[Brian POV]1Just for those that bihis series as the POV did s between chapters.

  “Rain of Mercy.” I activated the card without hesitation as soon as I got down from Big Core, and had it move a bit so it wouldn’t block the rain.

  Spoiler

  [colpse]Alid Ria had done well in their fight against the hydra, but the hydra had also set the forest on fire, so we had to put it out. And for that, we needed water. And what better than water which will also heal the wounds of the fighters at the same time. None of them took a direct hit, but the fire and the wind might still have hurt them. And as I said, we he water.

  Paulina got to work with her water magic, guiding the water to where it o go. And I was going to help her.

  “Summon Water Spirit.” I called out. The rain formed a body in front of me.

  It wasn’t one of the tiny ones, which the lesser spirits use, but it wasn’t the adult sized ohat the greater spirit uses either. This one was about a meter tall.

  “Sir Hero, I have respoo your call.” The young boy said.

  Yes. This spirit was in fact a male spirit. I actually thought they were all female, as every water spirit I’ve summohis far has been female. But this time I got a shota.

  “Good. I need your help. We o set out this forest fire. I already made it rain, but I need your help guiding the water to the correct pces, so synchro with me.” I told the spirit.

  “Sure. But for you to make it rain holy water. Even for a hero, that is strahe spirit said, as its body broke apart and the water that had formed its body moved to surround me.

  “Holy water? Is that what it is? Well, whatever.” I pondered as the water that surrounded me formed a full set of armor around my body. Holy water armor, I guess.

  (Sir Hero, I’m at your service. Please use my power. I will follow your lead.) The spirit said inside my head. Yeah, I almost fot that they do that when we synchro. I really should practice this teique more.

  I did what I recalled doing with the greater spirit, and just imagihe water moving in the way I wahere were no major problems, but I did feel that the water was moving slower than it did with the greater spirit. But at the same time, my mana was draining at about half the speed, so I guess that ba out. Still, in a life or death fight, I’d much rather have the stronger spirit with higher mana cost.

  It took little over ten minutes, but Paulina and I mao pletely put out the forest fire just as the rain caused by Rain of Mercy had subsided.

  I undid my synchro with the spirit, and wished it a good day before sending it off.

  “Brian, that teique you used, would you tell me about it?” Paulina asked, as we were grouping up.

  “The spirit synchro? What about it?”

  “So that’s what it is. anyone do it, or just you?”

  “No clue. Well, I know Lua do it at least.”

  “Lua?”

  “The dhampir girl ith us when we huhat orc settlement.”

  “Her? I see. Do you know if there are any prerequisites?”

  “Well, you need a spirit at least. So you might he Summon Spirit skill. If you recall, I have the Summon Water Spirit skill. But at the same time, you might be able to use a spirit summoned by someone else, but I’m not sure. I also don’t know if the spirits will be willing to synchro with you, unless you have a spirit’s blessing. But we could try.”

  “I see… And how would one gain a spirit's blessing?”

  “Did I ell you? Well, either way, I gai when I defeated some sprites. And as sprites are corrupted spirits, the greater spirit, whose family those sprites used to be, leased and gave me her blessing.”

  “Yes. I think you might have mentio.”

  “So yeah. That’s how it happened. Aka. I have no idea how you reliably gain a spirit’s blessing. Maybe by taking down sprites, but for that, you o locate some sprites.”

  “I see how that would be difficult.”

  I took the hydra corpse into my inven… ste, and we all got bato Big Core.

  I also noticed that Alice had activated her Pitch-Bck Power Stone, so I asked if I could use one of the remaining two charges to refill my mana. I had spent about half of my mana in the spirit synchro after all.

  Alice agreed and passed me the stone. Using it was just about as easy as I thought, and I got filled up to almost full. Then I passed the stoo Paulina so she could do the same.

  “Brian? Why didn’t you tell me you have something like this?” She asked, after she ed the st third of the power from the stone.

  “Why would I? It es from a card, so you couldn’t use it anyway.”

  “... fair point. You really o take me to that dungeon. I’ll gh every challenge room if necessary to gain that skill.”

  “Add that to the list of like ten things I have to do.”

  “Ten? That isn’t that much. I’ve had lists over a hundred entries long.”

  “That tells more about you, than me, you know.”

  “... fight me.”

