Mana formed to create Wispy and he floated around the room a bit before settling near my head. His blue light comforted me more than I realized before now. Taking off all my gear and setting it to the side, I jumped into my bed relaxing.

Man, I missed a real bed. I need to learn a spell to conjure one of these I think.

With that in mind, I decided to spend my evening going over this menu. It was finally to look over every detail once and for all. I opened my main menu, and seeing the 1 point to allocated, I put it in Intelligence.

Name: Mathew Age: 27 Level: 7 Exp: 5,270 / 6,750 Race: Human [Grade G] Class: Summoner Profession: Contract Scribe Summons: 1 / 3 Titles: Lawyer, Solo Boss Achievements: First Quest, Professional Profession, Survivor Health: 523 / 523 Health Regen Per Hour: 168 Mana: 1079 / 1240 Mana Regen Per Hour: 315 Stat Base Modifier Total Strength: 10 3 13 Vitality: 11 3 14 Dexterity: 10 3 13 Endurance: 11 3 14 Intelligence: 22 9 31 Wisdom 21 6 27 Unallocated Stat Points: 0 Credits: 217 Submenus: Abilities, Inventory, Terms and Conditions, Quests, Skills, Spell List, Store

The new section on my menu was a welcomed one. I now knew the exact number of summons I could have at one time. However, not much else has changed, other than my Intelligence is over 30 now! I wonder if that makes me three times smarter? I didn’t feel smarter. At least, not three times as much. Moving on from that, I decided to check out my Submenus one at a time.

Abilities was still empty. I was worried I would never get one, but then again do I? I had spells and skills that seem to work out wonderfully for me. Inventory didn’t show anything either, since I had equipped everything. However, it did remind me of my rewards from the dungeon. I went back into my bag and pulled out the amulet.

It was a simple leather string with a fancy golden coin at the end. The coin only had an engraving on the one side, which depicted some sort of symbol I did not recognize. It was a circle that had multiple thinner circles overlapping each other within. For some reason the symbol resonated with me, but I figured out why. After staring at it for a moment longer a window popped up.

Summoners Amulet [Common]

An item that any summoner worth his two front teeth would own in his or her early days. Grants an additional maximum summon at one time.

That put a smile on my face. I had a total of four summons at once now. However that brought up a problem. I only had two reliable summons, and a disobedient wolf who wanted to eat me. I would either need a new spell, or properly acquire a summon through binding that didn’t die the first day I acquired him.

The memory of Ten briefly saddened me, but then I was over it. He was like a stray dog I found for the day. Enjoyed it while it lasted, but also glad he is gone. I then began to think about the binding spell. I decided to open my spell list up, tand read everything over.

Ice Bolt | Novice 9

A bolt of ice that leaves a cold sting on your opponents

Damage: 50

Range: 15 Meters

Casting Time: Instant

Mana Cost: 21

Summon Ice Elemental | Novice 3

A small Elemental of Ice is called from the frozen wastelands to heed your commands. Dies quickly in hot environments and is immune to the coldest of environments.

Health: 30

Damage: 65

Range: Unlimited

Casting Time: Instant

Mana Cost: 250

Summon Wispy | Beginner 2

Summon a Wisp to fight for you in combat. Wisp level and prowess is related to spell level. Wisps are fragile creatures and stay near their summoner for protection. They also shed a bit of light.

Beam Attack:

By spending 75 mana, you can charge a larger and stronger attack from your Wisp.

Health: 85

Damage: 127

Range: 5 meters

Casting Time: 10 Minutes

Mana Cost: 163

Bind Summon | Novice 2

Bind a creature to serve under you. The ability to bind a creature is done in two ways. The first by force. The second is through agreement.

Mana Cost: 280

Summon Object | Novice 1

Summon an object you can see within range to your hand.

Range: 10 Meters

Casting Time: Instant

Mana Cost: 20

Ritual of Learning | Novice 3

Increase skill progression while inside the ritual by 8%

Lasts till dispelled or a new Ritual is created.

