Chapter 8: Rank D Summons

Hell Mode — LNCrawler · All chapters

Chapter 8: Rank D Summons

Even though Allen had started in the morning, it had taken so long to analyze his new skill that the sun had already passed its zenith before he knew it. So, he got out his lunch of dried potato and molmo to fill his stomach.

After his experience of being chased by the murdergalsh, Allen had packed a months’ worth of dried potato, meat jerky, and molmo as rations inside Storage, together with equipment for camping out, such as a blanket, a fire-starting magic tool, and torches. These were just in case he ever found himself once again unable to return to town for a few days. As time was stopped inside Storage, the food he put inside would not rot. The torches could also enter Storage already lit, so he put a few of those inside just in case the others went out. This might have rendered his fire-starting magic tool moot, but it never hurt to be extra prepared.

Then again, I have more than ten thousand Rank D magic stones, so I think I’ll be able to go through the new Summons at a pretty quick pace.

After he finished eating, Allen called out all of the Rank D Summons. Then he checked the information on their cards.

Status of Insect D (Spider)Type: Insect Rank: D Name: Spidey HP: 120 MP: 0 Attack: 140 Endurance: 200 Agility: 200 Intelligence: 125 Luck: 60 Buffs: Endurance 20, Agility 20 Ability: Spider Silk

Status of Beast D (Bear)

Type: Beast
Rank: D
Name: Teddy
HP: 200
MP: 0
Attack: 200
Endurance: 128
Agility: 80
Intelligence: 130
Luck: 60
Buffs: HP 20, Attack 20
Ability: Crush

Status of Bird D (Owl)

Type: Bird
Rank: D
Name: Horo
HP: 76
MP: 0
Attack: 83
Endurance: 67
Agility: 200
Intelligence: 200
Luck: 160
Buffs: Agility 20, Intelligence 20
Ability: Night Vision

Status of Grass D (Potato)

Type: Grass
Rank: D
Name: Tater
HP: 50
MP: 200
Attack: 40
Endurance: 35
Agility: 40
Intelligence: 60
Luck: 200
Buffs: MP 20, Luck 20
Ability: Crop of Magic

Status of Stone D (Bronze Statue)

Type: Stone
Rank: D
Name: Bron
HP: 200
MP: 0
Attack: 180
Endurance: 200
Agility: 100
Intelligence: 140
Luck: 108
Buffs: HP 20, Endurance 20
Ability: Defend

Status of Fish D (Salmon)

Type: Fish
Rank: D
Name: Belly
HP: 80
MP: 200
Attack: 54
Endurance: 34
Agility: 160
Intelligence: 200
Luck: 170
Buffs: MP 20, Intelligence 20
Ability: Splash

As a result of his testing, two armored ants now lay dead in front of Allen. The huge cracks in their salad bowl-like armor were leaking bodily fluids. Before them stood a brown Summon that looked like a grizzly bear roughly two and a half meters in length. It looked pretty proud of itself for having beaten the armored ants. This bear was none other than Teddy, the Beast D Summon.

Next to Teddy stood a giant spider that was one and a half meters long and sixty centimeters tall. This black form had both its front legs raised in the air as it continued hissing intimidatingly at the dead armored ants. This was Spidey, the Insect D Summon.

Nice, nice, so Teddy’s Ability, Crush, can break through an armored ant’s shell. It’s not quite enough to kill the monster in one strike, but that’s where Spidey comes in.

The monsters with broken armor were tied up with sticky white strands. Insect D’s Ability, Spider Silk, enabled it to produce highly adhesive thread from the tip of its abdomen that was useful for tying enemies up, slowing them down, or stopping them in their tracks—or just messing with them in general.

Just like the other Summons in their respective categories, the Beast D Summon was specced for offense and the Insect D Summon for debuffs. These two were going to be the backbone of Allen’s hunting efforts going forward. Thankfully, both of them had over 100 Intelligence right out of the gate.

Allen next looked up at an owl with a maximum wingspan of over one and a half meters that was perched on a tree. This Bird D Summon returned his gaze with its large, round eyes.

There’s no way to test Horo’s Ability right now, but based on the name, Night Vision likely allows it to see in the dark. Hawkins can only scout during daytime, and now I have Horo to do the same at night. Hawk Eye in the day and Night Vision at night sounds about right.

