-----
"Remember that every three levels you get a new summon? Well, you also get an empty summon slot for that new summon, but you can skip it and use a Soul Orb instead if you want to."
"Oooh! I see…" I said. "Is there another way to not skip a Summon though?"
"You're technically not skipping it; the Soul Orb will become that summon!"
Soul Orbs were an interesting in-game mechanic, they seem to be dropped by Boss-type monsters and it allowed a Summoner-type Job Class to be able to use it to summon the Boss as a Summon! Ah, that sounded a bit confusing, but it literally meant that you were using the soul of the boss and turning it into a summon. However, there were requirements.
The requirements were pretty basic though, you just need a free Summon Slot. Summoning Skills received a New Slot every 3 Levels, which also allowed you to summon a new random monster within the category of the Summoning Skill, but you could technically make that summon a fixed monster based on the Soul Orb of this Boss monster, amazing!
Maybe late-game summoners all have Boss Monsters as summons? That would be insanely good! But I guess they received some nerf to not be instantly as overpowered as the original ones, right? I would guess that's the case.
"However, there's more. There are certain Soul Orbs you can't use; each Summoning Skill has restrictions of what they can Summon. Summon Plant Companion can only summon Nature-type Monsters and Summon Farm Animal Companion can only summon Beast-type Monsters, remember that! If you get an Insect-type Soul Orb from a bug boss or something, you won't be able to summon it, in that case you could sell the Soul Orb to somebody else that could."
"I see… So that's how it works. I'll save it for now and think about summoning it later then," I said.
"That's a good idea, until your Summoning Skill levels up you won't have more Summon Slots." said Acorn.
I was surprised by how much the NPCs knew about the game mechanics, for them it must be as if they had always been living in a world like this… It felt like those Isekai with game-like elements in the entire world and not those single system ones that were always kind of boring.
"I-I see! Anyways, let's go on an adventure onwards to the next materials! I can't wait," I said.
"Yeah!"
"So where should we go first?" I wondered.
-----
[Dark Essence]: 5/10
[Black Core]: 5/10
[Morning Flower Dew]: 0/5
[Spiky Purple Mushroom]: 5/5
[Leaf of Youth]: 0/5
[Golden Sap]: 5/5
-----
We looked into the list once again.
"We should go to the Morning Flower Dew area, this dew is very tasty and sweet, and it is within an area named Garden of Morning Flowers, they are only available up until 2 PM! So we have to hurry or we'll have to wait until tomorrow morning to extract… I haven't gone alone there because the path to this Garden is pestered with dangerous monsters, there are small Dead Wood Golems, lots of Poisonous Walking Mushrooms, and also a lot of Vengeful Crows that attack anyone that get into their territory, so I'll need your help and that of your summons," he said.
"Sure thing! Let's get there immediately then… I have already grown a bit more, so I think I can kill monsters… M-More easily I suppose. As long as I think this is not… real." I sighed.
"Real?" He raised an eyebrow. "Oh well the monsters turn into particles of light so don't feel so scared, the items dropped can be handled with care afterwards."
Acorn didn't really understand what I meant, and that's for the best, the Guide said that NPC were not aware that this was a game, nor that Players are Players, they call us Travelers at most, and just think we have special abilities that let us log out.
Even if players tried to talk to an NPC about players and the game, they would not understand and just treat you as someone crazy, which would lower your closeness with them, so it was better to just not say anything regarding that to them to not bother them with things they'll never be able to truly understand… I think they're programmed to reject the truth somehow and find it unrealistic.
We quickly descended from the trees and walked into the forest floor then jumped over Belle. She quickly led us through the vast Forest of Beginnings, it was a beautiful place, always with big trees and wondrous vegetation at every corner. There were small butterflies of many colors flying around the flowers below the trees, and we also found some mushrooms growing from them.
There were a lot of items that could be Gathered, but for that I needed the time, and we didn't have time to go leisurely picking up special medicinal flowers or mushrooms when our mission was to save the squirrel folk from death.
The road was simple and we had to just cross a small river to reach a wondrous garden made of yellow-gold flowers. These were the beautiful Morning Flowers, they only blossomed from 5 AM to 2 PM according to Acorn, and it was already 1:37 PM! We had to hurry and pick them up, we can extract the dew out of them easily, right?
"Let's pick up some flowers!" I said, as I jumped out of Belle.
"W-Wait, don't!" He said.
"Eh? What's wrong?" I wondered.
"GRUOOH!"
The moment I tried to step into the Garden, several beings that were completely still and camouflaging as dead wood on the floor began to move! They suddenly stood up, reaching almost two meters! T-These were Dead Wood Golems, right? The small ones, right?
Why are they so tall though?!
"GRUUOOOH!"
The Golems quickly began to stand up one after the other, there were 6 of them, and they were all 2 meters tall, made out of dead wood, these golems had literal log-like arms and legs, strong enough to crush anything below their height with ease! And they had a single red light in the middle of their chests, which shone eerily.
