Summoner’s Ascent – A Power Leveling Isekai Litrpg - Chapter 11

"…Ugh…" Faeran groaned as he rolled over in his thin, lumpy bed.

It was time to get up.

Today was the big day.

Yet, he found himself wishing to stay in bed and sleep the day away. He'd already missed his usual wake up time by a good hour and a half at this point.

Six months had come and gone since he met Queen Sera Leviathan, the seasons had changed, his birthday had passed and he had grown older.

There were a multitude of reasons he didn't feel like getting up. Trepidation for one.

He would be leaving the orphanage behind today and going his own way. Despite that though, the orphanage was familiar to him. Familiarity bred comfortability after all. The unknown was scary.

Secondly, his back and shoulders were killing him. While the weighted equipment he'd gotten made by Bralmoc had done wonders for his training, they had as expected…fucked his back up a bit.

It was always so still and sore in the morning.

Thirdly…and honestly the true reason beyond the other two.

'It's so fucking cold out there,' he shivered. While his bed blanket was threadbare, wrapped up in it as he was, it was like a warm cocoon.

It was winter now after all.

While the weather wasn't anywhere near as cold as Scotland, that wasn't saying much.

This body of his hadn't grown up in Scotland, but in Hellion.

He had pretty much zero resistance to the cold built up in this body.

It was quite ironic that it was the cold weather keeping him down and lacklustre right now, when he once felt no problem walking around in a tank top and shorts in weather colder than this.

Even more ironic that despite it being his big day and the day he would move on…he was the only one of the orphans still in his bed.

'…Just ten more minutes,' he told himself.

As he thought that though, the door to his shared bedroom swung upon with a rickety squeal and Sister Maria made her entrance.

"Faeran…is everything alright?" he heard her ask.

He unwound the blanket a little bit, making a small hole to peek his face through, "I'm totally fine," he assured her.

"…You don't look it," Maria frowned at him and walked over to sit at the foot of his bed, "You know, I don't really agree with your plans to leave and you don't look all that up to it right now. Why don't you just stay here for a while longer? There's no rush to become an adventurer right? You're still so young."

Two months ago, he'd relayed his plans to leave to both Father Henry and her. To say they took it well…couldn't actually be said.

They'd tried for weeks to convince him not to and it was the closest Father Henry had ever been to disciplinarian with him and full on put his foot down.

They only let up when he showed them his status plate and the realization had set in for them, at least partially of what he'd been up to all this time.

Maria though, to this day was still trying to convince him to stay.

But he'd long since made up his mind.

"The sooner I get started the better, I've got things I want to do, you know?" his reply was muffled by the blanket.

But enough was enough.

Motivation could come from all manner of things.

Right now his motivation was not allowing the pretty sister currently fretting over him, seeing him weak.

He sat up and pulled the blanket from around him.

He was only wearing a pair of shorts and found himself fighting off a shiver at the chill that tickled across his shoulders.

Maria eyed him sadly, before sighing, shoulders slumping, "I know, but can't it wait?" she asked, "You've always been way ahead of the other kids here, but that doesn't mean you need to rush."

Oh how he wished she was right.

Sadly there was a timer on this kingdom that was ticking down with each second that passed.

"Nope," he answered simply, standing up from the bed and ignoring the cold stone floor that met his bare feet. His eyes flickered to the side of his bed where a large rucksack lay. Over a dozen crudely made spear heads peeking up out of the top of it, "You don't need to worry either, I won't be in any danger, I'm only going to be fighting low level monsters like goblins."

He lied.

He made his way over to the dresser at the side of the room and pulled out one drawer at the top.

His drawer actually, since he didn't have the dresser to himself. with it open, he began pulling out some clothes to wear for the day. Some pants, some wooly socks, a thick long sleeve top…

"Even goblins can be tough, outside of dungeons they even form their own villages," Maria pointed out as he began pulling the clothing on, "And you might even run into evolved species."

…Well, she wasn't wrong.

It wasn't like people were the only ones with status' plates or the ability to get stronger. Monsters had them too, though they didn't get classes or divine blessings.

What they did have, was the potential to evolve upon reaching certain thresholds and become what was known as an 'evolved species'.

