Chapter 32: Chapter 26 – Final preparations, Champion’s Trial Begins

Jake woke up covered in feathers; the valkyrie’s wing draped over him, and her arm over his chest. It was a wild night, and he looked over at her contented smile. Yesterday was very fun, and he looked forward to future dates and evenings with the valkyrie, hopefully future dates heading out to see the world. She had a lot to catch up on, her life being one where she did not get to enjoy growing up and doing exciting things.

Once again though, he had received a notification some time yesterday that he had ignored. Luckily, Jake didn’t receive one during his evening activities.

 

This was a welcome change, as it would increase the effectiveness of Ophelia. Jake didn’t have many summoner spells that specifically targeted his summons yet, but [Mana Transfer] did qualify. Jake guessed the only reason he received this was because both of his summons reached Lv. 5 in their bonds, and both of them were in love with him, and him in love with them.

Jake didn’t want to interrupt Ophelia’s sleep, so Jake prodded the connection between him and the demoness, and found her to be awake rather than getting up right away.

[There you are, Jake, I missed you. Did you both enjoy your evening?]

Jake replied in his thoughts to the demoness, “I did, and she did as well. Thank you for helping, and for giving us time together. I hope you found something to keep yourself busy?”

[Why yes, Jake, I did. I was leveling up all by myself most of yesterday, last night, and this morning.]               

Jake did his best to not allow his eye roll to be felt over their connection. She was being ambiguous about whether she was cultivating or—

[Why don’t you come find out what I meant, surely you could check?]

Jake just wryly smiled at her antics. Jake thought the answer was likely that she was probably mostly diligent in cultivating yesterday, but he wasn’t sure. At any rate, they had a new dungeon to work through, and to continue their training. They could enter the [Trial] any time after Jake reached level 8, but he would likely wait until Ophelia arrived at the appropriate level as well, and also wait for Fhesiah to be beyond even that, by completing more incursions before entering. It might be more challenging for her to cultivate in the larger dungeon to kill reward energy, so he would likely wait until she was closer to level 9. Jake had now purchased everything in their original “ideal house” plan they had made, and he and the valkyrie were fully equipped. All credits saved could now go towards upgrading the hearth, which should allow the demoness to reach the appropriate level in a matter of a day or two after that.

Jake could level to 10, and all experience would be banked until after he completed the dungeon and chose his class. He could keep requesting incursion dungeons to be allocated until he was ready to take on the greater challenge. The only downside to doing this, is that the threat might be higher if he attempts at level 10 instead of level 8. The rewards could be lower, too. Either way, Jake would mostly go with his gut on this when the opportunity presented itself. The demoness was not far behind, likely getting very close to level seven with her cultivating spree yesterday.

Due to her nature as a cultivator, she didn’t have any class upgrades other than the [Cultivator] moniker, and many of the important skills were already maxed to what her soul in its current form could handle. She could still work on things like those she learned after joining the framework, and she did, but it shouldn’t impact much what happened when they reached the next tier.     

The valkyrie stirred as Jake thought about their plans, and woke up. “Good morning, Jake. Yesterday....was really wonderful.” she said. Jake smiled at her and gave her a long kiss, then said “It really was. We’ll have many days like that in the future, I’m sure. Ready to go about our day?” The valkyrie smirked, then said “That demoness has made me wait for you and her enough that I think it’s time that we make her wait once, don’t you think?” Jake laughed, and then it was nearly thirty very enjoyable minutes and a short battle later before they emerged from their room and went about their day.

After that day, it was more of the same as the previous two weeks of them clearing dungeons and training their skills to reach the next tier, as it took another week before all three of them had finally hit the major milestone: level 8 after completing three dungeons with ease. Somehow, Jake had not hit level 9 before the demoness had hit level 8 as well, and they had given her two whole days with no combat to get her caught up to where Jake likely was, not very far from level 9. The new hearth helped greatly along with Jake’s core and siphon reaching level 5, as the valkyrie and Jake worked on that and their other skills while the demoness worked on her cultivation.

The two girls would alternate who slept with Jake for the night, as Ophelia was not interested in bedroom activities with Fhesiah in the room, at least for now. Right now, she was just excited and elated to be with Jake, and she was a little afraid of the demoness and her constant teasing. Either way, Jake and Ophelia felt like they were in a honeymoon phase, and opted to keep things simple for now, as they were plenty exciting on their own as they learned more about one another’s bodies.

 

 

 

Jake’s list of skills was getting a little out of control, but all skills were now level 5, with the exception of [Looting] which advanced to level one, and [Purifying Flames] which was stuck at level 4. They had tried various poisons and other status effects, but they could not get the skill to roll over. Jake guessed because Tier 0 poisons and other status effects were simply not “good enough” to move the skill forward in a meaningful way, the rarity or grade of the ability meant to handle things above their tier. 

