“So this is the third floor”

Miko and I had made our way up to the third floor, we had a little disagreement back in the room though.

“Master Udon, the map says the level recommendation for the third floor is 10 and you’re only level 6, we should stay here until you’ve levelled up to 10”

Was Miko scared of going to the third floor? Was her plan to back-stab me not ready to move forward yet?

“We are going to the third floor, end of discussion”

“Master Udon, I don’t think its safe though”

Be quiet Miko, I’m not going to fall for your fake worry of me.

“I don’t need you worrying about me, even if it’s only an act, we need to get ready”

I didn’t mean to say ‘even if its an act,' damn it, she’ll start to figure out I know what she is planning.

“Its not an act, fine”

Miko said softly turning away from me and grabbing the small hemp bag, was she upset or angry? What is her problem.

So that was the little disagreement we had and now Miko hasn’t said a word to me since then. I should look at my skills and unlock some before we step out onto the floor, I was still standing on top of the stone stairs.

“Lets see, this skill looks useful and so does this one, and maybe this,”

I mumbled to myself looking over the skills I wanted to unlock.

“Jerk, I really do trust you and I won’t hurt you, why can’t you see that”

Miko mumbled something to herself on the other side of the stairs…yep, thats how my morning has been, Miko mumbling to herself and ignoring me, I really didn’t mind it, I liked the quiet, it had been 7 days since I was summoned to this world and I hadn’t had some quiet time in all that time.

“Skill unlocked-Basic Mana Increasement (C), Skill unlocked-Low Heat Resistance (C), Skill unlocked-Low Stab Nullification (C), Skill unlocked-Low Cold Resistance (C), Skill unlocked-Basic First Aid (C), Skill unlocked-Low Poison Resistance (C), Skill unlocked-Low Mind Control Resistance (C), Skill unlocked-Low Pain Nullifier (C), Skill unlocked-Self Sacrifice (C)”

Basic Mana Increasement: 0/10 Mastery-Level 5 Common Skill, Unlocked

Low Heat Resistance: 0/10 Mastery-Level 5 Common Skill, Unlocked

Low Stab Nullification: 0/10 Mastery-Level 5 Common Skill, Unlocked

Low Cold Resistance: 0/10 Mastery-Level 5 Common Skill, Unlocked

Basic First Aid: 0/10 Mastery-Level 6 Common Skill, Unlocked

Low Poison Resistance: 0/10 Mastery-Level 5 Common Skill, Unlocked

Low Mind Control Resistance: 0/10 Mastery-Level 6 Common Skill, Unlocked

Low Pain Nullifier: 0/10 Mastery-Level 5 Common Skill, Unlocked

Self Sacrifice: 0/10 Mastery-Conditioned Rare Skill, Unlocked

The skills are pretty self explanatory, the Basic First Aid skill adds a +1 with any medicine, bandage or potion I apply and give to a patient, the Basic Mana Increasement added +5 onto my MP so it was now 30/55 now, and the Self Sacrifice skill added another +5 to my base defence, after all the skills I unlocked I had only 35 SP left, not a lot. Miko also decided to unlock all the skills I had just unlocked while we were in the inn, all except self sacrifice, which she didn’t have access to. I only found out when I checked her stats in the morning, thats what gave me the idea to unlock these skills.

“Hey Miko, do you know what this ‘familiar creator’ skill is? It says its a superior skill”

I asked Miko who was still having a little tantrum on the other side of the stairs.

“Oh, yes I do”

Miko perked right back up and ran over to me with that massive smile on her face…I hate to admit it but she did look cute, she could easily have been an idol back in my world.

“That skill allows you to use monster and animal materials to create a familiar, the familiar is based on the main ingredient you use, they are similar to slaves but are only obedient to you and cannot be stolen. You do need to use quite a fair amount of mana to create one though.”

“Can we use them as party members?”

Since they were only obedient to their creator maybe it would work.

“Hmm, hard to say, I’ve heard stories where some have been considered monsters rather than familiars and don’t count as a party member but other times it’s the opposite, I think it’s just luck.”

It was worth a shot, if I could create a familiar then I wouldn’t need to look for another party member that would eventually stab me in the back…I could even get rid of Miko if this worked.

