[Skeleton Warrior has been attacked.] The sudden notification brought Kyle to a stop.
Since entering the beginner trial zone, his Skeleton Warriors had already taken attacks from Gray Wolves and even an Ironspine Bear, so seeing one of them get hit wasn’t enough to alarm him on its own.
What caught his attention was the fact that the Skeleton Warrior ahead still hadn’t sent back a kill notification.
That was a first.
Kyle didn’t rush forward.
Instead, he ordered the Skeleton Warrior to return through their mental connection while calling several nearby summons back toward him.
Before long, a rapid clicking of bones came from the thick bushes ahead.
The Skeleton Warrior emerged from between the trees.
Kyle immediately noticed the damage.
A deep crack had appeared across its left shoulder, and sections of two ribs had been broken off completely.
Even the small round shield it had been carrying in its left hand was gone.
The blue soul flames in its eye sockets, however, remained steady.
The damage was significant, but it could still move normally.
Kyle’s expression became more serious.
Whatever was ahead was clearly different from the ordinary monsters he had encountered so far.
He didn’t immediately return the injured Skeleton Warrior to his Summoning Space.
Instead, he ordered it to remain at the rear while he advanced carefully with the others.
The deeper he went, the closer the trees grew together.
A thick layer of dead leaves covered the ground, producing a faint rustling beneath every step.
The air carried the damp smell of soil mixed with decaying leaves.
Kyle hadn’t gone far before he spotted several bushes that had been smashed apart.
Beyond them, a monster noticeably larger than the Ironspine Bear he had encountered earlier stood between two large trees.
Its body was covered in coarse black fur, and a row of thick gray-white bone spikes ran along its back.
Fragments of bone from the earlier fight were still caught on several of the spikes.
[Blackthorn Bear] [Level: 7] Level 7.
Kyle immediately understood.
He was already approaching the deepest part of the trial zone.
Encountering a Level 7 monster here wasn’t unusual.
What mattered was that this Blackthorn Bear was clearly far more dangerous than the Ironspine Bear from before.
It was larger and much stronger.
The Skeleton Warrior searching this area must have encountered it alone.
Unlike the previous monsters, the Blackthorn Bear hadn’t gone down quickly and had instead managed to seriously damage the skeleton first.
The Blackthorn Bear noticed Kyle as well.
It raised its head, releasing two streams of hot breath from its nostrils before letting out a deep roar.
The sound echoed through the forest and shook the nearby branches.
Kyle didn’t retreat.
If one Skeleton Warrior couldn’t handle it, he would simply send more.
He had never intended to make his summons fight monsters fairly.
“Attack.” Several Skeleton Warriors charged at once.
The Blackthorn Bear clearly hadn’t expected its single opponent to suddenly become an entire group.
The Skeleton Warrior at the front swung first.
The bear raised one massive paw and knocked the damaged sword aside, but before it could follow up, a second blade struck its hind leg from the side.
Blood sprayed across the ground.
The Blackthorn Bear turned in pain, only for a third Skeleton Warrior to reach its opposite side.
Attacks came one after another.
It could defend against the enemy in front but not the one behind it.
The moment it turned left, another Skeleton Warrior attacked from the right.
Kyle remained behind them instead of joining the fight personally.
Through his mental connection, he continuously adjusted the positions of his summons.
When they had fought the Ironspine Bear earlier, the Skeleton Warriors had mostly relied on their superior attributes and numbers.
This time, Kyle began actively controlling the rhythm of the fight.
Two Skeleton Warriors kept the bear occupied from the front.
The others attacked from the sides.
Whenever the Blackthorn Bear focused on one of them, that Skeleton Warrior immediately backed away while another moved in to replace it.
It wasn’t an especially complicated formation, but it was more than enough.
The Blackthorn Bear was certainly powerful.
One heavy swipe sent another Skeleton Warrior stumbling several steps backward, leaving a fresh crack along its arm.
But there were simply too many enemies around it.
Worse, those enemies had no fear.
They didn’t retreat because they were injured.
They didn’t hesitate when another Skeleton Warrior was sent flying.
Unless Kyle ordered them to withdraw, they would continue attacking.
After a little over ten seconds, the wounds covering the Blackthorn Bear multiplied, and its movements began to slow.
A Skeleton Warrior that had circled behind it finally found an opening and brought its damaged sword down hard against the back of the bear’s neck.
The enormous monster staggered.
Several more swords struck almost simultaneously.
Its heavy body finally collapsed into the dead leaves.
[Blackthorn Bear successfully killed.] [Experience gained.] Almost the instant the notification appeared, the familiar glow of a level-up surrounded Kyle.
The final sliver of his experience bar had been filled.
[Level increased.] [Current Level: 5.] Warmth quickly spread throughout his body.
Kyle could clearly feel himself growing stronger again, while his Spirit returned to its best condition in an instant.
He didn’t check his attributes immediately.
Instead, he first walked over to the injured Skeleton Warriors.
Several of the summons that had participated in the fight had taken some damage.
The worst off was still the one that had encountered the Blackthorn Bear alone.
