Bonded Summoner

Book 2. Chapter 1: Advanced Summoning Token

Jake, Ophelia and Fhesiah were now on their way in their [Refuge] traveling to a nearby world that they researched called [Ariminium], just after their first foray out to an amusement park on another world. It would still be a few days before they got there, but they were all quite excited at the prospect.

This new world was contested and limited to Tier 0 through Tier 1 existences; capped at level 25. No enemies they faced could be greater than that, as it would force anyone that hit Tier 2 on the world to leave. Before they got there though, there was something that they needed to do.

It was time to summon their new ally. Jake had gotten a high rating in the Champion’s [Trial], and as a result, had gotten an amazing spear staff and the [Advanced Summoning Token]. The advanced summoning token allowed you to choose the approximate class choices you wanted to see, though instead of ten random it would only be five, those five should be much closer to what you wanted. Jake could choose between six major roles: Tank, Melee, Scout, Mage, Hybrid, and Healer. Not only that, but the class summoned would already be Tier 1, or level 10 at a minimum.

They had already long decided that they wanted a True Healer rather than Hybrid like Jake and Ophelia were, so Jake was happy that he would have five to choose from now. Jake knew with a regular summoning token; he would be lucky to have only two to choose from. His previous summoning there was only one in the list of ten summons, as far as he could tell.

The girls and Jake were now all dressed up in their equipment. They knew they were due for new armor shortly after they arrived in this contested world, but it cost nearly nothing to get Fhesiah geared up exactly how Jake and Ophelia were with drake scale mail armor; she was practicing getting used to wearing something other than her robes when fighting. They were full of funds after all the loot in the [Trial], after all.

Jake now held the Champion’s Spear Staff, and it was like a never-ending torch of its own. It radiated the feeling of home, and the Hearth gifted by Hestia was behind where they were summoning. They triggered the [Advanced Summoning Token] and were given a list.

Fhesiah had her nose and face scrunched up in disgust; she was not thrilled about these choices. From her criteria, there were only two actual options right out of the gate: three of them were male. The first time, Jake thought it was some kind of coincidence that there was a Norse-god worshiping choice, but now that there was another one, he thought it couldn’t be only that. The Centaur Paladin Jake was interested in was a Paladin of Tyr, the Norse God of War and Justice.

Jake wondered just why he would receive an option for Tyr twice. Perhaps Odin had said something to him? There were countless gods or goddesses, and receiving an option like this twice could not possibly be coincidental. The three male healing options did not worship a God or Goddess Jake had heard of, despite doing his research on the matter. There were just so many, and people could eventually tier up until they more or less became one, besides. Once Jake reached Tier 4, there was a chance he could become one as well. One of the several paths to this was being a Champion of a God or Goddess, so he was already on a path.

A female Human Cleric of Tyr was one of the choices. The other choice Jake thought was why Fhesiah scrunched up her face: it was a Dark Lamia. Jake pondered over the [Alliance Wiki] entry on [Dark Lamia]. The multiverse is massively endless, so there were several possibilities here, but all of them more or less pointed to the same thing: that they were an evil race.

There were two major possibilities. One was that this [Dark Lamia] was simply a result of interspecies breeding of a lamia and a dark elf, or the other was that this was a race engineered by the Dark, Chaotic Pantheon of gods that the dark elves worshiped. The Dark Elf Pantheon embodied chaos, and introducing new races to create chaos in their underworld was something they often did, breeding and creating various other evil races to influence the world even further.

The Arachne race was also examples of this, being part spider and part dark elf. A Dark Lamia was like the Arachne, in that it was a dark elf mixed with a snake. The snake portion began at about the waist level, the upper body appearing to be almost exactly that of a dark elf. The Dark Lamia was most likely a creation of these Gods and Goddesses of Chaos, and their society would not differ from the dark elf previously met: a matriarchal society full of treachery and evil. What gave Jake and his party pause was this [Dark Lamia]’s class: Priestess of Hestia.

Fhesiah said, “What’s wrong with this Wiki thing? Completely useless. It doesn’t even say if she will have the right equipment!”

Jake looked over to Ophelia. “When Ophelia came, she had her armor, shield, and spear ready. Well, either way, I don’t think we’ll need to worry about that too much: the [Multiverse Market] has everything.”

Fhesiah just gave him a blank stare, but smiled. “You sweet summer child. Anyway, with what the goddess said before she left, I think she was hinting at this one.” Jake groaned and shook his head as he realized what she was originally referring to.

