A final stop by Di had Mathew walking out with a small stack of information books and crystals. The crystals were magical USB sticks. When he pushed a little mana into them, a screen appeared with pages upon pages of information on the chosen topic. Majority of them were very basic. The ones Mathew wanted to focus the most on were Axioms, Mana, and his Techniques: Abilities, Skills, and Spells.

Melton had to sort through a stack of paperwork. It would be at least a week before anything else could progress with the town. At most a month before the laws could be properly implemented.

Jobs needed to be assigned, protocols fleshed out, things he trusted Henderson and Melton to worry about. He would absolutely read over them after they were finished. Right now? He had a child like imp to placate.

He had a bag full of travel supplies since he was going to be gone from the base for the whole day, maybe the night if he needed to. He had everything set up so he could do so. Mr. Melton was very against it at first, but Mathew pointed to the Hearth Crystal ladder.

Mathew was Level 20, yet only in the top fifty. Sure, in the grand scheme of things that was very strong. But he was tied for fifty with over one hundred people. The number one spot was still taken by the same guy, now at Level 32. Yet the second place was at Level 24. The top twenty two people were at Level 24. It was interesting to say the least. Just what kept people at that level?

He had a few goals while out training. Firstly was to get Agnox to Level 10. Sadly, the Imp could not gain a Profession as that was stuck as ‘Familiar’. Yet a Class was something he could absolutely obtain. Mathew cackled to himself hearing that. “Summoner is so broken!”

Mathew looked around and saw he was out of sight of the base. He took a deep breath and started to summon everyone. Two balls of blue mana, a red furred wolf, and his ugly Imp were all around him several minutes later. The mana used up took him down below halfway, so he sat down to rest, think, and talk.

“Alright everyone. Today’s plan is to get Agnox and Jeffrey as high leveled as they can go. Wisps, your progress has slowed down recently, and I doubt you will rank up before I do, so we are going to focus on those two and myself.”

“And what about yourself, are you training?” Agnox questioned. He was currently sitting on the back of Jeffrey. The two got along very well, to the point Mathew wondered if it was because they were both Infernals. That or Agnox somehow knew how to tame Jeffrey.

“Fucker tried to eat me four times before he started to listen to me. Yet you just threw a ball of fire at him once and he is your best friend.”

Mathew pulled out his knife and ran a finger over the slight purple mark on it. “Training my weaker side. Physical combat.”

“You are a Summoner, who cares if you can stab someone, when you can just summon a big scary wolf and have him eat their face!” Agnox said. Jeffrey licked his lips at the mention of eating.

“Do all Summoners from your clan act that way?” Mathew asked.

“Well yea, that’s how a Summoner works.”

“And am I in your clan, who has access to people, training, guidance, and so much more? Plus special access to unique spells, abilities, skills, gear,-”

“Alright, alright! I get it.” Agnox cried. “No need to act so pitiful. You are weak enough as it is.”

Mathew just smiled. “First things first. Ritual time!” He opened his bag and fished out several items of supplies. His Ritual book, while extremely lacking in any good rituals, actually had one he wanted to test out in the wild.

With access to Mana Cores thanks to the Goblin Dungeon Core, he could afford one more experiment. There was a Ritual he overlooked last time called [Blood Scent]. The purpose of the spell is to lure beasts for hunting. It was extremely expensive item wise, and more than likely unoptimized. Whenever Mathew tried to look at it too long, his eyes would cross forcing him to look away. It was just a hunch, but he had no way to try and fix that ritual or test if it really was unoptimized.

Di was thankfully able to supply the second most crucial item via an upgrade to his own knife. This Ritual required further actions from himself other than mana and items. It required his own blood but to be done in a certain manner. The upgrade applied to the knife made it a Ritual Focus. Di had other weapons specifically made for Rituals and other spells, but applying the upgrade was much better in his opinion. That didn’t stop him from buying a couple more knives to use for battle and one more that had the ritual focus applied to it.

Blood Scent worked by attracting all creatures, who could smell, to you specifically. It required a mana core, like all of them do, and a series of other items that he placed in a pattern that he drew in the dirt. At first he was happy with a rush job, but frowned. “I should try to do it perfectly. It might help improve the skill faster.” After finding another patch of flat earth to draw in, he took his time. The second time the ritual was much better. The lines were straighter, and the symbols had sharper corners.

He placed his hands at one end and glanced over at his summons. “Ready?”

“I still think this is stupid, why not just-”

Mathew ignored Agnox and pushed his mana into the Ritual. He felt it drain slowly. It was faster than the last ritual for identification, but cost more overall. A red mist flooded around them as the ritual soon ended. Mathew quickly picked up the items, giving a last mournful look at the Mana Core that was turned to dust.

