Hell Mode: Volume 1, page 11
* * *
Dear Mr. Allen,
Thank you very much for your continued usage of our services.
Please allow us to first offer our sincerest apologies for the incident where the Appraisal system failed to display your class properly. Additionally, we also apologize for the delay in this reply.
We have taken measures to remedy the issue. Going forward, “Summoner” will be correctly displayed in the Talent field whenever you are Appraised. We have also informed the Pope of the addition of this new class through a prophecy. No further details about your class were revealed in conformity with our general policy of not disclosing details about any class.
Next, please allow us to respond to the matter of all of your stats being appraised as “E.”
As you surely already know, this reading is indeed derived from assessing both a stat’s potential ceiling and expected rate of growth. Residents of this world are not informed when they level up—a phenomenon they colloquially refer to as “overcoming a Trial of the Gods.” As such, modes (i.e., the concept of varying degrees of difficulty in leveling up) are also not common knowledge.
Due to there being no change in the assessment criteria behind the rankings assigned to each stat, your readings will remain as “E” going forward. We ask for your kind understanding.
However, we understand that it would be unfair for you to be the only person unaware of the growth potential of your stats. As such, we are including below what your readings would be if rate of growth is not considered. Additionally, we have added this information to a Memo page so that you can refer to it even after this message disappears. Kindly note that these values are independent of the buffs you receive from your Summons.
Name: Allen
HP: A
MP: S
Attack: C
Endurance: C
Agility: A
Intelligence: S
Luck: A
Talent: Summoner
All of our staff here in the Divine Realm will continue to apply ourselves to the improvement of our service. We kindly ask for your continued patronage.
Lastly, we believe this to be sufficient by way of an apology and expression of sincerity. Please refrain from sending us further claims of a similar nature.
Sincerely yours,
Elmea, God of Creation
* * *
When Allen finished reading to the very end, the words on the page faded away. As promised, the growth potential of his stats had indeed been added to a page in the Memo section.
Hmm, looks like the five months of persistent praying for improvement haven’t been for nothing. So, all my stats are still going to be “E” when I get Appraised again. What is this mention about a prophecy? It’s my first time hearing mention of anything of the sort.
When Allen had been Kenichi and had lost his equipment in a game, the management staff had also sent him a similarly polite and long-winded message. However, despite the courteous response that he received this time, he knew better than to abuse the same tactic. After all, he was now dealing with gods, not just a game service provider. For all he knew, they might just erase his existence if he pushed too far.
Looks like my stats are basically Krena’s re-shuffled for a support build. The number of S, A, B, and C rankings is the same as her Sword Lord class.
Allen compared the page showing his own Status with the page where he had recorded Krena’s during the Appraisal Ceremony. He had confirmed before coming to this world that the Sword Lord class had three stars. From this, he drew the conclusion that his own class could perform at least as well as a three-star class even without all the buffs from the cards.
And leveling up is described as “overcoming a Trial of the Gods,” hmm.
Just once before, Allen had asked Rodin about the experience of leveling up, assuming that he must have leveled up before from all the great boar hunts he had been a part of. The answer that Rodin gave was something along the lines of, “Yep, I got stronger when I overcame a Trial of the Gods.”
With this, Allen’s analysis of his Status was largely over. The next thing was to test out Strengthening and check out the new Summons, but it would have to wait until after dinner, when his MP would be back to full.
＊ ＊ ＊
After dinner, Allen cleared away the table and washed up so that his pregnant mother could rest. Then Mash approached him, asking, “A’en, play w’ me?” so he played with him for about thirty minutes until Mash tired out and fell asleep. Only after Allen tucked him into bed did he finally have time to himself.
To start, he planned on testing Strengthening out before it got completely dark.
As soon as Allen chanted, “Strengthen!” inside his mind, a line of silver text appeared on the cover of his grimoire.
Oh? It didn’t say, “You do not have enough MP.” I had half-expected it to tell me I couldn’t use the skill yet, just like last time.
Allen recalled the time when he first obtained Synthesis and had to wait until he turned three years old in order to have enough MP to actually use the skill.
Well, here goes. Insect H: Strengthen!
One Insect H card floated out of its slot. It stopped before Allen’s eyes, then started shining with a golden light.
Woowwww! Allen almost exclaimed out loud from excitement, but he managed to clap his hands over his mouth in the nick of time. When the light subsided, the card was now a different color.
