章 29: Pokemon Battles... No... Palworld!?

[Night Walker (Lvl 1) - Threat Tier: White]

[Basic Skeleton (S) (Lvl 1) - Primary Skills: [F-Rank Sword Strike (Lvl 1)], [F-Rank Sword Slash (Lvl 1)], [F-Rank Block (Lvl 1)], [F-Rank Shield Bash (Lvl 1)]

The difference in level was nonexistent, plus their skills were relatively similar in effectiveness and proficiency. Now, it was time to see how well they faced off against one another. However, completely out of Romulus's expectations…

Click, Clack!

The Basic Skeleton dashed forward when the target had been designated. Without even giving the Night Walker a chance to defend itself, the skeleton slashed out with its sword, cutting through its darkened chest skin like butter. It then lifted up the shield, and, with an icy gleam in its whispy eyes, it slammed the shield onto the Night Walker's head. POP! SPURT! It burst open like a watermelon as all of its brain matter splattered the skeleton and the surroundings.

"!!!"

Romulus was astonished by this sequence of events, but as if to add to his surprise, a few mind-boggling system notifications rang out.

[Ding! Any and all summoned or contracted organisms will have the effects of the EX-Rank Truck-kun's Retribution Skills applied to them, but at a third the efficiency. This applies for everything except for a select few hidden boosts.]

[Ding! |Basic Skeleton #1| killed a Lvl 1 Night Walker and received 10 EXP!]

[Ding! |Basic Skeleton #1| leveled up!]

[Ding! You acquired 5 EXP!]

Romulus's brows raised in pleasant surprise. "To actually have something like this under my nose the entire time," he said. "If it's like this, then all my summons should be far stronger than anything of a similar level. After all, even at a third the functioning capacity, the numerous effects of my EX-Rank Skill are absurd."

With the future applications of this method of grinding and monopoly dawning on him, Romulus took the poor skeleton for a joy ride around town. For nearly five minutes, he sped from one F-Rank monster to the next, having them all forcefully fight with his pokemon. "Go, Basic Skeleton. Destroy your foes and sharpen your bones with their exoskeletons!" Was what Romulus thought while doing this morally questionable act.

The results of this insanity then came in…

[Ding! |Basic Skeleton #1| killed a Lvl 12 Night Howler and received 350 EXP!]

[Ding! You received 175 EXP!]

[Ding! |Basic Skeleton #1| leveled up!]

[Basic Skeleton reached Lvl 10!]

[Ding! Basic Skeleton can now go through an evolution and evolve to a higher form! Would you like to go through with the evolution process?] - [Y/N]

Romulus clicked yes without hesitation, then watched as the wartorn skeleton buddy was fully revitalized and covered in a bright pearlescent light. When it emerged from this light, it had grown two feet taller, obtained a pair of ragged armor, and gained an upgrade for both its short sword and shield. The short sword became a longsword with a sharper gleam to it, while the small shield grew to nearly double its previous size.

Its system interface improved to such:

[Skeleton Soldier (S) (Lvl 11) - Primary Skills: [E-Rank Long Sword Slash (Lvl 1)], [E-Rank Elongated Range (Lvl 1)], [E-Rank Knockout (Lvl 1)], [E-Rank Feather Dash (Lvl 1)].....]

"Quite an improvement—" Romulus attempted to say, but was swiftly interrupted by a couple more system notifications.

[Ding! Your D-Rank Skill |Shadow Summon (Lvl 1)| leveled up to Lvl 2!]

[Your maximum summon limit increased from 1 → 2]

[Your maximum summon rank limit increased from F-Rank → E-Rank]

"Oh?" Romulus mused as his slight irritation transformed into elation. Without wasting a single second more, he went through with the summoning process one more time. At the cost of approximately 150 MP, another skeleton was summoned. This time, however, it was of the Skeleton Soldier Rank, meaning that it was an E-Rank summon.

"Skaska!" The summon cackled with its jaw bones, seemingly possessing a liveliness that the first summon didn't have. Narrowing his eyes in suspicion, Romulus side-eyed the first summon. To which it averted his glare and stared in the opposite direction as if something interesting were there. "I see that you can communicate; you just choose not to," he said.

Quickly, his irksome expression morphed into a contemplative one. "In other words, Shadow Summons can have personalities. How interesting." With this in mind, he turned toward the puppy-like second summon. "Your name; it shall be…" while brainstorming an extremely good name, his shimmering eyes suddenly brightened up like a light bulb. "Skeleton Soldier #2 will be your name," he declared with complete confidence.

"..." "..."

Even the spirited second summon stopped in its tracks and blankly stared at the genuinely prideful expression their master was making. They instantly understood he was an eccentric person and also someone with a… horrible naming sense…

After getting over the naming situation, Skeleton Soldier #1 and Skeleton Soldier #2 tagged along behind their master as they found more E-Rank and F-Rank monsters. The goal was to get them through the levels and advance them to their next evolutionary path, which should also correlate with the D-Rank. Moreover, obtaining more shadow summons and increasing the beginner starter rank was a side objective.

When a total of fifteen minutes had flown by, an otherworldly handsome man stood beside the corpse of a C-Rank monster, with five summons beside him and five more fighting another C-Rank monster further ahead. All the summons were nearly double his size, their appearances were more intimidating, and their equipment was imposing, but, when in front of their liege, they all seemed to behave.

They watched as their brethren finished off the C-Rank Nightmare Hedgehog, and then with one final greatsword slash, the monster's head was sliced off.

.....