Shadow Beast Leo

The next morning, rested from a full night's sleep, Jinsoo and Shin Sua ate a simple breakfast and, with Kim Han-ul's help, went out to look around the city on Floor 100.

The city was immense. Even the district they toured under his guidance felt like nothing more than a sliver of the whole.

There are small differences, but on the whole it's much the same as when I came through.

The area Kim Han-ul showed them lay deep inside the Daehan Guild's sphere of influence.

"We'll leave the sightseeing here and head outside the city to hunt."

At Jinsoo's words, surprise crossed Kim Han-ul's face.

"Just the two of you? That would be considerably dangerous. You would do better to gather more party members before you go."

He would have tried to stop them even if two frontliners had announced a hunt. Two backliners saying the same made the objection only natural.

"If you prefer, I can introduce you to a party suited to the two of you."

Any party Kim Han-ul introduced would obviously belong to the Daehan Guild.

"We'd like to try it on our own first."

He kept voicing his opposition, but he could not forcibly stop them when they were set on going.

"Then I will accompany you."

"We'll decline."

Jinsoo cut him off cleanly, and the genial smile Kim Han-ul had worn until then twisted, just slightly.

"Very well. I will see that you may do as you wish."

He said it in a cold voice, then guided Jinsoo and Shin Sua beyond the city walls.

He thinks we're reckless brats putting on a show of bravado.

Anyone would have thought the same.

"Take this with you. It is called a rescue stone. If you find yourselves in danger, pour mana into it."

"Thank you for the consideration."

Jinsoo smiled and accepted the stone.

"Then I wish you good fortune."

With that, Kim Han-ul turned and went straight back into the city.

"He seemed angry. Will that be all right?"

Shin Sua asked, worry plain on her face.

"Maybe. But there's no need to fuss over it."

"You're not planning to join the Daehan Guild, are you?"

She asked it with a trace of regret.

"No. Why, are you disappointed?"

"A little. Just a little."

Joining the Daehan Guild meant the security of belonging to a large organization, free lodging and meals, and the support of guild members whenever it was needed. For an ordinary player, the normal course was to spend the week making a good impression on their handler and working to get in.

"Are you thinking of some other guild? Or do you not intend to join a guild at all?"

Shin Sua asked, plainly curious.

"What do you think I'm thinking?"

At his counter, she let out a long sigh.

"You won't join."

"Why do you think that?"

"I don't know about anyone else, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠but I don't think you'd gain much by joining a guild. You might even be more likely to lose. Free room and board and a pile of benefits sound nice, but none of that is actually free, is it?"

Shin Sua was no fool. If anything, she was on the sharp side, which was why she had not been easily swept along even when Kim Han-ul listed the Daehan Guild's advantages. More than once, a pointed question from her had left him visibly wrong-footed.

She remembered a simple truth. Nothing in the world came free. If you received something, you had to give something back.

Belonging to the Daehan Guild would bring gains, but it would also demand payment. And to Shin Sua's eye, someone of Jinsoo's caliber would end up giving more than he got.

"You're right. I have no intention of joining a guild."

"So I guessed correctly."

"You did. Then let's hunt first."

"Haa. Of course. We don't even get a full day of rest."

She wore the look of someone who had seen it coming.

"I'm not planning to overdo it either. For a week, I'll take it easy. Only about ten hours of hunting a day."

"A week... and taking it easy means ten hours..."

Shin Sua looked utterly drained.

"Too short after all? Should I add a little more?"

She flinched at that.

"No! Ten hours is perfect! Even a week is barely enough for the fatigue to leave your body!"

"True. We do need to rest."

Jinsoo agreed.

"Then let's move. Summon Stone Golem."

Shin Sua hurriedly cut the conversation short, summoned her stone golem, and set about preparing to hunt. The last thing she wanted was more talk stretching the hours.

"Wait a moment."

Jinsoo activated a skill he had gained upon changing class to summoner and had never once used.

Fwaaaah!

