“I hope Yeon-hee’s feelings don’t come from the system.”
I wish for that once more.
She pulls me tightly into her embrace.
“It’s changed a lot, but it’s still Il-wol… It’s okay.”
“……”
With my head pressed against her ample chest, it felt a bit constricting, but the soft sensation and sweet scent made my mind go fuzzy.
‘Looks like her expressions have become a bit more proactive.’
There was a message indicating that the bond with the Summoner was strengthening.
It didn’t feel like the relationship was being artificially pushed closer, rather it felt like the locks that Yeon-hee’s subconscious had placed were being opened.
‘It’s not often I’ve been embraced this tightly to the point of feeling suffocated.’
The hesitation she had in expressing her feelings had disappeared.
Whether it was due to my appearance becoming closer to human-type, or an effect granted by the system, I couldn’t tell.
As she carefully looked me over, Yeon-hee began to pick up the enhancement stones that were scattered around Wang-wang.
Now, Wang-wang was spitting out mana stones and enhancement stones even while asleep.
Eating, pooping, and sleeping—that was just a day’s work.
Now it was performing far beyond a single serving.
Yeon-hee shook Wang-wang’s bulging belly with both hands, yet her gaze remained blank as she stared off into space.
Unlike me, Yeon-hee hadn’t yet reached level 80.
Having reached level 77, she already had twelve blue summoning scrolls piled up and her ability to handle the mysterious substances given to summoned creatures had greatly increased.
However, perhaps feeling still lacking, she seemed perpetually deep in thought even when not talking to me.
When I came out of the summon gate, she was in a groggy state, causing us to delay our dungeon entrance by two hours.
The companions readily agreed, so it turned out to be a more relaxed morning than usual.
Even though I had been collapsed for a long time, I hadn’t slept for that long.
In any case, given the characteristics of the pastiche dungeon, there shouldn’t be any large time distortions, so even with a two-hour delay, clearing it today shouldn’t be a problem.
As Yeon-hee went in to change clothes, I walked out into the front yard.
There, over a hundred summoned creatures were densely gathered.
‘Wow… So I can summon all this and still maintain them, huh?’
As I grew stronger, so did her growth.
Of course, she couldn’t summon ‘Castle’, which consumed a lot of mana, but the Sword Dragon was settled in a corner.
[······.]
‘Surprisingly well-behaved.’
The Sword Dragon, pressed against the wall, seemed to enjoy basking in the sunlight.
After all, thinking about it, shadows can only exist where there is no light, so perhaps it makes sense for it to like the sun.
“Clap, Clap, Clap!”
Filled with excitement, I clapped my teeth together and greeted the summoned creatures.
However, the summoned creatures fell silent for a while, busy scanning me up and down.
Then, as if they had made an agreement, they all erupted into cheers.
– Auuuuuuuu──!
– Kwooooor!
– The leader has changed!!
‘Ow, it’s noisy. I might get complaints.’
(Woowow- Leader, why’d you get shorter? But you got stronger!)
Lizardman 1, with keen eyes, caught onto the fact that I had become smaller from the job change.
(Strong! Like a monster! I want to fight!)
(Gruruuuuuu!)
‘Calling a monster a monster is a bit rude, Dotti.’
Dotti 1, Lizardman 1, and Rakan 1 were all staring at me with gleaming eyes, not seeming to get tired.
With drool dripping, Rakan 1 was all crouched down as if ready to pounce on me.
‘Well, maybe I should humor them for a bit.’
I gave a little nod to signal the summoned creatures.
And then Rakan 1 lunged at me.
Though it was just a pure werewolf without merging, its animalistic movements were still threatening.
Charging in on four legs, Rakan swung its sharpened claws towards me.
‘Slow…’
Watching that, I realized once again how much I had grown.
Even before its arm extended, I could read its intentions from its eyes, the tension in its muscles, the direction of its paws, and the flow of mana.
Avoiding Rakan’s attack with ease, I grabbed its neck, lifted it, and slammed it back down.
Boom─!
The ground shook with a massive vibration, startling Wang-wang, who was snoring inside.
“Grrr…”
After lightly punching the fallen beast’s jaw to knock it out, I dealt with the next summoned creatures one by one.
The summoned creatures approached as if they were meeting the toys of their dreams, excitedly rushing at me.
Yeon-hee took less than twenty minutes to change and get ready, but during that time, all the summoned creatures had been smashed to pieces on the floor.
“Eh… What the heck are you doing from the morning?! Isn’t there a time to show strength?!”
Though she grumbled a bit, Yeon-hee chuckled at the sight of the bizarrely contorted summoned creatures trembling on the ground.
After releasing the mass of injured summoned creatures, Yeon-hee gazed at the empty front yard blankly for a moment, then pulled out a summoning scroll.
‘O… Morning gacha, huh.’
“I can’t hold this back any longer! I’ve got to open a summoning scroll right now! Suddenly that thought crossed my mind!”
“Clap, Clap, Clap.”
Sure, since I was fixed as a werewolf, the chances of other monsters appearing were low, but there was no reason to hold back.
Personally, I think it’s best to open summoning scrolls right after getting them, but that’s just a preference and can’t be helped.
Yeon-hee began to consume the twelve summoning scrolls one by one.
Swishhh─
“Rakan, Rakan, Rakan, Rakan… Just one more different one…!”
It’s ironic that the one who fixed the summoning probability wants a different monster, but the more Rakans there are, the stronger they become when merged, so I was more than happy.
Just as we reached the twelfth scroll, thinking all of them would summon Rakan…
“Whoa?!”
Yeon-hee sensed the anomaly first.
Splashhhh-
Immediately after, a sound reminiscent of waves emerged from somewhere, and a small puddle began to slowly form on the ground right in front of Yeon-hee.