Jake noticed that over the past few weeks that his attributes once again increased, outside of even the statistics from his core. Fhesiah provided the explanation that she thought it was his core refining his body, similar to cultivation; that it was helping unleash his unrealized potential. Jake felt like this made sense, as he was far from a peak human when he was drafted, so he would have some attributes to gain without spending any if he trained hard and he had a supernatural core improving himself.

Jake was feeling very confident with his spells, but had checked the system shop trying to find anything he was missing. There were some spells or skills he was interested in, but many of the more useful ones at this low of level would only be available to specialized classes. Summoners and hybrid healers like the valkyrie would simply get watered down versions of the spells and skills sometime later than the specialized class, depending. Thanks to Runic Magic, this was not a problem at all for Jake. He could easily replicate the effects of many of the spells he was interested in, and he was instead just hoping for spells or skills that might influence his new class, or simply spells that activated quicker and easier.     

 

 

Jake was amazed at the vast difference between Ophelia’s stats and his own. She was getting close to twice as strong as him, but Jake learned that the number wasn’t quite the full picture. Each point in an attribute was effectively worth more than the last, after all. There was not an easy rule of thumb, but Jake could tell that despite her attributes not quite being double his, he could count on her being stronger than even that. Jake would think his strength useless against someone like her, but the superior tactics of working together or fighting defensively could not be underestimated, so he would suck up being the weaker of the two and simply support her in the best ways he could.

Jake also saw that her melee skills were able to make it to advanced. Certain skills could advance on certain classes before reaching the first tier, though he also read at level 10 some skills had a chance of advancing again prior to completing the [Trial], so perhaps he had a chance of some of his skills improving before the final fight. Looting was proof that some skills could advance early, Jake supposed.

The valkyrie had also caught up to Jake in [Runic Magic], at least in terms of the skill shown on the status screen. Jake was much faster at forming runes and had a much larger personal library of rune words memorized, as he had made it largely his focus. The number of runic sentences he could form on the fly was much greater than her, but that was fine. She had more of her own skills to practice, and her smithing was taking more of her time as well. Her valkyrie magic was to an extent easier to use and highly effective, just less versatile.

It still handled most of the needs of the party, however, and Jake was very happy that she had also received the barrier spell that he had received upon reaching level 8. With the chosen resonance, she would always receive a shield if she shielded Jake, or Jake would be shielded if she shielded herself or Fhesiah. Jake was starting to worry about the sacrificial costs of activating so many abilities, but luckily the skill proficiencies provided bonuses to mitigate those costs, making their costs and effectiveness highly efficient. She had gotten a 25% reduction in health cost for skills that reached the fifth level, in addition to them improving in their strength and effectiveness, without increasing the cost.

Jake had wanted to enchant her spear, but found that he could not etch runes on an already enchanted object. He would need to reach [Advanced Enchanting] before he would be able to diversify the types of enchantments. He would have instead purchased a different spear, but a high-quality fantasy material that was of the same capability as the corrosive spear was simply not available. It turned out that the [Law of Balance] prevented them from purchasing special materials with the exception of dungeon drops, which were highly contested. They could not find a non-enchanted spear of the same quality for Jake to enchant, so they kept her with this spear for now.

 

 

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Jake just gaped at Fhesiah’s attributes. Were all cultivators this strong? Quite a bit of her strength came from her heritage, of being part dragon and demon. In addition, Jake and Ophelia’s core should be seen as something special, but can it compare to a [Spiritual Sea]? Their [Mana Core] was like quantity, and Fhesiah’s [Spiritual Sea] was quality.

Her boosts by using Qi would allow her strength and speed to skyrocket when used, and she was continuing to be quite the terror during training. Ophelia was quite happy working against her, as she could crank her speed up to what should be above anything they will face. The strength part, not quite so much, as a large creature could simply exert more force than she was able to bring out.

Jake had begged Fhesiah to purchase the [Framework] skill of [Alchemy] and raise her skill with that, rather than cultivator alchemy. They spent a few thousand credits on a non-cultivator cauldron and other equipment, and so she was able to help them: by making poisons and other toxins. This was the only way Jake could think of to train their [Purifying Flames] skill, and to test its efficacy. There were few poisons available on the [Multiverse Market], and they found that they could not get anything that would be effective past level 2 of their purifying flames skill. They learned that even the strongest Tier 0 poisons were purged within seconds, and effects meant to make them fall asleep or similar were shrugged off with ease, especially once the skill reached level 3, even with Fhesiah producing poisons with efficacy far above what was available in the market. They had difficulty training this skill, but knew it was important and kept pushing until it hit level 4, consuming all types of drugs and various materials that would otherwise poison them.

