Chapter 78: Ancient Summoner (3)

TL: Haku

Editor: Hungry Panda

"What is… all of this?"

While looking at all of the Soul Stone pieces that Ian had poured on top of the table, Gripper wore a dumbfounded expression.

Ian smirked while looking at him.

"Well, it's just as it looks."

Truthfully, the reason why Gripper was surprised was very obvious.

From the beginning, the requirement for the quest itself was to bring all of the Soul Stone pieces of one spirit with no restriction on what kind of spirit.

However, by just counting the pieces that completed a Soul Stone, it looked like there were about 50 different Soul Stones from the pieces that Ian poured out.

If each of the pieces were counted individually, it was an enormous amount easily over several hundred pieces.

The reason why he had gathered this many Soul Stones was simple.

This was because Ian had grinded to complete the Hallikan's Soul Stone, but as the Hallikan was scarce, it required a certain period of time before it appeared again once it was hunted, so Ian had spent the leftover time hunting any other monster he confronted.

"This, this many, though…"

Gripper was momentarily at a loss for words.

However, he wore a broad smile shortly after and spoke.

"To have sincerely completed my request above my expectations, I see the reason why Elder Oakley sent you!"

And a system message notifying Ian that the quest was completed popped up.

Ian wore a broad smile while seeing almost 30% of his exponentially increased EXP requirement since reaching the second-half of his lv 90s get filled up in one go.

'Keu, it was worth suffering!'

While looking at a happy Ian, Gripper wore a satisfied smile as well.

"Follow me inside. Let's start the restoration operation with the Soul Stones you found now."

"Sounds good."

Ian was so excited he followed Gripper inside.

While thinking of the ancient Familiar that he would receive as written in the reward column of the quest, Ian was already expectant.

'If I can gain the Hallikan, it would be really nice.'

He only faced the Hallikan easily in the end, but it was still a Heroic-rank monster that was a whopping lv 103.

When he first faced it, it was a strong opponent that drove him to the brink of death multiple times.

'It seemed like its fighting style was similar to Ly, so would its fighting stat ratio be between Ly and Lake?'

Gripper dragged Ian, who was counting his chickens before they hatched(?), into the deepest part of his laboratory.

In there, a gigantic magic equipment that looked complicated even at first glance was installed.

"Well, shall we start now?"

Gripper began to combine the Soul Stone pieces that Ian brought and sincerely complete the Soul Stones.

And he grabbed one of the completed Soul Stones and raised it up to the magic equipment.

Ian, who secretly checked the Soul Stone's information mumbled to himself.

'That's the Clopsys' Spirit.'

The ancient monster Clopsys, which annoyed Ian with its high Defensive Power.

Ian carefully watched Gripper with an expression full of antic.i.p.ation as to what kind of form the monster that existed as a spirit would look like once it was restored.

Whoong-.

As Gripper activated the equipment, blue lights here and there in the equipment swayed and began to release a resonance.

"Ooh…"

Ian let out a low exclamation without him realizing.

This was because the Soul Stone that was placed in the centre of the equipment wafted in the air.

Rays of light that bloomed here and there in the magic equipment slowly began to permeate the Soul Stone.

As it did so, the Soul Stone let out a bright blue light as well and began to wriggle.

"Now, what kind of monster is it?"

With eyes full of antic.i.p.ation, Gripper watched the rays of light that made up the form of the large monster.

And shortly after, the feast of the bright blue lights died down and one large 'Clopsys' monster revealed itself in front of the two people.

"Success! We succeeded!"

Apart from Gripper, who was positively thrilled while petting Clopsys, Ian was checking the system message that popped up in front of his eyes.

'Oh, if you succeed in restoring an ancient monster, then it emerges on the field?'

Ian felt a strange happiness.

'For a new monster to emerge in Colonar Continent because of me… This feeling is strange.'

And Gripper's restoration operation continued.

There were quite a lot of monsters that were the same kind, but as there was such a large quant.i.ty, there were a total of fifteen different kinds of new monsters that was birthed into Colonar Continent.

As an a.s.sortment of restoration operations from Common-rank to Unique-rank were completed, Ian's Fame had increased by an extra whopping 50 thousand.

'I'm pretty sure it originally wasn't this easy to raise Fame…'

After checking his Fame, which had reached close to a whopping 500 thousand, Ian wore a sour expression.

'As expected, the Fame system was a privilege of the users who were ahead of the curve.'

Ian understood the insanely high Fame of the existing cla.s.ses' top-ranking users.

And shortly after, as the last restoration operation began, Ian's eyes were fixated on the Soul Stone that was on top of the magic equipment once again.

'Hallikan…!'

How could he have forgotten?

He had used up several days in just finding the 7th piece of the Hallikan's Soul Stone.

The Soul Stone pieces that he carried around tediously, to the point he could tell what piece number it was just from looking at it…

Whoong-.

And inside Ian and Gripper's antic.i.p.ation, the restored Hallikan slowly revealed its splendor.

The Hallikan was quite cool even when it existed as a ghost monster with its great tiger-like appearance, but after its restoration, its coercion poured out even more.

'Kya, it was even a white tiger!'

