Tim had come to a shocking realization. Being a summoner wasn’t enough. Tim wanted to be the summoner. To be the greatest summoner he could possibly be. And so, he set his sights on getting stronger.
Not entirely sure how to go about this, he figured that some good old-fashioned combat might be a start. Tim had never been in a fight. Sure he had seen plenty at the bar he worked at, but he preferred to keep his teeth firmly in his skull.
In a brief bout of mental acuity, Tim decided not to stumble headfirst into the local dungeon. It was known as the symbolic last stop on the train that is the headstrong newbie adventurer. Instead, eidolon sitting atop his shoulder, he ventured to greener pastures.
Greenhill Prairie
Average Monster Level: 1
The sun was reaching its apex as Tim strode into the fields of wild grass that made up Greenhill Prairie. Tim, hopelessly confident, decided to face whatever monster he saw first.
Boar
Level 1 Beast
He locked eyes with a wild boar. The quadruped charged towards him as he ordered his eidolon towards it. Leaping off his shoulder, the little Ash-kin hit the ground running. As it raised one hand, its eyes began to burn with a faint white flame. Pew! A marble-sized sphere of white fire launched forth from the eidolon’s hand, striking the boar squarely in the head. Outside of the faint sizzle, and the faintest scent of bacon, the boar seemed otherwise unharmed.
Completely unphased, the boar continues its breakneck charge. They were upon each other in a matter of seconds, the boar shrugging off yet another Ember as it did so. With a small thud, the boar catches the eidolon with its tusks, launching it several feet into the air.
Ash-Kin
Level 1 Eidolon
Health: 224/250
Mana: 40/50
“Thank the Gods, that attack would’ve absolutely destroyed me but my summon seems fine,” Tim thought with a shudder. “I ought to be careful around this thing.” With a display of shocking agility, the eidolon twists in midair and manages to land on the boar's back. It rattled off several more shots at point-blank, but it was only a matter of time before the little fella ran out of mana.
Ash-Kin
Level 1 Eidolon
Health: 224/250
Mana: 20/50
The boar, unphased by the eidolon on its back, turned towards Tim. “Oh shit!” Tim suddenly felt very naked, with nothing to speak of in terms of arms nor armor. As a summoner, he didn’t have the stats nor abilities to back them up, but having some backup options sounded rather good right about now. He mentally added both to his checklist of things to do when he gets back.
If he gets back.
The boar kicked back some dirt before speedily approaching Tim. Tim tried to throw himself out of the way but to no avail. The boar landed a blow, goring Tim’s left leg with its tusks. Pain shot through his entire body as he fell onto his back. A spattering of blood starkly painted the grass below him.
Timber Oakenheart II
Level 1 Human
Health: 71/100
Tim felt utterly helpless. And, admittedly, he was. Scrambling to his feet, Tim watched as his eidolon hopped down from atop the boar and began laying into its side with a flurry of tiny punches. Each blow landed true, wracking up point after point of damage, and despite the small stature of Tim’s companion the boar seemed to be slowly worn down by the eidolon. The boar bit down on the eidolon, and to Tim’s surprise, the eidolon simply continued to punch the boar in the face from its compromised position.
Ash-Kin
Level 1 Eidolon
Health: 212/250
Mana: 5/50
Despite his earlier misgivings, Tim had to admit that his eidolon was one tough cookie. Tim simply watched, wracked by pain, as the battle waged on for several minutes. Neither bruised nor battered due to being of hardness equal to rock, the eidolon continued its onslaught of punches while the boar continued grinding away at the eidolon's midsection. Eventually, the accumulated wounds began to drag on the boar, as its eyes slowly dimmed and its bit grew less sure. Taking this opportunity, the Ash-kin stuck its hand directly into the boar's mouth and let off one final mote of flame. With a sooty huff, the boar collapsed, dead. Tim touched the corpse and it disapparated into a puff of smoke, leaving behind a small pile of loot.
Enemy slain!
+50 experience
+1 boar meat
+1 boar hide
Tim had never felt more thrilled in his entire insignificant, uneventful, dreadfully boring life.
“I could get used to this,” Tim thought, in spite of his still aching wounds.
And he’d have to, as another boar had spotted the wounded man and his tiny ashen companion and was rapidly approaching…
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
This fight went better for Tim, as he ordered in no uncertain terms that his eidolon was to stay between him and the beastie. With little to no mana to spend, the eidolon slowly whittled down its opponent with a series of punches. These blows, despite the eidolon's diminutive size, hit shockingly hard. The boar landed plenty of hits of its own of course, but in the end, Tim and his Ash-kin emerged victorious!
Tim was greeted by a brand new notification, one he had never seen in his 21 years of life!
Level Up!
Summoner Level 2
Experience: 0/200
Skills Points: 1
Attribute Points: 2
New Skills Unlocked!