While hoping that the effect of Bird D’s Ability was indeed as its name suggested, Allen made a mental note to test it out after sunset. He then turned to look at the strange figure at his feet that looked like a potato with hands and legs. This was Tater, the Grass D Summon.

Just like Grass F and Grass E, Grass D also turned out to be a Summon with a one-use Ability that turned it into a recovery item. The Ability name, Crop of Magic, suggested that it was an MP recovery item. Sure enough, when he gave the Japanese plum-sized berry a try after depleting his MP, the fruit disappeared from his hand and restored 1,000 MP.

Allen finally had access to a method of recovering his MP, which was absolutely crucial for raising his skill levels. He now needed 30,000,000 Skill XP to reach Summoning Lvl. 6. He therefore decided to dedicate all his naturally recovering MP toward Skill XP, and to keep Crops of Magic inside Storage for battles where he might suddenly need MP. Thanks to having more than ten thousand magic stones, he would never run entirely out of MP for the foreseeable future. This way, he was more than equipped to cope if suddenly attacked by powerful opponents.

Now I have access to all the MP I’ll need if the murdergalsh ever comes after me again.

Beside Allen stood what looked like a two-meter-tall suit of European armor made of bronze. This large-bodied Summon carried a shield as tall as itself.

Now, Bron. I never did get around to using Wally, the Stone E Summon. But still, even a bronze statue can be classified as a Stone type, huh? The gods of this world sure are broad-minded.

The way Allen hunted mainly consisted of scouting out new monsters and staying on the move at the same time, a style referred to as “chaining” in his previous life. This was the opposite of lying in wait for enemies to approach—conversely called “camping”—so he had not had any opportunity to use the Stone E Summon. He had not even kept copies in the card holders. How to use the Stone Summons without changing his hunting style was a question that he would have to tackle going forward.

And that’s it for the analysis of the new Summons in the preexisting categories. That leaves Belly, which boosts my MP and Intelligence. I do appreciate the Intelligence, as it helps me Share with more Summons. But...hmm, a fish, huh? Making a single one of these cards burns through fifteen magic stones. In that sense, Insect and Beast cards are great for only costing one magic stone. They provide me with Attack, Agility, and HP buffs, so it really is great that I got them early on.

The Creation and Synthesis process for Summons at Rank E and higher all required magic stones; the more complicated the Synthesis process, the more magic stones needed. The Fish card required multiple rounds of Synthesis, ultimately bringing its cost to fifteen magic stones.

Cost in Magic Stones

Insect: 1
Beast: 1
Bird: 3
Grass: 5
Stone: 9
Fish: 15

Well then, let’s try calling it out. Belly.

When Allen called a Fish D out to analyze it, a salmon appeared, looking exactly like the illustration on its card. The meter-long fish flopped about on the ground.

“For some reason, it looks like the most useless of all the Summons I’ve seen so far. It’s starting to remind me of Denka.”

Allen could hardly be faulted for his doubt; the latest Summon that he had finally obtained after more than two years of effort turned out to be a creature that could not even move around properly. This was the very illustration of the phrase “fish on a chopping block.”

Well, how about I first see its Ability in action? Belly, Splash.

Immediately, the fish sank underground, leaving only its back and dorsal fin visible. It then flapped furiously, scattering shining droplets all over. Some of it got onto Allen, who was then enveloped in a faint glow that quickly faded away.

“Whoa! It dove into the ground! Wait, I’m glowing?! Or...not. It went away. What did it do, though?” Allen checked his Status in his grimoire and gasped in surprise. “I got a Status buff!”

Name: Allen (Increased Physical & Magic Evasion)

Right beside his name was a brand new field indicating that he now had increased evasion against both physical and magic attacks.

So the Fish cards give Status buffs. I did see some of the spray landing on the other Summons too just now. So this Ability doesn’t just work on me but on all Summons too... Ah, is the effective radius fifty meters?

Allen had noticed the other Summons glow when Belly used its Ability. That even included Horo, which was still up in its tree, indicating that the effect of this Ability reached quite far. Since the range for almost everything related to his class was fifty meters, Allen assumed it was the same here as well.

