Chapter 4: School Assignment and Pickup Groups

Hell Mode — LNCrawler · All chapters

Chapter 4: School Assignment and Pickup Groups

After clearing their first Rank C dungeon, the No-life Gamers returned to the Adventurer’s Guild to get promoted to Rank D. Now that they could directly reach the furthest level of a dungeon, they agreed to make a daily task out of it. They could finish up the dungeon quickly enough to do it even on school days.

The boss on the deepest floor of a dungeon would respawn at the stroke of midnight. The first one they defeated dropped a steel sword that sold for two gold. With all four of the children living together, their expenses were nothing to scoff at. They were not living extravagantly, but they did eat out for all three meals—Krena in particular had a rather huge appetite—plus they had their tuition. Allen claimed all of the magic stones they picked up from the dungeons, so the boss rewards would go toward the group’s livelihood. They were quite random: sometimes a weapon, armor, or even potions, but always sellable for one or two gold.

Once the party cleared their second Rank C dungeon, they would visit that one daily as well—adding it to their quota, so to say. There were three Rank C dungeons within walking distance of their house, as well as two Bs and one A, coming to a total of six.

Everyone agreed with the daily quota and money distribution, but Cecil did have one request: to hire someone to do the chores. Their house was large enough for twenty people. At the moment, the four of them were splitting the housework. However, the more dungeons they cleared and added to their daily quota, the more unsustainable this arrangement would become.

This was also something that Allen had considered. After all, a housekeeper would not cost more than three gold a month. In the end, they decided to bring it up again once they had a few more dungeons under their belts.

＊＊＊

It was now early May, and a new week of school was beginning. Although their seats were not assigned, the students in Allen’s class had more or less settled into sitting with their clusters of friends. Allen had chosen a seat next to the window so he could look outside while converting the latest batch of ten thousand Rank D magic stones from the Guild into two thousand Crops of Magic. He was able to Create and Synthesize inside the classroom with no one being any the wiser, but turning Grass D Summons into Crops of Magic required actual soil. Therefore, he had selected a patch of dirt out of the way and, while pretending to be casually gazing outside, busied himself with raising his Skill Levels. Bird Gs then picked up the completed Crops with their beaks and deposited them inside the grimoire’s Storage.

Of course, Allen was capable of listening to the lesson at the same time.

“Good morning, Allen.”

“Good morning, Rifol.”

When Allen reached his seat, the student in front of him, a slender boy named Rifol, greeted him. Rifol came from the family of a count; although he himself looked slender and delicate, his father was actually a general. Allen had purposely approached him as a source of information about the battlefield; Rifol had approached Allen in turn, most likely as a way to build a rapport with Sword Lord Krena. Allen had no problem with forming relationships based on mutual self-interest.

“Have you heard the news yet, Allen?”

“What news?”

“Sword Lord Dverg is coming to teach at the Academy next month. And the Hero’s coming with him.”

Oh, nice! Lessons with Dverg! And the Hero’s coming again, huh? It hasn’t even been two months since I saw him last at the entrance exam. Does he have nothing better to do? Nah, that can’t be.

Battle with the Demon Lord Army did not rage twenty-four seven, and the fortresses were not besieged at every moment of every day. Recently, perhaps thanks to the Hero’s efforts, assaults on Alliance fortifications had gone down from two or three times a year to only one.

Really makes one wonder just how many monsters the Hero’s killed...

That Hero and the man said to be Ratash’s most powerful fighter were coming to the Academy. Thanks to the convenience of the magic ships, the Hero could now make the trip every year to give the first-year students direct instruction.

Who knows, maybe he’s just doing it to drum up a reputation as someone who cares about the students. In any case, good thing I get to drop by any afternoon class I want. I’ll try taking his.

As there were no classes specifically for Summoners, Allen was allowed to attend any of the practical classes. Just as he was happily mulling over the welcome news from Rifol, Carlova entered the classroom. Homeroom began as usual.

“I’ve got news, so listen up.” With the brusqueness of a gym teacher, Carlova went through several announcements. Then he asked, “So, it’s been a month since school started. Y’all gettin’ along well?”

The students exchanged glances, puzzled as to where he was going with the question.

“Some of you might already know this, but over summer break, you’re gonna hafta clear a dungeon.”

Wait, huh?

“Any dungeon will do,” Carlova continued, “but those who don’t will be expelled.”

One girl’s soft exclamation of “What?!” reverberated louder than expected within the stunned silence.

