“Fiery Fist!” Madi shouted as she punched some wood and set it ablaze. “There we go, instant campfires.

“Man, wouldn’t you have been great at every camping trip I ever took Madison. I can’t tell you how many times nobody had a lighter or matches.” I said throwing some more wood on the wood pile.

We finished the day a bit early due to everyone getting Level 5. Excited to acquire their classes, we all set up camp quickly and they got started going over everything. I just sat to the side listening in and offered my input when needed. Crow took over on everyone’s stat placements and Leo unlocked spell casting.

All in all, they got mostly what they were after. Crow got a class called Bulwark. A class centered around defense and tanking attacks. He acquired a passive ability that helped allies within range take less damage, but all the extra damage gets transferred to him.

Madison was upset, she didn't get the class she wanted. She instead acquired a martial class called Monk. According to Crow it was a classic class for most unarmed fighters. She really hoped it would change one day. Her class replaced mana for a new resource called Ki. Her spell list was replaced with a new submenu called Traditions. She already had one given to her called Flaming Hands. It was centered around fast and explosive punches.

Leo acquired the most unique class. “Unclaimed Diviner. It gives me nothing other than a new quest. Crow any idea what I just got?”

Quest: Here I am God, can you hear me now?

Follow a path of a divine being and be claimed by them. Once you are claimed, you can not leave this path without divine punishments. Accept?

Yes / No

Crow held up a hand and pulled out a book that had some dark stains on it.

“Crow, why do you have your Maze Master Handbook? I swear if you are using that as our source material I am going to punch you!” Madison said

“Hey no listen I have a good reason. Most of the things The System has done is related to games such as this. We all agreed upon this already, so I decided to keep a few of the core books with me just in case. What Leo is going through right now is very similar to Paladins, Clerics, and other divine classes in the game!” He started to flip to a certain page.

“Here it is! Clerics are people who follow a certain God of a certain domain. Such domains include but are not limited to: Life, Death, Order, Chaos, Fire, Water, Earth, Air, and several more. I think Leo needs to follow the ideals of a God and become claimed. From there his true class name will come through including the abilities it contains.”

I held up a hand stopping Crow from saying anything more. “Are you suggesting Gods are now real on top of everything else?”

He took a moment to think then nodded, “Yes I think so.”

We all looked at Leo, “Well my Aunt is going to kill me if I don’t choose Jesus.” He then started to laugh and we all joined him.

“If Christianity or any of the religions turn out to be real, we will have more to deal with than fire breathing wolves.” I said.

Leo nodded, “Yea, but will this be a headache in the future? Gods? I don’t know if I want to do this anymore. Can’t I have a cool class like Madison?”

A blue box reappeared in front of Leo and he started to sweat before selecting an option. “That was a close one, The System was about to revoke my class. Need to be careful of what I say and think for now on apparently.”

Crow closed his book and put it away, “Should pick a path sooner than later, if you want suggestions, I for one have been partial to the God of Dwarves in my games.”

“I don’t think that one is going to stick. Order sounded nice though, so did Fire. Is there a God of Guns?” Leo said.

Crow smiled at that, “No clue man, if you meet him let me know. I want to shake his hand and thank him for inventing them.”

I stood up and stretched, Wispy followed me as I grabbed my staff and started to walk away, “I am going to look around and take first watch guys. You all enjoy looking things over.”

As I was about to walk off Crow stood up, “Nah, I’ll join you Mathew, I want to stretch my legs also.”

As we walked away, Crow gave a sly glance back at Leo and Madison before we were out of eyesight. “What’s that about Crow?”

“Are you blind? Giving those two some space. They both have grown pretty close to each other. You forget, they both lost someone important that night. Plus Madison knew Isabella apparently. Not very well, but it helps Leo I think.”

I nodded understanding. “That’s actually great for them.”

“Don’t think I forgot about you little buddy, cough it up, what’s bothering you?”