Range: 1 Meter

Casting Time: 1 Hour

Mana Cost: 300

Ritual of Trapping | Novice 3

This Ritual traps the first creature that steps within it. The stronger the ritual, the better chances of a successful trap.

Lasts till dispelled or a new Ritual of Trapping is created.

Range: 1 Meter

Casting Time: 10 Minutes

Mana Cost: 300

As I was looking over all the spells, I noticed I had the option of selecting a new spell. However I held off on that for the moment. I was really beating myself up for neglecting two of my spells: Summon Object and Ritual of Learning. I have yet to even cast the first, while I only used the latter once during my grand victory over the Infernal Wolf Pack Leader.

I decided to use the two spells more frequently. Summon Object was easy, I can just use it to pick stuff up for now on, it only cost 20 Mana. I pulled out some paper and started to do some math. “If it costs 20 mana per cast, and I get 320 mana per hour, that means I can cast the spell sixteen times per hour. Which if I refine that to minutes, and if I round up, once every 4 minutes.”

“Ice bolt is 21 mana, with the rounding, it’s the same. If my team is going to be sitting in one place fighting Imps all day, I might as well make the best of it tomorrow.” I put the paper to the side for now in case I needed it again soon.

Tomorrow my team will be defending the walls and gates killing anything that gets close. If that is the case, I might as well use the time to grind my spells. Crow mentioned this before, and he finally gets his wish. For better or worse.

There was something that was bothering me with my spells. Wispys damage seemed lower than I saw against the fight against the Goblings. It wasn’t much, but I recall the numbers being above 130. I wanted to check something, so I opened up my skills next.

Knives | Novice 3

Your ability to wield small bladed weapons has improved through combat. 3% increase to damage with these weapons.

Writing | Beginner 0

Ink Stains, hand cramps, and long nights are something you are used to. This skill helps alleviate those things. Improved writing by 30%

Scribes Hands: You can write faster than before. Speed increases with Rank [Applies to Rituals]

Tactics | Beginner 0

Every fighter must stay wary of the battlefield. +10% to all allies you give orders to when they follow the order.

Upgrade Available!

Battlefield Presence: You're a voice of command in combat. Tactics bonus is further increased.

Battlefield Overseer: You are the eye that watches every back of every ally. Gain the Party Submenu.

Negotiation | Novice 5

The art of coming to an agreement in a deal is one that every Salesman, Lawyer, Business Owner, and Thief should master

Increase Negotiations of going in your favor by 5%.

Staves | Novice 2

Your ability to wield Staves properly has improved. +2% to damage with these weapons.

That’s why! Tactics applies to damage output! I also had to upgrade the ability also, but I still wanted to hold off a bit longer till I was sure on which one I wanted. I have yet to use my knives skill, and I doubt I ever will again since I have Staves now. A skill I imagine will become a great one in time, or I at least hoped so.

I determined that all my spells and skills will upgrade once they hit the Beginner tier. Which means Ice Bolt is the closest one next, followed by Negotiation. I made the assumption that just using the skill over and over won’t do for the later stages. I would have to use it in unique and proper ways.

The upgrades that I obtain when it goes up to Beginner seem to only be in pairs, but seem to have a theme. The question is why? I thought of the two I currently had: Summon Wispy and Tactics. Wispy was one to make him stronger, the other made two of him. I primarily used him as combat, and always talked about having more than one.

For tactics, I always used it for battle, calling the shots and directing the flow of battle. Which makes sense with both upgrades being battle centered. If I used the skill differently, would I get different upgrades? It was something I would need to pay attention to moving forward.

Finally, I opened up the Store Submenu. Several tabs lined the top depicting each type of thing that was listed. Tabs such as Weapons, Armor, Potions, and General Goods were listed. Within each tab was a list of items all under the Tier 1 list. Tier 2 and above was locked from me so I didn’t even bother trying to look at those.

