Chapter 8: Summoning

Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales

Once the tavern was built, an exclamation point appeared on the tavern’s icon, and above it was an explanation of the tavern’s ability.

 He had built the tavern in the game, but this was reality. Tang Yu was worried that the rules would be different, and just when he was getting concerned, he noticed the ability explanation.

 Without hesitation, Tang Yu opened up the explanation.

 [In the tavern, the Overlord has the ability to summon an adventurer for free once per day. Once the free summon is used, summoning another adventurer will cost five hundred units of Origin Crystal.

 Adventurers summoned can be divided into the grades of D, C, B, A, and A+. The higher the grade, the higher the growth trait of the adventurer. However, the higher the grade of the adventurer, the lower the chance of summoning them. Upgrading the tavern will increase the chances of summoning a higher-grade adventurer.

 Adventurers have five basic professions: Fighter, Wizard, Priest, Assassin, and Gunman. The strengths of summoned adventurers are not fixed. A Level 1 tavern can summon a Tier 5 Awakened at most. Upgrading the tavern can increase the upper limit of an adventurer’s strength.

 Once an adventurer has been summoned, the Overlord can choose to recruit the adventurer as needed and sign a contract. A Level 1 tavern is limited to three contracted followers. Upgrading a tavern can increase the number of followers with which one can sign a contract.

 On the first summon, an Overlord is guaranteed to summon a B-grade or higher adventurer.]

 The rules were basically the same as in the game, and Tang Yu was able to relax.

 He had chosen to build the tavern first precisely because it would help him the most at present!

 This was particularly true when it came to the first summoning blessing. Just the thought of the guaranteed summoning of a B-grade adventurer made him excited.

 Tang Yu knew the awful nature of gacha games. When they said ‘B or above’, one would never be able to summon an A or S grade. But a B-grade adventurer would already be enough to greatly assist him.

 While B grade sounded average, he recalled how in the game, he had gone nearly a month without seeing a A-grade adventurer. From this, one could see how low the chances were.

 This was even more so now that the game system had become reality. Tang Yu speculated that the grading system was the same as how humans graded themselves. However, the assessment methods in reality were somewhat behind and could barely give rough estimates. They could not make clear partitions.

 He originally had the Awakened aptitude of E, and the majority of Awakened had an aptitude of D. Perhaps only those incredibly talented Awakened in the early stages of the apocalypse could have an aptitude of B. Moreover, adventurers had professions, and professions meant skills and a complete profession system. It was completely superior to those Awakened in reality who didn’t understand what was going on and relied completely on ordinary attacks.

 Tang Yu cast aside his complicated thoughts and placed his focus on the summoning process.

 “Come on, then!”

 Tang Yu took a deep breath, opened the menu, and selected ‘summon’.

 A large, circular formation appeared in the center of the tavern, its surface covered in numerous symbols.

 The symbols were like pointers, constantly spinning and combining. Dazzling light emerged from the formation. This light formed a halo that slowly began to constrict.

 It was coming.

 The profession of the adventurer that was about to be summoned, the adventurer’s strength—it was all unknown!

 Tang Yu held his breath!

 The halo constricted to its smallest, and purple light burst out from it.

 Purple? Purple light!

 Tang Yu’s heart suddenly rapidly thumped twice. He couldn’t help but silently count down…

 White light represented D grade.

 Green light represented C grade.

 Blue light represented B grade.

 Then purple light…

 This definitely had to be good!

 The purple light coalesced into a human figure. This adventurer wore a tattered cloak that obscured their face. Upon inspecting the person closely for a while, Tang Yu realized that this was most likely a female adventurer.

 “Ding dong! Adventurer Yilian; Grade A; Profession: Wizard. Does the Overlord wish to sign a follower contract?”

 Do you even need to ask…

 “Confirm!!”

 …

 In a shabby wooden hut, an individual in a cloak was seated on an equally shabby bed, holding a ragged book and reading it with great focus.

 This utterly impoverished home was Yilian’s.

 She had lived this sort of life for many years. Though she was initially hesitant, Yilian had become very used to this lifestyle. For her, the conditions of her residence would never be as important as the book in her hand.

 This was a book on basic magic.

 She had found it underneath the bed. Besides the mementos left by her parents, this was the only object in her home.

 Phweeee!

 A sharp whistle of warning resounded through the city. Yilian was surprised at first, and then sorrow appeared on her face.

 This was the warning sound indicating that the black flood was coming. She was so familiar with the sound that it had basically been branded into her soul.

 Three years ago, the same warning signal had rung out, the black flood had attacked, and her parents, who had been working outside the city, had failed to return.

 That year, she became an orphan, and it was also at that moment that her somewhat happy home gradually began to decay.

 In her sorrow, Yilian awakened. She came to comprehend the power of the elements. To her shock, she discovered that she could harness the power of ice. This was a power that Wizards possessed. Wizards were powerful and revered, and their status was far above ordinary warriors.

 But the ability to control ice was only a prerequisite for becoming a Wizard. Yilian had never studied the path of magic.

 In this city, the only place she knew of that had books on magic was the house of the city lord. These books were incredibly precious, and Yilian knew that she would never be able to get her hands on them unless she pledged her loyalty to the city lord. But the city lord was an extremist aristocrat, always believing that only those of noble blood could possess the power of magic.

 Shaking her head, Yilian could only struggle to live in the slums.

 Alone, young, and without a steady source of income, Yilian lived an extremely hard life in the dog-eat-dog slums. Fortunately, she had awakened, so her strength and senses were above those of ordinary people. This was what enabled her to eke out a living in the slums.

 But one day, she found a ragged magic book beneath the cracked floorboards of her bed.

 The contents of the magic book were fragmentary, and Yilian had no knowledge of magic fundamentals. But through her own understanding of magic, she still advanced with leaps and bounds, learning spell after spell.

 Whew!

 Yilian exhaled and walked out of her little wooden hut.

 She put on her hood, her cloak completely concealing her body. After living in the slums for several years, Yilian had developed this habit. The slums had all kinds of people, and for a girl living here alone, it was best to conceal her identity.

 The slums were located on the outermost edge of the city. She could see shabby houses as far as the eye could see, and on the towering walls in the distance, Yilian saw many soldiers running toward their assigned positions.

 The sky outside the city was gray and hazy. As long as she could remember, this had always been the color of the world. Besides that most important book she was carrying, Yilian had no other worthwhile possessions in her home. After thinking about it, she decided to see what was going on.

 Because of the warning signal, there were many people running around in a blind panic.

 Suddenly!

 Boom!

 There was a blinding burst of fire, and thick clouds of smoke rose into the air. Finally, with a crash, the towering walls collapsed!

 Yilian’s eyes filled with shock. In her mind, this wall had always been impenetrable and unbreakable. Even in that gruesome siege three years ago, the wall had never collapsed. Yet in this black flood, the wall had collapsed at the very beginning.