Bonded Summoner

It had been two weeks since they had completed the Queen Ant’s dungeon. During this time, they set out to continue their schedule of training in the morning to early afternoon, to run through the dungeon for a few hours, and then some leisure time for the evening. They had completed four dungeons in the last two weeks, and Jake had hit level 7 on the second dungeon, along with Ophelia on the third.

Despite there being a duel pending, the two girls got along well enough, Jake realized. If anything, he actually thought they got along better, after the duel was declared. Fhesiah appeared to respect Ophelia more, and Ophelia was excited and worked hard focused on her training.

Both Jake and Ophelia did not receive any new spells or skills for gaining levels, but they had improved all of their skills by a large margin in the last few weeks. Some of them had even started evolving or advancing. Some skills almost felt stuck, like Jake felt they would evolve only once they selected their upgraded class after the Trial, or perhaps just because they had not reached level 10.

Ophelia’s Melee Specialization was the first to reach the advanced tier between the two of them, but Jake’s skills were not that far off from this, his skill being able to “roll over” and become level 1 again as soon as the Framework allowed him to. Ophelia had been extensively training her valkyrie magic, and while she was not yet level five, she had managed level 4, and Jake thought they would reach level 5 in time for once they completed their [Trial] and earned the ability to travel the multiverse.

Jake had done some research in regards to class evolution at level ten, and found that much of the information about individual class options were not allowed to be given via the forums and wiki, or even a book purchased on the [Multiverse Market]. Jake did learn that the premise of class evolution was similar to the game he had played. The more skills in the second tier or ready for the second tier in the case of the skills unable to evolve until then, the better their class would end up being. Unlike the game however, versions of the class had hidden criteria. Whether it be requiring a specific individual skill to be known, or to get a certain class you must be a champion of a certain god, among other things.

Completing four dungeons had made them flush with cash, and the first thing they did was improve Jake and Ophelia’s equipment. They had chosen unenchanted armor, and even Jake’s new spear-staff and shield was plain other than the higher quality steel materials that they chose. Jake had moved up from the leather armor he wore to now having a layered approach, matched by the valkyrie.

The under-layer was a spider-silk gambeson that was quite comfortable and provided surprising protection on its own, and the top layer was young drake scale mail armor, the color of red with gold trims. The demoness was beaming with pride as they had gotten dressed in her color choices, and Jake did his best not to think that a large reason they went along with the color scheme for their party was due to Hestia, and Jake being her champion.

Jake felt he had finally ‘cracked the code’ in regards to Runic Magic, having reached level 5. He felt that this was one skill that was stuck and couldn’t advance until they reached the first tier, but the number of things that he could do was simply amazing, and only limited by two things: his imagination, and he simply could not exceed twelve rune words in a runic spell. The cost of a twelve runewords spell was not overly high, so it was nothing like the cost was just too high for him to afford for fifteen. It was merely some sort of hard limit for his skill level. Ophelia was just trailing him at level 4 in the skill, but Jake felt like it wouldn’t be too much longer until her skill level matched his.

Jake had applied this knowledge to his [Enchanting] skill to great effect, and he had enchanted both Ophelia’s and his own armor as much as he could handle for the time being. The layered equipment approach allowed him to enchant the inner gambeson with certain enchantments, his choices being to provide a sort of temperature regulation and impact dampening. This was about all that he could accomplish for now on the gambesons, limited to the twelve rune words that he was, as this applied even to his enchanting, he found. On the young drake scale mail, he added increased durability, hardness and self-repair.

Jake had leveled his [Enchanting] skill making simple enchantments on all the weapons and armor they had collected in the various incursions, and had earned quite a bit of funds in this practice. Jake felt it a little odd that he could make as much as he could by doing it. He wondered if the skill was just rare, or if perhaps he was only so good at it because of his enhanced attributes. He found he could earn thousands of credits per hour, just etching enchantments on relatively cheap weapons and armor.

His and Ophelia’s shield also had the same enchantment. He found a sort of partial inertia cancellation to apply to anything that hit the shield. It wasn't a full effect, but it would turn what was a car or truck slamming into them to feel like a motorcycle perhaps, reducing the transfer of energy. Smaller attacks like a large rock slamming into their shield will just bounce off and barely push Jake or Ophelia back at all.

This shield enchantment should allow for Ophelia to much more easily block blows from larger creatures without getting flung around or their bones crushed, and Jake should be able to hold his own as well. Jake desired a much larger cancellation, but found that this might not even be able to be reached even with twenty-four runes in the future.