Ophelia nodded before she added, “The [Dark Lamia] might be evil and may be a monstrous race, but they should have within them the possibility of good. The Wiki says that they are quite large and very strong, having the strength of monsters or beasts. Their torso alone might be larger than we are tall, and that doesn’t even include their tail, which can be five to ten meters long. I think we will value how powerful this priestess will be.”

Jake remembered all the advantages that he thought the Centaur Paladin would have and realized that they should also apply to this Dark Lamia. Jake would bet that while the Centaur would win a race on an open plain, the Lamia would win on almost any other terrain, and still have the advantages of mass and power on their side, because of their massive size.

Jake said, “So, is that all in favor of the [Dark Lamia]? Of course, we won’t be forever stuck with whomever we summon unless we want them to be. I forgot that Tier 1 might be a big disadvantage, too. This person we summon is unlikely to already have a [Mana Core]. Since we’ve decided on the [Dark Lamia], let’s make a few preparations for her with her room and such; She’ll need a big room and I think we should raise our ceiling up a bit more.”

Jake was happy to learn that this was one of his benefits of being a [Knight] as well. While normally they were coming close to the limits of their Refuge without having to spend some contribution points that they could now earn from now on, his limit was already extended.

The girls nodded, and they got to it. They added space in various places to make more room for the Lamia to move around, their [Refuge] altering itself in flashes of light. Jake even expanded the space between his kitchen island and other fixtures so that if the dark lamia spent any time there, it wouldn’t be too cramped. They also found something of a bed compatible with the Lamia species for their room. Jake was surprised at how much he could expand his refuge thanks to the benefit. It was like there was nearly no limit for their purposes, anyway.

They made preparations, and now they were ready to meet their new party member. Jake triggered the Summon, and a large amount of light coalesced into a giant of a woman. She towered over them, and Jake could not see an ounce of skin on them. They were covered from head to tail-tip with black armor and while she wore an open-faced helmet, she even wore a mask over her face. Her hair, if she had any, was tucked into their helmet or her armor, perhaps. They had a giant mace on their back that was larger than a person, and they were currently five meters tall with their tail somewhat coiled on the ground.

Jake couldn’t help but feel like they had made a huge mistake. The woman in front of them looked like a weapon of war, covered head to toe in black armor with wicked spikes and serrated blades lining even their tail, which, with all the segments, blades, and spikes, reminded him more of a centipede than a snake. Just how could they move or coil their tail without hurting themselves? This Lamia might be even larger than the explanation of Lamia or Dark Lamia in the wiki. Jake thought her torso was even taller than him; that she would be 3 meters tall or taller with proportional legs.

While they looked like they would be a powerful party member, Jake just couldn’t see how they could end up being a family member. Jake just shuddered at how that tail could wrap around something and simultaneously crush and shred them to pieces.

Everyone gasped, almost collectively; even the snake woman, though that might have just been her taking her first breath since being reconstituted by [The Framework]. Her pink eyes snapped immediately to Jake’s, and he could feel her inspecting the [Summoner’s Bond] that formed between them. She then glanced at Jake’s spear staff, and her eyes widened before looking back to Jake, and the rest of his party.

Jake cleared his throat and spoke, “Welcome to our Refuge, Priestess of Hestia. I’m Jake, Champion of Hestia and [Knight] of [The Alliance]. This is Fhesiah, the dragon-touched demoness, and Ophelia, Valkyrie of Hestia.” He then motioned for her to introduce herself.

Her body raised up and Jake could see her uncoiling and moving her tail around, as she bowed her torso in front of them, before raising herself to a normal posture, for a Lamia, Jake supposed. She spoke with a happy, upbeat voice that was a bit higher pitched than he thought from such a large person. “Thank you, Milord. I am Thokk’Berri Nagy’dosa, Priestess of Hestia. How may I serve?”

Jake was a bit out of his element, but Fhesiah and Ophelia both wanted him to take the lead in this he could tell over their bond. “Once again, welcome, Thokk’Berri. You can start by telling us about yourself, and how you became a Priestess of Hestia.”

She thought about it for a moment, but then she removed her mask. Underneath, a very pale, white-skinned, beautiful elf, instead of a tan or otherwise dark-skinned one like he expected. She looked pained and saddened to speak about this topic.

