Chapter 3: Krena and Playing Knight
Chapter 3: Krena and Playing Knight
When Allen turned three, he finally received permission from Theresia to go outside, with the condition that he stayed near the house. His birthday was October 1 according to the calendar of this world. This was also the day of the village’s Harvest Festival, which was the reason why the dinner table was always especially bountiful on his birthdays. He did not particularly mind—if asked, he would say that it felt as if he was getting to celebrate Christmas and his birthday together at the same time.
Speaking of the Harvest Festival, here in this world, this was not an occasion involving the villagers gathering in the village square and dancing around a bonfire. Rather, it was a day when the village chief went to a religious facility called a “church” to give offerings to the deity of abundant harvest. Naturally, serfs had no part in such a ritual; in fact, Rodin had even gone out on a hunt on the day of Allen’s first birthday.
Over the past three years, Allen had learned quite a lot about being a serf. For example, he now knew that sixty percent of their harvest was supposed to be paid to their village chief, who would then arrange to have it passed along to their domain lord as tax. This frontier village had enjoyed lowered taxes for a certain number of years after its founding, but that period had just expired and they were now taxed in full. However, because tax was percentage-based, the more they harvested, the more they would get to keep for themselves. On the flip side, if someone’s harvest was poor or if they attempted to evade paying the tax, they would be made a slave, a status even lower than serf.
After sixty percent was garnished as tax, however, it was not as if the remaining forty was all for direct consumption. Part of this remainder, together with the meat from the hunts, had to be used to barter for other necessities, such as salt and the cloth used as Allen’s diapers. This world—or at least, this area of this world—had all four seasons. Although it was not as if there would be fierce blizzards during the winter, it would still snow enough to paint the entire landscape white. As such, firewood was crucial for keeping warm. About half of each ten-kilogram block of meat Rodin brought back usually went toward buying firewood.
Commerce among serfs here in this frontier village was largely barter-based. However, it was not as if they never saw money. Allen remembered that when he had broken out into a high fever during February this year, Rodin had pried up one of the floorboards in the nursery, revealing a small stash of coins that he then quickly left the house with. When he’d returned, he had made Allen drink what was likely medicine meant to help lower the fever.
At that time, he must have used the large majority of their savings, as there were only a few copper and iron coins left underneath the floorboard. There were also five pebble-like objects inside the stash that were apparently magic stones dropped by horned rabbits. This incident had been Allen’s first exposure to this world’s currency and magic stones.
Right now, Allen was sitting with his back to the tree that was growing in their garden. Although it was not all that huge, it provided sufficient cover. The fence surrounding their house was quite easy to peek through, and he wanted a way to hide from passing eyes as he focused on analyzing his class.
Well, it looks like that’s all I can learn about Synthesis Lvl. 1 and Creation Lvl. 2.
When he turned three, his max MP had gone up, which allowed him to finally experiment with Synthesis and the next level of Creation. This included finding out the details of the Rank G cards that he now had at his disposal.
To sum up the results of his observations:
Using Creation Lvl. 2 costs 5 MP.
Using Synthesis Lvl. 1 costs 5 MP.
Combining Insect G with Beast G leads to Bird G.
He had noted down everything he had learned inside his grimoire and was largely finished with his analysis. With a Bird G resting on his shoulder, he took a look at his Status.
Name: Allen
Age: 3
Class: Summoner
Level: 1
HP: 12 (40) + 26
MP: 1 (20)
Attack: 3 (10) + 26
Endurance: 3 (10) + 6
Agility: 7 (25) + 10
Intelligence: 9 (30) + 4
Luck: 7 (25)
Skills: Summoning {2}, Creation {2}, Synthesis {1}, Expansion {1}, Deletion
XP: 0/1,000
Skill LevelsSummoning: 2
Creation: 2
Synthesis: 1
Skill ExperienceCreation: 4,701/10,000
Synthesis: 20/1,000
Creatable SummonsInsect: G, H
Beast: G, H
Bird: G
HolderInsect: G x 2, H x 2
Beast: G x 12, H x 2
Bird: G x 2
Hmm, what should I do next? I’ve just confirmed that the amount of MP spent is indeed a one-to-one ratio to the amount of Skill XP gained. In that case, rather than using Creation Lvl. 2 or Synthesis Lvl. 1, it’d probably be a better use of my MP to spam Creation Lvl. 1 and grind toward Creation Lvl. 3. Otherwise, I would have unused leftover MP and that would just be a waste.
