Summoner Summer Camp, chapters 16-18

There was an error affecting access to 11-15! That should be fixed now! So some of you will have 8 chapters to catch up on! Don't forget to support the Knightley and Friends Sale while you're here! Thanks!

Chapter 16

We migrated from the hedge maze to the castle, where we could work in our private dining hall. There, with access to refreshments and bathrooms, we  spent the rest of the morning practicing as a group, working through one of the challenging classes for each of the girls. Not everyone instantly grasped concepts, as Bekkah seemed to.

Seeing them struggle, particularly with lessons that clearly bored them, I pointed out Bekka’s focusing bubbles. 

“Are you saying we should get Bekkah overcharged with mana, so Asenath can get the extra focus benefits?” Kasirah asked, eyes bright as she caught on to my logic.

“I absolutely am,” I said. 

The next few minutes were terrible, awful, and no-good at all. Overcharging Bekkah required making out until the girl went into her ‘super bubble’ mode. It also had the benefit of recharging her mana. But it also triggered everyone else to want their slice of Reggie pie, which I had to provide.

It was all I could do to prevent the entire day from washing away in a sea of… Well, fluids.

Her bubbles did the trick. Popping on Kasirah and Asenath, they allowed both the focus it took to produce spells in half the time they would have otherwise.

Asenath, whose weakness was ritual circles, happily shoved her ass at me as she bent over and, in just a few minutes, overcame her previous errors.

“My cum is mana, and Bekkah’s bubbles are Adderall,” I grumbled, “no way this ends poorly, right?” 

Hours passed, with pauses long enough to ‘recharge’ Bekkah’s bubbles and the team’s focus. Each time, they progressed a little further.

“I’m especially thirsty,” Tizzy announced, to which Bekkah giggled and waved her wand. Her spell conjured a round of goblets for all the girls filled with a familiar-looking white liquid.

“Is that what I think it is?” I asked, watching with mild horror as my cabinmates eagerly grabbed their cups.

“Mhm!” Tizzy exclaimed, taking a generous sip. “It’s Big Brother’s special mana potion!”

“It’s... close,” Kasirah said thoughtfully, swirling the contents of her cup. “But not quite as satisfying as the real thing.” Her pale cheeks flushed as she caught my eye.

Asenath took a delicate sip, pinky out, before adding her own riddle-free assessment. “The flavor and texture are perfect, but it’s missing that special kick of power, obviously.”

“We could bottle and sell this stuff,” Tizzy moaned. “Bex, you’re really onto something with this!”

I blinked a few times, trying to reset the scene in my mind. “Can we maybe focus for a moment?” I cleared my throat, trying desperately to ignore the way the jackalope was making exaggerated slurping sounds. “We need to be serious for a while here. I’d appreciate knowing which classes everyone is taking, and who’s planning to attempt the early placement tests.”

“You first, Big Brother!” Tizzy demanded, twitching her bunny ears.

“Well, I’m supposed to have a full course load,” I explained. “As a new student, that is. But I intend to test out of every single class and move straight to independent study projects. I plan to join you as third-year students next semester without any make-up to do.”

The declaration earned a choral gasp from my audience. Even Asenath’s lioness tail went stock-still with surprise.

“That’s a big goal,” Kasirah noted with wide eyes, though her expression held admiration that made her glow with confidence.

“How did you get so good so fast?” Bekkah asked as her rainbow-colored wings fluttered behind her. “You’ve only known about magic for a few weeks, right?! That’s totally far out!”

I leaned back in my chair, considering how to explain. “When I got the invitation to Thistlewick, I treated it as any other self-improvement opportunity. I’ve always been good at absorbing information quickly—speedreading, memory techniques, that sort of thing. The fact that I’m a warlock with increased mana was just a lucky accident that made it that much easier, I guess.”

All four girls let out dreamy sighs at the mention of my “mana”, making me shift uncomfortably. I decided to wait out the renewed chorus of noisy slurps before continuing.

“So, what about the rest of you?” I asked, pointing at Bekkah. “Let’s start with you, flower child.”

The fairy girl’s wings drooped slightly. “I need to pass Conjuration, obviously. Plus Basic Healing Magic, Elemental Foundations, and Dark Arts.”

POP!

Tizzy popped a giant bubble of the faux mana potion, her expression distant and dreamy. Realizing I was looking at her, she grinned at me, totally unabashed, and lisped, “I’ve got three. Healing Magic, Dark Arts, and Sophomore Transfiguration.”

“Just two for me,” Kasirah offered, straightening with visible pride when I nodded approvingly at her. “Healing Magic and Combat Applications.”