“I’m cursed. Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve been forced to hide my hideous skin. Thankfully, my betters were gracious and allowed me to live and serve them. Once I got older, I grew quite large, and they allowed me to train and wear this armor, and kill enemies in the Underworld.”

She paused, and Jake was a bit horrified by what he was hearing, and a bit confused. When she said ‘gracious’ or ‘allowed’ she made it sound like she was genuinely happy that they had sort of helped her out more or less and let her serve them. Not only that, but she was far from hideous; she was just as beautiful as Fhesiah or Ophelia, though her pink, serpentine pupils were a bit unsettling. She also had some white scales just underneath her eyes, just above her cheeks. Just as he was about to ask her a question, she continued.

“One day, something started happening on the surface, and monsters began flooding our Underworld. They sent me away from the conclave to fight against these creatures with my unit. Some of these creatures were much stronger than those I faced in the Underworld, and it forced us to flee and seek reinforcements. A tunnel collapsed, and I fell down, alone, and I found a shrine. Trapped, I looked over the scrolls and books and learned it was a shrine to the Goddess Hestia.

I read over the scrolls and found that I much preferred the Goddess Hestia over our Dark Goddesses, who had ignored my prayers during my life, and I prayed to Hestia for help. She appeared before me and agreed to help me if I joined [The Framework] and became her Priestess. She helped me escape, and I helped some people as she wished on the surface before I eventually died, her promise to find me a home in the next life.”

Jake was surprised that the lamia could be so upbeat about her own death. Actually, the only thing she was not upbeat about was her curse. Jake decided he would ask about this later. For now, he realized they were all a bit overdressed. They really didn’t have any plans to fight anything soon, and for now, it might be best if they learned about their new party member in a more organic way, especially since her armor was unsettling. Jake came up with a plan, and Fhesiah nodded her head in approval; their bond was now back to being one where thoughts could easily traverse it.

“Thank you for that. Your past differs greatly from ours, and I’d like to tell you about ours soon. We are about to wind down for the day, so we will get ready to have dinner and the like. What kind of food do Dark Lamia usually eat?”

She said, “We usually have meat from various creatures, and there are different plants and mushrooms that grow well in the underworld. They let me have whatever scraps were left.” Jake just let that statement hang where it was, but said, “Alright. I take it you don’t have other clothes besides what you came with? Let the girls here help set you up. Your room is over there. I will get dinner started while they get you sorted out, okay?”

The lamia looked confused. She had shaken her head no while he asked about her clothes, but when he got to the ‘your room’ and ‘him cooking dinner’ part, she was shocked. She said, “Er, my lord, my own room? And you are cooking? I… where are your servants? Am I the first one?”

Jake was going to correct that misunderstanding, but Fhesiah interrupted and pulled one of the lamia’s hands to the side, to drag her to her room. She said, “Don’t worry about it. Wifey will take care of dinner, while Ophelia and I take care of you. Let’s get you out of this armor and into something a little more comfortable for hanging around our [Refuge].” Jake could barely hear the lamia saying, “Wife? Is there another woman here?” as they dragged her away into the other room they created for her.

Jake sighed; it looked like he was now zero for three for summoning going normal. Still, he was two for two in terms of them being great, so that was one way to look at it. He’ll just have to wait and see about the third. Jake went to change before making dinner and decided to check on her status as he worked on everything to learn about what fighting alongside her might be like.

Summon Information: Thokk'Berri

Name

Thokk'Berri Nagy'dosa

Age

39

Class

Monstrous Holy Dark Priestess of Hestia

Race

Dark Lamia

Monstrous Holy Dark Priestess Class: Tier 1 Rare

20% Effectiveness in Strength, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom

+3 Strength, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom per level

Born of a monster, this Priestess of Hestia heals others by fighting with their Monstrous Strength and Fortitude, using both Holy and Dark Magic.

