One thing that puzzled Drafaira about her revived familiar was the significant difference between it and Zed's other creations. During the past year that she had been training him, she had the opportunity to see his creations.

All of his creations possessed an even distribution of stats and even one unique stat, but Igneel had a reduced version of his stats before his death and lacked a unique stat. It was the same for her version of the frost raptor. It had a normal stat distribution and lacked a unique stat.

That meant either Zed intentionally designed it this way, or it was unique to him. There was also the possibility that he wasn't aware of it, which was the most likely scenario.

But those were thoughts for another time. First, she needed to deal with the boss of the hunting ground, the Glaciorex. Somehow, Zed had managed to lure it out before her.

The Glaciorex was a superior-rank monster, something a level three can never defeat alone. It was a living calamity requiring a kingdom's army to stop it. If his luck worked at all, he should still be alive.

Drafaira unleashed the full extent of her mana, transforming herself into her humanoid dragon form. Red draconic wings sprouted from her back, along with a spear-tipped tail.

"Time to hunt."

[Dragon frenzy]

Her skill activated, boosting all her stats. A shockwave erupted as her wings came down and launched her into the air. She was shooting toward the Glaciorex's head at an amazing speed, aiming to deal a devastating blow before it noticed her.

[Dragon slash]

Mana condensed into her claws and struck the behemoth on the side of its head. A nasty wound was left on the Glaciorex, enraging the monster. It began unleashing an ice breath that destroyed everything in its path.

"I'll be impressed if he survives this," Drafaira muttered.

She flew above the Glaciorex.

[Dragon breath]

She sucked in a heavy breath before unleashing a powerful torrent of flames on the monster's head.

"I'm the worst possible enemy for you!" Drafaira yelled as the monster fell to the ground.

Drafaira raised one arm towards the sky.

[Draconic flare]

Flames began to gather, forming a miniature sun at the tip of her claws. "Your death will be a fitting accomplishment for this day."

The attack was dropped onto the Glaciorex, causing it to roar in fury as its body was being scorched by the attack. It didn't relent and tried to fight back, attempting to push back the attack, but Drafaira wasn't so merciful to let that happen.

[Draconic flare]

Another miniature sun was dropped right on top of the other. The frozen landscape began to flood as all the ice and snow began to melt. A moment later, the only thing left was the half-scorched body of the Glaciorex.

Drafaira's transformation receded as she landed on the flooded ground. She held out her hand, and a monster core appeared before her. She heard some shuffling and was pleasant to see the little bastard she was training crawl out of the corpse of the frost rex.

"You're quite hard to kill."

"It's hard to take that as a compliment," Zed grumbled.

Drafaira noticed the monster core in his hand. "Once we return, I want you to tell me the full extent of your summoning ability."

"I wish I knew that as well."

Drafaira raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?"

"I don't know everything as well," he admitted. "After seeing these higher-ranking monsters. I discovered many things I knew about the Hero Maker system didn't work the same way in this world."

"Then find out!"

------

"I'm back!" I yelled out as I arrived in front of Michelle's house.

Erina ran out and jumped into my arms. "Welcome back!"

"Are you done with training?" Cecilia exited the house with a basket of dirty clothes in her arms.

"Yeah. Drafaira told me that it would be pointless for her to train me with how much I suck at fighting."

"You were more of a schemer from a distance type of guy," Michelle commented as she arrived riding on a thunder bison.

"So... that's a thing now," I gestured to the thunder bison.

"There hasn't been a single accident with them, so I tried it out," Michelle said as she got off the bison. "They're very intelligent creatures. They also began to help me clear out the field."

"That's nice," I hummed and turned towards Erina. "Want to see something cool?"

"Yes!" she exclaimed.

"Let's go to the crater."

"Yay!" Erina ran off.

"The crater?" Cecilia asked in confusion.

Michelle sighed. "He bought the land behind the farm."

"Didn't you say that place was a bad investment since it was barren and close to a hunting ground?" Cecilia mentioned as she placed down the basket of clothes.

"That's the one," Michelle pinched the bridge of her nose.

