… Thank you. For seeing me.”
“Sure thing, Anna,” he made his way to get up and head back to pack the camp.
“Wait,” she grabbed his arm. “Do you ever wonder how you got here?”
“Sometimes, more like a passing moment, nothing really too pressing though.” She got up and followed him back to the campsite to pack. She was feeling lighter and ready to accept her new friend and his familiars.
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Ten years ago.
Metal on metal clattered in the distance. Panic and adrenaline surged through his veins. He had to get to his tower before the evil one came. Dripping sweat and stumbling over the clutter, the man finally entered his ritual rune. He dug through a stack of paper to find what he was looking for. He had to hurry; it was no telling until his tower would be overrun. Rushing to place the diamond dust into an intricate summoning circle. Creating the complex runes in each of the circles, he started chanting.
“Let the words of the Oracle reign true. Seek, seek, seek out the one who has the potential of the gods but the life of a jester. The one who threw away it all but simply needs a spark to reignite the soul. For unto them, a second chance shall be created. For unto them, a second life shall be given. The chance to change the past and live for the future. The chance to fight for something new in the new world it inhabits. As the Oracle said many centuries ago before the rise of the Archon of Evil to take over the world, let the one be brought here. Seek, seek, seek,” He finished his chant and the ritual started to spin and it began emitting a powerful aura.
There were several pounds on the door. A powerful being with a Cobra staff walked in menacingly. It strolled up to the ritualist, who had just finished casting a spell. Watching the battle unfold, the being attacked several knights. The knights were no match for his intense rank. He would cast a spell, and they would melt away like someone had just poured acid on their flesh. It continued its way across the bridge towards the tower. As it walked, it would raise its staff and the enemies would be risen off the ground and thrown off the sides. It was making short work on any enemy that dared to defy its glorious purpose.
Upon reaching the base of the tower, it felt the power of a ritual circle enacting. It looked up, and fury flashed across its face. It would not be undone by anyone; it entered the tower and simply flew up the middle of the tower to the top. At the top it approached a door, the place where the aura was coming from. More guards were getting in its way, this time the powerful being kicked them against the wall and they fell splat on the ground.
They knocked on the door. There was no answer, so they decided to let themselves in. A disappointed look crossed his face.
“You didn’t do a summoning ritual, did you?” the creature asked. Its voice was cold and extremely raspy. The ritualist struggled to understand it. “You didn’t do a summoning ritual did you?”
The ritualist didn’t say anything. He couldn’t say anything. The being looked and saw a paper floating. It had a prophecy one that was shared by the other towers. The other towers were all fakes. False towers to send it on a wild chase to buy time for something. For this ritualist to do the final piece. Anger seized control of the being and it chanted a spell, “burn,” the ritualist started screaming in pain. Acid fell from a small cloud that appeared; it had no effect on the environment just to the target.
The powerful being watched on in pleasure as the ritualist was being burnt alive with acid. Skin and muscle were completely eroded away all that was left were patches of burnt flesh, and a visible pathway to some of the ritualist’s skeleton. Looking at the ground, the being noticed that the summoning circle consisted of diamond dust. Likely the most important part was that all the other circles were incomplete or made with a lesser material. This one was used with the best quality of materials you could use. In a fit of rage, it screamed, “Oracle!”
“You...” a feeble voice said. “Loooost.”
“You celebrate the completion of part of a prophecy that is vague and ancient and often thought of as false. I have not lost; I will find this otherworlder and kill it before it can do anything.”
“You…. losssst. The moment you got angry, your time will come, archon.” The ritualist died as the Archon stepped on his neck, squishing it like a bug. It had a new mission: it was time to kill an otherworlder.
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The trio walked through the first part of the icy valley without issue. There were no monsters, no other adventures, nothing. It was suspiciously quiet. Anna was on alert but trusted the drones to give her ample warning of anything. Levi was reading the items he had gotten from their battle with the barbarians.
