NOVEL WEB Ch. 8 – More Leveling
More Leveling
In the morning, Damien and Bluey headed towards the armorer to pick up the leather armor. The blacksmith seemed to have been waiting for him, as the leather armor was already sitting on the counter when he arrived.
“Try it on,” she said, handing it over.
“Right here!?”
The blacksmith grinned, “What, you don't want me watching?” she said, but waved him towards her backroom.
Damien went back, taking off his tattered pants and jacket, and putting them in his bag, and pulling on the leather armor. It consisted of a jacket, pants, and two bracers that covered most of his forearm. It was a little stiff, but overall fit pretty well.
Walking back to the main area, the blacksmith grinned again. “There you go.”
“Thanks,” Damien replied, giving a slight nod of thanks.
The lady waved him in response, before turning back to her forge and beginning to hammer again.
Next, while heading over to the guild, they were waylayed by the meat-man. “Hey! You need some breakfast sonny?”
Damien had wanted to head straight to the guild, but seeing the hunks of meat cooking on his grill, got hungry. “Yeah, sure.”
“Haha, I knew it! Here, have some boar strips, you can eat them as you walk,” he said, handing them over.
Damien thanked and paid him, before finally making it over to the guild.
Beatrice was already there today. She looked a bit red in the face, but was definitely awake. “Good morning.”
“Morning,” he replied, and handed over the goblin requests from the previous day.
She glanced over while she was processing the requests. “Is that new armor?”
Damien scratched his head, “Yeah, I was finally able to afford some.”
Beatrice nodded. “If you do get hurt, just let me know, and I can help.”
Damien smiled, “Thanks, glad to know I have a backup plan.”
Beatrice got a little redder, and slid his payment over. “Also, before I forget, you've completed enough requests to rank up to Tin. You just need to reach level 5 and I can promote you.”
“Awesome. You hear that Bluey? We're gonna go fight gnolls, and not stop until I level up.”
“Huwah!” Bluey replied, hopping up on the desk.
Beatrice giggled, petting Bluey. “Just be careful.”
After taking a few gnolls requests, and grabbing some food for their trip, they started on their journey to the gnoll area.
As before, Damien struggled with climbing the steppes, needing to stop every so often to catch his breath. It was made worse this time, as instead of his breathable tracksuit, he was wearing the thick leather armor, causing him to sweat.
Taking a swig of water from a canteen, he looked up at the incline he still needed to climb. Maybe I should get a walking stick.
A bit more traveling, and they finally reached the designated gnoll area again.
“Alright Bluey,” Damien started.
Bluey nodded in attention.
“...be careful, and don't stray too far from me. And if you take any damage, come back for healing right away. No reason to risk it.”
“Huwah,” Bluey said, jumping up into his chest.
“Bluey, stop,” he chuckled. Setting Bluey back down, he nodded forward. “Do you sense any?”
Bluey seemed to sense for a moment, then started hopping in a specific direction.
Damien followed a couple meters behind, carefully staying back in case they were ambushed again.
This time, however, Bluey did the ambushing. With a loud 'huwah!', Bluey zoomed away and smashed into a gnoll.
A bunch of enraged cackling and grunting started all around them. Damien hunkered down behind a bush, trying to keep track of Bluey as it jumped around, smashing through trees and foes alike. It's a good thing we're always out in the wilderness. Bluey would need to tone it down a bit if we had to fight inside of town.
This continued on for a while, Bluey coming back a couple times for healing, as instructed. However, Bluey was making easy work of the gnolls despite occasionally taking damage.
After a few hours and a half dozen groups of gnolls eliminated, there was a level up notification for Bluey. Bluey again!? It's great Bluey is leveling up, but where's mine!?
Bluey leveled up
Bluey – Level 9
STR – 101
VIT – 70
MAG – 28
DEX – 73
STR +31
Lightning Attunement
Lightning Bolt
Squishy Membrane
New Ability Available
VIT +8
DEX +8
Wait...no STR bonus? Did we run out by picking them every time? Bluey isn't going to be happy...
After a few moments, Bluey had hopped over, eager as ever to level up.
“Sorry, I don't know why there isn't any STR bonus available, so just pick the one you'd rather have.”
“Huwah!” Bluey instantly jumped and hit the 'VIT +8' option.