“Here are the conditions for the dungeon clearing. You hafta do it in groups of eight max. You can invite first-years from the other classes, but no one from the upper grades. And no hiring non-school personnel like adventurers. If you cheat, it’ll go on your adventurer record and you’ll be expelled.”

The room became abuzz with furious whispering. The calmer students had likely already heard this information ahead of time.

“Oh, and just saying, but last year about twenty students died in the dungeons for this assignment. Make sure to do your research before going.”

Cries of despair filled the classroom. Carlova did not give a single detail about how the dungeons worked or how dangerous they were. It was clear that he wanted the students to do all the work themselves, starting from forming their own parties.

I see, so that’s how it is. This is to help nobles find commoners who’d go along with them to the battlefield.

Allen had suspected this might have been the intention when he first heard Carlova forbidding the usage of titles among the students when the school year first began. After effectively getting rid of social class differences, the school was then forcing the students to cooperate on achieving a clear-cut yet challenging objective and hopefully form close bonds in the process.

Once they all learned about Demon Lord history next year, the commoners and serfs—who would not be obligated to fight against the Demon Lord Army—would find out that their comrades in arms were being sent to the battlefield where they had a high chance of dying. This was clearly the Alliance’s attempt to bolster the number of Talented individuals heading to the battlefield.

“HAAAAAAAAAHHHH!” a brawny male student shouted as he leaped to his feet, interrupting Allen’s thoughts. Everyone looked his way in surprise. “My name is Hector! I’m looking for friends to go dungeon delving with! Are there any Swordsmen, Spear Users, or Ax Users interested?! I’m only looking for seven more people!”

“Heck yeah, count me in!” one of their classmates replied.

Seeing that, another person stood up as well and began recruiting party members. Carlova watched all this with his arms crossed, showing no intention of stepping in.

They’re recruiting for pickup groups. That’s literally what this is.

The sight of some people shouting for party members and others looking to join those parties invoked a strong sense of déjà vu in Allen. He had seen this happen more times than he could count in his previous life.

Most of the games that he had played had a friends list feature, and most players often partied with those friends. Sometimes, however, a much larger group of players was needed, such as for taking on large-scale dungeons or repeatedly killing bosses for specific items. Those times called for so-called “pickup groups”—PUGs for short—which referred to groups of players teaming up for a short period of time. Allen had no shortage of memories tirelessly typing “LFP” and “LFM”—“looking for party” and “looking for member,” respectively—in the in-game chat. And this was exactly what was taking place before him now.

Hah, what noobs! I’ll show you how a pro who’s spent two hours shouting for PUGs every day does it. Feast your eyes on this!

Allen stood up. Krena and Dogora looked his way, wondering what he was planning.

“Are you going to gather party members?” Cecil asked from her seat behind Allen’s.

“Mm-hm,” Allen nodded. “I’m gonna use this opportunity to find us a Cleric.”

If I were to do this in game chat, it’d probably be something like, “Demon Lord raid PT LF Cleric. Have Summoner, Sword Lord, Wizardess, Ax User. First-timers OK.” Though I guess that’s for the future. We’re only recruiting for a dungeon party right now.

Allen inhaled deeply, then shouted at the top of his lungs, “EVERYONE, PLEASE LISTEN UP! I’M RECRUITING MEMBERS FOR DUNGEON DELVING!” Once he saw that he had the room’s attention, he continued. “Take a look at this! This is a Rank D adventurer card. My party only has four people, but we’ve already cleared one Rank C dungeon. This here is proof!”

He took out his adventurer card from Storage and held it up. Then he passed it to a nearby student, who examined it and confirmed, “I-It’s true. It really is a Rank D adventurer card.”

Now everyone in the class was totally focused on Allen, including Carlova, who still had his arms crossed.

“My party has been going to dungeons twice a week since the start of the school year! Within the past month, we’ve finished clearing two Rank C dungeons!”

The class buzzed once more with surprise at Allen’s revelation.

“We are currently looking for a Cleric or someone with a healing Talent! The requirement is the ability to dedicate at least one day each week to going dungeon delving with us!”

Someone mumbled, “Are you serious? That’s once every single week, then.”

Allen honestly wanted someone who could go both days, but he was willing to let one day be the minimum. It was basic courtesy to be up-front about hard requirements.

“Although the dungeon is indeed dangerous, you can rest easy. We have a Sword Lord and a Wizardess in our party. I can’t completely guarantee your safety, but you can rest assured that you’ll be joining a really stacked party of Talents.”

Including information that would alleviate any worries of danger was also an important aspect of recruiting.

“All items and boss rewards we pick up in the dungeons will be split evenly! With only five people in the party, you’d get quite a significant share!”

