Bonded Summoner

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The badgerdillo, as Jake was now calling it, was even more vicious than it looked. It completely ignored blows and brute forced itself through gnolls formation like it did not have a care in the world, where it would then rip apart its target as it squealed in agony. The gnolls shields were mild inconveniences as it grabbed them away with its jaws or claws, or pulled them to the ground with its superior strength.

Jake almost felt bad, but he couldnt help but whimsically imagine summoning an army of the creature as he just watched his minions destroy his target: no matter what it was. Creatures like this one were exactly why he was looking forward to the beast specialization.

Each time he had to resummon it, he was afraid he would not get the badgerdillo again for some reason. This was in spite of him having recast the otter nearly a hundred times and getting it every time while he was in the bog. So when it emerged from the motes of light he would always fist-pump in joy, and even the demoness would cheer.

Leveling mana control and thus the spell had increased the duration from the base of two or three minutes to five to ten, but he was still forced to summon it many times as he worked through some gnoll patrols around their hill village.

Jake had finally gotten to make good use of his force push ability. The telekinetic blast would often send the gnolls sprawling, making them even easier pickings for the badgerdillo. There were a few times where they had even coordinated a shield wall to keep the angry creature at bay, but then Jake would just completely shatter their formation with the spell. The badgerdillo laughed with savage glee, mocking the hyena-like creatures as it slew them.

Jake thought these mana creatures he summoned werent supposed to have an ego or personality, but he couldnt help but feel the badgerdillo and the otter were somehow different. It simply appeared to enjoy killing a little too much, enough that Jake would legitimately be afraid if he ran into either of them when they werent his summons.

The demoness continued to help Jake not get ambushed and find the targets until it appeared she was sure there were none left except inside their fenced-in village. Jake noticed that the village was not overtly well defended: there were no towers with ranged attackers watching over the entrance to the village, only a small contingent of eight gnolls, armed with slightly better equipment than the roaming patrols he had killed.

Still, Jake had killed upwards of two dozen gnolls already, and there appeared to be more than one hundred gnolls inside, maybe even two hundred. He felt that he needed a plan to facilitate his retreat, if the worst happened and a near-army emerged to come take him out. Jake was able to run pretty fast with his [Haste] spell, but the hyena-like creatures were probably a little faster on an open plain.

Jake decided to head back to his [Refuge] and make use of the market. It cost a large portion of all the funds he earned on this run, but he felt like it was better to be poor than to be dead. If he didnt make use of it today, he would find a use for it in the future.

Jake might be acting a little paranoid, but he did not want to take risks when the possibility was there. These creatures appeared to have a social aspect to them, and he thought that it was entirely possible that the city could rally to fight off the threat of Jake, or something to that effect.

He returned with the demoness in-tow, and resummoned the badgerdillo after making his purchase. He had decided to make a purchase of a one-use spell-scroll of [Thornwood Field]. It would take a large percentage of his mana to activate, but it would create a near impossible to cross field of sharp thorny vines that would cause large amounts of damage to those that carelessly crossed them.

Jake would only need a few moments to activate and prepare should the demoness spot an army approaching, and it would slow them down or force them to take so much damage from being sliced all over their bodies that they would be easy to pick off on the other side.

Preparations made, Jake considered how to take on the medium-sized group of enemies in front of him. They were spaced apart from the large gate, and they had high visibility to Jakes approach. They did not appear to have a drum or anything to call more allies, but they could easily have some kind of horn on their persons. Two of them had decent-sized poleaxe instead of the sort of forged-metal smaller spears that many of them had, with others having shields and axes.

Jake decided that these would be his primary targets. He would use the force push spell to keep the group of enemies controlled as the badgerdillo attacked them, but he would try to take them out as quickly as he could with some mana bolts.

With the last level Jake received in lesser spell-forms and mana control, he started having no problems forming the smaller shapes from memory, almost like his intent was enough on its own. Instead of molding his mana into a certain shape, the mana practically jumped at the idea and did it for him. Because of that, he could send mana bolts out at a very rapid pace, almost two per second if he used smaller ones; Jake was primarily limited by how rapidly he could channel his mana and fill the spell-form.

Thanks to that, he was able to easily do something else: line-up multiple spell-forms at once. Jake guessed that this was part of the next stage of forming normal spell-forms, where he would form many shapes at once and add them together to make something bigger or more complex. For now, he could load up four regular powered mana bolts at once. Jake followed the badgerdillo, and got ready to create his four mana bolts.

As the badgerdillo approached, the gnolls squealed and grunted as they got into position to receive their enemy. They built a decent formation, with shield users at the front and the spear and poleaxe users in the back, and Jake thought the badgerdillo would actually have a difficult time without Jakes help. With that thought, Jake released his mana bolts past the shield users and struck all four of the polearm and spear users in the chest.

The badgerdillo bowled into the shield users and began relieving them from their shields, as they impotently hacked at the creature in an attempt to damage it and get it to stop murdering them as the creature laughed. The spear users were only lightly wounded from Jakes alpha strike, but the strike and damage it inflicted had distracted them from being able to keep the badgerdillo at bay with their reach, and weapons that could actually pierce its armor.

