Chapter 1. Dragon Summoner

The place where Michael and I met was at the church. The only church that appears on the map is the Hion Church in the center of the city. I was surprised when I saw the church, because it almost didn't look like the church I knew, but a Betawi traditional house with a magnificent design.

"Uwaah… This is also really realistic…"

While admiring the building in front of me, someone suddenly touched my shoulder.

I immediately turned around and found someone standing there with a smile on his face. His smile and face shape reminds me of someone.

"Mikhael?" I said.

When creating a character, I can change the hair but I can't completely change the face shape. This means that everyone's face shape in this game is the same as their face shape in the real world. And the person who tapped me on the shoulder had a very similar face shape to Michael.

"Exactly! Even though in this world my name is Solem."

Ah, he really is Michael it turns out.

"No, how could I know when we just met now?"

"That's right, hahaha!!"

Haah... He really is a—wait, is that a stick he's holding?

"Wait!!! That wand!? You... You can't be..."

"Ah this? That's right, I became a Caster in this world."

Ah... It's true. Why?

"Why are you so pale—ah."

He must have found the stick I carried in my hand. In this game, each player will be given a starting weapon based on their class. Saber will be given a sword, Archer will be given a bow, then the only class that gives a starting weapon in the form of a stick is...

"So we're both Casters..." Michael said, not Solem.

That's right. We both have wands, the starting weapon for the Caster class in this game.

"I thought you would use the Saber as usual, so I..."

"Ahahaha... There's a special class I want to get, so I have to choose this class..." Solem muttered.

"Haah... Then I'll recreate the account and—"

"Eh? Why?"

"Why? Of course because we're both Casters and there's no front line."

"Hmm... What's your subclass?" Solem asked.

"Eh? Summoner..." I answered while looking away.

"Ah, then there's no problem."

"No problem?"

"Yes. You can pick up the Summon Wyvernkid skill. It's one of the few options in the tier 1 summoner skill and is strong enough to become a tank in the area around the city."

Skill tiers. That's what players call the skill level that can be obtained from the Learn Skill menu. Every ten levels, the skills that can be selected from Learn Skills increase and those additional skills are skills that are stronger than the previous skills therefore they are referred to as higher tier skills.

"Ohh..."

I manipulated the menu in front of me to pick up the skill Solem was referring to.

"I've already taken it." I say.

"Nice."

"Ah by the way I can't open the inventory, how about you?"

"Aah that... You need to buy an inventory bag first like this." Solem said while patting the bag hanging from his shoulder. He continued, "Usually an inventory bag can only carry up to a ton of stuff, but this is necessary at least until we get to Layer 2."

"Layer 2?"

"Ah, you haven't read about this world system game for sure." Solem said in a mocking tone.

"Urg..."

"Never mind. Take a look at the World Map."

"World Map..."

I opened the console and chose Map. There are two options: Area Map and World Map. I pressed the World Map button and the map that appeared changed drastically. As the name suggests, the area map only shows the area around me while the world map shows the world map.

When I looked at the world map which was bigger than the map of the area, I was wide-eyed in surprise when I realized something.

"The map is like a real world map!?" I exclaimed.

My shout was a bit loud and caught the attention of several people, but they returned to their normal activities after a while of looking at us.

"That's right. This game not only gets the title of the most realistic game because of the quality of the graphics, but also because the content is really similar to the real world."

So that's the reason the place we are in is similar to a traditional building in Jakarta. That's because our map is where it should be Jakarta.

"Heeh... Wait, Midgard, then Layer, similar to the real world... Don't tell me what you mean by Layer 2..."

"You understand quickly, don't you?"

"I only know from another game."

"Yes. We are in the first layer, Midgard. The second layer will be Nidavelir. When Nidavelir is released later, there will be a special quest to get a Guild Emblem which will be the cost to form a Guild."

"Heeeh..."

So unlike other games, here there has to be extra effort to create a guild huh...

"When that's clear, let's buy some items for you. You'll need at least an Inventory Bag and a potion."

"Oh yeah."

After our conversation, Solem took me to a convenience store in the city. On the map the area of ​​the city is fifty square kilometers, which means the city is only the size of central Jakarta at most. The convenience store Solem pointed out was one that was a few hundred meters from the church we met. Apart from that convenience store there were many other shops selling various items, but Solem ignored them all.

"Each shop has their own price and quality of items. But from my experience in beta, this shop is the cheapest, most complete, and good shop. I also want to take Quest in this shop." Solem explained when I asked him.

"Quest?"

Solem immediately entered the shop he was referring to. He headed towards the only NPC in the shop. That NPC had a shopping bag-like symbol above his head, which meant he was a seller NPC.

