"It’s Earth, obviously," I replied to her.
I found it strange. Their names were completely out in the open on Earth, known by everyone. So obviously, they had something to do with why Earth knew them so well. That said, she could have already connected the dots, since she herself had said that mortal worlds didn’t know their true names, only false names and titles.
’Maybe she knows,’ I thought uncertainly.
But, as if proving my theory, she sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"So it really was there," she said with a crooked smile as she looked at Aster, seemingly amused by his expression.
"You don’t need to make that face... I just thought it was too much of a coincidence that you came from the Cradle."
Aster tilted his head.
"Cradle?"
But Hera simply shook her head.
"I’ll tell you later. Let’s take care of what matters first."
I was curious, but her reasoning was correct. I was already starting to waste time I didn’t have. So I turned toward Doriana.
"Doriana, you can relax. Hera is a summoned being, just like you. She was actually my first summon. So relax... she’s with us."
Doriana let out a sigh. Her body still carried remnants of that Divine Being she had encountered that day. Not physically, but mentally. That experience had left a negative impression of Gods on her.
But looking at Aster and Hera now, completely at ease with each other, perhaps she had judged too quickly.
"All right. Thank you for being patient with me."
Aster simply waved his hand with a smile, dismissing her thanks.
"Don’t worry about it. You’re my companion now. We’re all in this together."
[? Doriana’s trust increased by 10%! ?]
I smiled when I saw her trust in me increase.
"I’m counting on you, Doriana," I said, giving her a small, satisfied nod.
"I’ll do my best to meet your expectations, Lord Aster, and I hope I can count on your guidance as well, Lady Hera."
She gave a small bow.
"Don’t worry, dear. You can just call me Hera."
"But I—"
Doriana tried to protest, but Hera didn’t let her.
"You’re not just anyone. You’re one of Aster’s main summons, so I’m treating you as an equal... Don’t refuse."
Hera spoke gently but firmly, leaving no room for refusal.
"All right, Hera... I’ll be counting on you from now on."
Seeing that everything was going well, Aster decided to return to the main subject.
"Doriana, I need your help with something."
She smiled and nodded. She was happy to be useful to Aster.
"Please, my lord. Tell me what I can do for you."
"So, here’s the thing..."
I began explaining the general situation to her and what I wanted her to do.
"So you want me to be the temporary leader of the troops you’re going to summon and help explore the surrounding area?"
Aster nodded, slightly uncertain.
"Can you do that?" he asked.
She placed a hand on her waist, wearing a proud smile.
"Fufufu, don’t worry, my lord. Have you forgotten who I am?"
She smiled with her full lips.
"I’m a Druid. I’ve lived almost my entire life in a forest... Actually, you couldn’t have chosen a better guide. My affinities are also extremely convenient for this situation."
I raised an eyebrow while touching my chin.
"That’s true."
I was being pretty stupid just now. She had mentioned only a short while ago that she had lived in a forest.
"I understand."
I nodded and then remembered something.
’That’s right! I haven’t checked her stats yet.’
’Status. Open Doriana’s profile.’
?? ──────────────────────────────────── ??
Name: Doriana
Titles: Elder of the Druids
Age: 12,227
Race: Druid
Affinity: Life, Wood, Earth
Level: 0
Strength: 3,440
Dexterity: 4,205
Speed: 3,501
Intelligence: 4,882
Mana: 8,400
Charm: 8,300
Description: Her most powerful abilities have been sealed. Only some lesser abilities are available. ’They can be recovered over time.’
Trust: 65%’She feels comfortable in your presence. She is also grateful to feel calm and safe. And she finds you extremely attractive.’
?? ──────────────────────────────────── ??
Aster looked at her stats.
"What the hell is this?" he muttered.
He ignored the part of the description about her thoughts, trying to focus on that for the moment, and concentrated on something else.
Her status showed what Hera’s had been missing, such as Strength, Dexterity, and the other attributes. But that wasn’t what made Aster’s eyes widen.
"How the hell does she have numbers like these in her attributes? She’s Level 0 just like me, so why is the difference so huge? Look at how much mana this woman has. Her Charm is monstrous too."
I stood there trying to understand what it meant. How could there be such a huge difference between the two of us?
But there was a reason for it.
And the one who decided to ease Aster’s existential crisis was the Guide.
[Those numbers in her status are the numbers she had before being summoned by you. She was at the peak of Class S.]
"But she was integrated into this new leveling system, right?" I asked. "Shouldn’t she have returned to the base stats of a Level 0?"
[Your Summoning System preserves her original attributes, but in exchange, it removed her main abilities. And there’s more... Even as she levels up, she will gain very few status points until she returns to the peak of Classification S. From that point onward, she will begin receiving status points normally according to her level.]
"So her stats won’t change much until she reaches the level corresponding to her class," Aster analyzed.
"I understand."