Thokk'Berri Status Level 12

Strength

85

Dexterity

38

Constitution

75

Intelligence

32

Wisdom

43

Charisma

41

Thokk'Berri's Level 12 Combat Skill Sheet

Mana Control

Level 4

Advanced Melee Specialization

Level 2

Advanced Monstrous Strength

Level 2

Purifying Flames

Level 2

Holy Dark Priestess Magic

Level 3

Dark Magic

-

Advanced Hearth Core

Level 1

Summoner's Bond

Level 1

Mana Siphon

Level 3

Thokk'Berri's Level 12 Spell List

Holy Dark Priestess Spells

Dark Siphon, Mace of Hestia, Armor of Faith

Dark Magic

-josei

Thokk'Berri's Level 12 Non-Combat Skill Sheet

Dismantling

Level 2

Tailoring

Level 3

Armor Crafting

Level 2

Misc Skills:

Mana Siphon

Jake’s eye was twitching just looking over her list of skills and attributes. He didn’t even know where to start, but this was completely not what he had in mind when he wanted a ‘true healer.’ She didn’t even have an actual direct healing spell! Still, he was quite happy that she already had a mana core, and it had already been improved to advanced, which provided the same level of stats as a Bonded Hearth Core, just without Jake’s benefits to them. If he had to guess, her monstrous constitution had something to do with her having one.

After all, even goblins had mana cores, so her being a sort of half-monster made that seem plausible. Then when she became a priestess of Hestia, Hestia must have helped change it to a hearth core, which advanced when she changed Tier. Or perhaps, she was already Tier 1 when she became a priestess? It’s hard for Jake to know. Jake reviewed the skills that were clearly different from what he and his other girls had or were otherwise familiar with.

Advanced Monstrous Strength Lv. 2

Effect: Increases Base Strength by +20, +5 per Level

Increases Base Constitution by +10, +2 per Level

This creature is stronger and more resilient than others, due to it having a magically monstrous constitution that improves its power and fortitude.

Dark Siphon

Surrounds self and releases a powerful dark haze that causes physical attacks against enemies to heal self and allies.

Armor of Faith

Concentration Spell, costing high amounts of mana regeneration. Surrounds Target with the Holy protection of the Goddess. Reduces damage from blows significantly, may have additional guidance from Goddess to turn an otherwise fatal blow into a serious wound.

Mace of Hestia

Infuses the Priestess with Hestia’s Holy Might, allowing them to mete out punishment in the name of their Goddess. Releases an additional explosion of holy energy when striking the target, healing allies or damaging undead, demonic, or otherwise tainted in an area surrounding the user.

Looking over her abilities, [Dark Siphon] was some sort of indirect healing spell. The more damage she caused with that massive mace of hers or her ridiculous serrated armor, the more she could heal her allies. [Armor of Faith] was a sort of combination of defensive and health buffer spell just like he had hoped a true healer would have, and it appeared to be powerful.

The alpha strike of an assassin was now much less likely to end someone permanently unless they were overwhelmingly more powerful, giving Jake or Ophelia time to heal or shield that person and then defeat the threat.

[Mace of Hestia]...Just what the hell? Jake was in the same room with this woman, this goddess, and the only thing he could think about when seeing this ability was what on Earth could it possibly have in common with Hestia? Spears of flames were still the flames of Hestia, but this spell would just empower the priestess to smash the target with holy energy, in this case with a giant mace that was larger than himself, and once again provide healing in the area surrounding the priestess. When they meet again, Jake would have a hard time looking at the goddess the same way.

Jake was confused about the Dark Magic, and Holy Dark Priestess spells. Jake reasoned that the Dark Magic spells must be non-framework related, but then there was [Dark Siphon]. And why the blank level? He’d have to talk to Berri about this.

That left her attributes, and the [Advanced Monstrous Strength]. Her monstrous body definitely was valuable here, that’s for sure. To have 25 more strength and 12 more constitution, not even counting her class, which evolved from a sort of monstrous melee specialization since Jake never heard of a ‘priestess’ that would gain effectiveness to their strength attribute, and this was a tremendous deal. She was functionally even stronger than Fhesiah, and that was probably even before her size and mass were considered.

Jake worked on dinner while he mused over this new party member. Certainly, she was very powerful. She would have all the advantages that he had originally imagined the Centaur Paladin having, and he realized that the armor was probably so heavy that she needed this strength to properly move.

Jake had nearly finished dinner and realized that the girls were gone for a long time. While clearly, girls could take plenty of time getting ready and such, his girls were different, at least he thought. They could move with supernatural speed and grace, and they certainly didn’t need makeup.

Then he realized what was taking so long: Thokk’Berri’s armor. There were probably so many latches and buckles that something like that could take over an hour. A Knight had to have a squire just to become battle ready in probably around twenty minutes, but this woman was more like both the knight and the horse with barding, Jake mused.

Jake finished preparing dinner, and he couldn’t believe his eyes when the three girls entered.