Let’s see. Whoa! The blank parts in the illustration on the card are all shiny now!
The negative space around the depiction of Denka that used to be plain white was now a dazzling gold. Right below, a new line of text had been added.
I see, so this skill makes the Summons themselves more powerful. My class isn’t just about using the higher-ranked Summons, then.
Appearance-wise, however, nothing seemed different about the grasshopper in the illustration.
Wait, would this affect Denka’s size? Hmm, let’s try Summoning it. Summon: Denka!
The Strengthened Insect H appeared in a faint burst of light.
“Ahh, so the size doesn’t change, but it does glow to indicate that it’s been Strengthened!”
“Gosh, Allen, Mash, go to sle— Hm?”
“Urk!”
Apparently, Theresia had heard Allen’s voice and decided to come into the room to tell her children to go to sleep. As soon as she stepped in, however, her eyes met with Denka’s.
“NOOOOO!!!! A BUUUUGGGGG!!!! Why do bugs keep coming into the nursery?!”
Despite having been Strengthened, a single stomp was still all it took to reduce the grasshopper into ephemeral bubbles of light.
“Uh, good night...” Allen mumbled, promptly throwing his blanket over his head and doing his best to pretend like nothing had happened.
＊ ＊ ＊
October rolled around and Allen turned six. Although he had taken to writing down his memories as Kenichi in his grimoire, he was starting to have difficulty differentiating between his two identities as of late.
His stats had gone up again, with his max MP increasing from ten to twelve. Since the rate at which he could train his skills depended on how much MP he had, this was a very significant step forward.
As he had only just started analyzing the Rank F Summons, there was still much that he had yet to confirm. He still had no idea what the “???” was this time. The reason was because he had quickly caught onto how much potential Strengthening promised. He had originally intended on going straight to Creating and Synthesizing the Rank F Summons right after checking out Strengthening on the day of his level up. However he instead decided to first fully explore its capabilities.
Allen now looked back over the notes he had written down in his grimoire.
Strengthening costs 10 MP to use.
It adds +10 to two stats.
The stats that get bolstered are the same ones that Allen gains buffs from.
The effect of the skill is the same for Summons of all ranks.
The effect of the skill does not disappear no matter how many times the card is Summoned and Unsummoned.
The effect of the skill disappears when the card is used for Synthesizing.
Strengthening a card does not affect the buffs that Allen receives.
Looks like I can just let cards sit in their holders and go around Strengthening each one whenever I want or can get around to it. Obviously, if I use my Summons to fight some day, I’d want to use Strengthened ones.
It was currently morning, and Allen was washing his family’s clothes by stepping on them inside a large barrel with his bare feet. This was surprisingly heavy manual labor. The mindless, repetitive nature of the task made it the perfect time to analyze his class.
The water used in the house came from a large jug that Rodin went to fill at a communal well early every morning. Used water would then be poured into a narrow ditch beside the house. Allen emptied the barrel into this ditch, then proceeded to hang up the newly washed clothes.
Oh, hey, the albaherons are flying. It’s already fall, huh. Which means it’s almost great boar hunting season again.
As Allen continued lining up the laundry on the clothesline that was slightly taller than himself, he looked up at the sky, spotting the winged silhouettes leisurely soaring high above. In addition to the albaheron, there was also another species, half as large and similar to what Allen remembered as a Japanese crane. The appearance of these migratory birds truly made him feel the change of the seasons.
Well then, my MP’s back up to full, so let’s resume checking out the Rank F Summons.
When Allen was finally done studying the Strengthening skill, he had promptly turned his attention toward Creation Lvl. 3 and Synthesis Lvl. 3, the two skills that opened the door to Rank F Summons. He had already gotten started making notes in his grimoire.
Creation Lvl. 3 costs 10 MP to use.
Synthesis Lvl. 3 costs 5 MP to use (unchanged since Lvl. 1).
Bird F is Synthesized using Insect F and Beast F.
“All that’s left is to figure out what this ‘???’ is.”
Despite having devoted the past few days to using Creation and Synthesis as often as he could, Allen had yet to discover the correct combination for the new type of Summon.
The only two kinds that I can Create outright are Insects and Beasts. By some strange rule, Birds can only be made through Synthesis. I’ve already tried Insect F x Beast F, as well as Beast F x Bird F. The only variation left is Insect F x Bird F. Please let this work. Because if it doesn’t, it means I’d have to start trying out Synthesizing cards of mixed ranks.
