The Shaping of Summons
"I got something else too..." Yeonhee fidgeted with her fingers as she spoke, hinting at newly awakened abilities. It seemed odd that she was so hesitant to mention it, but I liked this side of her. Pat pat—
"Aang— My ears... not today."
I had reached out of habit to rub her ears, but she gently pushed my hand away, as if keeping some distance this time. Maybe today feels different. After everything that had happened, it made sense she might feel that way.
"So, I got two new abilities this time..."
Still, the two abilities she described were truly remarkable. The first, Preset, was essentially an extension of her existing powers, so it wasn't surprising. The second one, however, caught my interest. Shaping...
It meant using various materials to create a specific form, though for Yeonhee it seemed to carry a slightly different meaning.
"I can merge my summons together now...! Right now it's only the same types, but I think I'll be able to combine different kinds later! Isn't that an amazing ability?"
The power to fuse summons! Clack clack clack!
"It's different from the existing summon enhancement. After a while they return to their original forms! I'm glad their egos aren't damaged."
Clack clack clack clack!
This was different from when I had been summoned early on and another skeleton soldier appeared. Back then, I had used that soldier as material to strengthen myself. This new ability let her temporarily merge summons and then separate them again.
If I combine Orc No. 1 and No. 2 with the sand-attribute orc mages and the rest of the orcs... what kind of monster would that create? The image of the massive giant skeleton we had encountered in the Dungeon of Nargul flashed through my mind. Come to think of it, there were some unusually large ones.
With the keyword "Shaping" now in play, memories of fighting the orc legion commander in my past life grew sharper. There had been a few powerful summons that tore through the orc army's elite warriors and their commanding officers with brutal efficiency.
Once the memory surfaced, it branched out, revealing even more. There were golems too...? Since many summons had yet to appear, it truly drove home how much the future had already changed. Why didn't she use that ability—
"But there's a reason I couldn't use it right away."
I had been about to ask exactly that.
"It can't be used immediately. You have to set the combination and wait a full day before it takes effect."
Nod.I see. Essence Devour also needed time to activate, so it's similar. Still, once you set it up, you can merge them freely afterward.
"For now, I've designated the lizard unit since they have the highest numbers of the same species. I'll try summoning them tomorrow when the time comes. If twenty of them merge, won't we get an incredibly strong one?"
Clack clack clack.
Since summoning the fused creature in the middle of the city would be problematic, we decided to test it inside a dungeon.
I had defeated the three-man party and gained three levels. The system didn't normally reward experience for killing hunters, but when the targets were villains, Blue Eye members, or those connected to Evolution Stones, it granted massive amounts of experience as a reward.
This time, instead of investing in Agility, I decided to put points into Strength to see what meaningful difference it would make. Yeonhee hadn't used any summoning scrolls since reaching level 48, so quite a few had accumulated.
"Twenty brown summoning scrolls and five blue ones."
...... When did she gather so many? The brown ones could be explained by level-ups and her performance in Nargul, but why are there already five blue ones? Even with multiple level-ups, she should have only done it three times.
"Ah, I got two more after gaining followers."
That Cha Jin-hyeok kid... At this rate he's basically a golden goblin.
While mentally adding Cha Jin-hyeok to the top of my recruitment list, we found a larger abandoned building with no signs of people nearby. I should check the Preset ability and use up all the summoning scrolls right now.
Yeonhee had the slightly odd habit of hoarding summoning scrolls, so I needed to push her. There's no reason to save them in the first place... So I convinced her to use them all this time. I can't just leave everything to her. I need to at least give some direction.
She wore a slightly reluctant expression for a moment before nodding. We don't know what might happen next, so we need to be at full strength. There's nothing to save, Yeonhee.
"Everyone, come out!"
First, we checked the Preset ability. In an instant I could barely perceive, thirty summons appeared, layering themselves protectively around Yeonhee. Whoa— much faster than I expected. I'd believe it if someone said they were already beside her and just dropped their stealth.
At the very least, she wouldn't suffer the misfortune of being ambushed by hunters of equal or lower rank. Still not enough. Honestly, I could break through that many by myself.
Most of Yeonhee's summons were tank types. Only Nepy and Chehwa had good mobility; the rest moved sluggishly and often served as meat shields. So when we tackled the C-rank dungeon, I planned to cover them completely with Thorn Runes so they could at least fulfill their role just by taking hits.
But if I merge monsters already equipped with Thorn Runes using Shaping, what happens to the runes? If they all apply, that would be incredible. Even if the merged lizardman only used provocation-type skills while wearing two hundred Thorn Runes, we could watch enemies commit suicide. Of course, if the system treated the merged summon as a single entity, that might not be allowed.