Currently, Allen’s max MP was 6. Each cast of Creation Lvl. 1 cost 2 MP, whereas Creation Lvl. 2 and Synthesis Lvl. 1 both cost 5 MP. Clearly, using Creation Lvl. 1 was the most efficient option for converting his MP into Skill XP.
Well, that should do for skill leveling. Next is...
“Hey, Allen,” Allen said toward the bird on his shoulder before mentally giving it an order.
“Yep, I’m Allen!” the bird replied.
Nice! Looks like the Summons suddenly got a lot more useful upon hitting Rank G.
The Statuses of the three new Summons were as follows:
Type: Insect
Rank: G
Name: Hopper
HP: 7
MP: 0
Attack: 6
Endurance: 10
Agility: 10
Intelligence: 7
Luck: 8
Buffs: Endurance 2, Agility 2
Ability: Provoke
Type: Beast
Rank: G
Name: Moley
HP: 10
MP: 0
Attack: 10
Endurance: 6
Agility: 5
Intelligence: 7
Luck: 6
Buffs: HP 2, Attack 2
Ability: Dig
Type: Bird
Rank: G
Name: Chappy
HP: 7
MP: 0
Attack: 5
Endurance: 6
Agility: 10
Intelligence: 10
Luck: 8
Buffs: Agility 2, Intelligence 2
Ability: Voice Mimic
Their stats were still quite low and, just like the Rank H Summons, the Rank G ones also did not listen to orders. However, what caught Allen’s attention were their Abilities.
Bird G was capable of perfectly reproducing Allen’s voice. The degree of mimicry was far beyond what normal parrots could achieve, with the only limitation being that Chappy could not remember anything too long or overly complicated.
Beast G, which had just popped its head out of the ground, was a mole the size of a small dog. Its Ability enabled it to easily dig holes thirty centimeters wide and one meter deep.
Moley would probably be really helpful for digging pitfalls, right?
The usage of a Summon’s Ability seemed more-or-less unrestricted, considering how doing so did not cost MP and had no cooldown. Although Beast G still wouldn’t listen to any other orders, it could be relied on to dig a hole wherever Allen willed it to.
The final new Summon, Insect G, was currently crouched right next to Allen. Its size and appearance both seemed reminiscent of an American bullfrog.
Provoke.
“Ribbit, ribbit, ribbit.”
Upon receiving Allen’s command, the frog started jumping erratically and croaking loudly as its normally green skin flashed red and yellow.
The gears in Allen’s head turned as he stared thoughtfully at Insect G. It seemed increasingly clear that the point of his class was not to simply call on powerful Summons and have them fight on his behalf. For example, Insect G could perhaps aggro a monster when it was in the middle of chasing Allen, whereas Beast G seemed to possess the potential for creating large pitfalls. In short, the key to fully drawing out the capability of his class seemed to lie with properly understanding the characteristics of his Summons.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
A bell rang far in the distance, signaling to the whole village that it was now three in the afternoon.
Oh, it’s already that time? Allen thought, picking up the wooden sword on the ground next to him.
＊ ＊ ＊
Eight years after its founding, this frontier village had developed a rough town center near the front gate that included a commercial quarter with stores, an inn, the village chief’s house, and the residences of the commoners of the village. The vast fields where Allen lived were still within the village limits, but considered part of the outskirts. As such, it made sense for the bell that indicated time to be set up near the village entrance where the population density was highest.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Allen’s heartbeat quickened as the thought of the unavoidable upcoming battle soon filled his mind. Roughly ten minutes after the bell fell silent, she arrived. She was both his friend and his rival.