When Allen had attempted Synthesizing the two previous variations, only the cards placed on the right page in the grimoire remained, with the left ones disappearing completely. These results were clearly failures. Now, he opened up to the Synthesis page once more. His heart pounded with anticipation as he carefully placed an Insect F card and a Bird F card into the impressions.
Synthesize: Insect F with Bird F!
The front cover of the grimoire shone brightly, signifying that the process had been a success. However, Allen did not need to check the cover—the newly Synthesized card was right before his eyes.
He suddenly whooped, “Whoo! Success!” and picked up the card.
What’s this...? “Grass”?
The brand-new card had the words “Grass F” in the top left corner.
Grass as a Summon...? Well, I do also have insects. It’s a bit too late for that, I guess.
This new Summon looked like an apple, but it had a face and thin arms and legs that looked like twigs. A stalk protruded from the top of its head, connected to a single large leaf.
So, this is the plant-type line of Summons, right? Well, first things first, let’s name all the new Summons. All right, this is all four new variants of Insect F, Beast F, Bird F, and Grass F fully discovered.
* * *
Status of Insect F (Leech)
Type: Insect
Rank: F
Name: Sucker
HP: 15
MP: 0
Attack: 13
Endurance: 20
Agility: 20
Intelligence: 13
Luck: 11
Buffs: Endurance 5, Agility 5
Ability: Suction
* * *
Status of Beast F (Dog)
Type: Beast
Rank: F
Name: Pochi
HP: 20
MP: 0
Attack: 20
Endurance: 10
Agility: 15
Intelligence: 18
Luck: 11
Buffs: HP 5, Attack 5
Ability: Chomp
* * *
Status of Bird F (Pigeon)
Type: Bird
Rank: F
Name: Poppo
HP: 11
MP: 0
Attack: 13
Endurance: 12
Agility: 20
Intelligence: 20
Luck: 14
Buffs: Agility 5, Intelligence 5
Ability: Transmission
* * *
Status of Grass F (Apple)
Type: Grass
Rank: F
Name: Appo
HP: 14
MP: 20
Attack: 12
Endurance: 15
Agility: 10
Intelligence: 13
Luck: 20
Buffs: MP 5, Luck 5
Ability: Aroma
* * *
Beast F’s Chomp is the first attack-based Ability I’ve seen. Now we’re talking! This is much closer to what I’d originally imagined a Summon to be. But never mind that—there’s another one that I’m even more excited about!
Now the roster of Summons available to Allen had expanded by four. They all looked interesting in their own way, and he would definitely be taking his time analyzing each of them in turn. However, he was most excited by the one that provided the buff he had been most desperate for all this time.
The boy picked up the card of the Grass F Summon with quivering hands.
I finally get a Summon that buffs my MP!!!!!!!!!!
Appo had a pretty funny-looking appearance, being basically an apple with hands and legs. Allen imagined a bunch of deities up in the Divine Realm crowded around a conference table littered with design suggestions. He was not sure what to make of the God of Creation finally settling on this one, but Allen honestly couldn’t care less what the Summon looked like—all that mattered to him was that it helped increase his MP. It was going to be absolutely indispensable going forward.
Allen had been nursing one very large concern. Namely, that he was going to need more than 300,000 Skill XP to reach the next level of Summoning. Raising Summoning to Lvl. 2 had required 1,000 Skill XP for first reaching Creation Lvl. 2. Raising Summoning to Lvl. 3 had required both 10,000 Skill XP to reach Creation Lvl. 3 and 11,000 Skill XP to bring Synthesis up to the same level.
In light of how Summoning had reached Lvl. 3 when Allen obtained Synthesis Lvl. 3, it seemed clear that the only way Summoning would level up would be when all the associated skills were raised first. According to this conclusion, the math was clear that obtaining Summoning Lvl. 4 was going to require more than 300,000 Skill XP. Allen listed everything down in his grimoire while doing the math in his head.
100,000 Skill XP for Creation Lvl. 3 → 4
100,000 Skill XP for Synthesis Lvl. 3 → 4
1,000 Skill XP for Strengthening Lvl. 1 → 2
10,000 Skill XP for Strengthening Lvl. 2 → 3
100,000 Skill XP for Strengthening Lvl. 3 → 4
At six years old, Allen’s max MP was twelve, and he could regularly expend his MP three times each day. At this rate, it was going to take him more than twenty years to accumulate 300,000 Skill XP. Of course, the value of max MP would go up as he grew older, but even so, the math worked out to over a decade.
