The Lone Healer-Chapter 28: A Summon’s Options

Erin remained silent.

The prompt waited for her to tap on it, hovering in the air between her and her summon.

{Choose Follower Settings}

"I... What?"

Neve still couldn’t quite understand what this meant. Out of curiosity, however, she tapped the message and it displayed a few other prompts.

{Personality}

{Combat Style}

Both of these options appeared next to each other. Neve blinked, looking at {Personality} in particular.

[I can change that?] She thought, before adding, [wait, personality? What? She’s... She’s a summon, though.]

It wasn’t something she’d expected. She only knew about Summoning Magic vaguely, as she’d seen a few players here and there who’d chosen the path of the conjurer. Being able to alter a summon’s combat style was understandable, but, personality? That was mind-boggling.

Fueled by even more curiosity, she tapped on that option in particular.

{Personality Preset: Erin Leynall} {Selected}

{Personality Preset: Custom}

{Selecting "Erin Leynall" will give the summon the original Erin Leynall’s exact personality traits. These same traits may be modified, however, under "Custom"}

{Traits:}

Happy/Sad: 0

Patient/Temperamental: 0

Protective/Unprotective: 0

Loving/Hateful: 0

Passionate/Apathetic: 0

Mischievous/Serious: 0

Romantic/Cold: 0

Lustful/Chaste: 0

... And many, many more options, to the point where it nearly made Neve’s head hurt.

At the end of the long list of things that could be changed, there was a note.

{Note: A higher value will shift the trait toward the right-hand characteristic. For example, a Happy/Sad rating of 10 will mean the summon never stops crying.}

{Warning: Shifting a summon’s personality trait toward either positive or negative extremes could cause volatile emotional imbalances.}

{These traits can be changed at any time.}

Erin blinked as Neve read through all of this, patiently waiting to be "activated".

[... Am I using a summon or am I programming an android? What is this?]

Her immediate instinct, of course, was to simply use the natural "Erin Leynall" preset. If she was understanding the implications here, this version of Erin would behave like an actual person. In that case, altering her personality so that it fit her tastes felt... gratuitous. Shameful, even.

So, she pressed that preset, and each of the traits listed shifted their values to reflect Erin’s personality.

{Confirm?}

{Yes} {No}

However, before she hit the {Yes} button, one of the personality traits caught her eye.

"Protective..." Neve read out. "Well, this doesn’t really sound like an emotional thing, it’s more of a behavioral thing, isn’t it?"

Although there were combat options that she would get to look at in a bit, she felt like this trait in particular could have ramifications in that regard.

As it was, the trait was listed as 5. Neve, however, decided that it might be good to change that.

"Thinking about this in terms of fighting, the entire point of having a summon would be that I wouldn’t have to throw myself into harm’s way. If that’s the case, I definitely want her to understand her job. Maybe making her more protective would help with that."

And so, she set the Protective/Unprotective scale to 0, making Erin as protective as possible.

[If it ends up being an issue, the System says I can just change it later. It’s fine.]

With that decision out of the way, Neve pressed {Yes}.

Then, she moved to the {Combat Style} prompt.

{Agressive}

{Defensive}

{Balanced}

{Note: The summon will respond to all orders, regardless of whether they go against their Combat Style setting.}

Neve’s choice here was fairly quick.

[Definitely want defensive,] she thought. [If I want her to be aggressive, I can just order her to do something aggressive myself. I don’t want her running off to go fight someone a whole room away on her own, though.]

With that option selected, Erin’s settings were finally set.

One final message appeared.

Summon: Erin Leynall (Unique)

Level 40

MP: 100/100

EXP: N/A

Activity Points: N/A

WS Tokens: N/A

---

Endurance: 30

Speed: 35

Precision: 40

Strength: 30

Arcane: 10

---

Spells:

Freezing Gaze - 50MP

{Paralyzes an enemy for 3 seconds}

The Lamia’s Hunt - 50MP

{Increases Movement Speed for 10 seconds}

---

Skills:

Alchemy: 10

Archery: 40

Blade: 40

Blunt: 35

Blacksmithing: 60

Blocking: 35

Dual Wielding: 60

Unarmed: 60

Healing Magic: 5

Combat Magic: 5

Utility Magic: 5

Lance: 35

Summoning: 5

Sneaking: 5

Speech: 25

Scouting: 40

[Level 40?] Neve thought. [Same number as my Healing Magic skill. So, she does purely scale off that. Alright. Also, holy shit! Those skills! Those attributes! This is exactly the kind of summon I would have wanted! The only thing I’d change is that I’d probably take some of those precision points and put them into Endurance, but this isn’t bad at all!]

As Neve went over her summon’s attributes, Erin blinked and shook her head.

Neve pulled back. She almost felt like she’d just been caught staring at someone’s boobs.

Erin moved as though she’d just snapped out of a deep trance.

"Ah... You again?" She asked.

That one short, simple question made Neve freeze.

[She kept her memories?]

"You... you remember me?" Neve asked.

"Of course," Erin replied. "Did you think I would forget my savior? Though... I say that, but I can’t seem to recall how we got to this place," she added, looking around. "I must have fallen asleep during our journey here. Did you carry me all this way? How far are we from the fortress?"

[Holy shit,] Neve thought. [I... I really wasn’t expecting her to keep her memories. But, I’m glad that she did.]

