20: Core Values

  “You mentioned before that Totems with Elemental Affinities could manipulate those Elements. How do I get them to do that?”

  The winged woman gave me a wink, “We can do better than that.” She slid her hand along her desktop again, creating a long sheet of paper which would have curled up at the ends if she hadn’t laid her hands on either side to hold it flat.

  “Most people would have learned a few common lower magic rituals by the time they got a Class, but you missed out on getting Identify, Read Aura or any of the other basic magics. But you have options others don’t.”

  Looking at the paper which burned with tiny flames over each letter written out, she nodded to herself.

  “Any Beast with an Affinity has some magic it can do, and it gains another one each time it ranks up. Totems retain those abilities.” Holding down one end of the scroll with her elbow, she reached over and lifted me from the stand that held my Core in place, then winced as she froze in place with me held up in the air as I had Caesar tense up and hiss with flickers of fire trickling out of the edges of his mouth.

  Is he a he? Do my Totems even have genders anymore? It’s not like they can reproduce anymore, can they?

  The liaison slowly lowered me back to the stand. “Sorry, I should have asked. Is it okay if I pick you up to show you their abilities?”

  I had my fire lizard stand down. “It’s fine, but maybe show my innate summons the paper. I can see through his eyes just as easily.”

  Hesitantly, she reached out and lifted Caesar in both hands, before setting him down in front of her before unrolling the paper once more.

  Lifting Caesar’s head up high, I could read the list.

  Fire Salamander: Fire Breath

  Air Hawk: Jet Burst

  Water Undine: Puddle Jumper

  Earth Serpent: Earth Shape

  Earth Spider: Crystal Web

  Fire Snail: Flame Aura

  Death Skeleton: Terror Aura

  Nothing for the roaches of course, as they had no Affinities. But… “I guess I should have known that was Caesar’s ability, and I’ve seen the Snail use it's. What exactly do the others do?”

  Before she could explain, the information seemed to flow out of the back of my mind. My God’s gift in action, finally giving me the information I needed only when I was about to get it anyways from another source.

  I would complain, but my God was the God of indifference. He wouldn’t care, so I didn’t bother.

  Jet Burst let the Hawk go really fast by pushing itself with air, which may not have sounded all that impressive in these small underground chambers, but I had seen it strike downwards at high speed, either using the Jet of air to hit harder when it had or possibly it could go even harder If I hadn’t seen it use its ability in action yet.

  Puddle Jumper lets the Undine teleport from one body of water to another, even to and from a shallow spill on the ground. It could even lurk in the water, “In between.” I would just need to set out some water tight things to fill up, and then get a hold of some water.

  Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

  Earth Shape seemed to mainly be used by the Earth Serpent to tunnel its way around in stone, but I thought it could be used for more constructive things. The only problem seemed to be that it was really slow to use.

  Crystal Web did exactly what it sounded like, the spider could spin a web of translucent crystal.

  The snail could light itself up with fire, and the skeleton could look scary.

  “Well this is all good to know, and I already have some ideas on how I can use them. Not that it will be easy having to get them to do anything with me having to explain to them each and every step along the way.”

  Unity began lurching up and down in her seat her hands waving in front of her. “That’s the thing! A thing Summoners can do. They usually don’t bother until they reach a second rank class because it takes that long to get strong enough for them to kill higher ranked beasts that have Affinities, but you can take the ability to use your Totem’s abilities as your own.”

  She went still as her face twisted around to a thoughtful look. “Of course, the first rank version of the ability is weaker.”

  A vision of pushing myself along with the Jet Burst into a puddle to escape someone looking to kill me, and then popping up in a hollowed out spot in the wall filled my head. “Explain.”

  The liaison nodded. “The second rank version lets you use any of your Totems abilities at any time, the first rank won’t let you use them while they are still summoned.”

  Hrmm… Considering how few Totems I had, that could be an annoying limitation. I needed them in play. “Can I take the second rank version later on even if I had already taken the first rank version?”

  The winged spirit nodded eagerly. “Oh yes. You would even get to trade in the first rank version for some other first rank ability. The system isn’t perfect but we try to patch it to be fair.”

  That sounded nice unless I died because of something they didn’t get around to patching yet. “Alright, give me that as my third level power.”

  She lifted the feather she had pulled from her wings and set its tip on the paper in front of her. “And done.”

  [ You are now a Tier 1, Level 3, Core Summoner ]

  [ Power granted: Lesser Totemic Spells ]

  [ Your Spirit Score has gone up 1 point ]

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

  [ Your dungeon has grown in size ]

  [ You have gained 3 levels in Summoner Lore ]

  Abruptly I found myself back on my shelf, along with something made of folded up paper resting on top of my Core as a grinning Fairy tried to balance it on top of me at an angle without it sliding off.

  Back in the tower, I could see through Caesar’s eyes as a sad looking liaison clutched the fire lizard to herself, and whispered. “Let him stay a while would you Fell? It’s… lonely up here. I’m not supposed to be all alone.”

  Urr… It’s not like I need Caesar here right this moment. “Viola…” The fairy’s face went white and she scrambled back past the fossil tile she had pushed aside and almost fell off of the shelf before her wings appeared and left her teetering halfway to falling off the shelf and half still supported. After a moment of struggling she shrugged and let herself fall.

  Her voice carried up from below. “Sorry Fell! I just wanted to see what you looked like in a hat.”

  A folded sheet of paper Viola must have pulled free from the loose bundle of notes next to me tumbled free to land next to me on the shelf.

  ...Fairys.