Chapter 16

The next day, the group and I were sitting in the living room, preparing for our missions before heading back to the farm. Two missions were assigned to Miguel and Noah, while another two were given to Olivia and Lily. I planned to tackle the last two on my own.

"See you all later," I said as I watched everyone disappear, already off on their quests. Not dwelling on it further, I focused on my own mission. I decided to start with the one I was most excited about, as it offered a skill token along with a Normal-ranked soul gem. This gem provided 9 experience points to any skill, far more than the 1 point from a Petty-ranked gem or the 3 points from a Lesser soul gem.

[Wolf Lv: 4]

[Wolf Lv: 5]

[Wolf Lv: 4]

[Wolf Lv: 4]

Looking at the wolves blocking my path, it didn't take much effort to dispatch them. I made sure to activate Battle Oath, as mastering the stat enhancements would be crucial for fighting creatures that might be above my level.

[Eris Lv: 6]

After slaying the last wolf required to meet one of the mission's objectives, I finally encountered the pack leader. It resembled its kin, but stood twice as tall and was far more muscular. However, I wasn't even slightly nervous when I saw its level. With my new boon, I technically had the stats of a level 6, and with the 30% buff from Battle Oath, my stats were equivalent to someone at level 7.8. Combined with my skills, I didn't even need to swing my axe more than a handful of times before the wolf collapsed to the ground, dead. I received my rewards along with a notification that I had leveled up.

'I must have completed my mission first,' I thought. Realizing that I had leveled up after completing my mission, it didn't take long to figure out that I had finished before the others. Not wanting to waste time, I moved on to the next mission, deciding to save the skill token for later. Once again, I found myself outside the familiar living room and on a battlefield swarming with the undead.

'Maybe I should summon him here,' I mused, observing the open landscape littered with bodies. Aimlessly wandering skeletons, clad in armor similar to those on the ground, caught my attention.

"what if he attacks me?," I murmured, feeling a bit nervous. I was worried he might decide to "test me" again, and I wasn't keen on risking my life for a bit of extra help. So, I did what any smart person would do and quickly called Apollo.

"Hey, Apollo, quick question: how loyal would my companion be?" I asked as Apollo appeared. I wasted no time posing my question to the fairy, who floated calmly in the middle of the battlefield littered with the undead.

"Loyalty is really up to you. I try to match companions with the system user, as companions have the right to ditch you and return to their world. So, I aim to align the companion's personality with the summoner's to minimize conflicts. Luckily for you, your first companion is a man of his word, and unless you go around killing babies and pregnant women, he won't leave—even if you stab him to death yourself." Hearing Apollo's explanation, I nodded. After chatting for a bit, I dismissed him as I prepared to summon the Death Knight.

[Reinhardt Stronoff has entered the battlefield. Due to the level difference, his stats and skills will be lowered from level 131 to level 5 to match the user.]

Seeing the notification, my heart thumped at the sight of a level that was a staggering 32 levels higher than even Garnet's! What in the actual hell?

"So, you finally summoned me. I thought you had forgotten," said the all-too-familiar voice. I stared ahead as a towering skeleton, dressed in stark black armor accented with deep blue highlights and a flowing cape, marched into view.

"Yeah, I thought I'd give you a chance to exercise," I replied, trying to calm myself as I cracked a joke—a joke that seemed well-received, as the undead knight broke into boisterous laughter, immediately attracting all the undead in the area as they began to swarm in.

"Step aside, Master. I want to enjoy the feeling of weakness" the knight said. Hearing his words, I lowered the axe I had started to raise and watched as the undead knight drew his blade and charged forward. His speed, though now within the realm of human ability, was nothing impressive, but the skill with which he wielded his sword was extraordinary. It moved with a grace, speed, and weight that shouldn't have been possible, at times leaving clean cuts through the bony bodies of the skeletons that recklessly charged at him.