Naturally, Allen also made sure to mention the benefits. No one would join a party where they stood to gain nothing. Having said his piece, Allen sat down and looked around to study his classmates’ reactions. Although everyone still had their attention on him, no one raised their hand.

Well, I guess it isn’t gonna be that easy.

Most children Appraised with a healing Talent were taken in by the Church. Allen remembered this happening to one serf child on the day of his own Ceremony. Given this, he had suspected that it would be difficult to find someone who fit the bill here in the Academy.

Clerics were never in want of work postgraduation; there was no end of nobles who would want to hire them. Even if one did join Allen’s party now, the chances of that person being willing to stick with them to fight the Demon Lord Army were even slimmer.

Of course, Allen had a backup plan in case he could not find a healer within the student body: hiring an adventurer. If the No-life Gamers earned enough from the dungeons, they could afford to have a capable one on retainer. However, such a person would be coming from a different place than the rest of the party. Since the group was looking for someone to become an ally they could entrust their backs to, even in the face of the Demon Lord Army, another student attending the same school and sharing the same experiences as them would be much more preferable.

“That was impressive,” Rifol commented from his seat in front of Allen’s. He sounded surprised.

“Thank you,” Allen replied. “Although we’re not recruiting a Swordsman at the moment, if you ever need help with the dungeons, feel free to ask me. I’ll see what I can do.”

We can dispatch our Sword Lord. Our Ax User would even come along as a set.

Rifol’s eyes lit up with delight. “Really? I just might take you up on your offer!” He probably had yet to figure out how he would go about clearing this assignment. Coming from a noble family, he absolutely had to graduate. He was surely feeling the pressure of living up to being the son of a general.

That afternoon, just as Allen’s group was about to head to the cafeteria, they were approached by a slender student slightly taller than Allen. He had spiky blond hair that, paired with his menacing eyes, gave him the impression of a delinquent.

“Are you Allen?”

“Yes, that’s me. Were you looking to join our party?”

“My name’s Keel. You still looking for a healer?”

Ohhhhh! A healer’s come!

“Yes, we are. No one else has approached us yet, so the spot’s still free. Are you a healer?”

“I am. Can I hear more about your offer?”

“Of course. Come join us for lunch.”

The cafeteria at the Academy was buffet-style, with admission price being a steal at two coppers. It was now customary for Krena and Dogora to eat a mountain of food every day. This day, too, Krena grabbed a plate and immediately headed toward the food without sparing a single glance for anything else. Allen followed suit before eventually coming back to their table, his own plate of food in hand. There, he found Keel waiting for them, nursing a single cup of water. A short while later, Krena and Dogora showed up with their loaded plates.

Seeing how Keel was staring at all their food, Allen said, “Sorry for making you wait. Feel free to go get your own lunch now. We’ll keep your seat.”

Keel started. “Huh? Oh, uh, I’m good, thanks. I don’t eat lunch.”

Does he have a small appetite? He looks hungry, though, Allen thought before insisting, “With this being our first meeting and all, please, let me treat you.”

“Huh? Nah, I can’t—”

“There’s no need to be reserved. I said we’ll talk over lunch, right?”

When Allen pressed two coppers into Keel’s hand, the other boy mumbled, “Sorry. And thanks,” before heading to the buffet.

Although he seemed somewhat hesitant about eating on the coin of someone he’d just met, when he got back, his hands held plates loaded with just as much food as Krena’s and Dogora’s, indicating that he must have been ravenous.

Allen nodded with satisfaction before starting off the talk. “Once again, I’m Allen. These are my friends: Cecil, Krena, and Dogora.”

“A pleasure to meet you,” Cecil said courteously, while Krena cheerfully went, “Hi!” and Dogora nodded with a “How you doing?”

Keel lowered his head and said to the group, “Thanks for sparing your time. I’m Keel.”

“So,” Allen said, “you’re interested in joining our party?”

“Yep. My Talent’s Cleric. Can you tell me more specifically what this party is doing?”

Heck, yeah! A Cleric! Though he doesn’t look like one at all.

After the tongue-in-cheek mental comment, Allen proceeded to explain how the No-life Gamers were a party of four who had come from the same fiefdom and were focusing on clearing dungeons together. He once again went over how they had been heading to the dungeons twice a week and that he expected the new member to also accompany them on at least one of those days. Trying to not scare Keel away, he refrained from mentioning living together in the house or the daily dungeon boss fights.

“I see.” Keel nodded thoughtfully. “How about the money? Do you earn a lot?”