In regards to Jake’s weapon, he smiled with pride as he looked at his new spear-staff. Made of strong wood for the shaft, steel for the tip, and a decent focus, it now had two of his “functions.” One was for buff application and one was for creating magical spears out of his chosen elements. What made him proud is that he had learned that by using his functions, he could cheat: he could surpass his twelve-runeword limit.

This empowered his spells greatly when he needed, or allowed him to use much less mana. It was like he offloaded some of the effort to the item instead: instead of the cost of a twelve-rune spell, it was like casting two six rune spells, which the mana cost was measurably less.

In addition to the weapons and armor, Jake had purchased their first accessories: Storage bracelets. Jake and Ophelia had reached level 5 on dismantling, and the skill shortly after evolved to [Looting]. Now they only needed to touch a deceased creature, and it would collect the valuable components in motes of light and deposit them into their storage bracelets, for only a modest mana cost.

Their ability to loot creatures rapidly had propelled their pace in the dungeon, and made things a lot more enjoyable. The bracelets themselves could carry what was about a large pull-cart worth of materials, and there didn’t seem to be a weight limit. Now that they had them, his dungeon rewards were instantly deposited inside, instead of a box dropping outside his [Refuge]’s portal. In a recent dungeon exploration, they rapidly looted a large number of giant spiders.

“I’m so glad we no longer have to gut any more bugs, now that you two have [Looting].”

Ophelia asked, “What do you mean, Fhesiah? You’ve still got a few more bugs to gut yet. You’re still not level 5 yet.”

Fhesiah inspected her claws, “Hmm…I’ll work on it from time to time, if you don’t mind. Why, it’s just more efficient for you two to use your superior skills, isn’t it? Min-maxer Jake here agrees, don’t you?”

Jake shrugged, this was hardly a big deal. He would still have her work on the skill from time to time. It was certainly better if they all had the skill in case they needed to loot in a hurry. Jake was mostly just amazed that she disliked it so much. He disliked it too, but the beginner dungeons were probably so boring for her that he imagined he would rather be dismantling creatures instead of watching an inept level 1 fight poorly.

“Oh Jake, you were just so cute: with your little motorcycle helmet and lantern, thinking you looked cool, like you were becoming your video game character. Your head whipped around all over the place to even see the creatures, let alone your own footing. You’re lucky you only got wounded twice, it was a miracle really, facing creatures little better than children.”

Jake’s cheeks burned red with shame. That was how she saw that?

“It was also fun to watch you improve with the spell-form I taught you. Even during the dungeon run your mana bolt would improve with almost every cast. But when you got the otter that was even more fun to watch. That creature was truly vicious. I could watch that creature kill frogmen as it taunted them all day long.”

Jake had to agree on that one.

Items could enter the storage bracelet with a mere touch, and could exit in a small area of space around him where Jake wanted such as in his hand or in the air in front of him with a mere thought. Jake immediately thought to try to cheat and store a large heavy object and then drop it on creatures in the dungeon, but apparently there was some kind of rule that this would break, and doing so would absolutely be punished with simply increasing the difficulty in future dungeons for abusing this interaction.

Jake got up from his enchanting table where he had been practicing his [Runic Etching] and [Enchanting]. Jake was surprised that he was able to raise the skill so rapidly to level 4, but realized that a big part of it was that he now had both Runic Magic and Mana Control to level 5 already.

It was now time for the girl’s duel. Jake had a mild amount of anxiety for this, but Ophelia was excited. If anything, Jake felt that the two girls were bonding over this. The whole thing was crazy to him, the idea that someone would change another person’s mind by beating it into them. Still, Jake was looking forward to the fight, even if he would have to keep his healing spells at the ready.

Jake reached the training room, where the girls were getting ready. The room was tall enough for the girls to fly, if they needed, but was mostly bare for the time being. Ophelia was wearing her new armor, which was the young drakescale mail. It was like her trainee equipment which the scale mail went past her thighs in a skirt to just above her knees, where she had steel plated greaves over a set of scale mail pants. She had steel plated gauntlets that reached up to her elbows and shoulder guards, and a winged helmet. Everything was the color of red with a gold trim, and Jake had matching equipment when he was fighting as well.

Fhesiah was wearing her red cultivator robes, which had a fire motif. The robes themselves were red, but the flames depicted were golden along with the trims and the sash. There was a silhouette of an eastern dragon breathing fire on the back. She was wearing her claws, and she was ready to fight. Between her horns, wings, tail, and now the claws, she really looked like the human version of the dragon on her robes.