Kyle returned the more heavily damaged Skeleton Warriors to his Summoning Space.
Their injuries would gradually recover inside.
As long as they weren’t completely destroyed, there was no need to replace them.
Only after dealing with that did Kyle open his status panel.
He was now Level 5.
His base attributes had increased again, and the capacity of his Summoning Space had expanded further.
More importantly, Summon Skeleton Warrior had reached Level 5 as well.
Kyle checked one of the undamaged Skeleton Warriors.
Its updated attributes appeared.
Compared with when he first entered the trial zone, his Skeleton Warriors were already much stronger.
And the improvement wasn’t limited to newly created summons.
Whenever his summoning skill leveled up, every existing Skeleton Warrior grew stronger along with it.
In other words, Kyle would never need to discard his older summons simply because they had fallen behind.
They would continue growing with him.
Kyle closed the panel and checked his Summoning Space.
There were still plenty of empty slots.
His Spirit had also been restored by the level-up.
Since a single Skeleton Warrior was beginning to struggle against monsters in the deeper area, the solution was simple.
Increase the numbers.
Kyle raised his hand.
A gray-black summoning vortex slowly opened.
The familiar clicking of bones sounded as another Skeleton Warrior emerged.
Then a second.
Then a third.
Kyle stopped before draining all his Spirit, leaving himself with enough in reserve to deal with anything unexpected.
The number of Skeleton Warriors around him had increased once again.
Gray-white figures stood scattered throughout the forest, blue soul flames flickering quietly inside their eye sockets.
If someone unfamiliar with the situation happened to walk past, they would probably have a difficult time connecting the scene in front of them with the words “beginner trial.” Kyle was already used to it.
He looked over his summons and adjusted his strategy again.
Previously, he had spread the Skeleton Warriors out as much as possible to increase their search efficiency.
But now that he had entered the deeper part of the trial zone, the monsters were noticeably stronger.
There was no reason to keep sending individual Skeleton Warriors out alone.
If a Level 7 monster could injure an isolated summon, then the obvious answer was not to let them fight alone.
Kyle divided his Skeleton Warriors into several small groups.
Each group would search together.
Their overall search area would shrink somewhat, but their safety would improve considerably.
More importantly, if they encountered another Level 7 monster, they could immediately surround it.
Once the new formation was set, Kyle continued forward.
The effect became obvious almost immediately.
It wasn’t long before a group on the left discovered a Level 6 monster.
The fight lasted only a short time.
[Level 6 Rockhorn Deer successfully killed.] [Experience gained.] Then came another notification from the right.
[Level 7 Blackthorn Bear successfully killed.] [Experience gained.] His experience began rising steadily again.
As Kyle continued through the forest, he paid attention to how much progress each kill gave him.
It didn’t take long to notice that after reaching Level 5, the amount of experience gained from each monster had fallen significantly.
The same Level 6 and Level 7 monsters moved his experience bar much less than they had when he was Level 4.
Kyle wasn’t surprised.
The higher the level, the more experience was required to advance.
That was one of the most basic facts every awakened professional learned.
But actually experiencing the difference himself finally gave Kyle a clearer understanding of how difficult it was to enter Aetherlan Royal Academy.
Level 5 was only the beginning.
Level 6 would take longer.
So would Level 7 and Level 8.
And the minimum level required to apply for Aetherlan Royal Academy was Level 12.
There were only seven days between Class Awakening and the advancement assessment.
That meant slowly grinding his way to Level 12 inside the beginner trial zone was almost impossible.
The highest-level monsters here were only Level 8.
Once Kyle himself approached Level 8, the experience they provided would decrease even further.
He quickly adjusted his plans.
The beginner trial zone was only a starting point.
Once he confirmed that he could handle monsters of ordinary difficulty, he needed to leave as soon as possible and move on to a higher-level area.
That thought reminded him of Lia.
His sister had completed her Class Awakening at around the same time the previous year.
By the time she participated in the Royal Academy assessment, she had already reached Level 16.
Kyle had always known that was an excellent result.
Until now, however, he hadn’t truly understood what reaching Level 16 in such a short period of time meant.
It wasn’t something that could be explained away by simply saying she was talented.
What exactly had Lia done last year?
The question crossed Kyle’s mind.
He quickly set it aside.
This wasn’t the time to study Lia’s leveling route.
His sister had her own methods.
Kyle had his.
His eyes moved toward the Skeleton Warriors traveling through the forest ahead.
When it came to leveling speed, his advantage was already obvious.
While another professional searched for one monster, his summons could search several directions at once.
While others needed to rest after a fight and recover their strength, his Skeleton Warriors could immediately move on to the next target as long as they weren’t seriously damaged.
If one Skeleton Warrior wasn’t enough, he could use two.
If two weren’t enough, he could send more.
That was the most straightforward advantage of a summoning class.
He simply had more fighters.
A faint smile appeared on Kyle’s face as he continued walking.
The deeper he traveled, the darker the forest became.
The massive treetops overlapped overhead, allowing only scattered patches of sunlight to reach the ground.