Oh? Is it the money that he cares about?

Allen changed the topic to accommodate Keel’s question. “We earn a reasonable amount. When you kill monsters, they drop magic stones. And when you kill the boss at the lowest level of a dungeon, it is guaranteed to drop a treasure chest. The items from a Rank C dungeon boss’s chest usually go for one or two gold.”

“W-Wow, that’s twenty to forty silver each among five people. Can I join you guys once as a trial?”

“Of course! We’d be glad to have you.”

In this way, Keel, the boy with the Cleric Talent, decided to join Allen’s group for dungeon delving.

＊＊＊

Although it was as yet a trial period, the healer that Allen had been awaiting all this time had finally joined his group. As it turned out, not only did Keel have no experience entering a dungeon, he had never even fought a monster before. The reason he had approached Allen was, in all likelihood, money.

Unfortunately, one could not teleport to a floor they had not visited before. Unlike the No-life Gamers, Keel would have to start from the very first floor. The three Rank C dungeons closest to the base had four, five, and six floors. The third one that Allen’s group was just about to begin challenging was the one with four floors, so they expected to finish it within the next two weeks.

Allen told Keel that they would not be able to get much of an income until they cleared the dungeon and asked him if that was all right with him; the boy confirmed it was fine if it was only for two weeks. Furthermore, he said that he wished to accompany the party when they visited the dungeons each week on both days.

With the discussion finalized, the weekend soon rolled around. Allen led his group—now a total of five—to the building housing a dungeon entrance. He made sure to double- and triple-check that Keel, despite not being officially part of the No-life Gamers, could still enter the same dungeon instance as them. The General Dungeon Operating System confirmed that those entering the dungeon at the same time from the same room would end up in the same instance even if they were not partied together.

“And there you have it, Keel,” Allen said. “It looks like you will be able to join us just fine.”

“Do we enter from here?” Keel asked, somewhat bewildered.

Allen nodded. “We do.” At the moment, Allen was still speaking courteously and formally with Keel. He believed that it was only common courtesy to treat pickup party members with respect, so he was prioritizing his own values over the school rules.

The five of them then teleported into the dungeon. After a whole month of dungeon delving, everyone in the No-life Gamers had leveled up quite significantly. The Rank E monsters that appeared in their way no longer posed a threat. In order to protect Keel, Krena and Dogora stood in front, Cecil stood beside him in the middle, and Allen brought up the rear.

“Keel, I’m now going to bring out the ‘large allies’ that I told you about before,” Allen warned.

“Large al— WHAT THE?!”

Even though he had been briefed beforehand, Keel inadvertently yelped in surprise. Allen had Summoned two Brons and made them walk on either side of Cecil and Keel for protection’s sake. What surprised Keel the most, though, was how no one else seemed shocked.

“This is my Talent,” Allen said.

“I...I see. This...really is incredible.”

Although Allen had no intention of showing Keel the full extent of his powers just yet, he could not have the boy believe him a powerless member only there to boss everyone around. Furthermore, he had hoped that this display of power would reassure Keel and convince him to join the No-life Gamers.

“Speaking of powers, do you already know how to use yours, Keel?” Allen took the opportunity to inquire about Keel’s abilities after having revealed his own. Since enrolling in the Academy, Allen had learned that just because someone possessed a Talent, it did not necessarily mean they knew how to use their skills.

“Huh? Oh, yes, I do.”

So he can. I was willing to accept him even if he couldn’t, so this is a nice surprise.

Both Krena and Dogora were still unable to use their skills. The most important thing in using skills was creating the mental image; not being able to visualize the skill meant not being able to use it.

In this regard, Cecil had taken lessons from a tutor at the Granvelle mansion who had also shown her how he cast magic. There could not have been a better environment to learn how to use magic skills.

Meanwhile, Allen had been able to use Summoning ever since he turned one year old. In all likelihood, the deities had probably drawn the images of mice, bears, and birds from his own memory to make it easier for him to conjure them up in his mind. Cards floating in midair were also a common motif in games he had played before.

“Where did you learn how to use your magic?” Allen asked, continuing the conversation.

“From the Church. They said they’d pay me if I learned it.”

Keel went on to explain that he was told he would be given a daily stipend of ten silver if he would expend all his MP each day healing patients. He would also be fed during the learning period. He signed up and spent two months mastering the ability.

Two months is pretty fast. Maybe seeing other clergy using the skill in person made it easier for him to grasp how to do it.

If Keel could earn ten silver on each of the two days he had off every week, over five weeks that came to a monthly salary of one gold. Someone who could earn twelve gold a year was generally considered well-off.