Splashhh-
In the puddle, which was less than a meter long, waves a fraction of the size rolled over, and from it, round, fluffy ears slowly appeared.
Following that were crescent-shaped eyes, a broad face that spread sideways, and thick white fur wrapped around its neck as if wearing a scarf, plus a slightly chubby body with a bushy tail like that of a fox waving towards the sky.
Overall, the watery hue gave a refreshing feel, and the slightly raised corners of its mouth shot up as soon as it locked eyes with Yeon-hee.
If Ran gives off a cute puppy vibe, this one gives off an adorable, chubby arctic fox vibe.
‘Ooh, it’s a spirit…?!’
After having gotten Ran at the start but never seeing a spirit since, it reappeared.
Kyaah-!
Yeon-hee immediately rushed in to hug it tightly, and the spirit pulled out of the water looked momentarily bewildered but then snuggled against her, rubbing its face.
“Fib-?”
“Huh? Are you crying ‘Fib Fib’? Hehe, so cute~”
Yeon-hee rubbed her face against the spirit for a while and then asked it.
“Can you talk like Ran?”
“Fib-?”
“Huh? You can’t?”
“Fib!”
‘Can it not speak…?’
Just then, Ran, who was perched on Yeon-hee’s shoulder, pointed at the puddle and spoke.
(Master. This one is a water spirit, so it can only communicate in water.)
“Ah?! I see! Are you suffering a lot when you’re outside the water? Should I put you back in?”
“Fib!”
(They say they’re fine as long as Il-wol is next to them.)
‘…Huh? Me? Why me?’
“Is it dangerous when Il-wol’s not around?”
(They can’t stay out for too long.)
“Oh, I see… But what’s that got to do with Il-wol?”
(It’s likely due to the blessing that Il-wol is receiving.)
‘Ah… Is it thanks to Goddess Irmana?’
The water’s energy that I couldn’t feel might be surrounding me. And the spirit of water could sense that subtle energy.
The spirit, snug in Yeon-hee’s arms, now looked up at me with its big, pure eyes.
“Fib?”
‘…… Can’t we just put it back in the puddle?’
Its utterly innocent gaze felt a bit overwhelming to me.
I was afraid that getting close to such a pure being would make it dirty.
The spirit wiggled its soft paws, almost as if expressing a desire to hug me.
“Here. Want to try being held?”
“Clap, Clap, Clap…”
I had no choice but to lift the small, watery creature into my arms, and soon a message popped up.
– You have encountered an extremely rare water spirit! Water attribute affinity increased dramatically!
– The probability of receiving a revelation from the Goddess of Water Irmana has increased dramatically!
‘Whoa-? What a wonderful bonus.’
“Fib!”
The water spirit became even more lively in my hands compared to being held by Yeon-hee.
‘Seeing it regain its lost mana confirms that something is indeed here.’
“Alright. I’ve decided on a name!!”
“Clap?”
As Yeon-hee looked at the spirit in my arms, she suddenly named it.
Of course, it was nothing less than ‘Fib Fib’, right?
“Your name is ‘Fibryn’!”
‘Oh… This isn’t bad at all.’
“Fib?!”
Ran had introduced its own name upon being summoned, so this spirit likely had a name too.
As Yeon-hee named it Fibryn, its body shook profusely, and its mana spiked again.
In contrast, Yeon-hee’s mana visibly drained, indicating that assigning a name took significant mental effort.
“Ugh… I felt bad for not naming Ran, but after doing it now, it seems like I wanted to, but couldn’t. It’s really hard.”
“Clap, Clap, Clap.”
The water spirit, now named Fibryn, looked a bit confused by the sudden name change but then perked up its ears, expressing joy.
I then placed it back into the small water puddle, and it finally greeted us.
(Hello, Master. I am Fibryn.)
“Kyaah-! Even its voice is adorably cute!!”
The sweet and refreshing voice delighted our ears.
“There’s no grade listed, just labeled as rare. If we’re considering rarity, it’s at least two tiers higher than Ran. Amazing…”
Yeon-hee released Fibryn from its summoning.
With Fibryn around, the puddle looked too trivial.
“Fibryn has several abilities, most of which are used in water. And just like Ran, it has area buffs… Do all spirits have such skills? Anyway…”
Yeon-hee was fixated on examining Fibryn’s details, gazing into the air.
I gently wrapped an arm around her shoulder, signaling that it was about time to leave.
“Oh, right. Should we head out?”
“Clap, Clap, Clap.”
*
We set out a bit late, but we were the first to arrive at the gate.
Right after, Noh Ha-yoon and Ham Eun-young arrived together, and Ah-rin and Joo-ah followed closely.
Since I had retracted all the sharp thorns that had sprouted all over my body and consolidated my aura, I thought the companions might not recognize my changes.
“What, what?! Is that Il-wol?!”
“Whoa-! What…? This is amazing!”
“Wow… You look like the legendary Dragonkin.”
However, considering the much darker color of my full armor and the aura that was inevitably leaking out, they immediately sensed my changes.
“Ugh… Why does it feel like it’s harder to approach you?”
‘Hmm?’
But surprisingly, they displayed more reactions than I expected.
The companions couldn’t easily come near me, and pondering why, I recalled the message I received during the job change.
– ‘Presence of Oppression’ has greatly increased.
‘So that’s why.’
From their reactions, it seemed the system’s explanation regarding not being easily approached was just a fraction of its effect.
Even Azraelon, gazing intently at me from Eun-young’s arms, showed a slightly excited response.
(Hoh- You’ve leveled up significantly. That’s quite substantial. Is it not at the level of a ‘Seeker’ walking the path of a king?)
‘……’
Just how much does that cat know?
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