Fhesiah asked, “You ready, battle angel? I really hope there will be no hard feelings from this. I know you are strong, and valkyries are certainly rare and well above the average in the multiverse. The idea that other people could ever pass the Trial if we couldn’t is preposterous to me. If I win, you should accept that I am as strong as is necessary, and you should too, Jake.”

Jake didn’t fully agree, but he nodded. If it became a problem for their party, they would have to accept it. He may be over-preparing in many ways, so either she’s right and they would steamroll the Trial with ease, or they would just have to overcome the difficult challenge together somehow. He kept his thoughts to himself, but he would still prefer that she lose here, as it would make them safer.

“I’m ready, Fhesiah. We’ll fight to incapacitation or surrender,” she gave a vicious smile, “Though Jake can call it if things get too bloody?”

Fhesiah nodded, and gave a martial bow, to which Ophelia returned with a bow of her own.

Jake stood some dozens of meters away, giving them both room to fight. Neither of them had any of his buffs as they stood nearly ten meters from each other, as well. He said, “Ready, Fight!”

Both girls had wide smiles of anticipation on each other as they dashed, Ophelia flapping her wings and Fhesiah taking leaping strides towards her, then arriving within striking range within just a brief moment. Ophelia halted Fhesiah’s approach with some speedy jabs with her spear, Jake able to see the aura of mana on both it and her body.

This was [Advanced Melee Specialization], allowing her to infuse her body and spear or shield with mana to empower herself directly. Jake could tell that this was a qualitative improvement to her mastery of the weapon, as it was like adding yet another muscle to power her attacks.

Fhesiah’s posture was low to the ground, her upper body forward, with her tail and wings balancing her. Ophelia’s jabs were easily dodged by bobbing her head or dashing right or left, and even using her Draconic Flight as she looked for an opening. Eventually, Ophelia activated [Charge] and blurred towards Fhesiah.

But Fhesiah blurred towards Ophelia too, moving to the side of her shield where she gave a powerful punch of her claw, too fast for Jake to even see. With a large thud, this caused the battle angel to fly backwards, which she righted with her wings as Fhesiah continued on the attack, weaving side to side and arriving near striking distance where she landed.

Ophelia jabbed her spear once more, and Fhesiah actually parried the attack with her wing as she went under it and tried to score a blow on the valkyrie. But her punch was blocked by the shield as Ophelia once again jabbed with her spear, this time scoring a small slash on the robes, which appeared to do nothing at all.

They circled each other back and forth, testing their defenses and trying to score blows. Ophelia had landed many hits to Fhesiah’s wings or robes, but had no effect at all. Jake was surprised at how well Ophelia could keep up with Fhesiah now, thanks to the [Advanced Melee Specialization]. Fhesiah was still a little faster, but thanks to Ophelia’s shield and longer reach with the spear, it was enough for her to have a difficult time of overcoming it.

Jake was watching with his [Arcane Eye], and he thought that Fhesiah was just a little ahead here judging by the energy he could see in their bodies, despite not landing a significant blow. Using mana to empower her strikes was not free for Ophelia, either. But Fhesiah’s superior stats allowed her to minimize using Qi except in small bursts, such as in defense or trying to enter within striking range.

It was with this thought, that the fight started to change. Ophelia took on the offensive, really using her wings, reach of her spear, and her mana empowered speed to harry Fhesiah instead, putting her on the backfoot. She mixed in feints with her attacks, countering most of Fhesiah’s speedy movements by being overly efficient with her own. Before long, she was landing attacks on Fhesiah’s robes along her body or wings, which were countered with Qi expenditure. The two girls had smiles on their faces, but Ophelia’s was definitely one that was enjoying the fight, the challenge.

She was really in her element, but Fhesiah’s smile was more devilish. Their energy levels were starting to get a little lower, to where Fhesiah approached and actually took a cut across her shoulder instead of blocking it with Qi, surprising both Jake and Ophelia. She then landed a wicked counter on Ophelia’s, stabbing her claws into her shoulder.

Despite being armored, she managed to get under the plated guard and into the scale mail and gambeson slightly. Ophelia shouted and slammed her shield into Fhesiah, knocking her back and spilling some blood as the gauntlet was removed from her shoulder. Jake wasn’t sure how deep she had really gotten, but Ophelia’s spear arm looked weaker as a result of the exchange.