During his four years as a manservant, Allen had learned that jobs paying a monthly salary of one gold or higher were actually hard to come by. The average apprentice at a merchant’s store only earned around half that amount.

It cost one gold to enroll at the Academy, plus a yearly tuition of ten gold. This cost covered things such as the uniform, learning materials, and equipment for practicals.

If I remember correctly, students are exempt from the head tax while enrolled.

In many fiefdoms, students would receive financial aid based on their entrance exam grade: a half scholarship for B and a full scholarship for A or S. Any more financial support was forbidden by the Five Continent Alliance, as their policy was for students to earn their living costs by frequenting the dungeons.

If he’s this poor, then he’s probably not a noble.

The ideal party member would be another noble who would have to go to the battlefield either way because of their duty. However, Allen was perfectly accepting of both commoners and serfs as well.

＊＊＊

Two weeks later, on the third day that Keel was accompanying the No-life Gamers, the group finally found themselves on the deepest floor of the dungeon they were exploring.

“So, that’s the boss?” Keel asked.

Allen nodded. “That’s right.”

Ten goblins surrounded one orc, all standing stock-still inside a magic circle.

“Okay. Everyone, ready?”

It was up to Krena, Cecil, and Dogora to defeat this boss. After all, this was an opportunity for them to get some practice fighting as a team; having Allen take care of everything by himself would be a waste. These monsters made for good targets against which Krena and Dogora could attempt to use their skills, and Cecil could always do with earning more Skill XP. To sum it up, there was a lot more to gain having these three do the fighting.

Krena and Dogora charged toward the monsters together as Cecil blasted off spells from a distance. The orc and goblins finally started moving, triggered by the incoming projectiles. Allen Summoned some Brons to protect Cecil and Keel.

The orc thrust its spear with all its strength, but Dogora blocked it with his ax. Krena took advantage of the opening to close in with her greatsword.

Looks like they can handle a lone Rank C monster without issue. Yep, it really is time to get to a Rank B dungeon. We’re too overleveled for Rank C dungeons now.

Thanks to the past one and a half months of dungeon delving, a Rank C monster no longer posed a challenge for Krena, Dogora, and Cecil. Once all the enemies were cleared away, Allen, Keel, and Cecil hurried forward to regroup with the vanguard.

Spotting a wound Dogora had received from the orc, Keel asked, “Are you okay?” and held out his hands. “Heal.”

So, that’s how Healing Magic looks in action.

This was Allen’s first time seeing Keel use his Talent. After all, no one in the party had gotten hurt over the past two weeks.

When Keel was finished, the group turned their attention to the treasure chest that had appeared when the boss fell. This time, the box appeared to be made of silver, not wood.

“Looks like we’re in luck today,” Allen commented.

“WHOAAAA! IT’S TREASURE!” Keel, who over the past two weeks had mainly just followed the group without speaking much, could not help but whoop out loud. “Wait, we’re in luck?”

The dungeon sure plays up the “Hey, this is a rare drop!” feel.

According to the GDOS, dungeon bosses could drop three kinds of treasure chests: wooden, silver, and gold. It could not divulge the exact drop rates of each, but because the party was getting around one silver chest for every nine wooden ones—they had yet to see a gold chest—Allen estimated the probability of each to be ninety percent for wooden, over nine percent for silver, and under one percent for gold.

Allen opened the chest, revealing a piece of mithril equipment inside. “I guess you’d call this a buckler, right? At this size, and with it being mithril, it’d probably go for over ten gold.”

“TEN GOLD?! WHOAAAAA!” Keel cheered again. He then suddenly looked anxious. “Uh, we’re splitting that evenly, right?”

“Of course.” Allen nodded emphatically.

The group headed back out, enveloped in a cheery air of success. The armor store was still open, so they brought the buckler in to sell. The merchant gave them fifteen gold for it, working out to three gold for each of them. Because Allen had not mentioned keeping all the magic stones himself, he also handed Keel a fifth of what they had picked up that day.

With a simple “Th-Thank you!” Keel dashed off into the night, headed for the magic train station.

＊＊＊

The next day, Keel said he wanted to formally join the No-life Gamers. The three gold had been the clincher. Allen immediately brought him to the Adventurer’s Guild to have him registered.

<Keel has joined your party.>

Now Allen could also see Keel’s Status in his grimoire. According to this, Keel did not have a family name, confirming that he was not a noble after all. This meant he would not be conscripted to the battlefield. There was no telling whether he would be interested in coming with the group in three years, but being able to recruit a Cleric a little over a month into the school year was a huge deal. Allen intended to slowly introduce him to everything that made the No-life Gamers a great party.

