Chapter 62: Mistress Fellcraft

Chuckling over his new neighbor's personality, Hugh went in search of his Book and found it where he'd left it on the kitchen counter. Dex had been hard at work while Hugh had been away. The entire interior of his new home actually looked like a home now instead of a blank canvas. He had everything he could possibly need from curtains installed over the windowed walls—currently pushed to the sides so they were out of the way—to crystal lamps that began to glow with warm light as the world outside dimmed.

He went through his inventory, locking everything into place within his Vault so no one could remove anything inside, then dismissed the door. Then he went to his Housing page and locked everything in the inventory there. When he finished, he ducked into his bedroom and threw himself on his bed for a quick save, lounging in place until his system log recorded it.

Dex was waiting outside for him when he was done. "Ready?" he asked, stepping off the deck and into the sand beyond. "You said there's something you want to try, so I'll leave the rest to you. I'll be here if you need me, though."

Hugh's gut filled with nervous butterflies as he joined Dex on the sand, realizing this was it—he was going to use magic and summon a ghost. There was one last thing he needed to do, though. He handed his Book off to Dex for safe-keeping, then carefully used his foot to draw a thick circle in the sand.

"What are you doing?" Dex asked.

"You'll see, if it works." Hugh had no idea if it would, but protective circles were a big thing in any game's magical arsenal. Binding circles were common, too, in games with demon summoning. He figured it couldn't hurt to draw one.

The circle he drew wasn't an actual circle. It turned out to be more of an oval shape, but he didn't think the system would care too much as long as it remained whole and unbroken.

"Lich Sword," he said. The sword appeared in front of him. Hugh grabbed it before it could fall and carefully placed it on the ground in the center of the oval.

With his final preparations done, Hugh took a deep breath to settle himself and tried to remember the exact phrasing he'd decided to use.

"Within this Circle I cast, I summon this sword's spirit fast. Apparate apparition, upon the condition, use only half the magic I've amassed."

Dex choked and gasped out, "A limerick?"

Hugh grinned at him as he felt his magic rapidly drain. He didn't get a chance to reply, because the spirit appeared fast like his rhyme demanded. In less than three seconds, a spindly woman dressed in a black cobweb dress appeared standing next to the sword, her arms crossed over her chest as she glared at him. She had long black hair and attractive features for a woman. He might have thought she was meant to be a sultry vampire, if not for the malicious green glow in her eyes.

"This is not how you were supposed to summon me, godling," he snarled, turning her glare to the circle around her feet. "I can't test your worth very well from within such restrictions, now can I?"

"So it worked?" Hugh asked in surprise.

"It worked," Dex repeated softly behind him in awe.

"Let me out, you sniveling godling," the Lich spirit demanded. "Fight me fairly!"

"Why?" Hugh asked. The women reeled back at the simple question and fell silent when Hugh didn't add anything else.

After a moment, she finally replied, "My spirit can't rest until I know my partner lies in worthy hands. Venus served me well in my long, undead life. She should not be wielded by those unable to appreciate her charm and would waste the edge of her blade."

"Well, we don't have to fight," Hugh said. "I can tell you right now I'm unworthy, because I don't know the first thing about using a sword. I was kind of hoping you'd help me with that. I admit I was expecting you to be a warrior of some kind, but I'm assuming you know how to sword-fight if...uh...Venus? Yeah, if Venus is yours, then you know how to use her. Could you teach me how?"

The woman clutched her stomach as if Hugh had punched her and her eyes widened in surprise. "You would have me train you as if I were a mere... mere..." She froze and let her head fall forward with dismay. "Nay, I'll forget the insult you've blathered out like the untutored soul you are. The proposition you've presented has some redeeming qualities. I've not been able to find a worthy wielder for my sword, but perhaps I could make you into one. However, I require your dedication to the pursuit. My terms are thus. You must summon me every night without fail and show improvement, else I'll rend Venus from your grasp and send her away to a place you'll never find her again."

Hugh considered carefully before he answered. "Um, ma'am, I'm not sure I can promise that. I mean, dedication is understandable since this is so important to you, but I think my body would break apart if I trained every night without a break. Could we make it three times a week?"

"Four!" she thundered out. "That's my limit, you miserable cretin. Either take it or I'll take Venus. Your choice."

"Can I have a pass if I miss a night because I'm seriously wounded?" Hugh asked. "I don't want to sound greedy, but I don't want to make a promise I might break because of something out of my control."

The Lich woman growled low in her throat. "Anything else you'd like to add while you're at it?"

"Yeah, if you don't mind," he said with a fearless grin, knowing he was coming off as a simpleton to her. "Could you maybe not kill me? If I die while we're training, I'll lose any stat improvements I make in the process. That will slow us both down and royally suck for me. I'd rather not experience it without a good reason."

Her eyes narrowed at him, but she huffed and said, "Very well. I'll forgive you for missing a night due to grievous wounds and I'll not kill you without a good reason."

"In that case..." Hugh held out his hands for his Book and Dex handed it over in confusion.

"What are you doing?" the woman asked as Hugh flipped through the pages.

"I'm pretty sure we just negotiated a contract and, yep, there it is." He looked up from his Book, his grin spreading with vicious pleasure. "What? Did you think I was too stupid to finalize the contract and would just take your word you'd keep your side of the bargain? Nice try, but I'm not a noob. I'm going to sign on my end and I'm not releasing the circle until you do whatever you need to do to make our agreement official."

"You're more cunning than you appear," she replied in approval. Then she laughed, tilting her head back to project the sound toward the sky. "Wonderful! Consider the bargain struck, my young pupil. I will teach you all I know. Apply yourself well and I will make you a Master without equal."

"Sweet," Hugh said, hitting the button to confirm the contract terms. It instantly turned gold as the contract took affect.

Closing the Book, he handed it off to Dex, then carelessly walked up to the circle and offered his hand across it. "I'm Hugh. I look forward to working with you."

She glanced down at his hand, but didn't take it. "My name is Katarine Fellcraft, but you will call me Mistress Fellcraft. For your first task as my pupil, I command you to raise all of your stats to seventy. Summon me back when it's done or in three days, whichever comes first. Until then, I have no use for you."

With that, she disappeared as quickly as she'd appeared.

"Seventy?" Hugh said, his hand still held out toward empty air. "Did she say seventy? Dex, what's my current Dexterity stat?"

"Fourteen."