Jake reviewed his reward and his recent level-up when they arrived back at his [Refuge]. He finally obtained his first summon spell: the ability to summon a beast. When he leveled up, [The Framework] simply downloaded the information straight into his mind. He immediately knew how to cast it, and what it did.

With a few seconds cast time and a decent portion of Jake’s mana, he could summon a small to medium sized beast for a few minutes; or until it died. What type of beast would be somewhat random, but it should be a predator or at least something that was vicious enough to use offensively such as a wolf or leopard. It should not be able to summon something as large or powerful as a tiger or bear, however, at least until his proficiency increased, or he received an upgrade to the spell.

Still, a beast that he can summon would increase Jake’s safety. Even against trained opponents, flanking maneuvers are highly effective. Against dumb opponents like the skeletons, it would make killing them trivial. A temporary summons is not truly alive, only forming a copy of a creature of mana from a template, so Jake did not need to worry about keeping it alive or sacrificing them in vain; it would disappear into motes of light whether it lived or died by the end of the spell’s duration.

Jake looked over to the demoness. This improved his mood, and hers as well. He could finally behave like a summoner. The next 6 levels or so were likely going to be the most significant, the previous levels only marginally improving his power, whereas the rest would greatly improve his capability and bring him above superhuman levels. He would be able to pick his summon specialization next level, and at level ten he could pick his casting specialization. He was getting close to building himself just like his character when he played the game.

It almost felt like the demoness wanted to tell him something, and Jake looked over with interest, but she shook her head. He guessed it would either have to wait, or when the time came, she would let him know what it was she was thinking. They had some time before the next dungeon would be assigned to them once again, so he went over and purchased the [Reinforcement] spell from the shop. He would begin reading on this immediately, to have it ready.

Jake had learned that part of clearing incursions was to protect Earth, and potentially other worlds, but another part was to pay for Jake’s induction into The Framework, to pay for his recruitment from a [Fringe World]. Not only did Jake need to earn his keep, but he also needed to become strong enough to complete the [Trial]. The actual [Tartarus] labyrinth proper would be much more dangerous, having an intelligent [Dungeon Master] and other creatures.

Creatures such as the Dungeon Master could actually be sentient beings the labyrinth absorbed, who have decided to team up with the labyrinth. Often, evil creatures and races would become subservient to the labyrinth and be used as attackers within the labyrinth itself, so that they could be spared. Only sentients that get enjoyment from killing or torturing those that enter were those that would join hands with the labyrinth.

Jake finished reading for the day; it would still be some more reading sessions before he mastered this spell like the stamina regeneration one. Jake and the demoness settled in for their evening ritual, Jake eventually passing out not long after his head hit his pillow. The demoness absorbed yet another crystal and joined Jake on his chest.

When Jake awoke, he immediately checked the dungeon prompt.

 

That was a bit depressing. He would have to trudge around in a bog and fight a creature that has a natural advantage, and for up to two whole weeks, no less. He looked over at the demoness. She would not suffer at all in the bog. The demoness began to stir, and he brought her up to speed on the dungeon development.

Her face twisted in disgust, and Jake laughed. She wouldn’t be the one to have to wade through the bog, but instead float through it with ease, but she still was not happy about it. Jake reviewed the stores and purchased some bog wading boots, and tried to read about the frogmen.

Part of Jake, like any rational person, wanted to rush and complete the bog as quickly as possible: just who wants to spend their time in a bog? But the other part of Jake saw this as an opportunity. This dungeon gave him nearly two whole weeks to complete; this is longer than Jake had been drafted, or inducted. The recent brush with death for the demoness made Jake feel particularly vulnerable. If he had more options such as the spell force push, he might have been able to stop that caster or it would have been less of a problem.

With that, he made a training schedule for the next week or so. He would spend double the time on training and the rest in the dungeon. He would finish up the spells the demoness wanted to teach him, as well as purchase and train the Reinforcement and Haste spell, before pushing hard to complete the dungeon.

This would also give the demoness time to absorb more crystals, and hopefully restore the bond. Each time he felt like she was close to doing so, it felt like the goal was moving further away, though perhaps their run-in with the mage was a result of that. The shadows were nearly completely gone, and she was growing gradually, but somehow that last step wasn’t being taken.

Nevertheless, Jake set off to work on his goal. It would be a somewhat relaxing week; the bog be damned.

 Jake fought on through the bog killing frogmen, training, and eventually, the dungeon was completed.

 

The bog wasn’t actually that bad, and now that he got his reward, he was ecstatic. The demoness joined him in his excitement: he finally had a [Summoning Token]. He now only needed level five to pick his specialization, and they would have a new companion. Jake had some idea of what kind of creature he wanted now that he had experienced various incursions.

The varied landscape and enemies would leave him to desire a pet that would be useful in most situations. Something like a wolf or lion would be useful in almost all scenarios, whereas his giant tortoise would be useless in many others such as in caves where it could hardly fit, or in the desert and more. Still, someday he hoped he could get his war tortoise back. He had many memories of that war tortoise helping him in raids.

