Enhancement

About two months had passed since the Knights left. It was now late September, and Allen was almost six. Despite the lingering heat, Rodan was plowing the fields.

The only unusual thing that had happened recently was that Telesia had become pregnant with their third child. The village midwife had just come by and told them. Since they had only just found out, the baby was due after the new year.

So, to let Telesia rest, Rodan was working the fields alone for now.

Telesia insisted that she wanted to name their third child herself. Rodan had named both Allen and Mash. Apparently, they had agreed that Rodan would name any boys and Telesia any girls, so Rodan said he hoped it would be a girl. It seemed he was fully prepared to name another boy after a magic beast.

Avoiding direct sunlight, Allen stared at his Grimoire, leaning against a tree whose bark had been peeled away in a round patch after being struck tens of thousands of times by something hard.

Yellow letters appeared on the Grimoire.

'Your Synthesis Skill experience has reached 10,000/10,000. Your Synthesis Level has increased to 3. Your Summon Level has increased to 3. Your Grimoire's expansion function has increased to Level 2. You acquired the Enhancement Skill. You have received 1 notification.'

"Yes! It finally went up! That took forever. Though, wow, that's a lot of information. Which should I check first?"

The moment his Synthesis Skill experience reached 10,000, a flood of logs appeared all at once.

(That took a while. It finally happened after I turned three. It's been one year and eleven months since I became able to raise my Synthesis Skill level.)

This was the result of using his Mana every day to use Create and Synthesis. His Mana fully recovered in six hours, so he used his Skills at least three times a day, and sometimes four when the timing worked out. After repeating that routine, he had finally managed to raise his Skill level.

・ At 1 year, 0 months: Acquired the Grimoire; Summon Level 1; Summons at Rank H

・ At 1 year, 10 months: Summon Level 2; Acquired the Synthesis Skill

・ At 3 years, 0 months: Summons at Rank G

・ At 5 years, 11 months: Summon Level 3; Acquired the Enhancement Skill; Summons at Rank F

The log contained a lot of intriguing information. The first thing to check was his status, so he opened the Grimoire and checked the displays on the first and second pages.

【Name】 Allen

【Age】 5

【Job】 Summoner

【Level】 1

【Health】 20 (40) +26

【Magic】 0 (20)

【Attack】 5 (10) +26

【Durability】 5 (10) +6

【Speed】 12 (25) +10

【Intelligence】 15 (30) +4

【Luck】 12 (25)

【Skills】 Summon〈3〉, Create〈3〉, Synthesis〈3〉, Enhancement〈1〉, Expansion〈2〉, Delete, Swordsmanship〈3〉, Throwing〈3〉

【Experience】 0/1,000

・ Skill Levels

【Summon】 3

【Create】 3

【Synthesis】 3

【Enhancement】 1

・ Skill Experience

【Create】 8,786/100,000

【Synthesis】 0/100,000

【Enhancement】 0/1,000

・ Summons Available

【Insect】 FGH

【Beast】 FGH

【Bird】 FG

【－】 F

・ Holder

【Insect】 2 Rank G cards, 2 Rank H cards,

【Beast】 13 Rank G cards

【Bird】 2 Rank G cards

【－】

(Whoa! The Enhancement Skill has been added!! And, just as I expected, Rank F Summons are unlocked, too. Like with the Rank H Bird, does it show 【－】 until I get one by synthesizing? I wonder what's next! Maybe a dragon! I want a dragon. Summon Divine Dragon!)

His Skill levels had gone up, and he couldn't contain his excitement. He calmed himself down and thought about what to check next.

(Hmm, I just ran out of Magic, so I'll have to try creating and synthesizing Rank F Summons after dinner. What else can I check?)

He flipped through the Grimoire.

(Whoa, the card holder has expanded to 30 slots!!)

The message that the expansion function had reached Level 2 meant that the number of Summon cards he could hold had increased from 20 to 30. Allen thought that would give him a lot more blessings.

(All right, is that everything I can check for now? Then there's the first message from a god in a while.)

One page near the back of the Grimoire was glowing. A notification from the god had arrived again, just like when he was one year old.

(Hmm, I guess they finally decided to apologize. Let's see.)

'Dear Allen-sama,

We would like to express our sincere gratitude for your continued patronage.

We sincerely apologize for the unclear display of your Job during the Appraisal Ceremony.

We also apologize for the delay in responding.

First, regarding the improvements: from now on, your Talent field will display 'Summoner' during the Appraisal Ceremony. We have also informed the High Pope through a divine revelation that a new Job has been added. Please understand that, as with other Jobs, we have not provided details about this Job.

Next, in response to your question about why all your ability values were Rank E:

As you know, abilities are determined based on both stat growth and leveling speed. Leveling up—which this world refers to as God's Trials—is not something whose progress is made public. For that reason, the mode, which determines the difficulty of the Trials, is not made public either.

As a result, since the system takes both stat growth and leveling speed into account, all your ability values will remain Rank E. We ask for your understanding.

However, it would be unfair for you alone to be unable to know your stat growth values.