“Allen, let’s play!”
A little girl with shoulder-length pink hair and dazzling blue eyes rushed like a gust of wind through the crude gate that led into Allen’s garden. She was wearing an outfit made of hemp—like what most serfs wore, Allen included—and holding something that seemed strangely incongruent with a little girl: a roughly hewn wooden sword.
Ever since Allen turned three, Krena had been coming over to play every single day. As soon as Gerda heard that Theresia had granted Allen permission to leave the house, he brought Krena over. At that time, Allen felt a sense of foreboding seeing the two wooden swords in the little girl’s hands. And true enough, it turned out that Gerda was nearing his limits handling Krena’s rough-and-tumbling fun. He was so desperate for Allen to become her playmate that he had looked ready to prostrate himself.
Ever since then, Krena started coming over every day at the stroke of the bell. Judging by how fast she arrived, she had likely dashed off literally at the very first peal.
There was a time when I had been quite baffled about how Gerda, with his bodybuilder-like physique, could have trouble dealing with his daughter. Now I totally get it though.
Krena’s father, Gerda, was even more muscular than Rodin—the veins on his arms were practically popping out. Because of these two men, Allen was starting to get the mistaken impression that all serfs were super jacked.
“Good afternoon, Krena. You’re full of energy again, I see. So, what do you want to play today?” Allen asked for confirmation’s sake, even though the answer seemed quite obvious considering what the girl was holding.
“Mmmm!” Krena pouted, expressing indignation that he even had to ask. “Play knight, of course!”
“All right, then. The tree will be in our way here, so let’s go over there.”
“Sure!”
The pout on Krena’s face immediately melted into a beaming smile as the two headed for a wider area. Allen knew full well by now how much the terrain and surroundings could affect a fight.
Eventually, the two children stopped at the most open part of the garden. They each held up a roughly hewn wooden sword—around thirty cm long, or a third of their own heights—at the ready.
“We start! I am Krena the knight! Here I come, Allen!”
“Come at me!”
“Noooo! You have to say it too!”
Krena pouted once again. As long as Allen did not “properly” name himself, the play session would not start. She swung her sword crossly in a little fit.
It’s so freaking embarrassing though! Just what on earth were you teaching her, Gerda?! Why do I have to go all out with playacting at this age?! Though I am only three years old!
“I am Allen the knight! Let us fight with honor!” cried the thirty-eight-year-old while readjusting his doublehanded grip on his sword.
Having been satisfied with Allen’s proclamation, Krena rushed forward, signaling the start of the fight. Allen parried her swing, but the shock of the impact still ran through his arms. In exchange, he brought his own weapon down with both hands, but she deflected it with ease.
The exchange continued, filling the air with the incessant clacking of wood against wood.
This is strange. There’s definitely something weird about this!
Allen had been on the ropes ever since the start of this fight. The reason why he found this so unbelievable was because he was currently fully buffed from his cards. After suffering defeat after defeat at her hands, he had specifically changed out the collection of cards stored within his grimoire. He had replaced all Rank H cards with Rank G ones and, aside from stocking two Insect G and two Bird G for experimental purposes, filled all the remaining slots with Beast G for the Attack buff. He was now stronger than even a ten-year-old. In fact, Allen suspected that he currently matched a full-grown adult in strength. This was literally him going all out, and yet he was still losing against a three-year-old.
I can’t hit her at all. Should I increase my Agility with Bird G? But if my Attack goes down any further, I won’t be able to properly parry her strikes. Ugh, I don’t have enough stat points to shuffle around!
Currently, Krena was superior in both Attack and Agility. Allen did his best to not get cornered by the innocent devil that he was facing.
“Playing with Allen really is more fun than with papa!” Krena cried as her free hand quivered with excitement. She apparently found Allen, who was the same size as her and fully buffed with his cards, the perfect partner for playing knights.
“Gee, thanks,” Allen replied with a wry smile.
The play session had only just begun. The two continued for a whole hour with a few breaks interspersed within.