Jake worked on sending out empowered bolts into the formation, trying to focus on the poleaxe users, now that it was near pandemonium compared to a focused line. Three of the gnolls broke off to try to take out Jake, but he just ran perpendicular to them to keep firing mana bolts into the group that were trying to fight off the badgerdillo. After five or six empowered bolts into the group, the two poleaxe users were down, and the badgerdillo had taken out one of the shield users.

The three gnolls were now catching up to Jake, and he would now have to face them. He sent out a force push to shove them and stop their momentum, but only managed to bowl one over completely. That left Jake to have two left to fight in melee. The demoness then swooped in and blasted one of them with an impressive gout of flame, setting them on fire and causing them to squeal in agony.

He sent a mental thank you to the demoness, and engaged with the remaining gnoll with his spear. Jake had not fought many opponents with his spear that used a shield, and he had difficulty with thinking on how to deal with it. He wanted more practice with fighting such an opponent, but he did not want to give the bowled over gnoll much time to get up and be facing two enemies at once, so he decided that now was simply not the time to improve his martial prowess.

He feigned a stab high with his spear, causing the gnoll to raise its shield, and then fired an empowered mana bolt with his off-hand down to the gnolls kneecap, completely blowing it out and sending the gnoll to the ground. He then used a mana blade and stabbed the gnoll center-mass and into its spine, since the gnolls shield was now completely out of position.

He was easily able to reposition to defend against the spear user that had been completely knocked over, and after glancing at the torched gnoll that was dying painfully and the badgerdillo continuing to work over the remaining opponents, he engaged them. Able to focus on the opponent without worry of another approach, he was able to parry a stab from his opponent and kick out their digitigrade leg, where he easily finished them while they were knocked prone on the ground.

Jake turned to look at the badgerdillo just in time to see its jaws around the last gnolls throat, shaking their body left and right. As the gnoll died, Jake received a notification in his [Menu].

Level Up! +3 Attributes to Spend, Specialization Choices Available

Level Reached:

Level 5

Jake was excited, and the demoness shared the feeling. She kept a lookout while Jake dismantled the bodies, but he could hardly wait to get back to his portal. It was time to head back to his [Refuge] and truly become a summoner, and summon his second permanent party member.

The trip back was uneventful, and they set about their post dungeon-run tasks of cleaning up. When everything was wrapped up, he sat down on his couch as he prepared to work through the menu, when the demoness took his attention by grabbing his hand, and he felt a focused determination coming from her, and the expression on her face completely matched it. She wanted to convey that she wanted to tell him something important.

She flew away, and when she returned, she handed him a small handmade booklet. Glancing through it, it was a mixture of printed information from the [Alliance Wiki] and what appeared to be her own drawings. Just when had she made this? The only time she could have done this was while he was asleep, and she had even used the printer? He glanced at her, and she gave a coy smile. This was obviously well outside of his expectations. How did she even know how to use it?

He started back at the first page, and it was an article about how The Framework is different from the game, [The Labyrinth]. She had underlined that while there are many similarities, they are not the same: especially classes that required the use of NPC characters, such as Summoners or Beast Masters. Jake started to understand where this was going: she was trying to give him input on his specialization choice, and in response to that thought, she nodded.

Jake would have thought that this was strange, in that she was using such a thing. She was able to read, so why couldnt she just write what she wanted to say? Jake had learned that something about the magic in the bond or servant contract, broken as it was, prevented her from communicating in that way, at least in the state it was in: until the bond was restored, she could only use odd methods such as this. Jake thought it similar to his compulsion with being unable to communicate with people from Earth now, at least using language.

Jake then moved on to the second page, this one, a drawing. It showed Jake with his beast summons, and even the little demoness, and a party that represented the faceless people that Jake would meet. Jake supposed that this had been his plan from the beginning, which he had filled the demoness in on with his various thoughts throughout the last few weeks. In the next image, it was Jake and his beasts, but nobody else other than him and the demoness. He looked over at the demoness, frowning in confusion.

Was this trying to show that the prospective party could come and go? The demoness nodded excitedly, and smiled.

On the next image, it showed a similar image to the first one, of a party with various classes with Jake, but there were no beasts, just Jake and the demoness. But there was a box around the group, with a lock on it, and the party members even sparkled or glimmered. Jake wryly smiled at the drawing, he felt like this was so much like her. So, she was indicating that he could make his own permanent party, a powerful one, and that thought was met with another nod.

On the next image it showed his prospective party training together, with Jake directing each of them. He supposed that he would be choosing their advancement. Next, another printed wiki article, detailing about the permanent humanoid summons. It appeared that this was what she wanted him to select. Based on the idea of a permanent party, she would also want him to select the specialization that has permanence.

Jake hadnt liked permanent summons in the game he played, [The Labyrinth]. They would severely limit how many you could have on the field at once, and also restrict what type of summons you could use. On top of that, they consumed party slots based on the number that you had out, thus limiting who you could party with. Jake would consider a permanent specialized summoner a lazy or friendless summoner.

