Summoned Again?

Chapter 31: Back To The Grind

I worked for the rest of the night, got the building up to the thirtieth floor, then went down to the ground and started clearing away a lot of the rubble from around the job site. The summoning circle appeared and I disappeared, just like I saw in my vision. I saw my three new companions, encountered a goddess, and stepped through the portal.

Now here I was, on whatever world it was that had humanoid livestock living in villages and not on farms or anything. Or maybe I'm on a farm and the villages are just them living together peacefully. Whatever was going on, about eight hours had passed and dusk had arrived while I walked along the dirt road and reminisced about everything that happened. I approached the next town cautiously.

I couldn't use any real skills, because I didn't want to gain experience or levels before I found something big enough for me to use the Daredevil and Reckless boosts on. Sneaking into town was not going to give me anything worthwhile. I saw someone and wasn't surprised that they wore a hooded cloak and had their face covered with a scarf. Auto-identify brought up the thing's basic information.

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Name: Unpronounceable in Common - It's just growls and meows

Species: Carnivora Humanus

Class: Predator / Hunter

Job: Pet

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Oooooh, shit. I thought and used Stillness to freeze myself in place. I remained that way until the cloaked figure moved off. I cancelled the effect and used my armor's Search spell and it came back with 87 hits. A map popped up in my vision and showed the town from the top down. There were one or two people... I mean beings... in each of the structures, signified by red dots. Hostiles.

Ten more were walking around in singles, like on patrol, and a bunch of them were in the central part of the village with three in the middle. As I watched, those three darted around and bounced off of the ones around them, then one disappeared.

I thought about just walking away. I really did... for about a second. I knew this was a mistake and I did it anyway. I activated my armor's Stealth spell and moved the Search spell off to the side. I made my way to the central part and used the Search Spell to avoid the patrols. I reached the middle of the village and saw that they all wore hooded cloaks and had their faces covered, all except the three in the middle.

Well, two now. One was lying in the dirt in a pool of blood. The other two had their hoods down and the scarves that hid their faces had been removed.

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Name: Unpronounceable in Common - It's just growls and squeaks

Species: Rodentia Humanus

Class: Vermin

Job: Pest

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I couldn't get my brain to work properly as I saw human-sized rats. The huge teeth, the large solid black eyes, and the dark brown fur, contrasted with their human-like bodies. It gave them the appearance of humanity while also scaring the beejezzus out of me. It was one thing to see monsters and fight them, it was another to have them standing and walking around while talking.

I assumed they talked, because they were squeaking and growling while the cloaked figures that surrounded them hissed, spit, and growled back.

One of the giant rats lunged towards a cloaked figure, who flipped up the cloak and a large clawed hand swiped at the rat's face. The rat let out an anguished squeak as the claws raked across the side of its face and dug into one of its eyes. There was a sickening pop and the rat fell backwards, a paw over the leaking mess that was its eye socket.

The cloaked figure held up its prize, the rat's eye skewered on its claw, and the crowd cheered.

MrRow!

I heard it come from directly behind me and felt something nudge my back. In my stupidity, I had completely ignored the Search spell still running that showed me the patrols. One of them was right behind me and I sighed. I put up my hands to show that I wasn't armed, hopeful that in whatever society I had stumbled across, it meant the same thing.

Hisss, MeReow. The thing said and poked me twice.

I took that as 'walk, idiot' and started to walk. It didn't say anything else and followed me, so I had guessed right. I approached the group around the rats and the one behind me made some kind of huffing cough. The group split apart to make an opening like he had spit acid on them and I walked through the opening. The crowd settled down and the rats stared at me as I was led into the group.

Meow. Mroww. Hiss! MEOOOOW! The one behind me said and the crowd growled, hissed, then made all kinds of cat sounds. The two rats stared at me and I walked over to them.

Looks like I've been lumped in with you guys. I said.

Everyone fell silent at my words and they all looked at me with surprise.

What? Can you understand Common? I asked and they didn't speak. I activated my armor's amplify ability and spoke. Can someone please tell me where I am and what's going on? I asked and everyone within a hundred feet of me heard me as if I was standing right next to them.

Rannnghh! Nearly all of them screamed in fright and jumped a few feet in the air.

I deactivated the amplify ability and laughed because I had scared them. My Search spell showed a red dot in a building not far away as it walked to the door. To my surprise, an eight foot tall cloaked figure came out.

Note to self: Downside of topical spell does not denote height. I thought as the crowd parted for the thing. It walked over to me and just stood there. I thought it wasn't going to do anything, then it pulled the hood down.

