Chapter 11

~ Leveled Up! ~

SW/SW/SW

Dinner was quiet as usual. Kail’s household believed that meals should be enjoyed without useless talks. That way, one would concentrate only on their meals, savoring the delicacy in solemn quietness and making the meals taste better.

After the dishes were washed, Nia turned on the TV and watched some news. Surprisingly, GeaOnline was on the news. Kail read the big heading near the bottom of the screen since it piqued his interest.

The developer of GeaOnline was raking an astronomical amount of income. It was bound to happen. The game was beautifully made, had plenty wide selection of races, and allowed the players to do anything they wanted. Kail hadn’t played it long so he didn’t know most of the options provided in-game. But he bet they were going to be awesome.

Kail personally thought that the race selection was pretty lacking. He hadn’t seen any dwarf character so far. Dwarves were an integral element in any RPG games since they were known for their tough characters and blacksmithing skill.

Hmm… maybe the developer would add Dwarf race selection in the next update? Knowing how popular GeaOnline was, they must’ve had some future planning already to keep the players glued to the game… and to keep the money pouring.

Kail excused himself, saying that he needed to do some homework. Only his mother and sister said good night. That son of a bitch father kept reading his newspaper. Kail gritted his teeth. How on earth his mother could bear living together with someone like him? All he could do was read those goddamned papers all day!

Like I care, Kail spat inwardly and headed to his room.

He then turned off the lights and wore his visor. He didn’t forget to charge the thing. Tonight he’d go all out and obviously he didn’t want any notification telling him to charge it.

As usual, strange inscriptions appeared on the visor, but he felt weary when he focused his sight on them.

[ID_2666383 logged in.]

When Ace opened his eyes, he was met with familiar surrounding: Dragonis Market. He stretched his body and checked his status.

Only 155 EXP to level two.

Ace scratched his chin with his index finger, kind of confused of what should he do. There were so many options that he couldn’t bring himself to choose!

For now he’d do quests. He really needed the money to buy good equipment. Since he had a Summon Beasts, his spending increased twofold. While he completed quests and buy stuff, he’d also search for information regarding the legendary weapons.

He found a quest that required him to slay two two-horned wolves. Looking at the job description, this person wanted him to go to Antle Pond, wherever it was. It seemed easy enough and the rewards were quite satisfying.

Ace took the paper from the quest board and in an instant the map opened by itself, revealing blinking red dot north of Dragonis. It must be the destination.

Speaking about pond made him remember about Alice. She said to further level up near a pond somewhere, but avoid going inside the tower. She must be referring to this Antle Pond.

After checking his inventory, Ace went through the Dragonis gate. Making sure that he was alone, he summoned Agriella. Since she was way stronger than him, it took him a half of his total MP to summon her.

Upon seeing her master, Agriella let out a squeal and hugged him like she hadn’t seen him in a thousand year.

“Wh-Wha!” Ace blushed heavily when his head came into contact with her soft breasts. “What do you think you are doing?!”

She broke the hug and answered innocently. “I’m hugging you.”

Ace threw his staff to the ground, “I know that! And why are we acting like some sort of comedy duo?!”

“We are?”

Ace held in his comeback well and picked up his staff. “…we’re going to slay some wolves today. Are you okay with that?”

To his surprise, Agriella bowed respectfully, “Your words are my order.”

She successfully made him blushed again.

He averted his gaze, “B-Before that, there’s something I want to ask.”

“What is it, Master?”

“When I’m gone, are you still roaming this place?”

“Oh, no. I’d return to my true self.”

What did she just say?

“We, Summon Beasts, have our real bodies in a different plane. What you summoned--this body--is nothing but a copy. One Summon Beast may be summoned by multiple Summoners, but none of them summoned the real body. Only the copy.”

“So, you’re not real?”

“Physically speaking, I’m as real as my original body. However, we don't share experience. When I’m hurt, my original body doesn’t feel it. When I gain experience, my orginal body will remain stagnant.”

“From the way you describe it, this original body of yours sounds like a vessel.”