Everything listed was common stuff that we had here on Earth. Steel swords, canned food, leather armor were all listed. Out of all of them, the only tab that had anything interesting were Potions and Books. The potions tab I already saw several of the options, so I looked over the Books first. One of the first one listed immediately caught my eye.

Infernal Creatures Vol. 1 - Common - 95 Credits

After scanning over all the books, it was apparent they were all centered around certain types of creatures or environments. The latter had a book I was very tempted to buy right then and there.

Infernal Environment Vol. 1 - Common - 190 Credits

With those two books together I knew I could be ready for anything in that Dungeon. I just didn’t have enough Credits. I closed all my menus and laid back closing my eyes. All the pressure of everything was starting to itch at me, and I had no clue how to move forward.

That’s a lie, I know exactly what to do, the problem is I don’t know how. Crow and I have talked ages on how to take my class and build. I narrowed it down to two different builds. I either go specialization with strong single type creatures. Wispy was a great example of this. Essentially a miniature cannon capable of maximum damage. Having different summons that could solo most problems. The end result is fewer summons to manage, however they are very strong.

The other build was a sort of ‘One Man Army’ build. I have dozens of creatures at my call, and over power my opponents with raw numbers. I would then depend upon my fellow ‘players’ to fill in those independent strong roles. Such as Tank, Healer, and the like.

The thing is I want both. Strong creatures like Wispy, but also multiple creatures I can summon at once. A true ‘One Man Army’ not a weaker version. Sadly I can only do three summons right now, and then an additional one due to the amulet. It feels like I would be forced to the specialist build.

I opened my Menu again and looked at my Summons count. I focused on it for a long while like that first night, trying to figure out how that is calculated. A small headache started and eventually a new box appeared.

Maximum Summons = 1 per every 10 Intelligence

“Yes!” I shouted in triumph. I now knew what I needed to do. Put every fucking stat point possible into Intellignece for now on until my head exploded. I pulled out my paper and did some quick math. My class gives two Intelligence every level, and if I assume I get at least one unallocated stat point every level, that means every four levels I get +1 maximum summons. Which if I set an arbitrary goal of 10 maximum summons, I would need to reach Level 30. That doesn't include my current Amulet, or anything extra.

I sighed in frustration. That many isn’t a one man army, it’s just a large group. I started to think of the advantages of a specialization build. The primary one would be that I wouldn’t be dependent upon anyone. Which actually now that I think about it could be great.

Strong creatures under my command, all of whom have a unique strength. Wispy as my main damage dealer. I can train my Ice Elemental to become an assassin? A scout? Those are my only two spells that it works with. Familiar would be another great one to start training if I can get a strong familiar.

Bind Summon was the catch here, since if one of those creatures died, I would have to acquire a replacement. So should I only capture strong creatures? Perhaps only use them if needed? Just more things I needed to figure out over time. However I was essentially forced this route with my limited number of summons.

Just means I need to train more, and that ritual is going to be my cheat card. With a plan on how to move forward I opened my Tactics skill to upgrade it. I would have fewer summons, but the Party HUD was great in the Dungeon. If I can have that outside to train and keep better tabs of my summons, it would prove a great asset. Plus I can use it on my friends while we are out and about.

I selected the Battlefield Overseer upgrade and then proceeded to open up the new Submenu. It was a very simple configuration menu which allowed me to put things where I wanted within my vision. Including my own health and mana bars.

I decided to keep my summons and other people on opposite sides of my vision, with my own information at the bottom. This would keep things from getting cluttered in one area possibly causing me to not see something important. The best part was I can toggle it on and off, which was not an option in the Dungeon.

The only last thing to do was my new spell. My options were limited since it was only a Tier 1 spell. I was torn between two spells: Bind Familiar and Ritual of Mana. Bind Familiar would give me another staple creature hopefully which I can start leveling up now. That would give me three summons at a time including any I bound.

Ritual of Mana however, would boost my ability to keep summoning creatures as they die, and then keep attacking with my own spells. It also applies to others as well like Leo or Crow, both of whom had very little mana. As I was thinking Wispy bumped into me knocking me out of my thoughts.