  “I summon something if you want, but I’d rather not fight you directly.”

  “Are you scared?”

  “Yes. Yes I am. And holy, I probably could beat you if Alice wouldn’t level you up each day, so maybe I should revoke your level up privileges.”

  “Please don’t! I was just joking.”

  “As was I. I wouldn’t do it for a petty reason like that. Well, maybe for one day, to see you panic more, but I would allow it again the day.”

  During our return flight, I summowo Goblin Calligraphers to draw up the map report. One was going to the guild and the other was for the Earl.

  Spoiler

  [colpse]They just copied what was on the B.E.S. monitors down to paper Paulina had brought along, so it didn’t take them too long.

  In total, the map had over 100 monster locations, but most of them were D-rank and under. And most were far enough away from the road where we didn’t have to worry about them, just report on them.

  We ‘nded’ outside the city and I summoned Overdrive. At some point, I will just have Big Core pick us up and drop us off at the guild’s front door, but that will just cause even more problems. Unless we get permission, and sidering what happened in the m, no ce we will get that kind of special privilege.

  We got to the guild and walked up to a receptionist. The same o this m. I wonder, how long is their shift? From suo sundown? Or do they run a m and evening shift? Or is the guild staffed 24/7? I could see any of those. I just hope it isn’t the suo su.

  “You are back. Did you plete the check already?” Lei asked.

  “Yes, we did. Here is the report.” I answered as I handed her the guild’s copy.

  She took a long while looking over the map.

  “... I’ve heard, but I really didn’t expect this. How could you make something this detailed in just a few hours?”

  “Magic, duh.” I said as a joke.

  “What kind of magic does something like this?”

  “Summoning magic.”

  “... I see. Well, this is clearly extremely detailed, much more than we would usually expect, so of course we will accept this.” Lei said, before adding. “Did you hunt down any of the monsters?”

  “No, nothing that is on the map.” I answered. “But we did take down a two-headed hydra. It was right about here.” I said, pointing to the area on the map where we found the hydra. “There are also some burnt trees in the area, as the hydra liked to breathe fire. We did put the fire out, so don’t worry about that.”

  My Rain of Mercy might have healed the ground, the grasses and other small pnts, but the trees, bushes, etc. did still burn away almost pletely.

  “... excuse me, but could you repeat that? Did you just say you took down a hydra?”

  “Yes. We did. Well, teically it was Alid Ria, but still.”

  “... and where would this hydra be? Did you leave the corpse in the forest? We arrange a pickup if you did.”

  “No, I have it with me.”

  “Does it fit in yic bag? That must be e bag if a hydra fits in it.”

  “No. I have it in my Iory.”

  “... iory? I see.” The receptionist seemed ready to just give up. I’m actually pleasantly surprised that she never yelled out at all. I was holy expeg that. She must be a professional, or she just doesn’t believe anything I’m saying. “... would you follow me, please. We will o firm the hydra carcass. We will also purchase it, if you are willing to sell it.”

  “Sure. Depending on the price.” I answered, as I began to follow her into the bag rooms of the guild.

  “So the cheater has returned. Did you cheat to plete your quest again?” The assistant guild master spotted us, and came to bully us again.

  “Of course. That is all I dht?”

  “Another admission.”

  “... wow. You really do trust everything you hear. Well anyway, we have some business, so please don’t bother us.”

  “Business, you say? What kind of business would a cheater have with the guild?”

  “Sir, he is here to show and sell us a hydra they hunted during the quest.”

  “A hydra, you say? How would a cheater like him take down a hydra? I’ll be ing as well.” The AGM said. “And if you are lying, I’ll revoke yuild card.”

  “Oh? Want to bet on it? If I don’t have a hydra, you revoke my card, but if I do have one, you will rank me up to rank B.”

  “Fine. I’ll take that bet. No way you have a hydra.”

  “Here? Sure.” I said and took the hydra out of my ste.

  But instead of the plete hydra that I had pced in there, a huge pile of dismantled hydra parts came out. Hide, meat, three monster cores, cws, fangs, all of it. Even some parts that I’m detly sure weren’t there when I put it in were here, like the eyes, which had been smashed by Ria and Element Valkyrie.

  “Brian? What happeo the hydra?” Alice asked. “Why is it dismantled?”

  “... yeah. I don’t kher.” I answered, but I got my answer as a message oe s.

