The next day, we gathered for a small celebration of my class evolution. It seemed they had assumed I already knew about evolution so they hadn't told me, but once again, I had to explain that the safe assumption was that I knew next to nothing.

After a breakfast that couldn't compare to Liza's, I placed a ring on the table and pushed it towards Lyra. "For you!" I announced.

Lyra's eyes widened, and I detected a hint of fear in her expression. "Wha... What is this? You're not... You're not proposing, are you?"

Raising an eyebrow, I clarified, "Proposing? No, you should be so lucky. It's not a proposal ring, although I wouldn't say no to a bit of..." Before I could finish my sentence, Isabel interrupted, clearly unamused. "That's enough of that. What is it if it's not a proposal ring?"

With a mischievous grin, I replied, "It's called Last Resort. I've had it in my room for a while, but honestly, I forgot about it. I thought Lyra could find some use for it." Lyra's eyes sparkled with delight as she reached out for the ring, but Isabel was quicker.

Isabel scowled at me across the table. "You witnessed her leveling several buildings yesterday, and you think giving her something like this is a great idea?"

I shrugged casually. "First of all, yes. Secondly, do you even know what it is?" Both Isabel and Lyra nodded in unison. Viktor, who had been lost in thought throughout the morning, still seemed lost in his own world, ignoring our conversation.

"Okay... Well, I thought it might come in handy, you know, if we come across something really nasty, like a giant garbage-eating rat monster!" I said with a smile, but Isabel's frown deepened.

"You shouldn't mention 'Filth Fiends,' David. They are horrible monsters and have been known to level cities if left unchecked." Isabel said.

I blinked in surprise. "Wait, there's such a thing as a giant garbage-eating rat monster? Well, shit..."

Lyra couldn't help but snicker at my reaction. "He's so cute when he's ignorant." Isabel sighed and added, "Which is most of the time."

I gave them a playful look of mock hurt. "Hey! I'm not that bad!"

Of course, that's when Viktor decided to chime in. "You kind of are, David..." Lyra and Isabel burst into laughter at my expression, while Viktor wore a small smile.

Once they settled down, Isabel turned to me with a more serious tone. "So, David, your new class. It's a type of summoner, right?"

I nodded. "Something like that, although it still has similarities to what I was doing before."

"You should have gone with the blood mage thing!" Lyra chimed in, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes. "You sound like Grim. He's been calling me a fool ever since I woke up."

Isabel steered the conversation back on track. "You chose correctly, David. Now, how many summoned beings can you have at once? How powerful are they? How long can you maintain..."

I raised a hand to interrupt her. "The answer to every question is that I have no clue." Lyra couldn't help but stifle a smile behind her hand.

Isabel sighed. "Fine. I really want to test your limits, but perhaps now is not the time. We should really get moving."

Lyra and I nodded in agreement, and we all stood up. However, just as we were about to leave, Viktor spoke up. "Sorry, can you wait a few minutes? I'd like to join you." All of us froze, our attention shifting to Viktor.

Isabel spoke cautiously, probably trying not to hurt his feelings. "Viktor, you're not a combat class. Perhaps it would be better if..."

Viktor shook his head. "I'm not useless, Isabel. I have a lot of enchanted items on me. Utility items, things like barriers, trap items, and so on."

Isabel appeared skeptical, but Lyra simply shrugged. "Let him tag along, Isabel. What's the worst thing that could happen?"

I shot Lyra an accusing look. "Really? You had to say that?"

Lyra looked genuinely confused, but I didn’t bother to explain.

We spent much of the day roaming the trade quarter again, there were soldiers everywhere and we got a few nods of respect. There was a heavy tension in the city, everyone knew something was going on, but only a select few knew the whole story, and we ourselves only knew parts of it.

We managed to secure 17 cores in total, and as we decided to head back and store the cores securely, we stopped at a street vendor selling meat on a stick. Don’t ask me what meat it was, it tasted similar to beef, so I did not ask.

As we ate I played with the cube on the table, we were alone in a small corner of one of the smaller markets, and I noticed something. Two red dots were moving together closeby, and I glanced at Isabel, she had been watching and nodded at me.

Smoothly we stood, I summoned my images and sent Grim off to find our quarry, I had a feeling I knew exactly who they were.

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As it turned out, I was right, the bloody smugglers had ignored my warning and were transporting a shipment of crates round the outskirts of the trade district.

We followed along behind them, my range on the images had increased from my class evolution, and I felt no strain even when Grim was far off. I was pretty sure, that I could have images roaming around on the other side of the district easily.

Soon enough, we arrived at a small pottery shop close to the bridge leading to the temple district. Isabel and I watched them unload crates into the building, and we decided to wait a bit to see what would happen.

Once they finished, the wagon was pulled into a small courtyard in the back of the store, and the men went inside the store. ‘’So,’’ I said, ‘’wanna go say hi?’’

Isabel grinned, ‘’might be interesting to see what they are up to.’’

I shrugged, ‘’I did warn them.’’

We strode casually down the street, Viktor and I making our way to the courtyard in the back while the girls entered from the front. With a flick of my magic, I enveloped Viktor and myself in a shroud, rendering us invisible as long as we remained still.