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Item: Summoner’s Boots
2-star
Rare
The stylish boots of a summoner that allow the summoner to ride on the back of certain summoned mounts.
Item: Smoke Ball
Epic
Summoning Stone
A ball filled with the smoke of a being from the smoke-ethereal realm. Use in a familiar ritual to summon a familiar with the stone.
Item: Rune of the Damned
Epic
Rune
A rune that can be placed in ritual magic to have an added effect of creeping death. Rune can also be etched in a ritual staff.
Creeping death - a curse that inflicts the target with slow-moving necrosis. Necrosis spreads slowly.
“Does that mean you can ride on Anza?” Piper asked.
“I’ve always been able to,” Levi responded. “I’m not sure what it is for. The smoke ball is the most interesting thing for me—another summoning stone. I seem to be getting those frequently.”
“I’m not sure what the different class evolutions there are for summoners. Is there one for familiars?” Anna asked.
“I have no idea,” Levi said. “There aren’t a lot of records that describe summoner class evolutions. I only really know two, and that’s because of the professors.”
“What are theirs?” Anna asked.
“Professor Egret is a ritualist. Professor Burtrum is a body enhancer, which is interesting. I think he used enough ritual magic and guard-type summoners to get that.”
“Oh, so you can probably become a ritualist?”
“I doubt it; I have the ability. Everything I have seen has been creating a set of powers that are harmonious, not redundant.”
“That is the hope for all of us, but it doesn’t always work out,” Piper said.
“Damn,” Levi said. “Oh well, we’ll see soon enough.”
Levi was notified that a pack of monsters was ahead of them. They were on their way and moving fast. The emberites described the monsters as skeleton wolves.
“We got some enemies heading towards us,” Levi informed the girls. The smile that grew on his face was intense. “I got this,” Levi said, pulling out his staff and conjuring orbs of chaos. In his other hand, he held his wand and began drawing a summoning circle. He used the snow that was already on the ground. The white lines drawn in the snow began to glow bright white. Anna and Piper took a step back and watched what Levi had in store.
All three could hear the footsteps of the oncoming monsters. The summoning circle was still glowing in the center as two creatures were being formed. Two massive ice golems with shields appeared in the two rune circles. They were each four meters tall, and their shields matched their bodies. They turned to look for instructions from their summoner.
“We got some skeletal wolves on the way, don’t let them get past you,” Levi said. The Golems slowly nodded and turned. “Willow,” Willow appeared. “Ready? Go ahead and start to swarm the pack. Anza,” Anza walked up and grew into her alpha height. “You and me,” she nodded. The two of them went on either side of the golems.
Skeletal wolves were about double the size of normal wolves. They had no muscles, skin, or fur; they were just bones reanimated with ice magic. With sharp bone claws and sharp bone teeth, one was never really an issue as their defenses weren’t the strongest. Very rarely did they ever travel alone. They traveled in numbers of at least twenty. This group was no different. 20 skeletal wolves had just entered view over the clearing. They ran into a wall of Willow. Flames burst as they were being swarmed with the eternal flame of the crystal wisp. One of the weaker ones fell dead right away.
Levi had stationed some of the drones to intercept a few and draw them into a fight right after Willow. They did as instructed. The wolves and the drones were about the same size. The advantage the mimic drones had was that they could use their bodies as weapons with the various tentacles. One of the Emberites grabbed a leg bone from the wolf and pulled. The bone came flying out, and the wolf stumbled, losing balance. Give the drone plenty of time to finish the fight.
The bulk of the wolves had made it through the first line of defense. It was only meant to shave off some of their numbers. The real damage dealers would be the Golems and Anza. Anza attacked three wolves at once. Her size and speed severally outmatched the skeletal wolves. The golems swung their mighty shields and shattered any wolves that contacted them. As soon as they made impact, giant spikes of ice appeared, which would typically impale the flesh of an opponent, but they were without flesh.