It was honestly quite convenient that Keel’s motivator was money. If he had only been looking to clear the summer break assignment, he might not have had a reason to stay with the group past his first dungeon clear.

Since he was now part of the party, Allen asked Keel two things: whether he wanted to live in the base with the rest of them, and if he was interested in joining the party to revisit previously cleared dungeons every morning to kill the bosses again. The former, Keel turned down, only saying that he was unable to accept; the latter, he was more than happy to say yes to.

When Allen checked with the Guild, he learned that in order to enter a Rank B dungeon, everyone in the group had to be a Rank C adventurer. The party leader alone being Rank C was not enough. Keel was the only member who did not have enough Rank C dungeons under his belt. The group agreed to bring him through the dungeons they had already cleared to help him rank up as well.

＊＊＊

It was now late one early June night, right before the start of a new school week. They were more than two months into the school year, and something Allen had been waiting a long time for had finally come true. He was alone in his room—he and Dogora were on the second floor while the girls were on the third—and grinning at his grimoire all by himself.

<The Skill XP of Synthesis has reached 10,000,000/10,000,000. Synthesis has reached Lvl. 6. Summoning has reached Lvl. 6. Expansion has reached Lvl. 5. You have obtained Awakening.>

Two years and eleven months later, Summoning’s finally leveled up again!

Allen updated his progress record based on the golden lines in the log on the cover. Of the many goals he had for his three years at the Academy, one was to reach Summoning Lvl. 7 and gain access to Rank B Summons. According to the magic tutor, many of the monsters under the Demon Lord Army’s control were Rank A. From his own experience, Allen knew that his Summons could handily defeat monsters one rank higher than themselves. They could also manage to take down monsters two ranks higher, but only with substantial casualties, incurring a significant cost in magic stones.

I’ve spent pretty much all my money and Rank C magic stones just for the sake of this level up. I hope I can register another request with the Guild next month.

At the moment, Allen only had a few dozen gold and a thousand Rank C magic stones left. This was the cushion he was keeping for emergencies, meaning he had pretty much emptied out his coffers.

He studied the page in his grimoire that detailed his skills and Summons.

Skill LevelsSummoning: 6 Creation: 6 Synthesis: 6 Strengthening: 6 Awakening: 1

Skill ExperienceCreation: 1,004/100,000,000 Synthesis: 0/100,000,000 Strengthening: 3,180/100,000,000 Awakening: 0/1,000

Creatable SummonsInsect: C, D, E, F, G, H Beast: C, D, E, F, G, H Bird: C, D, E, F, G Grass: C, D, E, F Stone: C, D, E Fish: C, D ???: C

HolderInsect: Beast: D x 9 Bird: G x 3, E x 3 Grass: Stone: Fish: D x 30 ???:

Looks like Summoning Lvl. 6 has given me a new type of card, another level in Expansion, and a new skill.

Allen checked over each new update one by one. He started by turning to the card holder pages. Sure enough, there were now sixty slots, meaning he could now store sixty cards at any given time. This number always went up by ten each time Summoning leveled up, so there was no surprise there.

That leaves the Rank C Summons and the new Awakening skill. Finally, another skill that can be developed!

None of the skills that Allen had obtained after Strengthening could be leveled up. Although Storage and Sharing were both extremely useful, these skills only offered one benefit each that could not be further expanded upon. This time, however, the new skill had its own Skill XP counter.

Allen decided to check out his new Summons first. He still had a stock of a thousand Rank C magic stones, which would be more than enough to create one copy of everything. So he did just that, repeatedly using Creation and Synthesis as necessary. When each new Summon was done, he assigned it a name based on the impression he got from the card.

