Chương 42: 1-41 A familiar situation

This time, Josef already knew what affinity he would use for his newest summon. Water. One of the affinities bestowed on him by the heartstone, an element as essential for life itself as it was capable of bringing death. It was the basis of his favourite offensive spell, admittedly still his only one, and his best bet at creating a truly offensive familiar, something he was sorely lacking.

Dusty sure could do some harm, especially with his unpredictable nature and ferocious bites, but his small size and simple fighting style were limiting his impact on the battlefield. Nibbles, on the other hand, wasn't a fighter at all, not that there was anything wrong with that, but choosing a supporting second familiar had taken away from his own combat potential as a summoner. Why didn't he choose space or earth affinity as the base for his new summon?

For one, earth magic, in his view, held enormous defensive potential, one he had already experienced aplenty while using it to reinforce his own body, but that was not what he needed right now while facing down armored opponents. Space, meanwhile, could offer both utility and offense, he was sure of that, but could his low level affinity truly allow something ridiculous like tearing at space to rip someone apart?

If the answer turned out to be negative, then he was stuck with another familiar on support duty, at least until he could further level his magic. That's why he instead opted for the tried-and-true power of a natural element, calling on his water affinity. The element responded smoothly and eagerly, like it had waited with barely enduring patience for this moment, and gathered in front of his outstretched arms.

Next up was the shape of his new companion, which had to be something that embodied both grace and ferocity, holding the ability for decisive strikes and sheer oppression. For a moment, his mind drifted to the image of the very dragoness whose heartstone he was using, Lapis, who was without a doubt a true master of this element. However, try as he might, the shape of a dragon, even one as small as a cat, refused to snap into place.

It didn't feel like that shape was incompatible with what he wanted to achieve, but like he was trying to achieve something forbidden, walled off by a high and unyielding wall. Creating the likeness of a dragon was apparently off the table, somehow not allowed by the system.

"Fine, if I can't have a water dragon, then I'll just go with the next best thing instead," Josef murmured. He didn't need to deviate too far from his first draft of the creature, of which the sleek scaled body and fierce draconic head remained as he adjusted the template. The limbs he had painstakingly formed, four legs and two wings, were smoothly reabsorbed by the body, which eagerly absorbed the extra mana and elongated in response, stretching fluidly until it reached several meters in length.

The goal in his mind was simple as it was primal. He had chosen one of nature's oldest and most dangerous designs for his newest summon, something patient, graceful, and deadly. All that remained was to grant them, grant her, a name.

"Your name shall be…" He stared at the writhing shape in front of him, bending here and there, flexible but unyielding, imagining the glint of sharp and streamlined scales ending in an open, savage mouth filled with sharp, needle-like teeth.

"Pretzel, the sea-serpent" As he spoke, the magic snapped into place, and his new familiar came into being, alongside the unmistakable ping of a notification. ☆☆☆ Summon Familiar(Inferior) -> (Moderate) Current limit: 3 Just like the last time, filling the open position among his familiars immediately pushed it beyond the 'Inferior' grade. His newest familiar was… breathtaking, in more than one way.

Her large, muscular coils left no doubt about the sheer crushing force they could put on anyone trapped within those folds. Her massive jaw appeared almost adorable in comparison, as her cheeks looked comically puffed up, though Josef knew that what surrounded the serpent's face wasn't extra fat, but pure muscle. Whoever got trapped in that mouth would wish they had been bitten by an alligator instead.

However, the most notable feature about her was her scales, which all looked like tiny pieces of coral, each painted a slightly different color, turning the entire serpent into one massive mosaic that formed a small reef of about 5 meters in length. In her head sat two slitted eyes, each a deep dark blue, almost bordering on black, that felt deep like the bottom of the ocean, shining with an intelligent gleam.

"This one greets her master." The voice from her mouth was smooth yet fierce, like a wave rolling in on the beach, and distinctly inhuman in its emphasis on the letter s.

"You can talk?" Josef couldn't help but exclaim in surprise. He hadn't expected that, not after only getting squeaks from Nibbles and whatever incoherent noises Dusty could put together.

"Our will is as one, master. Why should a part of yourself be hidden from you?" Her voice was unhurried and clear, as if she was stating obvious facts known to everyone.

"Magic forms a connection between us, carrying along meaning where words alone do not suffice." A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. After hearing her speak a little more, he could tell that physically, she was only making the hissing noises he would have expected from a snake, and only his mind added more to that.

Josef could somewhat follow along with that explanation, as he had already noticed the connection between him and his familiars, though it had never had a noticeable effect before. Not until his last fight, when he had relied on it to coordinate with Dusty for their combined attack on the knight. An act that had ended up increasing his affinity for summoning. Would he now be able to speak with all of his familiars? He was looking forward to that.

