"Summon."
Ding!
[Summon Successful.]
[Obtained: Skeleton (Rank F)]
[Level: 2 | Skills: None]
Ren stared closely at the new creature. Just moving bones without an ounce of flesh. Not amazing, but better than nothing as a free meat shield.
"Let's try again. Summon."
Ding!
[Summon Successful.]
[Obtained: Black Monkey (Rank F)]
[Level: 2 | Skills: None]
Ren smiled slightly. "Good, got two in a row."
"Summon."
[Summon Failed. Compatibility level poor.]
Ren clicked his tongue. "Of course the third one fails. Welcome to hell, guys. Wait here while I summon the rest."
He stepped back and opened his space. "Summon: Armored Goblin, White Goblin."
Thick gray mist poured out. The two veteran goblins emerged.
The air in the area instantly grew heavy. The skeleton's bones rattled and it backed away. The black monkey shrank into the dirt, shivering with pure fear. The aura of the E-Rank Armored Goblin and the Max-Level White Goblin was absolutely terrifying for the rookies.
Ren looked at his four-monster squad.
"I need to give you names or numbers so I can order you around quickly in a fight."
He pointed at the Armored Goblin. "You're the oldest and the strongest. You're 'Number 1'." Then he pointed to the White Goblin. "You're 'Number 2'." He looked at the black monkey. "You're 'Number 3'." And finally, the skeleton. "And you're 'Number 4'."
Number 1 and Number 2 nodded obediently.
"System, how many cores do I have left right now?"
Ding!
[Owned Cores: 70 F-Rank cores.]
"Can I upgrade my own level with those?"
[Answering Player: No. To exceed your current level and reach Level 12, you must consume 5 E-Rank cores.]
Ren exhaled sharply. "Oh, the requirements are getting insane. The higher I go, the more the price doubles."
He wasn't ready to sacrifice his E-Rank cores just yet. He had other plans for them.
"Consume all seventy cores to upgrade Number 1."
Ding!
[Consumption successful.]
[Summon 'Number 1' upgraded to Level 7.]
[+5 points added to base stats.]
[Strength: +2 | Endurance: +2 | Speed: +1]
The Armored Goblin's muscles bulged and a low roar escaped its throat. The density of its stone armor increased, the edges turning jagged and sharp. Its red aura exploded outward, becoming heavier and far more savage.
Number 3 and Number 4 pressed themselves completely flat against the dirt from sheer terror.
"Alright guys. It's time to test some fusions."
Ren pulled out a glowing blue E-Rank core he had taken from the gnomes. He looked at the black monkey.
"Cosmic Furnace. Fuse Number 3 with this core."
Blue light swallowed the small monkey. Ren heard the sounds of flesh tearing and bones stretching. The monkey's body expanded terrifyingly.
[Fusion Successful.] [Obtained: Furious Stone Ape (Rank E)] [Level: 5 | Strength: 22 | Speed: 19 | Endurance: 21] [Skills: Crushing Grip, Wall Crawl]
The black monkey transformed into a massive gorilla plated with rough stone armor. It stood on its hind legs and beat its chest with a force that echoed through the area.
"Excellent." Ren pulled out another blue core. He turned toward the skeleton (Number 4). "Cosmic Furnace. Fuse."
The blue light wrestled with the skeleton. The bones cracked.
[Fusion Failed. Core destroyed.]
"Damn it!" Ren cursed. He just lost a highly valuable core. But he didn't back down. He pulled out his third and final blue core.
"Fuse again."
The light erupted once more. This time, the white bones condensed and turned pitch black. Solid bone armor appeared, fully covering its ribcage and skull.
[Fusion Successful.] [Obtained: Charred Bone Knight (Rank E)] [Level: 5 | Strength: 23 | Speed: 15 | Endurance: 25] [Skills: Pain Immunity, Bone Stab]
Ren now had three E-Rank monsters, and one Max-Level F-Rank monster.
Ren suddenly stopped. He smacked his forehead with his hand.
"Damn my stupidity," he muttered to himself. "The Cosmic Furnace allows me to extract skills. I completely forgot about that during the chaos of the previous battles."
He quickly opened the system interface.
"System, extract one skill from each current summon that I haven't extracted from yet."
[Processing...]
[Extracted skill (Shadow Step) from Summon Number 2.]
[Extracted skill (Crushing Grip) from Summon Number 3.]
[Extracted skill (Partial Pain Immunity) from Summon Number 4.]
Currents of hot mana rushed into Ren's veins. He felt a strange lightness in his feet, and a terrifying density in the bones of his hands. His physical stats (20 Strength, 16 Speed, 20 Endurance) were now doubly lethal with these skills.
"We need to power level intensely." Ren clenched his fist and smiled. "I need to get stronger, and I need to increase my summon limit. Let's move."
The squad pushed deep into Zone Z35.
The terrain shifted. The rocks disappeared, replaced by barren plains intersected by deep, dark trenches. The ground was covered in thick white spiderwebs that looked like steel cables.
Hsssst!
Dozens of black spiders the size of guard dogs (Rank F) crawled out of the trenches. Behind them, larger spiders emerged, marked with toxic red stripes (Rank E).
"Kill any monster in the way, and don't scatter too far."
There were no complex plans. It was just a massacre.
The Bone Knight (Number 4) stepped forward. It took the toxic spider bites straight to its bony chest. The [Pain Immunity] skill made it a wall that simply wouldn't fall.
The Stone Ape (Number 3) leaped over the trenches. It grabbed an E-Rank spider, and using [Crushing Grip], it popped the spider's skull between its hands like a tomato.
The White Goblin (Number 2) was a white blur, slicing the tendons of the spiders' legs faster than they could react. The Armored Goblin (Number 1) crushed anything that stood in its path.
Ren didn't stay in the backline.
He activated his new skill, [Shadow Step]. He vanished from his spot and reappeared right behind a giant E-Rank spider. He swung his steel pickaxe forcefully, burying it directly into the monster's multiple eyes. Green and black fluid splattered onto his armor.
[Gained Exp...] [Gained Exp...] [Current Exp: 1200/1500]
The fighting dragged on for hours. Rotten blood soaked the plains. Severed limbs filled the trenches. Whenever a spider got close to Ren, he crushed it mercilessly.
When the last spider finally dropped, Ren was panting heavily.
"Gather the cores."
Ren sat on a rock covered in torn webs. He checked today's haul.
340 F-Rank cores. 19 glowing E-Rank cores.
"Insane haul." Ren wiped the blood off his face.
One look at his summons was enough to know they were completely burnt out. Their armor was cracked, and their movements were sluggish.
Ren spotted a narrow entrance to a nearby cave. "Enough hunting for today."
He pulled his summons into the cave. He sat in the dark corner and finally closed his eyes to take a short break.