Rank D Summons

Even though Allen had started in the morning, it had taken so long to analyze his new skill that the sun had already passed its zenith before he knew it. So, he got out his lunch of dried potato and molmo to fill his stomach.

After his experience of being chased by the murdergalsh, Allen had packed a months' worth of dried potato, meat jerky, and molmo as rations inside Storage, together with equipment for camping out, such as a blanket, a fire-starting magic tool, and torches. These were just in case he ever found himself once again unable to return to town for a few days.

As time was stopped inside Storage, the food he put inside would not rot. The torches could also enter Storage already lit, so he put a few of those inside just in case the others went out. This might have rendered his fire-starting magic tool moot, but it never hurt to be extra prepared.

'Then again, I have more than ten thousand Rank D magic stones, so I think I'll be able to go through the new Summons at a pretty quick pace.'

After he finished eating, Allen called out all of the Rank D Summons. Then he checked the information on their cards.

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Status of Insect D (Spider)

Type: Insect

Rank: D

Name: Spidey

HP: 120

MP: 0

Attack: 140

Endurance: 200

Agility: 200

Intelligence: 125

Luck: 60

Buffs: Endurance 20, Agility 20

Ability: Spider Silk

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Status of Beast D (Bear)

Type: Beast

Rank: D

Name: Teddy

HP: 200

MP: 0

Attack: 200

Endurance: 128

Agility: 80

Intelligence: 130

Luck: 60

Buffs: HP 20, Attack 20

Ability: Crush

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Status of Bird D (Owl)

Type: Bird

Rank: D

Name: Horo

HP: 76

MP: 0

Attack: 83

Endurance: 67

Agility: 200

Intelligence: 200

Luck: 160

Buffs: Agility 20, Intelligence 20

Ability: Night Vision

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Status of Grass D (Potato)

Type: Grass

Rank: D

Name: Tater

HP: 50

MP: 200

Attack: 40

Endurance: 35

Agility: 40

Intelligence: 60

Luck: 200

Buffs: MP 20, Luck 20

Ability: Crop of Magic

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Status of Stone D (Bronze Statue)

Type: Stone

Rank: D

Name: Bron

HP: 200

MP: 0

Attack: 180

Endurance: 200

Agility: 100

Intelligence: 140

Luck: 108

Buffs: HP 20, Endurance 20

Ability: Defend

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Status of Fish D (Salmon)

Type: Fish

Rank: D

Name: Belly

HP: 80

MP: 200

Attack: 54

Endurance: 34

Agility: 160

Intelligence: 200

Luck: 170

Buffs: MP 20, Intelligence 20

Ability: Splash

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As a result of his testing, two armored ants now lay dead in front of Allen. The huge cracks in their salad bowl-like armor were leaking bodily fluids.

Before them stood a brown Summon that looked like a grizzly bear roughly two and a half meters in length. It looked pretty proud of itself for having beaten the armored ants. This bear was none other than Teddy, the Beast D Summon.

Next to Teddy stood a giant spider that was one and a half meters long and sixty centimeters tall. This black form had both its front legs raised in the air as it continued hissing intimidatingly at the dead armored ants. This was Spidey, the Insect D Summon.

'Nice, nice, so Teddy's Ability, Crush, can break through an armored ant's shell. It's not quite enough to kill the monster in one strike, but that's where Spidey comes in.' The monsters with broken armor were tied up with sticky white strands.

Insect D's Ability, Spider Silk, enabled it to produce highly adhesive thread from the tip of its abdomen that was useful for tying enemies up, slowing them down, or stopping them in their tracks—or just messing with them in general.

Just like the other Summons in their respective categories, the Beast D Summon was specced for offense and the Insect D Summon for debuffs. These two were going to be the backbone of Allen's hunting efforts going forward. Thankfully, both of them had over 100 Intelligence right out of the gate.

Allen next looked up at an owl with a maximum wingspan of over one and a half meters that was perched on a tree. This Bird D Summon returned his gaze with its large, round eyes.

'There's no way to test Horo's Ability right now, but based on the name, Night Vision likely allows it to see in the dark. Hawkins can only scout during daytime, and now I have Horo to do the same at night. Hawk Eye in the day and Night Vision at night sounds about right.'

While hoping that the effect of Bird D's Ability was indeed as its name suggested, Allen made a mental note to test it out after sunset.

