Gacha Leveling

"I see you got yourself a familiar." Professor Lydia said approaching Matthew in the flower garden as he practiced his summoning skill during lunch.

"Yes." Matthew responded getting up and looking upon the drawing he did on the ground with chalk. "Her name is Ffyr. She's a Fae."

"A Fae?" Lydia got surprised and looked at the fairy more closely. "You really never do things normally, huh?"

"I wish I did. At least sometimes." Matthew said channeling his mana into the circle and summoning a lesser water spirit.

"Well done." Lydia praised him after seeing his invocation. "You're getting the hang of it."

"Thank you, professor. Couldn't have done it without you." He said sincerely.

"So… Did you want to see me just to show your summoning?" She said sitting down on a bench and crossing her legs. He had asked Professor Orpheu to call Professor Lydia there because he had some questions for her.

"I actually have two questions. The first is: which kind of item can be used as a totem?" Matthew asked while playing with the water spirit he just summoned.

"It depends on your spirit. You said she was a Fae?" Lydia said rubbing her chin. "Chaos spirits can possess most items, but they are very fickle and never stay inside one for long. You'll need something your spirit feels comfortable enough to rest inside. Why don't you just ask your familiar?"

"She just says 'whatever' and refuses to elaborate." Matthew shook his head.

"The Fae are difficult." Lydia chuckled. "You'll have to find something she would like to possess. But a spirit possessing an item is mostly about the spirit having some kind of connection with the object. Here." She took out a thin and long black and gold cigarette holder from her purse. "My Benny is a fire spirit and he loves this thing." She said while a small squirrel with red fur came out of the holder. "I had this long before he became one of my familiars and he took a liking to it while I smoked in front of him. Since then he possesses this holder."

Matthew nodded. He remembered Lumi also came to possess a ring Paula used soon after Matthew transformed her into an Ice Phoenix. Paula said she took Lumi to a jeweler and the spirit picked it herself.

"Do you want me to buy you something, Ffyr?" Matthew asked his familiar.

"Whatever." Ffyr shrugged while she was playing among the flowers.

Lydia laughed after deducing what Ffyr said to Matthew by the expression on his face.

"Fae value liberty more than anything. She'll have to be really attached to something of yours to choose to possess it."

"Yeah… Until then, I'll have to find something for the summoned spirits to possess then. What do you suggest?"

"Try a jewel enchanted with some spell. A ring, an earring or a necklace. Anything magical that is not a weapon or an armor is more likely for them to want to possess." Lydia said making the squirrel Benny light a cigarette for her and smoke it through the holder.

"I'll take a look in a store then." Matthew said sitting down on the ground looking at his watch. It was almost time for him to go practice in the gym.

"And what was the second thing?" Lydia asked blowing a smoke cloud upwards.

"Oh yeah. I want to evolve Ffyr using the Animal Companion skill, but I'm worried it won't work or if it will be dangerous."

"You did almost die the last time." Lydia chuckled. "But it's not dangerous if you know what you're doing. And it is possible with any spirit."

"And how do I learn? Where?" Matthew asked.

"You'll need a Ranger to teach you." She said blowing another cloud of smoke. "I do not know how to use that skill. I do know, however, that you must be familiar with the type of creature you're evolving. What kind of Fae is Ffyr?"

"She's a fairy." Matthew said looking around for his familiar who was too entertained chasing ants.

"Then you should start by reading the Fairy compendium. Also search the library for books on Fairy biology and culture." She said. "Study them well. There isn't any Ranger professor in the school, but I guess someone might know a Ranger to teach you. I'll ask around the teacher's lounge for you."

"Thank you, professor. I'll go to the library after training." Matthew said getting up.

"You do that, kid." Lydia said getting up making Benny go back into the cigarette holder and walking away slowly while smoking.

After afternoon training, Matthew went to the library to pick books about Fairies, their biology, culture and anything else he could put his hands into. He also picked some books about Rangers, though none of them really had any info about how to properly use the Animal Companion skill.

While he was checking out his books, he saw Erin coming with a bunch of books of her own. When she saw him, she smiled widely and skipped towards him using the auto check out by his side.

"Books on fairies?" Erin asked him.

"Oh yeah!" Matthew remembered. "I haven't introduced you to Ffyr yet." He added calling the fairy to show herself to Erin. "This is Ffyr, my familiar. She's a fairy."

"Oh! She's a lesser wind spirit?" Erin asked trying to touch Ffyr that flew away from her touch.

"No. She's a lesser chaos spirit. A Fae." Matthew corrected her.

"So you're trying to learn about her?" Erin asked pointing at his books.

"Yeah. I want to use Animal Companion to make her stronger. But it seems I need to be familiar with their biology or it might happen what happened last time I used the skill." He explained.

"I see. That's nice." Erin nodded.

"And you? Reading on what?" Matthew asked accompanying her through the campus outside.

"Some books on healing. Since now I'm also a healer, I thought I should learn how to use the skill properly."

"Yeah. That's smart." He said helping her through the turnstile.

"Do you want a ride home?" She asked when a black car stopped in front of the school and the driver hurried to open the back door for her.

Matthew wanted to say no, but he looked at his watch and realized he took more time in the library than he thought.

"I think I'll accept it." He said blushing. "The next bus home will take too long. If that's not a problem…"

"Not at all! Mark will take us there no problem." Erin smiled pushing Matthew to enter the car with her.

"I never asked what your family works with." Matthew said looking at the luxurious car interior.

"Oh…" Erin blushed. "My family owns several ore mines across the world and even inside gates and another worlds." She said blushing. "That's why they want me to be an adventurer. To be able to defend myself when I get to go to dangerous places to survey the mines."

Matthew got stunned. Several mines?

"I think you know the Finnegan Mythril company?" Erin asked not looking at him.

The biggest mining company in the world. Perhaps the biggest in all the other worlds too. Of course Matthew knew.

"I had no idea." Matthew said out loud surprised.

"I don't really like to let people know. My family is not the main branch, my mother is just the cousin of the current owner. But it is still a family business that every family member is expected to run together." She explained.

A moment of silence fell between them. Matthew had no words to continue the conversation. It was Erin that broke the silence a couple of minutes later:

"Matt. Do you want to go somewhere with me this weekend?" She asked shyly playing with her own hair.

"Sure. What do you have in mind?" Matthew agreed not reading the undertone of her invitation.

"I don't know." Erin said blushing and still playing with her hair.

"Oh. How about you help me pick a magic jewelry with me? I need one to use the Healing Totem skill." Matthew suggested.

"That works. Sunday afternoon?" She asked.

"That works for me." Matthew said while the car stopped in front of his house.

"We arrived, miss." The driver informed.

"Then, I'll see you tomorrow." Erin said with a smile.

Matthew got out of the car mumbling his goodbye and tuned around when Erin opened the window.

"And Matthew." She said calling his attention. "Sunday will be just the two of us."

Matthew got stunned and couldn't say a word. Was that a date? Or did he get it wrong?

He could only watch in silence as Erin's car drove away with his mouth open. Did Erin like him?

That night he couldn't sleep thinking about it. If Erin liked him, would he date her? What would that mean for him and Vanessa? Or for him and Faralynn?

He tossed and turned all night with his mind full of questions.