Damien knelt over and petted Bluey on the head. “Let's eat some lunch.”
After some bread and roasted potatoes, Bluey was brimming with energy again, immediately hopping away as Damien packed everything away. By the time he was done, Bluey had already hopped out of sight, so he pulled up his map to follow after.
A few moments later, and he was sent flying forward as he felt something collide with his back. What was-
Turning his head around, behind him was a gnoll, howling so hard spittle was flying about, and upraised club in his hand. The gnoll swung down, and Damien rolled out of the way, feeling the vibrations of the club smacking the ground next to him.
Trying to act quickly, he grabbed a couple rocks he could grab and chucked them, but they didn't seem to do anything besides anger the gnoll. Looking around anxiously, he found a branch, and whacked the gnoll across the face.
That did seem to do some damage, as the gnoll briefly staggered backwards. However, the branch had snapped off where it hit the gnoll. Enraged even further, the gnoll swung it's club again, this time connecting with Damien's side.
“Guh...” he involuntary let out as he was hit, the air being knocked out of him as he flew sideways. Gasping for air, he shoved the remains of the branch at the gnoll. It jammed into the gnolls chest before breaking off, leaving the point lodged inside.
Now the hyena was stumbling, blood pouring from it's chest. It tried to swing again, but the swing only served to make it lose its balance, and it fell over on it's side. It's breathing became ragged as blood continued pouring out.
Damien fell on all fours, breathing rapidly. I was being careful too! He grabbed the gnolls club, using it to get back to his feet, before walking over to try and finish it off.
Right as he was preparing to swing, Bluey flew in from the side, smashing down onto the gnoll.
“Huwah!?” Bluey said, looking at Damien concerned.
Damien gave a smile, “I'm okay. I think the armor worked.” He pulled up his status to look. Despite how he felt, he'd actually only lost eight HP.
Bluey, however, was still concerned, nuzzling into him.
Damien petted Bluey a bit. “Haha, it's okay. Let me catch my breath, then we can continue.”
After resting a few minutes, they continued on. Bluey still seemed concerned, checking on Damien often, even when not needing Healing.
Maybe Bluey feels bad I got hurt again. Aren't I the summoner though!? I'm supposed to be looking after Bluey! Sighing, he shook his head. No, I guess we're looking after each other.
While they made slower progress in the afternoon due to Bluey's constant checking, they still managed to take out several more groups of gnolls before it started to grow dark. At that point, Damien had a decision to make.
We defeated enough gnolls to finish the requests I grabbed, but we're making a lot of progress, and I feel like I should level up soon...right? And we have enough food to stay overnight and train again tomorrow... “Bluey?”
“Huwah?”
“What do you say we head out of the gnoll area and find a safe place to camp, so we can keep training in the morning?” Damien proposed.
“Huwah!”
After walking a bit to exit the area, they found a small clearing that butted up against a cliff. “This should be good.”
Gathering sticks so Bluey could start a fire, he cooked a couple more potatoes and some rabbit meat, making a stew to share.
Bluey slurped down it's portion before crawling up into his lap.
“I'm not finished yet!” he chuckled, poking Bluey playfully. Bluey didn't seem to mind, just burrowing into his stomach. “Alright, hold on, let me eat the rest first.”
After finishing off his stew, he set it down and started petting Bluey, before laying out the bedroll to sleep on.
“Alright, hopefully no bears attack this time,” he said, giving an involuntary shudder. There was no doubt Bluey could take a bear now, but it didn't stop him from worrying about it.
“Huwah!” Bluey said, hopping around a bit.
“Are you searching for bears?”
After a half minute of hopping around, Bluey reported back. “Huwah.”
“Okay, good to know,” Damien chuckled, lying down as Bluey snuggled in next to him.
The next morning, they woke with the sunrise filtering through the trees.
Damien chewed off some hunks of dried bread, while Bluey hopped around excitedly.
“Alright, I'll definitely get to level 5 today right? Right?”
“Huwah!” Bluey excitedly replied.
Damien chuckled, “Yeah I'm sure you want whatever buff I can give you next. Do you sense any gnolls?”
Bluey hopped around a bit, in what Damien now thought of as 'search mode', before catching onto their 'scent' and heading back into the gnoll territory.