I sighed and leaned against a tree taking a moment to collect my thoughts. “I almost killed them both today.”

“It was an accident, we all know that.” Crow said.

“I know, but it doesn't make me feel any less guilty. What if it did more damage? It’s not a large area effect, only a meter or so, but it could still hurt my friends.”

“You need to not blame yourself Mat, realize the truth here. You had no clue it was an AOE. It says beam, if anything I expected it to be a piercing attack personally. A small magical explosion just wasn’t said. You know what it does, and none of us believe you would use it that way again.”

I looked up at Wispy who was floating around aimlessly, “I suppose so, I just wish I knew everything already about my class. In a court case, I normally know most of the facts and details ahead of the time. Divorce cases are simple, most of the time someone cheated and there is plenty of proof.

Here, I don’t even know what to expect in an hour, let alone tomorrow. I used to pride myself on being prepared. The shock of everything took that from me, I was reacting instead of already knowing the hand that I was dealt.”

“You remind me of an old M&M buddy. He played a Warlock who made a pact with some devil and was a master of fire magic. He prided himself on preparing for any sort of combat encounter. Spells to teleport, spells to summon, spells to change the weather, even a spell that makes walls to hide behind to properly set up future attacks safely. I think that is something you should work on. You have the ability to acquire creatures to summon.

Wispy and your Ice Elemental are two great starts, but think of the future. Imagine literal armies of monsters under your control. Able to fight and carry out orders and honestly help people out. You can have specialized creatures for any situation. Add in ice and ritual magic to support your magic summoning magic, and you could become the strongest one man army!”

Crow got excited there at the end, and it made me smile. Boy, he does care doesn't he? “Thanks Crow, it’s something to think about.”

“Glad I could help. You are a smart guy Mathew, you honestly are. Plus you have been putting points into Intelligence and Wisdom, that has to make you smarter somehow. I have never recovered from injuries this fast before, or feel less pain!”

Are the stats really affecting us that way? Am I getting smarter? “Well there was something I wanted help with. I was going to bring it up tomorrow on our way back to base. I want to try and trap a creature and bind it as a summon.”

“There we go! Already that big brain is coming up with plans, any ideas on what to get?”

“Something that can fight in melee, but last longer in a fight than the Ice Elemental.”

“Too bad you can’t use that wolf, be a perfect fit. We can hopefully find something tomorrow. Besides I really want to level up faster, how close are you to seven?”

I opened my menu and checked, “1,500 away. All the low level creatures aren't cutting it anymore I feel like.”

“I know what you mean, hopefully that Infernal Dungeon has some good things to fight.”

Crow looked at his watch, “I think we gave them enough time, want to head back and get some sleep?” I nodded and Wispy led the way for us so we could see.

Morning came with no more problems and I pulled out the phone to report in for the day. It is something all team leaders were given with trust to only use it to report in, and nothing else. We were still on ‘no contact with outside world’ orders.

Not like I have anyone to call. I dialed in and heard Captain Franks answer.

“Mathew? Good to hear from you, anything to report?”

“No sir, the road is sparse with vehicles from when everyone was taken back to their homes from the first night. Other than that, a few animals that caused minor issues.”

“Good, Continue onwards for another day and report in again.” He said.

“Uhh, I thought this was a one day out and then back type of scouting mission. We don’t have enough food for more than another two days if we stretch it.” I said, a bit worried.

I heard an annoyed sigh and then he spoke again, “Fine, scout out the area you are in, and start heading back this evening, I don’t expect you back before tomorrow morning.”

I didn’t get a chance to ask why he wanted this due to him hanging up after that. “Well that is suspicious.”

“What?” Leo asked.

“We are being told not to come back till tomorrow at the earliest. Captain Franks sounded a bit annoyed. I have no idea why they would make us stay out here.” I put the phone away and sat down on the ground.