As expected, the sound of a door being forcefully kicked open reached my ears, followed by a commotion. Soon enough, a man rushed out of the back carrying a small crate, his face filled with panic. Stepping out of the illusion, I appeared before him, causing him to freeze in shock as if I had materialized out of thin air.

"Tsk, tsk," I chided in Grim's voice, "I warned you, smuggler!" The man turned pale as a sheet, standing at the entryway, while his partner emerged from behind him, running in a blind frenzy.

With no time to react, the running man crashed into his terrified companion, and chaos ensued. The crate slipped from his grasp, hitting the ground with a crack that echoed through the small courtyard. Both men stared at the crate in horror, knowing that trouble was about to unfold.

True to form, everything spiraled out of control. The crate exploded into splinters, releasing nineteen or twenty cores that swiftly took form, their bodies materializing with incredible speed. Viktor gasped, and I knew I couldn't afford to hold back.

Activating my new spell, "spirit caller," I felt an immense surge of ether flow from within me. A sheen of silvery light manifested next to me, resembling a portal to another realm, and I realized that was probably exactly what it was. Glowing lights poured out from the portal, overwhelming my senses. In an instant, I gained simultaneous knowledge of every spirit—their identities, fragments of their personalities, and their relative strengths.

The spirits swirled around me like radiant lights, displaying a spectrum of colors: blue, red, yellow, and purple. I counted sixteen of them in total, surprised by the sheer number that emerged. As the portal flickered and closed, a grin formed behind my mask.

In the few seconds I had performed my spell, the core monsters transformed into miniature versions of the Golem from the previous day. However, there was a notable distinction—among them was one formed from water and another from fire, indicating that they had somehow acquired the necessary fuel to embody these properties.

I conjured a massive pack of silverback gorillas, their sheer size and strength surpassing any earthly gorilla. Sixteen colossal gorillas materialized in a formidable line before me, and I directed each spirit to inhabit one of them.

In an instant, I had an army of enraged gorillas at my command. Some breathed out small bursts of flames, while others had ice crawling up their limbs, forming icy spikes. A few possessed the power of lightning, crackling with electrifying energy. There were even two creatures emanating a formiddalble aura of raw power, their coloration deepening into a dark shade of purple.

Grinning beneath my mask, I issued the order, "Destroy the elementals!" My fierce battalion of enormous gorillas charged forward, their battle roars reverberating through the air. I sensed their eagerness and shared their deep-seated disgust toward the cores—they were more than motivated to eliminate the threat.

While I assembled my mighty army, the golems had reached a size suitable for combat. Thankfully, their growth had mostly ceased.

The gorillas clashed with the golems, resulting in a cacophony of sound that erupted within the confined space of the courtyard.

--

Lyra stepped into the courtyard, her eyes widening at the chaotic scene that unfolded before her. Elementals clashed with a swarm of colossal animals in a frenzy of battle. For a brief moment, she stood rooted to the spot, a wide grin spreading across her face. Shortly after, Isabel joined her, her expression a mix of disbelief and amusement.

"What in the hells is going on here?" Isabel exclaimed, unable to fathom the spectacle before her.

Lyra nonchalantly shrugged, her grin unabated. "I reckon David somehow messed up, triggered a bunch of cores, and now he's orchestrating a miniature war in the heart of the trade district. Just a guess, though!"

Isabel glanced at Lyra's infectious excitement and let out a sigh. "Well, we better jump in there then. These elementals don't seem too formidable." Lyra nodded in agreement, and the two of them sprang into action, ready to join the fray.

--

I stayed on the fringes of the battle, intervening occasionally to land a few punches on the back of a stone elemental. The rough texture of their bodies scraped my hands bloody, especially since my weapon had been destroyed, but I persisted, reaching the core of one and tearing it out.

Engaging with these golems made me realize the extent of my newfound strength. Summoning the spirits had drained a considerable amount of ether however, leaving me with just around 40% remaining. I needed to be cautious with these new spells. Perhaps I could find a way to control the number of spirits summoned and conserve my ether in the process. It was something to experiment with later.

As I observed, several of the gorilla illusions met their demise. Some of the golems proved to be overwhelmingly powerful. Yet, sometimes when an illusion was destroyed, it erupted in a final display of raw elemental energy.

I even witnessed a golem being mostly demolished by one such explosion, barely managing to remain standing with most of its body reduced to rubble. Lyra and Isabel joined the fight, and with their assistance, the battle swiftly came to an end.

After every golem had been vanquished, I was left with two fire gorillas, one lightning-infused, and the peculiar purple one housing a spirit of pure magic. The purple spirits had exhibited remarkable strength in physical combat, revealing that each spirit possessed unique abilities and vulnerabilities.

This added a new layer of complexity, something I would need to consider when utilizing the spell.

Isabel approached the captured smugglers, while Lyra stood beside me. "Well, that was fun! Your new spell is awesome!" she exclaimed.

I nodded, knowing she couldn't see the grin hidden behind my mask. "It does consume a significant amount of ether though. I'll need to train with it further. This battle seemed a bit too easy, don't you think?"

To my surprise, Grim materialized as an image beside me, and he spoke aloud, his voice audible even to Lyra. "They were incomplete, illustrious partner, awakened prematurely. We had discussed this before..."

I stood there in shock for a few moments before bursting out, "You can talk now!? That's awesome!"