"Failure they said... not going to be very productive they said... If-fucking-only that was the case!" The words were spoken as the claws of a summoned monster, chased after his heels to stop him running and making him take shelter in a tree.
"Give it up already! Look, we're all tired right now, give us the goods and we can all move on with our lives." The young man's voice was spoken with the raspy crack of someone forcing their throat to work through laboured breathing. "Honestly Carl, you deserve to walk away after that chase, I'm too impressed to even be mad..." He chuckled through the persistent panting.
"If you're that impressed Gillian, why don't we just be friends, think that would work out better for all of us in the long run." Carl replied, breathing hard, but still not as ragged as his pursuers, the issue was the summon.
The group being led by Gillian all laughed. "See lads? He's a funny guy and it is a tempting offer... But i'm just not that impressed minus one."
"His mana clearly ain't the only thing that's dense." One of the followers joked, drawing a chuckle from all of them, including Carl. "What are you laughing at minus one?"
"You calling me dense. Last time we sparred, I punched you in the head and got a dislocated finger. So If I'm dense, then what the hell are you Darren?" Carl retorted in a mocking tone, not entirely devoid of concern.
"He got you there mate." One of the others chuckled. "Anyway let's get this over with before minus one's pet gets back, that thing is not a good match for any of us." Carl hated his awareness, they might be bullies and shameless opportunists, but they know their strengths and aren't stupid.
'For Christ's sake! why did I choose to be lazy?' The thought roared internally, becoming a burning ball of regret and pointless wishes. 'Why the hell did I have to get this damn system that no one ever heard of before? Sure I got Squidge and it's the only reason I got into the damn academy, but having to figure everything out yourself is a pain in the arse.'
As Carl sat in the tree wishing life was different, the feline reared back and dug its front claws into the thick tree trunk, then its rears, then began stalking him up the tree.
"Carl, mate! Time is running up and you don't keep those things waiting, it's pretty mad you know!" Gillian called up.
"Cheers for the concern Gillian, know we aren't exactly friends, but the concern means a lot are you sure this friendship won't work?" Carl laughed with increasingly forced bravado, knowing Gillian was right wasn't exactly making resistance easy.
"I'm sure, though I will try to cancel him quick as you're disabled, getting matted blood out the white fur is a pain in the arse." Gilliian replied, only half- joking.
"Minus one, seriously! Is it really that important?" Daniel, the one who had laughed at his response to Chris asked.
"Hey! It might be... Look this is the best chance at cultivation I found in a while. Squidge is a champion, but I feel bad leaning on him all the time, he isn't a summon remember, he gets tired and needs to rest." Carl explained, trying to find a means of averting this.
"I get it, being a first must be a pain. A system build as cool as yours must be a real pain to figure out, but really, you're gonna try a core extraction on that thing? You know that will get you a Distinction-S Grade in the exam, right?" Gillian asked with both genuine understanding and admiration.
"Truth be told, I forgot this was an exam, it doesn't matter if I can't get any sellable skills before graduation anyway. The director has been a champion, best foster mum I could have wanted, but I don't want to be a deadbeat son or one that makes her worrying while I solo realm-dives." Carl's sincerity actually made them all hesitate, they were jerks, but not rotten to the core.
"Okay, look, making us feel guilty is only gonna but you time unt-" As Gillian spoke the sound of trees splintering in the distance made him stop. "Well damn, guess our time is up. Flicker, get him out of that tree now!"
The white panther-like summon seemed to grin with predatory delight and it prepared to close the distance with a single leap. As it did so the sound of trees splintering grew closer and closer, then stopped, making Carl and the others pause to figure out why.
"Gillian, why did it stop? It never stops when Carl is in danger." Darren asked and evaluated, remembering all the times it had gone berserk when something tried to harm the same one they were now trying to rob.
His question wasn't answered by Gillian though, but by a light that looked like a star had been born in the woods. Only then did Gillian respond. "Shit! His girlfriend arrived."
"Ex-girlfriend!" Carl shouted at the annoyingly painful difference.
"Dude! Just take her back will you! Seriously sh-" As he spoke the light condensed then burst forward, piercing Flicker, the white panther and drawing blood from a phantom wound in Gillian's chest. "Seriously! The world needs you to protect it from her!"
"Who the hell was protecting me from her!" Carl shouted back with increasing annoyance, knowing he was going to owe her for this was far more painful than anything they would have done. "Seriously... Guys... One of you just kill me. It will be far easier taking the core from a corpse."
As they bantered in the face of calamity, the splintering of trees had resumed and the outline of Squidge was now visible, as was the figure standing on one of his heads. A tall girl with blood-red hair and a body that was basically honed to perfection. Dressed in light armour that shifted and undulated as if trying to predict where defence would be needed most next.
When they finally reached the open which barely took a split second, by the measure of those for whom time hadn't slowed due to fear, the tree crushing monster began to assess the situation.
"Look... Squidge, we weren't going to hurt him. We were just gonna rob him a little bit." Gillian admitted, hoping that would spare them from at least a fair measure of pain. A plan that seemed fruitful to some degree as the creatures three gelatinous heads merged into one and it shrank itself down by about a quarter.
The boys all took a deep breath, until the girl cracked her wrists, then tied back her hair. "Don't you think it's a little early to be relieved? You were trying to rob my fairer half."
"Ex-fairer half!" Carl shouted with the same stupidity that every man is all too familiar with.
"We may be on a break my love, but that's just because you don't want to be a burden or have anyone worrying about you if you can't get any cultivation done before graduation. We still love each other." What hurt Carl the most, was that she was right and so painfully supportive and loyal that she would likely waste her whole life waiting for him to get back if he left.
"I'll treat you to dinner when we get back, but no-"
"You mean Madam Director will treat me to dinner and yes... I know you're still being stubborn, it's one of the things I love about you." She smiled with doughy eyes before they turned cold and fell back toward his pursuers. "That reminds me though, you were trying to rob him? Maybe his best cultivation lead in months? Extending our heartbreak at being parted?"
"Klaire, look... Who said rob? I said trade. We were going to trade him all our materials for that one." Gillian babbled, he knew, hell they all did, with squidge and Klaire present, they were finished. All they could do was hopefully get away with enough strength left to recover some of what they were about to lose.
"Trade? I have a trade for you. All your materials, for all your lives and limbs, that seems more than fair to me. How 'bout you Squidge?" Squidge lost interest and moved over to Carl to recover him from the tree, then shrunk down until it could comfortably coil around him.
"Laters Gillian, I still need to show you my paper from realm gate physics, don't I?"
"Shit! I forgot about that! You're a life saver man, see you back at camp, I'll have snacks ready. No hard feelings, you either Klaire, I'm cheering for yer."
"Fine! Drop two bags and run! Being my hubby's frenemy saves you again, dick."
As they disappeared into the trees and Klaire moved forward to inspect the bags and their contents, Carl found himself lost in nostalgia, the bitter sweet memory of how he even found himself surrounded by all these lovable weirdos.