“Correct. She is but a vessel, created to hold Agriella. Inside her, there are many copies of myself. The me summoned by you and by someone else can be totally different in terms of level, but we are the same in appearance. The risk of wrong summoning is nonexistent. It’s as if each of us has a label. Other Agriella belongs to other Summoner, while I belong to you.”

“Oh, I see...”

Agriella smiled sweetly, “Is there anything you’d like to ask?”

Ace blushed again, “N-No… w-we’ve got to go…”

“Yes, Master,” Agriella bowed once again before tailing him like a puppy.

0000

Ace readied his staff as they came closer to the forest that housed the pond. It was thick with vegetation and too many shades for the sun to pierce through. The paths were snaked and winding, but thank goodness Ace had his minimap ready.

Halfway in the forest, they came into a big clearing. There was a big pond in the middle with clear, stagnant water. Around it, there were many kinds of herbs and fruit trees, as well as flowers of many colors. A fox was seen drinking the pond’s water, but scampered when it sensed trespassers.

“This forest seemed empty,” Agriella commented while looking around for a sign of monsters. “I don’t understand why.”

Ace stared at the lamia girl with a blank look on his face. He moved his eyeballs to look at the frightened animals hiding behind bushes and trees.

Agriella, I think the problem lies with you, Ace thought.

Seeing that the hostile mobs were hiding, Ace wasted no time to gather some stuff. He picked a lot of herbs, mostly low-tier ones, several ripe fruits, and also filled some water into his bottle.

Agriella also helped. With her, he obtained more ingredients. They were all stored in the inventory.

Of course there were no notifications since he had disabled them earlier. They were annoying rather than helping. Level up notification couldn’t be disabled, but why would anyone do that?

“That reminds me, where are the wolves?” Ace asked, finally remembered what he was supposed to do. “Did you know anything about the two-horned wolves?”

Agriella put her fingers on her chin, “Well, they mostly hunt on easy games, never humans. I doubt they would come to us directly. Haha, it’s understandable since humans are all bones.”

Ace glanced at the lamia girl worryingly. She was dangerous in a sense…

Agriella then spoke, “Using baits may be a good idea, but they will be more effective if we had some sleep-inducing herbs or mushrooms. We could mix them with a meat to put them to sleep.”

Wait, what?

So there was some sort of combination list? He didn’t know that there was a way to beat monsters other than dealing damages and status ailments. In most RPG games, these combination list and traps didn’t even exist!

“Could you open your inventory, Master, and see if we have any Sleep Mushrooms or Sleep Herbs?” she asked gently.

Ace was thankful that Agriella was kind of bugged. Otherwise, he’d be extremely clueless in this game.

Oh, there were two Sleep Mushrooms and three Sleep Herbs in his inventory. All that was left was to look for the meat.

“We have both the mushroom and the herb. Agriella, can you look for the meat?”

She nodded, “Leave it to me, Master.”

The lamia girl turned her head around for a suitable prey. Suddenly, a bow materialized in her hands and a set of quiver on her side. She drew an arrow and concentrate on an unwary wild sheep in the distance. It was munching on grass leisurely.

The arrow was shot and landed on its body. The location wasn’t fatal, but with Agriella’s level of Archery, it was a one-hit KO.

Ace now understood why Agriella was categorized as a Support Beast. She was flexible, able to switch from melee and to ranged. Not to mention the Cooking and Sewing skills, she was a great Summon Beast no matter what other players said about her.

“That was awesome! I didn’t know that you’re adept in archery!”

She giggled, “Well, I am a Support Beast and I like bows, so…”

“So, the archery damage is based on your dexterity?”

They approached the dead sheep. It turned into heaps of meat and several pieces of skin once Ace touched it. He put them inside his inventory, but left one slice of meat in Agriella’s hand.

“Oh, no. Strength also plays an important part in archery. Larger bows require more strength to wield. Thank you,” she thanked him when he gave her a Sleep Mushroom. She crushed the mushroom, letting the meat absorbed the juice.

Ping! [Combining unlocked!]

“Wha…?” Ace looked dumbfounded. He just unlocked Combining? But it was Agriella who performed that! Hmm, could it be that the reward the Summon Beast obtained went to the Summoner instead?