This Grass F card carried the potential to massively reduce those ten or twenty years.
Now I have to decide on how many Grass cards to keep.
Allen had a maximum of thirty holders in his grimoire. This had granted him more strength than any run-of-the-mill villager. He could at least do the laundry without having to stop and rest.
For now, let’s keep ten Beast F. I’d need the power if anything happens. I still remember how it felt being pressed to the ground by that knight. Let’s Create a few copies of the other cards, then dedicate all of the remaining slots to Grass F.
Leveling up was indeed important, but it should not be prioritized so highly that it affected quality of life.
I should probably also check out Grass F’s Ability. Summon: Appo!
The card faded into bubbles of light as the Summon appeared. The apple with a face was skillfully standing up with its stick-like appendages.
Okay, it’s an apple. It has arms and legs, but doesn’t really move around much. I mean, makes sense, with it being an apple and all. Let’s see its Ability in action. Appo, use Aroma.
Grass F immediately started burying itself into the ground. It vanished from sight in no time at all.
What the...? Why is it— WHOA! A tree suddenly sprouted out!
As soon as the Summon was fully underground, a sapling rapidly wriggled upward, eventually stopping at around a meter tall. A fragrance like essential oil tickled Allen’s nose. It was a very calming aroma.
Uh, is this it? Sure, it smells great, but what am I supposed to do with ten of these cards?
The first impression Allen had of Grass F was that it was going to be a card good for nothing but the buffs it offered.
＊ ＊ ＊
That same evening, after finishing the usual session of playing knight with Krena, Allen was helping out with dinner while mulling over what to do with the distribution of cards in storage.
“Rodin’s late today,” Theresia murmured worriedly.
Normally, Rodin would have been back from the fields quite a while ago. And yet, he was nowhere to be seen.
Another hour passed by. Because they could not make Mash wait any longer, the family decided to start eating first. However, even after they finished, Rodin was still out. The six o’clock bell rang. Allen played with Mash, then tucked him into bed.
Dear Mr. Allen,
Thank you very much for your continued usage of our services.
Please allow us to first offer our sincerest apologies for the incident where the Appraisal system failed to display your class properly. Additionally, we also apologize for the delay in this reply.
We have taken measures to remedy the issue. Going forward, “Summoner” will be correctly displayed in the Talent field whenever you are Appraised. We have also informed the Pope of the addition of this new class through a prophecy. No further details about your class were revealed in conformity with our general policy of not disclosing details about any class.
Next, please allow us to respond to the matter of all of your stats being appraised as “E.”
As you surely already know, this reading is indeed derived from assessing both a stat’s potential ceiling and expected rate of growth. Residents of this world are not informed when they level up—a phenomenon they colloquially refer to as “overcoming a Trial of the Gods.” As such, modes (i.e., the concept of varying degrees of difficulty in leveling up) are also not common knowledge.
Due to there being no change in the assessment criteria behind the rankings assigned to each stat, your readings will remain as “E” going forward. We ask for your kind understanding.
However, we understand that it would be unfair for you to be the only person unaware of the growth potential of your stats. As such, we are including below what your readings would be if rate of growth is not considered. Additionally, we have added this information to a Memo page so that you can refer to it even after this message disappears. Kindly note that these values are independent of the buffs you receive from your Summons.
Name: Allen
HP: A
MP: S
Attack: C
Endurance: C
Agility: A
Intelligence: S
Luck: A
Talent: Summoner
All of our staff here in the Divine Realm will continue to apply ourselves to the improvement of our service. We kindly ask for your continued patronage.
Lastly, we believe this to be sufficient by way of an apology and expression of sincerity. Please refrain from sending us further claims of a similar nature.
Sincerely yours,
Elmea, God of Creation
* * *
When Allen finished reading to the very end, the words on the page faded away. As promised, the growth potential of his stats had indeed been added to a page in the Memo section.
Hmm, looks like the five months of persistent praying for improvement haven’t been for nothing. So, all my stats are still going to be “E” when I get Appraised again. What is this mention about a prophecy? It’s my first time hearing mention of anything of the sort.