"Uh, yeah, we’re pretty far... We’ve been running for a while."

"Is that so?" She asked. The lamia slithered toward the portal behind Neve, leading into the Main Dungeon. "I cannot say I remember ever seeing something like this, though. What is this thing?"

[Huh? She’s never seen a portal before?]

"I-It’s best if you leave it alone," Neve cautioned, walking up and placing a hand gently on Erin’s right arm. "It’s a portal. It will take you someplace else if you walk through it."

"Truly?" She asked, her ears perking up. "Sounds like quite the important technology."

"It is, but... yeah, it’s dangerous."

[If she ends up walking through this thing, I can just summon her back here again, right? If not, then, I guess I’m down a summon, because I’m not going back in there. Even if I have some Activity Points. I’ve had more than enough of the Main Dungeon for now.]

"Anyway, uh, let me see... Can I buy a car in here? Or a bike?"

Indeed, these options were available, though the prices on the former were far outside of her current budget.

[Damn, the cheapest car is 15000 WS Tokens. The most expensive is a sports car worth 50000.]

The thought of moving around this world in one of those slim, elegant sports cars she’d occasionally see online was funny. It would never happen, though, so there was no point in lingering on these options for too long.

[Let’s see... I can get two bicycles for 3.5K each... 7K? Damn.]

"For now, we’re just gonna have to walk," Neve muttered.

"I do not mind," Erin replied. "After spending so long in that cage, I do feel like stretching my tail a little."

"Hm. Where should we go?" Neve wondered, muttering to herself. "Tamira said that we can only see a dungeon on our map once we’re close to one. There are two we’re close to right now."

"Dungeons?" Erin asked, narrowing her brows. "You just saved me from a prison and now you wish to go to one?"

"What? No, that’s just- uhm, it’s what my kind call places we want to search through. Trust me."

"... Very well then."

[I’m glad her memory’s intact, but it might be a bit of a pain having to explain game mechanics to her. Kinda wish she would already know all of that stuff.]

"Anyway, there’s a dungeon pretty close by. Over by that mountain," Neve stated, pointing at a fog-covered peak to the north. "Uh... Are you feeling alright? Are you ready to move?"

"I suppose so," she replied, yawning. She stretched at the same time, raising her arms. Upon doing so, she looked down at herself and stopped. "Hm? Why...? My muscle," she said, patting herself. "I... I am alright again!"

"I... Uh, I did that," Neve replied. It was the first thing she could think of to say. "I healed you back into being in good condition."

[Is that even possible? I hope I never end up starving for so long that I have to find out.]

A look of pure elation appeared on Erin’s face then, as she aimed a bright, beaming smile at Neve that showcased two impressive fangs.

"You are full of surprises. I like that."

Neve took a deep breath and turned away, hiding the way her face reddened after hearing that tone in her voice.

"Come on, let’s get going."

The two of them began their journey moving away from the main dungeon and cutting through a field of tall grass. Neve glanced over at her summon every few seconds, gauging her reactions to the world around her.

Erin was somewhat perplexed by the grass they were walking through, but she didn’t seem to mind it too much. As they moved toward the dungeon on Neve’s mini-map, she asked:

"So, how exactly do you fight?"

"Hm? Well, I do not have any weapons to use, so I suppose I will simply use my claws. My hands are fairly well-trained, in case you’re curious. You do not have to worry."

Neve arched a brow.

[... Is my mind just in the gutter or did she actually mean to flirt just now? Well...] She looked away. [The first thing she did after she left that cage was kiss me. Maybe she was just happy, though.]

Blushing, she set that aside.

"Uh, well, I don’t have anything I could give you right now. But, with your Blacksmithing skill, you could make one, right?"

"Hm?" Erin tilted her head. "How exactly did you know I was good at Blacksmithing? I don’t recall ever telling you such a thing."

"Uh..." Neve paused. "I... I’m good at guessing that sort of thing," Neve said. "I could just kinda tell."

[I’ll let her know about how things work later. If she’s actually the same as a real person right now, her mind might just overload when she hears about the System and everything.]

"Really?" Erin asked, surprised. "Well... You are correct. I am indeed good at that."

What she asked next, however, was unexpected.

"Do you mind?"

Neve pulled back.

"What do you mean?"

"Do you mind that I am good at crafting?" She asked.

"Um, no? Why would I?"

"... I guess your kind does not share the same prejudice in that regard, then. Never mind, forget I asked," she said with a smile. "If you find any materials, do let me know. Ores, leathers, that type of thing. Are you familiar with smithing materials?"

"Yep."

[Well, in real life? No. But, here, the System will just tell me.]

"Then, please, do so."

"Um, okay. I’ll keep an eye out for-"

Suddenly, Erin lunged at her.

It happened so fast that Neve failed to register it.

In the blink of an eye, Erin dashed toward her and wrapped her arms around Neve’s body, along with her tail.

Neve’s face ended up buried in Erin’s chest as the lamia pulled harshly on her back.

She couldn’t move. The lamia’s grasp was too tight.

[...?]

"We are being ambushed!" Erin stated. "Do not worry, I will protect you!"

That word cleared things up.

[Oh.] Neve blinked, her face still deep in Erin’s cleavage. [I... I may have messed up.]