A summoning circle etched itself across the ground. It poured out pure white light, then red, blue, green, pitch-black—every color in turn.

I changed class to summoner and never actually made a contract with a summon.

He already possessed several summoning skills: Shadow Summon, Dragon Tooth Soldier Summon, Ant Maw Colony Summon. Those, though, were rewards earned independent of class, picked up while clearing a hidden dungeon, hunting a White Drake, and surviving a survival mission.

Since becoming a summoner, he had never formally summoned anything or sealed a contract.

Yesterday I spent the Summon Contract skill turning it into a synthesized skill, so I never got to try it.

Now that they had to hunt, even one more addition to their strength would help.

Why isn't anything appearing?

No matter how long he waited, the circle only kept ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠changing color. Nothing else happened.

"It didn't fail, did it?"

"It might have."

Summon Contract was not a skill that succeeded simply because you used it. A summon had to answer the circle, and the contract with that summon had to be completed safely. Only then was it a true success.

Did I waste it, making a synthesized skill?

Skills with good compatibility for Summon Contract were, true to summoner-exclusive skills, extremely expensive. He had thought that permanently synthesizing a summoner class skill with a summoner-exclusive skill could only be a gain.

If no summon comes out, I just threw the money away.

He had changed to the summoner class in the first place so he could strengthen his shadow summons, his Dragon Tooth Soldiers, and the Ant Maw Colony with summoner-exclusive skills.

But human greed had no end, and Jinsoo was no exception. Becoming a summoner had stirred that greed, so he had made the synthesized skill and reached for a new summon. And yet...

Is this going to fail like this? If it fails, the loss is enormous.

How many points had he poured in just to obtain Summon Contract?

Well, one failure isn't the end of it. The cooldown is just painfully long.

The skill carried a cooldown of no less than thirty days. Fail now, and he would have to wait another thirty.

I really need this to succeed.

He watched the circle, nerves drawn tight.

Shaaaa—

Then the summoning circle flooded with deep darkness. That darkness gathered into a single mass and took a shape.

"Meow!"

A little over a handspan tall, ears pricked, muzzle poking out, tiny paws and a tail covered in black fur—a small creature crying a bright meow.

"A cat?"

Jinsoo muttered, deflated.

"Whoa! It's so cute!"

Shin Sua beamed at the black kitten that had stepped out of the circle.

A summon's appearance isn't what matters.

Still, looks let you roughly gauge combat power.

That is absolutely not the face of something strong.

A summon had appeared, so it did not seem like a complete failure.

Even so, this feels like half a failure.

He was still turning that over when the kitten cried out at him with vigor.

"Meow! Meow!"

Shadow beast?

For all its cute face, it carried a vicious species name: shadow beast.

Did this thing come out to contract because I learned the shadow summon skill? Or because our affinity is good?

A strong expectation stirred. The terms of the contract entered his mind.

So I just have to provide food and mana.

The conditions were remarkably simple.

I'll take it.

In any case, Shadow Beast Leo was the only summon that had appeared. There was no other choice.

Jinsoo selected Yes.

Fwaaaaah!

The contract circle vanished. Even so, Shadow Beast Leo remained before his eyes.

The moment the contract took hold, an invisible thread bound Jinsoo and Shadow Beast Leo as one.

At the same time, he could share the beast's emotions and thoughts to a degree. That degree, however, was quite faint.

"Nyaaang! Nyaaang!"

Leo yowled, loud, and a will far stronger than before drove into Jinsoo.

What the beast meant to convey was simple. It was hungry, and it wanted that hunger dealt with.

So in the end, it wants food.

Jinsoo drew a well-cooked hunk of meat from his inventory and held it out to Shadow Beast Leo.

"Here. Eat."

"Sniff, sniff!"

Leo buried its nose in the meat for a moment, then whipped its head aside. At the same time a fierce protest stabbed into Jinsoo's mind.

