Book 1. Chapter 13: Ophelia Smithsdottir, the Valkyrie Shieldmaiden

Book 1. Chapter 13: Ophelia Smithsdottir, the Valkyrie Shieldmaiden

When they reached the other side of the portal, the shy winged woman was nowhere to be found. She was replaced with a soldier, and her demeanor was completely different. Her shield and posture were at the ready, and she had the appropriate level of focus for looking for threats near the portal. Satisfied that there were no enemies, she looked back to her commander, and said, There are no enemies present! Your orders, sir?

Jake had eyed the demoness, and she had a satisfied, almost smug, expression on her face, hidden from the Valkyrie behind her fan. He pointed over to the hill, and said The gnolls are located inside of that fence on top of the hill, for which there are over one hundred. We have cleared most if not all patrols, but we will need to keep on the lookout during our approach in case there are more. I will cast support spells on us, and if you have any you should use yours as well. You take the front of the formation heading to the hill on foot, and await instructions at the foot of it.

Jake started casting his buffing spells on himself, to which he now had many. He realized that she did not cast any spells on herself, as she simply just waited on him. He hadnt had the time to check her status within his [Menu], especially due to the act he was putting on. He figured he would view it while on the march, so long as the demoness was on the lookout, to which she nodded. Jake would not have to pay much attention to their movement.

He finished casting Haste, Reinforcement, Bolster, and Stamina Regen on himself, then cast it on the battle angel, as well. She took on a look of surprise, but quickly pushed it down and started their march towards the hill. With her back turned, Jake took a look at his [Menu] and into his [Summon Information] section.

Summon Information: Ophelia

Name

Ophelia Smithsdottir

Age

18

Class

Shield Maiden

Race

Valkyrie

Shieldmaiden Class: Tier 0 Uncommon

+25% Additional Durability and Hardiness

3 Spendable Attribute points per level

A shieldmaiden trains to be the shield for their chosen. Meant to fight alongside their chosen warrior, they will suffer any pain or carry any burden for them.

15% Increased Effectiveness for Str and Con

Ophelia Base Status Level 1

Strength

26

Dexterity

22

Constitution

21

Intelligence

14

Wisdom

22

Charisma

24

Ophelia Combat Skills Level 1

Melee Specialization

Level 4

Runic Magic

Level 1

Summoners Bond

One had managed to break away and head towards her, but as she had already finished her group of enemies, that fight was a foregone conclusion. Jake sent some mana bolts in his own flanking maneuver against the ones the dog was harrying, and was able to take the three out before the Valkyrie could reach them after dispatching hers. She checked the bodies for life, giving them an extra stab with her spear.

Ophelia shouted, All clear! I am ready for more battles any time, Sir. She had a wide smile on her face, satisfied with how the fight went.

Jake could feel the satisfaction from the demoness over the bond. Fhesiah was very happy with the valkyries performance, and he was too. Her martial prowess as a level one was quite impressive, and Jake was excited for the future. Jake noticed she was hardly out of breath. This fight was hardly a challenge, and not even her full capability.

Jake sent a silent question to the demoness, to which she nodded. He spoke to Ophelia, Great work, soldier. You handled yourself quite well there. We will continue to try to thin the enemy out, staying near the entrance of the village and bringing the enemies here to fight. That way we can escape down to the portal if we have a chance of being overwhelmed. Captain Fhesiah here will attract enemies to us, and we will ambush them here.

Ophelia nodded, but she was looking at her spear and gripping it, along with looking at her body with a confused look. She even did a few practice thrusts, but the look of confusion continued. Jake asked, Something wrong?

Um, I dont know, sir. I feelLike Im different, somehow. Better. Itsweird.

Jake laughed, Isnt that the enhancement spells I cast on you? Haste and Bolster are quite significant, granting you 15% to all attributes, plus Haste probably speeding yourself and your perception by nearly that much as well. Then, the stamina regen spell should keep you able to fight for long periods, making it hard for you to run out of breath or your muscles from getting fatigued.