Both of them made sure to stick closer together today, and Bluey made quick work of any gnoll groups they found. Damien was rarely even needed for healing.
Am I just a hindrance to Bluey? Should I just stay in town while Bluey is training? Although, that would make me feel bad making it do all the work. I guess it's it's important I'm here to cook for Bluey. And I guess keep it's motivation up. I'm more like Bluey's caretaker than it's summoner...
Despite his misgivings, he also liked being with Bluey. And despite the...unfortunate damage he'd received, he was still alive, thanks to so quick-thinking, some luck, and...mainly Bluey again.
I guess as long as Bluey and I are happy, it's fine, right?
As the morning turned into midday, Damien became increasingly frustrated at his lack of leveling. Is it because I'm a summoner!? But I leveled up just fine earlier. I know summons level faster. Maybe I'm expecting too much from goblins and gnolls. I guess Bluey also as the XP boost, too...
Just as he was thinking this, a level notification came up. For Bluey.
Again!? Why is...no, no, it's fine, just stay calm. If Bluey is getting levels, that's even more important...
Bluey leveled up
Bluey – Level 10
STR – 110
VIT – 88
MAG – 28
DEX – 82
STR +31
VIT +8
Lightning Attunement
Lightning Bolt
Squishy Membrane
New Ability Available
Bluey's stats are insane compared to mine now. If anything, I'm holding Bluey back by not giving more in Stat Share. Oh well...
Bluey hopped over excitedly, as usual, waiting it's turn to choose.
However, when he clicked on 'New Ability Available' this time, there was only one option:
Summon Customization
Customization? Oh! I guess if you didn't like your earlier choices, you can change them around? That' pretty nice...although if I remember correctly, my only choice was color. Maybe there's more options now? He looked over a Bluey, who was waiting eagerly still. I guess it's nice I can let Bluey choose how they look now. It'll be a little awkward if they choose a color besides blue, though...
Clicking the option to allow Bluey to choose, he looked over.
Bluey immediately jumped against it's status screen. However, nothing changed, and the status menu was still mid-level up. Oh, maybe there's a lot of options?
Damien waited patiently, while Bluey occasionally jumped against the screen. However, Bluey just kept going, nothing changing.
After waiting a few more minutes, Damien said, “I'm gonna start making lunch.”
Bluey didn't react.
I guess choosing how you look is pretty important.
Damien cooked the rest of their meat, grilling it up on skewers. He finished while Bluey was still going at it, and started eating his share, setting aside the others for Bluey.
After about an hour, the level up screen finally went away. “Did you-” He stopped at he saw that Bluey was glowing, so bright that even in the afternoon sun he had to shield his eyes from it. Bluey started to grow bigger and bigger, until finally the glowing faded.
“Ahh...ahh...am I doing it right?” he heard from in front of him.
Damien's eyes nearly bulged out of his skull. Instead of his slime companion, standing there now was a girl, a little under his height. She was wearing only a white t-shirt, which covered fair-sized breasts, but still showed some midriff. He legs were mostly visible, as she had short-shorts on that only went slight further down than her butt. However, the most striking feature was her hair, which was the same color as Bluey had been, along with the yellow streak in front.
She was looking at herself, her movements a bit wobbly, as if she wasn't used to her body.
“Bl-Bluey!?”
The girl (reacting to this), smiled at Damien. “Master!” she shouted, jumping at Damien and tackling him into the ground.
“Stop...let go...” Damien said, tapping her to get out.
“Ah, sorry Master,” she said, letting go of him. “I guess I need to be careful with my STR stat being high now.”
“Yeah, that's for...wait...you're talking!? Are you really Bluey!?”
The girl (Bluey) smiled and nodded vigorously. “It's me! I can talk to you regularly now!”
“Wait, so you always knew what I was saying?” Damien asked.
Bluey nodded again. “Yes, I just couldn't reply back except by making a sound. You seemed to understand me anyway most of the time, though,” she shrugged.
“Yeah, you got your intention across. No, wait...this is too sudden...”
Bluey pouted a bit. “What's wrong? Don't you like my new form?”
“No, you're really cute, I'm just so confused...” he pulled up Bluey's status screen. It now said 'Slime-human – Level 10', and now had a female sign (♀) where none had been before. “You were able to change your race!?”
