He stared at the purple, and white beads clutched in his fingers. Each of them contained a clear path with the knowledge to help either spiders or mantises reach up to the 3^rd rank as spider demons or mantra mantises. The other rank 2s didn’t have anything like the beads, and they weren’t any stronger than the fairies. Which begged the question, how much stronger would he be with one? Catherin walked in, and he quickly tossed them in his inventory, taking up 2 of his 10 spaces.

“You won’t get stronger by following someone else’s path. You should shake things up and cause chaos instead of looking for inheritance beads.”

Silas stood up from the silk hammock he had the spiders make for him. It wasn’t sticky even the fairies could lay in it, and he’s found Stella, Bloom, and Ramona in it more than once.

Over the last few days, they took several small territories spreading his own territory to around 5 acres or the plot of land surrounding the rundown shack. With the territory claimed, Silas had time to devote himself to another pursuit.

For the past week, he held a tiny pebble in his hand and tried to lift it with his mind while relaxing in the hammock. At times the pebble trembled, but it never lifted off his palm. Telekinesis was one of the spells he needed to learn if he wanted to get mana manipulation.

He had to build his foundational skills while in his rank 1 form to get strong. Gaining mana manipulation would set him up for more mana-based skills. If he could get a self-buffing skill that didn’t require sex on a battlefield, he could strengthen his summons even after they reached their level cap. According to Stella, the rank 2 monsters he’s fought so far were trash tier. His current strength wouldn’t cut it.

“Take a break, get some levels, fuck some fairies, and have fun. I have an idea for your acid resistance skill to get you over the line. While the closest farm is Ivy, there is another with fewer defenses down the road.” Catherin said.

“How do you know that?” Silas asked.

“My profession is Cartography, and I managed to bump into some rank 1 adventurers. Fortunately, they were all male and susceptible to illusions. They sprayed food all over their pants and wasted it like idiots before passing out. So, I took their map and added it to my own. I also know where a few rank 3 monster territories start; we should avoid them until you rank up. Warlock or diabolist would be interesting; you should really think about it. You could bring me over in my true form instead of this avatar body.” Catherin said

“I didn’t picture you as a cartography.”

“What did you expect, exotic dancer, masseuse, or maybe whore?” Catherin asked.

Silas gave her a look, and she giggled. “That’s what I thought. So, what’s the story.” Silas asked

“Not much of one. I’m afraid my mother is summoned by all sorts of Grand Prophets of Lust, Devil Lords, and other great beings. She used to tell me about the places and people she met, and I decided that I would become an explorer when I grew up. The profession wasn’t available so cartography was an easy choice. You know you’re the first summoner who hasn’t stuffed their food dispenser up my second or third mouth.” Catherin said.

“You’re fucking with me.”

“Yes, I know what a penis is, but when men summon an innocent imp, they expect us not to know what a penis is. If you summon another of us, they’ll keep up the act. It's important; many virgin summoners want to experience their first time with a virgin demoness.”

“Should I be jealous?” Silas asked.

“With looks like yours, no way, handsome. If we could add some horns, you would make a dashing devil.”

 Charisma and higher levels had changed him. He had a pointy chin, high cheekbones, blue eyes, and a vertical eye on his forehead. His heavy brow ridge gave him a more distinguished than uncanny look. More charisma and levels would bring his appearance closer to human levels but never quite there.

He changed the subject. “What profession do you think I should get?” 

“Get something that makes you happy and that you can use. Even with multiple classes, you only get three perfessionsHaving a useless profession makes life harder. Now I need to go check on the adventurers I captured.”

“It was good talking with you,” Silas said as he opened his profession screen.

Profession Options

Alchemist – Harness the forces of nature and carve out a place for the future.

 Enchanter – Bind legends to armor, weapons, and locations and make the mundane magical.

 Recruiter – With a silver tongue and a shot of whiskey, hire others to work for the user or others.

 Officer – Gain the ability to give ranks to followers under you and organize a powerful force.

 Explorer – Shake the unshakable, search the unsearchable and find places man has never seen.

Silas wanted to get his friend back as quickly as possible. After banging his head against the fence’s enchantments, he learned something. There didn’t seem to be an upper limit to how much damage it could do to him. Getting closer to the fence increases the damage to his body exponentially. Stella claimed there was far more mana than even a rank 4 adept could instill in an enchantment. So, learning enchantments to break through the fence didn’t seem viable.

It felt like his best bet was to raise his magic resistance to ridiculous levels. On that end, the fastest way forward was to rank up to 5 or higher and then attack the farm and village. It was a stupid idea. This was the only time he would have to get all the skills he could ever need. Stella said there was a monarch in the town or a rank 6 human. If reaching rank 5 was hard, rank 6 was a hurdle even greater than that. Once he reached a certain size, he wouldn’t be able to slip inside creatures smaller than dragons to drain them. To survive that, he needed at least Master rank acid resistance. In conclusion, he needed to up his acid resistance to keep up his quick leveling.

From what he understood, the kid wanted to be an adventurer. So, the easiest way to get his friend back was to bide his time until the kid was alone and rob him.

Before he could get to that point, he needed to get a profession that could help him move forward. He needed to find the world's secrets and plunder them to move forward. Really there was no other choice that appealed to him. Alchemy wouldn’t break through the barrier, enchantments couldn’t jump 5 ranks, and then there was recruiter and officer. He needed both but not yet; someday, he would take both professions and amass an army. It wasn’t until he gained the summoner class that he made any real progress toward getting stronger. No man was an island, not in the world he was in especially.