Summon Master

The first rule of a Summon Swordsman: never fight alone under any circumstances.

[Consume 1 skill point, upgrade Moon Shadow Swordsmanship 1/5, proficiency C--Moonlight unlocked]

[Consume 1 skill point, designate talent--Summon Master awakened]

[Summon Master Tier 1 talent unlocked: Soul Resonance (number of summonable spirits increases every ten levels), Mind Call (duration of sensory sharing and mental connection with summoned objects increased), Construct Coordination (allows for dual spirit fusion)]

[Obtained passive skill: Soul Resonance Lv1 (summonable spirits +1 every ten levels)]

[Summonable spirits +1]

Just as the last line of system text vanished, a massive shadow flickered across the corner of Rhode's vision. Yet, he did not retreat, nor did he falter. Instead, Rhode raised his longsword and slashed forward violently.

"Swish!"

A cyan-green figure shot out rapidly from the blade's edge, pouncing toward the incoming Gargoyle.

Soul Bird.

Rhode's biggest problem at the moment was his inability to summon two entities simultaneously, and unfortunately, as his weapon, Star Trace counted as one of those summoned objects.

A typical Summon Swordsman, much like an ordinary swordsman, would only be equipped with a "normal" weapon. Rhode was an exception; although he had considered using a more standard weapon, he simply could not abandon the attribute bonuses of Star Trace. It was precisely this unique characteristic that allowed Rhode to easily eliminate monsters of similar or even slightly higher levels, reaping so much experience in the early stages. Conversely, this also prevented Rhode from adopting the signature "attack alongside summoned objects" style of a Summon Swordsman; from the outside, he appeared more like an orthodox swordsman.

This made Rhode quite uncomfortable, but there was no other way. If he wanted to summon the Soul Bird, he would have to relinquish Star Trace, but that would leave Rhode in the awkward position of being unarmed. Although he relied primarily on summoned objects, one must not forget the latter two words were "Swordsman" rather than "Mage," so Rhode could not hide in the back and do nothing like those spellcasters. But if he wanted to use Star Trace, he had to seal the Soul Bird, and fighting like a normal swordsman was not a good thing for Rhode.

Because compared to a true swordsman, a Summon Swordsman had one major disadvantage: the class penalty—all swordsmanship proficiency -1.

In other words, a true swordsman's swordsmanship proficiency could reach SSS at its peak. But no matter how hard a Summon Swordsman tried, they could only cap out at SS. Furthermore, the starting line for both was different from the beginning. A true swordsman's initial swordsmanship proficiency levels were all D. Rhode's Summon Swordsman, however, could only start from E; that was the gap. It could be said that, in fact, ever since arriving in this world, Rhode had been fighting very arduously. If not for holding Star Trace and his knowledge of the Dragon Soul Continent, he would likely have been in a sorry state long ago. Because he had long been accustomed to the state of having summoned objects fighting alongside him at any time, this current situation put him under immense pressure.

And now, having unlocked the "Summon Master" talent, he finally felt a weight lift from his shoulders.

That's right, Summon Swordsmen did not have the individual attack power of a full-time swordsman, but they were never people who fought single-handedly.

Facing the Soul Bird pouncing toward it, the Gargoyle paused. It sensed the magical aura on the opponent, but its unremarkable artificial intelligence could not determine what this thing pouncing at it actually was. Nevertheless, it still identified the opponent as an enemy and swiped down with a claw.

But this time, the Gargoyle missed.

The moment it felt its claw strike the opponent, the previously solidified form vanished suddenly like a snowball shattered by someone. In its place, a faint current of air flowed rapidly from between its claws and disappeared without a trace. But before the Gargoyle could react, Rhode had already followed up quickly, then gripped his longsword and flicked it forward.

A silver arc of Moonlight erupted from Rhode's blade, flying toward the target that had left its guard wide open after a missed strike.

This was the third skill of Moon Shadow Swordsmanship--Moonlight.

Although it was, like Shatter Blade, a technique that condensed sword energy for an attack, the effects of the two were completely different—Shatter Blade took the form of a blade of light shooting forward; while powerful and possessing high penetration, its range was too narrow and easily dodged. Moonlight was different; the crescent-shaped attack swept across, threatening a large area in front, making it very difficult to dodge.

Sure enough, facing the incoming sword light, the Gargoyle instinctively tried to flap its wings hard to dodge the attack, but its speed was a step too slow. It was clipped on the right wing by the silvery blade of light. Accompanied by the falling of several small stone fragments, the Gargoyle's body, which had been hovering in the air, suddenly tilted, losing its balance.

But this was not the end, because just as it intended to regain its balance, Rhode had already stepped forward twice, then swung his empty left hand downward, making a strange gesture.