When we arrived at the crater, I took a minute to observe the surroundings to check if it was safe.

A moment later, Aegis landed beside me. "No threats in the vicinity, master," he reported.

"Good," I said as I called out Blue.

"Woah," Erina looked at Blue in amazement.

"Is that your ice cream maker?" Michelle asked, despite not knowing what ice cream was.

Since Blue has always stayed at Drafaira's estate, none of them had seen him. "You could say that."

I jumped into the crater with Blue. Once I reached the crater's center, I began taking out all the materials needed for his ascension.

"Time for you to shine, buddy," I ripped the scroll and jumped away as the magic circle appeared, and the pillar of light followed.

Aegis shielded Michelle and the others from the wave of magic power from the ascension. A few seconds later, it began to snow. Then, a primal roar followed as Blue revealed himself. Now, with the body of a frost rex, Blue was an even more formidable Hero.

"Now, that we're done with training, it's time to grind some levels."

------

Drafaira entered her office, glaring at the workload that had piled up. Despite residing in Union City, she still had responsibilities to her territory in Basara.

As she approached her desk, she felt a presence behind her. "Why does everyone seem to think they can just barge in here uninvited?"

A woman with long blonde hair approached her. "I heard you've been training a player."

Despite her casual appearance, several scars peek out of her clothes. The most prominent one is a scar at the edge of her lips.

"Why do you care, Diantha?"

"I've known you for a long time, Drafaira. You don't expect me not to be curious, do you?"

"I don't think the queen of a kingdom should be loitering around like this," Drafaira commented.

"You'd be surprised," Diantha chuckled. "Tell me, what's your assessment of the player you trained?"

"He's going to be a headache for the seven kingdoms."

"Oh?" Diantha raised an eyebrow. "Why is that?"

"The boy has no talent as a fighter, but he'll make a good conqueror," Drafaira stated. "A major factor in it is that unique ability of his to create summoned creatures."

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"It's not unique to him. Several other players have also created their own summoned creatures," Diantha pointed out.

"Does their summon have domain skills?"

"I would assume so, considering you believe this player of yours does."

"Anyways, that's his specialty."

"You're still not very good with words," Diantha chuckled. "Regardless, I'll see what he's capable of soon."

Drafaira's eyes narrowed. "What's going on?"

"As you know, Union City is not operated by nobles, and the land outside the walls is owned by landlords," Diantha said.

"Get to the point," Drafaira grumbled.

Diantha rolled her eyes. "One of the landlords recently perished and their heir plans on forcefully expanding their territory. One of their targets is the land where your player currently resides."

"You think a territory war is going to happen," Drafaira smirked.

Diantha nodded.

"That'll be an entertaining show to watch."

------

"It's been a while since I've been here," I muttered as I entered the adventurer's guild.

It was a pleasant sight to see that Elise finally had some adventurers lining up for her counter. As I stepped into her line, I heard several adventurers begin whispering. I ignored it and waited for my turn in line.

Once it was my turn, it took a minute for Elise to recognize me. I couldn't blame her. My hair had gotten longer, and my face probably looked more exhausted than usual.

"Did Lilith give you any trouble while selling the horns?"

Elise shook her head. "Everything went well," Elise smiled. "How can I help you today?"

"Is there a commission related to hunting grounds?"

Elise checked her catalog. "There isn't one specific to me, but there's two subjugation commissions," Elise mentioned. "However..."

I raised an eyebrow.

"To join the subjugation party, you need to be at least level five."

"Both of them?" I asked, Elise nodded. "Damn..."

"Would you like me to refer you to a party?" Elise offered.

"No, thank you," I refused. "I'll just go to a hunting ground anyways to level up."

"Make sure to stay away from the Arkham ruins and Aisen swamp," Elise warned. "Field monsters were spotted and two raid teams have already failed in the past year."

"Seriously? Do they know what monsters were spotted?"

Both those hunting grounds were level three areas. They were considerably far from here, but I frequented them in the game, so I knew a fair bit of information about them.

"An Iron goliath was found in the ruins, while a Toxin viper was found in Aisen," Elise answered. "Both are high-rank monsters, so please stay away from them."