“Two for me as well,” Asenath added, though her sultry tone made even those simple words sound provocative. “Healing Magic and Ritual Construction. Though I’d much rather be studying the anatomy of a certain warlock...”

“Interesting.” I stroked my chin thoughtfully. “The first thing I notice, obviously, is that you all struggle with Healing Magic. Maybe our efforts would be best focused on that, since group practice would benefit everyone. Let’s start there.”

Without warning, I thrust my hand into the magical flames. The girls screamed in unison as I withdrew it, showing a red burn across my palm.

“What the hell?!” Kasirah shouted, half-rising from her seat. “That was insane! And kind of sexy, but mostly just crazy!”

“Who feels most confident in their healing abilities?” I asked calmly, holding my hand flat and waving it side to side to air out the blistering injury. “This is a basic spell, but only if you act fast. Every delayed second makes it harder to mend a fresh burn.”

The girls stared at me in horror until Asenath finally crawled forward on the rug, drawing her wand with trembling fingers. “Sana caro!” she incanted, doing mostly-right gestures and stiff wandwork—nothing happened.

I grabbed her wrist with my unburned hand, staring intently into her yellow eyes. “Your wand motion is too rigid,” I explained. “Think of it as drawing a figure eight, but sideways. Let me show you.” I guided her hand through the proper motion.

“Not everyone has your natural talent,” Kasirah protested from nearby, though her voice carried warmth rather than criticism. “It won’t be that simple. This isn’t fair to her, Reggie!”

“I believe in her,” I said firmly, still holding Asenath’s gaze. “Az, you can do this.”

She nodded, eyes still wide, and gulped hard as she took back her hand from my grasp. “I...I can do this. I’m a capable, sexy witch who can heal her man.”

“Again,” I said. “Try again.”

The sphinx obeyed me, but her second attempt fizzled just as badly as the first.

“Time’s running out,” I warned her. “If we wait much longer, it could scar, and it’ll require more advanced magic than any of you have learned to heal it. But you stepped up because you know you can do this, Asenath. So do it.”

Asenath’s face set with determination. “SANO CARO!” she shouted, putting everything she had into the spell. This time the gestures were spot on, and I half-suspected it was mostly the determination and confidence that made the final result such a roaring success.

Green sparks erupted from her wand tip, washing over my burn. The painful mark faded before our eyes, leaving fresh pink skin behind.

Without hesitation, I pulled her into a tight embrace. “I’m so proud of you,” I murmured, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “That’s my girl.”

The sphinx melted against me with absolutely no resistance. Behind her, the other girls watched jealously.

“Alright then,” I said, pulling back with a shit-eating grin. “Who wants to try next?”

All three other girls’ hands shot into the air so fast it was almost comical. Even Tizzy briefly forgot about her conjured cup of fake cum in her eagerness to earn her own forehead kiss.

At least I’d found an easier way to motivate them.

We spent the next few hours rotating between girls, with each casting their lowest-mana cost spells. Pacing them out with their boosted recharge time gave us opportunities to discuss strategies.

I went over the sorts of tips and tricks I’d taught myself, walking them through the concepts of the mind palace, or even taking naps after long study sessions.

Naturally, they took the idea of a “nap” in an entirely inappropriate direction.

“I bet I could go to sleep with your cock in my mouth,” Bekkah mused, wings fluttering. “Would that make the bubbles bloom out, I wonder? Natural as morning dew on petals...”

Tizzy, at first jealous, picked up on the thread. “And then we’d all get those focus bursts! That could be so...”

“Synergistic?” I suggested.

“That! Oh my prairie gods, Big Brother, you’re so amazing!” And then she was tackling me for impulsive kisses, her antlers carefully angled away from my face in the most adorable display of consideration.

Which led to...

Well, the girls needed more mana, so briefly giving into temptation just made sense.

After their mana was topped off and we were all focused on the important things, I concentrated on Kasirah. Her combat magic indeed needed work, but she was far from a lost cause. Her issue wasn’t her knowledge or spellpower, it was just that she tended to freeze up in critical moments. It took a little digging to ascertain that, but I was confident in my findings.

In reality, the valkyrie had more raw power than she gave herself credit for—she just needed someone to believe in her enough to make her stop overthinking every gesture and trust her instincts. The way her eyes lit up when I complimented her form told me she was already building that confidence. I had a feeling that when we did get a chance to properly duel, she’d see that I was right.

Watching Tizzy attempt transfiguration spells, on the other hand, was initially challenging. The jackalope got the gestures and incantations down easily enough, so it took me a while to figure out what was wrong with her approach.

