The Culling of Man: A litrpg adventure (Peril's Prodigy Book 1) by Craig Kobayashi (ereader android TXT) 📕

with a savage throat-slash. Garath didn't make the mistake of looking into the Hypnotist's eyes this time. Instead, he kept his visual focus glued to the nameplate affixed above her head. Athios’ second relocation landed the Hypnotist on the body of the recently deceased Sentry to quickly join it in a heap of puss and blue flesh on the stone floor. With the Sentry and Hypnotist out of the way, mopping up the Pikemen was no great feat.

Garath felt himself enjoying the style of battle that playing as a summoner provided. Before, he had been fighting largely in cat form - as it allowed for greater mobility and a smaller hitbox - but as his Fel Hound and Flayer remorselessly delivered killing blows to the blue-skinned snake-people, he felt a sort of kinship to them, these literal demons that he had eternally bound to his servitude.

With the two platforms closest to the cave mouth out of the way, the Party discussed their next obstacle - traversing the water filled cove without alerting the remaining Naga, or having to fight the Naga in the water where their fierce-eyed enemies would hold home field advantage.

"Now Crow form?" Warrion asked, looking out over the flowing water.

"That or we're going swimming..." Garath suggested unenthusiastically.

"We do have a third option," Athios reminded them, holding one palm up with a dimensional disk flashing into and out of existence above it.

"Save your Mana," said Garath. "I might be going swimming anyway."

“So you DO have a deathwish,” Athios said, nodding at the Necrologist with unbelieving eyes. Who would be such an idiot?

"The Hypnotists were casters. I want that staff. And the water isn't moving that fast," he said, cautiously approaching the water at the edge of the cave mouth and dipping one finger in. He pulled it out and waited apprehensively for some new debuff icon to appear, but none did.

The water was not a crystal-clear blue, like in some high mountain lakes, but it was transparent enough for the Necrologist to clearly see the gold staff tipped with a pulsing blue orb bobbing back and forth at the bottom. He sat on the wet cave floor and started to untie his shoes, hardly able to contain his excitement at the thought of finally having a better weapon than his (self-described) useless wooden rod.

“I think I'll just take this one,” said the Dimensionalist, walking over to the pile of corpses. She shooed the Flayer away, then physically relocated several bodies before finding the golden staff dropped by the second Hypnotist downed by the Party. The trident she had recently acquired adequately ended the lives of her enemies if she stabbed them with it, sure - but melee really wasn't her forte and the staff may be a weapon that would actually benefit her class.

Garath looked defeated as he pulled one beat-to-shit Chuck Taylor off and set it aside.

"Why not have your little demon go get it?" Sharon suggested absently, one finger tracing the painted murals along the cave wall.

Garath thought about that. He hadn't tried to give any commands to the Flayer or the Hound more complicated than, 'kill'. Between the two, asking the Flayer to 'go fetch' something was probably not his best bet. The Hound on the other hand, had always seemed eager to please. Garath honestly didn't know what would happen, but he knew he'd have to find out the limit of their intelligence at some point anyway, so he focused on the part of his mind he knew the Fel Hound now resided.

*Get,* he projected the word as he filled his mind with an image of the gold staff swaying back and forth a few feet below the water line.

Garath was happily surprised when the demon dog seemed to understand his command. Any summoned creature in any game he had ever played would be limited to simply attacking, even the most pet-centric games would go as far as allowing summoned creatures to use their own Skills - but nothing like a real time command that would require even the lowest amount of cognitive reasoning. The Hound jumped from the cave mouth, bounding into the water. It dove and retrieved a golden staff, breaching the surface holding it between clenched jaws. As it wagged its stumpy green tail proudly at the Necrologist, Garath felt the need to praise the eager creature.

*Good boy!* he told it, bending to scratch its leathery head. The Hound dropped the staff onto the stone floor and Garath bent to pick it up. A little focus later, the item description was revealed.

Hypnotic Staff of the Wise

Attack Damage: 7-11 (Mental)

Attack Speed: 3.26

DPS (damage per second): 2.76

Durability: 29/30

Item Score: 17

Two-handed weapon

Type: Staff

Quality: Above Average

Rarity: Rare

Spell Targeting Assistance: Basic

+30 Wisdom

+10 Regeneration

Item Requirements:

Level: 13

Wisdom: 36

"Whaaaaa," exclaimed Garath, eloquently as ever. Warrion looked at him expectantly. "Plus thirty Wis and plus ten Regen," he explained.

"Dude, nice!" said Warrion.

“Not bad at all,” Athios agreed, equipping her own staff.

She then rifled through the pile of corpses again, fighting a losing battle to avoid adding her breakfast to the mess. With one hand over her mouth, she finally stood up with a golden adornment in her free hand.

"That's right, they were wearing some kind of crown too. Circlet?" Garath remembered.

Garath looked again at the happy demon dog, who was still wagging its stumpy tail and drooling something foul, then gave it another command.

*Get,* he told the Hound again, replacing the image in his mind to that of the gold crown still sitting atop the head of the slain snake-woman's corpse, bobbing around below the water. Again, the demon dog bolted into the water and, seconds later, emerged with the simple gold crown. Garath excitedly Inspected it.

Hypnotic Diadem of the Wise

Raiment Slot: Head

Defense Rating: 35

Armor: +7

Quality: Above average

Durability: 30/30

Item Score: 21

Type: Light armor

Magic Resistance: +15%

Rarity: Rare

+20 Wisdom

+8 Regeneration

Item Requirements:

Level: 13

Wisdom: 36

Garath equipped his new diadem and staff, sending both pieces of his Necrologist starting gear to his Items panel, and let his newly improved stats wash over his