“Well, on the bright side, we can explore a little bit and maybe find something interesting! Crow said excitedly

“Aren't you returning back to your Dad’s convoy soon?” Madison asked.

“Yea, but it won’t be till the end of the month. He plans to stop in the area every month to move important people. Until then I am still on the team.” Crow said.

“Well like Crow said, let’s explore. Any suggestions?” I asked everyone.

They all shrugged and we headed in a random direction. While we walked we talked about my plan to bind a creature with the spell.

“I like that plan, the problem is, what creature?” Madison said.

“No idea, personally I was thinking something simple and easy. A bird or squirrel?” I said.

“How does the spell work?” Leo asked.

“It’s hard to explain, a lot of terms used are weird. For the ‘domination’ part, it mentions a contest of wills. For the ‘contract’ side, I simply get some signatures in a contract.”

Crow lit up, “Oh that’s how it works!”

We all looked at him, waiting for him to continue explaining, “Ahh right. A contest of wills refers to willpower. Also known as Wisdom in M&M. Mat’s desire to bind the creature needs to be stronger than the creatures desire to not be bound.”

I do have a high wisdom score, small dumb creatures should be easy right? What about bears? “Sounds about right to me. I was also thinking of using my Ritual of Trapping to keep it from running away while I cast Bind Summon.”

“Mathew, that is why we picked those spells when you leveled up!” Madison groaning inwardly.

That got a laugh out of me, “I remember! Just a lot of things have happened recently, let alone the past month I’ll do better to think about how my stuff works together better.” Mental note to actually go over all my stuff at once and see what works well when we get back to base.

We eventually decided to set up the ritual and wait for something to get trapped. Sucks I can only have one at a time right now. Otherwise, I would set these up all over the place and kill what gets trapped.

The ritual normally took 10 minutes, but with my upgrade to writing, it only took 5 minutes. The waiting for something to get trapped took longer. Much longer. It was well over an hour before I felt the ritual trigger.

Gobling triggered the Ritual of Trapping. Trapped for 10 seconds.

I immediately started to cast Bind Summon, but Crow did something that threw me off. “Goblin! Kill it!”

Running in weapon drawn Crow was wailing on the little green creature before I could even say the spell aloud. Leo soon was with him, shooting his shotgun at the creature. My notifications were not even worth reading, as the two killed it quickly.

Green Blood came out of the creature that was called a Gobling. “Crow, what the fuck dude! You ruined my chance at a new summon!”

“You can thank me later, Goblins are the worst creatures in the world. Nay the universe. All realities, games, shows, movies, even books!”

“Uhhhh want to explain big guy?” Madison said, trying to not look at the dead goblin.

“Goblins, while alone, are weak frail creatures. A level 1 noob could kill one with a few punches. However, Goblins normally travel in groups. Where there is one, there are ten you don’t see. They fight with hoard tactics and bury their enemies with bodies to win.”

Note to self, don’t fight Goblins alone. “Well what now?” Suddenly a blue box appeared and Crow was heard cursing while reading.

Area Quest Received: Go Go Goblin Killing

Kill 10 Goblins: 1/10

Rewards: 20 Credits

“Nope, quest denied. We are leaving guys.” Crow said, but a new notification appeared.

Party quests can only be accepted and denied by the party leader. Your party leader is Mathew McGonalds.

Crow flipped off the blue box and turned to me. “Deny it Mathew. I don’t care about the cool new Credits, we will all die if we fight Goblins.”

I looked at the other two for support.

Madison shrugged, “Crow knows his stuff, but if we killed one that easily, I think nine more will be easy. I kinda want to know what Credits are. They sound like a currency.”

Leo was looking around nervously and had Lucky ready to go. “I agree with Crow here. If they are that deadly then we should leave.”

Shit, they both had different ideas. I was hoping they both agree to either do it or not, and I would go with that. Instead I had a new idea.

“Crow, scale of 1-10 how smart are Goblins.” I asked.