I actually had to take a quick jaunt back to our cabin to grab a theory book to parse it out. It was all about intent and focus. Something about her mind wasn’t really able to wrap around the concept of one item turning into another, so she couldn’t get in the right headspace for the spell. She would probably be the biggest challenge to help, especially since she occasionally got distracted by my crotch mid-gesture with her wand, blinking those big green eyes and asking “What the butt was I doing again?”

Asenath, who insisted that healing magic was her weakest link, turned out to have something of a knack for it under pressure. I ran through practice after practice with her, each time watching her succeed with more and more confidence until she finally broke down and pouted tearfully at me, begging me to stop inflicting injuries on myself while making sultry comments about wanting to kiss my wounds better.

Fair enough.

Time became fluid as we moved from success to success. Bekkah’s eighth flawless conjuration in a row earned enthusiastic cheers from the group, while Kasirah’s powerful steelskin buff left us all marveling at the silver sheen coating her already stunning form. Between demonstrations, explanations, and the occasional mana top-off, the afternoon melted away until exhaustion finally claimed us all. Eventually, the warmth of the fireplace and the afternoon’s efforts caught up with us, and the next thing I knew, we were all crashed out on the thick rug in front of the hearth.

When I woke up, I had to piss urgently, having downed plenty of water while the girls were enjoying their...alternative beverage. Disentangling myself from what had become a rather intimate pile of sleeping monster girls took some doing, especially if the goal was not to wake them up. Particularly challenging was avoiding getting impaled on jackalope antlers as I peeled Tizzy off of me. It was also something of a task to get the sphinx’s tail that was wrapped around my wrist to release me.

I headed to the bathroom but stopped short when I saw my reflection in the mirror. I almost burst out laughing at what I saw, but felt a surge of affection instead. My face and neck were absolutely covered in lipstick prints of various sizes and colors, as if someone had used me for kissing practice while I slept. Which was almost certainly exactly what happened.

I could guess that this was the lipstick that Lady Katherine had placed in their storage chests. Before long I found myself playing detective with the marks.

The tiny, precise ones along my jaw had to be Bekkah’s work—I’d noticed earlier how delicate her lips were. The fuller, more sensual darker prints decorating my neck screamed Asenath, while the enthusiastic, slightly messy ones could only belong to Tizzy. That left the carefully placed kisses across my forehead to Kasirah.

These girls really needed non-smearing lipstick. Then again, I kind of didn’t hate it.

After taking care of business, I took another minute to grin at my reflection before washing my hands. When I walked back into the main room I found Lady Katherine standing there, staring down at the ladies. The vampire’s eyes narrowed with amusement as she regarded my sleeping harem, and then my kiss-covered face.

“My, my. Quite the productive day, I see,” she said, her fangs catching the firelight.

“I promise, we did get a lot accomplished,” I insisted. I touched one of the marks on my neck self-consciously.

She snickered a little. “I have no doubt. I hate to interrupt, but might I borrow your cute little cabinmates for a while? There’s a rather important reproductive health seminar for female monsters I think they’d benefit from attending, and it appears their mana is mostly spent anyway so they won’t get much more practice in.”

“Sure,” I said, watching as she woke each girl with a gentle wave of her hand. “I’ll catch up with them later.”

We caught the girls up to speed, and they filed out with our counselor, blowing me kisses or offering winks, still yawning and stretching. I found myself grateful for the interruption, even if I did feel a bit of separation anxiety. The raw boost in power I’d gotten from the girls was unlike anything described in the textbooks. I needed time to figure out how to control it before I accidentally blew something—or someone—straight to kingdom come.

“Time to start the real practice,” I said, cracking my knuckles.

New Spell Entry—Minor Healing

Spell: (Minor) Healing

Incantation: “Sana caro!”

Casting Time: Instantaneous

Range: Close

Mana Cost: Low

Details: This spell heals a small amount of damage. It will not regenerate scar tissue. 

New Spell Entry—Steelskin

Spell: Steelskin

Incantation: “Cutis ferrea dura!”

Casting Time: Short-Standard

Range: Self or Touch

Mana Cost: Medium

Details: This enhancement spell temporarily hardens the target’s skin to have the protective qualities of steel while maintaining flexibility and sensation. The effect provides significant protection against physical attacks and environmental hazards. When cast by someone with enhanced mana, the spell creates a visible silver sheen across the skin.

Chapter 17

With the girls attending the seminar with Lady Katherine, I took a little time exploring portions of the campus I hadn’t yet seen. After just a few minutes, I came to a marble platform in the middle of a field.

Diagrams carved into the structure corresponded with the fundamental magical elements. On the outer ring were the prime ones: earth, fire, wind, water, aether, spirit, and mind. Each of those was represented in a two-foot-wide embossed emblem.