I cringed. "No promises," I said before rushing away.

"Zed!" Elise yelled.

I couldn't wipe the grin off my face. One of my problems was that I didn't have a high-rank monster core for Aegis's ascension, but an Iron Goliath just so happened to pop up.

"I need to make some preparations."

------

[Lilith Level 4 Vampire bloodslinger]

[Aegis Level 3 Gargoyle sentinel]

[Blue Level 3 Frostblade rex]

If I wanted to take down the Iron Goliath, I'd need all three Heroes. Unlike the time with Drafaira, I would need to make my way through the hunting ground myself. But if I did that, this place would be left unguarded.

I didn't want to risk that.

"Is something bothering you?" Michelle asked when she noticed me on the porch. "You look deep in thought."

"I plan on hunting a monster, but I'll need all three of my Heroes."

"What's the problem then?" Michelle took a seat beside me.

"If I bring all three of them, this place will be unguarded."

"You don't need to worry about us," Michelle assured. "We can manage a few days without Aegis or Lilith."

"Sorry, but even if you say that, I'm too paranoid to leave this place vulnerable."

"Are the bison that important to you?" Michelle asked with a grin.

"Believe it or not, you and everyone else are important to me," I confessed. "And I'm afraid of losing anything important to me since I barely have anything."

"I still wonder how I managed to get close to you," Michelle commented. "Even if you were the one that reached out first."

"I'm a pretty good judge of character."

She raised an eyebrow. "Sure you are," sarcasm dripped from her words.

"Anyways, I'm not leaving this place without a guard."

Michelle glanced at the new calves that joined their herd. "Then make more."

I sighed. "Might as well empty the bank."

------

After my run-in with the arrogant alchemist in the past, I didn't want to go back to the Alchemist association, so I headed to the market. Buying things separately is better than going somewhere I could run into someone I didn't like.

Observing the surroundings, I noticed how different the market looked. Everything suddenly looked more advanced and lost most of the medieval vibe to it.

"You like it?"

I turned to find a big guy wearing a white shirt and jeans. He had short black hair and sideburns. Around the same height as me and felt quite familiar.

"Do I know you?"

"Yeah... you wouldn't probably recognize me without an appraisal skill," the man sighed. "I'm Sonic."

"Oh..."

Sonic was one of the few players I interacted with in the game. Like me, he used the Hero Maker system often since they were efficient manpower.

"Why are you here?" Sonic asked.

"Looking for materials."

"For Heroes?" Sonic grinned.

"Yup, have you made any yet?"

Sonic shook his head. "Not yet. I'm still researching how much different it is."

"Need help? Not to brag, but I've got some few discoveries already."

"Those pillars of light?"

I nodded. "Those summoning effects in the game were accurate."

"Then let's make a deal," Sonic gestured for me to follow him. "You'll help me with my research, and I'll give you a good deal on materials."

"A good deal? Are you a merchant here?"

Sonic grinned. "I got busy."

We went inside a shop and went straight up the stairs. He led me to his office which was empty aside from his desk and some chairs.

"A bought some land and rented it out to some shops," Sonic mentioned. "I can get you manasteel from blacksmiths and scrolls from alchemist shops. How do you want the cursed items and monster cores?"

"Separately. Picking them out carefully is important here."

Sonic nodded. "Tell me what you need, and then I'll order it."

"I'll need a fast flyer and long-range weapon as the cursed item."

"I'll get you the other items in bulk," Sonic began making a contract or a receipt. I didn't really know. "You think you can afford this?" he showed me the price.

"Three hundred gold..." Seeing that price somehow inflicted physical damage on me, but I couldn't hold back now. "Deal."

Sonic nodded in approval. "You're quite rich. I'm assuming the surplus of thunder bison horns on the market is your work?"

I nodded. "But it won't last long though."

Sonic chuckled. "You probably don't know this, but it will get more important later that you might not even want to sell it anymore."

I looked at him in confusion. "Was it a later update?"

"Something like that," Sonic confirmed. "It's called runic engineering. It's basically modern engineering but we use certain items as batteries," he explained. "Thunder bison horns are one of the best options."