"Excuse me, I want to buy black silver." Solem said to the NPC.

"Huh? Black silver?"

The NPC repeated Solem's order with a surprised face. The shopping bag symbol above the NPC's head turned into a [ ? ] which means he becomes a Quest NPC.

"How do you know about black silver?"

"Of course, from a certain source."

After that, the conversation between the two of them went on to talk about the origin of the black silver that Solem was referring to. The lore in that one item is so long I can't even remember.

"Okay. Then I'll bring all that."

After Solem said that, their conversation ended.

"What quest was that?"

"Quest to get the enchanter's special skill, Item Echant. I need that skill to build my character."

"Heeh..."

After Solem, now it was my turn to face the NPC. Unlike Solem, I didn't take any quests and only bought an inventory bag and some potions.

"With this we can farm. Let's farm in a small dungeon to the south of the city. There are some monsters that you can contract."

"Oh okay"

After that we immediately left the shop and headed to the dungeon that Solem was referring to. On the way, we defeated several monsters called Gray Wolf which made us level up several levels. But as Solem suggested, I saved my skill points for now.

Every time I went up one level all stats went up by one point when playing as a human like Solem, but as an elf my stats rose only DEX, AGI, and INT. As said in the race description, Elves have little strength and endurance but have high agility and intelligence.

Playing games without the stats customization feature made me a little uncomfortable, but Solem said that there was a training center in town that could let me raise my stats without the need for skills. Besides that, of course, only skills that can increase stats.

By the way, I already used the contract on the Gray Wolf I fought—well, the one Solem was fighting to be precise—and earned me one additional skill. My only job was to protect the two of us using Wyvernkid while Solem attacked with magic arrows. That's the combination we planned; I summoned the Wyvernkid assigned to defend while Solem attacked.

After summoning the Wyvernkid, I didn't lose it. Summoners need times between the time of the first summons and the second summons. In the case of the Wyvernkid if I cancel the summons or it get killed, I need to wait two hours until I can summon him again. Luckily the potions worked normally on summoned monsters, so they weren't easy to beat.

The wyvernkid's status when summoned is determined by the skill level. The higher the skill level, the higher the status of the wyvernkid I summoned. The same thing applies to another monster that I can summon, Gray Wolf. Although, the initial level of the Gray Wolf is determined from the level of the Gray Wolf when contracting.

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- Summoned Creatures -

Name : Wyvernkid

Race : Wyvern

Class : Shielder

Level : 1

HP : 50%

MP : 100%

SP : 70%

STR : 2

VIT : 5

INT : 1

MTL : 1

DEX : 1

AGI : 2

Skills :

- Taunting D

- Defense Up D

———————————————————————

———————————————————————

- Summoned Creatures -

Name : Gray Wolf

Race : Wolf

Class : Assassin

Level : 5

HP : 100%

MP : 100%

SP : 95%

STR : 7

VIT : 6

INT : 6

MTL : 6

DEX : 6

AGI : 9

Skills :

- Howling E

- Claw Sharpening E

———————————————————————

I can command the Wyvernkid with a simple command after saying its name. If my orders are too complicated, it wouldn't do anything. It seems that the same applies to other summoned creatures. For the experiment I summoned the Gray Wolf, and the result was the same as the Wyvernkid.

With the wyvernkid and gray wolf, I get defense as well as attack. Even if their level was low, they could fight monsters alone.

"Yosh, we're here."

Solem's words snapped me out of my thoughts.

"This is the dungeon you mean?" I say.

Where we are now is in front of a large cave. It seemed that the cave was the entrance to the dungeon Solem was referring to.

"Yep. Dungeon of Earth Dragon. One of the most difficult dungeons in level 10s but my quest requires Black Silver Ingots dropped from the boss. I also want you to make contracts with some of the dragons here."

"Heeeh... The stats?"

"Natural cave type dungeon. Mob monster earth wyvern, earth taratect, and rock viper. Average level 12. Boss Earth Dragon General."

After hearing Solem's explanation, I checked my status and status.

———————————————————————

Name : Solem

Race : Human

Class : Caster

Subclass : Enchanter

Level : 9

HP : 100%

MP : 75%

SP : 80%

———————————————————————

———————————————————————

Name : DragWizard

Race : Elf

Class : Caster

Subclass : Summoner

Level : 7

HP : 100%

MP : 50%

SP : 80%

STR : 8

VIT : 8

INT : 13

MTL : 8

AGI : 10

DEX : 10

Gold : 4866

———————————————————————

Why is my level lower than his even if we farm together? Is there a difference in experience received for elves and humans? No, there is a more plausible reason. It was because Solem used direct attacks on the enemy while I only made use of summoned creatures.