Bluey nodded, explaining, “It asked me if I wanted to stay slime or become human, so of course I wanted to be human like Master. Then I got to make my appearance, so I made what I thought you liked.”
Damien was taken aback. “How do you know what I like?”
Bluey explained, “Well, I saw you staring at Carleen like you were interested in her, so I originally was going to go with that. But then I saw you looking at Beatrice, too, so I figured you also liked her. So...I just sorta combined parts of them them together that I thought was good!”
Damien facepalmed at that explanation. “Why would you do that!?”
Bluey seemed confused. “So we could mate, obviously! I figured we couldn't mate in my slime form, but now that I look like this, it shouldn't be a problem, right?”
Damien struggled for words. “Wait...wait...why are you wanting to mate? Is that a slime thing?”
Bluey seemed confused, “It's normal, right? To want to mate and reproduce? Slimes do it too, we...mesh together and exchange fluids,” she explained, blushing and squirming like it was embarrassing to explain. “But I don't know how humans do it yet, since I just turned into one, but I'm assuming Master would know what to do.”
“It's sort of similar, except-...wait, wait, why do you want to mate with me though?” She's going too quickly and I'm getting caught up in her pace!
Bluey tapped her cheek, “For slimes, we just do it with the nearest slime once we're in heat. Are humans not the same?”
Damien shook his head. “Well, some might be, but normally you only do it with a...special person that you love...” he said, blushing at his own words.
Bluey smiled, “I love Master, so there's no problem there, right!?” she exclaimed as she leapt and hugged him again (slightly more carefully this time). Her breasts squished against him, causing him to start to get aroused. Noticing his bulge poking her, she grabbed it, “What's this thing doing? I remember seeing it a couple times, but it wasn't this big.”
Damien went red. “It's the...male mating organ,” he explained, trying to sound scientific.
Bluey nodded along as if this was an academic lecture. “Do I have one?” she said, slipping down her shorts. She had no panties on, so her organs were on full display. “Mine's different.”
Damien nodded, going redder. “Yes, you have the female one.”
Bluey nodded again. “So we just stick them together?”
“Err...it's a bit more complicated, but that's the gist, yes.”
Bluey smiled again. “Okay, let's do it!”
“Now!?”
Now it was Bluey's turn to blush. “Yes, with all this fighting I've been in heat for a while now, so I was hoping to relieve it right away.”
Damien considered the moral quandary he was in. Is it okay to have sex with your own summon? Isn't that a cheat code for getting laid? He looked over at Bluey, who was inspecting her lady parts. No, Bluey and I have a good relationship, that's why. And I'd rather her do it with me then some random guy. Or a slime...
He turned to Bluey again. “You're absolutely sure?”
“Of course!” Bluey replied with no hesitation.
Damien nodded. “Okay. I'll teach you how humans mate then. First, we need to take off all of our clothes.”
Bluey nodded, pulling down her shorts the rest of the way, and then taking off her shirt, fully revealing her large breasts.
Damien felt his shaft twitch a bit as he looked at her. Dammit, she's too sexy, I can't even focus properly.
Bluey was entranced with his member as he flipped it out. “Ooooohhhh, the fluids come out of there?” she asked, poking it a bit.
Damien sighed, “Yes, but hold on. We need to warm up a bit first.” He sat down on the bedroll, motioning Bluey to sit across from him. “Tell me if you don't like something.”
Bluey nodded.
Damien reached out, gently grabbing her breasts. He squeezed and massaged them delicately as Bluey squealed a bit. “Ooooh, I like how that feels.”
Damien smiled, squeezing a bit tighter, before leaning over and kissing her.
Bluey blushed. “What was that!? It felt nice.”
“It's called kissing. It's how you show affection between humans.”
Bluey leaned over and kissed him again, blushing even more.
Damien, overcome with emotion for Bluey now, leaned over and started licking her nipples.
“Oh, do that, do that!” Bluey moaned.
Damien wrapped his arms around her, licking and sucking more and more.
Bluey was breathing heavily, the pleasure showing in her face. “Is mating supposed to feel this good!?”
Damien chuckled, “Yes, if we're doing it right.” He gently laid her down, before putting his head between her legs. He started licking her opening, grabbing her waist to steady her as she was writhing in pleasure.
