Opening my door, I have to step over a sleeping kid to get into the hallway. The orphanage has been swamped with children, refugees who have lost everything, and there aren’t enough rooms for them all. No one has come to bathe me for a few days either, I know a sinking ship when I see one. It was a blessing to be able to start here, but it’s time I move on.
I walk confidently through the crowded hallways, the caretakers are far too busy to notice me leaving, perks of being tiny, I guess. The night air is cold and crisp, and my smock is barely enough to keep me warm, winter is fast approaching. This is the first time I have personally been outside; it’s kind of weird to walk around after spending so much time looking through my summons.
The forest is to the west and the gate leading to it is usually the most guarded. I’m under no illusions that the guards are going to let a kid out in the middle of the night, so I have to find an alternative route.
One pokes his head out from behind a nearby barrel and chirps. He begins to lead me through the maze of back alleys towards the west wall, few people spare me glances and I am inclined to ignore them. I have been kinda looking at other people like they are npcs, that’s probably a bad habit to form, but I am afraid to stop and really think about anything. It helps that my old life is so blurry. For now, I am happy to just play this like an extremely realistic game.
I shake my head to clear the alarming thoughts. One has successfully led me to the west wall, specifically a spot where a house was built way too close to the wall, practically a part of it.
Looking at it now, there is no way I am going to be able to scale the house and leap over the wall; that was never the plan, but it is briefly frustrating that my stats are so low.
Holding out my hand, the shadows coalesce into the form of one of my hunters. It's easily as tall as I am, so it has to lay down for me to mount it. Scrambling on, my hunter immediately leaps up onto the roof of the house, and then over the wall. We land on the other side almost silently, and my summon takes off towards the forest. I shiver on top of my beast, the cold air whipping by as we tear through the night, my hunter does radiate heat, and the fur helps too. I still wish I had something warmer to wear, but I didn’t want to attract any attention by stealing stuff and potentially getting caught. My summons don’t exactly have hands, so their thieving potential is limited.
The forest approaches quickly, and before I know it, we are under the foliage.
My hunter keeps up its breakneck pace for another hour before we stop. I slide off, exhausted from the trip, only for my hunter to pick me up by the back of my smock and carry me over towards a hole in the ground. I had told my creatures to make somewhere safe for me to stay, this is my first time seeing their work. The drones finally showed their worth, as they did all the work here.
There is a tunnel, just big enough for my hunters to crawl in, the entrance covered by brush. The black goo I was not expecting. Every inch of the tunnel is coated in a shiny black substance, it looks remarkably similar to the skin of my summons. To my relief, it doesn’t feel sticky or slimy, if anything it feels smooth and pleasant to the touch. Maybe this is the drone’s way of waterproofing my hideout?
Well, I trust my creatures, so I crawl into the tunnel. It doesn’t go too far, there is a sharp turn that leads into a spacious room, with enough room for me to stand up comfortably. To the side, a large pile of the goo is piled up. On a whim, I throw myself into it and find it to be quite comfortable. I guess this is the drones' attempt at a bed? Good job boys.
There is another chamber that resembles a bathroom, it seems the drones are quite good at shaping the goo into solid forms. There is something resembling a toilet with a basin of water next to it, another chamber has a much larger basin, presumably for bathing.
Going back to the main chamber, I notice there is a solid goo table in here too. A drone comes scurrying in with a black goo bowl, inside of which I find cooked meat. How did they manage this? I direct my question towards my drone and receive the impression of the drone collecting wood, starting a fire with its’ claws, and then holding the meat over the fire with a tendril, slowly rotating it. Another drone crawls in with a cup (assume everything is made of the hardened goo) filled with water in its tendrils, I get the impression that it had boiled it. I underestimated my drone's ability to care for me. I am now well fed, warm, and comfortable in my new weird nest thing.
The weeks pass easily, my burrow stays at a very comfortable temperature, I spend most of my time observing the world through my summons’ eyes, my range has drastically increased since I hit level 10.
My force of hunters steadily grows, with every new hunter summoned, my XP gains increase. Goblins are easily slaughtered and even the hobgoblins and direwolves are much less difficult to kill than I thought. I discovered a few dungeons, but I don’t send my hunters in, the cramped space doesn’t suit their fighting style, and I don’t want to needlessly waste them.
It’s getting really cold now, the refugees in Ironhill are surely suffering.
One snuggles with me under the blankets in my squishy bed, I feel really cozy in my new pajamas. It turns out, the drones can kinda make clothes. They take plant fibers and animal hides and chew on it and combine it with the black goo they produce, the result is a soft, stretchy material. Kinda like elastic from earth, it doesn’t feel exactly like cotton, but it is much softer than I expected. It’s possible I am just used to my creatures and their weird goo, but I like the material a lot. The only problem is that it only comes in black, I definitely have an evil, otherworldly aesthetic developing.
My heart again goes out to adventurers who have to suffer, be hungry, dirty, do everything themselves.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
+50 XP +50 XP +50 XP
My summons dutifully cull the forest around the clock, they don’t need rest or sustenance. I am nearing 100 hunters now, and they are almost completely in control of the forest. A few hours west the trees meet the mountains, and it is there that the monsters become too strong for my hunters. Trolls, giant spiders, straight up giants, everything gets bigger the closer you get to the mountains.
