Hellmode ~A Hardcore Gamer Becomes Peerless in Another World with Retro Game Settings~-Chapter 20: f-rank

F-Rank

　September is over and October is here. Since Theresia was too sick to work, Rodan worked alone from morning to night harvesting the crops.

　Speaking of other things that have changed, I have finally turned six years old. Six years have passed since I was reincarnated in this world. Thanks to the Grimoire, I have been able to record things from when I was Kenichi in the memo function of the Grimoire, but there are more and more times when I don’t know if I’m Allen or Kenichi.

　October 1st came and went, I turned 6 years old and my status increased. It was 0.5 times the status in the bracket before, but is 0.6 times now. My mana also increased from 10 to 12. This is helpful because the rate of increase in skill experience depends heavily on the maximum amount of mana that I have.

　I’ve just started analyzing the F-ranked summons and don’t fully understand them yet. I still don’t know what a summon that is [-] is.

　Initially, I wanted to create or synthesize an F-rank the next day, but I decided to wait until I had done a thorough study of Strengthening since it is quite useful.

　Strengthening Skill

・ Consumed magic power is 10

・ Effect increases 2 stats to +10

・ The status that increases is the status that is blessed

・ The effect does not change even if the rank of the summoned beast is different.

・ Even if I repeat summoning and carding, the effect of strengthening will not disappear

・ Once synthesized, the effect of strengthening disappears

・ Even if strengthened, the number of blessings does not change

(I see, the summons stored in the holder should be strengthened if there is room, right?)

　When you have to send out a summoned beast, it’s always better to send out a strengthened summoned beast.

　It’s mid-morning. Allen is in a barrel. He is washing everyone’s ragged clothes in the barrel, stepping on them with his bare feet. It’s a lot of physical work. However, since he can do it without thinking, he uses the time to think about things like examining summoning skills.

　At Allen’s house, Rodan fetches water every morning from a shared water area nearby. A narrow canal runs along the side of Allen’s house as well, so he flushes it there. After pouring out the water from the barrel, he dries his washed clothes in the yard.

(Oh! There’s an Albaheron flying around. It’s already autumn. It’s time for Dad to go hunting.)

　As I was drying the laundry on the clothesline, a little taller than me, a shadow of a bird appeared at the edge of my vision. Through the laundry, I could see the Albaheron flying effortlessly.

　In the fall, there are also other birds flying around, such as the crane, which is about half the size of the Albaheron. I guess they are seasonal migratory birds. I can feel the change of seasons.

(Now that I’ve recovered my magic, let’s check what the new F-rank is.)

　I’m almost done verifying Strengthening and am now in the process of verifying Create Level 3 and Synthesis Level 3 for F-rank.

　What I’ve been able to verify so far.

-Create Level 3 consumes 10 mana

-Synthesis Level 3 consumes 5 mana (no change from level 1)

-Combining 1 F-rank Insect and 1 F-rank Beast gives 1 F-rank Bird

Now all I have to do is find [-].

　Once the Synthesis is successful, the [-] will disappear, but I have yet to discover the pattern of Synthesis. It has taken me many days to find the [-] while repeating the Create and Synthesis.

(Only Insects and Beasts can be created, and Birds must be synthesized, which is a mysterious rule. I’ve synthesized F-rank Insect and F-rank Beast to create F-rank Bird, so now it’s time for F-rank Insect and F-rank Bird. Please work. Otherwise, I’ll have to look for combinations with different ranks.)

　When I synthesized F-rank Insect, Beast and Bird, the card I placed first synthesized. It was a clear failure. I nervously opened the Synthesis page of the Grimoire, hoping that this time it would work.

　I put the cards for F-rank Insect and F-rank Bird into the Grimoire where the cards fit perfectly.

(Synthesis F-rank Insect and F-rank Bird!)

　The cover of the Grimoire started shining. It seemed to indicate that the Synthesis had been successful. But even without looking at the cover, I can see the result by looking at the Synthesis page.

“Oh! I got a new card!”

　I couldn’t help but say it out loud. I closed my mouth and picked up the completed card.

(Is this Grass?)

　In the lower right corner of the card, it says F-rank Grass.

(Is it a grass even though it is a summoned beast?)

　It has a round, red body like an apple with a face. Thin limbs, like branches were growing out of it’s round body. The head has a sprout and a leaf growing out of it.

(Anyway, let’s just decide on a name first. Now I have created and synthesized all four types of F-rank summons: Beast, Insect, Bird, and Grass.)

