Chapter 2: First Summoning

It wasn't something he was made aware of by the system voice, but it seemed a pity mechanic existed within his own ability, which was certainly a relief for the man who lacked in the luck department.

Still, none of that mattered if he couldn't get past the small, green menace before him at that moment.

"Raaaaa!"

The fiendish creature dashed at him with its tongue hanging out, slobbering as it jabbed its dagger in his direction.

"Hey, hey! Take a chill pill, huh?!" He called out desperately, unprepared for a fight now.

He was forced on the backfoot, moving backward as he miraculously avoided being plucked by the sharp weapon, stumbling and nearly tripping over, but somehow those awkward movements made him unpredictable.

Just as he took another step back, his back hit the trunk of a tree, blocking him from going further as the goblin charged at him relentlessly, stomping with its verdant soles through the mud.

'Shit!' He thought.

There was no choice but to go for his own offense, slashing in front of him in a wide, formless swing that didn't come anywhere close from catching the slippery goblin.

It spun around with unorthodox movements, leaping forward and stabbing towards his leg, managing to penetrate his thigh. As quickly as he had been stabbed into, he stumbled back and kicked the goblin away from him, preventing the edge of the dagger from going any deeper into his leg.

"Nngh…!"

Though it wasn't deep, it nonetheless hurt, causing him to retaliate with another swipe of his sword.

"--Huh?!"

Only a small cut was left on the green-skinned savage's chest as it looked surprised for a moment before realizing only minimal damage had been done.

'Crap! This sword really is trash! It's going to get me killed!' He thought.

"Ke-he-he…"

Right in his face, it laughed with a sound that came to his ears as if it was choking on its own drool.

If there was one thing Jett lacked besides luck, it was a temper:

"Oh, yeah!!" He raced forward.

Instead of relying on the less-than-useful weapon he had summoned, he caught the goblin off-guard as it realized too late that he wasn't swinging the dull blade he held in his right hand, but instead swinging his balled-up fist of his left.

"--Krr?!"

A surprised, pained sound escaped the lips of the foul goblin as the youthful man's knuckles slammed against its cheek, causing it to spit out a mixture of saliva and blood.

'Part of the reason why I ended up a deadbeat with a crappy job, well…I wasn't the most law-abiding student out there. I used to be quite the delinquent–I got into my fair share of fights. Ditching class, smoking cigs, and fighting students from other schools–that doesn't exactly provide you the brightest of futures. I tried to get my act together, but well…my luck speaks for itself. Even now, that fiery, hot-headed spirit is an integral part of me. In this moment…I'll let the old Jett Levine come out!' He thought.

"Ora! Ora! Ora!"

Completely abandoning the concept of swinging the useless sword at that moment, he relentlessly threw his fists forward, pummeling the goblin, who had no way of countering as it was thrashed around.

–Still, aimless fist-throwing could only get him so far against a fantastical creature.

"Gah!"

As he threw his fist forward once more, the bloodied-and-bruised goblin countered by biting down on his hand, chomping without any reservation as its dirty, sharp teeth dug in.

It was the bite no doubt of something fighting for its life; its fangs pierced his skin, drawing a squirt of blood from his hand.

Virtual? No; a blatant lie, straight to his face. Even if he was told otherwise, his very own eyes, the faint logic in his mind, and the intuition of his soul told him: this was real. Fantasia was a living, breathing world, perhaps far, far from his own, but it was real nonetheless.

'...This is real! If I can't win–I'll die! I'll die again!...I refuse!' He thought.

Swinging his arm around to try and shake the goblin off, it only caused it to bite down harder, digging its teeth hard enough for the man to feel the bite force on his own bones.

"Ghh–!"

Opting to stab at it with his dagger, he was greeted by skin-crawling nimbleness from his foe as the goblin finally released his hand, but not before crawling up his arm and kicking the dagger out of his hand.

'Crap!' He reacted.

Unable to catch it as he flailed his arm in an attempt to grab it, he caught out of the corner of his eye the foul, green creature swiping its dagger towards his throat.

"--!"

At the last moment, he managed to swerve himself to the side, instead taking the swipe of the dagger to his cheek.

Blood dripped from his bitten hand and his sliced cheek; the warm flow was different from the brawls he had gotten into as a highschooler. It was a life-or-death fight; unlike childhood skirmishes.

"...A fight to the death from the get-go, huh? Sorry, but I'm not giving up on my new lease on life so easily, so with that in mind…" He said.

Putting some distance between himself and the fiendish goblin, he slowly reached into the coin sack in his pocket, rummaging through it briefly before pulling out six copper in total.

'I can hardly consider it a 'cheat ability' with my abysmal luck, but still…no matter how bad my luck is, numbers are numbers!' He thought.

"All's fair in love and war, so don't get upset about getting ganged up on!" He yelled out, "Here's your copper, so give me two rolls on the 'Rookie Familiar Summon', you damn system!"

As he held his hand up, clenching the copper that was his lifeline in the air like shining treasure, they vanished from his grip and in return, that mystical light appeared once more.

[Summon x2 Initiated!]

While the digital display of the summoning process showcased a variety of silhouettes–human and non-human–flashing by, his foe wasn't so courteous as to wait, instead dashing straight towards him.

"Alright…now hurry up, would ya?!" He yelled out, watching as the goblin charged at him.

Left without anywhere to run with his back pressed against the grating bark of the tree and no weapon in his hand to defend himself with, it was all up to the luck of the draw now.

As he raised his arms in a desperate guard with the goblin approaching, feeling his heart wildly thumping in his chest and his blood flowing with a sublime heat in the battle–

FWOOM

Two separate beams of light manifested between him and the goblin, cutting it off and causing the yellow-eyed creature to pause in confusion.

"Kre?!" The goblin let out.

To the left was a bright-blue light, however, on the right, a radiant, golden shine gave off from the pillar.

"...Come on…" He muttered under his breath, praying that his suspicions were correct.

Jumping forth as the light dimmed, the goblin lunged at him with its dagger held, blocking his vision from the results of his dual summoning.

'Shit…!' He thought, hiding behind his arms.

–However, no such dagger met his flesh as the noise of the blade meeting something solid reached his ears.

"Huh?"

As he lowered his arms, he found a new figure standing between him and the ravenous goblin: a middle-aged man with a scruffy, ginger beard and clad in studded leather armor. The mysterious man burped out, holding the circular, wooden shield in front of himself before pushing back against the goblin's dagger, knocking the creature back.

"Just in time! Ha-ha!" The man said with a deep voice, wielding a smile of his own as he turned to face the stunned summoner, "Well met!"

[New Familiar Obtained: (N) Booze-Lover Gunter | Special Traits: Smells like mead!]

[ATK: 7 | DEF: 10 | MAG: 2]

[Pity: +1 | 2/100]

He was stunned for a solid few seconds, partially because he was still alive, but also because of the rather tall, muscle-built man standing in front of him, "I…summoned you?"

"That you did! I answered your call! As did she!" Gunter told him with a thumbs-up, resting his battle ax on his shoulder.

"'She'...?" He repeated.

It was just then once the booze-smelling warrior had moved aside did he see the other result of his summon, one that made his heart beat harder, this time with inexplicable excitement–

[Pity Reset: 0/100]

[New Familiar obtained: (R) Holy Spellblade Edith | Special Traits: Level Scaling!]

[ATK: 20 | DEF: 9 | MAG: 20]

'An (R) rarity?!...That's a ten-percent chance!' He realized.