Chapter Six: Summoning the Fluffy

The climb up the cliffside was harsher than it looked from below. Jagged shale bit into my palms, and the wind tugged at my torn and bloodied clothing like a jealous ghost. But I climbed, foot after foot, hand after hand, until the world below grew distant. My Strength and Agility made the actual physical exertion not so bad--but I definitely felt my relative lack of Endurance.

At the top, the entrance to a cave waited: a gaping mouth of stone halfway swallowed by ivy. The cave where the Ruler of the West had seemingly once made its home.

I stepped inside.

Darkness enfolded me, but it didn’t blind me. Not anymore.

My Caliban eyes—silver-flecked and sharp—adjusted without thought. As a human, this cave would have been shadow and silence. Now, it breathed. Glowed, even, with the small bits of light peeking in from outside. And from the gentle illumination of the various beautiful, purple crystal clusters that grew from the natural walls.

It made me feel like I hardly even needed to level Perception at all.

The ground was claw-scored. The air smelled of stone and ancient fur. But strangest of all was the feeling blooming in my chest.

It felt like home.

Not just safety—belonging. Like a den I had always meant to return to.

I stilled, one hand brushing the stone wall then running across a lavender crystal. Something old stirred beneath my skin. Not memory. Sentiment, I realized. A ghost of the Ruler’s presence—its reverence, its solitude. And beneath it all…

A sorrow I couldn’t name.

I exhaled, then opened my inventory.

The System window blinked to life, semi-translucent and steady.

>>

[Inventory: 10/50]

• Greater Bestial Shard (x3).

• Mana Cat Fangs (x3).

• Mana Cat Meat (x2).

• Mana Cat Pelt (x5).

• Skulker Hide.

• Skulker Meat.

• Spell Matrix: Summon Mana Cat [3rd].

• Spirit Guardian Pelt.

>>

My inventory was getting fuller by the hour. I noticed that some items could stack without taking up extra slots, which was convenient.

I dismissed the list and pulled up my character sheet. Level 25. The numbers gleamed in a way that brought me a quiet satisfaction—that made me feel somewhat safer.

I scrolled down to my Resource Points.

[Resource Points: 60.]

I was still too fragile for my liking. I allocated the points into Health, knowing the investment wouldn't really address the actual problem.

My AC was very, very low. I couldn’t keep relying on level ups to save me after I’d taken a royal beating. Especially now that they were slowing down somewhat.

But investing in Endurance to raise my AC would be a longer play at this point.

I wasn’t so sure how I wanted to spend my Stat Points yet, though. I could definitely use more Agility to make the most of how hard I could hit.

I needed to think on it. What I really figured I needed was armor--but I really didn't have any idea how to get that right now.

I selected the Spell-Matrix from my inventory. It materialized in my palm like a coiled riddle—metallic and fluid, etched with spirals of light and spell-script too foreign for me to read.

The System responded instantly.

[Warning: Insufficient Charisma to decipher Spell-Matrix.]

[Required Charisma: 30]

I scoffed. “Of course.”

At least that made a decision for me.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

I opened my stat window again and dumped three of my stored Stat Points into Charisma, pushing it from 27 to 30.

Then I tried again.

[Decipher Spell-Matrix: Summon Mana Cat [3rd]?]

[Mana Cost: 300. Proceed? y/n]

"Yes," I said.

The matrix glowed. A pulse of raw magic surged up my arm.

My eyes snapped wide as knowledge bloomed in my mind—not words, not pictures, but understanding.

What a mana cat was, at its core—the essence of its nature and mind.

How to call one to me from the Aether itself.

[Congratulations! You have learned a spell. Summon Mana Cat [3rd] added to spell-list.]

The System chimed again, though--barely giving me time to sort my mind's contents:

[Congratulations! You are the first soul from Earth to decipher a Spell-Matrix. Rewards granted.]

[Summon Mana Cat [3rd] upgraded to Bind Familiar: Spirit Guardian [5th].]

More knowledge flowed into me, replacing what I’d just learned from the Spell-Matrix. But this information was far more esoteric than that of summoning a mere mana-cat--almost religious in nature in comparison.

The System’s upgrade seemed to give me a glimpse into a realm beyond my previous imagining—but only a glimpse.