The next ring had derivatives. Those weren’t always elements per se, as much as the various ways the prime elements could be combined. There were lots of those, and they ranged from things such as life to blood, and so on.

According to my textbooks, the permutations of potential spells was functionally limitless. Practicality limited them to far fewer.

My concern wasn’t the nature of magic, however. It was the amount of output I was getting. I wanted to be the best, but not just because I had a bigger fire hose than everyone else.

Plus, if I got special attention, it might pull me away from the girls. I didn’t want some scholar thinking that giving me a ‘privileged’ position was for my own good.

I’d had enough of that crap in grade school.

Walking across the stone platform, I came to a stop at aether. Closing my eyes, I recalled some of the text I’d read about the topic.

***

Aether: Aether is the raw essence of magic; it cannot be harnessed by mortals until it is processed into mana. Mana is a combination of aether, mind, and spirit. It is the culmination of a person’s inner self.

Analytics Note: The Analytics spells available to you are representations of your true potential. Treat them as best guesses, as it is currently impossible to measure innate aether or spirit.

***

I’d become keenly aware that the Analyze Self spell, along with the carefully notated spells or potions lists at the end of my textbooks, while useful, were not the whole story.

My mana hadn’t increased due to being intimate with the monster girls. It also wasn’t as if I felt any specific surge or additional benefit during our moments of intimacy the way they did. Pleasuring Kasirah hadn’t left me giddy or intoxicated the way the girls became. Not that it hadn’t been a nice change from being a snack for the harem, mind you.

At the same time, my output and capabilities had absolutely increased regardless. That meant it was up to me to figure out how to control my capabilities myself, without relying on any documented tips or tricks.

Thinking of Bekkah and her conjuration breakthrough, I wondered whether I might be able to solve my problem in a comparable manner.

Drawing my wand, I walked to the edge of the platform. Aiming at a flower, I tried the plant growth spell. As before, the flower burst into growth far outside what it should have. This wasn’t days, weeks, or months of accelerated size; it was closer to an evolution.

I cast Analyze Self again and saw a listing under Current Mana that said I was down by a small amount. Interestingly, this time when I cast the spell, I found a new entry that I hadn’t noticed before.

***

Bolstered: You are currently under (4x) bolstering effects. This enhancement will last between 12-24 hours.

***

The lack of specificity on the enhancement bothered my analytical mind, but it did give me concrete proof that circumstances were different.

“Okay,” I said out loud, using the sound of my own voice as a ground. “Now, we know that the amount of magic I’m using isn’t the variable. If casting these spells was analogous to driving a car, I wouldn’t want to change the steering wheel. That’s working fine. Maybe there’s an issue with the accelerator?”

There were lots of reasons to establish some command over my power: from not wanting to draw undue attention (beyond what I already knew I was), to not wanting to accidentally hurt someone. That meant I needed a way to compensate for the Bolstered buff at will. 

What I needed to do, if I was going to sandbag my full potential and remain with the girls, was to somehow make the magic I wielded less efficient to compensate for the Bolstered buff.

“Somehow I need to make my mind, spirit, or aether less concentrated?”

But how?

Frustrated, and with no solutions coming to mind, I wandered away from the platform. Seeing a building in the distance, the giant shape of Ms. Hegwen standing outside, I decided to take the chance to go talk to her.

When I arrived, I found Ms. Hegwen frowning deeply. She shook her head, muttering beneath her breath, then began dry washing her hands anxiously.

“Ms. Hegwen, what’s the problem?” I asked, remembering that she’d appeared unhappy during the commencement as well.

She started, clearly caught off guard. “Oh. It’s you. Reggie. Well. It’s nothing really. Just a small problem with a group of harpies I’m following up on. It appears they’ve run afoul of a local pixie population. It’s causing all sorts of ecological issues—magical ones too. Stable for now, but it could escalate at any moment.” Mopping her brow, she sighed. “It’s just the same as the Dark Lady all over again. Oops. I shouldn’t have said that.” She put her hand over her mouth. “Just pretend I didn’t say that, alright?”

“Uh. Sure.” I made a mental note to investigate further, once I knew a bit more about pixies and harpies. “Ms. Hegwen, I was wondering if I could ask you a rather, uh, strange and hypothetical question?”

“Of course, Reggie.” She smiled at me, losing some of the distractible concern. “You know, you’re the first proper warlock we’ve had here in quite a while. Not since the time of the Dark Lady, I think, if I’m being honest.” She visibly bit her tongue, but didn’t continue.

“You know I’m a warlock?” I asked.

“Of course. Any of us with magical sensitivity can tell. That’ll basically be all the female instructors on campus, and maybe a couple of the men, too. There’s a certain, shall we say, enticing aroma about a warlock.” She hooked a thumb toward a misty forest. “Be on the lookout for the humanoid monsters if you wander alone, too. Their kind can take quite the liking to yours.”

