10 ) Custom Build

  Unity smiled and interlocked her fingers in front of her again. “Well I was thinking of making it impossible for anyone to consume you for Merits points, but…” She threw her hands to either side in a helpless gesture.

  “I got the feeling like it was too much. Way too much. I think if I did that it would make you immortal, but it would add a multiple to how much you needed to level up that would be so high that you would be trapped at Tier one for centuries.

  That… didn’t sound too bad. For me at least, but then, Viola would get bored pretty quickly… and I was stuck with her…

  How long did Fairies live? How long was I going to live? What if I was trapped in that cramped little room with a bored Fairy for years? Centuries?

  “No, I… have a purpose I think. One I can’t fulfill if I can’t advance in levels. So I’m going to have to say no.”

  My Liaison gave me a relieved smile and nodded. It looked like she had bought it.

  Pursing her lips, she looked off into the distance. “I thought about what other powers I could pick out for you, and there are any number of Summoner powers I could pick from for you, but you need more than that. You need something for you as a Summoner, that is also focused on you being a Core.”

  Glancing down at me she gave me another helpless look. “And I don’t know what it is that you need as a Core Summoner.”

  Fair. “Alright, let me throw out some ideas… Some kind of ability to move around on my own would be good, if I can’t defend myself with Summoned creatures, being able to run away would be helpful, or maybe some way to hide?”

  She nodded at me and slid her hand along the top of the table she sat at, a sheet of white parchment appeared along the flat surface as her hand moved along it. Reaching over her back she tugged at a few of the feathers on her wings before pulling one loose and using it to begin writing on the sheet in front of her with the feather’s pointed end.

  From the angle I had sitting in the Core holder on the desk, I couldn’t see what she was writing down, but I could see the light of those familiar burning letters as she scribbled them down onto the page.

  Looking up as she finished, she smiled. “That’s a good start, but I need more to work with, a lot more.

  Hrmmm… “I could use a way to see everything in the three hundred feet I can summon my creatures in. Oh, and can you tell me why I only get my magic back from them getting killed outside of the ritual circle I was created in?”

  She gave me a baffled look, and then scratched at the side of her head with her quill, leaving tiny glimmers of flames in every color in her hair before they flickered away into nothingness. “Normally you only get your magic back if you dismiss your summoned Manifestations, but I guess if they are in that circle, then they are somehow not separated from you… like that circle is part of you somehow?”

  Ah… “Is it?”

  The winged Liaison shrugged. “I'm supposed to be the expert, but you’ve been a Core Summoner longer than I’ve been a Liaison for your race. I know everything there is to know about every class that has ever existed. But Core Summoner didn’t exist before twenty three minutes ago. We’re both learning as we go along, but this seems like it might be a good starter ability. Especially in your circumstances.”

  She raised the pointy bit, the nub I think it was called, above the surface of her parchment. “Rank one, level two ability. Double the base radius of your stronghold, no, we’re using the word Dungeon, aren’t we? Double the base radius of your Dungeon each level.”

  Leaning forward to look at me, she raised her eyebrow questioningly. “Does that work for you?”

  Doubling the radius of the ritual circle, which counts as my Dungeon, would take up the entire middle part of the room I was in. And inside of it, any Summoned creature of mine that died would have the magic that created it go right back into… what I knew to be called a Magic Pool for some reason.

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  Why call it a pool? Was Magic a liquid?

  In any case, that sounded… good, really good. I could resummon my creatures as quickly as they died, and in another two levels, my Dungeon would stretch across the entire room long ways, as well as into and beyond the sidewalls to a distance equal to the length of the room. Whatever good that would do me.

  “Yeah, that sounds good.”

  She nodded but hesitated. “Before I, or rather we, do something that can’t be taken back, are there any other ideas you have? Even if we don’t use them right now, it will give me something to think about.”

  Well, I still wanted the expanding Dungeon thing, but wasting so much of it by having walls get in my way seemed like a waste. “Can you give me some way of getting rid of the wall around me, like magic away the rock or maybe store it away somehow?”

  Unity crinkled up her nose. “Spacial magic, at Tier one? That would be pretty broken. Besides you have Earth affinity Totems. Just have them dig at stuff. They should even be able to tell if you’re in danger of collapsing the ceiling down on yourself.”

  Yeah, being trapped under a pile of stones would… Pretty much protect me better than some old door with a gap under it. But then I had to face danger to keep advancing in levels. And I already told her I had work to do that required me to advance. I think I needed to keep my lies consistent to keep her on my side.

  “Can they compress the rock? Made it harder and stronger to help hold up the ceiling, maybe keep other things from digging their way to me.”

  She gave me a thing smile and shook her head. “Not at Tier one. Anything else.”

  I grumbled out loud since I didn’t have a head to shake. “Could you give me some way to see things within my summoning range? Like Viola can?”

  My Liaison tilted her head at me. “No, but I can give her the ability to share her sight with you. When she became a Dungeon Fairy she traded in her Tier One, Level One ability to promote growth in plants using the Chaos they had absorbed, it was the keystone of her Tier One powers. She gave it up to gain her Fairy at Arms ability.”

  She wrote on her parchment. “When you finish leveling up to Level Two, I’ll suggest to the All Mother that she give Viola the option to trade in her Rank One Level Two Flower Fairy ability for a power to share her vision instead.”

  Unity created another smaller sheet of parchment, wrote something on it, and seemed to make an elaborate signature on the bottom corner before rolling the parchment into a scroll and tossing it into the air when a tiny winged figure appeared in the air for a moment to catch it and then vanished before I could see much of it, along with the scroll.

  My Liaison gave me another nod, “I think I’ve gotten a few ideas to think over now, but give me at least a day before you level up again. I know you have enough Merit points to go all the way to Level Eight, but if we rush things we may make mistakes that both of us will regret.”

  She again held her quill above the parchment. “So we are going with your personal dungeon doubling each level?”

  “Agreed.”

  [ You are now a Tier 1, Level 2, Core Summoner ]

  [ Power granted: Dungeon Expansion ]

  [ Your Spirit Score has gone up 1 point ]

  [ You have a free point to add to any Score ]

  [ You have gained a new skill enhancement ]

  Wait… what’s a skill enhancement?