The Creator

“Seriously?”

Allen was alone in the fallow field, muttering to himself. He’d been analyzing E-rank Summons for three days now.

On the third day, he finally had a complete set of E-rank Summons.

He’d spent the past three days collecting Magic Stones. E-rank Summons required Magic Stones. Magical beasts existed from E-rank onward, so he wondered if Summons started requiring Magic Stones at E-rank, too.

Magic Stones were found inside magical beasts, apparently near their hearts. He’d learned this from Peromus, the Village Chief’s son. Peromus was knowledgeable and knew everything, unlike Allen.

As for how Magic Stones were used, they went into magic tools. Apparently, they served as their power source. Peromus had seen a magic tool for lighting in the town where the lord lived.

But there were no magic tools in this village, so there seemed to be no demand for Magic Stones at all. D- and C-rank Magic Stones were taken to the town where the lord lived, but E-rank ones were practically trash. They weren’t even worth a single copper coin.

As a result, some people saved the Magic Stones when they caught horned rabbits, while others threw them away. Gerda was one of the latter. Gerda had tossed them into the yard like garbage, and Allen had managed to pick up a few there.

The Magic Stones from Allen and Krena’s homes weren’t enough to create and synthesize every E-rank Summon. So he asked the serfs who came to draw water in the morning, and finally collected enough to complete his set. The Magic Stones weren’t worth much, and the serfs who’d helped butcher the Alba Herons gave them to him willingly.

Allen was in the lush thicket of the fallow field because there was something he absolutely had to confirm. The Summon was bigger than the thicket.

Anyone passing by could see him, but his mind was so full of something far more important that he didn’t care.

“So this is what the creator intended.”

As he touched the Summon before him, he realized something.

Games were made with the developers’ intentions in mind. They wanted you to develop a Job in a certain way, or to make it useful in battle in a particular way. There was always some intention behind it. For example, a Swordsman had high Attack and Health, so the developers intended them to serve as a shield protecting everyone else.

Some players deliberately went against the developers’ intentions. That was called a joke playstyle. For example, a Mage might focus on physical attacks with a mace, even though they were normally bad at using one. It was obvious which would make you stronger: playing as intended or going for a joke playstyle.

Understanding the developers’ intentions was essential for a gamer.

In a normal game, you could look them up on a strategy site or ask other players. But this was another world. He had to figure things out for himself.

He’d spent a long time wondering what a Summoner was. He’d thought it over for seven years. It was his own Job, after all. What kind of fighting style was it meant for? How could he understand its purpose and bring out its full potential? Those were the questions he’d been pondering.

Summons weren’t simply meant to fight. He’d realized that after seeing the special skills of H- and F-rank Summons. But that wasn’t all. By collecting the E-rank Summons, he’d finally understood the creator’s intentions—or at least, he was getting closer to understanding them.

He was stunned to learn the intentions of the god who had created the Summoner Job.

These were the E-rank Summons.

・Stats for Insect E in butterfly form

【Type】 Insect

【Rank】 E

【Name】 Ageha

【Health】 25

【Magic】 0

【Attack】 20

【Endurance】 50

【Agility】 50

【Intelligence】 24

【Luck】 28

【Blessing】 Endurance 10, Agility 10

【Special Skill】 Scale Powder

・Stats for Beast E in saber-toothed tiger form

【Type】 Beast

【Rank】 E

【Name】 Tama

【Health】 50

【Magic】 0

【Attack】 50

【Endurance】 20

【Agility】 35

【Intelligence】 28

【Luck】 21

【Blessing】 Health 10, Attack 10

【Special Skill】 Scratch

・Stats for Bird E in hawk form

【Type】 Bird

【Rank】 E

【Name】 Hawk

【Health】 23

【Magic】 0

【Attack】 22

【Endurance】 24

【Agility】 50

【Intelligence】 50

【Luck】 27

【Blessing】 Agility 10, Intelligence 10

【Special Skill】 Hawk Eye

・Stats for Plant E in edamame form

【Type】 Plant

【Rank】 E

【Name】 Mametaro

【Health】 21

【Magic】 50

【Attack】 20

【Endurance】 22

【Agility】 20

【Intelligence】 13

【Luck】 50

【Blessing】 Magic 10, Luck 10

【Special Skill】 Life Herb

・Stats for Stone E in earthen-wall form

【Type】 Stone

【Rank】 E

【Name】 Kabeo

【Health】 50

【Magic】 20

【Attack】 33

【Endurance】 50

【Agility】 20

【Intelligence】 23

【Luck】 28

【Blessing】 Health 10, Endurance 10

【Special Skill】 Harden

The shock left his mind blank. He quickly came to his senses and turned the Stone E Summon back into a card.