The two girls continued to clash with one another, the two seemingly evenly matched. They both got dangerously low on their resources over time, and Jake knew it was going to come down to the wire. Ophelia scored two more bloody lines on Fhesiah’s body, and the demoness was now on the retreat. The spear was now met with her claws, and Jake felt like up to now she had intentionally avoided this. After all, if she was using the claws for guarding, didn’t that mean she actually needed them? But she was attacking to deflect the spear, looking for an opening of her own.

Fhesiah had retreated back by the wall, and it looked like she was out of space. Jake had to watch from an angle with [Arcane Eye] to really see what they were both doing from his position, as far away as they were. Ophelia gave a powerful thrust of her spear to Fhesiah’s gut, which she twisted her body to only get a light gash instead of a deadly wound. It looked like she would be unable to counter effectively the next thrust, but then her tail snaked around Ophelia’s lead ankle, pulling it out of position. Jake realized that this whole sequence of events was likely a trap Fhesiah had created.

Ophelia flapped her wings to keep herself from falling, but the disruption of her footing caused her to be unable to bring about her full power to keep up the attack, and Fhesiah countered with a wicked straight, striking Ophelia in the face before she could bring her shield to block. Her head whipped back, but she stabbed out at the tail wrapped around her ankle. This was guarded with Qi, and Fhesiah once again made it difficult for her to regain her footing as Ophelia was forced to kneel to keep her balance.

Fhesiah then gripped the top of her shield, the strength of her claws crumpling it allowing her to yank it away. Ophelia had choked up on her spear to stab at Fhesiah, but the demoness easily controlled her attacks with her wings and gauntlets, keeping her from being able to stab with decent strength, the wings too close for her to reel her arm back to get a good thrust. She pulled Ophelia to the ground, and was able to get into a mount position, her additional stronger limbs making it easy for her. While the valkyrie had wings too, they were not strong enough to do something like block a blow or wrench someone’s arms back, like Fhesiah’s. That her tail had dragged her to the ground meant that Fhesiah had a distinct advantage.

“Do you yield?” Fhesiah raised her gauntleted fist, ready to punch the valkyrie.

Up until the mount, Ophelia had looked like she was having a blast. That this was the most enjoyable fight she had ever had. But now that it looked like she lost, she looked devastated. Jake felt her pain, and he could see her glancing at him to see his reaction. Jake did his best to send his reassurance to her that he was proud of her fight, but this appeared to make tears fill her eyes, as she replied.

“I…I yield.”

The demoness stood, and she helped the valkyrie up, who stood in a daze. “That was some fight, battle angel! It makes me satisfied to know that I have such a powerful ally, and that Jake has such a wonderful protector. You should be proud! Now, we have much more preparations to do, so I will head back to my room. You two need some more poisons once again, don’t you?”

Fhesiah walked away, leaving the training area. Jake watched as she left trying to understand the feelings going through Fhesiah, but he was more paying attention to Ophelia.

If anything, Fhesiah’s words seemed to make her more depressed. Jake approached Ophelia, and healed her wounds. She now had tears in her eyes, and while Jake knew that she didn’t like losing, this was abnormal for her. Usually, she would have enjoyed the battle enough, plus be excited that she would use the loss to get better.

“What is it, Ophelia? I really am proud of how strong you are, and what Fhesiah said is right. I do have a wonderful protector.”

“But…I failed you. I needed to win to help keep you safe, and I lost.”

Jake could feel over their bond how important this was for her. He knew how much she had trained, how much she had planned and practiced how she could eventually beat the demoness for them. It had propelled her to new heights as her motivation for success was through the roof, and it wasn’t enough.

But Jake smiled at Ophelia and said, “You didn’t fail me at all. You fought a dragon for me, and you almost won. In fact, I’d say that you at least had a minor victory.”

Ophelia sniffled and shook her head, “No I didn’t, I lost. Besides, isn’t that dragon going to have its way with you later? It’s really too much like that movie with the donkey.”

Jake laughed, but he insisted. “No, I really mean that you did. You have put a seed of doubt in her, as she could see just how close that battle really was. She has confidence, conviction in Qi and her Path, of course. She only barely was able to keep you from cutting off her tail at the end there, her Qi almost having run out. The reality is, you were at quite the handicap, even for melee capability alone.”

“What do you mean?”

Jake shared her ability with her over the menu.

Skill Information

Valkyrie’s Fervor

Valkyries become stronger when fighting near their chosen. Gain 10% All Attributes when fighting near Chosen. Effect increases when chosen takes significant damage.

