The Summoner's Evolution

Fwoosh!!

"Kiiing..."

"Grrrrrr..."

Beyond the burning corpses, the creatures that had been nothing but pure madness began to slink back. At the same time, the cracks on the far side multiplied even further. This was the third time I was seeing that sight. By now the sky held more fractures than scenery.

At first I had wondered how a defense-game wave would be implemented in reality. Now that the curiosity was gone, all I wanted was for the whole damn thing to just explode out at once and get it over with.

Whether the end of each wave counted as the end of combat or not, the stacks of Subjugator that had climbed so high in that short span all vanished, forcing me to start stacking from one again. It was a real pain in the ass. On the bright side, I had gotten damn good at adapting to the sudden spikes in stats.

"Haze."

Whoosh!!

The translucent presence appeared at my side the instant I called. Without waiting for an order, it locked onto the enemies still lingering at the edge of my vision and compressed the wind on the spot, severing the heads of every last one.

The level-up messages for both Haze and me floated up at the same time. I let the tension drain from my body, exhaled a long breath, and caught my wind. My own gains could wait. The summons came first.

"...So that makes both of them level 10."

Bihos had already hit level 10 a while back, thanks to the rampage on the island. Unlike Bihos, who had been hunting head-on, Haze had mostly stuck to support at my side, so the slower growth was only natural. Still, the gap was barely one wave. Close enough.

From the pattern so far I knew there would be a decent stretch of downtime before the next wave. Perfect chance to check their evolutions.

"Bihos first."

With numbers constantly rising and falling, Bihos was easily the busiest of us. Hoping for something that would actually help the little guy, I opened the Book of Summoning and tapped the [Evolution Available] mark on Bihos's status.

Four options. No special acquisitions like Haze had gotten, no wild detours—just the basics, so the list stayed clean. I already knew which one I wanted, but I figured I might as well fill out the codex and look them over one by one.

Poison Specialization, Poisonic Beetle, was exactly what it said on the tin—built around toxins. Main skills shifted to poison-related ones; the insect race's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠usual multiplication ability atrophied, replaced by the power to mix and control poisons. Physical combat wasn't completely gone, but the specialization leaned hard into the toxic side.

Charge Specialization, Rifle Stinger, went the opposite direction—pure physical ramming. Most skills focused on body strength and speed, and the body itself evolved to match. The "rifle" in the name wasn't just for show; the carapace even reshaped into something that looked like a bullet.

Multiplication Specialization, Carrier Beetle, looked similar to the Gigantification option below it at first glance. But where Giant Beetle simply got bigger and hit harder, Carrier Beetle lost all basic combat ability and specialized instead in producing subordinate units and storing them for transport.

Giant Beetle, on the other hand, gained raw power proportional to its new size. Beyond the shared "gets bigger" theme, the two had nothing in common.

"Funny how every single one ends in 'Beetle.'"

Thinking it over, the fixed "Beetle" tree was probably because when I first designed Bihos I based the appearance on a Hercules beetle. Realizing even that early choice could lock in the final evolution made me feel like I had even more things to watch out for when creating future summons.

"Anyway, Poisonic Beetle it is."

Rifle Stinger and Carrier Beetle both looked tempting, but sticking to the original plan was smarter. The hive already handled swarm advantages just fine, and I had other summons for pure physical damage. No real shortage there. Better to branch into something completely different for the long term.

"Select."

The moment I confirmed Poisonic Beetle, a new window opened and a vision played.

Where the old body had been a classic insect, the new form was sleek and dagger-like overall. Traces of the Hercules beetle remained, but heavy fantasy stylization made it look more like a monster than a bug. Still recognizably insectoid, though. Pure fantasy.

Or maybe, thinking in monster terms, this is the correct answer?

All the summons so far had looked so textbook-normal that it might just be proof my imagination was still stuck in real-world limits. Summoning ran entirely on my thoughts and knowledge. If I decided "this is what normal looks like," that became the ceiling. The way broader race categories kept getting added next to the original entries in the Book of Summoning suddenly made a lot more sense.

In the vision, the Poisonic Beetle dripped venom from the blade-like edges of its body like ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠injecting a syringe. The poison then swam around it as if alive, forming beetle shapes of pure toxin. Not real beetles—just the lingering multiplication habit of its previous insect race, now expressed as living poison constructs.

The toxins weren't limited to one type either. Every color and shade, some thick and dark, some clear as water. Poison beetles of every variety began polluting the surroundings. Finally the living toxins dissolved into black smoke that stained everything, and within that haze the Poisonic Beetle's eyes gleamed once before the vision faded.

Bihos's body flared with light and reshaped into the form from the vision. Sleek dagger-like lines overall, yet the old silhouette still lingered underneath. The Magic Armor I had settled onto him earlier sat perfectly in place, looking as if the patterns had always been part of him.

"Ohh."

Specializing in something as unusual as poison had split the main stats across Dexterity, Intelligence, and Luck. That was exactly why I always saved every free point until after evolution. Thanks to Subjugator I could get stronger without investing points, so I waited to see which stats the evolution boosted, then dumped everything into those. Spreading points evenly "just in case" was inefficient. Once the specialty was clear, you pushed it hard.

