“That did not go great, did it?” Sarah asked shyly.

  “Let me see your character screen,” Jenna said, dodging the question.

  Reading Experientials’ screens was probably the most useful ability Jenna had gained from memorizing the Compendium.

  “Okay, you are going to get Words of Power as your third competency. Three more ranks and you will get your final one and your class perk,” Jenna explained.

  “Words of Power sounds cool, what does it do?” Sarah asked. Even though she was four years her senior, she managed to sound much more naive than Jenna. The benefits of foster home raising, she guessed.

  “Think Vancian magic. Memorizing spells, like DnD and all that,” Jenna explained.

  “Couldn't we get some Runequest ones?” Sarah replied hopefully. For one second, Jenna wanted to strangle her.

  She calmed herself and helped her through her Choices. She was going to guide her into her perfect class.

  “Ok, now I want you to dismiss your magical hand,” she instructed Sarah.

  “Won’t that make it gone for a full day?” she answered.

  “Only if it’s destroyed in combat,” Jenna said. “You can dismiss it anytime. The problem is the ritual is as long as the summon, so don’t try it mid-fight.”

  Once the hand was gone, Jenna instructed Sarah to summon again, “but this time I want you to use your new ability,” she added.

  Construct Shaping (x1): When you summon it, you may shape the type of construct you conjure, granting it even sentience. A construct has the stats of an Avatar half your level, but may have a different stat matrix. You may substitute the default hand power of levitation with any other rank-one ability matching the construct’s concept.

  “Just think about the kind of construct you want before starting the summon. I think you’d like some tanky construct, perhaps with the ability to absorb damage. He could protect you while you cast your spells,” Jenna said.

  “What kind of Stat Matrix should I use?” Sarah asked.

  “We want something tough and scary. Dominant Might and Charisma. Inferior Intelligence and Dexterity. That gives eight points in the strong stats and four in the weak ones — a solid low-level tank. Use a Resistance choice for your level one perk.”

  “Where do I...?” Sarah began, “Oh, I see it now, I have some kind of conjuration screen listing possible choices for the type of construct and ability I want. There is one called Guardian, that doubles Might when intercepting blows meant for others,” Sarah was getting giddy. “This is fun after all. Oh, I must choose a name before calling it.”

  Sarah sat on the ground for five minutes, her face creased in concentration. Then she stood up.

  “Come forth, Mr Pinkytrunk, come forth and serve me!” she exclaimed dramatically.

  “Mr. Pinkytrunk?” Jenna gasped.

  Mr. Pinkytrunk manifested in the middle of the room.

  It looked durable and rugged. Almost intimidating.

  For a pony-sized pink elephant covered in coloured polka dots.

  “Sarah, just what kind of artist were you before the Apocalypse?”

  “I was a children’s book illustrator,” Sarah explained. “Aww, isn’t he lovely?” she said, hugging Mr Pinkytrunk, who bellowed in pleasure.

  Five minutes later, after Jenna had stopped Sarah from hugging Mr Pinkytrunk, she managed to convince her to start memorizing her first cantrip.

  Sarah sat in the Lotus position, her eyes lost in concentration.

  Cantrip (x1): Meditate for six hours to learn one word of power. You can only have one at a time. Once spoken, it is forgotten.

  Words of power can reproduce the effect of any rank-one ability, but they will never last more than one minute.

  “There is a Competency called Arcane Attacks. You should find something called Magic Missile there. Try to memorize the first rank as a cantrip. They will grant you the ability for one minute.”

  “That is one single use, as the basic ability also has a one-minute cooldown,” Sarah warned her.

  “We will try to make the best use of it, then,” Jenna answered.

  Six hours later, with the Power Word firmly learned, they headed back into the dungeon. Sarah started to feel more nervous as they got closer.

  “I have told you I am basically a non-violent person, haven’t I?” Sarah said.

  “It is going to be a piece of c.., it is going to be reasonably easy,” Jenna caught herself just in time.