  [I’m sorry, Father. I was testing out some of the things I do now that I’m a unique skill. One of them is Monster Disassembly, so I did that to the hydra. I also used Material Quality Increase on the parts, to repair some of the damage.]

  … so ste do things like that? … I see. Good to know. It doesn’t seem to be all powerful, as the hole opened by Alice’s final attack was still there with the k missing because of Mana’s Dark Burning, but the other holes caused by the spear spells were gone. But the hydra might have healed them when it was still alive. I did regee quite quickly.

  “... okay. I know now. It's just my skill doing things. I would say bme Laura, but this one is actually Tahlia’s fault.”

  “Tahlia? Who is she?”

  “... I’ll introduce you ter.”

  “So, you bought a hydra corpse and are trying to sell it to the guild. I k. You were lying, you cheater!” The AGM said, as he saw the corpse.

  “No! We really did hunt it!” Alice excimed.

  “Doesn’t look like it to me. And how would a D-rank and two ks take down a hydra?”2Remihat Paulina is in fact a k adventurer

  “... if you want to see, I’ll show you. But you will take the responsibility for the aftermath.” I said, holy getting massively annoyed by his attitude.

  “Wa-wait a sed. Please sell us this hydra first, please.” Lei spoke up.

  “That’s fine.” I turned back to her. I like her. She is able to keep her mind on the business at hand, instead of getting caught up otle things. She should be the assistant guild master. “So, how much will it be?”

  “Pl-please give me a moment. We will have to appraise the dition.”

  In total, the hydra was worth 121 gold s. It was, other than a few holes in the hide, in perfect dition, thanks to the quality improvement thing, probably. I o ask Tahlia more about it. But still, 121 gold. Is that a lot? Or not so much? My armor, which is still in the making, was 400 gold, so three and a half hydras. I guess it is made of mithril, so maybe it has to be that expensive. My sense of value is just nowhere. But I guess that is what happens when you have over 7000 gold s, I guess.

  We split the money equally between Alid I, because Ria was insisting she is my sve. And as payment for her armor ing. I think I paid 70 or so gold for it, well half up front, so this isn’t quite there, but I’m trying to be a good master here.

  After that, we headed to the guilds courtyard with the assistant GM. If he wants proof, I’ll give it to him.

  “Let me just firm, no matter what happens, you will take responsibility?” I asked the AGM.

  “Yes. Show me how you took down the hydra.” He answered.

  “Oh, yoing tret that.” I heard Paulina say quietly.

  “And Paulina, you are a wito prove that he is the one currently responsible, right?”

  “Of course. Just try not to cause too big of a mess. The guild doesn’t have unlimited funds, so if you do too much damage, Father will have to cover for them.” Paulina said.

  “Oh, I won’t cause any damage. Probably.” I said as I pulled open my colle.

  “Don’t ‘probably’. Just don’t do any.”

  “Don’t worry. At most there will be a slight panic.” I said, probably grinning like a madman.

  I kly what I’m going to summon. Normally I might not go this far, but if he doesn’t believe me, I’ll make him believe me. And I just want to summon this guy. irl. Well, this dragon. I took out the four cards necessary for the summoning.

  “I activate Polymerization. I’ll fuse together Red-Eyes Bck Dragon aeon. I fusion summoeor Bck Dragon!”

  Spoiler [colpse]My twons merged together and became one. And it was … quite rge. The rgest dragon I’ve summohus far, even outdoing my Blue-Eyes. Measuring to the shoulder level, where I usually measured my dragons, Meteor Bck Dragon stood at about 22 or maybe 23 meters. So let’s just say 22.5 meters.

  And it radiated heat everywhere. Not massive amounts, probably because it was trolling the heat, but the temperature had risen by 40°C. The retively cool spring day was now scorg hot. Well, at least it shouldn’t be enough to set any buildings on fire or anything.

  “Brian! I this it! Unsummon that dragon now!” Paulina yelled.

  I did as instructed and said “See you ter.” to my new dragon.

  We may or may not have gotten a visit from the knights a little ter, but between being able to bme the AGM and both me (with my medal) and Paulina being here, we quickly got over that little problem. As I said, I didn’t break anything. There aren’t even footprints left by my dragon. But I’m sure plenty of people felt the heat from it, even if they didn’t see it, so I did apologize for any potential fire calls that caused. Maybe I should have summoned Bck Skull Dragon instead. But as both Summoned Skull and the dragon itself are ‘always treated as an "Archfiend"’, I didn’t want to take the ce. I’ll summon it ter when I’m far enough away from any prying eyes.