+2% All Attributes per Level of Valkyrie Magic

“You’re a Valkyrie Shieldmaiden. You are meant to fight alongside your Chosen, but were you doing that? I know that just by standing closer to you, that you would have been able to defeat a dragon. In my mind, you won. She only won by technicality, and I bet she knows it. Sure, she won’t wear armor, but all she needs is one more loss and I think thanks to you, it will convince her. It might have been better if you won, but I am so proud of you, and glad that you’re my Shieldmaiden and it’s not some other valkyrie. I have both a dragon and someone that could potentially beat a dragon when fighting alongside me, and I just know that we’re going to achieve great things together.”

She smiled, and this time they were happy tears. Jake hugged her, even if the armor was quite rigid and didn’t make it a very pleasant one, he ignored it and did his best to push his feelings over to her over their bond. She looked at Jake, and she leaned forward and kissed him on the lips.

She said, “Thanks, Jake. I’m really glad I got to choose you.”

Jake said, “Salty kisses huh. Well, I’ll take some more of those.”

She giggled, and they kissed some more for a while, luxuriating in the feelings they gave one another for a time.

Outside the training room, Fhesiah had been watching and listening with her divine sense, and she slammed her fist against the wall. The strike stung her hand, just what were these walls made of? She took a deep breath, and she tried to reign in her anger. She hated that she was the one almost treated like the villain, that her husband himself had wanted her to lose. She knew this really wasn’t the case, that in the end, Jake just wanted to keep his family safe, including her.

Jake was right in that she almost lost. That even a few percent more strength or speed in that valkyrie would have resulted in her losing instead. She was truly impressed by the other winged woman, and meant every word she said to her. She had only barely eked out a victory thanks to her tail and wings, and she knew that if they fought again, she might lose as the valkyrie might be prepared for it.

She walked and arrived at her room, drinking a health potion. She hated using it as she would have to remove the mana contaminants from her body later, but the wounds she received especially stung. She punched her fists out, following through forms as she thought about the fight. She swiped her claws through the air, and she glanced at them. If she was just able to awaken her bloodline, this would not be a problem at all for her. But thanks to the fact that she could not source unique treasures or bloodline awakening pills, she was stuck for now.

As far as taking on the Trial at their maximum strength, even if she had to wear armor, she did not agree. Armor without heavenly energy was outside of Heaven’s Path, and wearing it would only make her weaker in the end. Even in this massive multiverse, she knew that struggle is Heavenly Law. No matter how big or how small, all creatures must struggle for survival. By straying from Heaven’s Path, she may win the day, but so what?

If she strayed from Heaven’s Path, she would eventually fall or otherwise be unable to ascend. Whether it was when she tried to recreate her Cultivator’s Core or Nascent Soul, or something beyond that: eventually, straying would cause her to fail. Only through struggle could her spirit and conviction be tempered into something more. If she lost while fighting without armor, then she simply wasn’t Fated.

But was she even under the Heavens where she was now? She knew that dimensions and worlds existed bereft of Qi. That she connected with her Dao, her Path, told her that she was. That heavenly energy existed where they were, meant that she must be. But what of The Framework? Was it not an entity that might be compared to the Heavens themselves? Learning as much as she could about other Cultivators from the Wiki and some books from the Framework, many of the Tier 6 Cultivators near the peak had simply been consumed by Tartarus. That The Framework could hold back such an entity meant that it should rival the very Heavens themselves.

With that thought, she resolved herself. If she truly drug her family down to where they would lose because of her, she would draw on her longevity and tax her very soul if she must to save Jake and Ophelia. If it truly looked like she couldn’t bring enough to the table to win on her own against the boss, she would treat The Framework as the New Heavens and take power from it as it is given, as if The Framework itself was Heaven’s Path. If she crushed everything in the Trial with ease, she would show them that her way was right.

She knew that she was prideful, but a Dragon’s pride was not arrogance. What was it that Jake always said? That it was not a bug, it was a feature. Just as her passion empowered her flames, she would show her family how the pride of dragons could empower her claws. She would power her claws with her conviction in her Path and show them the strength of dragons. She’d have to work hard in the coming weeks, as she would not allow herself to be the one that drags down her family.

She would do her best to reign in her frustration, as well. Jake just couldn’t understand, as he hasn’t been able to feel Heavenly Truths the way she could. Even the battle angel got emotional over forming a mana core, what more if it was a Dantian? At any rate, she could understand they were just trying to best use the tools that were available to them. It made perfect sense to prepare as much as they could. They would prepare their tools, and she would prepare hers.