Ch 8 –

 

The train ride into Bayloft took several hours. I boarded, carrying what were now, effectively, all my worldly goods in a big suitcase. It was a route that wound deep into the Eirie mountains, far further north than I’d ever been. Though, to be fair, nearly any north would’ve been further than I’d ever been. Or south.

 

At least the trip gave me the time to finally look at my Animus and manage my leveling. I stared in shock. 

 

Eir 

 

Human

 

Lv 3 Chimera Summoner

 

Body: 3

Mind: 3 

Spirit: 3

 

Attribute points: 6!

 

Skill(s): 

Familiar Bond

Chimera assimilation 

Paramore's mending

 

Skill points: 2! 

 

I gawked. I had leveled up twice! 

 

All of the fighting Lucy and I had done must’ve counted for more than I had realized. Future Levels would only get harder to earn, but I was relieved to have a couple easy ones under my belt. I didn’t want to be the lowest Level first year at school.

 

Each of my stats had risen by one per level, I now had six attribute points to allocate and I could upgrade two of my Skills!

 

I settled in, to consider my options. 

 

Skills currently cost one point to upgrade. But each subsequent upgrade would be more expensive. But for now, I could upgrade any two of them. 

 

The attribute points… I wanted to dump them all in Spirit, to make Lucy more powerful. Gods knew she deserved the trust. And it would increase the potency of my other Skills too. 

 

But there was the question of my mana. I could barely keep Lucy summoned for two hours, and if I got more Familiars in the future…? I would need points in Mind as well. 

 

And some in body would be good too, for the purposes of not dying and staying alive. 

 

My Class’s priorities, while maybe not as straight forward as say a swordmaster Class, were fairly clear. 

 

I was essentially forming into a healer for my own team. And with my team being Familiars, I was even more clearly the point of vulnerability for the team. To that end, I needed to be able to take a hit better. I thought back to the cult leader, Max, able to break me in a single attack, nearly ending my Wayfinding career before it started. 

 

After much debate, I ended up splitting my points between Mind and Spirit, mostly in Spirit. I was a caster, after all. Most of my Body upgrades would have to come from Leveling. 

Body: 3

Mind: 5 (+2)

Spirit: 7 (+4)

 

That left the skill points.

 

I waffled for a long time as the landscape slipped by outside my compartment. 

 

I tried to convince myself to advance my healing skill. But the right choice was pretty clear to me. My healing had been more than effective, if expensive. My Spirit boosts alone would improve my healing tremendously. What I needed….

 

I advanced my Familiar Bond. The keystone skill of my class. I couldn't ignore it, even if I really wanted to advance my healing skill. Helping Lucy get stronger was an obvious choice. She was amazing. 

 

The results were not exactly what I was expecting. 

 

My Familiar Bond upgrade didn’t increase Lucy’s stats or unlock more of her own Skills as I had anticipated. Instead….

 

Available slots (1/2). 

 

I already got another Familiar! 

I was beyond content with Lucy. But it was hard to deny that she and I simply didn’t have a full party. An off tank and a healer were a decent  foundation. But we needed help. And I wasn't even a dedicated healer. I was an off-healer, if anything, quite a rare position. 

 

I wondered if it was possible, with the random nature of the call, that I could end up with a wildly unbalanced composition of allies. Or a second off tank wouldn’t be a disaster. But another healer? That would be far too much vulnerability for Lucy to cover for. The trade off would almost certainly be worse than just us alone. 

 

I decided to wait until I could get some privacy to conduct my second Summoning. Given how… loud… the first one had gotten, it seemed for the best. 

 

The chimera assimilation Skill advanced in parallel to my Bond skill. At the second tier, I could copy a skill from a second Familiar. Meaning I’d need my new Familiar bonded before I’d get a new skill. 

 

I called Lucy quickly and she formed out of her green circle, and popped onto my lap, happily. 

 

“You’re feeling better today.” She purred into my ear, nuzzling my cheek. It wasn’t a question. She must feel my emotions as clearly as I could feel hers. “You ready?” She asked eagerly.

 

I wrapped around her, and twisted to give her cheek a kiss. Lucy twisted back and caught my lips on her own, instead. We shared some lovely, sensual making out. My pants started to stir, and she wiggled welcomingly as she sensed my pressing into her perfect ass. 

 

I broke apart to answer her, trying to stay focused on my mission.

 

“I think I am ready.” I answered her earlier question. 

 

“Good! I know it’s been a hard few days for you, but I’ve been dreaming of having this cock stretch out my asshole. Do you want to be on top, or—“ 

 

“Woahhhh!” I said, patting her frantically. “I meant I was ready to copy a skill from you!? If that’s ok with you? It seems important, and if I’d already done it by the time I got us into trouble, I might’ve been able to help you more. I don’t want to get caught unprepared ever again.” 

 

She pouted. “But what about you stuffing me full of your cock? It doesn’t have to be my ass if you don’t want that? Do you want my pussy? Or maybe I could use my mouth to make you feel good?” 

 

My cock throbbed enthusiastically, and she started to crawl out of my lap, probably to start sucking me off immediately. 

 

“As much as I want that, all of that, and let me assure you, it is a lot ... this isn’t the time. We are pretty loud, after all, and it would be rude to make the other passengers listen to us through the walls.” 

 

Lucy nodded in understanding. “So we should invite them to come in and watch properly, instead of teasing them.” She actually stood, and I tackled her before she could get out the door to make an insane first impression on some of my fellow students. 

 

“Nope!” I cried. “Quite the opposite. I am saying we need to wait on all of that stuff for a little longer.” 

 

She looked devastated. “But it’s been so longgggg, and you’re already so hard for me.” She whined plaintively. “I can be quiet…?” She lied transparently. 

 

I raised an eyebrow at her. 

 

“No, I can’t.” She deflated. “But you feel so good, I just can’t hold it in! Don’t you like making me scream?” 

 

She batted her eyelashes at me. Another quirk of hers that I would’ve sworn before that I disliked, but that made my heart flutter along with her when Lucy did it. 

 

I gave her a long, urgent kiss. She melted into me, desperately pressing her soft curves into me, and pawing at my cock like she needed it to live. 

 

“Soon.” I promised her and myself. “As soon as I am settled in, and I can get a bit of privacy, I will summon you and take care of each of your holes one by one until you can’t remember your own name. Deal?’ 

 

I stepped back from her and offered her my hand. 

 

“Deal!” She agreed, snatching up my hand, and sucking my fingers into her mouth with a longing moan. 

 

I groaned as her tongue worked lovingly around each of my fingers as she gazed at me with seductive eyes. 

 

I finally activated my skill on Lucy: 

 

[Chimera Assimilation]

 

Energy coursed through our bond. I felt her revel in our deepened connection, happily letting my skill take an imprint of her power and use it to form my own in her image. 

 

New Skill: [Tempest strike]!

 

My hands swirled with the same kind of compressed wind as Lucy’s had, when she’d fought the raiders. 

 

FwOOMMMM!

 

She startled, and leapt back, spluttering in surprise.

 

“Sorry!” I cried, afraid I had hurt her. 

 

“I’m fine, it didn’t hurt!” She assured me. “Just surprised when the finger I was sucking on started gusting! How does it feel? Good huh? Do you like my skill? I’m a good girl?” She angled, fishing for praise as she settled back onto my lap.

 

My body felt light, and fast, as the energy coursed through it, gathering in a thrumming aura around my fist and ready for action!