Syrah, who realized that fact, murmured as if she had no interest in the demon.
“Then what will you do? Do you want Noah to fight for revenge alone?”
“What?”
“Why? There is only one, and that demon is the same one that attacked Noah.”
“I mean, revenge doesn’t sound too bad, right?” Syrah remarked, then she turned her gaze away from the fight and began to play with the Blue Bird she had summoned.
Guessing what she meant, Noah turned her head and looked at me. She also seemed to desire revenge at that moment.
When I looked into his bright yet pitiful eyes, my resolve to refuse her request completely disappeared.
After thinking about it for a while, I realized it wouldn’t be a big deal and nodded.
“…If it looks dangerous, I’ll intervene right away.”
“Don’t worry!”
With that, she moved forward with the Terraman. It seemed like a pointless waste of time to me, but for her, it might have been about confronting her weak past and letting it go.
“Ugh!”
As if to prove she had been attacked by multiple demons before, including that same one in the past, she successfully dealt with the creature in an instant with just a 1-star summon.
And then—
“…What?”
“Uh?”
Syrah, standing behind her, let out a sigh. It was the same with Noah, who had just hunted the demon. I watched them both, wondering what was happening, as their summons began to change.
“Terraman, you…”
“The Blue Bird…”
Evolution.
In other words, a level-up. The miraculous powers granted only to players were now happening to them as well.
“What? What’s going on?”
Except for Stella, of course.
* * *
Noah’s summon grew a little taller, and Syrah’s Blue Bird started growing fancy feathers.
Seeing that, I began to understand why their summons had evolved.
‘In the game… NPCs level up on their own if they just hunt.’
In “Project Luna”, where you can build rapport with NPCs and progress through the story together, their levels increase as you advance through the game. When I thought about it, it made sense. It costs money to level up my summons, but if I asked players to level up NPCs too, I’d only get complaints about being a money-hungry developer.
Thus, NPCs don’t need resources to level up. By merely being with the player, their levels rise automatically.
‘I’m so envious…’
While some people had to collect experience points and use soul stones to level up, others leveled up just by hunting with me. It was kind of unfair.
“What’s happening…?”
However, Stella was the only one not leveling up, and she glanced back and forth between the two summons. She let out a brief sigh, noticing the changes in the creatures, then immediately started eyeing me.
“…Ian, can you explain how this happened?”
Yes. It was a level-up like the one used during the midterm exam and in the confrontation with her. It was natural to infer that the situation resembled that prior experience.
But—
“I don’t know?”
“What?”
“I have no idea.”
I played dumb. The truth was that NPCs leveling up didn’t require any special conditions. All they had to do was party with the player and go hunting together. The reason their summons evolved was that they were only 1-star.
‘Stella’s summon is 3-star, so…’
1-star summons required less experience due to their smaller growth potential, so they had already leveled up. But to explain this would mean revealing my knowledge, and if I kept talking, I might accidentally reveal that this world was actually a game. No one would believe me outright, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t risk being accused of heresy, blasphemy, or insanity.
“You really don’t know? You pulled the same trick during the match…”
“Is it the same as what you saw in the match?”
“Yeah. Didn’t you know and use it? So are you seriously saying that you don’t know how they got stronger?”
“I told you, I don’t know.”
“…I see.”
Stella looked at me with half-crying eyes, filled with frustration. But I couldn’t blame her for feeling that way. If it was only one person, it would be fine. If it were just my own unique circumstance, she could brush it off. But what if the special ability I had displayed wasn’t exclusive to me? If she thought it was something anyone could achieve but had failed due to her own shortcomings… Stella, who had immense pride, wouldn’t be able to accept it.
To reassure her, I eventually offered some information.
“Once again, I don’t know.”
“…I knew it.”
“Back then I used the Soul Stone.”
“…Soul Stone?”
“Yeah.”
“How did you get it when you didn’t even have money for clothes?”
“I got it from Senior Dinua.”
Maybe realizing another growth method, her expression brightened. Fortunately, she trusted me immediately. To be honest, she believed in me and moved on.
I quickly turned my attention to the other cadets as well.
“You two, let’s keep this under wraps.”
“Won’t we get caught soon anyway?”
“Even so, it’s better than dealing with gossip.”
“…True.”
After gaining their agreement, I instructed the cadets to go bank up. They must have sensed the demon and noticed the peculiarity of the level-up.
The cadets, who felt thoroughly invigorated, agreed to leave the area.
And at that moment—
“You arrived quickly.”
“Huh? Wait, what is this…?”
In an instant, we were transported out of the dungeon.
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MC started using his brain? And started to halfass lie? Progress.
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