“Here you go, Master. We just need to place this tainted meat somewhere and hide,” she handed him the purple-colored meat. He nodded and placed it under a flowering tree. They quickly hid behind nearby bushes, observing carefully for any movements.

Several minutes later, a pair of two-horned wolves approached the meat. One of them sniffed the meat while the other looked around for dangers.

“What level are they?” Ace whispered.

“Three, Master, but they don’t look that strong.”

One of them took a bite and swallowed the meat. One moment later it fell into a deep sleep. Ace nodded to his Summon Beast, who quickly shot the other wolf and it was dead instantly.

They came out from their hiding place and walked to the sleeping wolf, but maintained a good distance. Ace then attacked it with Firebolt, dealing a critical hit. A deadly hit it might be, but it wasn’t enough to kill it.

Before the wolf could flee, Agriella switched to her claw and slashed it in half. Ace closed his eyes from the gory sight. This game was too real in some scene…

Ping! [You have leveled up to level 2!] [You have 4 points to distribute]

“Oh, that’s nice, Master! You just leveled up!” Agriella clapped.

Ace smiled shyly, not used to being congratulated, “Th-Thanks… Now I should distribute my points.”

Since he was a Summoner, INT (Intelligence) was a must, but here he had Control Beast skill that had something to do with CHA (Charisma). From that, he drew a conclusion that a Summoner relied on INT and CHA.

He spent two on INT and one in CHA, and the rest gone to VIT. It earned him a slight HP increase. More HP wouldn’t hurt, seeing that his Evasion skill wasn’t that high.

“One more and you will get yourself your first Perk,” Agriella smiled.

“Yeah, and looks like we cleared the quest.”

The wolves turned into bits of meat, horns, and pelts. Soon they found themselves in Ace’s inventory.

“Okay, let’s go back to Dragonis,” Ace said, before an explosion was heard in the vicinity. The Summoner and the Beast shared a wary look before heading to the source of sound.

They hid behind thick bushes and observed what was going on. A female pink-haired elf, dressed in white light armor, was surrounded by two players who carried glowing weapons. From the way they looked, they must be quite high leveled players.

“Master, let’s get out of here. We don’t stand a chance against them,” Agriella urged.

Ace looked at the elf’s face and was unable to grant the lamia her request. He had to save the elf. He had to.

“No, we’ll save her from those players, whoever they are.”

“Why? You are endangering yourself!”

Ace knew that, but he just couldn’t leave the elf alone, whimpering in fear. He had to save her since the elf looked exactly like his sister, except the long ears and pink hair…

Spoiler: Status

AceKivras

EXP Chart*

Atk: 5

HP (180/180)

Level 2

207/765

Def: 4

MP(110/245)

Human

558 to lv. 3

M.Atk: 19

Eiredrahl the Impure*

Summoner

5 Coins

M. Def: 13

Independent

Minimum piety

ATTRIBUTES

POTENTIAL

Equipment

No perks or abilities*

STR

5

Worst

Head

Circlet

VIT

7

Bad

Neck

Amulet

DEX

7

Bad

Body

Robe

PER

8

Bad

Back

-

INT

18

Superb

Arm (main)

Staff

WIS

11

Best

Arm

-

WILL

11

Best

Waist

-

CHA

16

Superb

Legs

Pants

* (tap to see)

Feet

Shoes

(Help)

Skill

Description

Level

Healing

VIT

Lets you recover your HP over time

2.643

Staff

VIT

How proficient you are swinging your staff

2.098

Running

VIT

Affects your running speed

2.641

Light Armor

DEX

How effectively you act while wearing Light Armor

6.401

Evasion

DEX

Helps you to evade attacks easily

7.955

Casting

INT

This skill helps you power up your spells

5.401

Meditation

INT

Gradually recovers your MP

5.706

Herbology

INT

Lets you identify any herb to its fullest potential

5.121

Control Magic

WIS

Prevents your ally to get hit by your spells

2.431

Memorization

WIS

This skill slows down the decay of your unused skills

3.677

Literacy

WIS

Allows you to read more difficult spellbooks

6.175

Control Beast

CHA

Lets you control higher-level Summon Beasts

7.073