As Jake lamented having to choose another creature over his good friend and those many memories, the demoness looked over with a wry smile on her face. He moved on to think about the last ten days. 

 

 

He had learned all the lesser spell-forms that the demoness could teach him, for now. He would need to improve his mana control a little further, and obtain the regular spell-forms skill before she had more to teach him. Mana shield was high on the list for him to learn, as it would protect him from almost anything. He learned the protection spell called reinforcement, which was a sort of iron-skin like ability that would reduce all damage he took, and even strengthened the equipment he was wearing defensively.

Then, the frogmen had been worth over 100 credits each after they were dismantled. The alchemical components from their organs were in high demand, especially because collecting them was far from desirable. Jake was able to save up the 5000 credits he needed for his most wanted spell: [Cure Wounds].

Jake’s new summon beast spell really shone in the bog dungeon. When Jake cast the spell, a creature would be chosen from the biome he was located in, and he would get a creature that was effective there. The frogmen might find the bog to be their home and they should be able to take on aquatic predators, but they simply could not stand up to a giant otter with Jake supporting it.

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The otter would hunt the frogmen with glee while Jake fired mana bolts and buffed and healed it. He got a great workout for his new healing spell, allowing the summon to reach its time-limit before dying in almost all situations. The otter would snake up their bodies and claw at their faces and bite their necks, and the frog men's allies were barely able to help, as attacking the otter while it was wrapped around their teammate, without harming their own teammate was a challenge with their spears.

Between the demoness keeping overwatch and the otter, Jake was not even touched by anything but annoying insects that somehow managed to get inside his outfit. He nearly duct-taped himself up to keep them out on the third day, but the bog was just so hot that he thought he might overheat inside it.

Jake looked over to the demoness. She was getting bigger and more substantial now. Jake guessed she was about the same height as a two- or three-year-old child now, at about three feet tall, rather than a pixie or faerie like she started that could stand in the palm of his hand. She might be the height of a child, and half dragon, but she was all woman. Her curves were starting to cause him a bit of minor distress: ever since she decided to wear clothes other than her robes whenever they were back in his refuge.

She got the idea to purchase what amounted to a sports bra and yoga pants on the [Multiverse Market], among other outfits and tease Jake constantly once Jake had spare funds, after seeing Jake’s interest in a movie they were watching. This started ever since that time she nearly died from the mage, Jake realized. From doing yoga as she floats in the air, to doing other sexy poses and being a lot more hands-on with Jake, he felt like something would have to give soon. It was like he was trapped in his house with a miniature bombshell flirting with him, with no way to relieve the tension.

Still, Jake was happy for the demoness, her teasing really took his mind off the fact that he was trapped in his own apartment, forced to fight against an eldritch being in the form of musky-old dungeons. As the demoness looked at Jake with a flirtatious smile and a wink, he tried to change the topic in his mind like he always did. In a few hours he should receive the next incursion assignment, and that should be the last one before he gets his first major summons. 

Despite spending a large amount of funds on the [Cure Wounds], [Reinforcement], and [Haste] spells, he still had enough for some other minor purchases. The frogmen had actual forged spears, so his armor would not be sufficient any longer. Reviewing the [Alliance Shop] and [Multiverse Market], he realized that he could upgrade a few parts of his equipment. From the shop he could get a sort of loot box that would produce something semi-random, but they were quite pricey and he would only be able to get one. Their rarity and the fact that he had gotten stats on his gloves made them seem worth it potentially, but he would likely go with more mundane equipment.

Jake also noticed that he could have simply bought a Servant Token instead of a Summoning Token, and used a spell to bind the servant as his summons. It turned out that not everyone that had been inducted into [The Framework] were given a [Refuge] and forced to fight incursions and otherwise. Some were conscripted or drafted when worlds were contested, and others were simply born into [The Framework].

If and when Jake and someone else inducted into the framework had a child, the child would automatically be inducted into the framework. They would not be able to have all of the features of it until they came of age, but they would have the advantage of being protected from the outsiders. The downside is that this of course had a price when they died: they could be revived as servants, unless you paid the fee to resurrect them yourself.

During their life they could fight against the incursions, but they would not be required to. They are incentivized to contribute to the effort in some way though, whether it be through fighting or through crafting, or even training or teaching others. The system rewarded this behavior in various ways, from credits to special items that help their personal progression.

If Jake used a [low-grade Servant Token] at a cost of 10,000 credits, then odds were that he would receive a low rarity or low value servant, perhaps, something lesser than a human even, like a barely sentient goblin. Such a person or creature would possibly not be very useful for fighting in the dungeon, and likely would not be skilled in a profession to start. Jake could invest in them, but it would be a large expense for someone that might not be able to provide any assistance at all to Jake in the short term, and instead could be a liability, not to mention a waste of a precious summon slot if he wanted to bind them as his summons. There were much higher-grade tokens, but they were way outside the realm of possibility for Jake right now.

