I told Yeon-hee that it was really not an easy quest, and she nodded in agreement and replied.
“Still, if we succeed! They’ll give us a ‘Mysterious and Auspicious Summoning Scroll’!”
‘……?’
Did I hear that wrong? What did she say they would give us?
‘Just hearing the name makes it sound fancy… But this feeling of relative deprivation, what is that?’
I had to defeat thirty thousand monsters necessary for job change, under not one but three different conditions, just to barely manage it.
Meanwhile, Yeon-hee only had to catch five hundred to receive a summoning scroll with a descriptor I had never even seen before. Ah, I see…
In that moment, I felt like blowing up at the system, but Yeon-hee spoke so cheerily that I couldn’t help but just listen quietly. Well, if an incredibly strong creature comes out, that’s good for the team.
“What will come out? I’m dying to find out quickly. But you know, I really hope a pretty girl comes out. Like Ran, all white and cute-”
‘Hehe… I think I’ve heard something similar before.’
I’ve mentioned it several times, but aside from the earth puppy, pretty and cute monsters don’t really exist until B-rank. But who knows? The new summoned creature could bring forth a different spirit?
Since meeting Ran, I’ve realized that looks aren’t everything. Stupid.
(‘… What are you staring at?)
I was watching Ran slowly fading while sitting on Yeon-hee’s shoulder when I suddenly remembered something I’d forgotten.
‘What does Yeon-hee plan to do with the summons?’
I hadn’t been involved in that at all, but she must have quite a stack of summons by now.
Since we were on the topic of summoning, I asked Yeon-hee about it, and she opened up about her many concerns.
“The most troublesome thing in C-rank dungeons are the were monsters, right? They’re mostly brute strength.”
Nod-
“So I was thinking about defining it with ‘Chehwa,’ but it ended up delaying my decision.”
‘That’s true when looking at C-rank dungeons. So what do you plan to do?’
“But, I did some research, and there are no recorded cases of Specters reaching their highest forms. So it seems really good now, but it feels like there are clear limits, you know?”
Yeon-hee adjusted her legs that were tightly wrapped around my waist and continued.
“But orcs keep appearing up to S-rank dungeons, so I thought it would make sense to raise orcs in the long term.”
‘So it’s orcs in the end. Hmm, this ability to fix probabilities. Can’t it change to a more advanced form?’
The fact that once you make a decision you can’t change it is a real hindrance. That’s the reason Yeon-hee is wasting unnecessary time, too. It would be nice if we could pick different summoned creatures at will after summoning them.
Thinking about that, I tightened my grip on Yeon-hee.
“Ouch…”
“Does it hurt?”
“Oh, no. Just need to adjust a bit… Okay, got it.”
Like a cicada clinging to an old tree, Yeon-hee was tightly wrapped around me with her arms and legs.
At first, she kept a little space, but now that she was accustomed to it, she was even closer.
‘It feels nice because it’s warm…’
I deliberately slowed my flying speed. I wanted to stay in this position a bit longer.
The good thing is, the thing below me isn’t reacting of its own accord. If it were the body of a human, it would’ve already been swelling up.
“I think it would be nice if we occasionally caught some fresh air like this.”
“Yeah. I agree.”
“But you’re really quick at talking. In about a month, you might not even be distinguishable from a human…?”
“Yeah.”
Yeon-hee seemed to be hoping I would speak quickly. After all, a dull-speaking man is somewhat not ideal, right? Just talking would shift the atmosphere to family-friendly.
We quickly arrived at the villa we lived in.
As I briefly looked at the moon that had finally revealed itself from the clouds, I turned my gaze back to Yeon-hee.
The image of the moon reflected in her purple eyes created an incredibly mystical vibe, perfectly complementing her fantastical profile, making me unable to help but gape at her.
“Shall we go in?”
Yeon-hee asked, looking at the moon with a fascinated expression, and I nodded, lightly kissing her cheek.
“……!”
Yeon-hee flinched in surprise, stepping back for a moment, but when I gently cradled the back of her head and pulled her back in, she came to me without resistance.
‘A kiss… might be a bit early…’
“Huuh-”
Yeon-hee seemed unsure where to look, her eyes darting around in confusion, and her body temperature began to rise sharply.
I hovered my head around her jawline before placing another kiss on her blushing neck.
“Kiss-”
“Ugh…”
The intensity of her eyes showed a much greater fluctuation of emotions than when I kissed her cheek.
It was clear I was expressing my affection for her, but even as Yeon-hee leaned into me, she occasionally looked at me with an anxious gaze.
I smiled softly to reassure her and whispered as I held her close again.
“Yeon-i. Good…”
“Ah…”
Thump- Thump- Thump- Thump-
Her heart, racing like crazy, resonated straight to me. I matched my heartbeat to hers.
Although we were resting our faces against each other’s shoulders, I noticed her lips twitching just slightly. She was still a child, clumsily expressing her feelings.
Without words, I could roughly feel what she wanted to say. I gently patted her head. It was okay.
I knew it was still early. There were many mountains we had to cross in our relationship. Not only the mental and physical aspects, but everything surrounding us as well.
I suggested we head inside, patting her back. She only nodded, and finally reclaiming the space to look at each other, we glided back home.
Upon returning, Yeon-hee dashed into her room and began to fidget for a while.
– Hee hee hee… tee hee…
After laughing like that for about a minute, she suddenly appeared in the living room as if she had thought of something. Then she started unfolding each of the brown summoning scrolls one by one.
