Day Off (2)

Five goblins, human-shaped monsters, stood before me. Their green bodies were heavily muscled. They were only about 150 centimeters tall, but they gripped daggers and clubs in their hands. They seemed to think a little boy would make an easy meal, and they couldn't stop grinning.

(Oops, I've run into them.)

I would've preferred to spot them from beneath the trees and get the jump on them, but we'd made eye contact. The basic rule in combat was to strike first.

"Gugyagyagya!"

One of them shouted, and the others reacted, each charging at me with whatever weapon they had.

(Tama and the others, come out!)

"Grrrr!"

Five Beast E Summons shaped like saber-toothed tigers appeared all at once, surrounding Allen. Naturally, they were all enhanced. As long as I focused, I could summon any number of Summons at once. Summoning them didn't consume any Magic.

"Gug?"

The goblins charging toward me flinched for a moment at the sudden appearance of the Summons.

Just then.

"Grrrr!"

I summoned another five Beast E Summons behind the group of goblins, trapping them between the two groups. I could summon them anywhere within fifty meters, as long as it was in my field of vision. Flanking the enemy was a basic battle tactic. At my command, the Summons used their special ability, Scratch.

The goblins were flustered at being caught between the two groups. They didn't seem very intelligent. When a goblin turned around, the Summons I'd called between Allen and the goblins attacked.

(All right, time to test Ageha. Come out!)

Two of the goblins had already been taken down. I continued my tests before the rest were finished off.

A one-meter-wide butterfly-shaped Insect E Summon appeared. It beat its wings at the two surviving goblins, scattering yellow scales. Despite being in the middle of a fight, both goblins promptly collapsed into sleep.

I took a stone from Storage and threw it with all my strength at the face of a goblin that was standing asleep and losing its balance.

(Huh, did that not finish it off?)

The grimoire still hadn't displayed a log saying it had been defeated. The Beast E Summons finished off the goblin, whose face had been caved in.

"You defeated one Goblin. You acquired 200 EXP."

(Hmm, 200 EXP for one, and 1,000 for five. Whoo!)

I was thrilled to be earning EXP. An Alba Heron was worth 100 EXP, while a Great Boar was worth 400. Toward the end, when I'd learned to hunt Great Boars in groups, I'd earned about 1,200 EXP from them.

But I figured this was a better deal than hunting boars.

(I need to think about efficiency whenever I'm earning EXP. Looks like goblins offer more EXP per hour.)

Back when Allen was Kenichi, he'd used the term “EXP per hour” as a measure of experience-gaining efficiency in games. It meant how much EXP you could earn in an hour. Hunting Great Boars meant spending six hours traveling there and back, for a maximum of 1,200 EXP. In this fight, I'd earned 1,000 EXP in less than two hours.

The Great Boar hunt came to 200 EXP per hour, while goblins gave me 500. Goblins were clearly more efficient.

The Bird E Summons were circling overhead. It looked like they might have found my next prey.

(All right, I'll collect the Magic Stones and move on to the next hunt. So the scales inflict sleep as a debuff. And one Summon was enough to affect them. Just as I'd expected.)

I suspected that the special abilities used by Insect-type Summons followed certain rules when inflicting debuffs. I wanted to get to the bottom of them this time.

I gripped my dagger and approached the goblins I'd defeated. I cut into each one near the heart and removed its Magic Stone. It wasn't a pleasant task, but Magic Stones were valuable. They seemed like they would be vital to a Summoner in particular. I couldn't afford to waste them, so I took the Magic Stones from all the goblins.

The Beast E Summons stayed around me as I worked. There might still be other goblins nearby. I couldn't risk being attacked from behind.

(All right, all right, nice and quick—Magic Stones collected. Hawks, I hope we get more goblins next! Any Hawk that finds five or more goblins, come down. For now, search within three kilometers. If you find anything else, use Hawk Eye and keep looking.)

Four of the Bird E Summons went off to search again. They must have found something other than goblins, or only a few goblins. Two Bird E Summons came down. One of them ran toward the monster it had found.

Before I knew it, time had passed. The sun had sunk quite a bit.

(All right, all right! I took down eighty goblins and five Horned Rabbits! I leveled up twice! Days off are the best!)

EXP for one Goblin: 200

EXP for one Horned Rabbit: 10

I earned a total of 16,050 EXP. I leveled up twice, reaching level nine.

After spending the whole day testing things, I figured out the rules for the special abilities of Insect-type Summons.

• To inflict a status ailment on a monster one rank higher, you need one Summon's special ability

• To inflict a status ailment on a monster two ranks higher, you need two Summons

• You need one additional Summon for each additional rank

• The chance of inflicting a status ailment isn't 100% (and doesn't reach 100% even if you add more Summons)

• One Summon can inflict a debuff on multiple monsters

I needed three Insect G Summons to enrage an Alba Heron, a D-rank monster three ranks above them. An Insect E Summon could inflict a debuff on multiple D-rank monsters in a group of goblins, which were one rank above it.

The scales inflicted sleep. A single Summon could put multiple goblins to sleep. The debuff seemed to take effect about eighty percent of the time. Maybe goblins were especially susceptible, but that was an incredible success rate.

But I didn't get through the day unscathed. My Beast E Summons were occasionally defeated. The muscular goblins seemed to take them out fairly easily. I'd enhanced their HP and attack power, but they were lacking in speed and durability. Their lower rank compared to the goblins was probably another reason.

I started each fight by using the scales, but when too many goblins resisted, my Summons took hits. As a result, I hunted Horned Rabbits to find E-rank Magic Stones.

I also found out that I couldn't use a Goblin's D-rank Magic Stone to create an E-rank Summon. Creating and combining Summons required Magic Stones of the same rank.

(All right, on to the next one. Where are the goblins?)

I'd become a Goblin Killer. Since goblins traveled in groups and were easy to defeat, I'd come to see them as ideal prey.

Then the Bird E Summons circled through the sky and came down again. All six of them.

(Oh? What's wrong? Are you tired? I'm still good to go.)

It reminded me of when I'd played online games and spent about eight hours hunting nonstop, until my party members got mad and told me they were exhausted.

But this didn't seem to be the same thing. It seemed they couldn't fly. The Bird E Summons shook their heads.

Dusk was falling. The sun would be completely gone soon.

(Could it be that they can't see because it's dark?)

The Bird E Summons all nodded.

"You're night-blind?! Well, you are birds, I guess. Seriously, you can't scout when it's dark? That's bad."

I blurted it out loud.

I'd gotten so caught up in hunting that I'd lost my sense of direction. I'd been hunting all day. I had no idea where I was or how far I'd traveled from Granvelle City.

(I'd been planning to ask Hawk where the city was, but it looks like I'll have to find my own way back.)

I used the sun's position to get a rough sense of direction, then ran toward what I thought was the right way as darkness closed in.

A few hours passed.

"Oh! You're alive, young master!"

"Y-yes."

It was the gate guard I'd seen that morning. It was pitch-black all around now. Thinking how hard it must be to stay at the gate all day, I showed the guard the crest I'd taken out of Storage.

(That was dangerous. I need to stop hunting a little earlier next time.)

I regretted getting so caught up in the hunt. And so, Allen's first full day off came to an end.