For both the servant and summoning token, when someone was summoned, they would get a choice of whether they would answer the user of the token’s call or not. It required consent of both the summoner and the summoned for the pact to be accepted. The one being summoned would get the gist of someone’s soul and personality before accepting or declining. They would be like an indentured servant, forced to earn back the cost of restoring them from the grave. It appeared there were more options than just becoming a servant, and their will was taken into account.

In contrast, the [Summoning Token] is only available as a reward from The Framework, and it was bound to the person who earned it; Jake could not sell it, or purchase one. When he used it, it would reach into the void of The Framework, and with some combination of both lottery and the desire of those drifting in The Framework’s void of those waiting to be revived and provide Jake with a selection of races and classes to choose from.

Every person that could be summoned using the [Summoning Token] would be someone like Jake, someone specifically inducted into The Framework for the purpose of fighting outsiders and died at some point during their adventures. They would be skilled or talented, but not overly so, as if they were, The Framework would have decided to revive them and send them back to their [Refuge], or in a city near where they died and pit them against the dungeons once again.

The Framework would have determined that they were missing some aspect that kept them from being effective on their own, or they were simply unlucky to where they died before they could really pay The Framework back for their induction. The idea was that they were sort of indebted to The Framework for their resurrection, and thus would pay it back with their servitude. When their summoner dies, based on their performance and progression, they may get a new shot at adventuring on their own. They could also follow their summoner into the next life, if they chose to do so.

When Jake picks his summoning specialization, he will get a sort of bonus on his first summoning token. The rarity or grade should be among the cream of the crop, for his level. As one can imagine, a level one dragon simply could not be compared to a level one human. So just how would they die before reaching the greater multiverse, or earning enough for [The Framework] to consider resurrecting them, and how would they accept becoming a servant, or someone’s summon? It would be a rare occasion for such a summon to be available, and Jake would have a better probability of getting something like that. Jake was quite excited to see what he would get for choices.

Jake, with the help of the demoness, selected a new chest piece and leggings. Fhesiah also wanted him to wear a cloak or mantle over the shoulders, for some reason. It was not that expensive at only 200 credits, and it even had a temperature regulation enchantment on it. Jake reasoned he will especially feel like this was a good purchase if he gets an incursion in a cold setting. Jake still felt odd wearing it, though.

The cape was black like his motorcycle helmet was, and the new armor was red, as the demoness insisted; it looked like she wanted his armor to match her robes. It was made of some kind of fire salamander leather, so it likely provided a minor resistance to fire as well as being much more durable than rubber and plastic hard mold shells. Jake would replace the other pieces when he could afford it, but he also had his warg-hide gloves. 

Jake had to admit he looked kind of cool, but he had thought so before and the demoness just made fun of him. Now though, she had a smile as she flitted about and corrected his clothing in places, like a wife helping their husband get ready for work, wearing her robes as they were about to enter the dungeon. When Jake stood in front of the mirror, he could hardly recognize himself. The body by dungeon routine was doing wonders for him.

 

 

His physical attributes increased once again from all the training and dungeon runs that he was doing, in addition: his Core level improved, increasing it even further. His strength and dexterity were also being increased by his gloves, making his physical attributes respectable. While he was increasing attributes like charisma with his free attribute points, Jake felt like the core was the primary reason for many of his physical changes. It felt like his pores became smaller, some light scarring was removed, and his body was just becoming better overall. He is always brimming with energy now, and he has been waking up earlier needing fewer hours of sleep.

As Jake and the demoness were wrapping up their preparations, he received the new incursion prompt:

 

It looked like he would be facing yet another humanoid creature. These often were quite skilled with weapons, and he would likely see gnolls with shields equipped. These would be much more challenging to deal with using his spear, but with his pet helping flank and his spells he should have no problem dealing with them; so long as he faced smaller groups.

With that, Jake headed through the portal with the demoness. When he entered, they both took stock. There were currently no enemies in sight, but they were in a large meadow, appearing to be on the prairie. There was a seemingly large hill in the distance, too far to make out any figures, with a massive wooden stake fence with an open gate.

Jake decided to summon a beast, to help him find and protect against foes. As he finished the spell, the motes of light formed into what appeared to be a mixture of a North-American badger and an armadillo. It was of a decent size, and Jake guessed it would weigh not quite as much as himself, the beast being he guessed about 150 lbs. It had a tan color similar to an armadillo, and clearly had plates over most of its body, with fur peeking out in others. Its body was wide and its posture somewhat low to the ground. Jake was very glad this creature was on his side, as it looked particularly vicious, with its front claws being like a handful of knives.

The demoness had floated away, but she returned and she looked on to the creature with satisfaction; it appeared she also respected the creature’s ability to commit violence. She pointed in a direction for them to set off that was not directly at the hill but at an angle to circle around it, and they headed out.

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