Status of Insect C (Scorpion)Type: Insect Rank: C Name: Pion HP: 320 MP: 0 Attack: 214 Endurance: 500 Agility: 500 Intelligence: 310 Luck: 120 Buffs: Endurance 50, Agility 50 Ability: Paralyze NeedleStatus of Beast C (Boar)Type: Beast Rank: C Name: Bacon HP: 500 MP: 0 Attack: 500 Endurance: 360 Agility: 220 Intelligence: 320 Luck: 200 Buffs: HP 50, Attack 50 Ability: ChargeStatus of Bird C (Cassowary)Type: Bird Rank: C Name: Fran HP: 76 MP: 0 Attack: 125 Endurance: 240 Agility: 500 Intelligence: 500 Luck: 340 Buffs: Agility 50, Intelligence 50 Ability: BreakthroughStatus of Grass C (Eggplant)Type: Grass Rank: C Name: Mapo HP: 78 MP: 500 Attack: 42 Endurance: 45 Agility: 67 Intelligence: 82 Luck: 500 Buffs: MP 50, Luck 50 Ability: GarnishStatus of Stone C (Suit of Steel Armor)Type: Stone Rank: C Name: Steely HP: 500 MP: 0 Attack: 455 Endurance: 500 Agility: 280 Intelligence: 390 Luck: 123 Buffs: HP 50, Endurance 50 Ability: SubstituteStatus of Fish C (Shark)Type: Fish Rank: C Name: Finny HP: 200 MP: 500 Attack: 420 Endurance: 127 Agility: 160 Intelligence: 500 Luck: 360 Buffs: MP 50, Intelligence 50 Ability: Shark Oil

This should do it for their names, right? But wow, the stats sure have gotten high.

The highest stat went all the way up to 500, which would become 1,000 when Strengthened. And Allen could now theoretically call out sixty such Summons at once. Furthermore, the cards could now theoretically buff him by 3,000 max in two stats at the same time.

Now I just have to figure out what this new “???” type is.

Without further ado, Allen proceeded to go through every possible combination of the existent card types. When he Synthesized Bird C and Fish C, the grimoire lit up with a dazzling glow, signifying that the process had succeeded.

“OHHHH! It’s a Spirit type!”

The Spirit C card bore an illustration of what looked like a porcelain doll in an elaborate dress with plenty of frills and lace.

Hold on, this card gives me three buffs. And this Summon has MP of its own.

At the bottom right corner of the card were the words, “Endurance +50,” “Intelligence +50,” and “Physical Damage Resistance.” In other words, it was not simply providing Allen with stat buffs. He took a closer look at his grimoire to study the Status of this new Summon.

Status of Spirit C (Porcelain Doll)Type: Spirit Rank: C Name: Maria HP: 200 MP: 300 Attack: 290 Endurance: 500 Agility: 350 Intelligence: 500 Luck: 210 Buffs: Endurance 50, Intelligence 50, Physical Damage Resistance Ability: Psychokinesis

Yep, this is a porcelain doll no matter which way I look at it. She looks like she’s around five, I’d say? Her face is cute, not scary. Judging by the description, she’s probably not all that large, so let’s try Summoning her. Maria, come out.

All of a sudden, a little girl around thirty centimeters tall wearing a poofy, old-fashioned dress appeared.

“It is my pleasure to meet you, Master. I’m deathly grateful to you for Summoning me.” The girl lowered her head in greeting while floating in midair. Due to being a spirit, she was semitranslucent.

“OHHHH! You spoke!”

This was Allen’s first Summon that could talk. He wondered if this was due to its Intelligence stat; he could not wait to check out the other Rank C Summons as well.

“Hee hee, I did indead.” Maria placed her hands on her hips and thrust out her chest proudly. She was basking in the sense of achievement of having taken Allen by surprise.

“Your name is Maria going forward. Welcome to the family.”

“Thank you for my name and for the warm welcome, Master.”

Hmm, her stats are high across the board, plus she’s intelligent, she can communicate, and she’s small enough to keep out of the way. Seems like she’d be helpful in protecting the home base. Now that I have sixty card slots, I can afford to keep two or three copies of her here permanently. Also...is it because she’s a spirit that she keeps adding death-related puns to whatever she says?

Seeing Allen fall deep into thought as he stared at her, Maria floated up close to peer into his face. “What is the matter, Master?”

“Oh, no, it’s nothing. Maria, are you able to pass through walls and doors?”

“Passing on through the walls, was it?”

The Spirit C immediately flew straight toward the door and disappeared into it. Clearly, she could indeed phase through matter.

“Awesome, thanks.” Seems like she’ll come in handy in the dungeons too.

In addition to fish that could swim through the ground, Allen now had access to spirits that could fly through walls. Sharing with Belly was not especially helpful, as his field of vision would be all dark when it was underground. With Maria, however, he would be able to see through barriers, which ought to prove helpful when dungeon delving.

Since she’s self-aware, I should take the time to communicate with her properly and get to know her personality.

The next thing for Allen to do was to examine the Awakening skill. He Created one Insect H—this card was fast becoming his go-to when experimenting with skills. During this time, Maria continued floating about the room, watching what he was doing.

Okay, Awaken!

The edges of the card abruptly turned into rainbow-colored foil.