"Come, you pathetic skeletons!" the knight's voice overflowed with excitement as his blade blurred, slicing through the group of skeletons. The horde, which had previously stood 50 strong, now numbered 32, and of those, only 7 were still combat-effective. The rest had been incapacitated by Reinhardt, who focused on moves that severed limbs or shattered bones.

"Guess I should end this now," the knight said, standing before the defeated horde of undead soldiers. He pointed his blade forward, which began to glow a bright purple. With a powerful swing, an arc of purple energy shot out, disintegrating everything in its path into fine dust.

"Summon me again soon." With those final words, the knight disappeared in a flash of light, once again becoming a token for me to summon him when needed.

'Wow,' I thought, genuinely impressed by the knight's prowess. I was glad I had summoned him. With the mission now completed and the 50 skeletons defeated, I smiled, pleased to have gained not just one but a whopping two basic hero summons.

'Is everyone still gone?' Returning to the house, I was surprised to find it empty, but seeing my gold and other items in my inventory, I realized the others must have moved on to their second mission. With little time to spare, I quickly took out the skill token and immediately used it, earning myself the skill [Long Distance Teleportation: Lv1]. I quickly fell in love with it as I read the description.

'So I can teleport 5 kilometers in any direction? This could prove useful. If I level it up enough, it could potentially match the gem teleportation pads in utility. But first, I need to test it out,' I thought. Seeing as I was alone, I wasted no time in testing the skill.

"Behind the big doughnut," I commanded as I activated the skill. A massive white magic circle appeared around me, and in a flash of light, I disappeared from the house, reappearing behind the big doughnut, just as I had intended.

'Cool, and it only took 1/5th of my magic reserves. But let's try something else.' Continuing my tests, I picked up a soda can on the ground nearby and attempted to teleport it back to the house. It worked, as the can disappeared in a smaller but still bright flash of light.

'Hmm, I can only do two more tests. I need to save enough mana to teleport back.' With that in mind, I quickly picked up another can and tried to teleport only half of it. Unfortunately, the entire can teleported away.

'Hmm, so I can't use the skill directly as an offensive tool.' I wasn't too upset by the failure and moved on to my last test. I grabbed one last soda can, but this time, instead of teleporting it, I attempted to teleport myself while leaving the can behind.

'IT WORKED!' I was overjoyed as I found myself back in the living room, almost jumping with joy. The can was nowhere to be seen—except for the ones I had teleported before—but this opened up many possibilities. And since I had only performed four tests, there were many more to discover!

"Hey Duke, we're back!" Hearing my name called, I was pulled from my celebration by Noah and Miguel, who had just appeared back in a flash of light. I looked up to see an exhausted Miguel and a bloodied Noah, who was riddled with wounds that were quickly being healed by Miguel.

"What happened?" I asked. Noah smiled and explained that while they were clearing their first mission, they suddenly leveled up, which caused him to misstep in surprise and get stabbed by a kobold.

"Glad you're alive. Also, does your skill come with some kind of pain suppressant? You never seem to feel the damage you take." Noah just nodded in response, but I didn't mind. Instead, I smiled as I looked at the basic hero summonings and the handful of petty EXP crystals I had received.

"THE GIRL SQUAD IS HERE, BABY!" Hearing Lily's excited voice, I soon found myself surrounded by the skeletons that appeared alongside her and Olivia, who seemed perfectly fine except for some dirt on their faces.

"Glad you're back. Let's sort the loot." With that, I brought up the loot, making sure to use the newly earned gold to upgrade the hero dormitory as we took stock of the items.

"So the main earnings are 4 hero summonings, 5 petty EXP gems, 2 lesser EXP gems, 1 normal EXP gem, 8 tokens, 2 armor pieces, 2 weapons, and 4 potions. Any questions or concerns before I distribute the loot?" I asked, and received no arguments as I slid the normal EXP gem over to Noah and the two lesser and two petty ones over to Lily, telling them to level up their skills.

"Tokens are usually only useful for those who use them, so I'll hand them off to our new members when we summon them." With that, I wasted no time activating the hero summonings, and, as usual, a flash of light took place.

