At noon, Sylvia's group already ran out of Stamina potions and Mana potions. Thus, they are forced to use the [Recall Scroll] item which Zeke prepared for them. As far as the elves are concerned, the scroll is an ancient item and so, they didn't want to use it so casually. However, Zeke showed that he still has a bunch more, making the group re-evaluate their thoughts on such a powerful piece of paper.
The scroll is only made available now together with the [Stamina Potions]. On the system's [Store] the items are limited to what the patch offers. That's why Zeke is so thankful that he finally has items such as this. Apart from this are explosives such as grenades which made Zeke think that, in future patches, guns will also be available in the shop.
"That'll be really useful especially if I infuse some spells into them." Zeke thought to himself. But then, an idea struck him. An idea that he needed to keep hanging as someone began to speak.
"Are you guys still going at it?" Sylph asked through the [Voice Chat].
"What's this? You seem to be enjoying the communication channel too much." Zeke replied jokingly.
"S-shut up. This is the first time I got my hands on such an advanced version of the communication crystal. What's wrong with using it often." The embarrassed archer replied.
What the [Voice Chat] function looks like is a small tab that everyone sees on their screen. The members of the party can choose to [Mute] it or to leave the communication open to only a selected number of people. This is done through thought command.
Apart from this, the party system allows the members to assess the experience bars and the levels gained. Apart from Sylvia who has reached level 90 even before coming to the realm, everyone is shocked by the numbers they gained from fighting.
After all, it's not an easy feat to raise one's level once it hits 30. Zeke also sees this of course. After all, he monitors the growth of every member of the party, getting more excited than they are.
"This is like experience grinding for my units." He thought to himself, thickening his [Poison Clouds] and letting the experience points come rushing in toward himself and his party members.
"At this point the experience bars look like download bars that keeps getting higher and higher." He thought tot himself, collecting all the materials dropped by the monsters and crafting new ones. He sold the lowest grade materials and items, getting more money to spend for more potions that could be used for grinding.
"Allesiah will come back soon, just wait for her." Zeke told the group, this made Allesiah respond while also limiting the [Voice Chat] to herself and Zeke.
"What do you mean? I can still fight." Allesiah replied.
"Don't be silly. How many vials of the [Stamina Potion] do you have left?" Zeke answered, knowing that she would've also run out of the item just like the group.
"Fine. But I'll take one more wave before going back." She replied as if the act is a form of defiance to Zeke.
Right after they finished talking, Zeke focused on the matters at hand. With all the items he sold, he is able to buy another set of potions, enabling him to continually use mana for his [Poison Cloud].
Soon after, the area became deserted as his units continued pressing forward until, they surrounded the crystal which continued spawning more monsters. Zeke covered the area with 20 layers of [Poison Cloud] draining the health of the monsters as soon as they get summoned.
The others who've come back to the cabin saw this on their [Minimap] display. A group of blue dotted units circled the area with the summoning crystal in the middle. On the same area is a green color and, they saw the red dots vanish after only a few seconds of having come out.
"Do you even need to train Mister Zeke?" Sebastian asked.
"Of course I do. You haven't seen how powerful Gallio is and, I don't think his troops will be any weaker than he is." Zeke replied, remembering the kick that depleted his health pool with [Mana Conversion] already activated.
"He took me out with a single kick. It wasn't even a skill shot. It was a kick. A kick took out my entire health pool." He said.
"That's how strong he is?" Sylvia asked, imagining Gallio to have another body. She can't accept that Gallio and Hark are one.
"Yes. That's why we need to get stronger." He replied.
"Well we can't fight on an empty stomach, can we? So you better come back here for lunch." Harun said as she began cooking. Yaeger gave them permission to use the kitchen, ensuring them that she also uses normal ingredients for food.
"Yes, I'll be coming after an hour. You guys should just rest."
"Roger that." Keith replied who stayed inside the cabin the whole time.
At this, they closed the communication channel, making Zeke focus on another task at hand. One which involves the creation of new units.
Zeke increased the amount of [Poison Cloud] which surrounded the area of the crystal and, made his troops fall further back. This gave more area for the monsters to run off to and, after perfectly computing the distance they'd run before dying, Zeke proceeded to merging his monsters.
"Cull." He said, making the Bladebow user come forward.
As the monster is only a merged version of three adventurers, Cull's power is the second lowest level on the group with Al being the weakest. The only reason why Al is even strong is because of the sword he is using.
After calling out Cull, Zeke also called all the sword wielding and bow wielding unit he currently has. He thought how Cull has no chance of evolving anytime soon so, as an alternative, he'll force the evolution by putting together more units.
"Conjure Merge" Zeke said, turning all the units into tongues of fire. The larger fire in the middle of it all contains Cull. Little by little, the smaller flames came inside, with the notifications that followed.
[Merging Succeeded]
[Merging Succeeded]
[Merging Failed]
[Merging Failed]
[Merging Succeeded]
[Merging Failed]
As he performed this, he also conjured the monsters which he fought on his are. Creating new ones to compensate for all the units he is currently losing due to Cull's evolution. Then, he thought of an idea as he took what's left of the Shadow Wolves and added them to the merging.
"I hope this works." He told himself, seeing the flame turn into a light green which slowly became darker and darker. Then, it began taking in the shape of a wolf's head and, as it finished, the new monster finally came out.
The unit looked human, without a small trace of being a wolf including the ears, tail, and nails which looked sharper than normal. The unit also wore the same light armor as Cull initially had. Adding to this is a wolf shaped mask that covered its eyes. The mana emitted by the monster is a dark green, assuring Zeke that this is an evolved monster or one on the same level. Then, Zeke proceeded to looking at its stats.
[Name: Cull]
[Species: Conjured Beastman]
[Specification: Lycan Crossblade User]
[Rank: F-]
Aside from this, an information bar also showed up. This confirmed Zeke's suspicion of Cull attaining evolution as, it is only his conjured monsters with evolved forms that has an information tab.
[Information: Lycans are werewolves who have retained their human form. However, parts of their wolf genes still show with their ears and tail, adding to the claws which are as sharp as blades. Unlike the werewolves however, the Lycans have a consistent amount of strength which does not grow nor weaken depending on what face of the moon appears in the sky.]
[Information: A crossblade user is one with a bow that can be detached and turned into dual blades. The weapon shifts depending on the need of the user. On its bow form, the edges of the weapon gains blades while, on its sword form, the weapon can fire off slashes that does not consume mana.]
Aside from this, Cull also acquired skills which are beneficial for combat tactics that Zeke has yet to try.
[Skill Name: Peerless Archery]
[Skill Type: Passive]
[Mana Consumed: None]
[Information: The skill provides an added 20% accuracy to all the shots made by the Lycan.]
…
[Skill Name: Pre-Emptive Strike]
[Skill Type: Passive]
[Mana Consumed: None]
[Information: Every first strike done by the Lycan gains a bonus fear effect, stunning the enemies for a short duration and opening up the enemies for further attacks.]
"I guess that's as much as I can do for now." Zeke told himself, as another voice came up.
"Master where are you? The food's ready and sister Sylvia doesn't want to start without everyone being here."
"In my defense, Yaeger isn't there." Zeke replied.
"Ahhhh you know what I mean why are you making things difficult!" Allesiah replied, turning down the voice chat.
At this, Zeke wrapped up the first portion of the day's hunt. The number he needs to take down before summoning the real enemies is quite a lot and thus, he needed to make his conjured creatures much stronger.
He looked at Cull as he thought of this, smiling as he took out his transportation scroll.
"Let's continue tonight." He said, as the scroll took effect.