Summoning Lv. 2

A year and ten months had passed since Allen was first born into this world. Two months from now he would turn two.

Thanks to being blessed with loving parents, he grew up quickly and healthily. Just a while ago he had become fully weaned. Although the family was poor, Rodin and Theresia poured everything they had into bringing up Allen. He had started thinking that this, too, was a form of happiness.

The lifestyle of a serf was not all that terrible. According to Allen's knowledge from his previous world, there were two things that defined a serf:

The lack of freedom to choose a profession and the inability to own land. This was a system that had been quite common up until the 19th century. From what he observed, the serfs in this world also seemed to be under similar restrictions.

Furthermore, Allen had figured out within the past ten months that this world's calendar was also split into twelve months per year. Each month had thirty days, and these thirty days were further divided into five weeks of six days each.

What's more, there were four seasons, with the environment changing according to whether it was spring, summer, fall, or winter. There was snowfall in winter, at least enough to make Allen's house—which had negligible insulation, being little more than a shack—quite cold.

Memories of the past ten months flashed by in an instant as Allen stared at the lines of text currently displayed on the cover of his grimoire. Although the cover itself was jet-black, whenever Allen used a skill or there was a change to his Status, a notification would appear in silver letters, rather like the system log of a game.

And within the lines of silver, there was now one that shone gold. Going forward, Allen was going to associate this color with happiness.

<The Skill XP of Creation has reached 1,000/1,000.

Creation has reached Lvl. 2. Summoning has reached Lvl.

2. You have obtained Synthesis Lvl. 1. You have obtained Expansion Lvl. 1. The Memo function has been added to the grimoire.>

"HELL YEAAAAHHHHH!!!"

This was the moment when Allen, as a gamer, finally felt rewarded for all his prior effort. He did not care anymore about the bland food or cold winters. Thanks to it being summer, Theresia was currently out in the fields with Rodin, so he could whoop as loudly as he wanted.

'Oh my god, where do I even start? Right, Status! What's my Status like now?!'

There were plenty of things that Allen wanted to examine regarding the golden text on the cover of his grimoire, but he decided to first see what changes had come with the level up.

___

Name: Allen

Age: 1

Class: Summoner

Level: 1

HP: 4 (40) + 8

MP: 0 (20)

Attack: 1 (10) + 8

Endurance: 1 (10) + 2

Agility: 2 (25) + 2

Intelligence: 3 (30)

Luck: 2 (25)

Skills: Summoning {2}, Creation {2}, Synthesis {1}, Expansion {1}, Deletion

XP: 0/1,000

Skill Levels

Summoning: 2

Creation: 2

Synthesis: 1

Skill Experience

Creation: 0/10,000

Synthesis: 0/1,000

Creatable Summons

Insect: G, H

Beast: G, H

???: G

Holder

Insect: H x 2

Beast: H x 8

???:

___

'Th-This is... Whoa, what's this new "???" field?'

There were so many exciting new changes that Allen found himself frozen with indecision for a short while. He gripped the grimoire with his small, chubby hands and simply stared at it for fifteen minutes.

'No, stop, calm down. Uh, so, Creation has gone up, Summoning has gone up, and now I can Summon Rank G creatures? So maybe the higher Summoning becomes, the more variety of Summons will be available? I really want to try Creating the newly added Summons right now, but I'm out of MP.

So that will have to wait until later. Let's see what we can learn about everything else then.

All right, first, "Synthesis." Does this mean I'll be able to Synthesize Summons? They're usually kept in card form, so if I combine cards together, it'll give me a completely different Summon? But to try it out, I'd also need MP, and...yep, it's still at 0.

Okay, next. To level up Creation again, I'd need 10,000 Skill XP. Why the hell is it ten times higher?! Even if I manage to maintain a pace of Creating three cards a day, it'd still take me four and a half years. That's way too long. Maybe I should look for a way to raise my overall level to gain more MP.

As for "Expansion"... Oh! There are now twenty total impressions inside the grimoire! Since I get stat bonuses from each card I have in stock, being able to stock twice the number of cards means I can double the buffs from before! Nice!

