Chapter 4: Chapter 3 – Summon Familiar

As Jake read the book, he felt like the knowledge was truly becoming a part of him. He wasn’t sure if this was [The Framework] assisting him, or if it was that the book was magical in some way, but as he turned the pages he felt like he was truly getting an understanding of controlling mana. Mana was present in all things, even if the people of earth didn’t know it. Mana flowed and filled his [Refuge], and he could take it in within his body.

Even his body both had and created mana, where he felt the burning in his chest when Odin drafted him into [The Framework]. After reading the book and feeling like he fully understood [Mana Control], he received a notification, but he looked inward and tried to control his mana. It took him a while, but he was eventually able to move it. Jake checked the notification that he had ignored. 

 

 

Jake had done it, he had found his mana within himself and was now able to control it, at least somewhat within his body. He noticed that several hours had passed since he had started reading the book and trying to control his mana, and he was now covered in sweat, hungry and exhausted. He realized that he needed to take a shower and have something to eat before he continued.

His small apartment’s shower was a little bit of a letdown, but it still did its job. He wondered how exactly it continued to work, but he guessed that [The Framework] was supplying his [Refuge] with these resources. Now that this was his [Refuge] and he could add rooms and improve them, he wondered how exactly all of that was going to work. Would a glimmer of light happen and his room get bigger? Would some gnomes show up and start construction, pushing him out of the way until work was completed?

He set those shower thoughts aside, and went to cook lunch. His kitchen was not much to write home about either, but he had the normal fixtures of a sink, oven with stove top, microwave oven, and fridge. As part of taking care of himself, he had taken up cooking. Jake found it difficult to eat healthy with prepackaged food, at least while being able to moderately enjoy it. That led to him striving to improve his meals and learning various recipes online, and he was quite proud of the things he could make. He made some toasted paninis and settled down to read the wiki on familiars while he ate.

Jake learned that there were many types of familiars that could be summoned from various rituals: from demons to animal spirits, to Fae like fairies and pixies. Even humanoid familiars did exist, although both summoning and binding them would require someone or something extremely powerful to accomplish this; there was a difference in power required between the two beings.  Familiars would serve who summoned and bound them, and in return they would receive the summoner’s mana or some other agreed upon resource.

It seemed that someone of his power, barely able to control his mana and with a low capacity, would have difficulty summoning anything that could handle more than minor tasks, let alone be useful in combat or helping at all in the dungeon. Because of the harm that would come to both parties when something bad happened to the familiar, it simply seemed too risky to bring them in the dungeon.

Just why did they provide a [Summon Familiar] ritual instead of something else? Surely an offensive or healing spell would be much more useful to him as he enters a dungeon and starts risking his life. A rat that could sneak through grates and unlock doors or an owl that could deliver mail simply would not be very useful for killing goblins.

He finished his food, and so he took a much closer look at the [Summon Familiar] ritual he was provided. It came with instructions, but not a lot of information on what kind of familiar he would be summoning. He used the materials provided and tried to match it up with the [Summon Familiar] information in the wiki. It took some time to match up the familiar information with his ritual, but he eventually managed it. The only difference appeared to be the stone statue, a mangled figurine perhaps, replaced a different object.

This ritual was a kind which established a permanent bond with a familiar that resonated perfectly with Jake’s soul; specifically, one that would share his goals and desires. Through the ritual Jake would bare his soul to the void, and only a creature which liked what it saw and wanted what Jake wanted would answer the call, and bind themselves to him.

Unlike the other rituals or familiar types, it did not seem to be limited by his personal power, but only by his soul resonance and his desires being what the creature wanted to bond with. The creature would then pay whatever price to bind itself with him, and they would forever be stuck with Jake and Jake with them.

The idea both excited and concerned Jake. He could get anything, even a powerful creature, though the creature itself would be limited by his current mana pool and strength to be bound, as he got stronger so could they. He could also get a very weak and useless creature, and just what would that say about Jake?

Because this ritual was based on soul resonance, it was unlikely that him being stronger or waiting a few years would make any difference in what he summoned; his desires and the type of person he was is unlikely to change much in the short term. In a way, this was like summoning a soul-mate.

The familiar bond went deep into each other’s soul, where all thoughts and feelings would pass through between him and his summoned familiar. His familiar’s desires would match his own, and they would work together to achieve his goals. He was starting to get very excited at the prospect; he very much desired someone to work as a team with, he had been alone for far too long. This was almost like summoning a family member.

While he had many friends online, they were not very deep connections, and they were not of similar mindset. For better or for worse, this being he would summon, their very nature would make them desire what he did.

Despite that, he was simply too excited to find out what kind of summoned familiar would answer his call. He set out clearing out ample space in his apartment, adding a few extra feet to the dimensions of the planned ritual circle to give ample space for it. He had to move his couch; his apartment was simply not very large. He at least had a single bedroom, making it so that his bedroom, as small as it was, was at least some private area.

Then, he followed the instructions for drawing the ritual circle with chalk and a string that was provided. He then set out to place the prerequisite materials in the proper locations, until he had a pathetic looking totally-not-satanic ritual circle with random items scattered about. He added the symbols, and made the final preparations, making sure each section of the circle matched the diagram, other than the strange relic replacing a different material. The relic had an odd feeling to it, and he wondered what it was. Either way, it was supplied by the god, Odin, so he had some expectation for what might happen.

He then made one more check, and read the remaining instructions in full before he would begin. He would need to channel his mana into the summoning circle using the provided mana crystal. Once his mana mixed with the mana crystal and was placed in the summoning circle, he would use his will to form the request for a familiar, keeping his heart and soul open for the connection to the ritual, and it would begin.