"D-Damn it! Those are the Dead Wood Golems, they stand here in silence and only attack if we get closer to the Garden. I was planning on attacking them while they rest so we can get an advantage… I guess we won't." Sighed Acorn.
"You should have told me that beforehand, Acorn!" I cried.
BOOOM!
"Aaagh!"
One of the Golems nearby suddenly extended his arm incredibly long, punching me with it and sending me flying through the air.
CLASH!
"Uaggh… Ouch… That hurt a bit…"
I was literally punched by a giant log! How wacky was that? And my HP… It went down by over 50%! Agh, and that was thanks to the Spiritual Shield, if I didn't have that active, I would have been probably one-shotted! Dryads were very fragile…
"Planta!"
Acorn moved to my side and suddenly took out a green potion to give to me, I quickly drank it, knowing I had my own HP and MP Potions, but those were way too unique to waste them away, I planned on asking Acorn to replicate them or use them as materials to make even more of these smaller potions for convenience's sake… But for now, I'll drink his green potions.
I suddenly recovered around 25% of my HP back with that single little potion, as I gasped for air. The rest of my HP and MP were regenerating at a fast pace, with dozens of points per second thanks to my passive skills boosting my regeneration while being in a forest, so it's all good in that regard! I just had to fight now.
The Dead Wood Golems were slow, but they had the power of extending their log arms up to double their original length, making them able to pick up things from far away and hit me so hard like they did back then. Because of that, we have to keep our distance from them- Wait, Belle!
"MEEEE!"
Belle was furious! Her eyes suddenly turned red-colored, as she exuded a deadly red aura from within. She wasn't able to fight the mushroom before because it was always releasing poison and she would die if she got closer, but these Golems were tough nuts to crack, but not poisonous!
However, I was worried, she's too reckless!
"Wow, Belle got angry!" said Acorn.
"Damn it… Alright, Loki, support Belle and you two protect Acorn while he supports us from the back!" I said.
Loki seemed to understand as she began to laugh while showing her sharp teeth once more, her vines suddenly grew longer and longer, forming into deadly whips, while Belle's red aura activated, enhancing her power through the Berserk Mode Skill. Meanwhile, Acorn decided to stand by and gave potions while throwing out combustion potions to the faraway Dead Wood Golems. And as for me, I decided to do some Magic and use Spirit Magic!
"I'll Summon a Land Spirit, wait for me! Dragon Vein Detection!"
FLAAAASH!
I activated Dragon Vein Detection, as I felt as if my eyes shone brightly with golden light, suddenly, my sight changed and I was able to see things I wasn't able to see normally back then! I suddenly realized that everywhere in the map there were strange gatherings of energies on the floor, which connected to one another like veins in the floor…
These were the Dragon Veins! And that was not everything, these veins connected to one another and seemed to be interconnected endlessly, somehow it felt as if the spiritual energies flowing inside of them were like the actual veins of the world itself… And that didn't end there, these veins were of all colors!
Red, green, blue, yellow, white, gray, black, brown, purple, and more…! But I could only summon Land Spirits from Earth-type Dragon Veins, those brown-colored ones! I quickly activated the Land Spirit Call Spell, as the requirement to use it was to ask the spirits to come here to aid me, I had to be humble…
"Land Spirits, please, I beg for your help!"
Just after dropping those words, the energies within the entire area began to gather within the Earth-type Dragon Veins, as this energy gathered in a single place, it then started to materialize into several creatures, there were 4 Earth-type Dragon Veins near the Dead Wood Golems, and all of them summoned a different Spirit.
The first ones to emerge were small spirits resembling one-meter-big brown rocks with little legs and empty sockets as eyes engraved in the rocks. These small spirits emanated a strong aura even though they were small! Around two of them showed up, and then a bigger one showed up, they were like these small rocky fellows, but they were way bigger, reaching almost two meters of height, and being very strong and resilient looking! I think these small ones were "Small Rocky" while this big one was a "Boulder Golem"!
But that wasn't all, the fourth spirit I summoned was the biggest so far! It was… around 3 meters big! And it had a more defined body, it looked like a very muscular statue made out of stone, and seemed like a muscular man that was completely naked… That's a bit nsfw for this game for all ages!
"GRUUUUUOOOHH!"
The giant Land Spirit was the biggest, it was a Land Titan! Using the help of the other Land Spirit, the Land Titan began kicking and smacking the Dead Wood Golems into the ground, he was a meter bigger than all of them, and the golems immediately felt intimidated by him.
BOOOM!!!
His enormous fists clashed against a golem's chest, completely breaking it into pieces and throwing it down into the ground. The entire golem was splattered into many pieces of wood, which all suddenly turned into particles of light…
"W-Wow, that's amazing!" said Acorn.
Isn't this Magic a tad bit overpowered…?
-----