I looked up at him and I smiled. “Having another creature like you Wispy would be great. Familiars are supposed to eventually have telepathic abilities over time. Maybe you can as well right?”

I selected Bind Familiar and the information on the spell flooded my mind. It was then I realized exactly how powerful such a low level spell was. Unlike Bind Creature, this allows me to keep resummoning the creature I bind. The downside was it was a one time use spell, then it changed into a summon spell of that creature.

I would need to pick my familiar very carefully. If I get something like a Gobling, I would be stuck with a weak creature forever. I would have to use the spell eventually, but I decided to wait till I found a strong enough creature. No Goblings or Wolves. With all my plans finished I closed every menu and settled in for a goods night rest. Tomorrow the grinding will begin.

I walked into the meeting room with Crow, Leo, and Madison. We sat down at our table and noticed Team 2 was already there. Jerry had a new set of robes colored red. When did he get those?

Before I could continue the thought, Captain Franks entered and started the meeting. “Alrighty everyone, I will keep it simple today. Team 2, you are to scout toward the Dungeon and look for Team 1. You are not to enter the Dungeon under any circumstances. You are given two days till we declare you also MIA.”

Jerry and his team all nodded and started to talk among themselves.

“As for Team 3, you are all stationed at the west gate. Until further notice you are to report there every day to keep any adversaries away. Any questions?”

I shook my head, “No Sir.”

“Excellent, with that everyone, you are all dismissed.” Captain Franks left, and my Team headed to supplies to restock on some things. Crow needed a new shield, since his last one was ruined from the Gobling King.

The supply warehouse was interesting. At first it was kept where the gun armory was located, however they moved it to an old warehouse to store and study everything. I haven't been down here since I was first issued my gear with Captain Henderson. Things were severely different.

Tables with people were up hammering, sawing, or sewing different items. “Crow what's with all the handymen? Are we that in need of repaired gear?”

“No, these are people who acquired crafting Professions. They have been hard at work developing their skills and making new gear for everyone. It’s how I got my old shield, you think the Air Force had a medieval style shield lying around?”

The idea never entered my head, but it made sense. “So who made your shield last time?”

He pointed to the table we were walking toward. It was a middle aged man with hair that was starting to turn grey. He was currently hammering a sheet of metal into a round shape. He noticed Crow walking up and held his arms out and smiled. “Crow! I see my number one customer has come to see me again!” His accent was heavily Scotish.

“Yea Hennessy, I need a new shield, the last one got melted.” Crow pulled out his old shield to show the smith.

“Oh that’s a shame, however luckily for you, my skill became Beginner just yesterday! All my shields now give a slight resistance to magic. Want the same as last time?” He went to a shelf and pulled out two shields to show Crow.

“Actually I want a new one, a much larger shield. I finally got that Class I was talking to you about.” Crow said with a bit of pride.

“Oh? Then congratulations are in order, however I am running low on materials. It will cost you more than what you have given in the past. Your information was welcomed and made me the best smith here, however I need something better.” Hennessy almost seemed upset having to tell Crow this.

Crow smirked knowingly, as if he expected Hennessy to say exactly that. “Good news for you then. I found a place to mine. Iron ore, right in the open for you to get.”

“Oh? Do tell.” Hennessy said.

Crow told him about the Gobling cave and about where it was located. Hennessy actually had a small crafters team of his own that all was in dire need of metal. In exchange for the information, all four of us were promised free crafting service for one item. I didn't need anything metal, however I had several Wolf Pelts in need of use.

The leather worker looked them over and was instantly in love with the Pack Leaders Pelt I obtained. “This is a rare piece of material, what do you want to make it into?”

“I have no idea, I don’t need armor, since I use robes and I use magic primarily. What do you suggest?” I asked.

“Do you by some chance plan on being an enchanter?” She asked.

“Not in particular. Why do you ask?”