Mathew tapped into the mana in his ring and pulled it into his body. He has been trying to focus on mana lately. The books Di had, gave rough summaries about mana. Later ranks, he would be able to control it better apparently. Yet, it started with understanding one's own mana. It was like a fingerprint. Everyone has their own signature when it comes to energy in general. Mana was just the most common energy used.

Higher leveled beings could use all types of energy together, creating what the book called ‘flavours’ of magic. Mathew found it odd to see, but wouldn’t doubt the important information unless told otherwise.

Agnox had his arms crossed and shook his head at Mathew. “I still think you are trying to get me killed. That ritual, and yes I read it over your shoulder, brings in all creatures nearby of similar level to you! YOU ARE LEVEL 20 AND I’M LEVEL 1!” He yelled.

“Relax. The strongest thing nearby is around 10. Anything stronger would have already shown up and caused problems, or your own people took care of it while scouting, you said so yourself. Pittrdux even killed a big bear before the battle, unless you lied to me.”

“Sure, fine, just assume I know everything. Why would the lowly familiar never be wrong?” Agnox gasped loudly. “I must be the rarest of Familiars. The one who knows everything and is always right! Of course, that makes sense as to why I was forced to be with that bitch for almost four years. Then it explains why I’m stuck to a suicidal mage.”

“You’re the one to act like you know everything.” Mathew huffed at Agnox’s antics. “Relax, I can take anything on myself under Level 15. Add in all four of you, and we can probably take on the old Pack Leader without me almost dying, let alone getting damaged.” Mathew looked around, trying to detect if anything was nearby.

Agnox just shook his head and flew a little higher. “Just don’t kill anything too fast. I need to reconfirm what I know about the spell. Plus, I need to reacquire my [Fire Mastery] Skill. Unless, you decide to change what you want me to be as a Familiar.”

“Right now, my goal is to survive and thrive. We can focus on paths later. Getting strong, and doing what feels natural is my goal. I feel like your fire will be a good mesh with my Ice themes. I lack proper elemental balance. Jeffrey will lean more toward melee and tanks. While the Wisps are going to extend as my main damage.”

Agnox just nodded and a small ball of fire appeared in his hand. Jeffrey’s ears perked up and he got low and started to growl.

Mathew smiled to himself and readied a [Mana Bolt].

Bursting from the foliage were two bobcats. Mathew threw a single attack as Agnox and two wisps also attacked. Instantly a single bobcat was killed, leaving Jeffrey to fight one alone.

“What did I say about taking it easy!” Agnox yelled down to Mathew.

“Sorry, I didn’t think it would die so easily!” Mathew decided to let Jeffrey and Agnox fight the bobcat alone and he stood to the side and watched. A knife ready in his hand, just in case.

Jeffrey easily outsized the cat and was stronger, but was slower. Luckily Jeffrey had a flying friend to offer assistance. It took a couple minutes, and a single aidful attack from Mathew, but the bobcat was soon slain.

“Okay, not bad.” Agnox pulled up his own menu and looked things over. “Uhhh Mathew. Care to tell me why I’m gaining Endurence stats?”

Mathew looked at him. “What do you mean? How would I know?”

“I just gained +1 Endurence, +2 Dexterity, +2 Intellgience, and +2 Wisdom, and +1 free stat. The last four are normal for me until Level 5. The first one is not. Imps don’t gain Endurence, we are not known for our ability to endure attacks.”

“Wait, why do you gain so many stats? I only got 5 at those levels!” Mathew was about to complain about how unfair that was.

“Because I’m an Imp! We don’t start off at 10 like you did! My numbers start all weirdly. It’s fine, my [Fire Bolt] went up two ranks. At this rate I should have it back up to Beginner before the end of the day.”

Mathew scrunched up his face, “How will it go that fast?”

“Ugh, why do I have to explain things, you are the Summoner!” Agnox complained.

“Your powers improve-”

Agnox was cut off as a blur slammed into him. The air was filled with his screams as he was carried away. “Ahhhh!”

Mathew cursed, not seeing what just took him. “Let's go after him!” Mathew yelled to his summons as he ran in the direction Agnox was taken.

It was obviously something flying, but Mathew was curious as to what would have attacked. A hawk or eagle were the two obvious choices, yet it was larger than Agnox.

Mathew continued to run as he realized he had no idea where Agnox ended up. Losing track of him visually, he was stumped on a way to find and rescue him. He looked at Jeffrey, hoping the wolf could follow a scent or something, but then a better idea came to him.

He sat down and instantly activated [Share Sense] targeting his familiar. The connection was instantntious and Mathew saw himself, or rather, Agnox in what seemed to be a large nest. A ball of flames was held in his hand.

“Alright you lousy flying coward. Come and get it! You won’t take me down that easily!”