"Five into Dexterity, two each into Intelligence and Luck should do it."

Future points could follow the same ratio. I locked in the allocation and checked the new status window.

"Nice."

Especially the weight on Deadly Poison (formerly Toxicity) and Lethal Body (formerly Hard Exoskeleton). Deliberately holding back levels to grind those skills had paid off. Trait Conversion (Poison) (formerly Insect Swarm) was a little disappointing at first, but since it now let him freely reshape poison into any form, it would see constant use and catch up fast.

The rest of the changes: Deadly Poison for far more lethal toxins than before; Lethal Body for a chance to inflict critical effects just by existing and acting; Venom Arts for massive bonuses to any poison-handling action; and the trait Myriad Poisons, which let him memorize any toxin he consumed and recreate it at will.

All that in a single evolution. The subordinate units from the old Insect Swarm had vanished, leaving only Bihos's main body, but if he wanted he could mass-produce those poison beetles from the vision anytime.

"Looking forward to working with you."

Click!

Bihos clacked his mandibles once in answer, then fluttered his wings and flew off to start licking up every scrap of poison the enemies had scattered. Already figuring out how to use and strengthen his new power. I watched for a moment, then opened the Book of Summoning again.

Next was Haze.

"This is the real one."

The opportunity from that not-quite-vacation had expanded Haze's possibilities. With Kallion as precedent, I couldn't help feeling excited. I immediately tapped the [Evolution Available] button next to Haze.

"...That's a lot."

Thinking about it, it made sense. A nascent spirit was already at a stage easily influenced by outside forces, and on top of that I had been throwing every skill I could at Haze for grinding purposes. No pre-planned choice this time, so I decided to fill the codex and examine each one.

First, Maturation: Wind Spirit. The default evolution that appeared when you took no special stance. Probably unlocked because I had chosen the Feeble Wind skill. True to the name "maturation," it simply strengthened the existing powers.

Next, Corruption: Fallen Wind Spirit. My guess was that this opened because I had taken a spirit stone that was right on the verge of hatching—basically cannibalism of its own ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠kind. Base performance wasn't much different from Wind Spirit, but the "Fallen" tag wrapped it in an ominous aura and pushed the aggression much higher.

Water Binding: Ice Spirit. Unlocked by the spirit stone from the lake, which had apparently absorbed water energy. One of the most basic magical principles I had learned was that single attributes could combine into new ones. Mana casually ignored scientific laws, and spirits—beings so closely tied to nature itself—could mix elements that should have rejected each other and create something unique.

Why water plus wind equaled ice? Hell if I knew. Maybe water needed to solidify to move as fast as wind, and freezing was a side effect. Or maybe compressing water with wind locked the molecules into ice. Any science major would foam at the mouth at that explanation, but the unscientific result still produced an Ice Spirit. More accurately, mana made it possible.

The important part was that an Ice Spirit didn't lose wind and water—it could use both freely, and ice sat on top of them. My guess was it would steal body heat or freeze flesh into frostbite. Same logic applied to the other bindings below.

Fire Binding: Lightning Spirit. Fire that moved as fast as wind equaled lightning—that image had probably produced this result. Lightning's strengths were speed and penetration. In past-life games, lightning skills always punched through armor for direct damage, inflicted paralysis, or even manipulated metal through magnetism.

Earth Binding: Weathering Spirit. Compared to the previous two, this one was almost intuitive. Wind and earth meeting, rock being worn away—perfectly natural even in my old world. But if that was all, it would have been named Sand Spirit or Sandstone Spirit. Those probably existed too; spirits dwelled in almost every natural phenomenon here. The deliberate naming difference meant something.

Checking the codex carefully, I found that the Weathering Spirit could apply the phenomenon to things other than earth. In other words, its origin was the concept of "weathering" itself—being worn down, destroyed, and broken apart—regardless of whether the target was ground or wind. Higher-tier spirits seemed to care more and more about governing pure concepts.

That made the final option even more exciting.

Awakening: Space Spirit. Everything I had just thought through was basically buildup for this one. It had appeared so suddenly and out of nowhere. "Awakening" meant realizing or becoming aware of something—sometimes even self-awareness. From that angle, Space Spirit was hard to reverse-engineer. What exactly had it realized to arrive at "space"?

Maybe the spirit stone sitting in reality instead of the Spirit Realm had given it some hint? If that spirit had been born, would it have known the secret? The event was already past, but leaving such an obvious plot hook made my thoughts spiral. I shook my head hard and cleared them out. Regret was a waste ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of time—I had learned that lesson thoroughly enough in my previous life.

"...This is a tough call."

Honestly? Every single one looked delicious. No other summon had ever tempted me this hard across the board. With spirits especially, the options other than the final one still looked incredibly useful. Instinct whispered that Space Spirit was the one that could eventually match Kallion's presence. But the others were too good to just skip.

Complicated feelings or not, my hand moved without hesitation. It paused for a heartbeat right in front of the name, then pressed down hard and confirmed the choice.

Grrrrumble...

As the vision rose before my eyes, I clenched my fist tight.