  But still, I would call this side quest a success. The AGM no longer had any issues with us taking on a hydra, as he had plenty of other issues. Like the knights grilling him about how he could give permission to summon a dragon in the middle of the city. All he could do is apologize and say he didn’t know, but that didn’t really help the situation.

  Eventually even Sir Garner, or is it Larner? Mateo Garner? I think I should call him Larner. He is a vist. Anyway, the knight ander even came and once he got a ce to hear what happened, he said he would take care of the rest a us go. Well, we would still have to expin it to the Earl, but that was going to be the dialk anyway.

  As soon as we got back to the manor, Paulio deliver the report, well two reports. Both about my Meteor Bck Dragon and the safety check.

  Meanwhile, Alice, Ria and I returo our rooms for bathtime.

  Dinner went, well, I’m sure you imagi. I got some … feedback about what I did, but I didn’t get into arouble. Basically just a sp on the wrist, as the Earl aowledged that the AGM was the ohat pushed me to do it. But hearing that I would be willing to cook a dragon for his birthday party might have also helped.

  After that, back to our rooms and level up time. And then to sleep. I was actually sitting out today, because of iory to ste, but I did use two level ups on Ria. Ria asked for Defense Boost, and I agreed.

  SpoilerName: RhiannaRace: DhampirLevel: 58HP: 1670Mana: 188th: 900Defense: 690Magic: 890 Skills:True Blood Magic LV.5 (Racial)Vampiriodification LV.2 (Racial) Card Summoner LV.2 (extra) Fire Magic LV.3Mana trol LV.4Fast Mana Recovery LV.4Internal Magic Teique LV.5Unarmed bat Teique LV.4Flickering Step LV.2Power Boost LV.4Defense Boost LV.3 Blood Sucker (Racial)Sve. Master: Brian Wood[colpse]Ria is getting stronger. Of course. I did get closer to her status because of the skill evolution though. But still, only my HP, MP and defense are actually higher than hers.

  Well, not like that really matters. I’ll still have my summons, so I’m stronger. Not that I’m petitive.

  “So, Tahlia. What happened with that hydra?”

  “I’m sorry, Father. I was just … fooling around.” She answered meekly.

  “I’m not mad. Holy. I just want to know what you do now that you are a ste.”

  “... alright. But I don’t know it all myself yet, so I’ll tell you as I learn how to use it. But as of now, there is Time trol, Material Quality Increase, Monster Disassembly and Item Maintenance.” She said. “Time trol is the simplest one, so I’ll expin that first. I trol the time of items ie. Either stopping time for them, or fast f time. I don’t know why you would o fast forward, but I do it.”

  I just nodded, as she expined. I could think of a few uses for the fast forward, like fermenting foods and drinks. I could start a brewery. But other than that, I’m not sure.

  “Material Quality Increase allows me to increase the quality of items stored, to some extent, but it only works with raw materials. Like what I did with the hydra. I take things that are somewhat broken, and repair them. But there are limits. For example, I tried to improve the vampiric steel ingot, but I was only able to improve it from low- quality to low+.”

  “Alright. And you also apparently appraise the quality of things, right?”

  “Yes. But even as just Iory, I could identify objects. But yes, the quality part is hen Monster Disassembly. You saw that already. I take apart any monsters you store ie.”

  “Simple enough, but seems super powerful.” I ented.

  “Yes. For the st thing, Item Mainte is desigo keep ready ons in perfect dition. That is all there is to it.”

  “So, clothes washing, on sharpenic. right?”

  “Exactly. And don’t fet armor shining, ironing clothes, I even repair them, as long as they aren’t too badly damaged.”

  “... do the scraps of my old clothes?”

  “They are toone. I ’t fix them. I’m sorry.”

  “... it’s fi’s not your fault. But still, please don’t py around with items like that iure. At least ask me first.”

  “Yes, Father.”

  “But still, I’m proud of you. You are amazing.” I said, and took my daughter into a hug. She might have evolved, but her avatar had stayed the same. And I’m fih that. She doesn’t have to ge her avatar, ever.

  nro_8