"Looks like I'll need to expand the farm."

"Farm?" Sonic's eyes widened. "How many do you have?"

"One herd," I answered. "Have the other players not started taming them yet?"

"Thunder bison are considered mid-rank monsters when in a herd..."

"Anyways, I'm going to a hunting ground first. I'll pick everything up tomorrow."

"Suit yourself."

------

Michelle was pushing a cart to the gate of her farm when she noticed a group of armored people heading towards her farm. When they were close enough, one of them blew on a horn.

"The hell is wrong with you people?" Michelle glared at them.

A man stepped forward and opened a scroll. "I am the envoy of lord Arman Kibal."

Michelle continued to glare as the man proceeded to attempt to deliver the message in a grandiose fashion.

"He has offered to purchase-"

Michelle snatched the scroll and read it. Whoever this Arman Kibal was, he was demanding to buy her land for such a cheap price.

Michelle greeted her teeth and tossed the scroll back at the man's face. "You can tell that idiot that he can keep his money and never think of stepping into my land unless he wants a shovel up his ass!"

"Vulgar woman," the man spat as he tossed another scroll.

Michelle opened the scroll and found it was an approved letter for a territory war. "What is this?!"

The man smirked as the armored people behind him drew their swords. "We offered you a peaceful way out-" he was interrupted by Aegis crashing right on top of him, splattering blood everywhere.

Michelle fell to the ground in shock, while the armored soldiers reigned in their panicked horses.

"Hostile intentions confirmed," Aegis stated.

"Monster!" One of the soldiers yelled and charged, but his head exploded into a bloody mess before he could even get far.

Lilith walked past Michelle. "We show no mercy to intruders on this land."

Three more soldiers charged but met the same fate as the first soldier. The remaining soldiers hesitated before running away. Lilith aimed her gun, but Michelle grabbed onto her arm. "Don't!"

"They meant harm to you, lady Michelle," Lilith reasoned.

Michelle looked at the scroll in her hands. "We need to tell Zed about this first before things get worse."

Lilith stared coldly at Michelle, making her flinch. "You may not know this, but our desire is directly linked to our master," Lilith lowered her gun. "I assure you, lady Michelle, my master will react far more aggressively," Lilith turned to walk away, while the blood of her victims floated after and seeped into her body.

Michelle just stood there in shock while Aegis remained and observed the retreating soldiers.

------

I found myself in Hallow ruins one last time. The first time I went here, it was a big risk. Now, I just watched as Blue made sure every undead in sight stayed dead.

I just crossed my arms and waited for all the Arcane essence to gather for me.

"Excuse me?"

I glanced behind me and saw a group of young adventurers. All four of them were probably around fifteen years old and shouldn't be here.

"Are you a summoner?" the young boy wearing an oversized hat and carrying a wooden staff asked.

"Yes?"

"Can I ask how you increased your mana to handle summoning a high-rank monster?" the boy asked.

I raised an eyebrow. "Did you follow me here to ask that?" the boy nodded, and the others avoided eye contact with me.

I rubbed my forehead in frustration. The recommended level to enter Hallow ruins was level three, and judging from the mana I was sensing from these kids, I was pretty sure they weren't level three.

"You could either use Arcane Essence to increase your magic stat or constantly drain it out."

"How do you use Arcane Essence to increase a specific stat?" the boy asked, and the others seemed to get interested as well.

"Just tell the system-" I stopped myself.

Do the residents of this world even have the same system the players use?

"I'm not sure if it would work for you, but I recommend doing it while being able to see your stats."

"We could use the crystal at the adventurer's guild!" the tallest one in the group spoke.

"Thank you!" they yelled as they ran off.

"... I hope that advice actually works," I felt like a jerk all of a sudden. "What were they even doing here?" I glanced at Blue, who was done clearing the area.

The dinosaur managed to shrug at me. Before I could even react to that, I noticed a large quantity of Arcane essence coming from the direction of the farm.

"Well... this is an oddly familiar experience."

I turned to Blue again and grinned.

"I'm riding you home."