The undergrowth had actually become thinner, while thick roots rose from the soil in twisting shapes.
Occasionally, deep claw marks could be seen across nearby trunks.
Kyle hadn’t encountered another student in quite some time.
This clearly wasn’t somewhere most beginners visited on their first day.
He took out the map and checked his position.
According to the trial zone’s divisions, the highest-level region was just ahead.
Level 8 monsters lived there.
It was the final threshold of the beginner trial zone.
Unlike the low-level monsters in the outer area, the creatures in the deepest region weren’t deliberately weakened to make them easy for newcomers to defeat.
They existed specifically to give awakened professionals who had already gained some combat experience a chance to face real danger before leaving the beginner zone.
Kyle put the map away.
He didn’t hesitate for long.
He intended to leave the beginner area as soon as possible anyway.
If that was the case, he would have to face Level 8 monsters sooner or later.
More importantly, he wanted to know whether his Skeleton Warriors could maintain their advantage against monsters with genuine combat ability.
“Keep going.” The Skeleton Warriors moved ahead.
Kyle followed behind as they gradually entered the region marked as the deepest part of the trial zone.
At first, everything was unusually quiet.
No monster roars.
No sounds of fighting.
Several groups of Skeleton Warriors searched the surrounding forest, yet none reported finding anything.
Kyle gradually noticed something was wrong.
According to the map, Level 8 monsters definitely lived here.
There shouldn’t be none at all.
He continued forward.
Still nothing.
Then, as Kyle passed what looked like an ordinary tree, a sudden sense of danger came from the side.
He barely had time to turn before a dark shadow tore through the air and struck his shoulder.
A heavy impact echoed through the forest.
Kyle’s body shifted sideways from the force.
But the pain he expected never came.
At the same moment, a Skeleton Warrior standing nearby suddenly jerked.
A crack appeared across its shoulder bone for no apparent reason.
Kyle’s expression changed immediately.
He looked down at the place where he had just been struck.
His clothes were intact.
There wasn’t even a mark on his skin.
A notification appeared.
[Undying Substitute activated.] [Damage transferred to an undead summon.] Kyle finally understood what had happened.
The special passive he had obtained the night before had activated for the first time.
The damage meant for him had been transferred directly to one of his Skeleton Warriors.
Before he could examine the effect any further, the thing that had attacked him moved again.
This time, Kyle saw it clearly.
It wasn’t an ordinary branch.
The thick branch moved like a whip, its tip covered in tiny backward-facing thorns as it swept toward him again.
“Back.” Kyle immediately retreated.
Several nearby Skeleton Warriors moved in front of him at once.
The branch struck the first one and sent it sliding backward across the ground.
At the same time, the tree that had appeared completely ordinary moments ago began to change.
Its rough bark slowly split apart.
Two dark-red lights appeared in the center of the trunk, while the roots buried beneath the soil began to writhe.
Kyle had already moved beyond its attack range.
The strange tree didn’t pursue him.
Several long branches simply remained suspended in the air, swaying slowly.
Kyle raised his basic staff.
“Appraisal.” Information appeared before him.
[Thorn Guardian] [Level: 8] [Type: Plant Monster] [Traits: Skilled at camouflage.
Ambushes living creatures that enter its attack range.
Unable to pursue targets over long distances.] Kyle read the information and looked around.
Only then did he understand why his Skeleton Warriors had searched for so long without finding a single Level 8 monster.
It wasn’t that they had failed to find them.
They simply hadn’t triggered their attacks.
Skeleton Warriors had no flesh, blood, or normal signs of life.
These plant monsters hiding throughout the forest had probably ignored them completely.
Kyle was different.
The moment he entered its attack range, the Thorn Guardian had awakened from its camouflage and struck.
Kyle looked back at the strange tree.
Level 8.
Capable of camouflage.
Its attacks were noticeably faster than those of the monsters he had encountered earlier.
And that first strike had already been strong enough to damage one of his current Skeleton Warriors.
Now this felt more like a real fight.
Kyle didn’t immediately order every Skeleton Warrior to charge.
Instead, he first checked the summon that had taken the damage for him.
There was a clear crack across its shoulder.
It could still move normally.
That meant if the attack had actually landed on Kyle, his current Vitality might have kept him from being seriously injured, but there was no chance he would have walked away completely unharmed.
Undying Substitute was even more valuable than he had originally thought.
As long as his summons remained, it gave him an extremely reliable layer of protection against sudden attacks.
And the one thing Kyle wasn’t lacking…
was summons.
He raised his head.
The Thorn Guardian remained among the trees, several thorn-covered branches slowly swaying around it.
Kyle watched for a few seconds before issuing an order through his mental connection.
The nearby Skeleton Warriors immediately spread out.
They weren’t retreating.
They were surrounding the Level 8 Thorn Guardian from several directions.
Kyle remained outside its attack range with his staff in hand.
There was little nervousness in his eyes now, only concentration.
If one Skeleton Warrior wasn’t enough, he would send several.
If attacking from the front was difficult, they would attack from every direction at once.
After all…
that was what having more fighters was for.