“Negative seven. Why?”

I smiled as a plan came to mind. “Because, we are going to kill smartly. Here is the plan, let me know if this works.”

I sat in the tree waiting for the signal. It was an obvious one, Madison would come running and jump over the Ritual of Trapping. It was a risky plan, but a good one. It took several minutes before I could hear the sound of things running toward me.

“Get ready Wispy.” I spent the mana to fire the Beam Attack. I glanced to the other two trees nearby and saw Leo and Crow were both ready as well. Let’s hope this works.

A few more moments went by and I saw the blur that was Madison. Her Sprint skill doing good work, keeping her outside of any possible danger. Once the first Goblin stepped into my trap that's when I attacked first.

“Go now!” I shouted as Wispy launched his attack. A small explosion was seen right between the second and third goblin.

Wispy dealt 111 Cold Damage to Gobling

Wispy dealt 115 Cold Damage to Gobling

Wispy dealt 89 Cold Damage to Gobling

That was the second signal for Madison to turn around and join Leo and Crow into the fray. Madison quickly took out the first three that I did the most damage to. Leo and Crow landed behind them all and started to destroy them. I smiled as I mentally commanded a certain Ice Elemental to get to work as well.

Damage notifications flew by, but I didn’t have a moment to look them over, commanding Wispy to attack along with my own Ice Bolts. It was a massacre, constant shouting of spells and abilities by us drowned by the high pitched screams of the Goblins.

It wasn’t long until only three Goblins remained. The one I trapped, and two more running away. Crow shouted to us all. “We can’t let them get away! Get them!”

I tried to ready another Beam Attack from Wispy but a new alert stopped me.

Wispys Beam Attack is not ready for another 42 seconds.

Shit it has a cooldown? Not good! “My attack is on cooldown. Madison, chase after them. Leo, go with her!” Soon as I barked the orders I reached out to my Ice Elemental to find him still alive.

Great job, go after them! Kill the faster one. Only an instinct told me that he obeyed the order and I could only hope he was fast enough to catch up. I looked down and saw the Goblin I trapped was still alive.

A quick look at my mana and I started to grin. Can’t let a good thing go to waste can I?

“Bind Summon!” Magic flew from my hands to form what looked like chains. They wrapped around the Gobling and tied him up as he became tied up.

The creature made terrified sounds and it made me wince a bit but soon a mental pressure was felt and I winced in pain.

This must be the contest of wills! I pressed back but only met resistance. I grunted and dug my feet in and slowly pressed back. It felt like hours slowly pushing what I assumed was my will upon the Goblin.

You will not beat me, I have fought and survived against stronger than you! That there did it, and my full willpower washed over the Gobling and the chains sunk into its flesh. I fell forward to my knees breathing heavily.

“Fuck, that is horrible. I hope Madison and Leo are fine.” As soon as I said that a blue box appeared.

Combat Summary

9 Goblins Slain: 225 Experience Gained

1 Goblin Bound: No Experience

Summon Wisp -> Beginner 1

Ritual of Trapping -> Novice 3

Bind Summon -> Novice 2

Summon Ice Elemental -> Novice 3

Ice Bolt -> Novice 7

Tactics -> Novice 9

Crow put a hand on my back steadying me. “You okay Mathew? You look like you are going to puke.”

That did it there, and I puked what little I ate that day. After wiping my mouth, I drank some water and sat down.

“Oh that was a weird spell Crow. I don’t suggest it, but I have a better idea of how it works now. Where are Leo and Madison?”

“They should be fine, the combat summary showed nine are dead, minus the one you captured. It doesn't count toward the killed ones sadly.”

I looked over at the Gobling and it was laying down very still. If I didn’t know better, I would think it was dead. “Hey wake up, can you understand me?” He didn’t move so I just let him lay there. Hopefully he isn’t dead, if I feel like this, he probably feels much worse.