“Lets do it, so I need monster materials first, hmm”

I thought about what monster I should base it on, I didn’t want a wolf or any of the monsters I currently had encountered.

“Master Udon, I think it would be best if we explored this floor first before we make your familia, you’ll have more monster materials and more mana from levelling up.”

Miko did make a fair point, come to think of it, she was fairly smart.

“Sounds like a good plan, lets get going then.”

We headed out of the stairs and onto the floor, we came out onto another grassy plain with a lake right next to us, the town wasn’t far at all, and it looked fairly large, definitely the largest town we’ve come across so far.

“Master Udon, the map describes this floor as the first main floor that a big town is built on. A long time ago adventurers cleared the strong monsters on one side of the floor for players looking to easily level up while the other side possess stronger monsters. The Major Guild inn is the first of its kind, it lets all the guild post their quests there so players can see what every guild offers, the individual guild halls are only for training and information centres.”

Miko explained the floor description to me from the map Lack gave us.

“Hmm, we could do some open quests then, if the quests are all in one place then they can’t kick us out”

I did want to get some Guild Points and see what skills the Gem had in it.

“You can also level up quite easy Master Udon”

So Miko’s little tantrum, was for nothing then…

“Uhh, hey, how about we go find some monsters”

Miko saw me staring at her with my eyes narrowed, she knew that her sulking was pointless now.

“Fine, what monsters can we find here?”

Miko grabbed the map and looked over it.

“I think on this side we can find purple slime, undead rats, Golden Hornets, Giant Caterpillars, Baby Griffons and Red Ice Sharks to the lake over there, but they also have Red Ice Sharks that swim in the snow on the other side.”

Seems like a fair variety, I wanted some more monster materials, a baby griffon might be a good main ingredient for a familia.

“Lets hunt some of those Baby Griffons, Giant Caterpillars and Golden Hornets, I can’t be bothered hunting for Red Ice Sharks.”

I told Miko the plan and we headed out, it wasn’t long before we encountered a Giant Caterpillar.

“Master Udon behind you!”

Miko shouted, I turned around to see the Giant Caterpillars tail swing at me, I ducked just in time and plunged my sword into it

“What level is this thing?”

I shouted to Miko who was now on the other side of the Giant Caterpillar, it didn’t seem very strong.

“It says its a level 15 Weak”

Huh? Level 15? It certainly doesn’t feel like a level 15.

“Miko, use your wind magic while I distract it!”

If I’m right, bugs were normally weak against wind so it mind be the finishing blow.

“On it!”

Miko ran a little further back and began incanting, I managed to grab the monsters attention by stabbing it one more time, this time in the side. The monster let out a painful squeal and crawled towards me fairly fast.

“Miko! Any time now!”

This massive monster wasn’t slowing down anytime soon and I can’t out run it.

“Hear my words dungeon, I ask to be surrounded, filled and illuminated with the dungeons flowing energy, hear my plea ‘The Power of wind’ Wind Cutter”

“Whoa!”

I brought the Giant Caterpillar over to face Miko, I jumped to the ground as I saw the high pressure wind coming straight for me, the Giant Caterpillar wasn’t quite so lucky.

*Screeeeeee

The Giant Caterpillar let out another painful squeal, this one sounded a lot worse though, I felt some of the blood splatter on me, great. I tried to wash as much of the blood off my clothes in the bath but they were already stained in the wolves blood and now I have green blood to add.

“That did it!”

Miko jumped up and threw her fists in the air seeing the Giant Caterpillar collapse into a handful of chunks.

Miko:

*30 Exp Points Acquired, 1 Skill Point Acquired

Udon:

*27 Exp Points Acquired

“Were you trying to aim for me!”

That damn bee! She almost took my head off!

“I knew you’d duck Master Udon”

What kind of reasoning is that! Damn it Miko!

“Miko! Next tim….”

Miko:

*27 Exp Points Acquired, 1 Skill Point Acquired

Udon:

*25 Exp Points Acquired

“Huh?”

I looked around to see what else we managed to kill.

Level up!

You are now level 7.

Weak Intuition Improvement Skill conditions met [Locked] 5 SP Required>

Water Propulsion Skill conditions met [Locked] 7 SP Required>

Alert Skill conditions met [Locked] 10 SP Required>

Basic Monster Tamer Skill conditions met [Locked] 7 SP Required>

Basic Tailoring Skill conditions met [Locked] 7 SP Required>

Attributes boosted

10 Skill Points Acquired

“Master Udon! You levelled up, isn’t that great!”

