A lot of gains for a sole night

Starting with the last skill Jay got, it was [Trap LVL 1] that managed to boost his own up to level two, Jay slowly scrolled up the log.

For [Dagger LVL 2] and [Haggling LVL 2] it was different as they didn't grant him any level up.

But like he had guessed before, [Hide] had been about to reach the next level and her measly level two skill managed to get his own to level five.

Somehow he had a hunch that with this, there were none to very few people in this world around his level that he wouldn't be able to hide from.

The last skill on the list and first he integrated was [Item box], a storage skill like Jay already knew. Though it belonged to the spatial magic, it still got counted as special skill by the system. The capacity depended on the skill holders base level how Jay read after clicking on it.

Reading once again through the still steady growing skill list, Jay's eyes fell on his conjuration magic after a long while.

When he got it back then, he had no soul stones to test it out and later he completely forgot about it over the course of events as well as the way too many other skills he already had in use.

Deciding to no longer postpone it, Jay rose from the chair and stepped down the few stairs from the veranda. At that point it had nearly turned completely dark, so he started without wait.

Fetching a soul stone from his inventory he concentrated on the spell and began casting.

It had to be cast in a language Jay was happy he didn't have to spell out loud thanks to his silent cast. Not only would it have sounded as demonic as the conjured creature was, he feared it would really hurt his mouth and throat while talking.

After just the first five words did a small circle appear not two yards in front of Jay. The unhealthy green glow got gradually brighter until the circle was complete. When Jay had poured in the required amount of mana afterwards, a small dark portal appeared there and had a small green figure crawl out of it.

Directly using analyze on the ugly creature, he learned it was an Imp of level five.

After it turned its somehow goblin-like head left and right, it directly began to blabber in the horrendous demonic speech and a green fireball appeared in it's claws.

The Imp didn't hesitate to throw the fireball onto it's summoner, but to the creatures surprise it only got it returned and with just that, had half of it's health taken away. For just the attempt to attack him, Jay kicked out to the Imp.

Still airborne and a good two yards over the ground, the summoned creature dissipated into nothing.

While it had stopped and stood still after the first fireball got reflected, possibly enabling Jay to contract it in that state, latter had no use for a creature this weak. Not only was it disgusting like hell, it would even hinder him for how low level it was.

Like this, Jay decided to go on with his next possible summon and prepared himself. The Void required three times the reagents than an imp, so Jay concluded it would at least be that strong as well.

After taking out the three soul stones it required, Jay began his chant in silence like before. While the second spell didn't sound too creepy in his mind, it still was anything but pleasant. The same runed circle like with the Imp appeared on the ground, only this time it was of a dark purple shade.

Instead of using just the required amount of mana, Jay decided to pour in a bit more and once done, another dark portal opened and gave passage for the summoned creature. At first it was nothing but a pair of big, shadowy claws that reached out of it, but only a second later they pulled out the whole figure they belonged to.

It was a hulking creature with a somehow immaterial blackish-purple surface. There were no distinct features on it, only a pair of brightly glowing eyes that looked at Jay.

Without even looking around, his summon once again attacked Jay who had do dodge as it was not far away and had a long reach with its massive and elongated arms.

Two steps back were enough though, as contrary to the attack speed, it's movement was very slow. At least for Jay that was.

Taking some more steps back, Jay analyzed his second summon while it floated towards him and learned the Void he had called was of level 12. Judging by it's skills and the initial attack, it was a purely physical combatant, even though it was unmistakably a magical being.

Jay let it come near once again to see how strong it's attacks are. With his Wingblade he received the first attack and countered with riposte active.

The response as he cut into the creature was different than anything he had experienced to that point. It was like cutting into jelly, but with such a high density that the blade nearly got stuck.

What was more, there was no blood or anything. The cut closed itself instantly and other than a little health missing, there was no effect. Only then did Jay understand what those over three thousand health points of the summoned Void meant: This creature was meant for defense rather than physical combat.

To test it out a bit, Jay went in a few more times to counter the Voids attacks and even checked how it reacted to magic enhanced attacks. But other than dealing a lot more damage, there was no real change.

Having enough from playing around with the demonic creature, Jay fired two volleys of arcane missiles onto it, taking most of it's health. For a mere level 12 creature it really could take some hits, even if there was no vital point to be hit.

And just at that moment a new screen appeared out of nowhere. It wasn't like Jay hadn't expected something like this to happen, but it still startled him for a bit.

__________

The Void-Demon deems you as appropriate Master.

Do you want to form a contract and bind it to you?

[Yes] [No]

__________

With nothing to loose, Jay chose yes. The next moment the creature lowered its arms and took something like a bent forward position indicating his servitude.

Jay only managed to take one step closer to it though when he felt a huge part of his mana getting sucked away. Close to half of it disappeared in three mere seconds and he panicked at first fearing it was some kind of attack.

But then he noticed where it was going, that was the Void in front of him. Feeling no aggression coming from it, Jay analyzed it once again while he watched some changes happening on it.

The biggest change was not the size by which it grew but the shape of it's eyes. While it looked completely enraged after getting summoned and was about 7 feet tall, the eyes then looked even a bit cute while it had grown by a full feet. Like this, it reminded Jay back to a certain comic robot he must have seen in his old world, just with swapped coloring.

Using the mana drained from him, The Void had grown to his own level and so had it's health and defense.

Still not fearing he'd loose to it then, Jay had a feeling it might have been a tougher fight if it had been like this from the beginning.

That was mostly to the magic defense that had grown even more than the physical one.