This is definitely helpful. Hopefully this’ll lower the number of Summons that get killed in battle and, by extension, lower the number of magic stones that I have to use to replace them. I should confirm how long the effect of this Ability lasts.

Allen continued analyzing what the newly added Fish-type Summon brought to the table, musing over how it could expand the options available to him in battle.

＊＊＊

“Phew! That was another fun day of hunting.”

It was now 4 p.m. and Allen was wrapping up another day of hunting. He was about to turn back and start looking for edible prey to bring home.

Currently before him lay the corpse of an armored ant whose head had been caved in by a Teddy. After learning that he could safely kill armored ants with the power of the Beast D Summons last time, he had shifted from only hunting orcs to hunting armored ants as well. According to what he saw through Hawk Eye from Sharing with Hawkins—he now valued Sharing very much for enabling him to practically scout in person—there were many more armored ants than orcs in the vicinity. Thinking about it, it made sense that ants reproduced at a higher rate than pigs did.

Now then, I’ve gotten permission from Sebas, so let’s bring this back too.

Allen flipped over the armored ant with the crushed head and swiftly used his mithril sword to separate the armor from the rest of the body. Naturally, he remembered to fetch the magic stone as well.

Until recently, he had prioritized only the hunting aspect and therefore had not brought back any materials from the monsters he killed. After all, it would take two to three hours to go to a shop where he could sell everything, and the shop was quite a distance from the mansion as well. He much rather preferred spending that time hunting. In his eyes, XP was worth far more than gold.

However, now that he had reached Summoning Lvl. 5 and could kill armored ants without much trouble, his way of thinking had changed a little. First, it occurred to him that he could use an armored ant’s armor instead of a shoulder basket to carry the beasts that he was bringing back for meat. Consequently, he now instructed his Summons to aim for the head and not the body when fighting armored ants. After that, he learned that this armor could be sold for one gold apiece. The unit price was extremely high and it was convenient for carrying meat back with. And so he had decided to bring one back with him every time he went hunting.

Allen had also asked Sebas whether he could sell these pieces of armor to an armorer. The baron’s family could buy them off him too, except that the family had no use for them. So Sebas had given Allen the go ahead.

Then Allen came up with the idea to ask one of his fellow servants to bring the armored ant shells to an armorer and sell them on his behalf. When he explained that he intended on letting whoever helped him keep the proceeds from one piece of armor for every ten that they sold for him, Sebas also gave this the green light, saying that many of the servants would be more than happy to take on the task. This was how Allen managed to save himself the time needed to visit the armorer’s.

All right, done with the butchering. Let’s get started, then.

Just because the day was ending, it did not mean that Allen’s hunting was over. Thanks to the thirty Fish D cards he now kept in his holders, his Intelligence was over 1,600. As Sharing with one Summon required 200 Intelligence, he could now Share with eight Summons at a time. What’s more, he had done a little more testing and confirmed that Night Vision did indeed serve as a scouting Ability for use at night—just that it could not see behind obstacles—and that the duration of the effect of Splash lasted for twenty-four hours. Now that he had finished all his preliminary analysis of the Rank D Summons, he was about to attempt sending a group of Summons out into the wild by themselves—while Sharing with them, of course—to hunt remotely.

If possible, I’d like to form two squads, but that would mean there being only four Summons in each squad. It’s probably better to keep them all together in one larger party of eight.

The group was composed of one Insect D, four Beast Ds, one Bird E, one Bird D, and one Fish D. The most important thing about having Summons fight on their own was ensuring that none of them died. Allen was too far away to replenish their numbers, so a death would mean a permanent decrease to the party’s fighting power. This was why including an Insect D and a Fish D for their effects was absolutely crucial. Bird E and Bird D would serve as the group’s scouts in the daytime and nighttime, respectively. Naturally, the bulk of the fighting would be left to the Beast Ds. It was also their duty to protect the other Summons.

Yep, these numbers should be more than enough to handle Rank C monsters. Guys, off you go. Make sure you don’t attack other adventurers!

The most important thing to the Summons Squad this time was not how many monsters they could kill, but how well they could avoid hurting other adventurers. Allen knew they would fully obey the instructions he gave them, but just in case, he stressed again that they were not to retaliate even if under attack by said adventurers.