In this game, there is an activity exp bonus that gives additional exp for certain activities. For example, Saber will get additional exp if he uses a sword to fight against mobs. Solem who is a caster will get additional exp when fighting with magic skills.

Since I'm also a caster I should get bonus experience too when using magic skills, but that didn't happen because I didn't use magic skills directly except when using contracts. That's why I don't get much exp bonus.

"Haa..."

"Why?"

"Never mind."

"Then let's go in. If we're lucky we only need two hours to finish this. Tomorrow, we have the morning shift so let's hurry up!"

Following Solem I walked behind him. Of course, while leaving the wyvernkid at the front while the gray wolf at the rear.

Not two meters before we entered, a swarm of spiders immediately appeared and crawled towards us. They're so real it makes me want to throw up, but I'll hold it in for now.

"Wyvernkid, taunting!"

After I gave the order, the wyvernkid's body immediately gave off a light indicating that the taunting skill was active. The swarm of large spiders began to attack towards the wyvernkid which the wyvernkid was holding back with its wings.

"Magic Arrows!"

In front of me, Solem activated a tier 1 magic skill: magic arrow. A magic circle appeared from his hand which was aimed at the spider swarm and after two seconds, an arrow thirty centimeters long shot from the magic circle.

"Grey Wolf, howling!"

After my command, the gray wolf I summoned let out a loud roar. That loud roar increased the STR of the entire party. Even though Solem and I didn't need it, the Wyvernkid needed it to last longer.

"Magic Arrows!"

Solem took out his magic skill again. I heard it's only a tier 1 magic skill with an E rank, but it can take out one Spider monster with one shot. Although, it's a bit of a loss for me. The Magic Skill Contract I have needs a monster with below ten percent HP for me to use. Since Solem finished them off with a one-hit-kill attack, I can't use it on them.

We repeated all of that several dozen times, but the earth taratects that attacked didn't run out. My MP was almost below ten percent from summoning the gray wolf and wyvernkid at once. At this rate I will run out of MP first and the wyvernkid and gray wolf summons will be cancelled. How is this...

"Drag, command Gray Wolf to use Claw Sharpening and attack everyone!" Solem exclaimed.

I don't know what Solem was thinking, but I followed his orders.

"Okay! Gray wolf, claw sharpening then attacks everyone!"

The gray wolf emitted light from its front paws and began to attack. With the difference in their stats, I doubt the gray wolves can defeat the earth taratect in one hit like Solem did.

"Enchants!"

A magic skill was cast by Solem. One second after that, the gray wolf's body gave off a reddish glow which I assumed was the effect of the magic skill Solem had cast. Then, the gray wolf that I thought wouldn't be able to defeat the Earth Taratect in one hit, now can finish off all the Earth Taratects gathered in the Wyvernkid in a few seconds. The effect of the magic skill Solem used disappeared just as the gray wolf finished off the last earth tartect.

"Uwaah… What skill was that?" I asked Solem.

"The Enchanter's basic magic, enchant. It increases all the stats of the enchanted for ten seconds. Since I now have that magic at level ten, so I guess it increased the gray wolf's stats by 100% just now."

"Heeeh.... Wait, level 10!?"

"Yeah. I just reached level ten, so I raised the Enchant skill to the max."

"Uwaah... And you said that we should save our skill points."

"I have my own build. Besides, I still have 1 skill point left so there's no problem."

"Hey..."

By the way, let's continue downstairs."

We then continued our journey to the interior of the dungeon while recovering our MP and HP with potions.

During our walk, we were attacked several times by earth taratects which we could easily take out. I also finally got one earth taratect to contract.

———————————————————————

- Summoned Creatures -

Name : Earth Taratect

Race : Spider

Class : Archer

Level : 12

HP : 100%

MP : 100%

SP : 100%

STR : 10

VIT : 3

INT : 3

MTL : 3

AGI: 15

DEX : 15

Skills :

- Thread Shot C

- Venom Bite B

———————————————————————

After exploring for an hour, we also met an Earth Wyvern and a Rock Viper. I managed to contract them, and we got two additional tanks.

———————————————————————

- Summoned Creatures -

Name : Earth Wyvern

Race : Wyvern

Class : Shielder

Level : 15

HP : 100%

MP : 100%

SP : 100%

STR : 15

VIT : 20

INT : 3

MTL : 3

AGI : 10

DEX : 3

Skills :

- Taunting B

- Rock Skin B

———————————————————————

———————————————————————

- Summoned Creatures -

Name : Rock Viper

Race : Snake

Class : Assassin

Level : 14

HP : 100%

MP : 100%

SP : 100%

STR : 10

VIT : 10

INT : 3

MTL : 3

AGI : 3

DEX : 20

Skills :

- Rock Skin E

- Venom Bite B

———————————————————————

Summoned monsters count as a party so basically, they can't be summoned more than five if I'm playing solo and I can only summon 4 now because I'm playing with Solem. That's why I wanted to cancel the wyvernkid summon, but Solem told me to keep bringing out the wyvernkid for some reason.