When Allen had been Kenichi and had lost his equipment in a game, the management staff had also sent him a similarly polite and long-winded message. However, despite the courteous response that he received this time, he knew better than to abuse the same tactic. After all, he was now dealing with gods, not just a game service provider. For all he knew, they might just erase his existence if he pushed too far.
Looks like my stats are basically Krena’s re-shuffled for a support build. The number of S, A, B, and C rankings is the same as her Sword Lord class.
Allen compared the page showing his own Status with the page where he had recorded Krena’s during the Appraisal Ceremony. He had confirmed before coming to this world that the Sword Lord class had three stars. From this, he drew the conclusion that his own class could perform at least as well as a three-star class even without all the buffs from the cards.
And leveling up is described as “overcoming a Trial of the Gods,” hmm.
Just once before, Allen had asked Rodin about the experience of leveling up, assuming that he must have leveled up before from all the great boar hunts he had been a part of. The answer that Rodin gave was something along the lines of, “Yep, I got stronger when I overcame a Trial of the Gods.”
With this, Allen’s analysis of his Status was largely over. The next thing was to test out Strengthening and check out the new Summons, but it would have to wait until after dinner, when his MP would be back to full.
＊ ＊ ＊
After dinner, Allen cleared away the table and washed up so that his pregnant mother could rest. Then Mash approached him, asking, “A’en, play w’ me?” so he played with him for about thirty minutes until Mash tired out and fell asleep. Only after Allen tucked him into bed did he finally have time to himself.
To start, he planned on testing Strengthening out before it got completely dark.
As soon as Allen chanted, “Strengthen!” inside his mind, a line of silver text appeared on the cover of his grimoire.
Oh? It didn’t say, “You do not have enough MP.” I had half-expected it to tell me I couldn’t use the skill yet, just like last time.
Allen recalled the time when he first obtained Synthesis and had to wait until he turned three years old in order to have enough MP to actually use the skill.
Well, here goes. Insect H: Strengthen!
One Insect H card floated out of its slot. It stopped before Allen’s eyes, then started shining with a golden light.
Woowwww! Allen almost exclaimed out loud from excitement, but he managed to clap his hands over his mouth in the nick of time. When the light subsided, the card was now a different color.
Let’s see. Whoa! The blank parts in the illustration on the card are all shiny now!
The negative space around the depiction of Denka that used to be plain white was now a dazzling gold. Right below, a new line of text had been added.
I see, so this skill makes the Summons themselves more powerful. My class isn’t just about using the higher-ranked Summons, then.
Appearance-wise, however, nothing seemed different about the grasshopper in the illustration.
Wait, would this affect Denka’s size? Hmm, let’s try Summoning it. Summon: Denka!
The Strengthened Insect H appeared in a faint burst of light.
“Ahh, so the size doesn’t change, but it does glow to indicate that it’s been Strengthened!”
“Gosh, Allen, Mash, go to sle— Hm?”
“Urk!”
Apparently, Theresia had heard Allen’s voice and decided to come into the room to tell her children to go to sleep. As soon as she stepped in, however, her eyes met with Denka’s.
“NOOOOO!!!! A BUUUUGGGGG!!!! Why do bugs keep coming into the nursery?!”
Despite having been Strengthened, a single stomp was still all it took to reduce the grasshopper into ephemeral bubbles of light.
“Uh, good night...” Allen mumbled, promptly throwing his blanket over his head and doing his best to pretend like nothing had happened.
＊ ＊ ＊
October rolled around and Allen turned six. Although he had taken to writing down his memories as Kenichi in his grimoire, he was starting to have difficulty differentiating between his two identities as of late.
His stats had gone up again, with his max MP increasing from ten to twelve. Since the rate at which he could train his skills depended on how much MP he had, this was a very significant step forward.
As he had only just started analyzing the Rank F Summons, there was still much that he had yet to confirm. He still had no idea what the “???” was this time. The reason was because he had quickly caught onto how much potential Strengthening promised. He had originally intended on going straight to Creating and Synthesizing the Rank F Summons right after checking out Strengthening on the day of his level up. However he instead decided to first fully explore its capabilities.
Allen now looked back over the notes he had written down in his grimoire.
Strengthening costs 10 MP to use.
It adds +10 to two stats.
The stats that get bolstered are the same ones that Allen gains buffs from.
The effect of the skill is the same for Summons of all ranks.
