Stella twirled a hefty stick after tying a spear tip of concentrated light embedded in a blunt stone. Feelers of sunlight spread across her fingers when she touched the spear tip. While it only tingled to her, it would shock anyone else. That was what she counted on.

 

Silas refused to move for two days and only fed on the occasional rat, mole, or bird that tried to make off with him. They often succeeded in eating him,  only for her leech friend to drain them dry from the inside. He was like the gluttonous version of a succubus. Silas teased every predator that walked by with his high charisma and pitiful state. She had to hide under the stump or risk being unsummoned the hard way. Her original wouldn’t like to get memories like those.

 

When she promised to teach him telekinesis to start him on the path to gaining mana manipulation, he metaphorically pushed her away. However, she was happy to beat him with her stick if he didn't want the carrot.

 

She approached the leech, where he lay on his side, working on his thrashing limbs. Then, with a quick lunge, she pressed her spear tip against his side, and the leech cried out.

 

“I thought you couldn't hurt me.”

 

Stella narrowed her eyes at the pitiful response. A depressed master was worthless to her; she wanted him mad and fighting.

 

“This is for your own good,” Stella said.

 

With her second stab, he tried to roll over on his side, but his new limbs couldn’t bear his weight. Her master had the tools but clearly needed a push. The next stab shocked him, and was reposed with a flailing swat. His bulbous disgusting, and admirably yellow eye locked onto the limp that moved. Stella gave him a second to let it click before she attacked again.

 

…

 

He couldn’t cross the enchantments on the fence even after waking from his depression and charging the fence like a mad leech. Every time he tried, the pain and damage to his body grew worse until Stella had to bring him back. She refused to fly him over no matter how many of her relatives he summoned. Chuck was guaranteed to have already partnered and given his friend a name to bind her to him. If they saw each other again, they might be strangers or enemies. Until then, he would keep moving forward; his ADD wouldn’t let him focus on one thing for too long. There were stats to grind and skills to get.

 

Fairies buzzed around him, blasting each other with light and being nuisances. Finally, three days after Chuck had invaded his newly built home, he managed to push the stump back into place. Fortify was the answer to his limb problems and helped bring his strength to bear.

 

While he couldn’t find the hollow points in the stump to infuse it with mana, he could fill his limbs with magic. Fortify acted as a structure to make the mundane magically strong. Even a stick could be fortified to withstand the slam of an ax. He lifted his appendage and bent it to his own design; that was one of the great things about the spell. Fortify let him freely control his bones or the mana he used in place of them.

 

Fortify afforded him a few perks that he hadn’t had before. Standing for one made his back sucker appear more like a tail and allowed him to forward face his eye. It made moving easier, and he was sure he could charm animals much easier with practice. His front sucker resembled a mix of a mouth and his original leech sucker. The lips around his sucker didn’t look good. The fairies didn’t like to get near him except for Stella, mainly because of the mucus.

 

He needed an offensive class, which wasn’t available until he leveled his current class. Stella and her sisters were content to waste his mana instead of hunting for exp.

 

Silas stared at the red-headed one and hit her with charm. The fairy glared when the skill failed to take effect. Silas knew his mana wasn’t high enough, but how else was he going to get their attention. It's not like he cared if he was being rude.

 

“I need you fairies to help me get exp. Can you please start blasting some insects?”

 

“Bloom, why don’t you go with him? He looks like your type.” A blue-haired fairy said.

 

Silas popped his suction cup in annoyance. He couldn’t help but wonder what fairy blood tasted like. They had high mana; would they be magically delicious?

 

“Stop being a bitch, Ramona; Stella said he’s fallen on hard times. A witch turned him into this, and some brat stole his friend and broke into his home. Have a little respect for our summoner; not many stick with us Sunshine fairies.” Bloom said.

 

The redhead floated down to his level. “I would hug you, but you’re covered in mucus,” Bloom said.

 

“It's fine, but I need exp and a lot of it if I’m going to get an offensive class.” She tentatively placed a hand on his shoulder. Bloom barely grimaced when she pulled back slime.

 

“What were you going to pick if everything went well?” Bloom asked.

 

“I wanted to be a beast tamer like the little shit who took my friend,” Silas said.

 

“Language, you might have killed some baby angels with those words,” Bloom said.

 

After meeting the angels who helped his ex-wife, he wasn’t inclined to care about their safety. Though he doubted something like words could hurt them.

 

“I wanted to help my friend rank up and get stronger. But the next time she’s conscious, it will be under someone else’s control.”

 

“Silas, the bond between summons and summoner runs deeper with every level. At level 10, I can see some of your recent memories. The things that were done to you were horrible. She used you for affection and as an incubator for her young. What you’re feeling isn’t healthy.” Bloom said.

 

He stared up at the sandy ceiling of the stump overhead. They did what they could to get it back in place; the girls even helped add some mana to fortify it. Ramona even added an enchantment to keep some of the animals away. It had become a place he could rest without fear, a home.

 

“What should I do? I’m running out of things to live for that isn’t revenge on one God or another.”

 

“Slow down and build a rhythm of training. Don’t rush and plan out each class one at a time and build strength. Find what will make you happy and live your life. If the monster who raped you is your friend, you’ll meet again or not. You need to learn telekinesis since you have a handle on fortify. That will give you the Mana Manipulation skill. That’s something you need to get for any offensive tier 2 classes. If you decide to take another rank 1 class, you’ll have to learn it anyway.”

 

 That wasn’t what he wanted to hear. Instead, he wanted to get levels quickly and power up until he was an absolute monster and then invade the town. Silas felt so angry he could barely think straight, and Bloom wanted him to learn telekinesis.

 

He sat on the ground, bending his leech body that had become his torse after fortifying his limbs. Silas raised a hand, and his fingers extended like multiple writhing tentacles. With fortify, he could stretch his flesh beyond what he thought possible and return it to its proper state. Time would be his ally; he could continue gaining stats and levels with a base of operations. Having a safe place to fall back on was important.

 

“Bombastic, you look less glum. Let's go kill some things and raise your level. From what Stella says, we should be able to get you up into the late teens before long. Of course, leveling slows down at 20. Have you heard of the first hurdle?

 

“I had to get one of my skills up to initiate,” Silas said.

 

Bloom nodded. “You’re pretty far ahead of the game if you already knew that. At lvl15, you’ll get the skill swarm, legion, flood, mob, or flight, which will decide your lvl20 summons. The only way to break through into lvl21 is to reach initiate in your new skill. Once you reach lvl50, you can get a second class as well. That will make things more fun. I recommend pyromancer, dragomancer, or Blood Chevalier. All good choices.” Bloom said.

 

“One needs the common fire mage class at lvl50, the other requires the blood of a dragon used in a ritual, and the last is tier 3. So please be reasonable about our master’s next class.” Stella said, and Bloom stuck her tongue out before winking at Silas.

 

“I bet you thought this would devolve into a blood bath,” Bloom said, and that did cross his mind. He had been waiting for the shoe to drop, but it never did. But, knowing Stella, it was inevitable.