Chapter 198 - 197 So Many New Friends

A new Companion from fighting the Seraphim? Why would he ever say no to that? 

[Companion Generating] 

[Calculating Requirements] 

What exactly does he still need? The Companions he has cover almost everything he could need already.

He's got a Demon heal Tank, a Beastkin Bard, a Dark Elven Shaman type for area damage. Then there's the Dragon. Reluctantly a form of transport, but incredibly good at crowd control with her Ice Fog breath and assorted Ice Spells. What could they even be lacking? 

As Cain is thinking and the Companion is forming, the first Quest notification comes in. 

[Quest Complete. 65/65 Dwarves Rescued] 

[Level Up]

The new companion is starting to properly take shape now in an intense pillar of Golden Light. It's a Seraphim for sure, Elf sized, at about 150cm, with white wings wrapped around itself. The light fades and the new Companion remains, becoming the target of everyone's attention. Elmira and Laura, now in her smaller Dragon Pixie form, have each claimed one of Cain's shoulders for a better view, knowing the first person the Companion will address is him. 

The Seraphim shakes out her wings and takes a step forward, looking straight into Cain's eyes. The first thought that comes to him is 'Beautiful' the Seraphim is stunning in a way no mortal being was ever meant to be. The next is 'Naked', she is one hundred percent naked as the day she was born.

Though maybe this is the day she was born? How does that work with companions? Should he be celebrating birthdays for them when he's been here a year? Has she put on clothes yet? No, not yet. He should say something. And the Oath Breaker needs to stop sending him mental images. 

"So many lustful thoughts in one second, even when trying not to. You're an interesting sort aren't you?" The Seraphim begins, making everyone but Cain burst into laughter. 

"Welcome. I'm Cain. Do you perhaps have clothes?" Is the best greeting he can muster, trying not to focus on the Seraphim. Is there some sort of spell on her? He's far too old to be a hormonal teenager. 

"No. But I can wear some if someone gives them to me."

Cain grabs the first top he sees in his inventory, a toga from something in this dungeon. "Here you go."

Oh, that's not much better at all. But she's not nude anymore, so it's an improvement. Even if the thin linen clings to her just right. 

Cain closes his eyes to gather his wits and sees a spell effect active in his interface. That's strange, they're out of combat. 

[Grace of the Seraphim] Aura effect. Increases affection and reduces aggression towards the caster. 

"I don't suppose that Aura of yours has other settings, does it? You know, like much, much lower."

"Sure, I'll dial it back to two, how is that?"

Cain opens his eyes and the Seraphim is still absolutely stunning and that dress is borderline scandalous. Hanging low at the hem, but leaving almost the entirety of her back and sides revealed with a deep neckline almost to her belly button, at least it covers enough that he can think properly again. 

"Much better. I'll find you a proper outfit in just a few minutes. But how about we do introductions first. You already know me, but these are Vala, Nemu, Laura, and Nila, the rest of my Companions. Then we have Char, Mythryll, Belle, and Elmira, four of my Guild Members that I brought here today to help reach their first advancement. Speaking of which, did everyone achieve their goal?"

"I'm 8 experience points short of level 100, but everyone else has their class change on hold." Belle answers for the group. 

"Well, there's that quest item you found, that's bound to put you over the limit. Congratulations to everyone of their advancements. Now, how about you tell us a bit about yourself, young Seraphim?" 

The Companion giggles at that, but begins her introduction. "You can call me Evangeline. As you can see, I'm a Seraphim, twenty years old, and an Aspiring Archangel. My skills are mostly healing-based, but I've also got some skills with protective barriers. There's not much else to tell." She beams a smile at everyone, giving a little twirl and a bow when she finishes. 

"But where's your clone? There's always a clone." Laura pouts and Cain feels his heart flutter. One instance of that Aura was enough, he's not sure he's ready for it at double strength. 

"Clone? Why would there always be a clone?" Evangeline asks, looking around, just now noticing the Companions all have twins nearby. 

"I'll cast the spell again and your clone should appear. Give me a second to prepare." Cain says and Char hides her smile behind a fist, understanding his dilemma much better than the younger group members. 

When the second clone appears the Aura returns to full force for half a second before she tones it down and looks at the duplicate of herself. "Why are you wearing clothes? No, why are we wearing clothes? Do you understand how hot it is out here?"