The effect of the skill does not disappear no matter how many times the card is Summoned and Unsummoned.
The effect of the skill disappears when the card is used for Synthesizing.
Strengthening a card does not affect the buffs that Allen receives.
Looks like I can just let cards sit in their holders and go around Strengthening each one whenever I want or can get around to it. Obviously, if I use my Summons to fight some day, I’d want to use Strengthened ones.
It was currently morning, and Allen was washing his family’s clothes by stepping on them inside a large barrel with his bare feet. This was surprisingly heavy manual labor. The mindless, repetitive nature of the task made it the perfect time to analyze his class.
The water used in the house came from a large jug that Rodin went to fill at a communal well early every morning. Used water would then be poured into a narrow ditch beside the house. Allen emptied the barrel into this ditch, then proceeded to hang up the newly washed clothes.
Oh, hey, the albaherons are flying. It’s already fall, huh. Which means it’s almost great boar hunting season again.
As Allen continued lining up the laundry on the clothesline that was slightly taller than himself, he looked up at the sky, spotting the winged silhouettes leisurely soaring high above. In addition to the albaheron, there was also another species, half as large and similar to what Allen remembered as a Japanese crane. The appearance of these migratory birds truly made him feel the change of the seasons.
Well then, my MP’s back up to full, so let’s resume checking out the Rank F Summons.
When Allen was finally done studying the Strengthening skill, he had promptly turned his attention toward Creation Lvl. 3 and Synthesis Lvl. 3, the two skills that opened the door to Rank F Summons. He had already gotten started making notes in his grimoire.
Creation Lvl. 3 costs 10 MP to use.
Synthesis Lvl. 3 costs 5 MP to use (unchanged since Lvl. 1).
Bird F is Synthesized using Insect F and Beast F.
“All that’s left is to figure out what this ‘???’ is.”
Despite having devoted the past few days to using Creation and Synthesis as often as he could, Allen had yet to discover the correct combination for the new type of Summon.
The only two kinds that I can Create outright are Insects and Beasts. By some strange rule, Birds can only be made through Synthesis. I’ve already tried Insect F x Beast F, as well as Beast F x Bird F. The only variation left is Insect F x Bird F. Please let this work. Because if it doesn’t, it means I’d have to start trying out Synthesizing cards of mixed ranks.
When Allen had attempted Synthesizing the two previous variations, only the cards placed on the right page in the grimoire remained, with the left ones disappearing completely. These results were clearly failures. Now, he opened up to the Synthesis page once more. His heart pounded with anticipation as he carefully placed an Insect F card and a Bird F card into the impressions.
Synthesize: Insect F with Bird F!
The front cover of the grimoire shone brightly, signifying that the process had been a success. However, Allen did not need to check the cover—the newly Synthesized card was right before his eyes.
He suddenly whooped, “Whoo! Success!” and picked up the card.
What’s this...? “Grass”?
The brand-new card had the words “Grass F” in the top left corner.
Grass as a Summon...? Well, I do also have insects. It’s a bit too late for that, I guess.
This new Summon looked like an apple, but it had a face and thin arms and legs that looked like twigs. A stalk protruded from the top of its head, connected to a single large leaf.
So, this is the plant-type line of Summons, right? Well, first things first, let’s name all the new Summons. All right, this is all four new variants of Insect F, Beast F, Bird F, and Grass F fully discovered.
* * *
Status of Insect F (Leech)
Type: Insect
Rank: F
Name: Sucker
HP: 15
MP: 0
Attack: 13
Endurance: 20
Agility: 20
Intelligence: 13
Luck: 11
Buffs: Endurance 5, Agility 5
Ability: Suction
* * *
Status of Beast F (Dog)
Type: Beast
Rank: F
Name: Pochi
HP: 20
MP: 0
Attack: 20
Endurance: 10
Agility: 15
Intelligence: 18
Luck: 11
Buffs: HP 5, Attack 5
Ability: Chomp
* * *
Status of Bird F (Pigeon)
Type: Bird
Rank: F
Name: Poppo
HP: 11
MP: 0
Attack: 13
Endurance: 12
Agility: 20
Intelligence: 20
Luck: 14
Buffs: Agility 5, Intelligence 5
Ability: Transmission
* * *
Status of Grass F (Apple)
Type: Grass
Rank: F
Name: Appo
HP: 14
MP: 20
Attack: 12
Endurance: 15
Agility: 10
Intelligence: 13
Luck: 20
Buffs: MP 5, Luck 5
Ability: Aroma
* * *
Beast F’s Chomp is the first attack-based Ability I’ve seen. Now we’re talking! This is much closer to what I’d originally imagined a Summon to be. But never mind that—there’s another one that I’m even more excited about!