Rendered in human language, it amounted to Why are you giving me this tasteless garbage?Keep this up and the contract's off!Bring out something better, human.

Jinsoo pulled one food after another from his inventory.

"Myaaaaooong!"

Shadow Beast Leo's protests only grew ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠stronger.

How am I supposed to know what a shadow beast eats?

He ransacked even his memories from before the regression and found nothing on shadow beasts at all.

He was still puzzling over what to feed Leo when the ground shuddered.

Thud, thud, thud!

Footfalls heavy enough to shake the earth, and a thick animal stench that stabbed at the nose.

A monster.

The instant Jinsoo recognized it, Shin Sua cast her blessing and protection skills.

"Add the spellbook-line blessings too."

"Got it."

Hearing her answer, Jinsoo did not draw out the shadow summons hidden in his shadow. He gripped the Blood-Sucking Sword in one hand and a shining longsword in the other.

Then let's run a test.

His current class was summoner, but he still held every class skill of the Blood Demon Swordsman and every warrior-exclusive skill.

The class had changed. His close-combat power had not. On top of that, the class skills and mage-exclusive skills he had gained while classed as a flame mage had been converted into synthesized skills and kept. Warrior, mage, and summoner, all at once.

How much synergy is this going to give me?

This fight was meant to find out.

"Grrrrrr!"

The monster that shoved through the brush was a dire wolf, black-furred, with enormous fangs.

Good. There's more than one.

Seventeen dire wolves in all. Jinsoo sent the shadow summons lurking in his shadow to Shin Sua and left them to guard her.

He launched himself in the same breath.

The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠two swords whistled through the air.

A dire wolf's body split cleanly in two.

The Blood-Sucking Sword drank the blood. The synthesized Blood Drain drank it as well.

Good.

Synthesized Blood Drain no longer restored health alone. It restored mana too. Including Blood Blade, Jinsoo tested the synthesized skills that had once belonged to the Blood Demon Swordsman, one by one.

No problems.

If anything, he was superior in every respect to when he had actually held the Blood Demon Swordsman class. Watching him fight now, no one would ever guess that his current class was summoner.

Kwaaaang!

With a tremendous blast, one dire wolf was reduced to ash and gone.

No problem on this side either.

A satisfied smile spread across Jinsoo's face.

He was holding swords rather than a staff, and wearing armor rather than robes, so the power of his offensive magic had dropped a little. That much of a loss he could easily afford.

He had only combined warrior and mage skills, and already his combat power felt as if it had jumped. What would happen once he added the skills of an assassin, a tank, and a healer?

I left the archer out because it overlaps with the mage.

If he only had the points to spare, archer skills would be well worth adding too.

The equipment problem can be solved the moment I have enough money.

So long as he had an inventory, swapping gear in the instant before a skill was nothing at all.

"Whoa!"

Shin Sua's mouth fell open.

She had known Jinsoo was strong. She had known he could alternate between the warrior and mage classes. She had never seen him use both kinds of skills at once.

I'm dying to know how.

She badly wanted to ask how any of this was possible, and she pressed that urge firmly down.

"You don't even earn your keep?"

Jinsoo looked at Leo as he asked.

"Mraow."

Leo wore a thoroughly unimpressed look and swished its tail.

Then it snatched up one of the drops the dead dire wolves had left behind and began to chew, mumbling away.

It's eating monster meat?

When a monster died, the corpse turned to dust and vanished. After that, it sometimes dropped an item and sometimes did not.

Even when an item did drop, job advancement books, skill books, and finished items were the rarest of all. Most of the time it was materials.

Material items were usually things like fangs, claws, scales, hides, and blood, but on rare occasions meat came out as well.

Monster meat is junk.

It was gamey and foul, not even worth cooking. Alchemists sought it now and then, but the selling price sat at rock bottom.

"Is it good?"

"Awooo!"

A strong will came through. It was delicious, and it wanted more.

"All right. I'll give you more."

Jinsoo drew monster meat from his inventory. It was the meat of a White Drake.