To describe the appearance of the Hallikan in one word, it was a white tiger with a body that was as large as a house and pure white fur with crimson stripes.

"Ooh… A Hallikan. To think that I would see such a legendary mystical creature!"

Gripper wore an ecstatic expression, and Ian was the same as well.

'I want it…!'

And as if he had heard Ian's private speech, Gripper turned his attention towards Ian and opened his mouth.

"Truly a great job, Ian. Thanks to you, this elderly man was able to meet the ancient monsters he had only seen in books up until now."

In order to get even a slightly better reward, Ian let out an empty flattery.

"It was nothing, Gripper. It was great because I was able to have such a special experience as well thanks to you."

And as Gripper spread out his hand, the Hallikan was sucked into his hand and changed into a white seal stone.

Ian's eyes slightly grew.

'Is it because he's an NPC? To be able to do something like that, too…'

Gripper's words continued.

"This is my first time seeing a Summoner as exceptional as you. So, I want to entrust this one with you. Do you think you can take care of it?"

Those were simply the words that Ian wanted to hear.

As soon as his words ended, Ian quickly nodded his head.

"Yes, Gripper!"

Gripper smiled as he handed Ian the seal stone which the Hallikan was sealed into.

"Here, take it."

Ian, who received the seal stone, was all smiles and immediately opened the Hallikan's information.

Level: 1

Cla.s.sification: Ancient Fortune

Rank: Heroic

Personality: Violent

Evolution impossible

Offensive Power: 20

Defensive Power: 10

Agility: 16

Intellect: 5

Vitality: 376/376

Mana: 125/125

Inherent Ability

(Cooldown time 20 minutes)

If the 'Smash' ability is invoked and the enemy is stunned, all status conditions will be cleared and for 10 seconds, movement will increase up to 50%.

A fortune that appeared in the myth of the ancient Arnovil Empire. As it rides on the energy of the wind, it has a swift and valiant nature.

As it has a foundation of white fur with crimson stripes, it is also called the 'Blood Tiger' because it looks as if blood is dripping down its fur.

'Oh, it's at lv 1?'

Because the first thing that was printed on the very top of the information window was its level, the first thing that caught Ian's eyes was its level.

However, Ian was not disappointed that its level was low.

Rather, his eyes were s.h.i.+ning.

'Will I finally be able to raise it by the nurturing method that I've been thinking of?'

The most ideal nurturing method that Ian had been thinking of was to maintain a full 100 Potential every time it leveled up.

He had known for a long time that the higher the Potential, the bigger the stat increase range for each level-up.

That was impossible for monsters that were already a high level from when he first obtained them, but if it was the lv 1 Hallikan, it truly was a possible nurturing method.

'Until its Potential is filled up to 100, I'm going to maintain its level at lv 1 while only using my Training skill.'

Ian checked the Hallikan's base Potential.

'Oh-ho, it's already at 70.'

Around 30 Potential was a value that could be filled up in about one week with the rotation of the Training skill.

While he was at it, Ian summoned the Hallikan in order to use his 'High-rank Training' skill.

"Hallikan, summon!"

'Ah, right. I need to name it again.'

The painful naming time that came without doubt.

At the end of Ian's momentary contemplation, he named it 'Halli' as it was easy to say.

"Halli, I'll call you Halli."

Grr-

It was a bit unexpected, but fortunately, Halli liked his name.

Ian, who had used his High-rank Training skill on Halli, read down the rest of Halli's information again.

'To find out how much his stats will grow, that's something I'll find out by raising him.'

Possessing three Inherent Abilities, Ian liked every single one of them.

'It's only 1 second, but now I also have a stun skill.'

Stuns that were invoked at the most excellent timing could influence the flow of battle greatly.

Especially if it was activated appropriately during the timing of when the opponent's skill was being invoked, it could also cancel their skill.

To cancel a skill was different from preventing them from using it.

In Kailran, even if a skill was cancelled, the moment the motion was made, it was regarded as being invoked.

In other words, it meant that the cooldown time was applied.

The longer the cooldown time of the skill, the more critical the skill cancelling through stunning.

'Alright, I need to raise it properly.'

Ian wore a satisfied smile.

He had already roughly predicted that he would be able to obtain an ancient Heroic-rank monster ever since he diligently gathered the Hallikan's Soul Stone pieces. However, he never thought that he would be able to gain a Heroic-rank monster that was at lv 1.

'I'll look after it well for a week while raising just its Potential so that I don't accidentally level it up by having it out on the hunting ground.'

There was the trouble of not being able to use it in combat immediately and having to raise it up starting from a low level, but if it grew just as Ian's expectations, then it was definitely worth enduring.

'If I just summon both Lake and Halli and wipe lv 80 monsters, I'll probably be able to raise it up to around lv 70 in an instant, so…'

And Gripper approached Ian, who swelled with expectation while looking at Halli's information.

"Hoho, as expected, it seems because you are a Summoner as well, you are incredibly happy when you gain a magnificent Familiar."

"That's right. I think it's a cool monster that fits the t.i.tle fortune."

Ian responded while petting Halli. While watching him do so, Gripper reminded Ian of what he momentarily forgot about.

"Then will you pull out the G.o.d Dragon's Soul Stone that was our original goal now?"