“Higher tier materials are easier to enchant. Armor, bags, and shields made with this would be great for fire resistance enchantments. If you don’t want it, I could buy it off of you.” She seemed very eager to buy it off me.

“Well what do you have for trade?” I doubt she has Credits yet.

“I honestly don’t have much. My leatherworking skill is at Novice 8 so anything I made is just a higher quality. Which means slightly more durable and with bags the weight is slightly lessened.” She said.

Weighs less huh? “When you hit the Beginner tier, come find me. I’ll get a bag then from you in exchange for the wolf hide. I will even let you have it now so you can work toward that rank faster. Call it an investment.”

She smiled, “Thank you very much Mathew. I’ll make you the best bag I can once I get to that tier. You will be priority number 1.” After some paperwork was signed a blue box appeared.

Profession Ability has officiated the trade deal into a legal binding document.

Negotiation -> Novice 6

“What's this? Profession Ability? Mathew, what did you do?” She asked me.

“Sorry, my profession makes any documents magically binding. It helps prevent people from backstabbing me.” Except with General Dritzka. If only Leo didn’t stop me.

“That’s pretty handy I imagine. I had no figments to go back on this deal, so I ain’t too worried about it.”

I met up with the rest of my team, and we headed out to the gate. Crow had a temporary shield to use till Hennessy. I filled everyone in with my plan on grinding, primarily to run it by Crow to ensure everything made sense.

“I think your plan will work Mathew. I was hoping you would go this path anyways, you have the setup for a strong build I think. By level 20, you won’t need us anymore if you have the summons to fill in every cliche role of a party.”

Having Crow confirm everything helped ensure my path. “Thanks, and I have no plans to replace any of you guys.”

Leo was sporting a new axe given as a reward from the Dungeon. Madison had wraps on her hands. While Crow didn’t seem to have anything new. “Crow what was your class reward if you don’t mind me asking?”

He gestured to his feet, “Boots that make it harder to push me around. It’s a great item for a tank class like myself, however it’s only the common version. I was upset the Store submenu had almost nothing useful in there for my class. At least what was affordable. An entire set of the heaviest armor costs over a thousand credits!”

We talked a little bit more about the store and came to the Gate. A few others who were on guard before us. A quick scan showed only two had a class, all the others were Level 2 - 4.

“Mathew, good to see you ontime. This side has been mostly attacked by the Imps and a very few of the other creatures. North Gate still gets the majority of the attacks, but don’t expect an easy time here.” One of the classed individuals reported to me.

I nodded, “Thank you, you all can head back to the base, my group has it from here.”

They all left minus a few extra guards who were in charge of any survivors or groups that came through the gate to keep record of it all. I walked to the other side and took a look around noting that no hostile creatures were nearby.

“Alrighty everyone, give me an hour and I will be ready. Madison and Leo feel free to scout around to see what we are up against.” I put my bag down and started the ritual spell.

After I created the ritual, I summoned my Ice Elemental. During the time it took to get everything ready, only two wolves were brave enough to attack us. It was taken care of quickly, not even interrupting my spells.

One of the guards took interest in the ritual I made. “What’s that do?”

“It’s a buff ritual. Anybody within a meter of it will increase their Abilities, Skills, or Spells slightly faster. You all are free to stand within the area as well. It costs nothing extra for more than one person to use it actually.” I said.

He didn’t join me, but did watch as I took position in the center of it. I then opened up my new Party Submenu and established my party. Crow, Leo, and Madison were on my left side, each of their health, mana and other information easily viewable. Wispy and my Ice Elemental were on my right side both their status bars smaller than everyone else's, but still easy to read. My own information was at the bottom.

Everyone had a box with a brain pictured within it, and when I focused on it I could see it was the buff from Ritual of Learning. “Okay everyone, I think we are ready to start the day. How are we all feeling?”

Everyone nodded as they had little to really prepare.

“Madison time to go Fishing” I said.