That was an image I definitely did not want to ponder. Pushing on, I said, “I’ve got a bit of an odd problem I’m hoping you won’t tell anyone about.”

She gave me an odd look. Not suspicious, but maybe… calculating? It was hard to imagine guile on a woman of her stature and assets, but there it was. “Sure, Reggie. As long as no one is being harmed or in danger, I’d be glad to keep it to myself.”

I told her about my problem, slightly underselling just how potent my spells had become since engaging with the girls. When I was finished, Ms. Hegwen laughed hard enough to make her watermelon-sized breasts nearly tear through her robe.

“The solution is pretty simple. Here, come with me to my cabin. I have an item that might help,” Ms. Hegwen said, gesturing toward a stone cottage nestled between two ancient oaks.

The groundskeeper’s home was a marvel of magical integration with nature. Vines with luminescent flowers crawled up the walls, their petals shifting colors in the manner of mood rings. Various dried herbs hung from the ceiling rafters, and shelves lined with jars of preserved specimens covered every wall. I spotted what looked to be a miniature dragon sleeping in a terrarium, curled around a crystalline formation.

That was a sort of “what the fuck is my life” moment. A literal dragon. Then again, I was having premarital relations with a jackalope, a sphinx, a valkyrie, and a rainbow fairy, so maybe a mini dragon wasn’t that big of a deal.

“Please, make yourself comfortable,” she said, closing the door behind us. She immediately shed her baggy groundskeeper’s robe, revealing practical ranger’s attire underneath—a fitted green tunic and leather pants that showed off a body that reminded me of Kasirah’s, only larger in every dimension. The woman’s tunic strained at her chest in a way that revealed a mind-boggling expanse of cleavage.

“Now then,” she said, moving to a particularly fascinating shelf filled with labeled containers. “We’ve developed quite a collection of natural modifiers over the centuries. Some enhance, some dampen, some even change the ‘signature’ of one’s magical output.”

She pulled down several jars, explaining the contents of each. “Most of these would just have normal effects on spellcasters. But on you? Well. This,” she wiggled one, “according to the Dark Lady’s texts, would add a minty aftertaste to your seed. Isn’t that interesting? I have an entire catalogue of these sorts of interactions around here somewhere. Highly restricted, of course.”

She paused long enough to wink meaningfully at me.

Seeing my lack of overt response, she reached out to a jar containing silvery leaves. “Ah, yes. Here we go. This is what you need.” She produced a tiny whitish leaf, similar to a maple leaf, and handed it off to me.

“Cool. Uh. What’s this?”

She smiled. “Eat it. It’s called Silverleaf. With it, your conscious control over magic will experience a temporary increase. It allows magic users with unpredictable magical output of any type to regulate their power to appear more normal or standard. However, it also allows you to ‘upcast’ at will to your full potential, or near it. It only lasts a week, so you’ll have to hope I can scrounge up some more for you by then, but it should help you out in the meantime.”

Accepting the offering, I popped it in my mouth and swallowed. It tasted bitter, like sucking on tea leaves. Gulping it down stoically, I patted my belly and said, “Thank you, Ms. Hegwen. This is exactly what I needed.”

“Of course, not a problem at all dearie,” she said, straightening to her full impressive height. “And do come visit if you need any other botanical assistance. I so rarely get to share my knowledge of magical herbs with students who truly appreciate it.”

I nodded my thanks and headed for the door. As solutions went, this one appeared almost too perfect. Now I just had to figure out the proper dosage to keep my magic at an appropriate level for my studies.

“Oh, and Reggie?” she called after me. “Do be careful around those cabinmates of yours. Monster girls can be quite... energetic when they find an item they enjoy, and few have any experience with human men, so I fear they may get a bit out of control.”

I managed not to trip over my own feet at that comment as I made my hasty exit.

Chapter 18

Finding myself with time to spare before the girls returned, I decided that it was time to build up my arsenal of summons.

I was pragmatic enough to know I wasn’t invulnerable; experimentation without supervision, especially in this new world, would be foolish. Part of me contemplated finding others back at the cabins, maybe recruiting another wizard to participate with me.

But I wasn’t ready to mix it up with others. For one: I had a secret, actually several secrets, that I wasn’t ready to let out. For another, what if there was drama? I hated drama. Introducing an outsider into anything I did increased those chances.

That left two options: sit on my ass and do nothing that moved the needle or be a bit rash and go looking for trouble.

Making my way from Ms. Hegwen’s cabin, I retrieved my summoning textbook and ingredient pouch from my trunk in our cabin and settled beneath a large, gnarled tree in preparation for the latter option.