Yeon-hee quickly began to consume the eight summoning scrolls she had gathered so far.
The summons soon showed their results, and predictably, all eight were summoned as Orc Low-Rank Warriors.
If you just looked at their appearance, you might believe so. But one of them had a very different mana structure from the rest.
‘Oh? That one has the qualities of a sorcerer?’
“Wow! It’s an Orc Apprentice Sorcerer! Amazing.”
‘Low-rank but apprentice? That’s a bit vague. Is the orc system different? Hmm… I need to see its ability to get a feel for it!’
If my memory served me right, orc sorcerers took much longer to cast spells than hunters but had a much wider range.
And I recalled that their magic was mainly for support rather than attack.
At that time, I hadn’t thought about such differences, but looking back now, the idea that a battle species like orcs might evolve magic in that way felt refreshing.
Yeon-hee approached the smallest orc that had been summoned among the group and gently placed her hand on its arm.
“Oh, just as I thought. It’s of the nature-based type. Do you happen to know any spells?”
“Gruk?”
The Orc Apprentice Sorcerer looked a bit puzzled for a moment before placing its hand on the ground and beginning to emit a faint light. Then.
Sahara-
“Ah! No! Stop!”
A part of the living room floor transformed into very fine soil. An ability to manipulate earth…
It was the earth category, known for being most adept at transformation among the nature factions. The differences in application compared to Bae Joo-ah’s rock attributes make me think they’d be quite helpful if they team up.
The important thing was that a mutant had appeared from the selection fixed as Orc Low-Rank Warrior.
‘Even with a low probability, if a mutant appears… could it be something like a Sasoon (a four-armed mutant monster) or a Twin Head?’
In human society, having too many arms or heads would be considered a deformity, but for monsters, it felt more like a blessing. They were typically much stronger with larger innate mana pools.
Now that an orc sorcerer has come out, I wondered if such creatures could appear as well. If so, then there would be no need to ponder what monster to set the summoning probability to!
‘I guess I can just tell her to decide more quickly from now on.’
I wouldn’t complain too much about the fact it took a few days longer than planned; it was a learning curve after all.
Now we had increased the number of orcs to ten. We could operate as a small unit capable of carrying out minor missions.
Yeon-hee continued to summon and release them while naming them one by one. Orc Squad leader Dotti 1 and vice-leader Dotti 2 looked on at their recruits with satisfaction.
Meanwhile, I watched their antics while organizing the items Yeon-hee and I had ordered online.
These were items I ordered two days ago that had just arrived in the early morning, and I had thrown them into the inventory when heading to the dungeon. I hadn’t realized just how much there was until I started pulling them out one by one.
Five sturdy high-end sleeping bags, a mana stove, a mana furnace, a sleeping pad, hand warmers, cutting board and knife, spoons and chopsticks, ramen, paper cups, all kinds of spices, and pork belly…
Wait, why do I have only camping supplies like this? Instant food would be enough, right? It’s not like we’re going to be here for days.
I only chose the mana stove and furnace, so it was somewhat baffling.
Yeon-hee peered at me as I stood there, frozen in surprise.
‘You just had to add all this, didn’t you?’
Yeon-hee blushed and scratched the back of her head. Well, I wasn’t going to say anything about buying what she wanted, especially since we had plenty of money. But it didn’t seem like we would have an immediate use for all of this stuff.
‘There will be times when I need to prepare much more than this later…’
Of course, space was abundant, and even the food in the inventory kept its condition intact since it was stored. So I wasn’t worried about that.
It is said that the inventory space of regular hunters can hold the combined volume of three adult men.
While there are variations in space for each hunter and it’s not precisely a cube, long weapons can fit too; it still means there can’t be as much in there as you’d think.
I, on the other hand, had space almost close to infinite, so this amount was no issue at all.
Already, there were hundreds of ‘Unprocessed Grown Big Boar Corpses’ and plenty of processed big boar meat stored in the inventory.
Including the corpses of other monsters, I had more than enough to carry over a thousand times what a typical hunter could manage.
‘Oh my, there’s wine too?’
When I shook the wine, Yeon-hee burst into laughter, saying, “They say it’s sweet and non-alcoholic!” in her usual goofy manner. Wait, are you thinking of drinking while exploring a dungeon?
Recalling Nargul’s dungeon briefly, I shook my head. The dreary atmosphere of that dungeon wouldn’t lend itself to the MT-like vibe Yeon-hee desired.
‘Wait… shouldn’t I at least put in some effort for Yeon-hee?’
After finishing up the summoning, Yeon-hee, who had been staring at my face expectantly, had gradually started to nod off.
Well, it was getting late. It had already passed one o’clock.
When I moved her onto her bed, she glanced up at me as she briefly woke up from her nap.
Her shapeshifted form had already reverted back to that of a skeleton.
‘What a grotesque face…’
I instinctively lowered my head.
For some reason, showing my face after reverting from transformation felt embarrassing and frightening.
What if she looked at my face and frowned… It would surely leave a scar for life, something even the elixir that revives the dead couldn’t heal.
But Yeon-hee smiled gently and briefly caressed my face with both hands. Then, as if she could no longer bear the drowsiness, she rubbed her eyes and said:
“You worked hard today… I’m going to sleep first…”
Nod-
I carefully laid her down and moved up to the rooftop.
‘…… Time is short.’
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