Hunting Albaherons

Allen was currently pinning down an albaheron all by himself in the fallow area of his family's fields.

"Damn, I didn't expect two of them to come down at the same time. I seriously thought I was done for just now. But I didn't lose a single Summon this time, so I guess I can claim this as a complete victory, right?" Allen muttered to himself.

After he visited the Village Chief's house with Gerda, Allen had started hunting albaherons once every three days.

He had figured out that as long as there was one flying up in the sky, he could easily taunt it down using three Hoppers.

They would not come down with only one or two Hoppers, and if there were no albaherons in the sky in the first place, nothing at all would descend.

It had become apparent that only monsters were susceptible to Hopper's Ability. Allen had seen the birds that looked like Manchurian Cranes fly by multiple times, and not once did any of them show any sign of being Provoked.

Allen's grimoire now contained a clear how-to guide for hunting albaherons.

___

-Wait until an albaheron is flying overhead.

-Provoke it using three Insect Gs.

-Once the albaheron has descended, retrieve the three Insect Gs before they're killed.

-Have two Insect Fs use their Ability on the albaheron.

-Further weaken the albaheron by throwing stones at it, then have sixteen Beast Fs surround and bring it down.

-Use wooden sword to hold the albaheron's head down and finish it off through asphyxiation.

___

The first battle was a struggle, but thanks to it, Allen had figured out what his Summons could do.

Since then, he had managed to win every battle entirely unscathed. In other words, he had discovered the sure-win formula.

That is, until today, when two albaherons had come down at the same time.

'Should I increase the number of Insect Fs just in case something similar happens again?'

Allen's grimoire suddenly glowed faintly, interrupting his thoughts.

Apparently the monster that he was holding down had just died. He cast his eyes over at the tome, then blurted out, "HELL YEAH!!! I LEVELED UP!!!"

The silver letters in the log informing him that he had just killed the albaheron were followed by gold letters.

You have reached Lvl. 2.

Your HP has increased by 25.

Your MP has increased by 40.

Your Attack has increased by 14.

Your Endurance has increased by 14.

Your Agility has increased by 26.

Your Intelligence has increased by 40.

Your Luck has increased by 26.>

'H-Holy crap, everything's gone up by so much! That's having stat rankings on par with a Sword Lord for you... Hmm, the difference between the increase for S- and C-ranked skills is pretty stark. So this is what the results of the Appraisal Ceremony were referring to.'

Allen took a good, long look at what his Status had now become.

___

Name: Allen

Age: 6

Class: Summoner

Level: 2

HP: 39 (65) + 80

MP: 36 (60) + 35

Attack: 14 (24) + 80

Endurance: 14 (24) + 16

Agility: 30 (51) + 26

Intelligence: 42 (70) + 10

Luck: 30 (51) + 35

Skills: Summoning {3}, Creation {3}, Synthesis {3}, Strengthening {2}, Expansion {2}, Deletion, Sword Mastery {3}, Throwing {3}

XP: 0/2,000

Skill Levels

Summoning: 3

Creation: 3

Synthesis: 3

Strengthening: 2

Skill Experience

Creation: 11,933/100,000

Synthesis: 2,610/100,000

Strengthening: 1,480/10,000

Creatable Summons

Insect: F, G, H

Beast: F, G, H

Bird: F, G

Grass: F

Holder

Insect: F x 2, G x 3

Beast: F x 16

Bird: F x 2

Grass: F x 7

___

'I see, so HP and MP get topped back up when leveling up.'

Allen found it a pretty refreshing sight to still have MP, as it would always be at zero whenever he leveled up a skill related to Summoning.

'The numerical increases listed in the message on my grimoire were added to the figure inside the brackets, with the sum then being lowered to sixty percent, it looks like. In other words, the ratio isn't affected by leveling up... Ugh, this stat suppression seriously hurts.

'So, six years in, and I finally get my first level up! Or, as people in this world call it, I finally surpassed a Trial of the Gods. Wait, was it "surpass" or "achieve"?'

Previously, Allen had asked Rodin, "How can I be as strong as you, father?" After all, it was obvious that Rodin was significantly stronger than the average villager.

One clear indication was the fact that the bucket he used to bring water back from the well and refill the family jar every day was larger than what others used.

Allen suspected this was because he had earned quite a few levels from defeating dozens of great boars over the past ten years.

In response to his question, Rodin had answered, "The gods give people trials, and when they overcome those trials, the gods give them power." This was how the residents of this world perceived the concept of leveling up through the perspective of their faith.

'Whoops, she's about to come over soon. I gotta hurry back.'

Allen hurriedly stacked both his kills together and lugged them home.

Time was running out.

***

"I'm back!"

Theresia started from surprise at seeing her son return with not one, but two albaherons. However, she did her best to sound calm while replying, "Welcome home dear."

"You caught more?" Rodin asked from inside the house.

"Yes, father. Wait, are you all right?!"

During the past month, Rodin's condition had greatly improved. He could now both sit and stand, though his wound would still hurt if he stood or moved around for too long.

Right now, he was sitting and beating the straw from their harvested wheat with a small club. After softening them up this way, they would then be woven into straw sandals and winter shoes.

Because the club was quite large, Allen was worried the exertion might cause his father's wound to open up again.

"I'll be fine. I can't let you shoulder every—!" The moment Rodin saw Allen's face, he froze as if he had noticed something.

"Is something on my face, father?"

"...No, it's nothing. I must have imagined it."

'Now that's a line that piques my intere—'

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

"AH! Oh no, I've got to hang these up before Krena comes!"

Allen rushed out to the narrow ditch next to the house, bringing the albaherons with him.

There was now a frame here where Allen could hang his game up to let their blood out. It was a simple construct that he had made out of sticks and boards that he had found inside the house. It was positioned right above the ditch so that he could bloodlet his catches directly into it.

"Alleeeen!" Krena cried cheerfully as she came running up, her wooden sword in hand.

"Hey there, Krena. Sorry, can you give me a few more minutes? I'm almost done."

Nowadays, Allen was back to playing with Krena on a daily basis.

Normally, this happened between 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

However, he had told Krena to come at the 3 p.m. bell every third day, freeing that time for himself to hunt more albaherons and hang them up for bloodletting.

Today, however, he was still in the middle of the latter task when Krena arrived.

"You caught two of them today?! You sure are amazing, Allen!"

Krena watched Allen at work with dazzling eyes, showing her characteristic fearlessness toward monsters.

Allen prayed that some of this bravery would rub off on his scaredy-cat little brother Mash as he quickly finished securing the birds.

The two children then began their session of playing knight in the open area of the garden not occupied by crops. Mash watched them from the window.

He still was not allowed out of the house yet, not until he turned three. His birthday was in spring, however, so it was not too far off.

'Today, I've fulfilled my quota of ten albaherons.'

Each bird Allen brought down yielded ten kilograms of meat, the same amount as one round of great boar hunting.

Now that he had killed ten albaherons, the family should have enough with which to barter for firewood to last them through the winter. All that was left was to preserve the meat and do the actual trading.

'The albaherons are gonna stop flying next month, so I've gotta catch as many as I can until then. For my next level up, I'll need...twenty of them.

'Ugh, I don't think I'll be able to reach it within the year.'

"You're wide open!"

"Ow!" Allen suffered a whack to his head for being occupied with his own thoughts during the fight.

"Gosh! That's what you get for zoning out!"

Krena pouted at Allen's inattention, prompting him to apologize while rubbing his fresh bruise.

The two children continued their playing session till 4 p.m. in the afternoon.