Evolution
We descended further, heading even deeper below.
There were no major issues with the exploration. Everyone here was a summoner with a 3-star summon, and the power of those 3-star summons was greater than expected. No enemy could stand against a well-combined team of four 3-star summons.
"...What the hell is this place?"
Stella muttered quietly, staring at the door that had appeared for the twentieth time or more—and the matching horde of demon beasts that came with it. She didn't say it outright, but Noah and Sheera seemed to share her doubts about this space.
I didn't know the detailed info beyond the name myself, so I tossed out a light joke.
"Who knows. Could be the Demon King's forward base."
"—Don't joke like that. Words like that might take root."
The moment the Demon King's name left my lips, Stella reacted as if I'd uttered a forbidden name. I glanced at her, wondering what her deal was, but soon figured it out.
Of course. To the people of this isekai world, the Demon King was humanity's archenemy—basically Satan. It made sense she'd freak out.
In the story, even the Emperor—a 5-star summoner—couldn't defeat it. He just barely pushed it back...
The strongest single entity, one that even a 5-star summoner like the Emperor could only repel, not kill. To me, it was just a boss that got one-shotted in seconds by a player stacked with 5-star summons...
Come to think of it, how the hell do I take down the Demon King?
Theoretically, even a 2-star summon could do it. Purely theoretical, based on game stats, that is. With fully upgraded summons and six summoners in full gear, you could barely beat it down.
But I wasn't some whale dropping cash on that nonsense. And I lacked the masochistic drive to challenge it that way anyway.
Point is, I can't do it solo.
If I could somehow pull six 5-star summons, max them out, and charge the Demon King alone, sure—I could restore world peace single-handedly. But gathering the Soul Power for six gacha pulls was impossible, and even if I did, the odds of getting SSR 5-stars every time? Forget it.
It's absurd odds.
Lower probability than buying five lotto tickets and hitting first through fifth place on all of them. If I had that kind of luck, I never would've ended up in this world—or dying from terminal illness back home.
I stood before yet another door and turned to the others.
"So, keep going down? Or head back?"
They started pondering. For me, more depth meant more rewards, so deeper was better. But not for them.
Endlessly descending into this pitch-black dungeon, not knowing what lay ahead or when it would end—it was terrifying. By age, they were blooming high school girls; of course they'd want to avoid the scary stuff.
"...What do you want to do?"
Stella shot the question back at me. Obviously I wanna go down, duh. But I couldn't say that.
I stroked the door in front of us and said, "I wanna go deeper."
"...Why?"
"Aren't you curious? Who made this place. What's inside."
Those words sent the three into deep thought. It hadn't been too dangerous yet, and nothing worth calling a real demon beast had shown up—that seemed to be the holdup.
"I'll follow."
But then Noah stepped forward first. Resolve burned in her eyes—the kind vowing to stick with me no matter what threats lay ahead.
With one leading the way, the other two pretended to hesitate but soon followed suit. Once the heart decided, the feet would move.
"—Fine, whatever. We should find out who made it, like you said."
"If everyone's going, no point in me heading back alone."
Click. All four hands touched the door at once.
I grinned at them. "Guess we can't turn back now?"
I pushed it open. Beyond the twentieth-plus door, a lowliest demon beast revealed itself.
* * *
"A demon beast...?"
Noah recognized the face immediately—it felt familiar. She'd seen it somewhere before. And soon, she remembered.
"The one that snuck into the academy that time...!"
Recalling the incident, she summoned all her summons. The Earth Spirit and Golem materialized, filling the cave.
"No way... So it was the demon race?"
Seeing the exact same demon beast from the academy invasion appear here, Stella muttered in shock.
Sheera was the only one clueless, tilting her head in confusion. "What're you all talking about? Demons invaded the academy?"
"...Oh, right, you wouldn't know."
Stella glanced between Sheera and me, gauging if she should spill. I took the lead instead.