“WHOOAAA! That looks awakened all right. All right, come on out, Denka!”

The card disappeared and was replaced by a faintly glowing Insect H. Allen looked at his grimoire to confirm exactly what Awakening had done.

Status of Insect H (Grasshopper)Type: Insect Rank: H Name: Denka HP: 3 MP: 0 Attack: 2 Endurance: 5 Agility: 5 Intelligence: 1 Luck: 2 Buffs: Endurance 1, Agility 1 Ability: Hop Awakened Ability: Swarm

Oh? There’s a new field. So Denka gets a second Ability? Does the same happen for all the other cards?

Allen double-checked the Statuses of the other cards, but they did not have this extra field, indicating that it had indeed been added due to the Awakening skill.

“Swarm” sounds kind of interesting. Let’s try it out. Denka, use Swarm.

The Insect H looked at Allen, then glowed.

“HOLD ON, WHAT?!”

In the blink of an eye, Allen’s room was filled with what looked like a hundred large grasshoppers. It was a living nightmare.

“Hold on, no, time out! Revert! Go back!”

In response to his command, all but one of the Insect Hs disappeared.

“Phew, that was... That was something all right. Wait, I still need to confirm how long it can last.” Allen inhaled and exhaled a few times to calm back down, then used Awakening once more. However, nothing happened. Uh oh, I can only use the skill once on each card?

He tried Summoning and Unsummoning Denka a few times, but the Awakened Ability just would not activate.

Before confirming the duration, looks like I need to first figure out why the skill isn’t working again. Let’s try Creating a new Insect H card.

Allen cast Awakening on the newly Created card. It worked just fine. After steeling his heart, he called out the Awakened Insect H card and ordered it to use its new Ability. Once again, his room was covered with grasshoppers. He promptly deactivated the skill and reverted Denka to its card.

This confirms that each card can only be Awakened once. Okay, let’s sum up what I learned.

Using the Awakening skill costs 100 MP
(Seems like) each card can only use its Awakened Ability once
To be confirmed: Can the Awakened Ability be used again after some time?

If each card could only use its Awakened Ability once, that meant he would have to expend magic stones every single time he ordered one to do so. This would eat up to a lot of magic stones very quickly and would become quite taxing, especially once he obtained higher-ranked Summons. However, he recalled how some games he had played in his previous life had a “cooldown” feature—after using certain skills, he had to wait a set period of time before being able to use those skills again. The general rule was, the more powerful the spell, the longer the cooldown. For now, Allen decided to put his faith in the cooldown theory and left both Denkas alone.

Lastly, I gotta see what the Awakened Abilities are for all the cards.

Based on the name alone, it seemed highly likely that Awakened Abilities were more potent and powerful than normal Abilities. This time, Allen Created a Beast H—the mouse Summon—and Awakened it.

Status of Beast H (Mouse)Type: Beast Rank: H Name: Mousey HP: 5 MP: 0 Attack: 5 Endurance: 2 Agility: 3 Intelligence: 1 Luck: 2 Buffs: HP 1, Attack 1 Ability: Scurry Awakened Ability: Proliferate

Okay, that name doesn’t bode well if we’re talking about mice here.

Allen Summoned the Beast H and had it use its Awakened Skill. The next moment, there were two Beast Hs, then four, then eight, then sixteen.

“This is the same effect as Denka’s! How is—”

“Do you know what time it is?!” Cecil roared as she burst into Allen’s room in her nightgown.

Hold on, you can’t just barge into a teenage boy’s room without permission!

With the door wide open, Cecil’s gaze fell upon the growing horde of mice. The blood quickly drained from her face.

“Ah, I’m sorry for being so noisy,” Allen apologized while deactivating Mousey’s Awakened Skill and Unsummoning it.

“What’s wrong, Allen?” Krena mumbled groggily, stumbling into the room wearing her pajamas.

Thumps sounded from down the hallway before Dogora also came in. All the commotion had apparently woken him up, despite the fact that he was normally a heavy sleeper.

“Wh-Wha’s goin’ o— Bffft!” The moment Dogora showed up, Cecil’s fist slammed into his face.

“HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU TO PUT ON SOME BLOODY CLOTHES?!” she screamed, her face scarlet.

Allen stared at the ruckus, recalling with nostalgia how Dogora had often gone around in the same scant getup during the summers back in Krena Village.

“Death these be your acquaintances, Master?”

“These are my friends and companions. Get along with them, okay, Maria?”

“Your will is my command.”

The Spirit C smiled as she joined Allen in watching the lively commotion.