She gave a two fingered salute and ran into the forest. Fishing was a term Crow used for what we were doing. A party sends a single person to gain the attention of some creatures to fight. Then she will bring them to us to fight. This way we can fight within my Ritual, although a meter was a very small space. Only six minutes passed before our first battle started.

Brown Bear x2 - Level 2

Two bears came running toward us and I had Wispy attack them as soon as they were within range. Crow was ready to stop them with his shield as they both bashed into him. Madison and Leo were instantly on top of them both.

Wispy dealt 140 Cold Damage to Brown Bear.

Wispy dealt 139 Cold Damage to Brown Bear.

Brown Bear dealt 50 Bludgeoning Damage to Crow.

Brown Bear dealt 61 Bludgeoning Damage to Crow.

Madison dealt 12, 15, and 21 Bludgeoning Damage to Brown Bear.

Leo dealt 95 Slashing Damage to Brown Bear. Killing Blow!

“Now!” I shouted, and a small icy figure sprinted from behind me toward the bear Madison was fighting.

Ice Elemental dealt 70 Cold Damage to Brown Bear. Killing Blow!

The skirmish didn’t take long, so Madison quickly went back out to attract our next fight.

After our first day at that spot we encountered no Infernal creatures to fight. We gained a healthy amount of experience and we increased the stages of all our skills and spells. I was close to a level up again, and I knew tomorrow would bring many rewards.

The next day we did it all over again. I set everything up and spent any freetime waiting on casting Summon Object to rank it up quickly. Madison went out fishing for things for us to fight and we killed them. A few of the guards would throw a few ranged attacks to help every now and then, if anything for themselves to gain experience.

It was the last couple hours of our day when our first really scary fight started.

Infernal Imp x5 - Level 3

I mentally berated myself for not having a Trap ritual ready for one of these guys. I really wanted to trap one and bind it to myself.

“Get ready guys. Leo, I suggest using Lucky this time, these guys can fly.” I said.

Leo pulled out Lucky in response and soon the first blasts of fire spells were upon us.

Imp dealt 175 Fire Damage to Leo.

Imp dealt 200 Fire Damage to Madison.

Imp dealt 140 Fire Damage to Crow.

Imp dealt 221 Fire Damage to You.

Imp dealt 81 Fire Damage to Wispy. Resisted!

“Shit! Wispy run!” Wispy almost died, living with only four health points. I couldn’t afford my main source of ranged damage to disappear. Everyone else including me was fine and we returned without our own attacks. Since when did Wispy have fire Resistance?

I also just lost half my health, so I stayed more alert about incoming attacks. The Imps attacked with range, so we couldn’t fight it within the Ritual’s effect. Luckily I can stay here and reap the benefits. Leo rushed forward letting loose shots from his gun, only hitting twice.

Leo dealt 37 Fire Damage to Imp. Resisted!

Leo dealt 40 Fire Damage to Imp. Resisted!

“Crow, boost me!” Madison yelled as she ran toward him. Crow ducked down and as soon as Madison had a foot on him, he jumped and launched her into the air. As she did, her right fist lit on fire. “Fiery Fist!”

Madison dealt 41 Fire Damage to Imp. Resisted!

I groaned in annoyance. Why does half of us have fire related attacks!

I sent a mental command to the Ice Elemental to attack when he saw one within range. I then lifted my staff and started to attack of my own accord. “Ice Bolt!”

You dealt 52 Cold Damage to Imp.

The Imp I hit looked at me annoyed. Then his eyes widened and let out a shot of words that I could not understand. The other Imps all looked over at me and all seemed to agree on whatever they were talking about. Their distraction allowed Leo to get off a hit at one of them knocking it out of the air and onto the ground.

Leo dealt 80 Slashing Damage to Imp.

Once the little fucker landed, my Ice Elemental rushed forward and stabbed it with it’s arms.

Ice Elemental dealt 130 Cold Damage to Imp. Critical! Killing Blow!

Realizing their mistake they soon rose higher into the air slightly and all made a beeline for me. “Crow!”