We are sending you the ability values you would receive if appraised based solely on stat growth. This information has also been added to the memo section, so you will still be able to check it after the letter disappears. Please note that the appraisal results do not take the blessings of your Summons into account.

【Name】 Allen

【Health】 A

【Magic】 S

【Attack】 C

【Durability】 C

【Speed】 A

【Intelligence】 S

【Luck】 A

【Talent】 Summoner

All of us on the staff of the divine realm will continue striving to improve our service. We hope you will continue to favor us with your patronage.

We believe that, with this response, we have offered a full apology and demonstrated our sincerity.

We kindly ask that you refrain from making similar complaints in the future.

From Elmea, God of the Other World'

When he finished reading, the letter disappeared. Sure enough, Allen's ability values and Talent were displayed in the Grimoire's memo section.

(Hmm, after I kept asking them to fix it for about five months, I finally got a reply. That's a very polite letter. So my appraisal results will still be all E from now on. Still, that's the first time I've seen the phrase 'informed through a divine revelation.')

The appraisal results would remain all E, but the letter carefully explained that the god had informed the High Pope through a divine revelation that Allen was a Summoner.

He remembered that, back when he'd been Kenichi in the real world, the game publisher had sent him a similarly polite notice when his game equipment data had disappeared.

Just because the notification was long and polite didn't mean he should keep making forceful complaints. The other party was a god. They might even erase him from existence.

(Hmm, my abilities are kind of like Krena's Sword Saint stats, but with a back-row class. The number of S, A, B, and C ranks is about the same as a Sword Saint's. I see.)

He compared his own ability values with the ones he'd written down for Krena in the Grimoire. When he'd checked the Sword Saint's abilities in the real world, the Job had been rated three stars. That meant he had abilities on par with a three-star Job, even without any blessings.

(Leveling up meant overcoming God's Trials, right?)

He'd once asked Rodan, who hunted Great Boars, what it felt like to level up. Rodan had indeed said something about overcoming God's Trials and growing stronger.

He'd finished investigating the matter and checking the letter's contents. All that remained was to try Enhancement and create and synthesize Rank F Summons. He'd run out of Magic, so he'd continue after dinner.

It was evening, and dinner was over. At Allen's house, they started making dinner a little after four. Before five, they gathered around the hearth to eat, then relaxed in the children's room. Since Telesia was pregnant, Allen took the initiative to clear the table and wash the dishes.

By the time he finished, it was almost six. When he entered the children's room, Mash came over to play with him.

"Big bro, play with me."

Allen played with Mash. After dinner, Mash was full and fell asleep before they'd even played for thirty minutes. Allen covered Mash, who was sleeping like the dead, with a blanket.

(There, there. Mash is asleep, too. What should I do now?)

It was finally time for himself. There was still a little time before sunset.

(For now, I'll try Enhancement. Maybe I'll create Rank F Summons tomorrow.)

It seemed he'd decided to try Enhancement first rather than create Rank F Summons. There were four Rank F Summons, including the unknown one, and he wanted to analyze Enhancement before dealing with them.

(Enhancement!)

He tried willing it. Silver letters appeared on the cover of the Grimoire.

'Which card would you like to enhance?'

(Oh? It didn't say I didn't have enough Magic. I only have 10 Magic, so I thought it would say I didn't have enough.)

He remembered when his Create Level had gone up at one year and ten months, but he hadn't had enough Magic, so he'd had to wait until he was three.

(Then, um... enhance Insect H!)

One of the Insect H cards in the holder floated in front of Allen and began to glow gold.

(Whoa!!!)

He clamped a hand over his mouth, trying not to make a sound as he marveled at it. The light faded, and the card's color had changed.

(Let's see... Whoa!! The blank border around the card's illustration is gleaming gold!!!)

The blank area around the grasshopper illustration had changed from white to gold-white. Words were written along the bottom of the border.

'Durability +10, Speed +10'

(So the Summon's stats have gone up. I see, Enhancement makes a Summon's stats stronger. So Summons can be enhanced, not just raised to a higher rank.)

The grasshopper illustration itself was unchanged. It didn't seem like the Summon's appearance had changed.

(Could Denka have gotten bigger? I should summon it and see!!)

He wanted to check whether the Summon had not only changed in appearance, but also doubled in size.

"Whoa?! The Summon is glowing faintly. So you can tell it's been enhanced just by looking at it? Its size hasn't changed, though."

The grasshopper didn't seem to have changed size. However, it glowed faintly when enhanced, so you could tell from its appearance that it had been strengthened.

"Allen, Mash, it's time for bed... Wait, what—?"

"Eep!"

Apparently, she'd noticed Allen's voice. Telesia came into the children's room, where the children were taking forever to fall asleep.

Telesia's eyes met the grasshopper's.

"Aaaaaah! A bug!! Why is this bug in the children's room?!"

The Insect H Summon was trampled just the same as ever, Enhancement and all, and vanished in a glowing bubble.

"Um, good night..."

Allen acted as if nothing had happened, kept a calm expression, pulled the blanket over his head, and went to sleep.