A couple of the wolves steered clear of Anza and the golems, making a b-line toward Levi. Levi sent three orbs of chaos at each of the wolves. The orbs slammed into the faces of the wolves, and the smokey red lightning orbs covered the wolves with the red sparks. Levi didn’t wait, he charged. He held his staff in hand and started twirling it. The runes on the staff lit up as they were for different elements. He slammed the staff into the skull of one of the wolves. Spider-web cracks started to form in the skull of the wolf. Levi ducked under a lashing claw and swung upward, catching the jaw of the other wolf. Willow came back and entered into the cracks of the skeletal wolves. The wolves’ bones started to smoke. The wolves were now disorientated. Levi started attacking again with his staff.
Shortly after several attacks with his staff, the wolves fell with shattered skulls that were still burning. Levi examined the battlefield and saw the ice golems had made quick work of eleven skeletal wolves. Anza had taken care of the three in front of her and was harmlessly gnawing on the leg bone of a skeletal wolf.
Enemy Defeated: Skeletal Wolves x20
Reward: Wolf Bones x20
Reward: Ice gem x5
Reward: Snow dust
Status: Progression Made
Plus 60 to Wisdom
Plus 5 to Speed
Plus 10 to Vitality
Plus 3 to Strength
Attributes Total: 504
Strength 58
Stamina 53
Speed 61
Vitality 97
Wisdom 235
“That was a huge gain,” Levi said.
“That’s cause you did that by yourself with just your summons,” Anna said.
“That was incredible to watch,” Piper said. Levi turned to the ice golems and told them they did a great job. Sent them home with some of the ice gems and a big thanks. The golems were thankful and returned to their home realm.
Levi pulled out a lesser mana potion and consumed it. The trio continued their journey towards the girls’ home.
“Those golems were huge,” Piper said. “Did that cost a lot of mana?”
“Oh yeah,” Levi said. “75% of it. They were very powerful. The snow makes it easy to summon since it’s a summoning material.”
“How do you have so many of these summons memorized?”
“It’s more of instincts than memorization,” Levi replied. “I just kinda think what kinda summon I want then; I’m guided by that feeling.” Levi was rubbing his temples as the mana potion was slowly recovering his mana, getting rid of the low mana headache.
The rest of the day, the trio had fought a few monsters. They fought a yeti who was throwing its own feces. They made short work of it as the three of them worked together. They had no interest in having a prolonged fight with a monster that threw its own poo. Piper fought on her own by creating a couple of trap rituals. The monster she fought was a slug with ice breath. The slug was slow and a good chance for her to practice her ritual magic. She was fast enough to dog any of the ice breath.
They found out that as the slug was slithering over the snow, it was burning and melting the snow. That was shocking to them, so even more reason for her to avoid the slug. The slug’s vitality was already low, and it was a 2-star monster, so it caused little threat. It was the idea target for the nervous Piper to practice her magic. She noticed that the trap ritual did a lot damage as the slug died slowly. She threw a kunai knife, and the slug died immediately. It slowly dissolved into nothing.
Anna did not have as easy of a matchup as the other two, even though Levi’s match up was not easy. He just had time. Anna had to fight a pack of ice elementals. Anna didn’t have any fire magic spells that she could use at the moment. It was a long, arduous battle. Anna almost had to tap out because she was running very low on mana. Eventually, she figured out a strategy that would work best. She used earth magic to smash the ice elementals. Her skills with earth magic were not great as she had an affinity for water and ice. Anna at the end remembered she could use chaos magic. After she did a final attack with chaos magic the pack of elementals all died.
Anna said she needed to rest, so the group decided to make camp where they were and be done for the day. It was a few hours until nighttime, but all of them had pushed themselves, and they had made good distance inside the valley. The trio decided that they would pick different matchups based on the monster to decide who should fight what. This would allow for the most gains of progress after each of the monsters was killed. They would fight together if the threat were too much.