Status of F-rank Insect Leech

　[Species] Insect

　【Rank】 F

　[Name] Chu

　[Strength] 15

　[Mana] 0

　[Attack Power] 13

　[Endurance] 20

　[Agility] 20

　【Intelligence】 13

　[Luck] 11

　[Blessing] Endurance +5, Agility +5

　[Special Skill] Suction

Status of F-rank Beast Dog

　[Species] Beast

　【Rank】 F

　Name: Pochi

　[Strength] 20

　[Mana] 0

　[Attack Power] 20

　[Endurance] 10

　[Agility] 15

　【Intelligence】 18

　[Luck] 11

　[Protection] Strength +5, Attack +5

　[Special Skill] Bite

Shape is a pigeon bird F status

　[Species] Bird

　【Rank】 F

　Name: Poppo

　[Strength] 11

　[Mana] 0

　[Attack Power] 13

　[Endurance] 12

　[Agility] 20

　[Intelligence] 20

　[Luck] 14

　[Protection] Speed 5, Intelligence 5

　[Special skill] Communication

Status of F-rank Grass Apple

　[Species] Grass

　【Rank】 F

　Name: Appo

　[Strength] 14

　[Mana] 20

　[Attack Power] 12

　[Endurance] 15

　[Agility] 10

　【Intelligence】 13

　[Luck] 20

　[Protection] Mana +5, Luck +5

　[Special Skill] Aroma

(Pochi’s special skill Bite is my first offensive skill. It is the first summoned beast-like skill I was expecting. But then again, there are summons that don’t really care about that.)

　Four new summons can now be summoned. There’s a lot to research about all of the summons. I guess I’ll have to wait and see. Finally, the summoner with the blessing that Allen had been waiting for has appeared.

　I was holding the F-rank Grass in my hand with trembling hands.

(Yay, I finally got a summon with the blessing that increases my mana!)

　It has the appearance of an apple with arms and legs. There may have been a debate in the conference room of the Divine Realm as to which of the several design ideas to choose. If it was this apple that was decided upon, it would be interesting in it’s own way.

　But looks don’t matter when I consider that this blessing increases your maximum magic power by 5. It’s what I need most right now.

　There is one major concern that I am assuming right now. That is that it will probably take about 300,000 skill experience points to raise to the Summoning to Level 4.

　It took 1,000 skill experience in Create to get to Summoning level 2.

　To get to Summoning Level 3, it required 10,000 skill experience in Create and 11,000 skill experience in Synthesis.

　This is a situation where I can assume that if I raise all my summoning-related skills, my summoning level will increase.

　Because Create was already Level 3, and the moment the Synthesis reached Level 3, Summoning also reached Level 3.

　What I can see from this is that it will take me 300,000 skill experience points to get to Summoning Level 4. So my goals should be:

-Earn less than 100,000 experience in Create.

-Earn 100,000 skill experience for Synthesis.

-Earn 111,000 skill experience for Strengthening.

　At the age of 6, with a maximum magic power of 12, it would take me more than 20 years to earn 300,000 skill experience points by consuming mana 3 times a day without fail. Of course, as I get older, my maximum mana will increase, but it will still take more than 10 years.

　The F-rank Grass summon will shorten that 10-20 year period.

(Now I just need to figure out how many Grass cards I can hold.)

　I can keep up to 30 cards in the holder. I am probably stronger than most of the villagers. I will never be in trouble for not having enough strength when doing laundry.

(For now, I think I will keep about 10 copies of F-rank Beast. I will need the power in case something happens. I’ve had knights hold me down before. I think I’ll be very selective with the other cards and have the maximum number of Grass for the rest.)

　Somehow, I need to find a balance between leveling up and not interfering with my current life.

(Let’s see how the Grass summon performs.) (Summon Appo)

　Grass card glowed and then disappeared as a bubble. Then the summon of Grass appeared. The summon, the size of an apple, was standing there with branch-like limbs.

(Hmm, it’s an apple. It has arms and legs, but it doesn’t move much. It’s special skill is Aroma. Let’s see what you can do.) “Appo, Aroma”

　I instructed the Grass F summon to use it’s special skill. Then Appo began to fill the ground. They sank into the ground as if they were being sucked in.

(Hmm? What is it? It’s going to bury itself in the ground, huh?　It’s not grass, it’s tree. It’s a tree.)

　Appo completely buried itself in the ground. A tree began to grow out, about a meter long and about the size of a sapling. I took a sniff. Something that smelled like essential oils tickled my nose. Something about it calmed me down.

(What? That’s it? It sure smells good, though. How can I have more than ten of these?)

　I think that grass F is useless except for blessing.

　It was the evening of that day. The knight pretend with Kurena was over, and Allen is in the house. He is preparing dinner. Even then, he is thinking about how to compose his cards.

“He’s late.”

　Normally, he would have come back from the field by now.

　Another hour passes.

　Mash was there, so I ate dinner with him first. The bell rang for 18:00. I played with Mash. Mash was tired and was about to fall asleep.

“I’m home.”

“You’re late.”

“Oh.”’

　Rodan came home. Rodan came home later than usual with a difficult look on his face.

　Rodan came home after 6:00 p.m. Theresia asked him why he was late.

“What’s wrong? You’re late.”

　Rodan was eating the meal that his family had already had. Theresia asked if something is wrong. Allen, who was in the children’s room, was hearing the conversation.

“I was called to the village mayor’s house.”

“Oh. And?”

“I’ve been asked to bring in a few commoners for the upcoming Boar hunt.”

“Is that so?”

　Theresia has a look on her face that says, why are you looking so difficult with that?

“No, there’s nothing wrong with it, it’s not like we’re losing the guys we’ve been working with. There are only four or five young guys who want to go, so he asked me to let them in.”

　He spoke to Theresia as if to tell her that everything was fine. Then the conversation continued. As expected, there were a lot of tactics involved, so he asked the village mayor to let them practice and told him how they would divide the group. Rodan told Theresia about this.