Take goblins for example. They could become goblin knights, goblin mages, goblin shamans, hell they could even become hobgoblins which could become ogre's and the like.

"I won't," he assured her as he finished getting ready and turned to face her, plastering a grin on his face, "I won't be going close to any monster settlements or anything like that."

…Yet.

Maria rose to her feet, biting her lip. She nodded and walked over to him, before promptly sweeping him up in a tight hug, "I just worry is all," she admitted, "Promise me you'll be careful?"

Well, he wouldn't say no to a hug from a pretty, kind lady like her.

"I promise," he said in return, wrapping his arms around her waist and hugging her back, "I can't marry you if I end up getting gimped by some stupid little goblin now can I?" he teased her, squeezing her waist.

"You're a horrible boy," she sniffled, "You're going to leave a lot of girls in tears in the future."

He begged to differ.

He'd much rather put delirious goofy smiles on their faces.

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Two hours later, dressed and breakfast eaten and with his rucksack hanging over his shoulder containing all of his tools, beyond the weights he left behind and his saved up money, Faeran left the orphanage behind.

He was saw off only by Father Henry and Sister Maria. He wasn't close to any of the other children at the orphanage after all.

Instead of heading straight towards the Adventurer's guild though, Faeran made a beeline for one place first.

Bralmoc's Smithy.

He had a commission to pick up.

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"You sure you ain't got some dwarf in you lad?" Bralmoc's voice asked from behind him.

Standing in front of a mirror within the dwarf's workshop, Faeran eyed himself up and down.

He was now clad in the armor he'd commissioned from the dwarf. A simple full chest plate that left only the arms bare, with pauldrons large enough to guard his shoulders. A pair of gauntlets covered his forearms, while shining armored boots came up to just below his knees.

In his off hand, he held a simple short sword. Light of make, yet sturdy. While he could wield a heavier one with no problem thanks to his strength stat now, it would be awkward given his size so for now he'd settle for a short sword.

And they were coloured a shining sapphire blue with light grayish gold trim, even the sword using Bralmoc's skill.

He wanted to stand out after all.

Faeran turned to the dwarf with a grin, "I'm just built different mate." he replied, lifting one arm and curling his bicep to flex it.

And the reason why Bralmoc asked what he did. Despite his age and size, his form was rippling with muscle.

Honestly, even Faeran was surprised by the end results of his body's musculature.

He was not complaining though, if he looked this good now he could only imagine what kind of beast he'd become once he hit adulthood!

"You're built somethin' alright," Bralmoc snorted from where he reclined casually on a wooden chair as he oversaw the boy trying on the armor, "Fit alright?"

"Aye," Faeran nodded, "Feels good."

"To be expected, I made it after all," Bralmoc smirked, "Speaking of making though." the dwarf cast his eye to Faeran's rucksack, before making his way over to pull out one of his spears.

without ever asking for permission.

"Crude as all hell, but these ain't bad," Bralmon mused, inspecting one of his spears, "I can see the craftsmanship in them even with the lack of tools ya' had. Ever put any thought into becoming a blacksmith? You've got a good build for it."

"I actually did," Faeran replied, giving the dwarf a grin, "Even thought of asking you if I could apprentice with you, but decided not to in the end cuz' I didn't think you'd be up for it."

Ironically, in the actual game, the commoner the female main character would fall for, was actually Bralmoc's apprentice. When recruited, he was classless and between level ten and fifteen depending on when the player met him.

Because of his many years working under Bralmoc as a smith and leveling up that amount, he had a very high strength stat among others. And if the player chose to use the class change item on him and level him up, he would actually surpass the stupid prince.

Which was why he considered the idea once.

'Weird though, I actually expected him to be around right now.' Faeran frowned inwardly.

"Shame that, I'm in need of an apprentice, woulda snapped a lad like you up real quick and it would be a mite less dangerous for ya' then this adventurer tripe," Bralmon huffed, placing the crude spear down, "If you've got the time, I wouldn't mind teachin' ya sometimes though."

Interesting and not a bad offer at all. Actually, a very good one.

