25. Another Legendary Summon?
"Today was an uneventful day with nothing special."
Akio is sitting cross-legged on the Forbidden training ground.
'Mom decided to handle the shop to let Yamato and me play out in the snow. As promised, I took him on a tour around the shopping district for a few hours. After which here am I, back in the training grounds.'
Akio infuses some nature energy in the newly upgraded ring of contracts.
'Last time, I got a pretty good summon. I hope this time too, I will get something good.'
Akio silently prays in his heart.
"Just give me something which can fight and protect me during danger."
Poof…
With a burst of white smoke, a wolf with a fiery red pelt appears in front of him. The wolf has dark red eyes and there is a crown-shaped feather coat around its head. The wolf has a body length of about 2 meters.
Awooo…
The wolf howls in excitement and jumps on top of Akio and licks his face.
"A wolf?"
Akio raises an eyebrow.
"Well, anything given by the system won't be bad, right?"
[Of course!]
System's smug voice sounds in his head, but he ignores it.
He calms down the wolf and opens its status.
[Name: (None)
Race: Fenrir
Age: 7 months, 23 days (infant)
Combat Strength: High-tier Jounin
Bloodline: - Progeny of Fenrir
Strength: 75 Vitality: 48 Agility: 75 Dexterity: 39 Endurance: 69 Resilience: 57 Stamina: 90 Chakra: nil Nature energy: 70
Hidden Stat: Intelligence: 10 Spirit: 23 Wisdom: 8
Title: - Overlord of the Land (Grants + 25 strength) Beast of the Legend (Grants +10 Endurance, +25 agility, +40 stamina)
Special Skill: - Hyper Dash (Passive): - Reduces the stamina consumption for long-distance travels by 30% and increases speed by 50%.
Howl of the Overlord: - (Passive): - Every 30 seconds, the howl of Fenrir will be infused with a soul stifling aura, which will weaken enemies by 15% and lower their mental defense.
Elemental Transfiguration: - (Active): - Fenrir can change its elemental Attunement to use all elements freely. A different elemental attunement will change the color of the pelt.
Beast of the Hunt: - (Active): - Fenrir can infuse its claws and fangs with elemental energy to increase the damage by 300%. Each attack will place a chance to pierce the defense of the enemy. After five attacks, the next attack of Fenrir will pierce through the defense of the enemy to deal a devastating strike.
…
…
…]
"Holy hell!"
Akio almost jumps in fright as he stares at the name of the beast.
"Another legendary creature?!"
He turns towards System and asks it.
"Oye System! What's your source of these summons?"
[Trade Secret!]
Tch…
"You are no fun!"
Akio clicks his tongue as he gently strokes the fur of the wolf.
"Why this one is an infant too?"
He asks in curiosity.
[With the host's level of spirit, the host can only form contracts with infants. As for an adult beast, the host has to subdue the beast to sign a contract. With host's pathetic stats…]
"Hold on! I got it! I got it! There is no need to rub it in my face."
Akio shakes his head in defeat.
Hehe…
Akio hears a chuckle in his head as an imaginary scoreboard with 3-3 appears in his mind.
'This system! Is it keeping count of its victory and, from the look of it, we are evenly matched? Hmph! Let me see how long will this tie last. The game is on!'
He dispels his thoughts and focuses on the 'cute' wolf in front of him. He pushes it aside with difficulty.
Shiing…
The runes on the ring of contract light up and a similar rune circle appears around Fenrir's neck, thus establishing a connection between them.
Akio feels power coursing through his body.
'10% stats transfer is a much greater boost.'
He nods in satisfaction and issues an order.
"Protect me during my meditation!"
Awoo…
The white wolf cub licks his face and stands guard beside him.
'Why does it feel like I am raising a giant dog instead of a legendary beast? Whatever!'
Fwoosh…
Akio forks out the red vial with the essence of nature. He slowly opens the cap and prepares himself for the most bitter medicine he ever tasted.
After removing the cap, a burst of fragrance greets him and rejuvenates his body.
"What a sweet smell! I hope the taste is sweet too. Here goes nothing!"