Now the roster of Summons available to Allen had expanded by four. They all looked interesting in their own way, and he would definitely be taking his time analyzing each of them in turn. However, he was most excited by the one that provided the buff he had been most desperate for all this time.
The boy picked up the card of the Grass F Summon with quivering hands.
I finally get a Summon that buffs my MP!!!!!!!!!!
Appo had a pretty funny-looking appearance, being basically an apple with hands and legs. Allen imagined a bunch of deities up in the Divine Realm crowded around a conference table littered with design suggestions. He was not sure what to make of the God of Creation finally settling on this one, but Allen honestly couldn’t care less what the Summon looked like—all that mattered to him was that it helped increase his MP. It was going to be absolutely indispensable going forward.
Allen had been nursing one very large concern. Namely, that he was going to need more than 300,000 Skill XP to reach the next level of Summoning. Raising Summoning to Lvl. 2 had required 1,000 Skill XP for first reaching Creation Lvl. 2. Raising Summoning to Lvl. 3 had required both 10,000 Skill XP to reach Creation Lvl. 3 and 11,000 Skill XP to bring Synthesis up to the same level.
In light of how Summoning had reached Lvl. 3 when Allen obtained Synthesis Lvl. 3, it seemed clear that the only way Summoning would level up would be when all the associated skills were raised first. According to this conclusion, the math was clear that obtaining Summoning Lvl. 4 was going to require more than 300,000 Skill XP. Allen listed everything down in his grimoire while doing the math in his head.
100,000 Skill XP for Creation Lvl. 3 → 4
100,000 Skill XP for Synthesis Lvl. 3 → 4
1,000 Skill XP for Strengthening Lvl. 1 → 2
10,000 Skill XP for Strengthening Lvl. 2 → 3
100,000 Skill XP for Strengthening Lvl. 3 → 4
At six years old, Allen’s max MP was twelve, and he could regularly expend his MP three times each day. At this rate, it was going to take him more than twenty years to accumulate 300,000 Skill XP. Of course, the value of max MP would go up as he grew older, but even so, the math worked out to over a decade.
This Grass F card carried the potential to massively reduce those ten or twenty years.
Now I have to decide on how many Grass cards to keep.
Allen had a maximum of thirty holders in his grimoire. This had granted him more strength than any run-of-the-mill villager. He could at least do the laundry without having to stop and rest.
For now, let’s keep ten Beast F. I’d need the power if anything happens. I still remember how it felt being pressed to the ground by that knight. Let’s Create a few copies of the other cards, then dedicate all of the remaining slots to Grass F.
Leveling up was indeed important, but it should not be prioritized so highly that it affected quality of life.
I should probably also check out Grass F’s Ability. Summon: Appo!
The card faded into bubbles of light as the Summon appeared. The apple with a face was skillfully standing up with its stick-like appendages.
Okay, it’s an apple. It has arms and legs, but doesn’t really move around much. I mean, makes sense, with it being an apple and all. Let’s see its Ability in action. Appo, use Aroma.
Grass F immediately started burying itself into the ground. It vanished from sight in no time at all.
What the...? Why is it— WHOA! A tree suddenly sprouted out!
As soon as the Summon was fully underground, a sapling rapidly wriggled upward, eventually stopping at around a meter tall. A fragrance like essential oil tickled Allen’s nose. It was a very calming aroma.
Uh, is this it? Sure, it smells great, but what am I supposed to do with ten of these cards?
The first impression Allen had of Grass F was that it was going to be a card good for nothing but the buffs it offered.
＊ ＊ ＊
That same evening, after finishing the usual session of playing knight with Krena, Allen was helping out with dinner while mulling over what to do with the distribution of cards in storage.
“Rodin’s late today,” Theresia murmured worriedly.
Normally, Rodin would have been back from the fields quite a while ago. And yet, he was nowhere to be seen.
Another hour passed by. Because they could not make Mash wait any longer, the family decided to start eating first. However, even after they finished, Rodin was still out. The six o’clock bell rang. Allen played with Mash, then tucked him into bed.