"I might actually take you up on that," Faeran replied, grin widening. He'd need better weapons eventually after all, his spears probably wouldn't last long with how poorly they were made.

And he was probably going to need to change his armor…a lot. Because he would outgrow this set he was wearing within a few months at best.

And going by the fact this small, simple set of armor and sword had cost him three gold, a third of his total savings over an entire year of hunting fish in that lake by the bucket load…there was a pretty penny to be made in it.

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He left Bralmoc's place behind not long later, his rucksack over one shoulder and his new blade sheathed over the other.

For some reason, he'd never much been one for a sword sheathed at his side. He didn't really like anything dangling from his side actually, it always threw off his balance.

His next destination was the adventurers guild.

As he made his way there though, he noticed something odd.

A few guards that were simply out of place. Going about their day in the market area or just hanging around.

Every so often he would catch one of their gazes going to him.

'These guys again,' Faeran rolled his eyes.

Ever since he met the queen, he'd been seeing guards popping up in his vicinity every now and then.

They even patrolled the forest sometimes and were a pain in the ass when it came to him hunting and he had to be extra careful his slime's weren't discovered.

Quite obviously, they were keeping an eye on him by order of the queen for some reason.

Honestly, was she really that bored? Or had his bet with her piqued her interest that much?

Faeran shook his head and continued on, putting them out of mind as he made his way to his destination.

As he made his way to the Adventurers guild, a building caught his eyes. It was a large mansion-esque building smack dab in the middle of the city. Specifically, it was the sight of a well dressed, older man holding the door open and gesturing for a woman to enter the building.

A woman with a collar around her neck.

'Oh, so that's the slave traders' place,' he realized absently as he passed by.

He wasn't actually sure how to feel about slavery in this world. From the game, he knew that slaves tended to come in three flavors. Voluntary slaves who usually became so to cover a debt or earn money by selling themselves, criminal slaves that were forced into it as a repentant act…

And the war slaves.

While the continent of Hellion was ruled by four kingdoms, each standing atop a tenuous thread of peace, it didn't encompass the whole world. Hell, Faeran didn't know the whole world himself.

He did know of two other countries though. One simply known as the Beast Kingdom that ruled over an entire country and was where most Beastmen came from.

…And the other, much weirder one.

Humania.

A very stupid name for a country and kingdom. It was a united front that was made up entirely of humans. The only beastmen or otherwise found there, were slaves.

Humania to put it simply…was a kingdom that believed in human supremacy. He didn't know much of them in this life to be honest, they were barely mentioned beyond word of mouth.

But in the game their overall goal had been to conquer the Beast Kingdom and the four kingdoms of Hellion.

Which went to the wayside when the demons broke free and Humania ended up as being the leading charge against the demons and the wall that protected the world.

In the game, it was impossible to actually join with them and enter their kingdom unless the commoner apprentice of Bralmoc was recruited.

'Ugh, best not to think about them right now, I can already feel a headache forming,' Faeran grimaced.

Thankfully, he arrived at his destination not long later, finding himself standing outside a large stately building shaped like a 'U', with a marble pathway out front and lush green garden.

'Here we go,' Faeran took a deep breath.

This was it. This was where his plans truly began to blossom into fruition.

"Let's hope this is enough," he murmured, calling up his status plate with a thought and overlooking the growth he'd gone through over the last six months.

Name: Faeran Odhar

Level: 5

Class: -

Blessing: -

Affinity: -

MP: 1021/1021

Strength: 21

Endurance: 21

Durability: 21

Agility: 21

Status Points: 0

Skills:

Aquatic Breathing

Acidic Touch

Poltergeist

Virility

He'd more or less doubled his capabilities since he met Queen Sera. All thanks to his Virility skill and the weighted equipment he bought from Bralmoc.

His aching back could attest to the effort he put in.

Faeran took one last breath, before making his way inside.

And thus began his legend.

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And that's everything I have for the original story so far, my proof reader having finished up before I actually got around to updating one of the fanfics. Wasn't expecting him to be done for another few days, but he decided to be a good little minion. And in other good news, the thing I've been waiting for before getting back to writing the dragon ball z fanfic was completed basically today and now I'm just waiting for it to go on sale.