Their advantage was mostly a mood or loyalty bar, which particularly happy summons would get various attribute bonuses, making them more effective. Otherwise, the only advantage was that the summoner would not have to worry about timers on how long the regular duration summons would stay available, and wouldnt have to meticulously manage their mana consumption in regards to their summons and keeping them active. They would often have little mana available for spells, too.

If Jake selected the beast specialization and the regular duration summons, similar to his random beast spell, he likely could have multiple badgerdillos or something similar out at the same time, right now. Not only that, but each would get bonuses to their attributes, most likely resulting in a larger badgerdillo, for example. Could a single humanoid creature that he keeps out all the time really make up for this?

But Jake thought about it a little more. These were not mindless NPCs, or non-playable characters driven by artificial intelligence, but people. There would be many advantages to true permanence, as they could also train, like the demoness pointed out. They could also train specifically to work together, using combinations of abilities that could be particularly effective.

While some humanoid races were restricted in the game he played from being used as summons, Jake assumed he would not have that same limitation here. In addition, there was no such thing as dragon-touched demoness in the game, so clearly the game was not the full picture. Perhaps he could get something even more interesting than the few choices that were in the game.

Jake looked over at the demoness, and he felt how important this was to her. He also felt that her presentation was not quite the full picture, however. While it is important for him to be effective, he felt like she hardly provided much input into his advancement up to now, other than helping him with whatever he decided on training for the day.

She went along with all his other choices, and he would bet that if he decided to become a crazed potioneer, making bombs with potions or crazy concoctions that made him both stronger and crazier, shed be right there mixing the cauldron with him without a complaint. Why now? Because this was a permanent choice that cant be undone? He supposed that this choice would impact her greatly, as if he chose to have some smelly animals, then she would be regretfully stuck with them lying around in his [Refuge] for eternity, for example. She certainly wasnt happy about the bog, after all.

Jake decided that it hardly mattered. This choice was important to her, and while it was important to him too, her input was important. Jake felt like he could ultimately make any specialization work and be effective in the end, so he might as well take the one that had better possibilities for friends he could trust. She brought up a good case, and he felt like there was something about the demoness that he could trust.

That despite her almost careless demeanor, she had a lot more experience in life than Jake. He couldnt put his finger on why he felt that this was true, other than her immense level of patience. Sure, she was his familiar and kind-of had to do what Jake wanted, but to do what some other person wanted twenty-four hours a day without making any choices on what to do, most people Jakes age would be running away or a whiny mess within a day or two, even if they enjoyed some or most of the other persons choices.

They would also probably resent the person for making them do all the same stuff. Not only that, but Jake could hardly imagine being suddenly mute and having to communicate anything using gestures. Itd drive him crazy. Instead, she was quite happy with all the things they did, like theyd have to be doing something she didnt like for months before it would even phase her.

With that thought, he went ahead and made his selections. He locked in the humanoid summons and selected permanence for his focus. Once he made those selections he received some notifications, but before he could review them, he was interrupted by the demoness as she had grabbed his face and kissed him on the lips.

It was just a quick, almost chaste, thing, but Jake was shocked. She had teased him a bit, but had never made any motions such as that. She cheered and danced around, like she had won some major victory. Jake was starting to get worried as it was like he was duped, but she just smiled at him and sent reassurance over their bond. He supposed she did put a good amount of effort in the pamphlet type thing she made, and the choice was important to her, so getting what she wanted this celebration was reasonable.

Distraction completed, he reviewed the information on his summon specialization.

Framework Spell Learned:

Bolster

You have learned the Summoner spell: Bolster. Consumes mana from active mana regeneration to Increase All Attributes by 5%. Requires small amount of concentration, +5% per Mana Control skill level.

Framework Spell Learned:

Mana Transfer

You have learned the Summoner spell: Mana Transfer. Transfer mana while touching to or from your summons. 50% Efficiency, +10% Efficiency per Mana Control skill level.

Specialization Chosen:

Humanoid

You have chosen to specialize in Humanoid summons. Increases effectiveness of all attributes and adds additional capabilities to summons of the [Humanoid] type. Reduces all other types.

Specialization Chosen:

Permanence

You have chosen to specialize in [Permanent Summons]. Increases effectiveness of attributes and adds additional capabilities to summons of the [Permanent] type. Reduces all other types. Costs 10% of Total Mana, and 10% of Mana regeneration per summon in reserve, allows for [Summoners Bond] to form with [Permanent Summons].

It was a lot to take in. He assumed the spell Bolster was from picking the humanoid specialization. It already increased attributes by +15% at his mana control level, but it would eventually become pretty drastic by the time it reached level five.

The [Mana Transfer] spell likely was due to the permanent link between his summons. Jake could not imagine that a summoner focused on temporary summons would be very interested in such a spell. Even retrieving mana from such a creature would be pointless, as it cost mana to create the creature in the first place. This will be very useful both for if he summons a caster or even a melee that uses mana, as it is often the resource that they will run out of. He will help them be able to continue marathon fights without a worry.

Jake was already thinking of all the possibilities, and whether this was the optimal choice or not, he figured that he could make this choice very effective in the long run. He smiled at the demoness. It was time to summon their next partner.