Jake made various preparations for getting ready for this dungeon. Everyone had their storage bracelet just chock full of consumables, protective items, food, and tools that Jake thought could be useful in certain situations. The demoness was the only party member that couldn’t heal on her own, at least until she was able to stock up on alchemy materials, and so she was provided various potions and restorative scrolls in case the worse happened and she needed to perform first aid until someone could heal themselves. She was also stocked on enough heavenly energy crystals to restore herself to full a few times in the dungeon.

It was a bit of a challenge, but they learned that Fhesiah could activate scrolls that required mana by utilizing mana crystals. It just took her several seconds longer to accomplish it, storing the mana from releasing the energy from the crystals and controlling it. Jake found that he couldn’t even match the same feat, his mana control of foreign mana such as that found within mana crystals simply too low. He thought once he hit [Advanced Mana Control] that it should be possible, the demoness currently already having maxed [Advanced Energy Control]. But [The Framework] would not seem to let him learn this skill for now, it appeared.

Right now, they were wanting to make one last preparation. It turned out that Jake has only 1 / 3 summon slots filled. They had not found another token, but it came to Jake’s attention that the demoness was not really his familiar, but under some kind of servant contract. The system seemed to recognize this once she started gaining levels and reached level 8, her Familiar bond becoming one of a servant and the levels of the skill being removed once she had reached the same level as Jake.

Because of this, Jake was now going to use the [Bind Summon] ritual, and officially make Fhesiah his summon. Jake thought of filling both the slots and keeping things the way that they were, but their bond started behaving strangely once Fhesiah reached level 8, and they didn’t want to risk what might end up happening next, as they could hear each other’s thoughts and emotions one minute but then nothing the next. The demoness had become distraught, not wanting the bond to break, and Jake was a bit unnerved as well about it, being so used to it just being there. So, this was the alternative, they would overwrite the servant contract or familiar bond by Jake binding the willing individual, Fhesiah, as his permanent summon.

This had the added benefit of Fhesiah becoming a viable target for Jake’s new level 8 spell: [Call Summon], and [Mana Transfer] would not work with a servant. This spell merely called summons no matter where they were to Jake, so if they got separated, he could bring them right to his side immediately. He could also take advantage of this in combat, as the spell was almost instant in its effect and the mana cost minimal. It also had the advantage of no cooldown, so he could call both of his girls to him. 

There would be more spells that appear later that allow Jake to affect his summons and his summons only, and she would become a viable target. Jake would want to farm dungeons until they got another token, but then they would have to wait until they built up teamwork with the new person and maxed out their skills and prepared them for the [Trial]. They would wait to summon a new person until after this [Trial] and they reached the greater multiverse.

They set about working to make the ritual, with the circle and chalk along with various materials. Eventually, it was completed. Fhesiah became his summon, the same as Ophelia. Jake could feel her elation through the bond, and Jake could feel that whatever had frayed the bond in the first place was now gone. If Jake had to guess, it was because of the nature of the familiar bond, it probably required quite the large power disparity between the two beings. When Fhesiah started catching up in level, the framework could not keep it active.

Jake was a little surprised that the summon bond with Fhesiah was already level five, but that’s what the familiar bond was at before it started becoming frayed like it was. The demoness clearly did not enjoy that she could not hear his thoughts anymore, but they had learned that when the bond evolved to the next tier that such options may or may not become available to her once again. He could still feel the relief of hers over the connection, though. 

Jake now could summon a familiar if he wanted, as he still had the old summon familiar ritual he was given by Odin and could just purchase the proper materials, but he figured that it could wait. Really, Jake just didn’t want more excuses for not entering the [Trial] immediately. They were prepared, and anything unexpected happening would delay them.

With that, Jake used his [Menu] and selected to enter the [Trial].

 

Jake reviewed what he knew about these dungeon trials, and wondered if his Champion status would skew things well beyond what he was able to learn. The information was limited, but the general idea is that each floor would mostly feel like an incursion, however, a dungeon master controlled the behavior of the creatures in the dungeon, and the creatures were not limited by a single type or theme.

There could also be environmental hazards and traps, though normally these cannot be very significant for a Tier 0 [Trial]. Their goal would be to clear all the creatures and boss, then rest before moving on to the next floor. While a dungeon-master controlled aspects of the dungeon, they still had limitations; Creatures could not move between floors, and creatures could not respawn after the floor boss was killed. Jake could verify the floor was cleared using his [Arcane Eye] spell so that they can rest up for the next floor.

The danger was that the dungeon master could see what they were doing, and change the next floor to challenge them, at least until they entered it. Jake was a little worried that his party was so reliant on flames, but he had various counters for this between him and the valkyrie being able to use Runic Magic, and the demoness had an assortment of scrolls that while it would take her a while to activate, she could still aid them in battle. He would keep his cards hidden as much as possible, until they reached the fifth floor and the dungeon master could not react.