Jay had by then stopped analyzing it and was inspecting it's status and skills via his systems character screen. But the moment the ratings had stopped changing a new screen suddenly overlapped the one Jay had been looking at.

__________

Please name your new Void-Demon servant:

[*******]

[Ok] [Cancel]

__________

He couldn't help but grin as Jay typed the three letters that first had come to his mind. It was simply "Max", again derived from the figure he had first compared it with. Done with this, he only looked once at the small command bar that had appeared after contracting Max, giving him options to have the Void attack, defend or stay passive.

Jay first closed the status screen and after setting it on defensive mode, dismissed Max. To that the Demonic creature simply faded into nothingness.

Looking a the spell Jay had set into the skill bar, he learned it cost him one soul stone to summon Max. Given that he had them in the hundreds by then and no problem earning some if needed, Jay was going to test his new companion when the chance presented itself next. There was only one more summon he had yet to test out left in his skill list.

It was one he got quite some time ago from Jeanie the Pixie, called (Summon Spirit: Water Spirit LVL 2). But however much Jay concentrated on it, the result had been the same.

__________

No Spirit within reach!

Please find a location with accessible targets.

[Ok]

__________

Even walking closer to the lake as it had been a water spirit he tried to summon, didn't change anything. It seemed he would have to ask in the academy about this, so Jay walked back to the small house a bit reluctantly.

After he got inside, he first lit a small fire at the fireplace and then some oil lamps. He had no reason to hide his presence there like the previous inhabitant.

With enough illumination he then took out the papers he had taken previously and looked through them. The first few papers were written in a language he couldn't read at all. It wasn't like he had gotten fluent in the written common language as well, but he at least could manage.

Deciding to later find someone trustworthy who could read it, Jay proceeded to the next set.

For this he fetched one of the newly acquired liquor bottles and opened it. A soft herbal scent wafted out of the bottle and while thinking that his new body would be counted as underage in his old world, he took a good sip directly out of the bottle.

The taste was equally soft to the aroma he smelled, indicating this was one very exquisite drop of alcohol. But as he got a few more of those bottles, Jay didn't hesitate to drink some more of it.

The papers he was looking through at this point were nothing but contracts. Grinning to himself as he found whom the contract for those bottles he took was from, Jay stored those papers back into his inventory.

The name he just read was one he had heard a few times in the AI:7. He had later learned he already met the man called Jasper Fel as he met Shalina Ravencrest for the first time, standing at her side.

But other than him being one of the top agents, Jay knew nothing.

Looking further through those contracts, Jay found a few more names that rung a bell, but none he had really been sure of. Morgaine seemed to have really been a busy woman. Like always, Jay held onto to the papers and if there was a chance to, he would make use of them.

Just as he was thinking about stopping with the papers and lay down to sleep, he noticed a different looking sheet of paper within the rest. Picking it and glancing over it, Jay understood on first glance what it was.

On the richly adorned paper was even an official wax seal and a signature. With the exact description of the landmarks and the title written in big letter, it was the deed of ownership to the small abode at the lake he just was in.

Looking over it again, Jay found no name written on it or to whom it belonged, so his guess was the owner was really the one holding onto the deed. If this was true, he had coincidentally gotten to own his first real estate.

Having had enough of the papers, Jay stored them away into his inventory and looked around once again. To that point he hadn't found a bed or some place else where he could comfy sleep in the room.

Standing in front of the fireplace that was in the center of the back wall, to his left there was the big table with chairs and behind it some shelves on the walls. To the right stood a chest in the corner of the room and a big wardrobe. Next to that was a door Jay had already taken a peek behind, only to find a small restroom with a separated loo further in the back.

Turning around he saw the door and two windows under one of which was the cooking place. As there was no way this house had nothing like a bed, Jay looked up to the ceiling and noticed that half of the room was open.

After one more time looking around he finally spotted a ladder between the wardrobe and the crate to his right.

Climbing it in swift steps, he finally found what he had been looking for. Though it was a simple one, there was a double bed with crates to each side and even a small desk.

Before he laid down, Jay had checked all crates and extinguished the lights and fire. There was nothing left in the abandoned house, so he soon drifted into a sound sleep in his by then own bed.

That sleep wasn't long though, as his activities had taken quite a bit and he awoke at his usual time.

Instead of his normal morning workout he had skipped for a long while, Jay decided to go swimming in the lake. Afterwards he trained a bit more and once done, he went back inside his house and prepared breakfast.

Preparing was calling it a bit much as he only took out ready made dishes he had in stock and munched on them. Once done he set everything back as he found it, locked the door behind him and summoned his horse.

It was time to ride towards Arathor and make his report to the AI:7 as well as Marshall Whitmore. Even though Haggard had told him otherwise, Jay still feared he might miss the chance for further interrogating the captives from Millshire.

And if he had the chance to, he would love to meet up with Mia and Ellie in the capital as well.

Like this he rode through the undergrowth of the forest along the shore of the Mirror Lake. His small abode got out of sight in no time and thanks to his magic mount, the trip took not much longer than on the road he got on at about half way.

Even before noon he had made it to the Gates of Arathor and crossed the long bridge in the full shine of the sun at it's peak. At this time of the day there was no queue at the controls as well, so Jay walked down the completely filled main street only minutes after passing the Gates.

An audible rumbling suddenly had him halt his steps.

It was his stomach that signaled him the hasty breakfast hadn't been enough. To his luck, the stall with the tasty skewers was there again and so he grabbed a few of them and paid the man with the cooking skill.

The meat was gone shortly after Jay passed the big plaza and once the street got less crowded, he summoned his horse again and rode via the canals towards the Fort.