With a few practiced page flips, the textbook graciously fell open to a section about capturing and binding wild magical creatures for future summoning. According to the text, any magical beast could theoretically be bound as a summon through the right combination of ritual circles, incantations, and displays of dominance or negotiation.

It was an interesting system. The back of the textbook contained an index of guides to summoning ready-to-bind monsters. One key feature noted in the lessons was that magically generated creatures weren’t the same as organic ones; I couldn’t think of them the same way.

The common list allowed summoners to conjure members of an entire species, more-or-less. In doing so, we used mana to bring a creature from another place and into our reality. When we defeated or killed these creatures, they didn’t actually die. Rather, their essence merged with wherever they came from, and would naturally “re-spawn” over time.

One key thing to remember was that creatures that weren’t in the index were unique. Each was distinct, had its own personality, and would need to be captured and bound.

Feeling confident I had a good grasp of the metaphysics, I decided now was a perfect time to go find some additional creatures. Not only would they add to my personal power, but they’d also potentially give me an edge over my peers.

I continued my walk around the perimeter of the camp, keeping my wand ready and senses alert for magical signatures.

Halfway through my exploration, I discovered a bridge leading over a wide, rushing river. Intrigued, I made my way across. The rushing water propelled a steady current of air that ruffled my clothes—and which was a little chilly. Following its course, I saw it vanish into a rugged area directly north of where I’d accessed the bridge. Only, when I’d been in that direction, I hadn’t seen the river or the structure.

“Otherworld physics,” I mused to myself, making my way fully across.

A sign greeted me on the other side.

Notice: This area is rich with magic and creature spawns. Most are common or uncommon, but be careful—higher rarities sometimes appear, particularly near areas of concentrated magic!

I couldn’t help but wonder if a warlock would attract random monsters? Maybe that was the downside to all these perks and advantages?

Wandering further, I found several distinct biomes, each side-by-side. The closest was rocky, so I made my way there, following a well-worn path while keeping my head on a swivel for signs of any potential creatures.

It didn’t take too long before I spotted something compelling—a mass of orange scales beneath a rocky outcropping. Steam rose from cracks between the stones, and I could feel the ambient temperature rising with each step forward. I raised my wand and cast Analyze Creature.

The resulting text appeared in my mind’s eye, formatted just as an entry in my Dad’s game books.

***

Target Identified: Blast Salamander

Type: Fire Elemental

Beast Threat Level: Medium

Rarity: Uncommon

Details: A proud territorial creature roughly 3 feet in length. Scales shift between orange and deep red. Notable for its crown of hornlike protrusions and ability to breathe concentrated fire hot enough to melt stone.

Recommended Binding Method: Blast Salamanders respond well to displays of confidence and strength. While they can be captured through force, most successful bindings occur through respectful challenge and negotiation. A full containment circle is advised to prevent escape during the binding process.

***

Moving away, I quickly consulted my textbook for the proper binding ritual for fire types, though I was pretty sure I had it memorized. The salamander lounged on its sun-warmed rock, occasionally puffing steam from its nostrils as it watched me cautiously, probably not sure what I was up to just yet. I began laying out the components needed for the ritual—pulling volcanic ash and red crystals from my ingredient pouch and retrieving a piece of charcoal from the same source for drawing the circle.

First though, I needed to weaken it, which meant roughing it up a bit. Animal abuse, maybe, but if that’s the way things are done to earn a passing grade, then all I could do was hope that PETA wasn’t hiding in the bushes.

Fighting a tremor of trepidation at my first real combat, I summoned Bitey the Bite Beast, a dog-sized rat, basically. The air warped slightly as hot summer air does, bubbling inward before depositing the oversized rodent next to me. It looked as though someone had taken a normal rat and supersized it, then kicked it in the dick for long enough to fix it with a permanent snarl. That snarl came complete with massive buck teeth that could probably crunch through steel.

“Alright, handsome,” I muttered to my big bad rat, “let’s show this Kentucky Fried lizard what we can do.”

The salamander’s eyes narrowed at our challenge. It rose to its full height, with a crown of horns flaring with heat. My textbooks had done little to prepare me for this—this was a real wild creature with pride and power of its own. I had to dominate it now, not severely wound it, and certainly not kill it.

It would be a nail-biting balancing act.

The actual battle was unlike anything I’d experienced. Extensive practice and training with spells had gotten casting them down to a near-reflex. That ‘near’ part almost cost me my eyebrows as a beam of flame came directly for my face.

Showing no fear, the miniature Godzilla-wannabe dug its claws into the ground and opened its mouth as wide as one of those opossum memes. The fire came before I was ready to launch my spell. Fortunately, my reflexes were just fast enough.