And lastly, what's this about the "Memo" function? Oooo, there're blank pages labeled "Memo" now. And it picks up on my thoughts and automatically dictates them! Sweet! This is going to be so convenient. Maybe all the prayers I sent up really did reach the gods.

Well then, I think that's about it for now. My MP is still at 0, so let's nap, then continue this tonight.'

Allen dozed off once again, warmed not only by the noontime sun but also by the knowledge of all the blessings that leveling up had brought him.

***

As soon as Rodin and Theresia arrived home, they left their farming equipment in the earthen-floored area and used water from a large jug to wash the dirt off their hands. After washing their faces as well, they took a few gulps. Every morning, Rodin refilled this jug at the well. The family also used this water to do their cooking.

"Were you a good boy, Allen, hon? I'll have dinner ready soon." By now, Theresia's baby talk had decreased by quite a bit. It was apparently a conscious decision made for Allen's sake, considering how his weaning period had ended.

"Yes, mama," Allen replied.

Just as Theresia promised, dinner was done in no time at all. As cooking here in Rodin's family rarely involved using spices and condiments, it was mostly a matter of boiling or grilling. It was Rodin's job to crush the greens, beans, or potatoes that Allen would be eating. Once everything was ready, the family simply dug in without saying grace or praying over the food. Since this village was rather isolated, conversation over the dinner table usually revolved around the same few topics.

"Oh, right, Gerda mentioned that Krena's getting so active that she's becoming quite a handful. He asked if Allen could become her playmate."

"Hm?" Allen looked up, recalling the pink-haired child that he had seen in the arms of the man named Gerda.

'Oh right, we have neighbors. Although I haven't seen them since that time with the great boar.'

The fields tilled by the frontier villagers were quite expansive, so despite technically being neighbors, Gerda's house was much too far for Allen, who had not turned two yet, to travel to all by himself. In addition, Theresia and Rodin were still insistent on not letting him out of the house by himself, so he obediently stayed home. Because of this, Allen had only seen their "neighbors" once.

"That sounds like a good idea," Theresia replied happily. "The two of them might get married in the future, so I hope they get along well!"

Allen and Krena were of the same age, and their parents were already close. In the insular world of serfs, it was quite common for children under such circumstances to marry each other.

"I can go outside?" Allen asked, perking up.

Theresia ruffled his hair. "Once you become three, all right?"

Unfortunately, his ban on going outside was still in place until he turned three, even if it was to visit their neighbor's house.

***

After their peaceful dinner was over, Allen returned to his room.

'Heh heh heh, my MP's recovered! Without further ado, let's get started.

Hmm, should I try Synthesis, or should I try Creating a Rank G card? All right, let's go with Synthesis!'

Out came the grimoire. As soon as Allen strongly thought, 'Synthesize!' the pages started flapping. It turned to a spread where the left page had two impressions and the right had a single impression.

'Does this mean I'm supposed to combine two cards together into one? I'm not sure what the conditions are for Synthesizing. Well, if it's all the same, let's start with two Beast H cards.'

Allen took two Beast H cards out of their holders and slotted them into this page.

'Synthesize!'

However, nothing happened.

'Did I do it wrong?'

Allen checked the log on the front of the grimoire. He had developed the habit of doing this often, as a notification would appear there whenever anything happened. And sure enough, there was a new message.

<You do not have enough MP to use Synthesis Lvl. 1.>

"Wha—?! Not enough?!" Allen inadvertently cried out loud. He clapped his hands over his mouth in a fluster. As it turned out, 2 MP was not enough to use the Synthesis skill.

'Wait, is that it? Even my max MP isn't enough. Um, okay, what about Creating a Rank G card?'

As he was unsure what "???" was, Allen decided to attempt Creating a Beast G card.

'Create: Beast G!'

Again, nothing happened. And again, there was a message on the front cover.

<You do not have enough MP to Create a Beast G card.>

'Whaaaat?! My current MP isn't enough to cast Synthesis or Create Rank G cards?!'

Allen found himself at a complete loss. As it turned out, there was still a lot that he could not do despite having leveled up.