Soon I could see Leo and Madison hobbling back. Leo was leaning on Madison who in turn had a gash on her arm.

“What happened to you two? Are you okay?” Crow asked.

“Yea, they pulled a quick one on us. A small cliff caused me to hurt my ankle, Madi here got hurt from diving down to kill the last one. Once I patch us up, we will be good as new.” Leo said.

“So, what about number 10? Did you pull the spell off Mathew?” Madison asked.

“Yea, it sucked. I threw up from how I felt, but I think it won’t be this bad again. I have a way better idea of how the spell works now that I did it.”

I walked over to the Goblin and nudged him with my foot. A weird groan came out of him and his eyes shot open. He tried to crawl away from me in fear.

“Oh hey little guy, take it easy. I don’t want to hurt you. I binded you to a test to spell honestly, you okay?”

He stopped moving and rolled onto his back and looked up at me. His eyes were yellow and very much like a cats. His teeth look horrible, and a faint spell of foulness washed into my nose since I was so close to him.

“M-Master?” He said.

Oh that is not what I expected. “No not master! No, I don’t want a servant!”

The Gobling kneeled down before me, almost groveling. “I do good! I serve new master!”

Leo spat out a laugh, “Oh man Mathew. You are so screwed. Slavery is illegal remember?”

Is that how the spell worked? Forced them to be my slaves? I glanced at Wispy and shook my head. No, I wouldn’t do that. He can be my, uh, Assistant?

“No not master. You are not my slave either, just my Summon.”

“I free then?” He asked.

Free Level 1 Gobling from your binding?

Yes / No

I almost pressed Yes, however selected No instead. “Do you have a name?”

“Yes! However, new master means new name. You name me.” He stopped groveling, but was still kneeling on the ground.

“Again, not your master. Shit, I don’t know what to name you.” I looked back at my friends, Leo was finishing patching up Madison. “Any ideas?”

“Boog.” Crow said

“Ten” Madison said.

“Squirt.” Leo said.

I eyed them all. Those are shit names, but Ten is the best. “Alrighty you are now known as Ten.”

Gobling is now known as ‘Ten’

You can summon and dismiss Ten as any other summon now.

“Stand up man, I don’t want you to be my slave. You are my new buddy okay?” I offered a hand to help him up. He took it. His skin was rough and cold to the touch. His fingers were knobbing and very dirty.

“Does Master have a name?” Ten asked.

“Don’t call me master, ever. My name is Mathew.” I said.

“Okay Master Mathew”

I groaned and Leo tried to stifle another laugh behind me. “Why are you out here Ten? You said I was your new master.”

“Yes! Ten used to have master, but you new master! We were hunting when we found you. Though be easy kills. Now Ten is only survivor.” He said proudly.

Crow walked up. “Are there more of you?”

“Yes! Not many, we have been starving for a month, but now we can leave cave! Old master will be very angry we failed.”

Crow looked at me with worry, “How many?”

“Master and two tens Goblings. Used to be ten tens Goblings. Many died from no food.”

Crow looked at me and motioned for me to follow and talk to the others. “Stay here Ten” I said.

“Okay guys, we should take out their cave. I hope he means there are twenty one left, and there used to be over a hundred. We can’t let them reproduce and get out of hand.” Crow said.

We all nodded, understanding his reasoning, all the which was further motivated by the blue box that showed up.

Quest: Go Go Goblin Killing (Updated)

Kill 10 Goblins: 9/10

Rewards: 20 Credits

Hidden Objective: Goblin King slain 0/1

Rewards: Class Item [Common] and 40 credits.

“Ten, can you lead us to where your cave is?” Crow asked.

“I only obey Not Master Mathew!”

I facepalmed, “Can you lead us to where your cave is, Ten?”

“Yes!” He didn’t move at all.

“Ten, lead us to where your cave is.” I said.

“Okay!” He started to walk away. We grabbed our things and started to follow him heading to what we hoped wasn’t our deaths.