He then turned to look at the strange figure at his feet that looked like a potato with hands and legs. This was Tater, the Grass D Summon.

Just like Grass F and Grass E, Grass D also turned out to be a Summon with a one-use Ability that turned it into a recovery item. The Ability name, Crop of Magic, suggested that it was an MP recovery item. Sure enough, when he gave the Plum-sized berry a try after depleting his MP, the fruit disappeared from his hand and restored 1,000 MP.

Allen finally had access to a method of recovering his MP, which was absolutely crucial for raising his skill levels. He now needed 30,000,000 Skill XP to reach Summoning Lvl. 6. He therefore decided to dedicate all his naturally recovering MP toward Skill XP, and to keep Crops of Magic inside Storage for battles where he might suddenly need MP.

Thanks to having more than ten thousand magic stones, he would never run entirely out of MP for the foreseeable future. This way, he was more than equipped to cope if suddenly attacked by powerful opponents.

'Now I have access to all the MP I'll need if the murdergalsh ever comes after me again.'

Beside Allen stood what looked like a two-meter-tall suit of European armor made of bronze. This large-bodied Summon carried a shield as tall as itself.

'Now, Bron. I never did get around to using Wally, the Stone E Summon. But still, even a bronze statue can be classified as a Stone type, huh? The gods of this world sure are broad-minded.'

The way Allen hunted mainly consisted of scouting out new monsters and staying on the move at the same time, a style referred to as "chaining" in his previous life. This was the opposite of lying in wait for enemies to approach—conversely called "camping"—so he had not had any opportunity to use the Stone E Summon. He had not even kept copies in the card holders. How to use the Stone Summons without changing his hunting style was a question that he would have to tackle going forward.

'And that's it for the analysis of the new Summons in the preexisting categories. That leaves Belly, which boosts my MP and Intelligence. I do appreciate the Intelligence, as it helps me Share with more Summons.

'But...hmm, a fish, huh? Making a single one of these cards burns through fifteen magic stones. In that sense, Insect and Beast cards are great for only costing one magic stone. They provide me with Attack, Agility, and HP buffs, so it really is great that I got them early on.'

The Creation and Synthesis process for Summons at Rank E and higher all required magic stones; the more complicated the Synthesis process, the more magic stones needed. The Fish card required multiple rounds of Synthesis, ultimately bringing its cost to fifteen magic stones.

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Cost in Magic Stones:

Insect: 1

Beast: 1

Bird: 3

Grass: 5

Stone: 9

Fish: 15

___

'Well then, let's try calling it out. Belly.'

When Allen called a Fish D out to analyze it, a salmon appeared, looking exactly like the illustration on its card. The meter-long fish flopped about on the ground.

"For some reason, it looks like the most useless of all the Summons I've seen so far. It's starting to remind me of Denka."

Allen could hardly be faulted for his doubt; the latest Summon that he had finally obtained after more than two years of effort turned out to be a creature that could not even move around properly. This was the very illustration of the phrase "fish on a chopping block."

'Well, how about I first see its Ability in action? Belly, Splash.'

Immediately, the fish sank underground, leaving only its back and dorsal fin visible. It then flapped furiously, scattering shining droplets all over.

Some of it got onto Allen, who was then enveloped in a faint glow that quickly faded away.

"Whoa! It dove into the ground! Wait, I'm glowing?! Or...not. It went away. What did it do, though?" Allen checked his Status in his grimoire and gasped in surprise. "I got a Status buff!"

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Name: Allen (Increased Physical & Magic Evasion)

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Right beside his name was a brand new field indicating that he now had increased evasion against both physical and magic attacks.

'So the Fish cards give Status buffs. I did see some of the spray landing on the other Summons too just now. So this Ability doesn't just work on me but on all the Summons too... Ah, is the effective radius fifty meters perhaps?'

Allen had noticed the other Summons glow when Belly used its Ability. That even included Horo, which was still up in its tree, indicating that the effect of this Ability reached quite far. Since the range for almost everything related to his class was fifty meters, Allen assumed it was the same here as well.

'This is definitely helpful. Hopefully this'll lower the number of Summons that get killed in battle and, by extension, lower the number of magic stones that I have to use to replace them. I should confirm how long the effect of this Ability lasts.'

Allen continued analyzing what the newly added Fish-type Summon brought to the table, musing over how it could expand the options available to him in battle.