Dodging out of the way, I cast reflexively, sending multiple cone-shaped blasts of water at the creature. At the same time, I commanded, “Flank left!”

My summon obeyed, juking in with just enough agility to avoid a vicious clawing. Bitey provided enough of a distraction for me to cast a Lesser Shield spell on myself.

In the half-second it took me to flick and swish the wand for protection, my creature had nipped a chunk out of the salamander and earned a claw to the muzzle in return.

I cast a healing spell on my summons as he went in for another bite.

The next few minutes were eye-opening, both in terms of how much mana I had to expend to keep both myself and my companion in good shape, and in the sheer physicality of real combat. If I hadn’t prepared so hard for this semester, there was zero doubt in my mind that this “simple” combat would have been over much sooner, and with a crappy outcome.

Getting low on mana, I pushed my body, dodging and weaving to distract the salamander while my summons did the job of whittling our opponent down. Focusing on controlling my breathing, I scoured my mind for any other low-mana spells I could use to help the situation.

Unlike the ideas I’d had about fights in this vein, it wasn’t about raw power. I wasn’t trying to kill the little bastard, after all. Instead, it was about proving I was worthy of commanding such a creature. It wasn’t going to get me anywhere just beating it to a pulp—I had to earn its submission.

Sweat dripped down my back and into the valley of my buttcrack as I balanced offense and defense. As the battle drew out and the spike of adrenaline dipped, I felt a hint of nervousness creep back in. Dodging and ducking, I maneuvered behind the glowing disk of my shield spell, letting it do as much of the work as I could.

With all this movement on my part, I was certain this was not what high-level summoning was supposed to look like, but it’s what I had to do for now.

In retrospect, Bitey wasn’t the best suited monster for this battle. Thinking about his attributes, I realized he had no advantages against fire. A rock, paper, scissors approach to the battle would have been better, with me summoning a water beast that would have been resistant, or even immune to the salamander’s flames. The only problem with that was that there were no beginner water elemental summons in the index that would survive on land.

Then, in a flash of realization, I understood that the salamander was testing us. Its attacks were probing rather than all-out assault.

The salamander wasn’t trying to outright kill us either. Instead, each blast of flame inched a little closer, forcing both myself and Bitey to respond in a specific way. It was toying with us. However, in doing so, it was also revealing its fighting style.

Just as that, the combat changed: it went from a life-or-death struggle to a puzzle. One I could solve.

And if I didn’t, my mana would run out and both me and my nasty rat buddy would be fucked. Not proper fucked, mind.

But fucked all the same.

Bitey took a glancing hit that barely passed through the shield, singeing his fur and causing him to let out a pained squeal. I quickly cast a minor healing spell, watching the burns fade from his hide. The creature gave me a grateful look before diving back into the fray with renewed vigor.

“Now!” I shouted, timing my command with a shield spell that turned to steam on impact with the salamander’s latest fire blast. Bitey darted through the resulting cloud, clamping massive teeth down on the salamander’s tail.

The fire creature let out a surprised hiss and whipped its body around to shake off its attacker.

There! That was the response I’d been looking for.

My left hand traced the final sigils of the binding ritual while my right cast a fire resistance spell on Bitey with my wand. The volcanic ash I’d scattered began to glow, and the containment circle flickered to life.

“Ignis bestia, audite vocem meam!” I chanted, feeling the mana drain as the binding magic took hold. “Per virtutem et honorem, ego te vindico!”

The salamander’s eyes locked with mine as the ritual neared completion. There was a moment of resistance as the monster’s pride warred against the magical compulsion. Then, surprisingly, it relaxed. A sense of approval radiated from the creature as it accepted my dominance.

Light flared, momentarily blinding me. When my vision cleared, I had another summon under my command. I decided to name him “Ignis.” It appeared fitting.

I dismissed Bitey with a grateful pat, watching him fade back to wherever summoned creatures went when not needed. The entire encounter had taken maybe fifteen minutes, but I felt as though I’d run a goddamn marathon with all the frantic darting around. Still, the exhaustion was worth it. I now had a genuine combat summon in my arsenal, and one that I’d earned myself.

One down, I thought, doing my best self-assessment without casting another spell. I was exuberant at the success, but had cast so many spells, so quickly, that I was beginning to feel a little woozy.

Making my way out of the biome, I wandered back up the trail to the bridge, where the rushing waters had a mild revitalizing effect.

“I need a better grasp of the interaction between magic as a resource and the spells I cast,” I said to the waves. “What if I had some sort of real time tracker? Maybe a tablet, an iPad perhaps, or some sort of magical watch. I feel mostly fine already, but how does that translate into how many more spells I can cast? Hrm.”

