Book 1. Chapter 4: Final Preparations

Book 1. Chapter 4: Final Preparations

Jake spent some time thinking about himself and the recent happenings in his life: finishing college, quitting his job, looking for work, and eventually meeting with Odin where he was introduced to the supernatural world. How his patron lined him up with the staff and the ritual materials, which he then performed and she came to his call.

The demoness paid attention to his thoughts with rapt attention, but she never seemed to stay still. She didnt appear to need to flap her wings to fly, and just floated and spun in mid-air, even striking poses like she was lounging or pretending to swim through water. Her lazy somersaults and spins through the air were amusing, making Jake smile, but not overly distracting him as he sort-of told his story.

Wow, you really dont sit still huh. Well, I suppose if I could fly I would probably make use of it

When he was done with his story he thought about his current plans, that he needed to check the [Alliance Shop] and [Multiverse Market] for what he considered his final preparations to heading into the dungeon for the first time. With that, he remembered that part of the reason he held off on that, was that he was waiting to see what his familiar was capable of, and if he could somehow supplement their effectiveness with his purchases.

With that, she stopped moving in her flight, and waved to make sure Jakes attention was focused on her. When it was, she disappeared from sight, leaving only a small glimmer or blur. She then picked up some mail he had sitting on the counter and began to float it towards him, stopping midair once again. Jake realized that she could both scout for him at a minimum, being functionally invisible, and she could potentially use items or incendiaries if they were light enough.

With that, she re-appeared into his view, and lifted his mail above her head. He saw what he thought to be magical energy, and then the mail was engulfed in flames. Great, you can Shit!

Jake needed that! He rushed and grabbed the flaming mail, threw it on the ground and tried stomping it out. The entire time the demoness was bent over in laughter, pretending to roll on the floor: except in the air, laughing.

It looked like his little demoness had a bit of a mischievous side, but he joined her in laughter. It took Jake a moment to realize that the mail no longer served any purpose, his old life completely gone. That bummed him out a bit, but as he looked on at the demoness, he couldnt help but still be excited, glad that at least he had someone to interact with.

He wondered what her limits for casting spells were, and he glanced at her.

Could you cook a goblin, do you think? She was hesitant, but she shook her head no. It looked like for now: a distraction was the best he could hope for.

Well, scouting and a distraction is quite useful, and I bet your abilities will grow in the future? She nodded, so he moved on to checking out the two stores on his personal computer, to which the demoness looked on in interest.

Jake only had 500 [Credits] to spend, and this amount would not get him very far in either store. He tried looking for [Mana Control] which he was gifted by Odin, and found it to be a flat 1000 credits. He had wanted to get some kind of offensive spell like magic missile or something like it to supplement his ability to melee the goblins, but he would need to save up several hundred, or thousands of credits for it. Most spells he could find were even more than mana control.

Not only that, but he found a few of the other spells that he was interested in and they were way outside of what he would have available to him in the first dungeon, and perhaps the second, depending on how much he could earn. As a summoner, once he had his summon, his staple spells were going to be buffs and heals to help support his allies.

As he started to feel disappointment, he noticed over the bond a feeling of pride, and he glanced over at the demoness, who was paying attention to his actions on the computer. She started gesturing between him and her, but he didnt seem to get what she was trying to tell him. She got an idea, and she struck a pose and fired a tiny, sort of magic missile off into the air, then she floated onto his hand and did the same thing again, firing the magic missile from where his hand was pointing.

You can teach me? He asked, to which she nodded and Jake guessed she was smiling.

Thats great, do you think I could learn it in a single day? Jake asked, to which the demoness shrugged. It looked like it might just depend on Jake. Still, he decided that he would finish his preparations tomorrow and attempt to spend some time learning the spell prior to heading out. If he managed to learn it in a few hours before they left, then great, and if not, he would leave and continue his training on the following day.This chapter is updated by nov(e)(l)biin.com

That decided, he looked over what he could purchase in the shop. There were healing salves and unguents that were quite affordable and could heal minor wounds quite rapidly. Jake picked up a few of those, along with some other cheap odds and ends like stamina pills and two minor healing potions for general healing when he doesnt have time to apply the salve.

With those minor preparations out of the way, he decided to look into some protection. As a summoner, he would never want to opt for any heavy armor. He found that linen gambesons or leather armor that was better than mundane, with enchantments or with any kind of fantasy materials were simply outside of his price-range.