Allen had also given Bird E and Bird D specific instructions to steer clear of adventurers. The reason he went to the extra trouble was because he would be sleeping at night. Sharing could still be maintained while he slept, but he naturally would not be able to give instructions should a situation crop up. During that time, the Summons would have to move at their own discretion. This was why Allen had been extremely thorough with the warnings he left with them.

There was one more thing that Allen was quite sure of but had yet to properly confirm: the duration of Sharing was very likely thirty days, the same length of time that Summons could remain Summoned. Going to sleep with it active felt like falling asleep in front of the computer while gaming in his previous life—he could still hear the sounds coming in through the feeds.

Even while returning to town, Allen continued monitoring and giving instructions to the eight Summons. When doing so, he did not have to instruct each one separately; no, he was capable of instructing all of them at once. The reason he could watch from eight pairs of eyes, comprehend all eight Summons’ movements and relative positioning, keep in mind the details of their Abilities, and send them instructions all at the same time was likely entirely due to the boon of 1,600 Intelligence.

It was currently still Bird E’s turn at scouting. Once it got a bit darker, it would be time for Bird D to take over.

Gotta find monsters to kill first. Let’s start with a small group.

Thanks to Sharing, Allen had only just learned that, just like Night Vision, Hawk Eye also could not see behind obstacles. A quick pan around with it revealed a pair of orcs three kilometers ahead.

Perfect timing.

The discovery was instantaneously passed on to the other seven Summons, which promptly began making their way over toward the monsters. Thanks to obtaining Sharing, the speed at which Allen could convey information had improved drastically. Because he could directly see what his Summons were seeing, even when they were using their Abilities, he could give them much more specific instructions that were tailored to their situations. The entire process had become incredibly streamlined.

As the orcs’ position was in an area where plant growth was sparse, they could clearly see the seven Summons approaching. Both sides shifted into battle readiness as the two groups approached each other.

When they got close enough, Insect D used Spider Silk to tie up the two charging orcs. Then the Beast Ds followed up with Crush, killing them off before they could do anything.

<You have defeated 1 orc. You have earned 1,500 XP.>

Heh heh heh, that was a piece of cake. The Summons are a bit slow on foot, but I can deal with it.

Allen personally had much higher Agility than the Rank D Summons. Although he was slightly dissatisfied with their speed, the hunt continued.

I do also have to focus on helping the Summons so they can get used to doing this.

When a new Summon was born, it inherited all memories and experiences from those of the same type and rank that had lived before. Having the members of this Summons Squad learn the intricacies of hunting as a group was also an important goal of this initiative.

The next morning, Allen awoke to find that his XP had not gone up at all, even though the log on his grimoire was filled with records of the monsters that had been killed by the Summons Squad. In other words, while he was asleep, the monsters were practically only polishing their individual skills without any benefits coming back to Allen himself. He felt a warm feeling bubbling up inside his chest after learning that what amounted to AFK gaming did not work in this world.

He made a memo, then decided to do more analysis of the conditions for gaining XP.

＊＊＊

Several days later, Allen was attempting something new using Sharing. The scene for the day’s experiment was to be Krena Village. He was currently viewing the nostalgic landscape of his home village through the eyes of Chappy, the Bird G Summon that looked like a parrot. A distance that required five days on foot for a normal human being had only taken the Strengthened Bird G several hours.

“I am Krena the knight! Here I come!”

“Ready!”

Krena and Dogora just happened to be starting a new match. After almost two years, their fights were no longer on the level of “play.” Dogora’s dad, the village weapons merchant and blacksmith, had probably been the one who forged the iron sword and ax the two children were using. The sound of weapons clashing resonated louder than ever.

At the same time, a slight distance away, Mash and Pelomas were playing knight together using wooden swords. It had been so long since he had been back that Allen could not help but have Chappy perch on a tree so that he could watch this scene longer.

Ah, no, I have something I want to pass on.

After confirming how much his friends had grown, Allen moved on from Krena’s house to that of his own family. Theresia was in the earthen-floored room.

It’s mother! And wow, Myulla’s grown so big!

