Outside the castle gates, the forest extended far as the eye could see. There was a road (of sorts) leading off into the distance, but aside from that, there wasn't so much as a trace of the others so far.
The last time I had seen anything like it was when I went on a trip to Hokkaido, but even that paled in comparison to this endless blue sky, this sea of green that stretched all the way to the horizon. The only thing that kept me from climbing the trees and playing with my summons to my heart's content was the knowledge that if anybody saw me doing it, my stock as a hero would plummet even further than it already had.
"Just a minute, Summoner Hero. This area is home to many averagely strong monsters. We should use this as an opportunity to use our potions before things get tougher."
"Yes, please I have no experience on fighting just yet"
"Yes. Please do your best."
"Wait. Are you saying you guys not going to help?"
"You see summoner hero, we are already ready for the first fruit to drop, and since if we help it will be a hindrance to your level, we would be supporting you if you need help."
"Oh... I guess that makes sense."
Hypothesizing about it, my team was probably already really experienced, while I had no idea what I was even capable of. If they thought the monsters here were safe for me to start with, I should trust their judgment.
We walked through the dark forest for a while, until eventually, we stumbled across a conspicuously dangerous creature.
"Ah, there's one now. A steel boar, by the looks of it. Be careful, summoner hero... it's strong and extremely aggressive."
"A steel boar, from the looks of things my barbed whip won't do much because of its steel body, I guess I'll have to use my summons for this."
"Good luck, summoner hero!"
"Alright!"
This was my chance to know how strong my summons are. I steadied my hand preparing to summon a wolf with my right hand, then bring it down on the Boar.
"Summon dark wolf!"
"Whaaa... It did not work why won't it come out?"
*Oink
"Ohh... shoot it's coming after me, I better get my whip."
*Whish
"It reflected it"
"It's running toward me!"
"Anybody help!"
"It's alright summoner hero, do your best!"
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
"Do your best my ass! I'm being chased by a boar come help!"
"The legends were true about the hero, he's completely useless and scared."
"It appears that we chose the wrong one"
"Well, no worries let's just watch him and if it gets worse we'll have to carry out the plan that the senator told us to do."
*Pant
*Pant
"Damn it I need to attack it, maybe I need to summons some butterflies, alright I have no other option left"
"Summon dark butterflies!"
"I did it but what will it do now?"
*Oink
"What... the butterflies explode on contact, I guess it's quite useful, well I should not have played with it before, knowing the effects it had now!"
It finally died.
*pant
I heard a ping and a message saying I had gained 578 EXP appeared. I saw my level go up by 15 levels and I now have three summons I can use wolf, hawk, and bear respectively each cost about 50 to 100 for summoning even one. Although my mana pool did not grow, there may be a problem regarding my mana and the way I use it.
"Good job, summoner hero."
Just then, I noticed the sound of smoke poofs somewhere in the distance slowly growing louder. I turned my head to see what it was and saw Akira, the ninja class hero, and his followers battling along at a brisk pace. I briefly considered calling out a greeting, but I didn't have the nerve to disturb people running with such serious expressions.
Suddenly, three porcupine-like creatures appeared in front of them.
*swoosh*
Without hesitation, Akira slashed his giant scythe in an arc, killing them one after the other.
He took them all out with one strike!? Just how high was his attack score and speed!?
"I can't even walk fast because of my mana problem..."
"Hero are you okay? We have mana potions in stock."
"...Thanks, guys."
That's right. I had just been running for five whole minutes without getting so much as a scratch. It seemed my defense score, at least, was actually pretty low and my damage was good. With my spirits rising a bit, I destroyed a bit more creatures in the forest and leveled up more and picked up the remains of the defeated monsters. As I did, a faint sound began to emanate from my fluke.
I slowly brought the balloon scraps toward my fluke. The instant I touched them together, a faint light glimmered, and the silver, hard material was sucked into the fluke's mouthpiece.
Silver boar titanium skin Acquired
I noticed that the buff and debuff icons were lit up now. I opened it up to see if anything had changed and saw that an icon for a "summons property change buff" and a "titanium weight debuff" had appeared. It was okay in terms of mana usage using only ten mana for both.
"Is that the power of the legendary weapons?"
"You would not call it a weapon, more like an item for support."
"Okay then..."
Two more boars had approached us as we were speaking. However, I casted my new summon the wolf and it struck them down with two swift, elegant bites. They didn't even last a second. Although I did use a bit of mana to summon two at the same time.
"No way... Incredible summoner hero!"
"As seen through the legend."
"Wow, how strong!"
This was my second day as an official Hero of another world, and after just five minutes of battle, I understood my current situation. I finally realized just how weak I am in terms of mana and physical attributes, these summons however are strong and deadly.
I went and leveled up to 23 already the maximum level was 25, I remembered correctly.
"Okay, new plan. You guys go on ahead and I'll be leveling up to 25 some more. I'll meet you guys in the inn you guys suggested"
"Roger!"
They agreed immediately. Afterward, I traveled through the forest until the sun had nearly set, slaying every creature I encountered. Apparently the "Change property buff" allows my summons to change their stats and increase their survivability and defense while lowering their speed. And apparently, there are golden boars that are far stronger but I managed to defeat it and got a new property "golden luck" it increases critical strike chance while lowering attack speed. Once I leveled up to 25 I returned to the in that we were supposed to meet.
But the mana problem still continues, even though I leveled to 25 my mana will still not grow, I still need a way to get more mana to buff and support my team and summons.
In the end, though, my team and I paused our adventure midway to return to the kingdom.