I blinked as my mind, just overloaded with mystical knowledge, settled abruptly.

I opened my spell-list and scrolled down to where my new spell sat.

>>

Bind Familiar: Spirit Guardian [5th] – Make a familiar contract with an astral protector from the planes of thought. Spirit Guardians are combat focused familiars. A familiar shares your level. [Summoning] [Permanent]

• Mana-Cost = Draws 25% of your maximum mana at all times.

• You may only summon one Spirit Guardian.

• If you perish, your familiar dies. If your familiar perishes, you lose the mana used to upkeep it permanently.

• Your familiar can exist within your mana circuits, temporarily returning your mana to you.

• Your familiar is evolvable and can learn Spells, Skills, and Proficiencies.

• Your Spirit Guardian's Health and Stamina will be equal to the Mana it draws from you × [Charisma/10, rounded down]. Its Mana will be equal to the Mana it draws from you × [Charisma/20, rounded down]. Its baseline AC will be equal to your [Charisma/4].

>>

I hesitated. Where had the System gotten off calling this an upgrade to just a normal summon? Was it probably stronger? Sure, it sounded like it... but I had a feeling calling up a regular mana cat was a lot simpler--and had fewer risks.

A quarter of my mana—always gone. And if the familiar died? I lost that Mana forever. That was steep. Dangerous, even. A potential weakness for others to exploit.

But I was tired of being alone already.

And I wasn’t exactly tanky. Whereas it looked like the Spirit Guardian would be. With my current Charisma and Mana, it would have higher Health and Stamina than I did.

Meaning I might be able to let it be a frontliner while I worked the DPS game.

I exhaled. Summoned the knowledge the System had granted me.

Mana drained from me like breath, slow and deliberate. But my mind—my mind opened. Wider than it had ever been.

Thought stretched outward like a net into a sea of foggy stars. I felt my awareness brush something vast. The Astral—I just knew that's what it was. The plane behind the thoughts of all living things.

My call echoed. Multiple spirits flickered past—wraiths of will, beasts of memory. They did not stop to meet or harm me.

Until one did.

It walked forward through the swirling mist and resonating constellations with no sound, no weight, as if it had always been coming.

A white panther. Grace in the shape of muscle and silence, more than it was fur and claw.

It roared.

I gasped and opened my eyes—only realizing then that they had been shut. The panther stood before me, head cocked, fur like white light given flesh.

I flinched when I saw its third eye. Just a little.

She was much larger looking in real life. Every bit as big as the Ruler of the West had been. But she had slight differences. Golden eyes instead of blue, different arcane glyphs etched into her velvety, clean-looking fluff.

But I wasn’t afraid. She felt like a part of me, the moment I really looked at her.

“Whoa, girl,” I murmured, extending a hand slowly.

The panther dipped its head. I scratched behind her ear, breath held.

She purred.

Then she smacked my hand away with a paw and licked my face—her tongue rough as sandpaper.

I laughed, surprised and unguarded. “That’s enough.”

The cat gave me one last lick before sitting back on her haunches.

I gave the panther another slower, more confident head scratch.

“You remind me of my border collie back home,” I said softly, almost to myself.

The panther tilted her head. Then:

“I am no canine, Clarissa. But I am a good girl.”

The voice wasn’t spoken. It echoed in my thoughts, bright and dry, somehow feeling older than the cave around us.

My mouth fell open.

“Did you—did you just talk? And you know my name?"

“Of course I did and do.” The panther blinked at me with all three eyes. “I’m your familiar. I would not be a very good one if I could not do either of those things.”

“Do... you have a name?”

There was a pause.

“I have few memories from before our bond was made. But my name is Gwynevere.”

I stared at her, stunned.

Then I laughed. A full, startled laugh that echoed off the stone walls.

“What’s funny?” Gwyn asked, arching a snowy brow—well, whisker.

“Nothing. Just… I’ve met a lot of cats. Never one that talked back. My life has just been so weird today."

Gwynevere purred as if pleased by my words, tail swooshing playfully. “I can feel that you're very tired. Would you like me to stand watch while you rest, my Lady?”

I smiled, my heart lighter than it had been since I'd been reborn. "Can we talk for a little while first?"

Gwyn purred again. "I am a talking cat."