＊ ＊ ＊
The nights for serfs came early, as the only source of light they had was from their fireplace. Around four in the afternoon, Rodin and Theresia were already back from the fields.
“Oh my, if it isn’t Krena! Are you here to play with Allen again today?” Theresia asked, smiling warmly at the sight of the two children covered in dirt from head to toe.
“Mm-hm! I played knight with Allen!”
Allen looked both relieved and exhausted, indicating that the play session had just ended. He had remained on the defensive from start to finish.
“I’m glad to hear it,” Theresia replied. “But it’s about to get dark soon. Make sure you get home safe, all right?”
“Mm-hm! I’ll be safe! See you tomorrow, Allen!” The girl who was still bursting with energy dashed off, her wooden sword still in hand.
Rodin, who through his talks with Gerda was mostly aware of what was happening, placed a sympathetic hand on Allen’s shoulder. “Good work, son.”
The family then bustled to prepare dinner. There was one thing that was now different about this scene.
“Here you go, papa,” Allen said as he dished out the fried beans. Ever since he turned three, he had started helping out with the housework. There was a good reason for this.
“Mm,” Rodin replied gruffly.
Theresia rubbed her son’s head. “What will we ever do without you, Allen?” she murmured thankfully before slowly and carefully settling herself into a chair. The bulge of her belly indicated that she was pregnant again. This second child—which she and Rodin had been wanting for a while now—was due around the turn of the year. Because she was already quite far into her pregnancy, Allen had decided to help out with the housework so as to lessen the burden on his mother.
During dinner, Allen suddenly said, “Papa, mama’s tummy is getting bigger, so I’ll help with harvesting the potatoes.”
He had seen Theresia having to suddenly stop and recollect herself several times over the past few days. Because he had the strength of an adult, he thought he could handle potato harvesting without issue. What’s more, even though he still had no intention of explaining everything about being a Summoner to his parents, he thought this a good occasion to reveal a bit of what he was capable of thanks to the buffs that the cards were giving him.
Rodin froze, looking shocked and at a loss for words.
Theresia joined the conversation. “Allen, honey, you’re still young. You can go ahead and keep playing with Krena!”
“That’s right, Allen,” Rodin added. “You helping out around the house is already more than enough. We will need your help with the fields in the future, but until then, play as much as you can.”
Back when Kenichi—Allen’s identity in his past life—had been a child, it had been his duty to clean the house’s bathtub. In his mind, he was pretty much equating this with helping out in the fields.
Rodin saw it differently, however. For him, working in the fields was hard labor, something that he did because it was his duty as a serf. It was not fun, nor was it something that a three-year-old could be expected to take part in. On a more fundamental level, he did not think being a serf was anything to be happy about either.
There was a large rift in the value system held by Allen and Rodin. Allen had now lived three years in this world, but before his reincarnation, he had lived thirty-five years as Kenichi. The value system and common sense from back then still strongly affected his thoughts and decisions now.
No dice, huh. Well, I am only three years old. Guess I’ll increase my daily training menu starting tomorrow, then.
Despite the difference in values, Allen could tell that there was no point in pushing the matter. He had offered because he preferred spending his time with his family if given the chance, but it was not as if he could not find other ways to utilize his time.
“Oh, do you want to hear what Krena did today?”
“Sure, honey. Tell us!”
Sensing that his offer to help with the harvesting had caused the air to grow a bit heavy, Allen decided to change the topic to a funny story about his play session with Krena that day.
＊ ＊ ＊
October was nearing its end, signaled by the albaherons—the creature which Allen’s name was derived from—flying northward.
The harvesting is almost over. It’s completely hunting season now.
Ever since the start of the month, the men of the village had started getting together to go on hunts on days when they were all free. This year, they had already gone on two hunts in the midst of the potato harvesting period. Accordingly, Rodin had also gotten quite busy as of late. As someone with a burly 180-cm-tall body who had always dreamed of becoming a hunter, this was the time of the year that he always looked forward to the most. This year, he needed to work especially hard to ensure that Theresia, who was pregnant with their second child, got all the nutrition she needed.