  “You send Mr. Pinkytrunk as a tank, he draws all the attacks, and you magic-missile them out of the dungeon. It is the classic pet class combo. It can’t fail.”

  They went back into the Dark Elf dungeon. This time, they were ready for them. A whole squad of dark elf warriors poured out of the building as they approached.

  Jenna used them to grant Sarah her quests: interaction with hostile Essentials counted as questing inside the dungeon.

  Quest: Training Mr. Pinkytrunk

  Type: Epic

  Competency: Teaching

  Goal: Effectively use Mr. Pinkytrunk as a tank

  Reward: +10.000 XP

  Quest: No one hurts my construct.

  Type: Epic

  Competency: Summoning

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  Goal: Keep Mr. Pinkytrunk alive till the end of one fight

  Reward: +10.000 XP

  Quest: Take that!

  Type: Epic

  Competency: Power Words

  Goal: Hit at least one Dark Elf with a magic missile.

  Reward: +10.000 XP

  Twenty Elves charged at them, howling war cries.

  “Come on, Sarah, make Mr. Pinkytrunk intercept them,” Jenna shouted at her.

  “Mr. Pinkytrunk, I have to ask you a great personal favor…” Sarah began talking to his construct as if addressing a small kid.

  “For god’s sake, Sarah, just think about him doing it, you are mentally controlling him,” Jenna screamed.

  That did the trick, as the pink construct charged at the elves, blowing his trunk.

  “Now, Sarah, cast the spell now, they are focused on him,” Jenna instructed.

  A stream of essence bolts streaked toward the fight.

  Every single one hit Mr. Pinkytrunk in the back.

  Half his body exploded into pink smoke.

  The elephant slowly turned toward Sarah.

  Betrayed.

  Then he vanished.

  Jenna looked open-mouthed at Sarah. She was pointing at the scene with her right index finger. A small wisp of smoke surged from the point of it. She was covering her eyes with her left hand.

  “Did I get them all? Is Mr. Pinkytrunk ok?” she asked.

  Jenna swore as she summoned her spear and charged at the remaining elves, that is, all of them.

  “Not one single quest out of three? Not even one?” Jenna did not want to be angry at Sarah, who was weeping nonstop, but she could not help it.

  “I killed Mr. Pinkytrunk; he was trying to help me, and I killed him,” she sobbed.

  “For god’s sake, Sarah, who cares? It is only a magical construct. You can rebuild it in five minutes!” Jenna shouted.

  “He will never forgive me,” Sarah sobbed.

  They slept the night at a nearby abandoned farm and tried the following morning again. This time, Sarah memorized a cantrip from the Warding Competence that granted a temporary force field that could be cast on an ally.

  “I will not summon Mr. Pinkytrunk this time,” Sarah confided.

  “That is actually good thinking, Sarah. If you are going to ward him, it is better to use a DPS pet, preferably something with close combat capabilities,” Jenna approved.

  “It is not that. I am sure he is still angry with me. I could not bear it if he ghosted me,” she explained.

  Jenna counted slowly to ten, and then discussed the design of the new construct with Sarah.

  “This time, go for Dominant Might and Dexterity, and some close combat competency, Daggers could do,” she suggested.

  Jenna waited for the customary five minutes for Sarah to complete her ritual.

  The summoner-in-training rose: “Come forth, Cymbalape,” she exclaimed.

  Cymbalape looked like a cymbal-playing toy monkey the size of a person. Jenna noticed the edge of the cymbals had been honed as sharp as that of a razor. This thing could have some combat potential.

  More elves than ever poured this time out of the dungeon. Cymbalape charged them, as Sarah cast his spell on him. His figure blurred as he was enclosed within a protective force field.

  Jenna put quests into all of Sarah’s slots, this time carefully chosen.

  Quest: Training Cymbalape

  Type: Epic

  Competency: Teaching

  Goal: Effectively use Cymbalape as a scrapper.

  Reward: +10.000 XP

  Quest: Ta-ta-chan!

  Type: Epic

  Competency: Summoning

  Goal: Make Cymbalape kill at least one elf.