Mathew groaned mentally. He couldn’t see anything useful. Agnox threw a ball of fire, missing whatever he was aiming at. He glanced to his left, where five eggs were shaking. Each of them half the size of Agnox. “Sheesh, what the hell laid those!”

More balls were shot into the sky. “Either fight me, or I’ll kill those eggs of yours!”

That seemed to have pissed off the bird. The dark figure flew down and a rake of claws scratched over Agnox who hissed in pain. “Mathew hurry the fuck up you bastard. You are the worst Summoner I’ve ever met. Getting your familiar kidnapped and killed when he is only Level 2!”

Mathew saw him shoot more balls of fire, then realized that is how he could find Agnox. He quickled ended the ability and looked to the sky. He ran toward the direction he believed the imp was taken.

It wasn’t long before he saw a tuff of flames shoot above the treeline. That sight motivated him to run faster. He envied those with movement speed powers, and made a metal note to find one of his own if he could. Which then reminded him he needed to visit the Hearth Crystal personally. Who knew what Level 20 could give him if anything if the pattern of every five levels continued.

Mathew came to a giant tree. Something he did not expect growing out here. About thirty feet up in the air, a large nest sat across a few branches. A large brown hued bird had it’s wings out, and was squawking at Agnox.

Another ball of fire flew out, this time hitting the bird head on. Mathew changed up [Mana Bolt] in his staff, letting it hold for longer than normal. He mentally sent his two wisps to start peppering it before he released his own spell.

The bird was distracted by the three smaller attacks, and as it dodged, Mathew released his own larger attack. Smacking it’s left wing, leaving a large wound. Even Mathew knew it could not fly away at this point.

“Mathew, kill it!” Agnox howled

Mathew rolled his eyes, “Nah, I was thinking of taming it and calling it Fredrick!” He then pulled at the mana connected him and Agnox to unsummon his familiar. Just as he did the bird pounced toward Agnox. The timing could not have been more perfect, saving the Imp’s life by mere seconds.

“Okay, one problem solved.” He pulled out a knife in his other hand, just in case the bird pounced down at him. From such a height, it would kill a normla man before magic existed. Now? He knew he would survive the initiat pounce, but that beak looked deadly.

The bird let out an angry screech and the sound caused Mathew to wince. His wisps however, seemed unaffected and continued their attacks. The bird was stuck on the branches high up, but it continued to hop around, dodging attacks. Every now and then one of his own bolts or the wisps would land, leaving behind a frosty mark.

“I really need a new attack. This is really a stale fight. Not that I’m complaining about an easy fight, but it’s not something I can see myself winning against something like Morthrus with.”

Mathew heard another screech, yet for some reason it sounded further to his left than where he currently saw the bird he was attacking. A bark from Jeffrey told Mathew enough and he looked over in time to see a pair of talons coming at him.

His legs dropped from under him, causing him to avoid the dagger like claws. He looked to see an even larger bird, this one with white and green feathers. “Oh shit, I’m betting that’s the male.”

It made sense, he saw eggs in the nest with Agnox. That Blood Scent ritual made the mother find something to feed her kids. The male was probably out of range to be affected. The cries from help from it’s mate was what brough it there and now.

Mathew grimiced and readied himself. He couldn’t back out now. A plan started to form in his head. The two birds sat on branches eyeing him. He wanted to just run, but knew that was foolish. He was a threat to them, and there was no way he would be allowed to leave.

He got close to Jeffrey. “When the big one dives down, get him. If you can keep him on the ground, the smaller one can’t help it. Do good and you can eat one of them yourself.” Mathew had no clue if the food incentive would help, but it didn’t hurt to throw the wolf a bone of encouragement.

Mathew pulled out a vial of poison, the same he used on the Alpha Leader. He would pull out all the stops to win this fight, and a deep part of him enjoyed it. He looked forward to fighting now. Growing stronger, and eventually being stronger than his brothers. He was still the second strongest, but two others have caught up and are at level 19.

Once he was ready, he commanded the wisps to attack the smaller bird. His goal was to force the big one to either block the attacks, or dive down and attack him. It was just a waiting game now. Mathew also threw in a few low powered bolts to help increase the threat level.

Then what he was waiting for happened. The larger bird let out a large war screech and dove down building up speed. Just before it hit the ground, it opened it’s wings and bolted right for Mathew.

He was ready for this, and jumped out of the way, just as Jeffrey jumped into the way. However, Mathew severely underestimated how strong the larger bird was, as it took off into the air with Jeffrey biting onto it’s neck.

“Well shit.” Mathew said outloud. Now he had to avoid hitting Jeffrey while attacking the bigger bird. He frowned, but looked back to the smaller and weaker bird. “Sorry about this, but you did try to eat my familiar.”