“Don’t worry, I’m not moving. What’s going on here?” I asked as the sword blade pricked the skin on my throat and a small trickle of blood dripped down.

“Screams and sounds of combat were heard from inside this room, and when we entered, your summoned creature attacked us. It seems you and your minion have committed a murder,” the man, who was encased in plate armor, accused. One of the other guards moved to the body of the woman.

“The ghoul did a number on her, sir, even began to feed. Gads! Look at that, this is no woman, it’s a leechling,” the guard said with disgust as he turned the body of the woman over.

“What’s a leechling?” I asked, noticing how cramped the room had become with three armored guards stuffed inside.

“A creature that stalks the sewers and hidden alleyways of this city, looking for unsuspecting victims to feed upon. Given the wound on your leg, she was having quite the feast before your ghoul showed up,” the guard said as they lowered their weapons, no longer suspecting me of summoning a creature to kill some innocent woman.

“You have a healing potion on your belt, drink it, you fool,” the first guard said.

He was right, and I clumsily popped the cork out of one of the potions and downed it. It tasted like a bad, menthol flavored cough medicine, but I managed to choke it down. My leg wasn’t pretty, and I still had no feeling in it. A circular wound, that still trickled out blood was right in the center of my calf. As the potion took effect, the wound stopped leaking and began to heal.

“Who are you guys?” I asked as I downed a second potion to finish the healing process, wanting the grotesque wound gone despite the diminishing returns of drinking a second potion.

“City watch, and we’re the reason you should mind yourself while in the city. Here, there’s a bounty for leechlings. If you’d like, I’ll have its carcass hauled to an alchemist. They can extract whatever is in the monster’s saliva for various potions,” the guard said, as he passed me three silver for the bounty.

“How much will the alchemist pay?” I asked.

“Not much, but I can see that he gets you a couple healing potions to replace what you’ve used up. As for anything else, that’s my finder’s fee for doing all the heavy lifting. We’ll leave the potions with the innkeeper for you to pick up later,” the guard said.

“Fair enough. Is everything else okay now?” I asked, still a little worried I might have broken a law of some sort.

“You’re good, and as a bit of warning, keep your window closed in this neighborhood at night. You don’t want more creepy crawlies coming in and making a meal out of you. Better yet, don’t go cheap on your lodgings and pick a place that can afford to have wards on the windows,” the guard said. One of the trio hauled the leechling corpse over his shoulder as they left. No sooner had they left when the innkeeper arrived and began to chastise me for the mess and the broken door.

After parting with the money that I had received from my bounty to reimburse the innkeeper for the damage, I was moved to another room where I made sure to secure the window before trying to sleep. Despite waking up every time I heard a noise, I made it through the rest of the night without any strange leech creatures trying to suck out all my bodily fluids. After a quick breakfast in the inn, I headed out for a final day of shopping and exploration.

I had given most of this tier of the city a good look yesterday and it narrowed down my search to a few shops that had promising items for reasonable prices. My first stop was at a leatherworker who had just finished making a set of studded leather armor that he could size to fit me. It offered a strong bump in protection over the padded leather from the gnomes and the breastplate I had gotten from the voucher.

The armor was a natural, dark brown color and the bronze studs added additional protection against slashing damage. Taking a cue from my gnomish armor, I had the man add some extra padding where it wouldn’t interfere with my movement. While my days of piloting mechs were probably over, a little padding would help if I was knocked around in a fight.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

My gear cost for the new armor remained the same, and I had a feeling that all similar types of armor, such as the leather I now wore, would have a similar gear cost unless you started to add enchantments or other improvements. I perused a few more weapons at the smiths in the area but didn’t come up with anything too exciting. Any weapon that might be better than my hammer was substantially more expensive, even after the trade in value from my existing weapon.

Unless I lucked out on a summoning reward, getting a melee weapon upgrade wasn’t likely to happen until tier two. The arena might provide something, but I’d have to wait and see how I did in there. While I was out shopping, I realized that the ghoul figurine had reformed and was ready for me to use again. I couldn’t tell exactly when that happened, and I’d have to try and keep track of it the next time I used a figurine from my Foe Summoner class.