She smiled, Yeah, they are really helpful. But no, we had trained using enhancement potions and scrolls so I know what the effects of that feel like, especially Haste. This is different.

Jake searched his skills and text within his Menu for what might be the cause of this odd feeling she was having. Jake realized that he had quite the stacking of increases between the permanency and humanoid specializations, and the Summoners bond itself. Jake thought it might be the mention of the subtle increase to the beings effectiveness, that was particularly of note, as it was somewhat vague as to what this meant. Was this some kind of talent improvement?

The other mentions appeared to be mentioning attributes, but they were not increasing the base attributes shown on her status screen. Rather, it was saying that attribute point for attribute point the valkyrie would be stronger. That she was already stronger just by the points meant that she was significantly stronger than Jake, thanks to him, of course.

I think its because of me. Im your summoner, and I have specialized in the connection with you. Mana is always flowing from me to you, making you better, stronger. Here: have a look.

Jake shared the three screens of permanency, humanoid, and the bond over their Menu, to which she read and took them in.

I plan on specializing even further later, making my buffing spells even more effective. My goal is to make you and other party members the best you can be, and to support you in ways to bring out the most of your potential.

Ophelia took on an almost embarrassed, but disbelieving look and said, Youre focused onmaking me better?

Jake chuckled and said, Is it that hard to believe? Does a commander not want his soldiers to be as effective as they can be? I think most leaders are reliant on their people to do the fighting for them.

Ophelia stammered, NNo, sorry sir. Its justthat you are so focused As she trailed off, her voice became so small that it was barely audible, and Jake couldnt hear it, ...on someone like me

The demoness appeared very happy at this interaction, but she took off to begin the process of pulling small groups of creatures to the entrance so they can take them on safely, and Jake noticed that Ophelia kept glancing at him, and hesitated, like she wanted to ask him something. What is it? Jake prodded. She finally said, Iwas wondering if you also fought with that weapon.

Jake thought about why she was interested, and thought that it wasnt just about tactics or strategy, otherwise, she wouldnt have been hesitant to ask. Her demeanor when it was fighting related was that she was not bashful. Several times she had shouted out various combat-related pieces of information, or requested orders and there was no shy girl to be found, then.

Valkyries would often find their mates on the battlefield, just like the valkyries in stories would find their chosen to accompany to Valhalla. By Jake summoning her, he was definitely a top candidate for being her chosen, though it wasnt exactly like she was forced to choose him. It looked like she had a preference for her hero to be able to get into the thick of things. Jake smiled at the question, and replied I do. If enough enemies come, you may get to see me do so, and he winked at her.

She blushed and looked away, so it seemed he was right. A month ago, Jake was certainly not able to deliver such a stupid line with a straight face, let alone to such a pretty girl, but the demoness teasing had long-since blown away most of his shame to the point where the demoness just upped her game further and further. It also did wonders for his confidence.

The demoness returned with five gnolls in tow. Once again, he sent in the valkyrie and the dog, and supported them with mana bolts where needed. They settled in for engaging several groups, but Jake called a halt after they had killed just over 30 total. They set out to loot the dead, and they worked together and headed home through the portal.

Jake felt like he had an excellent idea of the Valkyries capabilities. She was fast and strong, but had low endurance to keep her fast movements with her wings for very long. Thankfully, Jakes [Stamina Regen] spell countered most of this, but he could tell she was flagging near the end. She adapted well to Jakes commands, and she did well to maintain her battlefield awareness. If a new enemy appeared, she would catch onto it and adjust herself well, rather than be blindsided. She did not have a tunnel vision problem.

All in all, Jake was quite happy with the demoness choice, though he couldnt help but feel the Centaur would be even more overpowering. Just imagining how powerful such a large creature would be with his enhancements made it difficult for him to think the valkyrie would be better. The demoness looked over and once again it seemed like her eye might have twitched, but he was sure it was his imagination.

They started their post-dungeon run ritual, and Jake realized that he would need another coat or armor rack for the valkyrie. He took down some of the other items that were attached to bring them over to his room, and let her load it up for now. When he returned he was quite surprised at her figure, now that it was no longer armored and could actually see it.