Naturally, Gerda also participated in those hunts, so both Allen and Krena were growing up quickly and healthily. Everyone who participated in a hunt would gain a portion of the game’s meat. As the serfs’ diet was mainly composed of plant-based protein from sources like beans, the great boar meat served as a valuable source of animal protein. The hunting party had gotten so proficient now that they could normally manage ten to twelve hunts each year.
From January to March, the game of choice would shift to the white deer, a Rank C monster that looked more like an elk in spite of its name. However, it had white skin that camouflaged very well within the snowy landscape. As such, they were considered harder to hunt than the great boar.
Well then, how did my experiment turn out? Allen thought as he checked in on the Insect H that was currently inside a hole that he had made Beast G dig yesterday morning. “Oh, you’re still alive, Denka! This proves Summons can stay materialized for a whole day.”
This current experiment that Allen was conducting was meant to determine how long Summons could remain Summoned. This world had neither walkthrough sites nor online forums, meaning he had to figure everything out on his own. Now that he had been granted full permission to come and go inside his family’s front yard, he was taking the opportunity to test out a few things.
What Allen had just called out loud, “Denka,” was the nickname that he had assigned the grasshopper Insect H. It was possible to set names for each kind of Summon, and there was no change between using “Insect H” or “Denka” while Creating, Summoning, and Synthesizing. All of these Abilities could be performed silently, activating automatically as soon as Allen willed it.
Allen had assigned the following names to his available Summons:
Insect H: Denka (Grasshopper)
Insect G: Hopper (Frog)
Beast H: Mousey (Mouse)
Beast G: Moley (Mole)
Bird G: Chappy (Parrot)
These look more like names for pets than Summons, huh, Allen thought somewhat self-deprecatingly as he looked through the pages in the grimoire displaying the creatures’ Statuses. He knew he could change the names as many times as he wanted, though, so he decided to leave them for now. Well then, next thing.
The little boy left the grasshopper in the hole and turned around to walk toward the tree growing in his yard. He gathered ten stones and placed them at his feet. Then he picked up each one in turn and threw them toward the tree.
If I remember right, the description for Hell Mode said, “The only Skills you start out with are the skills tied to your class.” In my case, that would be Summoning. But that doesn’t mean that I can’t get other skills, right?
After throwing all ten stones, Allen retrieved them and added a stroke to the tally marks that he had been drawing on the ground. He then repeated the process over again.
For now, let’s do a hundred throws every day. I wanna figure out the conditions for obtaining skills.
Allen was working hard at leveling Synthesis up, but there was little to it beyond expending his MP three times each day; this was not nearly enough for the hardcore gamer inside him. As early as possible, he wanted to figure out whether he could obtain skills unrelated to Summoning and, if so, what those conditions were. So he decided to use the rest of his time to experiment with gaining other skills as well.
In short, Allen was attempting to gain a skill similar to “Stone Throw.” The stone throwing training regimen that he had taken up usually took him the entire morning to complete. One of the few advantages to having been reincarnated from birth was that he had all the time in the world to perform tedious trials like these.
＊ ＊ ＊
“Let’s play again tomorrow, Allen!”
“Sure thing.”
Today’s session of playing knight had just finished, leaving Allen thoroughly exhausted. Upon being prompted by Theresia, Krena sped off home, still filled with energy. It was dark there at night, as the roads that far out into the outskirts of the village were not lit. Traveling without clear visibility was dangerous, regardless of how energetic the little girl was, so Theresia always made sure to remind her to head off before the sun set.
If Krena keeps coming over every day like she’s been doing, I just might gain a skill related to swordsmanship before stone throwing.
As always, Theresia’s cooking graced that night’s dinner table, and the family of three gathered around the sunken hearth. Serfs lived frugally and had few possessions, but that did not necessarily mean they ate poorly. Rodin, for example, had a 180-cm-tall, well-built body capable of performing manual labor from six in the morning to four in the afternoon, day in and day out. The amount of calories that he burned was significantly higher than that of the average person in the modern era.
