CH 21

A/N:

*No one has pointed it out so far because he doesn’t interact much with other players and just fights monsters all the time, but Yuri-kun’s naming sense sucks.

[Let’s Make And Play With Forbidden Creatures!]

“Alright, we’re gonna get your race evolution stuff done today, Pontaro!”

“Kishasha~!”

Fourth day since the game launched. I was in a private room in Francoise’s shop, fiddling with the menu screen.

By the way, I was wearing my Beginner One-Piece Dress. The gothic idol dress (?) I’d got from Francoise had practically turned into rags because of the heat rays from the Gigantic Dragon Plant. Francoise was in the middle of repairing it at the moment.

…When I’d told her how I’d soloed a boss who was 10 levels higher than me, and how the dress’s durability had gotten in the red just a day after I’d got it from her, Francoise’s eyes had instantly turned dull like those of a dead person. I’d hoped I’d misheard when she went on to mutter: “W-why did you challenge such an opponent… and won, too… that’s too weird… please stop playing like a psycho…!” I mean, I was a perfectly sensible person.

“Oh, found it. I think I just have to touch this button; there.” I touched the button that said ‘Evolution’ on Pontaro’s status screen. Then another screen popped up.

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・Evolving Pontaro (Living Weapon). Please select an evolution path:

1. ‘Living Dead’

A skeleton clad in a dark aura. Formerly a Living Weapon, but gained a physical body due to its desire to become a living.

Although it has lost its weapon-possessing ability, its attack power is higher than common zombies.

Its HP regeneration rate is high, making it difficult to kill.

2. Shadow Weapon

A soul with a more powerful dark aura. Formerly a Living Weapon, but gained a form that is closer to the Shinigami due to its desire to bring death to its enemies.

It has acquired the ability to temporarily create clones with low stats while retaining its weapon-possessing ability.

Its HP depends on the possessed weapon’s Durability and will die when the weapon is broken.

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I see, I see, so I had to choose between these two choices.

But I didn’t think there was any need to deliberate over it. Sure, Living Dead’s description said it had high attack power and regenerative power, but the trade-off was that Pontaro would be losing his weapon-possessing ability. HP wouldn’t be a concern when Pontaro was already possessing the infinite Durability ‘Beginner Arrow’, to begin with, while my damage-increasing skills got his attack power covered. The best choice was pretty obvious here.

“Just to make sure, Pontaro, which one would you like to evolve into?”

“Kisha~!”

Without hesitation, Pontaro touched ‘Shadow Weapon’ with the tip of his arrowhead.

Then, his body shone brightly, but the light subsided right after, revealing an arrow with burning-like jet-black light, making it look ominous and deadly.

“Good, good, I knew you’d choose that, Pontaro! If you’re born as a soul, then you’ve gotta aim to become a Shinigami! If you’re a man, you’ve gotta stick to one path!”

“Kisha~! Kishasha~!” Pontaro Double Twin MK II (I changed his name to commemorate his evolution, nice naming sense me) cried as though to say, “Heh, that’s obvious, Aneki! I ain’t gonna become a zombie this late game. Since that day when you beat me, I’ve decided that I’ll aim for the top as your weapon! Please use this new me as you see fit!” What a cute underling.

Okay, now that Pontaro(shortened) was done with his evolution, it was time I did mine!

I opened my status screen and touched the ‘Job Evolution’ button. Then,

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・Job-evolving from Summoner. Please select an evolution path:

1. High Summoner

A traditional advanced job of Summoner. Able to instantly summon back monsters across space without using ‘Summon Return’ art.

Able to summon ‘Forbidden Creature: Chimera’ by combining materials and monster parts.

*Only one Chimera can be summoned at a time. Doesn’t occupy summon slots.

*Chimera’s HP is extremely low and will die within five minutes after being summoned.

*Chimera’s level will be the same as that of the summoner’s.

2. Summon Tamer

A job derived from Summoner. Specialize in taming abilities, and has a significant increase in the probability of taming a monster.

Able to use arts that heal and restore monsters’ HP.

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Whoaaaaaaaa?! High Summoner could create Chimeras?! Just imagining it made me soooo excited!

“Naturally, I’ll choose High Summoner!”

I touched ‘High Summoner’, then a fanfare sounded, and Miss Message congratulated me, [Congratulations on your job evolution! You have become a High Summoner!]

Unlike Pontaro, there didn’t seem to be any change in my appearance. How unfortunate.

“Alright, I’ve got no time to worry about small things, let’s try making a Chimera right away!”

I opened my status screen and looked at the explanation. It seemed that you could make several Chimeras in advance, but once summoned, the countdown towards their death would immediately start no matter what.

What pitiful creatures. But I’m aiming to be a hero of justice who will annihilate all evil players, so I’ll have you be disposable bombs for the sake of justice!

“Fumufumufumu, the higher the rarity of the materials used in its creation, the higher the Chimera’s stats. I have extremely high Luck, so obtaining rare materials is easy-peasy for me.

As for the distribution of the stats, it depends on the materials’ types, huh.”

Say I used ‘Rock’ and ‘Rabbit Meat’, would it result in a rabbit with rocky skin and a high Defense? But in that case, it was likely that its speed would be sacrificed, so I’d have to think about the combination carefully. And it wouldn’t be cute, too.

“Since they’re disposable anyway, it seems like it’d be a good idea to prepare Chimeras with specific roles in mind like ‘meat shield’, ‘abnormal status applier’, and ‘suicide bomber’.

Alright, now that’s decided, I should go get some good materials! And since I’d like to let Ponjiro and the rest evolve before the battle event too, I’m gonna go hunt them boss monsters!”

The battle event was tomorrow, so I couldn’t waste my time exploring unexplored high-level dungeons, but I should be able to handle dungeons that had already been cleared. The locations of their boss rooms were already published on the strategy guide site, after all.

Once you made a decision, you gotta act on it immediately! After Francoise had done repairing my dress, I’d go on a rampage!