Bird G managed to infiltrate the house without being spotted by Theresia. A lump rose in Allen’s throat as he gazed at her through Chappy’s eyes. It had been less than two years since he left, but it felt like it had been ten.

Clink.

“Huh?”

The sound of a metallic noise prompted Theresia to turn around. Chappy was already gone. Instead, only a single gold coin lay on the ground

＊＊＊

October rolled around, and Allen turned ten. This meant he had been working at the Granvelle mansion for two full years. In the beginning, he had only planned on staying for two to three years before telling Sebas that the job did not suit him after all and then heading home. Even now, he still did plan on eventually leaving—specifically, once he turned twelve—but he had gotten much more involved with the Granvelle family during these past two years than originally expected. The thought that he would have to part with them after another two years spurred him to carry out his duties as a manservant as best he could.

This morning, as always, Allen had breakfast while chatting with Rickel, the head manservant. The fact that Allen had turned ten meant that Rickel was now twenty. When Allen talked about how it had been two years since he first came to work at the mansion, Rickel proudly said he was in his twelfth year. He was a true veteran by now, having served as a houseboy several years before becoming a manservant. He was always a good sport about the topics Allen brought up.

The details of Allen’s work as Cecil’s personal manservant had also changed somewhat. Now that Cecil was ten years old, her wild tendencies that were characteristic of children had faded quite a bit. Consequently, she sent Allen out for errands far less frequently now. Her personality remained pretty much the same, though.

Something else that had changed was Allen’s salary: his pay as a huntsman was being raised to one gold each month starting today. Together with the one gold he earned as a manservant, his total monthly salary would be two gold going forward. He had surpassed the pay rate of the head manservant.

Today was also the day that Captain Zenof would be returning from an expedition to inspect the state of the mithril mines in the White Dragon Mountains. Allen fervently prayed that the report would be delivered in the dining hall and not the conference room. Perhaps a god had been listening, for his prayer came true. Allen would be present in the dining hall and was grateful for the opportunity to hear the details of Zenof’s findings.

And so lunchtime arrived. Allen kept an ear constantly fixed on the conversation while serving.

“So, what’s the state of the mithril mines?” the baron asked, wasting no time.

When he learned back in March that the white dragon had moved to Carnel, he had immediately ordered a situational analysis. Apparently the baron was in a hurry to get the mithril mining restarted. Allen wondered if his frugal living conditions were spurring him to seek the profits promised by mithril mining.

“Yes, my lord. Currently...”

When the report then began, the baron was sitting on the edge of his seat. As expected, the tunnels that had been abandoned in disuse for over a hundred years had turned into monster nests. The expedition had confirmed the presence of numerous goblin and orc villages as well as armored ant nests at the foothills of the White Dragon Mountains. A frown came over the baron’s face as he listened attentively.

“What about the transport roads?”

Merely killing off the monsters in the mines would not be enough, as there were also transport roads and facilities with blast furnaces necessary for processing mithril ore that needed to be kept safe. A rather sizable area would require a constant protective presence, which explained why the investigation had taken more than half a year.

According to the knight captain, many of the sites that used to be village housing for laborers involved with processing ore had now become breeding grounds for monsters. Similarly, many of the roads that connected those sites to Granvelle City were also swarming with them.

“So, how long would it actually take to wipe out all those monsters and restart mining operations?” This was the all-important question.

“Five years at the earliest, my lord. We would also need to gather miners and people to man the furnaces, so I’m afraid it could take even longer. Taking into account the time needed to rebuild the villages they would be living in, we may be looking at over ten years, my lord,” Zenof answered.

Sebas nodded to indicate that his own digging had also given him similar numbers.

However, the baron said, “We cannot wait five whole years. Can we not stagger the opening of the mines in order to get started sooner? For example, we can focus on getting the mine closest to Granvelle City up and running first.”

The White Dragon Mountains stretched north to south. The northernmost mine was located roughly the same latitude as Granvelle City, making it the closest. Thus the baron’s idea was to slowly clear the mines one by one, starting in the north and moving southward. The point he wanted to make was that there was no need to wait to open all four mines all at once.

“Of course, my lord. Even so, it would take three years.”