To the east, Ironhill seems to be hanging in there. The invaders have set up a winter camp and seem to be bunkering down for the worst of the weather, sparing Ironhill for a bit longer. The city has received many reinforcements and supplies from the capital, it looks like they want to put up a fight.
I’m not sure if I want to help Ironhill or not, it is my starting town, and the orphanage did its best to care for me, plus I would get XP from all the kills. If I am going to pick a side, now seems like a pivotal time. The real deciding factor is going to be if I have a significant force to help or not. I need my 100 hunters farming XP, so currently I don’t have anything to spare.
+100 XP +100 XP + 100 XP
Oh, my hunters are engaging hobgoblins.
Peering through one of my hunters' eyes, I watch as it leaps and tears the throat of a hobgoblin out. The hobgoblins swing clubs ineffectually, my hunters too fast for them to hit. The pack of hunters circle the group of hobs. One hunter darts forward, feigning an attack, only to jump away when the hob tries to retaliate: giving another hunter the chance to sink its jaws into the hob’s leg, ripping a chunk out. The hob screams in pain and falls to the ground where another hunter descends on it, ripping its throat out.
+100 XP
I end my observing, opening my eyes up back in my burrow. Rubbing One’s belly, he lets out a content growl and curls closer to me.
“Let’s take a bath.” I say to One. I might be getting lonely.
One responds with a yip of agreement.
The days blur into each other, the only constant being the XP I am getting. I think it usually takes people years to get level ups, since normally you either gain XP doing small repetitive tasks specific to your class, or by risking your life doing quests and killing monsters. People with classes like baker or gardener rarely even get to level 10. For people with combat focused classes, leveling speed varies depending on how many risks you are willing to take and how far you are willing to push yourself, I think level 40 is considered an incredible achievement for most. The highest level person I have heard of is one of Lotheris’ generals, pretty sure they are rumored to be around level 60.
I am aware that my growth is nothing short of incredible. There just so happened to be a war to distract everyone and give me plenty of space to grow without being noticed and disturbed.
Congratulations you are level 15! +1 Wis +1 free point!
New skill unlocked, Summon Scout
New skill unlocked, Summon Archer
The scout is a cheap, tiny summon, about the size of a regular bat. It looks like a bat too, except for the multiple red glowing eyes on its belly and back. This minion can travel fast, is stealthy, and has incredible vision, the perfect scout.
The archer is more of a combat focused summon, it costs a bit more than a hunter and is around the same size as one. The similarities end there. It mostly looks like a giant wasp with extra wings and an enlarged abdomen with a nasty looking stinger jutting out. This creature can fly, although they are not fast or nimble, and its main attack is shooting stingers. As the name suggests, it can launch the stingers from its abdomen like an arrow, and it is capable of storing extra stingers inside itself to continue shooting, it can launch around 20 before it has to rest and regrow its ammunition. Of course, the stinger is launched with the same power a level 15 archer might shoot an arrow, so that is to say, much more powerful than any normal person could. It can easily punch through metal armor and would decimate any of the monsters in my area of the forest.
The giant monsters near the base of the mountain would give me a lot more XP, and I have been reluctant to sacrifice my hunters to them. If I can build up a sizable force of archers, I am certain my XP gains will once again skyrocket, hopefully taking me to my next skill unlock.
First things first, I am going to summon a fleet of scouts to keep an eye on my surroundings, and to go and spy on Ironhill too. I can’t risk any high level adventurers coming out here and discovering my operation. Although with my archers, I am confident I can take anyone up to level 19. Level 19 is when classes evolve for the first time and become significantly stronger, a process that repeats every 20 levels. The difference between a level 19 person and a level 20 is significant, my own evolution is fast approaching, I can’t wait.
And so, I get comfy again.
It takes me a week, but I am finally able to send 14 archers to the base of the mountains, where the trees are sparse, and the giant monsters start roaming. My archers are actually quite ineffective in the confines of the forest, so this is really the best option.
I grab One and snuggle into my bed. Pulling the covers over us, I peer through the eyes of one of my scouts, this one following the group of archers towards their first target, a group of trolls. The archers remain fairly high up, out of reach of the large hairy creatures. I wasn’t gifted an ability that lets me see others levels, so I can only guess at how strong things are. If I had to guess, the trolls must be around level 20, from the way they easily snatch up wandering goblins and eat them in a single bite.
On my command, the archers enter a formation, hovering for a bit while the trolls try to reach for them, it seems they are too simple to try throwing rocks or anything.
I give the order, “Fire.” The archers unleash a volley of stingers on the first troll. Most of them hit, easily piercing into its hide. In an instant the troll is turned into a giant pincushion, with the majority of stingers protruding from its face, one even went through an eyeball.
+500 XP
The troll sways for a moment before collapsing to the ground. The other monsters snarl in rage and stomp around, but are unable to do anything to my airborne summons.
My archers all chamber new stingers.
+500 XP +500 XP +500 XP +500 XP +500 XP
Congratulations you have reached level 16! +1 Wis, +1 free point!