I picked up a few more odds and ends to round out my pack, mainly some rations that were supposed to never go bad, and a water skin that was enchanted to slowly refill as long as there was ambient mana in the area. One shop was rather interesting compared to the others; it was a place that sold pets. Inside were animals that were close, but not quite what you’d expect to see on Earth. The place had some weird cats with super long ears, a pair of puppies that looked more like wolves than dogs, and your typical lizards, birds, and fish.

I’d always loved pets but living on my own left little time to care for something. In the back of the shop, past the more Earth-like animals, were the exotic creatures. Spiders that were far too large for my liking, bunnies with unicorn horns, and even a two headed lizard with a spiked tail were on offer.

“Hello, I’m Zillaria, may I help you find your perfect friend today?” The woman behind the counter, a young-looking elf, asked after I had browsed for a bit.

“Thanks, I’m not really able to care for a pet just yet. I hope you don’t mind me looking around,” I replied.

“No, go right ahead. Are you a summoned being by chance?” She asked. It wasn’t too hard for locals to peg who the summoned beings were.

“Yeah, so you can see why I can’t care for an animal right now,” I said.

“Oh, on the contrary, several of the pets here are perfect for someone who’s away for long periods of time. From what I understand, most summoned beings move from their world to a personal space where their physical needs are sustained though mana. There are a wide range of creatures that would survive and thrive in such an atmosphere,” Zillaria suggested.

“Wouldn’t they get sad not having anyone else around very often?” I asked.

“No, many are quite content to be on their own, while at the same time relishing your company when you are present,” she replied.

“Okay, what do you suggest?” I asked, intrigued at the possibility of finding a pet.

“What about one of these darlings?” Zillaria asked, pointing toward the cage holding the spiders.

“Nope, no spiders or anything resembling them,” I quickly blurted. Zillaria gave me a wry smile at my growing arachnophobia.

“I understand, we all have our preferences,” she replied before walking toward a glass cage where a bright green gelatinous cube the size of a shoebox slid slowly along.

“This here is Melvin, a rare, sapient gelatinous cube. He is perfectly happy on his own, even in a confined environment like his cage, but when let loose in a larger area, he’ll happily explore for hours. Normally, a cube like this is very dangerous, but ones like Melvin can form a bond with his new friend and will not harm them,” Zillaria said.

“Does he, you know, actually like people?” I asked. Stuff like dogs and cats really did want you around and were happy to see you, but some of the more exotic animals people liked to keep seemed like they couldn’t care less about who their owner was, as long as they fed them.

“Of course, if it’s a friend that he’s approved of. That’s part of my shop’s purpose, we match pets to each other. You see, to Melvin, he’d think you’re the one that’s the pet,” Zillaria said.

“What about feeding him and stuff,” I asked apprehensively. I’ve seen the blob movie and I don’t want to unleash something that’ll go nuts and dissolve everyone.

“Inside a summoned being’s personal space, Melvin will be perfectly happy absorbing ambient mana. Were you to take him anywhere else, he’d need a steady diet of some form of biomass. As an intelligent being, Melvin realizes he can’t just eat and grow incessantly, and has mastered his baser urges,” Zillaria explained.

“If you really think he’d be happy in my personal space, this might work. How much is Melvin?” I asked. Having a pet in my personal space sounded like a great idea, but I couldn’t afford to blow too much money on something like this.

“For Melvin, twenty silver. Of course, we’ll have to see if you two are compatible first,” Zillaria said. Twenty silver was something I could handle. There wasn’t much else in this tier of the city that I needed to spend my funds on. Having a pet would be great, and my personal space would feel empty now that Minerva was gone.

“I’ll take him, what’s the next step?” I asked.

“Before I can accept payment, you’ll need you to place your hand inside Melvin to see if he’ll accept you,” Zillaria said.

“So, you want me to stick my hand inside a creature that can dissolve my flesh in seconds?” I asked.

“That’s right,” Zillaria replied with a smile as she opened Melvin’s cage so I could reach him.