Gulp… Gulp… Gulp…
He chugs down the entire content of the vial in a single gulp.
'Give me a boost in agility!'
"It tastes like s…"
Before he could utter any word, his head hurts like hell and the world spins in front of him as he loses his consciousness.
Swoosh… whoosh…
Large amounts of Nature energy gather on top of him and enter his body. The Nature energy forms a vortex above his head and gushes in his body.
Fifteen minutes later,
Aww… Ouch…
"My head hurts!"
Akio slowly opens his eyes.
"Was it successful?"
He quickly opens his stats and notices the [27.5] points in agility.
7.5 from the stats transfer and 5 permanent points from the potion.
"For now, I will focus on my agility and stamina. One more potion for agility, and the last potion for stamina."
He makes up his mind and opens up another potion after the pain subsides.
"Here goes +5agility!"
Gulp…
Akio chugs down two more potions and adds +5 stats to agility and +5 stats to stamina.
He looks at his stats and notices the change.
[Combat Strength: High-Tier Genin
Agility: 32.5 (25+ 7.5) Stamina: 29 (20+9)]
The consumption of the potions creates quite the commotion as the surrounding area becomes rich in Nature energy.
Various beasts from the forest slowly gather around him, all of them being tempted by the rich nature energy.
Unlike humans, the beast thrives on nature energy. It gives them a chance to gain spirituality and evolve further.
Awoo…
Fenrir howls furiously and glares at the approaching wild beasts with red eyes.
None of the beasts makes any move, as they are afraid of the stifling aura from the Fenrir's howl.
"It's alright! You can leave for now."
Akio pats his head and ends the summon. His stats plummet down, but his confidence remains the same.
'I would like to try my strength after acquiring the new skill, new stats, and the new weapon. I have enough confidence to escape if things go south.'
Fwoosh…
He summons the Dragon Blade from System's inventory.
Shiing…
The green blade glows brightly in the dark, humid atmosphere of the training ground.
"I have little experience in swordplay but I attended kendo classes for three years as per my parent's instructions."
He draws the blade and raises the sword above his head with the tip of the sword pointing back and the blade facing up.
Kendo has five stances: jōdan, chūdan, gedan, hassō, and waki.
Akio is currently in the jōdan stance, which is also the most aggressive stance of kendo. His left foot is stretched forward as he is ready to strike at any moment.
Haah…
He takes a deep breath to calm his nerves.
Swoosh…
A wild beast pounces upon him to tear him into shreds.
Swish… slash…
Akio slashes the sword at the exact moment the beast is in mid-air. He slashes at the exposed belly of the beast.
Spurt…
The katana cleanly slices through the middle section of the beast. The green plasma-like fluid in the blade cauterizes the cut, preventing the blood and innards from leaking out.
The death of their comrade doesn't lower the morals of the beast instead, the smell of blood sends all of them into a frenzy.
Akio's expression turns grim as he notices multiple red eyes viciously staring at him in the dark.
Swoosh… swoosh… swoosh…
Multiple beasts rush towards him in an attempt to overwhelm him with numbers.
"Bullet time!"
Time slows down for him as he gains a massive boost in his perception, reaction speed, and cognitive abilities.
Swoosh…
Akio rapidly draws his blade and performs the various stances of Kendo to slash the surrounding beast.
He nimbly moves through them and slowly approaches the leader of the beasts.
Grr…
The leader senses the danger and growls in danger. Time continues to pass away slowly as Akio's stamina plummets rapidly.
When the stamina drops down to 9 points, he deactivates the bullet time and swings the dragon blade in an arc.
"Ryūjin no ken wo kurea!"
Akio swings the blade and releases a green dragon of Nature energy worth 5 points towards the pouncing beast.
Roar…
The dragon releases an intimidating roar and engulfs the beast, obliterating it to dust.
The dragon attack consumes two more points of his stamina.
Huff… Huff…
Akio falls on his knees and supports himself with the hilt of the blade.
"I am still too weak!"
After a few minutes of rest, he slowly stands up and walks towards the shopping district.
The sun slowly sets on the horizon as darkness encroaches on the village.
"Mom, I am back!"