Taking a seat in the soft grass, Tim perused his new options:
Ability: Life Link
Prerequisites: Level 2 Summoner, 5 Constitution
Whenever your eidolon would take damage, you may take an equal amount of damage instead.
Tim frowned upon discovering his first option to be actively detrimental to his own survival.
Ability: Bond Senses
Prerequisite: Level 2 Summoner
You may cease to use your own senses and use those of your eidolon instead.
Tim wasn’t sold on this one either. The little guy seemed to see and feel and hear, but could it even smell or taste? It didn’t seem to need to eat. Beyond only having a few senses, the drawback of not using his own seems beyond what Tim was willing to agree to.
Spell: Banish Lesser Extraplanar Creature
Prerequisites: Level 2 Summoner, 5 Intelligence, 5 Charisma
Send an extraplanar creature back to the plane from whence it came. This spell costs an amount of mana equal to half the cost of summoning the creature. This spell cannot affect creatures of a higher level than the caster.
This has some utility, sure, especially if Tim were to ever fight against another summoner, but it looks to be another dud. Tim nervously looked at his last remaining option.
Spell: Summon Monster I
Prerequisite: Level 2 Summoner, 5 Charisma
Summon an imp, cherub, sprite, or lesser elemental. It will obey your orders and last for one minute per level of the caster or until destroyed. This spell costs an amount of mana selected by the caster but no less than 10 mana. The more mana spent the higher level the summoned creature will be. The summoned creature may never exceed the level of the summoner.
Tim read over this one excitedly, before selecting it without a second thought. More summons is more better, he figured. And even if these were temporary, they should boost his combat prowess significantly. Tim also noticed that most of these skills had a requirement for charisma. “This must be a key summoner attribute,” he reasoned and swiftly placed both attribute points into charisma.
Timber Oakenheart II
Level 2 Human Summoner
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Health: 149/178
Mana: 132/132
Stamina: 100/100
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Spells: Summon Eidolon I, Summon Monster I
Abilities: None
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Strength: 5
Dexterity: 4
Constitution: 5
Intelligence: 6
Wisdom: 3
Charisma: 7
Tim turned to his eidolon and pondered two things of significance. First of all, shouldn’t he name his eidolon? They were going to be together a lot after all. And secondarily, shouldn’t it have leveled up as well? One of those questions was simpler to deal with. The eidolon was solid as a rock, dark grey to black, and with a little bit of a glint that reminded Tim of the natural glass he had seen once before. What was it called again? Obsidian? Obsidian sounded like a good name. Maybe Sid for short.
The other question was still puzzling. Sid was most definitely still currently level 1. But why? After staring at his eidolon, now named Sid, for a few moments Tim remembered something he had overheard from a journeyman artificer, called in to repair some contraption. "Have you tried turning it off and back on again?" Tim couldn't exactly "turn off" his eidolon per se, but he could unsummon and resummon it. Maybe that would work? Intent upon doing just that, Tim unsummoned Sid and then received the following notification.
Level Up!
Eidolon Level 2
Experience: 0/200
Skills Points: 1
Attribute Points: 2
New Skills Unlocked!
The eidolon, unlike Tim's four, had only three options for new skills.
Ability: Rock Solid
Prerequisites: Level 2 Eidolon, 5 Constitution, Elemental Type Earth
+2 Constitution. You may add your constitution to the damage dealt by any unarmed attacks you make in addition to your strength or dexterity.
This one seemed decent, Sid was already very tanky and some added damage output couldn’t hurt. Tim wanted to see if there was anything more exciting.
Spell: Burning Hands
Prerequisites: Level 2 Eidolon, Elemental Type Fire
+2 Intelligence. A cone of flames bursts forth from your hands, dealing moderate fire damage and igniting anything flammable. This spell costs 20 mana.
Now this Tim could work with. Talk about firepower! But with this, a jealous corner of Tim's heart whispered, the eidolon would be a better caster than him. With that, Tim skipped over to the next option.
Ability: Heating Up
Prerequisites: Level 2 Eidolon, Elemental Type Fire
+2 Dexterity. As the fight goes on you become more nimble. Every 10 seconds in combat your body temperature rises, boosting your dexterity by 10%. You then take an amount of damage equal to your dexterity. Your unarmed attacks deal additional heat damage.
Tim liked the sound of this. Sid could become a molten inferno tearing through enemies with speed and precision. It suited Sid well enough, and Gods know Sid has enough hit points to go around. Tim picked this option and slotted all of Sid’s points into dexterity.
After resummoning Sid, Tim admired his new status.
Obsidian
Level 2 Ash-Kin Eidolon
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Health: 390/390
Mana: 108/108
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Spells: Ember
Abilities: Heating Up
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Strength: 4
Dexterity: 8
Constitution: 8
Intelligence: 1
Wisdom: 1
Charisma: 2