Jake glanced over to what used to be his doorway. He had a full motorcycle outfit, as that was his primary means of transportation. It was rubberized and complete with hard-shell bracers and guards for his extremities, and even had excellent protection for everywhere on his chest and back, missing only protection for his throat. He would pick up something for that from the shop or market.

Jake did some reading, and mundane materials could provide adequate protection against smaller monsters that lack decent weaponry or inhuman strength such as goblins. As long as their weapons were crude clubs or flint knives and spears, something like motorcycle armor would mitigate damage. It wasnt until he fought things with weapons and the strength of humans that the armor would be rendered destroyed or mostly useless in just a few attacks.

He also looked into dismantling the creatures he defeats, or looting. He learned that there was not much that the beginner dungeon monsters had available to harvest, but there were some things that could be collected that had value on the [Multiverse Market]. [The Framework] would even assist him with a dismantling skill, allowing him to improve the quality of materials harvested, as well as the speed and accuracy.

While Jake was excited as he thought the motorcycle armor looked kind of cool, he could sense amusement over the bond coming from his familiar. As he glanced over at the demoness, he could see her stifling a laugh with a hand over her mouth; not that he could hear her anyway.

He went ahead and purchased a short sword and decent sized folding knife that should be good for dismantling creatures. He also added some steel-toed boots that should also work well-enough for hiking, a head lamp for seeing in the dark, and a LED lamp that he could set down. He felt that the odd tech-fantasy mix was odd, but reasoned that Odin used a computer game to recruit him, so he got over it. A box got shoved out of the portal, his purchases arriving instantly. His preparations completed; it was time for some dinner.

The rest of the evening had been uneventful; Jake had finished eating, finding out that the demoness did not eat or need to eat, then spent the rest of the evening reading the wiki. He went over all the low-level monsters he might encounter in the beginner dungeons, and spent some time watching some videos on how to use a spear. When he went to sleep, the demoness just snuggled up on top of his chest. Due to her almost intangible and small nature as a spirit or ghost-like entity, he barely felt her there, but her presence and feelings over the bond left his heart with a light, warm feeling.

When Jake woke up, the demoness was no longer on his chest. She was sleeping, but it was almost like she had drifted away, several feet away. Perhaps responding to his thoughts, she began to stir and woke up. With that, she floated and flitted around lazily, stretching.

His plan for the day was to do some practice with the spear; putting to use the videos he had watched, and perhaps watching them again. He also planned on practicing his mana control a little more, prior to the demonesss lesson. Once he was satisfied, he would head into the dungeon. For now, he would shower and have breakfast.

Needs taken care of; he was now dressed in his jogging clothes. His living area still had the summoning circle, so he decided to clean that mess and use the same space for spear drills and getting used to movement. The videos included some drills on some common spear moves. The more he used them, the more his muscles became accustomed to moving in that way, and the faster and more confident he could do them when under attack. Not only that, but the framework would assist him in progressing in a meaningful fashion.

Jake set his feet apart with his left foot forward, and took a stance with his spear, dominant right hand at the butt of the spear, and his left hand about waist width apart. He moved his right hand and found how small movements moved the spear point significantly, making it easy to track a moving target, or to change from a low attack to a high, or from left to right with much more speed than a swordsman could. He practiced some spear thrusts, and he started to feel a sense of incongruity; like he was doing something wrong.

She added a little to the drawing, showing lines exaggerating that he needed to push it into the shape. She then joined him at his chest once again, and she motioned for him to try again.

Jake paid attention to what she was doing with his mana; apparently, she was able to control his mana once it left his core just fine, perhaps because she was his familiar? With that, he started to copy what she was doing.

It looked like his magic fingers, or intent to move the mana, needed to just be a little less stupid. He felt a mental smirk from the demoness, and he couldnt help but feel that she was teasing him somehow. Like anything else, Jake just needed practice. More and more rapidly he and the demoness worked to make the shape that she had drawn previously, until he had it.

Jake noticed that any withdrawal of his intent would cause the shape to collapse rather rapidly, causing him to have to repeat the molding back into the shape he had created previously. Now, based on the drawings, he would need to envelope what he made in a layer of mana, grab it with his intent, then send that out of his body.

Accomplishing this was slow going at first, but eventually he was able to let go of the internal structure, keeping his control over the outer layer. He could then easily move the shape around; controlling the thinner layer of mana was much easier than shoving the construct with his mind without it.

Is this spell ready finally? The demoness flew off and returned with some trash from his initial delivery: an empty box. This would be the first target to feel the wrath from his spell.

