The other part of his summoning list was a lot more straightforward. It looked like Gaius could summon the ant he had just killed… he didn't hesitate and thought of using that. In the end, he got a bit mentally tired after using his mana, but Gaius confirmed that the ant was at the top of his nose again. It was weird, though. Since the remains were still there as well… that raised a lot of questions.
"Can you speak?" Gaius thought. "...I guess you can't read my mind either. How am I going to give you orders? All right, let's see… show me your best break dance."
Gaius frowned when he saw the ant moving weirdly on his nose… it could read his mind and even follow an order like that, even if the ant was a bit clumsy. Regardless, Gaius also made the ant show some ballet moves and even did a backflip before he got satisfied with the fun he had. He had the body of a newborn baby, so perhaps he could excuse himself for his antics. Not like that would work forever.
"It looks like you can stay active for as long as I want once I use enough mana to summon you," Gaius thought. "It also looks like I don't need to have all the necessary mana to summon creatures, and I can just charge them over time."
Now that he had calmed down, Gaius also realized that killing that ant only gave a small amount of experience to level up, and he would need to kill one thousand ants to level up. That was quite the insane number, but it made sense since those were just ants.
"I guess it is time to do a real rest… go, my valiant warrior!" Gaius thought. "Go fight other ants and get stronger for your sake and my sake as well! Prove thou loyalty to me! Ah, don't get killed. Rest properly between battles."
The ant left Gaius' nose and eventually his cradle to look for some ants to fight. After that, Gaius got bored out of his mind since he didn't have anything to do… still, he could see his experience gradually increasing. It looked like some ants were in his new home, and it was time to get rid of those filthy invaders and show them that they couldn't live there rent-free.
"I guess this also confirms that I need to kill the monsters for them to join the summoning list," Gaius thought. "I can't just summon an army of ants and then make them grind for me while I am a baby. Wow, the idea of world-dominating ants seems pretty interesting after they evolve. Where did I hear that before?"
Before long, Gaius noticed that the environment was getting brighter; there was no window in the room, so the light was coming from somewhere else.
After not so long, Gaius noticed that his parents were waking up. Both of them looked devastated since their real son was stillborn. Gaius realized that when he saw the look of utter shock on their faces.
"√π÷׶∆}{=^¥€¢✓!" Gaius' father said.
"=°°^¥¥¢¢£∆¶×÷÷π√|!" Gaius' mother said.
"Figures, I can't understand a single word… it feels like they are using weird and mathematical symbols to speak with each other," Gaius thought. "Is my cognitive ability as a baby that low?"
Both of them began to cry and then approached Gaius to hug him while making loud noises. It was a pretty heartwarming situation, but Gaius couldn't feel that great because their real son had died and because they were covering him with snot and tears.
Weirdly enough, Gaius' father was a black-haired man who was pretty tall and muscular. He looked like someone who hit the gym religiously for decades. Despite that, and the fact that he had a long and massive black beard, he didn't look that scary. After a closer look, Gaius saw that his father had some weird scars on his body; some of them looked like sword scars, and others looked like he had been hit by some small explosions… As expected, that world was dangerous. That was why Angela gave him that power. It was the support pack of the new expansion of his life.
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As for Gaius' mother, she was a bit small and looked quite frail since she didn't have that many muscles and was on the skinny side. Still, she was quite pretty since she also had a doll-like face, but right now, it was covered in snot and tears. Regardless, she had shoulder-length red hair and green eyes. The overall appearance of his parents wasn't in any way bad, so Gaius could only think that he was going to be quite handsome instead of being average… in his previous life, his older sister took all the good genes of the family when she was born, after all. He always thought of suing her for it.
Although Gaius didn't do much that day, it had been pretty tiresome since his parents spent all their time making a ruckus around him. It was even more tiresome because he couldn't understand a single word that they said. It didn't take long before he got exhausted and fell asleep. A few days later, Gaius realized that getting tired fast was one of the specialties of babies.
"Being reincarnated while retaining my memories sure is tough… my mind is paying the price for it," Gaius thought while feeling like sighing.
Gaius couldn't do much aside from eating, sleeping, and pooping… such a lifestyle was… unsettling for someone who was determined to make the most of his second life. Still, there was nothing else that he could do aside from being patient and waiting for the results of the ant's training montage.
Over the course of the next few weeks, Gaius focused on learning the words of that world. Learning language was the only thing he could do right now, after all. Thanks to that, it didn't take long for him to learn the names of his parents. They were Zairus and Kaira Aeolus, and that made him Gaius Aeolus… quite the difficult combination. At least it sounded powerful.
When he was around one month old, Gaius saw his father wearing armor and a longsword on his back when he returned from work and went to check on him. After hearing the same thing several times, Gaius understood that his father was a guard of the village where they lived. As for his mother, it looked like she worked refining cotton into cloth… she was quite a hard worker considering that she returned to work only two weeks after his birth.
Around the same time, Gaius also had a surprise… it seemed that his ant had leveled up, and so did he.
(You have leveled up.)
(You obtained five status points.)
(The ant has leveled up.)
(You can distribute five status points for the ant.)
Gaius smiled in satisfaction, and he wondered if the ant could return if he gave the order mentally… he wanted to check if it was going to change after leveling up, and he used the parameters.
Ant Lv 01 (000/2000)
Cost: 20 mana
Charge: 00
Summoning Bonuses: Perception +02
Loyalty: 100/100
Health: 25/25
Mana: 10/10
Stamina: 20/20
Strength: 04
Endurance: 01
Adaptability: 01
Magic: 01
Resistance: 01
Wisdom: 01
Dexterity: 03
Perception: 01
Luck: 01
Free points: 00
As it turned out, the ant returned, and it was as big as those red soldier ants. So, around four times bigger than before. Gaius decided to increase its Dexterity in order to make it move faster and with more precision and strength to make it stronger and a bit more durable… still, a level one ant could still only hunt other ants.
"Keep up the hard work, brave warrior, your services are greatly appreciated," Gaius thought, and then the ant moved again.
Gaius didn't know for how long ants usually live, but he didn't think that it could be that long. Regardless, Gaius wanted to summon other things, but he didn't have the chance to kill any other creature… it would be interesting to see if they could live for an unlimited amount of time since they no longer were like other creatures.
"Well now… what should I do about my free points," Gaius thought while imagining himself rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "I confirmed that I am learning faster because of the bonuses of perception that the ant granted me, so perhaps I should increase my perception a bit more…"
Gaius Lv 01 (150/2000) - Limitless Summoner
Health: 10/10
Mana: 10/10
Stamina: 15/20
Strength: 01
Endurance: 01
Adaptability: 01
Magic: 01
Resistance: 01
Wisdom: 01
Dexterity: 01
Perception: 01 + 02
Luck: 01
Free points: 05
If he had more summons, Gaius would increase Wisdom to make him recover more mana and summon more of them. Come to think of it, his class has that name, he probably could keep an endless number of summoned creatures active at the same time.
"There is still a lot that I need to understand," Gaius thought, and then he eventually fell asleep, unable to decide what to do.
When Gaius woke up, he noticed that his father wasn't around anymore. It seemed that he had to work and would return in the afternoon.