Mrow! Meow meow! Someone off to the side said, clearly concerned.

Meeeooow. The thing in front of me said with a rolling growl and everyone shut up. It unravelled the scarf over its face and pulled it off.

Fuuuuck me. I whispered as I looked up at a giant Sabertooth Tiger. It was snow white with black stripes, like a normal tiger, except that it had huge foot long fangs sticking down out of its mouth. It pulled off the large gloves it wore and revealed huge articulated paws. They were a cross between a human hand and an actual paw, which meant he had the best of both worlds between beast and man.

Mrrrrow. He growled and leaned over me as his claws slid out of his hands.

I don't want to fight. I said and held my armored hands up in surrender.

MROW! He yelled and lunged for me.

Dammit! I darted to the side as he landed on all fours where I was. I had no time to dawdle and rolled to the other side as his large clawed hand tried to dig out my spine where I stood.

He let out a low growl and poised himself to jump.

Oh, come on! Down kitty! I said to no effect and waited. As soon as he tensed his muscles, I rolled forward and under him as he leapt.

His eyes were wide as he watched me easily avoid him, then he landed and turned around as he stood. Merow. He held a hand out and someone tossed him what looked like a steel bar. He gripped it tightly and it glowed for a moment, then it shrank and became a huge broadsword.

There was no way I could avoid both him and the sword, so I sighed and stood up. I gave up all pretense of trying to flee and collecting a huge bonus for Daredevil and Reckless.

All right, kitty-cat. You asked for this. I said and took out my enchanted sword in my left hand. It glowed with unearthly light as I activated all of its enchantments. It hummed in my hand, eager to be used again, and I smiled as I activated all the enchantments on my armor as well. It glowed blue, which showed significantly in the evening's darkness, and the crowd reacted to it.

The eight foot tall man-tiger took a fighting stance, then he charged and swung his broadsword at me. I stepped aside and turned around as I used a backhand swing to bring my left hand around into a right hand swing, cut through the broadsword, the cat's arm, his chest, and the other arm. My right hand caught him before he fell on top of me as his arms fell to the ground, severed. I pushed him away and his legs didn't work. He fell backwards and hit the ground and his upper torso separated from the rest of him.

He tried to take several breaths to get air and all he did was open him mouth. His lungs and heart were about a foot away from him and everyone stared at him as he slowly suffocated to death.

MMMRRRRROOOOWWWWW!!! All of the beings around me howled into the night.

Yeah, I don't think so. I said as they prepared to attack. Severing Blades.

My armor glowed bright blue and I touched the sword to it. With something to copy, the spell made thousands of magical duplicates, all only six inches in length, then in an instant shot them out in a perfect circle. Every single red dot that had been standing in the middle of the village was now erased from my Search spell, except for the two rats beside me. They had been crouched down and watched the whole match in fear.

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Encounter over! Congratulations!

You have defeated Vulgaris of the Chordita as a Level 1 combatant without any fighting abilities. You faced death and mocked it. Bonuses for Daredevil and Reckless apply. Good Job!

Experience earned: 7,295 (x1)

Daredevil Bonus: 2,000

Reckless Bonus: 3,000

First Kill Bonus: 1,500

You have defeated a group of Chordita (55) as a Level 1 combatant without any fighting abilities. They were not as fierce or as fearsome as Vulgaris.

Experience Earned: 1,325 (x55)

Multiple Kill Bonus (each): 500 for 10; 1,000 for 20; 2,000 for 30; 3,000 for 40; 4,000 for 50

Grand total: 491,670 Experience Points

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Total Levels gained: 26

Stat Points available for distribution: 260

Skills unlocked: 0 (none are locked)

Skill Points available: 130

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What the hell is up with those numbers? I asked and looked at the popup closely and did the math in my head. The goddamn group kill bonuses stacked! I was worried about the Daredevil and Reckless bonuses and they were piddly in comparison!

I didn't bother allocating my points yet, since I needed to go over what certain skills needed and what I needed to do to use them properly.

I guess you're free to go. I said to the two rats.

One of them squeaked at me. I pointed to my helm, shook my head, and walked over to the big cat. I cut off his head and then looted the body, storing both the loot and the body. I was very, very tempted to consume it, to make his abilities my own, then remembered that I had to be full level the last time it was safe to use my ability.

I sighed and walked around to the rest of the beings and looted them for their weapons, money that was very different than the gold I had accumulated on the other world, and anything else valuable. I mean, I wasn't going to just leave it all lay there unclaimed. That would be a waste.