"You missed the fun part. You should see what our Aura does in this world at full power." The first clone says before the second one reads her mind and laughs. 

Laura is much happier now that there are two of them and each copy of her flies over to land on one's left shoulder. "Hi and welcome. As Cain mentioned, I'm Laura, the Opal Prismatic Dragon. It's so good to meet you."

The Seraphim rub her head in greeting, understanding what the little dragon was after and Laura makes a happy noise, shifting to a seated position for stability. 

"I am going to go finish that quest, and then we can all update our classes once we return," Belle announces, sniffing around for the Dwarves to turn the item in to. 

"They're this way." Nemu points back in the direction they started with a smirk. Out here in the desert, the wind and blowing sand eliminate almost all scent trails in moments, tracking by scent is almost impossible. 

The two take off over the hill and Cain looks through his inventory for healing-based items. Something to increase shield barriers would be good too, but that's a much more rare and specific drop.

Healing gear is relatively plentiful. From what Cain has seen so far, almost all melee classes wear at least one piece of life on hit or healing on damage type gear for survivability. It's not a whole lot, unless you get really lucky with the drop item, but even a few points healed every attack helps. 

"Evangeline, what sort of gear can you use? Just cloth?" Cain asks, looking through the options.

"I can use cloth or plate armor, nothing else." The Seraphim shrugs. That's a bit odd, but it does add a few extra options. 

He quickly finds a cloak, robe, and pants in cloth, plus boots and gloves made of plate. He also finds a chest plate with a lot of mana regeneration on it and adds it to the collection. 

"Here, try these," Cain says, handing them over.

Her appearance didn't change much. Evangeline gets golden bracelets and sandals, but she's still in the same thin toga. He should have expected that, given his attempts to change Vala and Nemu's outfits in the past. Cain inspects her to see what she chose, and sees that she's wearing all of what he gave her except the cloak, which is in her inventory.

Interestingly, she can equip both the chest plate and the robe at the same time, as the plate armor and pants are both equipped as underwear. 

Looking at her, it's not visible, but she gets the bonus from it, so it doesn't really matter what it looks like. 

"Not the cloak?" He asks. 

"Much too hot for a cloak. You might wear a coat in the desert, but I would cook, I'm certain of it." Evangeline laughs. 

She's got a point, even in the tunic and shorts he's currently wearing it's incredibly hot in this dungeon. Warmer even than the outside air, which should be nearly mid-summer and sunny. The average temperature must have been higher just after the war.

[Quest Complete: Return the Lost Item to the Dwarves] 

[Level Up]

This brings Cain to a nice even level 150, high enough to unlock his next skill, doubled [Summon Lesser Golem]. That's all three Summon options doubled, and Cain is looking forward to begin increasing that to tripled ten levels from now. 

A new Skill appeared when he unlocked the final doubled number of summons as well, and it shows as available. Selecting it, it instantly activates, costing zero skill points. A pleasant surprise given how his class has been about giving new abilities in the past. After all, it took him a hundred levels just to get the basic skills. 

[Militant Lord Skill: Unquestioned Authority] Companions and Lieutenants wield the full authority of their Lord. Companions and Lieutenants gain the rank of Knight and associated benefits. 

[Knightly Pride] Knight Rank benefit. Summons gain increased damage done and reduced damage is taken. Benefit scales with Knight's [Stat] level. 

So there was a benefit to taking the Militant Lord Path beyond the benefits of extra summons. Cain can't quantify how much benefit the skill gives, as he didn't test his changes one Rank at a time, but the total change was significant, and that was the only one that specifically increased their damage and increased their durability, without changing their rank. 

Stacked up with his copy, as he hopes it does, the Bonded Forces of his companions and the Golems of his Lieutenants should gain a noticeable increase. 

"What's this, I just arrived and already I get a promotion? You know, I might grow to like you, Summoner Cain." Evangeline laughs. 

"Speaking of which, you'll get a Bonded Force of eight Greater Golems from your type. I think the only options I know for that are Seraphim Warriors and Seraphim Crusaders though. Everything else is either a Lesser Golem or an Epic Golem." Cain informs her. 

"Both of us or one of us?" The twins ask, making Laura laugh and almost fall off her perch on the Seraphim's shoulder. 

"Both of you of course. What sort of ripoff skill would only give them to half the Companions?"