That said, they had very limited access to ingredients like oil and meat, which meant the only way to ingest the amount of calories needed was through quantity. Their diet mainly consisted of potatoes, unleavened bread baked with wheat flour alone, beans, and a thin soup cooked with dried summer vegetables.
“You were throwing stones at that tree again today, weren’t you, Allen?” Theresia suddenly asked. It was only natural for her to want to ask about this odd new behavior her son seemed to have taken up recently.
Allen simply nodded and said, “Mm-hm.”
This prompted Rodin to join in the conversation. Theresia had told him about this before, and his curiosity was similarly piqued. “Why were you doing that?” he asked.
“You said there are monsters outside our house, papa. If they appear, I’ll throw stones at them to protect mama!”
Allen delivered this answer that he had thought up ahead of time with the most childlike and endearing smile that he could muster. The reason his parents had kept giving him for not allowing him outside of the house was because “there are monsters outside,” so he was using that to his advantage.
This frontier village was surrounded by a wall, and there were only very weak monsters nearby. However, there were times when a few of them would slip in through small cracks in the wall. While easily defeated in short order by guards or other adult villagers, the monsters’ stats still made them a threat to children, especially the younger ones.
The weakest is a rabbit with a horn on its forehead, right? I still remember how delicious it was.
Rodin had managed to bring one of these home on two occasions. They had been the size of regular dogs from Allen’s past life. Apparently there was an unwritten rule that these monster intruders belonged to whoever caught them, so there was always a scramble in the village any time one got in.
“Awww, Allen!” Theresia was so touched by his response that she reached over and wrapped her son in a tight hug.
“Is that so! Is that so!” Rodin joined in and tousled his son’s hair, filled with pride at the courageous young man that his boy was growing into.
Theresia let go and looked into his face. “Of course, you’ll be protecting Krena too, right?”
“Mm-hm!”
The truth was Rodin and Theresia had both heard from Gerda that Krena was already far stronger than horned rabbits. This was why it was her making the trip to their place every day instead of Allen.
“You’ve been having fun playing knight with Krena every day, so who knows? You just might have a Talent! I can’t wait to see the results of the Appraisal Ceremony when you turn five!”
“Oh, I’m sure he’ll do fine, honey.”
Hold on, new word! What’s that? “Apprezelseremonie?”
“That’s right, Allen,” Theresia replied. “When you turn five, the gods are going to tell papa and mama whether you have a Talent or not.”
She continued to explain that in this world, all children who reached five years old had to undergo a ceremony that examined them for inborn Talents. Allen’s parents assured him that many people did not possess a Talent and to not get his hopes up, but to him, it looked more like his parents were the ones getting their hopes up. From the sound of it, possessing a Talent was one of the few ways through which a serf could rise through the social ranks.
And so the days passed with Allen continuing to throw stones in the morning and play knight with Krena in the afternoon. In addition to helping Theresia out where possible, he also diligently converted his MP into Skill XP and conducted further experiments during whatever time remained. Time flew by in the blink of an eye.
＊ ＊ ＊
It was currently March, the time of the year when the last vestiges of snow melted away and green sprouts budded throughout the expansive fields. Allen, now four years old, was standing in front of the tree in his yard and staring at his grimoire. Specifically, he was staring at the line written in gold on the cover that represented his year and a half of unceasing effort.
<Throwing has reached Lvl. 3.>
It finally leveled up again!
Allen had successfully obtained Throwing as a skill and raised it to Lvl. 3. He updated the part of his memos where he had been recording the number of throws he had made.
Number of Throws Made (Cumulative):
10,000 times → Lvl. 1
20,000 times → Lvl. 2
120,000 times → Lvl. 3
Looks like there are certain rules behind obtaining skills. These specific numbers might be unique to Throwing, but they’re too perfect to be random.
Allen continued noting down what he could derive from these three numbers.
In order to obtain a skill, the associated action must be repeated a certain number of times.
In order to reach Lvl. 2, the skill must be performed the same number of times required to obtain it in the first place.