  Reward: +10.000 XP

  Quest: Protect your warrior.

  Type: Epic

  Competency: Power Words

  Goal: Keep Cymbalape alive at least for one minute during the fight.

  Reward: +10.000 XP

  This time it went much better. The monkey’s attack with his razor cymbals proved deadly, and the force field absorbed most of the initial blows before finally sputtering out.

  Cymbalape lasted two full minutes and took six elves with him before being vanquished.

  Jenna mopped the rest. Sarah got her three quests, reaching level 20 in one go.

  Jenna noticed Sarah was not as affected by the monkey’s passing this time. Maybe she preferred elephants.

  That night, Jenna helped Sarah choose her abilities and her class. For her final Competency, she chose Leadership, which would synergize well with her role as mistress of constructs.

  Her class was named Constructor and had an interesting class perk.

  Class Perk: It's nice to have you around. You can choose one of your constructs to become your familiar. Familiars develop memories and identities that they retain between summonings.

  The process of becoming familiar takes one week, during which the construct can’t be dismissed.

  Familiars have the full benefits of Will of the Spirit at all times, even if it is already being used on another construct. Powers gained this way are set and can't be changed between summonings.

  The Constructor has one familiar slot per ten full points in charisma, but he can only have one single familiar summoned at a time. Familiars do not use regular construct slots.

  The summoned may expel a familiar to gain back the use of a familiar slot, but the expelled familiar can’t ever be summoned back again.

  Will of the Spirit was her first Leadership choice, and granted extra stats and one power rank to a single familiar if it stayed summoned for at least a week.

  She got some extra choices for all his competencies, including the ability to summon two constructs at the same time. Her cantrips also got more powerful. That night, she managed to memorize a flame bolt cantrip that could last up to one hour.

  But the single new ability Jenna found more interesting was related to teaching:

  Anything can be taught (x1). You can lend your stats to your constructs, even negative stats. The total sum of stats lent can’t be higher than one-fourth of the Avatar or have a negative value. Lending stats requires a one-hour ritual at close range to the construct.

  On the following morning, Sarah summoned two different constructs. One was Smiley Sam, a human-sized ragdoll who cowered behind Sarah, as if she were the one supposed to be protecting him. The other one was Mr. Pinkytrunk. “I decided that I had to face him. You were right, though, he does not remember anything,” Sarah explained.

  Jenna thought Sarah looked more confident this morning. Probably the effect of gaining so many levels, she guessed.

  This time, a whole platoon of rank three elves poured out of the dungeon. Mr. Pinkytrunk jumped into the fray, attracting most of them. Smiley Sam whimpered and crawled behind Jenna. What the hell? Sarah had told her she had given him some of her stats. He was not making much good use of them.

  To Jenna’s astonishment, this time, it worked like a charm. While Mr. Pinkytrunk drew the attackers, Sarah picked off the stragglers with her flame bolt, missing not a single shot. Her Intelligence stat was very high thanks to her high Avatar rank, and a single hit was all it took to incinerate a warrior.

  In five minutes, the whole battlefield was filled with the charred remains of the elves, with Mr. Pinkytrunk still in relatively good shape. Jenna felt the four quests she had previously granted to Sarah being completed simultaneously. She was level 28 now.

  Then she heard Smiley Sam scream in terror. A single Dark Elf had crept on them and was advancing on Sarah, his right hand wielding a dagger. Sarah’s strength and dexterity were her inferior attributes, but she had 25 levels on the elf. Sarah’s kick in the balls threw him three meters into the air. He did not rise.

  “Sarah, you were amazing!” Jenna congratulated her. “You blew past my expectations. I knew you had it in you,” Sarah beamed under the praise.

  Jenna noticed Smiley Sam whimpering. “Out of curiosity,” she asked, “what stats did you give to Sam there?”

  “I gave him around seventy per cent of my sense of self-preservation,” Sarah answered.

  “Well, next time make it only sixty per cent,” Jenna cautioned. “That final kick was a bit risky.”