Miko ran over and grabbed both my hands and held them tightly…You are trying to change the subject, I knew this girl was going to back-stab me eventually, was that her plan? To kill me while I was in battle? Damn it! I need to keep an eye out for her while I fight monsters as well! I need these familiars so I can send her back to the first floor.

“Do you know what else you hit?”

I asked Miko pulling back my hands and looking around.

“I think I hit a baby Griffon that was flying by”

Miko looked down as I pulled my hands back, you can’t just grab someone!

“Can you skin the baby griffon while I skin the Giant Caterpillar?”

If I unlock my Basic Monster Skinning then it’ll make this go faster.

“On it”

Miko headed to where she saw the Baby Griffon go down while I unlocked my skill.

“Skill unlocked-Basic Monster Skinning (C)”

Basic Monster Skinning: 0/10 Mastery-Level 3 Common Skill, Unlocked: Skin and dissect small monsters.

I started to chop the Giant Caterpillar up into smaller chunks, besides from the feet and antennas everything else wasn’t quite useful, I could clean the chunks out to get to the skin but other than that, it wasn’t useful.

“All done over here Master Udon”

Miko shouted across the grassy plain, it seemed like she had a pair of small brown feather wings, some fur, a small yellow beak, and 16 small black claws, nice, that is the main ingredient for my familiar, not to long now and Miko will be back on floor 1.

*Bzzzzzz

I was deep in thought when a loud buzzing sound came from above me.

“Huh!?”

Enemy detection activated, 1 enemy above

I looked up to see a Golden shine and a thick black stinger racing towards me…its a Golden Hornet, Damn it! I had no time to grab my sword and if I dodged, the Golden Hornet would just follow me.

“Master Udon!”

Miko shouted out as she ran towards me, right before the thick black stinger could hit me, a flying object parried the attack and pushed the Golden Hornet over enough for me to dodge it. I rolled out the way to where I had left my sword, but it was gone.

“Where’s my sword!?”

I looked around frantically when I saw Miko jumping into the air and slashing the Golden Hornet down…with my sword!

Miko:

*25 Exp Points Acquired

Udon:

*23 Exp Points Acquired

Level up!

Miko is now level 12.

Stealth Sprint Skill conditions met [Locked] 25 SP Required>

Attributes boosted

15 Skill Points Acquired

“Master Udon! Are you ok?”

Miko ran over to me, I was sitting on the ground trying to work out what had just happened…Did Miko, save me? No, that must have been one of her subordinates, no, thats too far, even for me, did she really just save me?

“Master Udon? Are you ok?”

Miko held out my sword to me, I looked up at her, she still had that big smile on her face.

“Uhh, thank you”

I still can’t believe I was saved by Miko, thats not the word, no, I can’t believe I HAD to be saved by Miko.

“Miko, why did you do that?”

“Huh? You mean grab your sword? I through my dagger to parry to stinger and I was going to ask but there wasn’t any time, I’m sorry”

“No, not that, why did you save me?”

“What kind of question is that? You’ve saved me plenty of times, and your my partner, of course I’m going to save you”

She held her hand out towards me, I held it as she helped me up.

“I’m not going to hurt you Master Udon, why won’t you believe me?”

Miko said softly, she had said that before, was this bee telling the truth?

“Umm, can you please skin the Golden Hornet, I have enough materials to try and make my familiar now”

I turned away from Miko and walked towards the Baby Griffon materials that Miko had dropped.

“One step closer, you’ll see how much I care fo you Master Udon”

Miko mumbled something as she walked away and skinned the Golden Hornet. She brought back its Golden Exoskeleton, and the thick black stinger, everything else including the wings was damaged by Miko’s slash.

“I want the main ingredient to be the Baby Griffon, so if we grab the Baby Griffon Fur, and the Small feather wings and add them in with the Golden Hornet Exoskeleton, and the 6 Giant Caterpillar Legs so it has a hard body and multiple legs to run faster I think that’ll do”

I turned to Miko who seemed to be confused on what I asked for, because she was rummaging through the bag in a fuss.