He looked over the special skills of each Summon in the grimoire.

(It’s safe to say each type has a clearly defined role.)

He organized the roles of the different Summon types, making notes as he went.

・Insect type

Taunt, cling, scale powder

Their abilities clearly inflicted debuffs on enemies: Taunt made enemies angry, while cling lowered their Attack. From its name, he guessed that scale powder could cause confusion, paralysis, sleep, or other such effects.

・Beast type

Their abilities are digging, biting, and scratching.

This was the only type focused entirely on attacking. With high Health and Attack, Beasts struck at enemies. They would be the main force for defeating magical beasts. Digging wasn’t an attack, but attack-focused Summons would always be high-rank. He guessed that digging had been chosen as a useful ability because G-rank Beasts were too weak.

・Bird type

Their abilities are voice mimicry, message, and hawk eye.

Voice mimicry let them copy other people’s voices, and they could even change what they said. It would be useful for infiltrating enemy territory. Message let them relay information to people far away. Hawk eye was probably an ability for spotting enemies. Their main uses would be espionage and gathering information.

・Plant type

Their abilities are aroma and Life Herb.

This was a type focused on healing. From its name, he guessed that Life Herb restored Health. He expected more healing abilities to be added in the future.

・Stone type

Their ability is hardening.

It seemed he could take cover behind a Stone Summon to avoid enemy attacks. This was a defensive type focused on protecting others.

He still had to test the E-rank abilities, but the different types’ skills made it easier to predict what they could do.

Every Summon had a role. Their stats reflected that, with their two most important stats for fulfilling that role being the highest.

(So a Summoner can do everything, from attacking and defending to debuffing, healing, and scouting? Maybe the new Summon types added in the future will let them do things they can’t do yet.)

A Summoner could fill the roles of all kinds of Jobs on their own. They could attack like a Swordsman, heal like a Priest, and scout like a Thief. Any Jobs they couldn’t fill yet would probably be covered when new Summon types were added in the future.

Allen understood that this was the Summoner Job as intended by its creator, God.

He opened the grimoire. It contained the Storage Skill, which connected to another dimension. He could store any amount of firewood in it. It might be able to hold an infinite number of items, as long as they fit through the thirty-centimeter-square opening.

(I’ll need a lot of Magic Stones from now on.)

These were the Magic Stones required for Summons of each type.

・Insect type: 1

・Beast type: 1

・Bird type: 3

・Plant type: 5

・Stone type: 9

It seemed that the Summon types added later required more Magic Stones. Filling all forty slots he’d just unlocked with Stone Summons would take a whopping 360 Magic Stones.

(I couldn’t carry dozens or hundreds of Magic Stones around, so that’s why the Storage Skill was unlocked. The Magic Stones keep getting bigger, too.)

Magic Stones grew larger as their rank increased. He’d have to carry a lot of them around.

・E-rank Magic Stone: about the size of a pinky fingernail

・D-rank Magic Stone: about the size of the first joint of a thumb

・C-rank Magic Stone: about the size of a ping-pong ball

A scene from somewhere came to mind.

It was a vision of himself, having mastered the Summoner Job. The strongest Summons, and a great many of them, surrounded Allen.

It was an invincible army, capable of fighting any enemy under any circumstances. The Summons did everything. Allen was a Summoner surrounded by Summons advancing and sweeping away every enemy in their path.

“An invincible army... Is this the power of a Summoner said to surpass the Demon King?”

He couldn’t help saying it aloud.

It seemed he could devote himself even more than before to becoming a stronger Summoner.

Allen had come to understand a little of the intentions of the god who had created the Summoner Job.