“Block!” Crow yelled as he leaped in front of me to shield me from the barrage of fire attacks.

Imp dealt 139 Fire Damage to Crow.

Imp dealt 144 Fire Damage to Crow.

Imp dealt 140 Fire Damage to Crow.

Imp dealt 122 Fire Damage to Crow.

I watched Crow’s health tick down by a lot more. The entire barrage of attacks would have killed me instantly, yet he took it like a trooper. Why did they attack me? Was it because I was the weakest in defense?

I didn’t have any more time for thoughts, because they were on top of us again. I made a quick judgement call and sent mana to Wispy to charge his large attack. “Crow dodge!” I commanded as I also tried to leap out of the way of the incoming attack from Wispy. Sadly I wasn’t able to avoid most of the damage. Unfortunately for the Imps, they received the full brunt of the attack.

Wispy dealt 200 Cold Damage to Imp. Killing Blow!

Wispy dealt 210 Cold Damage to Imp. Killing Blow!

Wispy dealt 211 Cold Damage to Imp. Killing Blow!

Wispy dealt 110 Cold Damage to You.

Wispy dealt 87 Cold Damage to Crow.

The seering cold washed over me, and I laid on the ground for a moment mentally regretting the attack for a moment. However we won the battle, albeit a close one. I rolled over and Leo was there pulling out his first aid kit.

“Mathew, that was the smartest dumb thing you ever did. Good job.” Leo said with a smile. He bandaged me and Crow up who in turn was very excited that we just won that fight.

“Madison, that was an amazing jump attack! Why did you think to do that?”

“Ahh, well I can’t reach that high, and you are the closest stump to jump off of.” She said with a smirk.

I rolled my eyes and looked at my mana. I had enough to resummon Wispy, but I couldn’t afford to use Summon Object anymore, till our day of grinding was over. I resummoned him, and he was now at full health. The Ice Elemental had little health anyways, so I didn’t bother wasting the mana on him till he was officially dead.

I walked over to the dead bodies and only one of them had anything to loot. It was a rolled up piece of paper, which when I picked it up brought up the item description.

Infernal Contract - Rare - Unreadable due to unknown language

“What did it drop Mathew?” Leo asked.

“It’s a contract. I can’t read it apparently due to a difference in language.” The implications of this item had made me interested. Imps used contracts also!

“Yea Imps are typically familiar for Devils. All of whom use Contracts to write out the terms of their familiars.” Crow said

“Oh yea? I wonder if I could get one to be my familiar.” I thought aloud.

“Be Careful with that path Mathew. Imps and Devils are tricky bastards. They twist meanings of works and sentences to fit their own agenda. The cost of having one as a familiar is typically high in cost, like your soul.”

I looked at Crow like he was talking nonsense for a moment, but then stopped when I realized what he said was probably correct. That begs the question, should I make one my familiar? Having fire magic would be great to counter my main source of cold damage. I don’t want to risk the Infernal Wolf anytime soon, so my only option is to bind one as a summon or as a familiar.

“I will Crow, thanks for the advice. I am going to need to think it over way more before then.” That’s when the blue boxes decided to appear sharing all my progress over the last two days.

Combat Summary:

1,500 Experience Gained

Leveled Up!

Unallocated Stat Points: 1

Ice Bolt -> Beginner 0

Upgrade Available!

Summon Ice Elemental -> Novice 8

Ritual of Learning -> Novice 8

Summon Wispy -> Beginner 3

Summon Object -> Novice 3

Tactics -> Beginner 2

Staves -> Novice 3

Everyone levelled up, and were shocked at doing so. The experience gains reported was somewhat less than what was shown. Then I realized something very important. “The ritual works on experience gains also!”

This was something I am glad I learned now. I wasn’t too worried about realizing it now, since all of our previous fights were more or less surprised or were in the Dungeon before recently. Having the knowledge now was better than later. I clicked my Ice Bolt spell and looked over the upgrade for it.