Jake accepted entry, and they were immediately deposited on what appeared to be a frozen tundra. It was freezing, but between Jake’s enchantments and his cloak, and the fact that he had a fiery core in his chest, he was not cold. He looked over to his summons and they too had no problems with this at all. Jake reviewed the dungeon information.

 

It appeared they would be fighting wargs, which were similar to giant wolves, and perhaps other creatures. Jake summoned his [Arcane Eye], and got an understanding of their surroundings. There was a sort of barrier that pushed them in a certain direction to complete the dungeon, kind of like in a video game; the invisible wall that you couldn’t cross, to keep your focus to the level. Jake realized that when he got close, he could sense where this was, perhaps due to the framework. He found some creatures lying in wait not far ahead of them.

Jake and the girls approached, and the creatures rallied to meet Jake’s party. They were various tundra creatures: foxes, moose, some kind of horned rabbit, a reindeer, and even a polar bear. Jake’s party lined up against the approaching creatures in a formation they had long-since practiced, with Jake and Ophelia’s shields side by side, and Fhesiah off to Jake’s left. The first to arrive were the foxes, and the three of them put down a dozen of the animals with practiced ease, the rabbits arriving at some point during the melee.

They were able to kill the two dozen rabbits in a short time as well, each slice or stab of their weapons able to take one down. It was then that the five reindeer in the back started casting some kind of icicles and sending them to the party, and the five moose were closing in on Jake’s formation. Fhesiah retreated to the rear behind the shield wall, the icicles shattering harmlessly against their shields. Once the moose got close, Jake decided to thin them and stop their momentum with some earthen spears.

The earthen spears pierced through the lead moose easily, blasting it back and collapsing to the ground. Its collapse had knocked another moose down as well, leaving only three to be charging towards them at the moment. The demoness took to the sky and went to attack the reindeer that they were fighting at range, and while she was in the air, she saw something and shouted, “There are wargs coming! They are working on surrounding us!” She dove to work on slaying the reindeer, which looked like it would not be a problem. They could fire icicles at the demoness, but her movement was prodigious when she wanted it to be, and the reindeer might as well have been standing still in comparison as she went to slash their throats with her clawed gauntlets.

Jake and Ophelia met the three remaining moose’s charges head-on. With their shields interposed together, the transfer of momentum of a moose was not enough to bowl them over, and the moose just stopped, confused at the occurrence; Even their own head would normally feel the blow, but it was like they received a shove that perfectly countered their momentum to make them come to a stop. With the moose stopped, Jake and Ophelia easily attacked their vitals, and moved on and had the three moose dead in mere moments. Jake cast two more earthen spears to kill the first two downed moose, and Fhesiah had finished slaughtering her reindeer when the two polar bears arrived.

They could hear the wargs howling and moving to surround, and Jake just smirked at this. Last he heard, wargs could not fly. If they could not handle this challenge, he would just have his girls pick him up and fly him away, where they could just rain death from above, the dungeon barrier allowing them to get far enough into the air that they could easily be outside of whatever range the wargs could reach. Jake would have fought a tactical retreat to a more defensible location, but there were nearly no major landmarks that he could see for a while when he had used his [Arcane Eye] previously. The best he could hope for was atop a hill, or next to an overhang.

Jake and Ophelia started the fight against the polar bears with an earthen spear attack into their flanks. Jake wanted to avoid fire for the time being, hoping to beat this floor without using it, and keeping the dungeon master from being able to witness that this was the more powerful tool in their kit, making the next floors much more difficult. The demoness would be in conservation mode, anyway, as in the dungeon her ability to replenish heavenly energy was very limited. Jake could empty out his entire mana pool nearly every thirty minutes from full, spells like the earthen spear costing at most 2 percent of his total.

The spears penetrated the polar bear’s flanks but they did not reach very deep into their sides, hardly amounting to much better than a flesh wound. Each of the polar bears swiped at Jake and Ophelia, but their dampening shields were able to easily absorb the heavy blows without pushing them back. The valkyrie and summoner each stabbed out at their limbs and were able to draw some blood from their thick hides, each attack not ending very deeply.

The demoness danced around their flanks, slashing with her claws and drawing even more blood. The polar bears tried to swipe at her, but either she dodged out of the way, or Jake or Ophelia would interpose their shield to block, following up with stabs of their own. It was after about a minute that the two creatures were flagging, and Jake was able to get a good thrust into one of their throats, Jake once again going over Ophelia’s shoulder and attacking from an angle that the polar bear could not easily defend against.

The demoness got a good stab of her own into the other polar bear’s lower spine, causing their rear legs to buckle and fall to the ground. They summarily finished off the other polar bear, and they found themselves fully surrounded by what appeared to be over a hundred black wargs. The Alpha was among them, and they stood taller than even the polar bears they just fought. The regular wargs, Jake guessed, were about the size of smaller horses, and could be quite dangerous.

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