After exploring for an hour and a half, we finally reached the deepest room of the dungeon, the boss room.

"We're here. Now let's get ready before we go inside."

"Yes."

I checked my status. After coming down this far, I've risen to level fifteen and all of my stats have gone up as well. For skills, apart from contracts and magic power I only have summon skills. For the party other than Solem and I, I summoned the wyvernkids that Solem told to keep summoning, earth taratects as damage dealers, earth wyverns and rock vipers as tankers.

Both my HP and MP are full again, ready for a long-range battle. I checked the inventory bag and found some drop items from the monsters we defeated. The drop items are mostly just hard dragon fangs, deadly poisonous fangs, hard silks, and beast pellets.

Most of the items that dropped were items used for crafting, but neither Solem nor I took the crafter class as it was of little use to us. But in the middle of the pile of trash, I found something I didn't realize I had. It was a ring called the Venom Resistance Ring. Even without the need for an appraisal skill, I know what the function of this ring is.

"Solem, I got equipment, how do I wear it? I don't see the equipment menu in the menu." I asked.

"Ah that, you just need to take it out of the bag and use it manually."

"Eh?"

So equipment needs to be used manually huh. It's really unusual for a VRMMO, but it seems to prove again that this game has a very high level of realistic.

I immediately took the ring out of my inventory bag and put it on my finger. Let me guess, the effect must have been resistance to the effects of poison or maybe resistance to being affected by poison. Either way, low level items are like this.

"Okay, come on in." Solem said.

"Yes."

I don't know if our preparation is enough or not. Our level might be on par with the average mob level in this dungeon, but still the one we will be fighting now is the boss. He's definitely much stronger than the mobs we've fought. But it's just a game, we can try again if we fail so I guess it's fine.

Solem opened the door to the boss room. The door that looked like a giant gate opened with just a slight force from Solem. There was a loud sound of the door opening, which startled me a bit. Once the door was wide open, the two of us went inside and looked around the room.

The room was very different from the rest of this dungeon. The other rooms and passages looked like normal caves, but this room looked like a treasure room. Why do I say treasure room? That's because as far as the eye can see that can be seen is gold, silver, gems, then repeated from the beginning. A sight I would love to have in my own home.

"Come!" Solem exclaimed.

Solem's scream woke me from my sleep. I looked in the direction Solem was looking, finding something moving from the pile of gold coins. Something that moved the gold coins to form a giant golden wave. It was only when the gold coins had fallen from the thing that I could see what's made the gold move.

———————————————————————

Name : Earth Dragon General

Race : Dragon

Class : Lancer

Level : 50

HP : 100% x2

MP : 100%

SP : 100%

———————————————————————

A giant dragon. That's the only way I know of to describe it. Only his head came out but even that head was at least fifty meters long. His canine teeth could be seen sticking out of the corner of his mouth. His black eyes had intimidating red irises.

A status popped out below the HP bar in my vision. A dark blue box icon with an electric symbol appears there. Status [Fear], a status that lowers the maximum HP and MP by ten percent. Even without that fear status, I doubt the two of us can defeat an enemy of this size and now this ridiculous debuffs appears? The dev team is really just messing around!

"It's been a very long time since the last time a human came to this place."

The dragon surprisingly let out a human-like voice. Looks like the dragon is equipped with A.I. which allowed him to talk to players.

"Sorry to interrupt your time, your majesty the earth dragon general. We are here solely to ask for the black silver you have!"

Solem calmly invited the dragon to speak.

"Hooh? The last time a human wanted black silver, he immediately attacked me and tried to kill me. No one has spoken like you before. Then tell me, what do you want black silver for, O human?"

"This friend next to me is a Dragon Summoner! He has currently entered into a contract with two dragons, and he needs the iron silver to enter into a contract with the Carnivore Dragon!"

Hearing Solem's words I put on a poker face, but inside I screamed loudly WHAT DO YOU MEAN!? I don't remember needing anything like that at all! You must be just bluffing, right, Solem!?

"Hmmm... Carnivore does require sacrificing rare metals of B rank and above for the summoning catalyst... But there's still blue gold and red copper in addition to black silver. Unlike the two of them, black silver is only in this warehouse so they should be easier to find..."

"..."

"You can't answer, Human?"

Solem didn't reply. It seemed he had run out of ideas with which to seduce the dragon. Because of that now...

"Then die!"

...time for hard work!