章 30: Shadow Summon Skills, Evolutions, Names...

[Ding! |Skeleton Knight #6 - #10| killed a Lvl 33 Nightmare Hedgehog and received 2,300 EXP each!]

[Ding! They leveled up!]

[Ding! You received 5,750 EXP!]

The Experience gains still weren't much for Romulus, but the shadow summons were only in their third rank, the Skeleton Knight Rank. Therefore, there was still plenty of room for growth. Furthermore, with the constant leveling of the Shadow Summon Skill, upgrades lay around every corner.

Speaking of the devil…

[Ding! D-Rank |Shadow Summon| has leveled up to Lvl 5, prompting a rank up! Would you like to go through with the rank-up process?] - [Y/N]

Romulus clicked yes, which caused his skill to de-assimilate and transform into something superior. Looking at the incoming system notifications, he saw:

[Ding! Your |Shadow Summon| skill ranked up from the D-Rank → C-Rank, resulting in a name change and substantial existence alteration! Would you like to go through with the name change?] - [Y/N]

Surprisingly enough, Romulus clicked no. After all, in his mind, simple was better, and Shadow Summon was simple yet concise. In other words, it was perfect. Still, he wanted the benefits from the upgrade, so he told the system to keep all that as is. The result:

[Ding! |Shadow Summon| becomes |Shadow Summon|, further gaining the sub-domain skills: [C-Rank Shadow Rebirth], [C-Rank Shadow Conjure], [C-Rank Shadow Box], [C-Rank Shadow Legion], and more...]

[C-Rank Shadow Rebirth]

— [Can turn fallen enemies into allies. Maximum rebirth to summon rate of 'Limit summon amount', with each potential rebirth target only allowing the user to try three times before reaching a point of failure, which will no longer allow the user to continue attempting to revive that specific target.]

[C-Rank Shadow Legion]

— [Increases the total maximum summon limit by times 10]

[C-Rank Shadow Conjure]

— [All skeletons can be converted into shadow organisms. They will then be able to be placed into the Shadow Box and stored for whenever the user needs them. Can be summoned and de-summoned at the cost of varying amounts of MP.]

[C-Rank Shadow Box]

— [All shadow organisms can be brought to this space for storage. Current shadow limit = 500]

[Special-Rank Shadow Immortality]

— [As long as the user has enough MP, even if the shadow organisms die or get destroyed, they can be fully restored to pristine condition.]

[Ding! Your maximum summon limit increased from 10 → 15]

[Ding! Your maximum summon rank limit increased from D-Rank → C-Rank]

Immediately after these system notifications rang out, Romulus spammed the summon sequence. Originally, it would take a couple seconds for the summoning to process, but with more practice, the proficiency increased, allowing that range to be reduced to less than a second. Moreover, with more than 135 summons to get into this world, that range was further reduced.

15 summons… 25 summons… 50 summons… 100 summons… 150 summons…

By the time one hundred and fifty skeletons had been summoned, nearly a tenth of Romulus's MP had been depleted. Normally, this wouldn't be seen as anything much, with it recovering in a minute or two. However, for the usual cost for using the Shadow Summon skill, this number was absurd.

Still, the result was one worthy of awe. All around him were dozens of Grand Knight Skeletons, all of whom were more than three times his size. Their equipment was a shiny black color with various protrusions and sharp points sticking out, while their physical weapons consisted of three-meter-long greatswords and table-sized shields.

Glancing at their system interfaces, Romulus saw:

[Skeleton Grand Knight (S) (Lvl 31) - Skills: [C-Rank Great Cleave (Lvl 1)], [C-Rank Great Bash (Lvl 1)], [C-Rank Bony Morale Boost (Lvl 1)], [C-Rank Downward Separation (Lvl 1)]...]

Their skills were of the C and D-Rank, whereas their stats were in the late 3-digit range, which was quite good for low-level C-Rank monsters. Moreover, with the boosts applied by the EX-Rank Skill Truck-kun's Retribution, their stats and physical prowess were further improved. However, while comparing their system interfaces, he noticed a few that stood out among the copycat crowd. Coincidentally, it were the system interfaces of the first and second summons that he brought into this world.

[Skeleton Grand Knight #1 (S) (Lvl 31) - Class: Assassin - Skills: [B-Rank Assassination (Lvl 1)], [C-Rank Stealth (Lvl 1)], [C-Rank Sneaky Operations (Lvl 1)], [C-Rank Dagger Throw (Lvl 1)].....]

[Skeleton Grand Knight #2 (S) (Lvl 31) - Class: Hero - Skills: [B-Rank Leadership (Lvl 1)], [C-Rank Light Beam (Lvl 1)], [C-Rank Cleanse (Lvl 1)], [C-Rank Massive Slash (Lvl 1)], [C-Rank All-Range Stat Boost (Lvl 1)], [C-Rank Holy Eruption (Lvl 1)].....]

'The first one became smaller, coming in at around my size, while the second one remained the same size as the others but gained a noble air about him,' Romulus thought as he scrutinized their existences. From what he could tell, it were these 'Class(s)' that made them so special. It was even enough to give them a B-Rank Skill, which would make them extremely powerful in battle.

While pondering the subject, he saw the two of them out of the corner of his eye. Unlike the others, they approached very close to him, with their hollow eyes emulating some very intense emotions. "A name," their master said. "I assume that is what you both want?"

#1 and #2 bobbed their heads in unison, with even the stoic #1 unable to conceal his true feelings on the matter. To be completely frank, they believed their current names to be… half-assed. And their liege would not deny such a thing either.

Sighing in defeat, he waved his right hand and put the other to both sides of his head, seemingly in deep thought about something important.

Suddenly, his irises flashed with brilliance as he said, "Your names shall be Small Guy and Big Guy—"

…