It made sense now. It would be extremely broken for her to start from zero with these colossal attributes and continue gaining even more status points normally. When she reached her previous level, she’d have twice as many points.
Gulp!
I swallowed hard.
"What a monster she’d become."
"By the way... Guide." She raised another question.
[Yes, Host!]
"What are the standard stats of a Level 0 person?" I asked. This had been on my mind for quite some time. What would normal stats look like, and how would they compare to mine?
[Well, that depends on the individual and their race!]
"What do you mean, it depends?"
[It depends on several factors: your origin, bloodlines and training, abilities, physique, and many others. All of these can give one person an advantage over another. For example: dragons have higher base stats than humans. Understand?... That’s a racial advantage.]
"That makes a lot of sense," I agreed.
It wouldn’t make any sense for a human to have stronger base stats than a dragon... That would be absurd.
"But if you made an average... what would it look like?"
[If I made an average, the attributes would be somewhere around 5 to 8. Going beyond that is extremely rare and unusual. Of course, that’s mainly averaging races such as humans.]
After hearing the Guide’s explanation, Aster analyzed his own values.
?? ──────────────────────────────────── ??
Level: 0
Strength: 11
Dexterity: 45
Speed: 10
Intelligence: 26
Mana: 35
Charm: 30?? ──────────────────────────────────── ??
"Damn... my stats are well above average."
Clearly, this was due to my Mythical-Class physique. If it weren’t for it, Aster was certain his stats would be ridiculous.
[Above average?] the Guide asked incredulously.
[How can you look at this as merely above average... Host... you’re a walking anomaly. That physique of yours is a treasure in itself. A gift that any being, on any plane of existence, would kill to get their hands on.] The Guide sounded a little annoyed by how casually Aster was treating it. Read this novel at novelping dot com for the best experience.
"Oops... my mistake." Aster scratched the back of his neck.
"Well, let’s leave that aside."
I turned my attention back to the two of them, who were talking. Doriana was visibly more comfortable around Hera now. That gave Aster a quiet sense of satisfaction, because that was exactly what he wanted.
Smiling, he called out to both of them.
"Ladies, shall we bring out the troops?"
Both nodded.
Without further delay, Aster took the ten Silver troop tickets out of his inventory. They all landed neatly stacked in his hand. Then, without wasting any time, Aster tore them all at once.
[? You consumed 10 "Silver" troop tickets. ?]
[? You summoned an "E"-Class troop. ?]
[? You summoned an "E"-Class troop. ?]
[? You summoned an "E"-Class troop. ?]
...
...
And so the summons began. The first five were all E-Class. Then, the sixth one was different.
[? You summoned a "C"-Class troop. ?]
"At least one," I commented while rubbing my chin and waiting for the notifications to finish.
[? You summoned an "E"-Class troop. ?]
[? You summoned a "D"-Class troop. ?]
"One D-Class. That’s good."
I rubbed my hands lightly and then gently pinched my fingers. It was a habit I had whenever I got anxious. It was a way for me to calm myself down. I had thought I had gotten rid of that habit, but apparently not.
[? You summoned a "D"-Class troop. ?]
"Another one!"
"One more to go."
[? You summoned an "E"-Class troop. ?]
Unfortunately, the last one was only E-Class.
"It’s fine... Actually, that wasn’t bad at all."
After the notifications ended, summoning runes appeared on the ground. But this time, they were larger, large enough to bring all ten of them out at once.
"Did you get any maximum-class troops from the Silver tickets?" Hera asked.
"One C-Class, two D-Class, and the rest E-Class," I replied, waiting for the ritual to finish.
Hera and Doriana stood on either side of me, also waiting for it to finish.
After a white light emerged from the runes, beams of light began appearing one after another above the altar until all ten had arrived.
At the front of the group stood a muscular man with red hair and a red beard, his arms crossed as he looked around. Eventually, he turned toward the people behind him, and all nine others looked at him.
"Captain... we’re really back!"
They all roared loudly, embracing one another and smiling as their captain looked at them.
A woman with black hair and brown eyes, with a scar on her face, approached the red-haired man.
"We’re back, Hugo, darling."
She leaned forward, rose onto her toes, and kissed the man’s lips as he held her by the waist.
It was an emotional and contagious moment, but someone decided to ruin it.
"Ahem... Ahem."
Aster cleared his throat loudly enough for everyone to hear.
"..."
"..."
"..."
’Silence.’
Doriana and Hera covered their mouths, trying not to laugh as they clenched their fists against their mouths.
The woman standing beside the man quickly stepped away, slightly startled, and her cheeks began turning red with embarrassment.
The man cleared his throat, and everyone fell silent before the newcomers finally paid their respects.
"We salute our lord."
"We thank you for the honor and the opportunity to serve you. We are at your disposal."
They all spoke in unison as they knelt.
Aster began finding this kind of situation amusing.
"Heh."
.......