Retrieving my textbook, I reviewed the appropriate text.

***

 Magic Regeneration

Standard magic users recoup their total magical capacity once every 24 hours (around 4% per hour).

Magic Depletion

Depleting magic completely can result in unconsciousness or death.

Spell Costs

Magic costs to cast spells have cost categories associated. For example: negligible, low, standard, high, extreme. There is room for variation in how much magical energy each category requires. However, as a general rule:

• Negligible Spells: These spells can be cast almost infinitely. There are very few spells in this categorization.

• Low: These spells can be cast for around 3-6% of the standard user's magic. Basically, after ~20 castings, a normal practitioner can expect to be drained.

• Standard: Most spells fall into this category, and take between 7-10% of the standard user's magic. They can be cast between 10-14 times.

• High: 11-50%; most practitioners can cast 5-8 of these a day.

• Extreme: 51-95%; expect to cast these once, maybe twice per day.

***

Not only did I have far more mana, but I regenerated way faster than anyone else. That explained a lot about the benefits of being a warlock, and recontextualized a lot of what I was learning from the girls.

Ultimately, I decided to go with my gut: If I felt fine, I probably was fine.

Feeling a rush of exuberance, I turned my attention across the bridge. This time, I wanted to find an electric, or air-type biome, if I could.

Diversity, I knew, would be key. 

New Spell Entries (Analyze Creature, Shield, Fire Resistance, Waterspout, Bind Creature)

Spell: Analyze Creature

Casting Time: Short-Standard

Mana Cost: Low

Output: Varies

Range: Medium

Details: This spell provides the caster an objective diagnosis about a target monster’s current state, including any active benefits or maladies impacting them. See also Analyze Other (Willing), Analyze Other (Unwilling; Restricted), and Analyze Self.

***

Spell: Shield (Lesser)

Casting Time: Reflex

Mana Cost: Low-Moderate

Output: 1 Shield

Range: 30 feet

Details: This spell provides the target with a mobile shield that will actively defend against a moderate amount of physical damage before vanishing. The lesser version of this spell allows the caster to produce up to 3 such shields.

***

Spell: Fire Resistance (Lesser)

Casting Time: Reflex

Mana Cost: Low

Output: Enhanced fire resistance

Range: 15 feet

Duration: 1 minute

Details: This spell provides a small amount of fire resistance to 1 target within range.

***

Spell: Waterspout (Lesser)

Casting Time: Short-Standard

Mana Cost: Low

Output: 1 Spout

Range: 15 feet

Details: This spell deals a small amount of water damage, and can douse fires. As an elemental spell, it deals enhanced damage against opposing elemental forces, and reduced damage against complementary ones.

 ***

 Spell: Bind Creature (Lesser)

Incantation: Per virtutem et honorem, ego te vindico

Casting Time: Medium

Mana Cost: Medium

Range: 15 feet

Details: This spell allows the caster to bind a monster, spirit, or other magical creature as a summons. Unlike the creatures in the spellbook index (which have basically been bound as a species), the creature bound will be unique to the caster.

Target Conditions—Unconscious: When this spell is cast, if the target is unconscious, the spellcaster automatically wins.

Target Conditions—Conscious: If the target is conscious, a contest of wills will ensue.

Target Conditions—Willing: If the target is willing (through respect or some other negotiation), the spell works immediately.

Limitation: This low-level version of the spell will work on common and uncommon creatures, and has a chance of failing against higher rarities. This failure chance increases with the uniqueness, rarity, and willpower of the target.

New Summons Entry—Blast Salamander

Name: Blast Salamander

Rarity: Uncommon

Summon Type: Fire Elemental

Hit Points: Medium

Intelligence: Medium

Threat: Medium

Mana Cost: Medium

Difficulty to Summon: Low

Movement Speed (Land): Medium

Movement Speed (Water): N/A

Details: A proud fire elemental in salamander form. Roughly 3 feet in length with scales that shift between orange and deep red. Notable for its crown of hornlike protrusions.

Special Abilities: Fire Breath, Heat Aura, Scale Armor

Summons Entry—Bite Beast

Name: Bite Beast

Summon Type: Beast

Hit Points: Low

Intelligence: Low

Threat: Low-Medium

Mana Cost: Low

Difficulty to Summon: Low

Movement Speed (Land): High

Movement Speed (Water): Medium

Details: A magically enhanced rodent roughly the size of a large dog. While not particularly intelligent, Bite Beasts are loyal and follow commands well. Their oversized incisors can chew through most materials, making them useful for both combat and utility purposes.

Special Abilities: Enhanced Bite Force, Pack Tactics