In order to reach Lvl. 3, the skill must be performed ten times more than the number of times required to obtain it in the first place.
There was now a circular area on the surface of the tree that had been chipped away after being hit with rocks a total of 120,000 times. Allen had started out doing only a hundred throws each day, but when he reached Lvl. 2 and confirmed that the leveling system was, in fact, related to the number of repetitions, he had ramped it up to three hundred throws.
Which means if I’d been in Normal Mode and not Hell Mode, it would’ve taken only a hundred throws to get.
The description for Hell Mode had mentioned that gaining and leveling up skills would take a hundred times more effort. Allen concluded this was because the number of repeated actions required for both acquiring and leveling skills was literally a hundred times higher.
Hmm, do I actually want to aim for Throwing Lvl. 4? It’d presumably take a million throws. Three hundred throws a day means it’d take me over nine years. But even if I quit, it’s not like I’d have anything else to do. Should I continue until something else comes up? If I do 100,000 or 200,000 more throws and the skill doesn’t level up, then it’d support my theory that the needed XP is indeed one million.
While mulling over what direction to go next, Allen checked his Status.
Name: Allen
Age: 4
Class: Summoner
Level: 1
HP: 16 (40) + 26
MP: 1 (20)
Attack: 4 (10) + 26
Endurance: 4 (10) + 6
Agility: 10 (25) + 10
Intelligence: 12 (30) + 4
Luck: 10 (25)
Skills: Summoning {2}, Creation {3}, Synthesis {2}, Expansion {1}, Sword Mastery {2}, Throwing {3}, Deletion
XP: 0/1,000
Skill LevelsSummoning: 2
Creation: 3
Synthesis: 2
Skill ExperienceCreation: 1,846/100,000
Synthesis: 1,325/10,000
Creatable SummonsInsect: G, H
Beast: G, H
Bird: G
HolderInsect: G x 2, H x 2
Beast: G x 13
Bird: G x 2
Although Summoning rose to Lvl. 2 when Allen was a year and ten months old, it had not gone up since despite him now being four years and five months old. He had only been able to start training Creation Lvl. 2 and Synthesis Lvl. 1 after he turned three and his max MP increased to six. By now, however, both these skills had gone up by a level each.
So why didn’t Summoning increase to Lvl. 3 even though Creation leveled up?
As Allen studied his status, this familiar train of thought—one he had wrestled with countless times—rose unbidden to his conscious mind. He speculated that, because Summoning had yet to level up, no new available Summons had appeared. Considering how Bird G unlocked when he obtained Summoning Lvl. 2, he would likely need higher Summoning skill to gain access to higher-ranked Summons.
The problem is, I have no idea how to raise my Summoning skill.
This world had neither walkthrough sites nor online forums, meaning Allen had to figure everything out on his own. After racking his brains, he had decided to try raising Synthesis to Lvl. 3. He was hoping that raising both associated skills to Lvl. 3 would naturally cause Summoning to also become Lvl. 3.
Despite having leveled up, Synthesis still cost 5 MP to activate. It seemed likely that this was going to remain a fixed number unaffected by skill level, unlike Creation.
As for Sword Mastery, it had gone up naturally through playing knight with Krena daily. After a year and a half, it had now become Lvl. 2.
Allen had noticed this with Throwing as well, but having a skill—and what’s more, having it at a higher level—made a significant difference in accuracy and power. Skills corrected the user’s form so that the associated motion would become smoother and more natural. The power of the stones he threw and the sword strikes that he dealt had both increased with each successive level up. Although there were elements that made this world seem like a swords-and-magic video game, it was still very much real. There were no visible damage counters, so Allen had no way of knowing for sure, but he could feel the damage he was dishing out had indeed risen.
Accordingly, Allen had noted in his grimoire.
Effects of Leveling Up:
Corrects the body’s posture
Increases the damage dealt
“Allen, can you help me with lunch?” Theresia suddenly called out.
“Of course, mama.” Allen obediently headed back into the house. He walked up to stand next to his mother, who was shouldering a toddler, and helped out where he could with the cooking.