“What is this!? What are you doing!? Ahh...ahhh...” she moaned, before spraying out a bit.
Damien wiped his mouth. “Did you feel good?”
Bluey nodded, her face red. “Was that mating?”
Damien shook his head, “That's still warm up.”
Bluey leaned over and put his member in her mouth. “Iwahhh dooo wooo nowwww.”
Damien could barely keep his voice in, feeling Bluey's rubbery tongue stroking against his member. After just a few moments, he released inside her mouth.
Bluey swallowed. “Will that get me pregnant?”
Damien shook his head. “No.”
“Do we need to warm up more?”
“No, I think we're ready,” he said, laying her gently back down. “I'm going to put this in yours, okay?”
Bluey nodded eagerly, watching as he lined up their respective organs.
Carefully sliding inside, his member felt wrapped around by her rubbery insides. The feeling was amazing, and he had to stop himself from almost coming instantaneously.
Bluey was red in the face again. “What now?”
“Just...a moment...” Damien said, trying to steady his breath. He then started pumping in and out, the pleasure from rubbing her insides making him barely able to concentrate on his movements.
“Ohhh...ohhh....” Bluey moaned.
Damien couldn't hold it any longer, pulling Bluey tightly to him as he released inside her, spurting out multiple times until he had finished.
Bluey smiled at him and grabbed his shoulders. “Did we do it? That felt amazing! We need to mate all the time!”
Damien gave a wry smile, “You're gonna spoil me...”
Bluey kissed him again, grabbing his cheeks and holding him tightly. “You have all my affection!” She stopped, thinking for a moment, “Well, I think Beatrice has some of it, too.”
Damien chuckled, “You should tell her that. She'd probably appreciate it.”
“Oh, I can now!” Bluey said, seeming excited. She then started looking at him anxiously, “Um...is it okay for humans to mate multiple times? I kind of want to try again.”
Damien nodded. “Yes, the male just needs a few minutes in between...”
After those few minutes, they went at it once more, Bluey cooing in satisfaction as he came in her again.
As they were holding each other after, Bluey rubbed her face into his bare chest. “I love you so much Master.”
Damien blushed. After a pause, he replied, “I love you too,” and scratched her head.
“Huwaaaahh...” Bluey let out, before looking up embarrassed. “I made the noise again.”
Damien chuckled. “Don't worry, it's cute.”
After cuddling for a bit, Bluey jumped up, still naked, and did a fist pump. “We gonna fight more gnolls!?”
Damien shook his head. “I'm kinda tired after that...”
“I am too, but I can still fight gnolls!”
Damien got up and started putting his clothes on. “Let's go back and stock up, first. We can get some new requests, too.”
Bluey was easily persuaded, and put her own clothes back on.
Damien blushed as he watched her. “We should probably get you some undergarments.”
“I haven't seen any that woman wear, so I just skipped that part in the options,” Bluey explained.
Damien grabbed his head. “That's...fine. It'd actually be a problem if you had somehow.”
Walking back to town, Bluey seemed as energetic as ever. Just now, instead of hopping around everywhere, she was running instead.
“Oh, oh, are we going that way sometime?” she asked, pointing westward.
“Err, I'm sure we will at some point.”
“What about that way?” she said, pointing south.
“That's where the sea is, remember? I guess we might need to go across it at some point.”
Her curiosity having been sated, she asked, “Can you carry me?”
Damien's eyes went wide. He stopped for a moment to catch his breath. “You're too big now!”
Bluey thought for a moment. “I wonder if I can carry you now?”
Before Damien could reply, Bluey picked him up. “Haha, I can! This is great!” She then started sprinting towards Silaro.
After a couple minutes, Bluey slowed down, until she stopped, breathing heavily. “Why am I so tired?”
Damien was curious too. “Maybe it's because you have a human body now, so you're going to burn your energy quicker?”
Bluey nodded. “I guess being small had it's advantages.”
Damien winced. “Do you regret becoming human?”
Bluey seemed offended. “No, of course not! I can show my affection now!” she proclaimed, before giving him a sweaty kiss.
Damien was caught off guard, but then kissed her back. Giving her a smile, he said, “Make sure you only do that when no one is watching us, okay?”
Bluey nodded.