(The hero count will be pretty high so I will now stop doing introduction to the character life before, sorry if anyone liked them)

"H-hi," a short, frail-looking boy spoke first, waving his hand as he looked at the group. However, he kept his head low, only allowing his light brown hair to be seen.

"LET'S GO, BABY! YOUR BOY'S STILL KICKING!" Next to speak was a man dressed in a bombastic outfit that made him seem like a noble from some medieval drama. His short blond hair shone brightly, despite the dim lighting inside the house, while his green eyes glowed with an even brighter light.

"It's an honor to meet you," said the next person, who appeared to be a reserved girl dressed like a lazy sack of potatoes. She wore a short tank top and sweatpants, with her black hair tied in a poorly done bun.

"How interesting," said an older woman, who seemed to be about 70. She was dressed in clothing suited for a rugged environment, with a fishing hat concealing most of her head. However, her long, gray ponytail was visible, showing that her hair had already turned gray with age. Her most striking feature was her cloudy gray eyes, which outshone even the bombastic man's dark green ones.

"Welcome. Please introduce yourselves, including your class and skills," I said, welcoming the newcomers. I wasted no time asking them to introduce themselves, and the bombastic man eagerly stepped forward first.

"I'm Richard Vought, an actor—now ex-actor—since I died after my girlfriend on set drove a sword through my chest. I'm a Nova Monk, and my skills are Hand-to-Hand Mastery and Unstable Chi." As Richard spoke, he stepped back, allowing someone else to step forward. We all noticed the orange energy bubbling on his hand, crackling with potential.

"It's lovely to meet you all. My name is Cary Sands. My current profession is archaeologist, but I've worked in many fields related to science. I've dipped my toes in everything from robotics to the study of disease. My class is Artificer. Sadly, it seems I only have one skill, named Magical Tinkering." To demonstrate, Cary raised her hands and placed them on a nearby lamp, which flashed with a kaleidoscope of colors, indicating the use of her skill.

"Young man, can you try to smash this lamp?" Turning towards the brown-haired boy, the old lady immediately made a request that caused the boy to become nervous. He looked over at me, not wanting to be rude, but after a quick wave of my hand prompting him to listen, he approached the lamp. With little strength, he picked it up before simply letting it go. We all watched as it plummeted to the ground, but instead of the expected shatter, the lamp bounced multiple times before settling calmly on the ground, leaving everyone but me perplexed.

"What did you do to it?" Miguel asked, impressed by the old woman's ability. Not wanting to leave everyone curious, she explained.

"This is just an application of my skill. It allows me to temporarily strengthen an item, though I could probably make it permanent if I engraved some form of marking on it." Hearing this, I nodded and quickly prompted the last two to introduce themselves.

"I'm Jessica Jones, an apprentice private investigator and ex-bail bond agent. My class is Rogue. I have two skills: one is Stealth, and the other is Short Blade Mastery." As she said this, Jessica crouched down, and to our shock, she disappeared from sight. Moments later, she reappeared sitting on the couch next to Olivia, causing the poor girl to jump in fright.

"Cool, right? Now, last but not least, let's see what our final member is about," Jessica said, drawing our attention to the skittish boy, who seemed to grow shy under everyone's gaze but still managed to push out a quiet introduction.

"My name is Richie Lipschitz. I was still in high school and worked part-time. My class is Sorrowful Paladin, and I have two skills. The first is Warhammer Mastery, and the second is Imbue Divine, which adds a holy effect to all my attacks." Hearing Richie's introduction, I felt like he would prove to be a valuable part of the team, but only time would tell.

- - - - - - - -

FUCK! I did it again I went over my 2k limit! be glad this chapter is now exactly 2455 words long! 

Also opinions are welcome are any of you happy with the classes? Also any suggestion of what to do with the group keep it to everyone but the rouge I have special plans for her.

Oh yeah didn't want to have a lame ass monk character so added abit something to his title