Jake tried to mimic what the demoness had done before, aiming his hand and pointing his finger towards the target. He then sent the shaped mana through his body and out his arm, shoving it towards the box. After it left his body, it sped up until it hit the box: where it ripped a small hole through both sides before it dissipated. The demoness danced through the air clapping and he could feel her feeling of triumph and pride, and [The Framework] showed him a notification.

Skill Learned:

Lesser Spell-forms Lv. 1

Youve learned a lesser-form of spell-forms. Shaping mana imposes your will on reality in different ways.

Spell-form Learned:

Mana Bolt

This spell fires a bolt of mana at your target. Mana cost varies on size.

Jakes feelings matched that of the demoness, and he couldnt help but feel proud of what he accomplished. Still, he knew that there was no way he would have ever been able to do this without her help.

Thank you, Fhesiah. I really appreciate you helping me learn this, and make it fun like you have.

She dusted herself off and fixed her robes, and bowed like she was some kind of play actress who just finished a major performance, and was receiving the adoration of her fans, nodding and spreading her hands wide. Jake clapped and wood in response, and she preened at his praise.

What he had created was a lesser spell-form, and it was actually called [Mana Bolt] instead of magic missile. Jake found he could consume a tiny fraction and create a bolt the size of a thimble like the demoness made, all the way up to the size of his fist before consuming too much mana or having a challenge keeping the shape. When Jake had read the [Alliance Wiki], he learned that there were various types of spellcasting.

Jake was surprised to learn that many of the fantasy genre styles of magic casting were in fact real: from how cultivators use their Qi and truths of the universe to cast spells, to wizards that chant long poems to create a spell effect, to calling upon the gods with a prayer, and even framework-assisted casting that was almost like a video game: where you supplied the mana and picked your spell, and it was like [The Framework] handled casting for you.

This was just one of the many methods to cast magic, and Jake was not necessarily stuck with using this method now that he was using it. He would have had to wait until he could save up over a thousand credits before he could have learned a spell if not for the demoness.

One of the methods that appealed to Jake was [Runic Magic], as it looked like they were quite versatile. Not only did it allow him to provide buffing effects, but he could also use those same runes in enchanting. Even enchanting had many working methods, just like spell casting.

Still, it appeared Jake was just beginning his journey of learning lesser spell-forms. He noticed that the spell itself did not have a proficiency level, but [Lesser Spell-forms] did. Jake learned that as he got better with all lesser spell-forms, Mana Bolt would improve on its own.

Jake would need to practice for a few more hours to be able to use this spell in combat, and he doubted that he could do that today. His plan was to use [Mana Bolt] to start combat, or to take out a ranged attacker once or if hed dealt with the melee attackers.

A few hours, and half a dozen destroyed knick-knacks and cardboard boxes later, Jake was finally satisfied with his usage of [Mana Bolt]. He did not think that he would be swinging his spear and able to use the lesser spell-form at the same time, but with a few more days of practice he might be able to.

It currently took him nearly 5 seconds to create the [Mana Bolt], and it required a lot of his concentration. The result depended on how much mana he used to create the spell-form, and to be able to damage something like a goblin in a way that could change the outcome of a fight would take nearly one-fifth of his capacity, he guessed.

To kill a goblin outright might take nearly half of it, or a strike to a weak-point like the throat or their eye with a weaker mana bolt could work, at least, by guessing how much damage the bolts would likely do to himself. Still, he would try to use it in combat when he felt that he could spare the concentration.

Currently, Jakes mana pool is not very large. Even if he spent half of it, it didnt seem to take very long for his mana to reach full capacity again; Jake guessed it took less than one hour to recover from empty. This meant in a long dungeon delve, he should be able to fire a lot more than five bolts. He made and ate lunch, thinking about the tasks he wanted to accomplish before he headed into the dungeon.

He prodded the demoness on if she wanted to work on the spiral again, to which she was excited to do so, for some reason. Once again, he sat down and got his mana spinning, and found it easier this time. In addition, the spiral would persist for a longer period once he stopped spinning it. It appeared even the demoness was working hard to make it spin, and that they were getting closer to something, but the demoness pulled back. Whatever it was, they would not achieve it today.

Jake decided to start getting himself ready for his first dungeon run. He donned his steel-toed boots, the motorcycle armor with an added throat protector, and motorcycle helmet. He filled his backpack with his dungeon delving supplies, leaving a compartment for goblin cores and other dismantling results, and attached the headlamp to his helmet. He grabbed his spear-staff, and headed to the door with the demoness in tow. It took him a little over a day spent in preparations, but he was finally ready.