Yeonhee was also deep in thought, watching my reaction. She must have realized something from this ordeal. Having overcome this crisis, she would grow in some way. I decided to trust and wait.
"Huu— I'll start."
Nod.
Yeonhee began consuming the summoning scrolls after a long time. Starting with the brown ones.
"······!"
Along with the incomprehensible incantation that had once awakened me, the parchment scrolls vanished one by one, and small portals began to form. The brown scrolls were already fixed to orcs. Still, I had hoped at least one out of twenty might summon a higher-grade monster.
"N-no way..."
Whoa... how is this even possible?
Amazingly, Yeonhee performed the miracle of summoning nothing but orcs from all twenty scrolls. Summoning scrolls had a low chance of producing a monster one grade higher. After Rani had been summoned by luck early on, it had never triggered again.
How can her gacha luck be this bad... In a way, it's impressive.
"Uwooooor!!" "Kwaaaar!!"
At least two of them being orc apprentice mages was some small consolation. Merging orc mages might be interesting too.
Unlike me, who watched the summoning process with interest, Yeonhee looked ready to burst into tears.
"I... I guess I'm just not meant for this. Sniff—"
After rubbing her shoulders from behind to cheer her up, I turned my expectations toward the blue summoning scrolls, which had been upgraded after I passed level 60.
"Huu— Here goes."
Yeonhee steadied herself and held up the blue scroll that gave off a faint glow. Oh... just from the color, this feels on a completely different level from the previous ones. The aura emanating from the parchment was far stronger than the brown scrolls. Anyway, I'll fix it to orcs again... but you never know.
In D-rank, the Orc Dungeon had become the top dungeon after Nargul disappeared. In C-rank, it already held the highest position. While werewolves were considered the strongest single-entity summon in C-rank, orcs were rated almost equally. Unless a werewolf appeared, there was no reason to bring anything else. Still, since support-type summons like Clacky or Jeombaki would be helpful in many ways, I also hoped for other unique monsters.
The unusually long incantation finally ended, and the first summon emerged from the portal. Swish— First came a tail with impressively thick fur. Ah— Well, that one's not bad either.
The first summon was a Dire Wolf. It was noticeably larger than the lesser-grade ones we had encountered in D-rank. Standing upright, it would probably match Lizard No. 1 in size, with a silver mane that shimmered beautifully. Though its appearance resembled creatures that once lived on this land—hence the name Dire Wolf—these creatures possessed ferocious claws and remarkable magical abilities. The palm-sized horn on its forehead was the source of that power. The lightning bolts it emitted from there were extremely lethal and notorious among C-rank hunters.
"Wow! Wangwang's dad!"
It's not really comparable to Wangwang...
"Awooooo——!"
The Dire Wolf tilted its head curiously at Yeonhee before letting out a howl to show affection as she approached.
"Hehehe— It's so big and cute."
They had only met less than a minute ago, yet Yeonhee was already buried in its thick fur while it carefully licked her. It was a brief glimpse of the bond between a summoner and her summon.
"Since it's big and cute, how about we name it Wang-gwi?"
...That's not it, is it?
Her terrible naming sense reared its head again. I shook my head and suggested just calling it Dia.
"Uuuung... That's too plain. Okay, got it!"
Yeonhee set the naming aside for now and picked up another blue summoning scroll. This time it won't just be normal ones again, right? My expectations had already hit rock bottom after twenty-one summons, and I was already worried.
Goooooo—
This time, however, the portal that formed was clearly different from before, raising my hopes. What the heck is that?
"Huaa... I-Ilwol."
After finishing the incantation, Yeonhee trembled and quickly pressed herself against me. Even the already-summoned beasts fled behind me—the aura was that menacing.
The pitch-black portal, filled with darkness, grew in intensity until it reached the height of the building's ceiling. It definitely isn't C-rank. A higher-grade summon finally appeared. The extremely low-probability event that had only happened once before, when Rani was summoned, had triggered again.
It's way too big...
A creature with four pairs of pitch-black wings emerged from the portal, a form I had never seen before. Kwaaaang—! Its body, tall enough to strike the ceiling, didn't look much different from the Chaos Residue at first glance. A drake type? Its overall appearance suggested as much, but the energy that seemed to contain shadows felt particularly special.
"It says... Corrupted Shadow Drake... What do we do, Ilwol? It says it's corrupted!"
What kind of summon name is that? Is that thing okay?
The creature unfurled its jet-black wings that billowed like smoke, much like the spectre Chehwa, then slowly turned its head to look down at us.