"Well, no matter how it works, it's a pleasure to talk with you, Pretzel." He slowly reached out to his new companion and petted her snout, to which she responded by eagerly leaning in with a content hiss. Was it questionable to pet a sapient being? Possibly, but it was fun and neither of them took issue, so it had to be fine. Josef quickly learned not to stroke against the line of her coral scales, as the edges turned out to be just as sharp as they looked.

Fortunately, a quick cast of Regeneration was enough to take care of that minor mishap, though consoling the serpent afterwards took a little longer than that. Time that he spent experimenting with healing his missing hand, but he had no results to show for it. Apparently, there was a limit to how much he could affect his own body while in this place.

Taking his time to interact with his new familiar, getting to know her and playing around for a bit, was like an additional balm to Josef's soul after the shock he had gone through before, giving him an increased steadiness he didn't know he was lacking. Even if Pretzel was a little more bloodthirsty in her attempts at counseling than one would expect.

"You won't have to kill anyone with me around, Master. I'll crush and devour all who would stand in your path!" she hissed after loosely wrapping around him, resting her head on his shoulder. The message was rough, but she had the right spirit, or something like that.

"Thanks Pretzel, I appreciate it," he laughed and scratched under her chin, wondering if there would be a fight over his available shoulder-space in the future.

"Also, please just call me Josef. There's no need to call me Master, we're family after all." He meant every word he said, because anything less than family just didn't feel right, considering his familiars were willing to fight to the death for him, no matter how temporary that state might be for them. Now that he knew they were sapient beings, not just extremely smart animals, he wanted to treat them with as much respect as he could.

The only answer he got was an excited hiss, as a decidedly happy serpent wrapped more tightly around him. If her hug had been any stronger, it could have actually harmed him, but Pretzel showed that she had perfect control over her strength, even if she was pushing it as far as possible. An idle thought entered his head, one that he hadn't had in a long time, ever since his first night with Dusty. Could his own familiars harm him?

Back then, he had eventually settled on dismissing the possibility, as killing him would mean their own end, but now that he knew about their intelligence… He could picture the lengths he would go to, just to get back at some cruel bastard who held control over his life. It was better if he never let it come that far, and vowed to hold himself to a high standard when it came to treating his familiars. Finally, it was time to face the music, or rather the skill choice ahead of him.

Walking up to Lapis, he noticed that his eyes hadn't fooled him when he last exited this desert, as there was indeed a crack in the stone in front of him. It was a small and easy to miss change, but there was a jagged line running across the face of the dragoness, from the bottom of one horn, across an eye and finally ending at the tip of her muzzle. Whatever he was doing so far, apparently it wasn't entirely off track for saving her.

He also idly greeted Dusty and Nibbles, both of which were nestled against the dragoness, one sitting on top of her head, the other resting between her claws on the ground. Neither of them showed any reaction though, as if they were not truly here. Nibbles in particular was almost transparent, showing that his physical absence had some effect on this.

However, figuring out how his familiars interacted with this realm was a mystery for another day, so he pushed it aside and focused on the options held within Lapis's claws. ☆☆☆ Illuminating Sight (Moderate) See beyond the surface. Allows you to see damages and imperfections within bodies, enabling you to analyze injuries and to precisely guide your healing magic. This skill may be merged with an existing eye-based skill. ☆☆ Cleansing Waters (Exceptional) Clear as spring water.

Your waters can wash away maladies and afflictions, quickly ridding you of any negative influences. This cleansing can be shared, but at reduced effectiveness. ☆☆☆☆ Empowered Link (Moderate) Sharing is caring Share your mana with your familiars, allowing them to benefit from its effects and possibly form spells of their own. Well, that was just unfair. What was he supposed to pick if all skills were good?

Wasn't there some kind of law that dictated how every choice must have clear losers to help filter things immediately? How was he supposed to overcome this sudden onset of choice paralysis? Illuminating Sight was pretty much exactly what he had wished for when attempting to treat the poor woman who had gone feral, having no clue what was wrong with her body. Even if this couldn't immediately solve that mystery for him, it would surely end up leveling into something that could.

Cleansing Waters provided a different angle to solving that problem, promising to simply strip away maladies without the need to understand what he was doing. It was an unexpected skill for his water-based selection, but its general applicability was very useful, despite its low rank. Empowered Link was a whole different beast, offering a much more offensive option, enabling his familiars to be much more dangerous in a fight.

Couldn't this be a way for him to finally have more than one spell in play, by letting his summons cast the magic? Josef wanted all of those skills, but unfortunately, Lapis remained cold and unmoving, no matter how much he moaned and complained about it. This time he had to make a much more difficult choice than ever before, because no matter what, he had to leave something precious behind, while more clearly defining the path he would take.

Thinking about his different options, he ended up even discussing his choice with Pretzel, who proved to be eager to help with his predicament. Surprisingly, she accidentally gave him exactly the sage advice he needed.