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Jake was excited, but he did everything he knew to do in order to make sure this ritual was successful. With that thought, he arduously channeled his mana into the crystal until he felt it made a connection, then set it down on the ritual circle. With that, he tried to use his will to make the request for a familiar to join him, and kept his heart open.

Jake felt the energy swirling within the magical circle, and the materials in their respective locations seemed to be added, along with all the markings taking on an eerie, blue glow. Jake closed his eyes, not wanting to be distracted by what was happening, to continue sending his desire for a familiar, and keeping his heart open for the connection to this other being. His eyes were closed, but eventually he could tell the ritual had gotten so bright and then dark, so he opened his eyes.

As the ritual seemed to complete, Jake felt a connection to the summoned being before he was hit with, somehow, blinding darkness. As he rubbed the blindness out of his eyes, he seemed to be feeling emotions that were simply not his own. While Jake was excited and a little concerned over the magical explosion of darkness, the other being was elated and seemed to be trying to restrain their excitement, and something else. As his vision started to clear, looking over from the floor where he knelt, he realized that the creature he summoned was quite small; around 6 inches tall as far as he could tell.

His vision cleared some more, to where he could see the rest of his apartment and the mess created just fine, but the small figure was still quite blurry. Rather than being only 6 inches tall, it appeared that the creature was crouched, or kneeling with their hands on the ground in front of them with their forehead on top of their hands, and likely was not much taller than a foot while standing. It was difficult to make out more features than this. It was like they were made of shadows, as if they were a three-dimensional silhouette, if that were possible.  While the area around her seemed to blur with a shadow fog, Jake could pick out a few features. The creature had wings, and horns on their head, as well as long hair.

Jake realized that he was probably staring for a little too long, though the creature was quite patient, or too busy holding back their emotions to realize it themselves. He decided he had to say something, “Uh…Hello, I’m Jake. Thank you for answering my call, please take care of me. Welcome to my [Refuge].” As soon as he finished speaking, the being blurred into motion, flying up into the air towards him.

The restrained excitement was no longer restrained, and they openly danced through the air around Jake’s head. Now that Jake got a closer look, it was obvious the creature was feminine and he could now see that the creature had a tail as well, though it looked more like a lizard’s tail rather than what he was expecting. The creature looked like a succubus wearing odd clothes, perhaps robes or a long dress, aside from that detail. This filled Jake with worry, in disappointment in himself, which the possibly-succubus instantly picked up on, slowing her excited movements and mirroring her own concern and worry to Jake through their new bond.

Causing the succubus concern and worry made Jake feel a little bad, but this was one of the things Jake was a little afraid of. Just what does it say about him that his soul would resonate with a succubus? He realized that he was far from perfect, but he did not feel as if he was some kind of hedonistic person. He had his lusts and desires like he thought of many other men his age, but he didn’t think they were to the point that a sex demon would take interest.

Jake pushed down the feelings of worry and filled himself with determination. He would not let this occurrence get him down, he would look on the bright side of things, and focus on the things that he can change.

First, a succubus is much more useful in most lore Jake knew than the potential worse-case scenario, some kind of rodent or other creature that is only marginally useful; one can often replace their overall effectiveness with a spell that can accomplish many of the same things that such a minor creature could accomplish. Second, this creature might not even be a succubus; after all, the tail is different from what he would usually expect.

With that, he willed open his [Menu], then under his status he found the information on his familiar.

 

 

So, she wasn’t a succubus, but instead a [Dragon-touched Demoness]. While succubae can be considered demons, not all female demons can be considered a succubus. Depending on the lore from which the demon or demoness originate, they can be not all that different from humans, to being a person from another plane that lived on a completely different set of rules, like the demons summoned by warlocks with demonic pacts. Because of how she was summoned, he guessed that she would be somewhat similar to the latter, but Jake wasn’t so sure. He also noticed that there was something wrong with the bond; it showed an error.

Just what does dragon-touched mean? Why not half-dragon demoness? He hoped he could hear the story from her eventually, or maybe he could do some research about her race later. Jake felt relief at learning this fact, but he felt that it didn’t excuse his feelings that he now broadcast to his recipient, as if he said so out loud. He would need some time to get used to this connection, and be careful of his feelings.

He decided he would apologize and try to learn more from his forever-partner, so he looked as best he could towards her eyes and said, “Sorry about that, Fhesiah. I’m very new to the magical world, and didn’t really know what to expect. I may have had some weird expectations for what might resonate with me. I’m actually very glad you were the one that answered my call.”

The demoness nodded, and Jake thought that she might be smiling through the shadows, judging by her emotions. Still, the demoness didn’t talk, and he wondered if something might be wrong; the wiki had indicated that in addition to feelings, thoughts should be shared as well. While Jake wasn’t sure if a mouse could really talk into his mind or have coherent thoughts, he didn’t see a reason why a demoness would not be capable of it. So, he decided to ask, “I can tell we share our feelings over the bond, but are you able to hear my thoughts?”

The demoness nodded, which caused Jake some confusion. “If you can hear mine, why can’t I hear yours?” The demoness paused, but eventually floated near his chest, where he had found his magic, and where he believes the link between him and her resides. She seemed to pantomime a path or rope between his and her chest with her hands, and showed her hands grasping onto the rope. She then seemed to show the rope growing in size, and then mimed holding a ball inside of each of their chests and the ball growing.

So, it seemed that their bond needed to grow, and also perhaps his and her magic or souls needed to grow as well, before she would be able to speak with him. With those thoughts she nodded and seemed to give a thumbs up, confirming them. Wait, did demons do thumbs up? With that thought, Jake looked at her and he was sure of it now, thanks to the emotions she was sending through the bond: she was smiling.

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