Skill Upgrade Available: Ice Bolt

Lingering Cold: Your attacks leave a frosty mark slowing down those hits.

Sheer Cold: Your attacks pierce through enemies defenses and increases damage output.

I didn’t need more damage since I had wispy, so I went with the slowing effect. It instantly made the other Ice Spell attack I had obsolete, but I didn’t care. Now my attacks slowed down my enemies and that means it takes longer for them to reach me if they are melee.

Everyone else seemed happy about their level ups. Especially Crow and Leo who had big shit eating grins. “Hey Mathew, guess who isn’t the only caster in the party now?”

Crow obtained a spell called ‘Taunt’ which made him the focus of all attacks for a few moments. Leo received a Heal spell. An amazing addition to his build, the sign of a true cleric or paladin. Madison didn’t receive any new abilities or Tradition, however she got a new skill called ‘Jump’.

We packed up and traded off with the next shift. We headed back to the base and were soon found by Captain Franks. “Thank goodness I found you four. Come with me, it’s urgent.”

He just walked off expecting us to follow him. I looked at the others, all of whom shrugged. We followed him into his private office which was too small for us to all fit inside so Crow stood outside the doorway and listened from there.

“This is important, and I ask you all not to share what I am going to tell you all. Team 2 returned, with casualties. Two of their members perished and a third will lose an arm. The Infernal Dungeon is much more dangerous than we expected and we have no idea why, when they returned they claimed it was a Level 7 required Dungeon now.”

The news was shocking. “Who didn’t make it?” I asked.

“Sophia and Steve-O. Jerry lost his arm. Airman Brown actually joined them this one time, which ended up saving everyone's life.”

I had mixed feelings about the news. A mix of anger and sadness. Sad they died, but anger at the memory of being left by them.

“Why are you telling us?” Leo asked.

“Because, you all are now officially the four highest leveled people on the base. You will be next to go on a mission to officially close the Dungeon. We are working out who exactly is all involved, but Mathew is leading the endeavor.”

“What? Why me!” I exclaimed.

“Mathew, nobody can deny your capabilities. You are Level 8 now, and only are reported 7. Which means in the last three days you have been back, you leveled up. A record pace for anyone here. Other than obviously you.”

I stared at him for a moment, he had a point. “What about General Dritzka?”

“He was forced into this choice. It took a lot of persuasion, in the end he had a blue box appear in front of him and he swiftly changed his mind. I have no clue what it’s about, but I have my suspicions.” Captain Frank's eyes landed on me with a strong gaze.

“You have two weeks, form your team of seven and prepare yourselves for the infiltration and conquering of this Dungeon. You have been green lit for top level resources and everyone in the Warehouse has been told to give you the best treatments possible. If anyone gives you any problems find me.”

I looked at the others, all of whom were looking back toward me. Shit, I am in charge here now aren't I? I wanted this, but not like this. I didn’t want them to die so I could be here.

“I guess we have no choice but to get ready. However I get to pick the people and I want my team to no longer be treated like bottom wrung scum. If we are your final card to play, I expect payment for us all.” I said confidently

“Of course, it’s not known but my Class can help you all.” He opened up his menu and seemed to push several buttons before a blue box appeared in front of Crow, Leo, Madison and myself.

Quest: Infiltrate the Infernal Dungeon

You have been asked to defeat the local Infernal Dungeon. The Dungeon has become stronger from an unknown reason and as such you are the final hope to end it once and for all. As such you have been asked to form a strong team. Given access to the best resources and people to aid you, prepare yourselves or increase your odds of death.

Defeat Infernal Dungeon: 0/1

Discover what happened to Team 1: 0/1

Rewards: 300 Credits, Increase reputation among Base Leadership, Class item [Common], Unique Ability [Uncommon]

“What -”

“Don’t ask. It’s still a secret to most people. I am still learning how it works. I gave you the highest rewards possible for your team. Anyone who helps you, limited to nine people will get that reward. Choose your team carefully Mathew, and my God be with you.”