The bright light cleared, and Emery wasn't sure what he was looking at. It looked like a brown… cat thing? It was small and had a long, sleek body with a long tail and round ears. The creature tilted its head to the side and stood upright.
Its appearance was a little familiar after it did that, but Emery was still struggling to put a finger on it.
He stared at the creature once and activated the observation skill.
[Ding!]
[Name: Jade Eye Mongoose ]
[Race: Beast]
[Threat rank: Class Ten Threat]
[Level Five…Exp: 0/2000]
[Attributes:
STR- Class Nine
AGI- Class Ten
INT- Class Nine
DEF- Class Ten
DEX- Class Ten]
[Skills: Dig, Basic Poison Tolerance, Fierce Strike, Stalk, Rush, Fierce Bite, Basic Analysis Skills, Piercing Fang Attack]
[Remark: A strange class 10 beast with a small stature but mighty abilities. It is an anomaly amongst anomalies]
It was a mongoose. But what was a Jade-Eyed Mongoose? He wondered, then looked at the creature once more. There was a curious glint in its shiny green eyes.
There was no way this was this was a simple creature.
Emery stretched a hand forward. "Nice to meet you. I summoned you here."
The mongoose leaned forward and climbed into his arms, crawling over it until it reached his neck and hung there.
It was bristly, its furs pricking every part of his skin. The creature then noticed Elyn and made a little chirping noise.
"Oh, that's Elyn. She's my friend."
Elyn gave it a little wave, and it crawled off Emery's neck and moved over to her.
"What is it, Em?" she asked as the creature made a home for itself on her head.
Emery was a little surprised. "You don't know what it is?"
"Why would I know?"
Emery brushed the question off and realized something important. Where did the summons come from? It was clear that they weren't from the same place Elyn was from since she didn't recognise it.
"I think it's something called a Jade-Eyed Mongoose."
"Oh, that makes sense! Why don't we name it? Calling it Jade Eyed Mongoose is such a mouthful," she grinned.
Emery couldn't help but share in her enthusiasm. It was his first summon aside from Elyn and more proof that his power actually existed, and it wasn't just a one-off thing. He thought of himself in the future, an army of a thousand beasts behind him.
"Yeah, that would be super cool." he smiled. "What do you think we should call it?"
"Why don't we call it greeny!"
Emery's smile froze in a second. That was the most terrible name he'd ever heard.
He glanced at the mongoose through the corner of his eyes, and the creature glanced back in slight apprehension. It seemed to realize that, but Emery didn't want to admit that to Elyn and bring her feelings down.
"Why don't we give him a name with more personality?"
She pouted a little, "I still think Greeny sounds cool."
Emery sighed and racked his brain for a suitable name before the girl could establish that name as the Mongoose's name.
"What about Citro? Sounds cool enough," he suggested.
"Eeep~!" the mongoose chirped and flew off Emery's shoulder.
He ignored Elyn's childish poutings and looked to the goal of the mission so far.
"Well, look over there, Citro. Those are the targets for today. No need to go all out. Just show me what you got!"
The small creature looked at him from the side of his eyes.
"What?"
"Eep."
What did that mean?
"I don't speak Jade eyed Mongoose!"
"Eep eep eep!" it said, pointing at the crowd of beasts.
And then, as if something unlocked, Emery suddenly began to understand what the creature was saying vaguely. It wasn't like it suddenly started speaking English. More like he now understood those seemingly meaningless screeches.
"They're too weak?" he asked.
"Eep."
'Those things would have torn me to shreds three days ago, and it's too weak for this little guy?!'
"Well, prove it Citro. I'll go find something stronger if you can finish this quickly."
"Eeep!"
The creature leapt forward and turned into a blur. It landed in front of the several dozens of beasts, its small size against the other creatures' large ones.
Citro scurried over to the side and clawed forward. It almost seemed like a joke when taking the opponent's large size into consideration. Its small paw slammed against a random beast's head, sending it flying back a few meters.
[Ding!]
[Summon has killed a class ten beast!]
Emery barely had time to take the system notifications into consideration when the mongoose jumped from its previous spot and grabbed onto a large bear-like monster.
It swiped its claws at the bear's eyes and then dropped to the ground, scurrying to the underbelly of the beast. Emery didn't see what happened again, and the large brown creature was sent flying away.
[Ding!]
Citro moved again, and this time a faint green light appeared around its claws.
"EEEEEP!"
It rained down a barrage of the strange green claws unto all its opponents, sending most of them flying, dead and leaving the vast majority injured.
[Ding!]
[Ding!]
[Ding!]
[Ding!]
[Summon has killed a class ten beast!]
[Summon has killed a class ten beast!]
[...]
Notification after notification assailed him, and as Citro finished the beasts, Amari received even more notifications. The mongoose scurried at him from where they stood a few dozen metres away.
In the meantime, he looked toward Elyn, who stared in as much admiration as he did.
"Em, greeny is so awesome!"
He grimaced inwardly, but he couldn't help but agree with Elyn.
"He is. I wonder if we should have even bothered accepting Hemp's deal. With the three of us, it shouldn't be remotely hard to deal with the surrounding Class Tens in about a week. Damn,"
The mongoose stopped in front of them and crossed both arms in a human-like manner.
"Eep."
Emery rolled his eyes, "Yeah yeah, you're so amazing.'
But it was amazing. Just how many monsters was that even? One look at his exp bar told him everything he needed to know.
[Level 3…Exp: 300/900]
"Hey, Citro, can you-"
"No!" Elyn cried out. "You said you would cook first!"
Right, he forgot about that. Well, he had all the ingredients and tools he needed.
One makeshift stove, and they were good to go.
"It's time to cook!"