She was wearing what Jake would consider a sports bra and some boy shorts underwear, and her back was to him, as she loaded her armor onto the rack. She was struggling because it was not really made for the purpose of armor and was difficult to maintain balance with such heavy objects. Jake would definitely need to buy one now and he may do that in just a moment.

Her back was well-muscled, and if she were human Jake would have guessed she lived at the gym. Her wings very much appeared like angel wings or what looked to be giant dove wings. She had long muscled legs, and her pony-tailed hair reached to the small of her back. She turned to him, and she had a shy smile on her face. She had some confidence in her body, or perhaps was just used to being dressed like she was in front of others.

From the front, she had just the right amount of muscle while maintaining her femininity. A six pack with a slim waist, and Jake guessed her breasts were average or above average in size. Her arms were muscular, perhaps more muscular than most men would want, but he felt that it fit her well. Overall, she was quite beautiful and strong, her wings adding to her allure.

He smiled back at her, and said Im going to have to make some purchases, now that we have you staying here. I can certainly add some clothes to the order if you help me pick out what you want.

She was a little embarrassed at him needing to purchase her clothes, he thought, but she nodded. So, he motioned for her to join him at the computer, and took a look at what they could get on the [Alliance Shop] and the [Multiverse Market]. Jake purchased a functional armor rack. Ophelia looked on in interest, and appeared to be quite dazed at the whole experience.

He then looked into adding some extra space, even an extra room, and realized that he could afford it along with a bed and a few other things, with about half the funds they earned just today. It was a small room, but it was better than nothing. Jake was about to place her room next to where Jakes lead out of the living room, but Fhesiah pointed to the opposite side of the living room and he complied.

Even the demoness got in on the shopping action, though she hesitated to make the purchase. It was not a regular mana crystal, but when Jake read the description, he found that it was a crystal containing heavenly energy, or Qi as it was otherwise known. If Jake had to guess, this was what the demoness actually needed from the beginning. It all started to make a lot more sense, Jake forming some sort of core with her help, her clothing, she was a cultivator the whole time. However, it became obvious why she was only buying the mana crystals, up to now: this was the cost of twenty of them, at 2,000 credits, and they simply could not afford that purchase until now.

The gnolls were worth a little more than the frogmen at over 125 credits each, so they had earned more than enough from just today alone for all of Jakes purchases. The large spending after just finally earning a fair amount stung, but some of this was a one-time setup to help Ophelia feel at home. He would later spend some more on her room, as it was smaller than his, as small as that was already.

When Jake confirmed the purchase of everything, a door shimmered over to where he added it, and a few boxes slid out from the portal. They set about setting things aside, and Jake set about setting up the armor-stand and transferring things from the clothing rack, and cleaning them.

They settled in, and Jake for the first time set out to cook dinner for two, with the demoness help. The meal was much subdued and Jake felt it was awkward, but the demoness wanted to continue with the act, at least for now. The Valkyrie enjoyed the food very much and said as much, in addition to thanking him profusely for his purchases for her room, to which Jake just nodded and dismissed it like it was a matter of course.

He felt like he was nearing his limits with treating the Valkyrie in such an odd fashion, even if the acting was helpful, and the demoness reassured him that it wouldnt be that much longer. Jake then helped Ophelia with how to use the shower, and it turned out that this was not a challenge for her as they reproduce similar-styled fixtures using enchanting instead of technology on her world.

He was dying to ask a lot of questions about her past and what her life was like; from Jakes perspective, shes an alien from another world, how would her life be nothing but fascinating to him? Of course, he had so many of those same questions burning to ask the demoness.

Showers and dinner done, they retired early to their rooms. Jake was exhausted, and it was hard to act like you were a commanding officer as you watched comedy reruns in your living room, at least for Jake. As he lay down attempting to sleep, he felt a burning determination from the demoness. This crystal was important, and he was dying to know what was going to happen, but she made no move for the crystal. So, he did what he could to think of other things, until he fell asleep.