In December of the year before last, Theresia had safely given birth to her second child. The fifteen-month-old baby was now flapping his legs vigorously, indicating that he was awake.
While handing cooked potatoes and the pestle and mortar to Allen, Theresia slowly rocked him back and said in a sing-song voice, “Mash, yum-yums will be ready soon!”
“Yaaah!” the baby replied in a drawn-out voice as saliva dribbled from his mouth. Allen’s younger brother Mash had brown hair, green eyes, and features that seemed closer to Rodin’s rather than Theresia’s.
Once again, Rodin had been the one to decide the child’s name, and he had done so basing it on another monster. His inspiration had been the murdergalsh, a creature that he described as “a lone wolf that roams the world wherever it pleases.” He had put plenty of thought into the name, and his earnest hope for his son to grow up free and unshackled came through crystal clear. But in the same way Allen’s name was supposedly derived from “albaheron,” Mash’s name bore little resemblance to “murdergalsh” either.
When Allen asked, he learned that the murdergalsh was a Rank B monster, two whole ranks higher than the albaheron. Hearing this, he turned away and muttered under his breath in a silly, villain-like voice, “Like hell a younger brother can surpass his older brother!” before chuckling a bit to himself.
Since Mash was currently being weaned, Allen diligently and thoroughly crushed the potato into a paste that his baby brother could safely eat without choking. Although he had yet to help out in the fields, he had become quite involved with the housework by now.
Here’s to hoping you eat more and grow up big and strong, little brother.
“I’m home!” Rodin was back from the fields, so the entire family gathered around the sunken fireplace to eat lunch. Halfway through the meal, Rodin shared, “Oh, yeah, they’re naming the village ‘Deboji Village’ next year. When I went to the well to refill our water jug this morning, some of the villagers told me a messenger from the feudal lord came and announced it.”
Theresia did not look particularly surprised. “So our village is finally getting a name...”
I guess we’re developed enough to no longer be “just a frontier village,” Allen thought.
This year was the ninth year since the village’s founding. Both its expansion and production had largely evened out, so for its tenth anniversary, it was to be officially named.
“Yep. Makes sense that it’s the village chief’s name. No surprises there,” Rodin chuckled.
Oh? Our village chief’s name is Deboji, huh? Wonder what he looks like. Allen recalled how Rodin had explained before that most frontier villages were named after the most famous person of the village. Normally, this was the first-generation village chief.
After he finished lunch, Rodin said, “Well, I’ll get back to it,” and stood up. Before he actually went back outside, though, he made sure to plant a kiss on Theresia’s cheek. Back when Mash was still an infant, Theresia had to stay with him all day long, but now she could step out during his afternoon nap to help Rodin out a bit in the fields.
Watching his mother playfully smack his father in response, Allen thought, What a peaceful family. He turned toward his younger brother, who was struggling to feed himself some mashed potatoes with a wooden spoon but was ending up with most of it on his face. Mash, it looks like we might be getting another sibling soon.
A recurring thought popped up in Allen’s mind then: why had he been reincarnated?
In his previous life, he had wished from the bottom of his heart for a game challenging enough that he could really dig his teeth into it. Due to this, he did not regret having come to this world of swords and magic. Although his parents in his previous life were still alive, he was already thirty-five and had no girlfriend or spouse. He figured that the overall impact of his coming here was quite minimal.
However, during his first year or so in this world, he had wished that he had been reincarnated as an adult from the get-go instead of starting all the way from birth. That way, he could have lived a life unbeholden to anyone and focused solely on his progress as a Summoner. Immediately upon arriving here, he could have headed to the nearest town and registered as an adventurer, then dedicated himself to increasing his levels and skills through hunting monsters. His playstyle had always been to constantly seek out the most powerful equipment and max out his levels as quickly as possible, and he had originally intended on doing the same thing here.
But a family’s pretty nice too. At the very least, I should free them all from serfdom. Though I still don’t really know how to do that.
Now that he had a younger sibling, there was more for him to consider. He had goals aside from simply leveling up.