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Humans Don't Make Good Familiars- Part 76
🕑 Added 2022-02-15 04:51:22 +0000 UTCJake’s POV
Panting and weak, I climbed up the last of the cliffside. Finally, having reached the top after thirty minutes of repeatedly causing rockslides with magic, then climbing up the debris, I pulled myself up to the top and laid on my back. “That… was… terrible.” I complained to myself, only to hear Suma’s voice in my head again.
“Okay Jake, I think I know the best way for you to conquer the next obstacle.” She said proudly. I didn’t bother answering her at first, I was too tired. “Jake, can you hear me?” She asked confused.
“Yes Suma… I can here you. I just need a minute.”
“Okay, but you may not want to take too long. While I was flying I saw a giant Black Serpent coming your way.”
If I hadn’t been so tired, I probably would have laughed, “very funny Suma,” I said dryly. I thought it was a good joke, but my body didn’t care at the moment.
“I’m not being funny Jake, there really is a Black Serpent familiar heading your way.”
That caught my attention, “Wait… what?”
“I think it belongs to that noble Lauric.”
“Huh, that will be interesting to see,” I said. During this entire conversation, I hadn’t yet been able to bring myself to stand, or even sit, up.
“Jake, if the familiar behind you reaches the end first, then you will have to do the entire course again tomorrow!” She shouted. That got my attention and woke me up. I bolted to my feet and started heading for the next obstacle as fast as I could manage. While running, I activated one of the runes on my armor, it was a body magic rune that was supposed to increase to users stamina. I hadn’t had a chance to use them yet, so I gave them a shot. I summoned a preprepared Daljar of mana and activated the rune. Obviously I couldn’t do it without the Daljar or the rune would have done who knows what. As soon as it activated, I felt like I could run all day if I needed to; I was at the next obstacle in minutes.
“Okay Jake, I think the best way to beat this one is to go around it.” She said.
“I don’t know,” I said staring out across the lake, “it’s pretty wide. So do I just have to get to the other side of the lake?” The shore of the lake was almost three kilometers in each direction, but only a hundred meters across. I stuck a hand in the water, it was fairly warm actually.
“Yes, essentially. At the other end of the lake is a small island, on the island is the prize of the course. Once you have retrieved the prize, you return back to the start via whatever path you choose.” Suma explained.
“So, this test would be easy for familiars that could swim or fly, but not walk.”
“Exactly,” Suma confirmed. I sent away Jericho and stripped off my underclothes. Thankfully, the effects of the rune didn’t dissipate, or what I was about to do would have been suicide. “Jake, why are you removing your garments?”
“Because,” I said wading into the lake, “I’m going to swim across.” There was a moment of silence from Suma.
“You can swim? How? You weigh more than fifty Neame put together!”
“Yeah but I’m mostly made of water, and I use to swim in lakes all the time as a child, so I’m a pretty strong swimmer.” I explained as I began my breaststroke.
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Suma’s POV
Jake called it swimming, but at first I thought I needed to summon him to safety to prevent him from drowning. He flailed about like he needed help, but no matter what, he didn’t stop moving forward. I wasn’t worried about any creatures in the water since the lake was not natural, but was constructed for the course. “Jake, if you use magic you might be able to go faster.” I suggested.
“Yeah, but I would have to stop swimming to cast the spell. I can’t do both at the same time.” He said.
“What if you just used a body enhancement spell? That way you could move faster after you resumed swimming.”
“I don’t know how,” he said. “Could you explain it?”
“I could try.” I took a moment to remember the steps of the spell. I had used it a few times before, like when I was running away from those three nobles that day. “First, you need to wrap mana around your body, then you imagine that mana entering you and radiating throughout your ever muscle and bone. After that, you need to imagine the mana being absorbed by your body, and empowering you.” Jake began to slow down his swimming, then came to a stop.
“Okay, I’ll try.” He said. I could see him from my perch, and watched as he was surrounded by a dark blue cloud of his mana. Then it rushed into him, disappearing from view. “Oh wow!” He exclaimed. He started swimming again, much faster than before, twice as fast, maybe even three times. I couldn’t help but be slightly jealous; it took me a month to learn that spell properly and he did it in a mere moment. “This is amazing!” He yelled out excitedly.
“You’re going much faster now than before Jake,” I said. I was about to congratulate him for learning the spell so quickly, but a slithering black mass on the shoreline caught my eye.