When he heard that he still had to wait three more years, the baron looked up and closed his eyes. He really was in a rush to get the mines back up and running.

“Th-Three years... I am aware I am pushing quite hard, but please make this happen as soon as possible.”

As I’d thought, they really are planning on starting from the north.

As Allen continued serving, he looked directly at the mine in question from high up in the sky using Sharing. He had ordered the Bird E in the Summons Squad to fly over the area and activate Hawk Eye. After confirming the location of this particular mine, he then ordered the Summon to circle around and look for surrounding goblin and orc settlements and armored ant nests.

The butler said, “I will send out a notice to gather those willing to relocate to the mining facilities.”

As the talk surrounding the mines themselves concluded, the baron changed topic and asked, “And what is the current situation over in Carnel?”

“According to reports, they attempted to continue mining and ended up angering the white dragon,” Zenof replied.

The way he put it, the dragon grew irritated at all the humans scurrying about nearby and so wiped out all the laborers with a breath attack.

Oof. I bet the white dragon probably has something like a superior version of Hawk Eye that enables it to see reeeally far. I’m so glad I never did get around to trying to sneak a peek at it.

Allen had yet to see the white dragon for himself. He could probably manage it by Sharing with a Bird E or Bird D, but he thought better of it. In light of what Hawk Eye could do and what he knew of the dragon’s behavior, he determined that it would be too dangerous to make an attempt.

The range of Hawk Eye was several kilometers. At this point, Allen had already realized that the white dragon’s new lair was actually closer to some of the Granvelle mines than the Carnel mines. However, whereas the latter were now completely off-limits, there was now no problem developing the former. Why was the monster ignoring distance and only allowing the Granvelle side to use their mines?

The conclusion that Allen came to was that the monster’s scouting ability likely could not see through obstacles, just like how Hawk Eye and Night Vision were unable to. The mountain itself served as one huge obstacle, blocking the dragon’s perception. That said, the dragon’s skill definitely reached much farther than Hawk Eye. It would be absolutely disastrous if Allen accidentally got too close with Bird E and provoked the dragon into chasing it back to the Granvelle side. He did not want to take this risk just to satisfy his own curiosity.

“Hm, so they did try to continue by force.” The baron’s expression was clouded.

“Yes, my lord.”

“Lord Carnel has been ignoring the Land Reclamation Decree all this time, citing that he has had his hands full with mithril mining.”

In other words, Viscount Carnel had been dangling the profits from mithril mining in front of the royal family’s face to convince them to permit shirking his duties, basically brute-forcing his way using the power of money. This did sort of make him sound a little crooked.

“We have confirmed that any further mithril mining in his fiefdom is now impossible.”

I guess it makes sense that they keep a close eye on their neighbor.

“He still has the wealth he’s amassed so far, but I expect him to burn through it next year,” the baron said before turning to Sebas. “There’s no telling what he might do afterward. He might even try to start something with us. Keep a steady eye on him and remain vigilant.”

“Yes, Master.”

“And I think you can already tell, but I’m saying this just in case: I have no intention of meeting Lord Carnel again. After all, this isn’t something that can be resolved merely through discourse.”

The butler bowed to acknowledge his master’s command to turn down all future requests for an audience from the Carnel family.

This was apparently the end of the report in the dining hall. The chivalric order would proceed to cull the monster population at the foot of the White Dragon Mountains, starting from the north and sweeping southward. The butler was to send out word to gather miners and laborers while also surveilling the realm of Carnel.

Since development will be starting from the north, I’ll also be killing the monsters from the north.

Allen’s plan of action going forward was decided. Through Hawk Eye, he had already spotted goblin, orc, and armored ant dwellings that numbered more than a hundred total.

I see. So this is going to be my focus in the coming two years.

A specific goal took shape inside Allen’s mind. Before he left the mansion to become an adventurer two years from now, he would clear away all the monsters nested at the foot of the White Dragon Mountains as his way of repaying everything the baron’s family had done for him. Since the baron wanted to begin mining mithril as soon as possible, Allen would help him do so. All the monsters in the way must be exterminated.

I’ll start with the weakest target: goblin villages.

This was precious XP that Allen was not willing to lose to the chivalric order. He resolved to get to work as soon as possible.