The Chimera Summoner

The tunnel that did not stink started to slope down and right. 

Not the direction of campus, which must certainly be above us, in the mountains’ north pass. Jennie did not seem concerned.

“So what kind of Chimera do you summon?” She asked conversationally. 

I hesitated again. I was reluctant to let the details of my class get out. 

“Oh my godszuhhh!” Moaned Jennie, dramatically. “I’ll go first. I’ll show you mine. I’m a rogue archetype obviously. Assassination type. I will disappear and then monsters will start dying around you for no reason and you’ll think woahhhh Jennie is a super good, super hot, super nice party member. I’m so lucky she picked me, out of everyone in the class. Even though I am DOUR. Your turn.” 

I snorted a laugh. 

Jennie wheeled on me. 

I raised my hands innocently. 

She eyed me, but then charged on down the winding tunnel. 

Damn it, was Jennie growing on me? Or was it just that I liked how her ass looked wrapped up in tight leather and swaying aggressively as she strutted in front of me. 

I directed my gaze firmly at the ceiling. 

“I don’t summon chimeras.” I supplied. 

“Gotcha.” She said. “Makes sense, since you’re a chimera summoner. No chimeras. No gear. Same girl. It’s on brand for you.” 

I scowled. “I was saying….” I waited, to annoy her. It worked immediately. 

“Oh my god EIR, I am literally dying. Will you PLEASE tell me what you do before I go get back on the train and set myself on FIRE?!” 

That got a bark of laughter out of me. 

Jennie stopped so abruptly I ran into her back, bumping my nose on the back of her head. The pain in my nose almost made me not notice her toned ass pressing into my hips. Nearly. 

I backed up like I’d been electrocuted. 

“Oh no, what an unfortunate accident, better watch where you’re going and tell me how your fucking class works.” She said flatly, resuming her runway strut. 

I scurried along behind her, adjusting myself furiously. 

“I am the chimera, I take on skills from my Familiars. Well. Familiar. Right now. I’ve got access to two, but I haven’t bonded the second one yet, so. Familiar.” 

“…Bonded?” I could hear her raising a manicured eyebrow. 

“Yeah.” I said defensively. 

“What kind of BONDED familiar do you have right now.” She asked suspiciously. 

I clammed up.

This was exactly the kind of conversation I had hoped to avoid for a good long time at Bayloft, by keeping my Class mostly to myself, and keeping who I’d gotten it from COMPLETELY to myself.

I had expected to spend the first week at least reading syllabuses, getting campus tours, moving in, meeting faculty. Not immediately get thrown into what amounted to a facsimile of the Dungeon. 

“What. Kind. Of. Familiarrrrr. Do. You. Suuuuuuuuuuuu. Muuuuuuuuuhhhhn?” Asked Jennie. 

“Rabbit.” I said, as vaguely as I could think of, that wasn’t literally a lie. 

“A Rabbit familiar.” She said flatly. 

“Yeah.” I activated [Tempest strike] and waved my windy hands around. “A wind rabbit.” 

“A wind rabbit. One. Wind rabbit.” She said, irritably. 

I turned off [Tempest strike] with a hiss. 

“I don’t know what to tell you, dude.” I said. 

“Ew, do NOT call me DUUUUDE.” She made a repulsed face. 

“Fair enough, Jennifer Amelia Montil-Valant three.” I rolled my eyes. 

She threw me an odd look over her shoulder, then snapped her head away abruptly. 

I started to ask about it, when we came to a halt. The tunnel branched into two. One left and steeply down, one right and up. 

“We’re fucked.” Said Jennie.  

“How are we supposed to find our way to campus, like this?” I asked. I thrust a finger at the tunnels. “Up is good? But maybe not? This is insane. Do they want their freshmen class to be determined by what lucky idiot blunders their way into the school?” 

Jennie chirped and hopped on the spot. 

I coughed, covering a laugh. 

“What sort of class DO they want?” She asked, like she was unveiling a grand secret.

“Do tell.” I grunted. 

“WAYFINDERS.” She crossed her arms smugly. 

“Great. So let’s just Finddd our wayyyyy to campus, now that we know that’s what they want. Brilliant.” 

“No.” She rolled her eyes. “Wayfinders don’t just wander around trying to escape the Dungeon. They try to get as deep as possible, to kill bosses and find treasure! They hunt monsters, not avoid them. We need to pick a smelly tunnel that goes down!!” She concluded with the air of a master detective. 

I thought for a minute. It did make a kind of sense. Certainly, Jennie thought it did. She was practically salivating to get going down the tunnel downwards. 

“Come ONNNNN!” She groaned, grabbing my jacket and getting on her toes to stare into my face. Her sweet breath hit my nose and caused a significant downstairs stirring in my pants. 

I backed up, sharpish. 

Follow your nose, dumbass. I shrugged. 

“In the absence of a plan, follow your partner’s plan. That’s my motto. Now. As of recently. Let’s go. Wheee.” I waved her forward. 

She yipped again, and shot down the steep tunnel. 

With her gone, I took the chance to adjust my straining boner to lay hot against my stomach. 

Lucy stirred unhelpfully, her lust radiating hot and steamy to me through our bond. 

Down girl. 

Which one of us am I talking to? 

… yes. 

The downwards path quickly led us into trouble. 

It turned out that ‘vermin’ meant eight foot long rats with poison spines and prehensile tails. 

Jennie vanished, reappearing a moment later to slam a dagger into the beast’s spine, paralyzing it temporarily. 

I charged up [Tempest strike] into my right hand and slammed it into the rat’s skull. 

I blessed my past-self for boosting my Spirit stat so high. 

The rat’s skull exploded inwards with a loud boom and a gust of air that whipped around the tunnel. 

“Tempest strike.” I said, in awe, to a wide eyed Jennie. 

“I thought you were a summoner?” She asked. 

“Yeah.” I nodded, panting a bit from the adrenaline dump. I’d never fought a monster before. 

“Doesn’t that make you backline? Squishy?” She asked faintly. 

I nodded. “Yeah.” I had a big stupid grin on my face, but I couldn’t help it. I bounced on my toes. 

“Backline that sometimes punches monsters heads into smoothies.” Clarified Jennie. 

“Yeah.” I nodded. 

“What’s your class, really? There’s no summons, are there?” She demanded. 

I laughed, clapping her arm. 

“You’ll probably meet her soon. I doubt we’ll get lucky enough to only fight one at a time.” I assured her. 

“Meet HER?” Jennie asked, suspicion renewed. 

“She’s a real babe.” I laughed. 

“You are NOT sexualizing a rabbit chimera right now.” Jennie stuck out her tongue and made bleck noises. 

“I told you, she’s not a chimera. Maybe the second one will be. Who knows. It’s supposedly random.” I said. 

Jennie stopped blecking, “Summons are not RANDOM.” She insisted. 

“Okay.” I said, not willing to fight her about it. 

“They’re not.” She pushed. 

“Got it.” I said. “Let’s get going. That was loud. Right?” 

Reluctantly, Jennie got moving again. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~