"Not long after the entrance ceremony, demons raided the academy."
"—For real? First I'm hearing of it."
"They must've kept security tight."
"Then how do you guys know?"
"Noah was the one attacked, and we saved her."
"Aha."
She eyed Noah with sparkling curiosity. No one seemed too tense. Just one low-level demon beast—something a lone 1-star summon could handle.
Realizing that, Sheera muttered dismissively at it. "So, what now? Want solo revenge time, Noah?"
"Huh?"
"Why not? It's just one, and it's the same type that attacked you before."
Sheera shrugged like revenge would be fun, already playing with her summoned Bluebird, chirp chirp, and tuning out the fight.
Noah turned to me, clearly itching for payback herself. Those big, pleading puppy eyes melted any refusal.
After a moment's thought—no real risk—I nodded. "I'll jump in if it looks dicey."
"Don't worry!"
She charged ahead with her Earth Spirit. Pointless time-waster to me, but... maybe it helped her shake off that weak past self.
"Hup!"
As if proving her past loss was just bad luck against multiples, she crushed the demon beast in seconds with her 1-star summon.
And then.
"...Huh?"
"What?"
Sheera gasped from behind. Noah looked stunned too. I turned to see their summons starting to change.
"Earth Spirit, you're..."
"Bluebird's..."
Evolution. Or as we call it, Level Up. The miracle power exclusive to players was happening to them too.
"What? What's going on?"
Of course, Stella was the exception.
* * *
Noah's summon grew a bit taller. Sheera's Bluebird sprouted fancy new feathers.
Watching, I pieced together why their summons had evolved.
In the game... NPCs leveled up automatically just from hunting with you.
In Project Luna, where you could build affinity with NPCs and progress stories together, their levels rose naturally as you played.
Made sense. Upgrading your summons cost money—making players foot the bill for NPCs too? Devs would get flamed as cash-grab lunatics.
So NPCs leveled for free. Just partying and hunting with the player did it.
Goddamn enviable...
Some grind EXP and burn Soul Stones for levels, others just tag along and boom—leveled. Infuriatingly unfair.
"What the—you guys, that's..."
Stella, the only one left out, stared at their summons in turn. She groaned like she'd seen this before, then remembered and turned to me.
"...Ian, can you explain what's happening?"
Yeah. The Level Up I'd used against her in midterms. Natural to connect the dots.
But.
"No clue."
"What?"
"I said no clue."
I played dumb. Even if I wanted to explain, NPC leveling had simple conditions: Party with the player. Hunt together. Their 1-stars evolved because 1-stars need low EXP.
Stella's are 3-stars, so no dice yet...
Explaining meant spilling how I knew this, which could snowball into admitting this world's a game. No one would buy it outright, but it'd risk blasphemy charges, imperial insult, or a psych eval.
"You really don't know? You did the exact same thing in our match..."
"Same as the match?"
"Yeah. You knew how to do it, right? So you must know how they got stronger..."
"No clue."
"...I see."
Stella gazed at me with teary, frustrated eyes. Fair enough. If it was just me being special, fine. But if anyone could reach it and she couldn't due to her own failings? Prideful tsundere Stella couldn't swallow that.
To ease her, I leaked a bit.
"Like I said, I don't know."
"...Got it."
"I used a Soul Stone back then."
"...A Soul Stone?"
"Yeah."
"How'd a broke nobody like you snag one?"
"Dinua-senpai gave it to me."
Another growth path dawned on her—her face lit up. Good thing she bought it instantly. Or rather, trusted me and moved on.
I warned the others too. "Keep this quiet, yeah?"
"It'll leak fast anyway."
"Better than blabbing everywhere."
"...True."
With their nods, I suggested heading up. We'd found demon beasts, confirmed the Level Up anomaly—investigation done. They agreed to leave.
And that moment.
"Out already? That was quick."
"Wh-what?"
"No, what the—"
We were instantly teleported outside the dungeon.