The Soul Bird, which had turned into a breeze to dodge the Gargoyle's attack, appeared behind the Gargoyle at this moment, circling. The whistling wind condensed its body once again, and accompanied by a crisp cry, the wind-swirled bird slammed heavily into the Gargoyle's back. The intense blast of air that erupted immediately blew the Gargoyle away, causing the already annoyed Gargoyle to shriek in anger. But before it could express its fury, streaks of shining light blades appeared in the Gargoyle's eyes.

One, two, three.

The dancing, rotating Shatter Blades struck the Gargoyle's injured right wing with precision. Even wings made of obsidian could not withstand these successive attacks. As the Gargoyle suffered this barrage of impacts, spiderweb-like cracks spread across its wings, and soon, accompanied by a crisp shattering sound, the wings made of hard material were completely destroyed. This caused the Gargoyle, having lost one wing, to shriek loudly and fall to the ground, smashing a small crater into the bluestone floor.

Fighting with numbers, bullying the few with the many, combining quantity with quality—this was the style of a Summon Swordsman.

Rhode finally regained the feeling of his original combat style. In fact, if he had a normal weapon in his hand now, he could manipulate two summoned objects to attack simultaneously after activating "Summon Master." At that point, let alone two rare elites, even if a boss were to appear in person, he would have the confidence to grind it to death.

However, it was a pity that there were no "ifs" in the world, and Rhode currently did not have a second Soul Core to awaken a spirit.

So he had to abandon the thought of pressing the attack and instead retreated rapidly.

Because at this moment, the second Gargoyle had already dived down.

Perhaps seeing its companion injured, this Gargoyle's offensive was quite fierce. However, Rhode, now able to summon the Soul Bird, naturally had no intention of being foolish enough to go head-to-head with it. Facing the black shadow that had previously left him in such a sorry state, all Rhode did was tilt his head back and whistle. Immediately following, a gust of wind whistled past from the side, forcefully pushing away the black shadow that had intended to attack Rhode. After losing its aim, it tumbled around in confusion before slamming into the nearby church wall and coming to a stop.

Rhode would certainly not let such a good opportunity pass.

Under his command, a cyan whirlwind rose from the ground, and the flying bird spread its wings, pouncing toward the enemy before it once again.

In an instant, the offense and defense were reversed.

The two Gargoyles that had been showing off in the sky just moments ago were now as wretched as drowned dogs, while Rhode, who had been struggling under immense pressure just a moment ago, immediately turned the tables and regained the favorable position. He consciously had the Soul Bird coordinate with him, forcibly separating the two Gargoyles to ensure that at any given time, they could maintain a "two-on-one" situation, forcing one of them to be unable to come to the rescue in time.

Although the situation had changed for a moment, Rhode could not achieve further results. This was because his power had already been mostly consumed earlier, and although in the game, players could revive on the spot with "full health and full status" after leveling up, such a good thing clearly wouldn't happen in reality. Thus, although Rhode had leveled up to ten and unlocked talent points, his soul power had only increased by the portion that should have been gained from the upgrade.

Relying solely on this was not enough to eliminate two Gargoyles. Moreover, manipulating two summoned objects simultaneously consumed even more of Rhode's soul power; he had to be even more careful than before to avoid "running out of juice." After all, the level gap between the two sides was too large, and the Gargoyle's defense was no joke. Rhode's previous attacks had only shattered the wing of one of them and had not caused any particularly serious damage to their actual bodies. In this situation, if Rhode went all out, it was indeed possible to eliminate one of the Gargoyles. But in doing so, he would have used up all his power and would have to face the other one unarmed—anyone with a brain could figure out the result.

Now, the only thing Rhode could do was to try his best to suppress these two annoying guys and wait for Lize and Mace to find that "control hub."

Otherwise, the situation would revert to what it was just a moment ago.

"---!"

Although one wing had been crippled, the Gargoyle did not lose its threat because of it. It crawled on the ground like a pitch-black, stone-carved giant dog, all four claws flying, running on the ground like a phantom. This was exactly the terrifying aspect of these alchemical creatures; if you treated them as monsters that only knew how to show off in the sky, you would definitely suffer a great loss.

Fortunately, Rhode understood them very well. Although he wouldn't be like a novice who thought that as long as you knocked a Gargoyle out of the sky, you could do whatever you wanted to them, this still made Rhode feel that the pressure had eased quite a bit; after all, he didn't have to divert too much energy to worry about his head.

The pitch-black figure appeared behind Rhode. The Gargoyle shrieked and extended its right claw to dig at Rhode's back, but in the next moment, Rhode dodged to the side. The flawless white blade in his hand turned into a bolt of lightning, barely blocking the opponent's attack. At the same time, Rhode extended his left hand. The Soul Bird circling beside him, upon seeing his gesture, immediately let out a clear cry and spread its wings, barely blocking the other Gargoyle that was attempting to attack him from the air.

Although with the Soul Bird's level, it was not yet able to cause too much damage to rare elites like Gargoyles, as a pure elemental creature, blocking was not particularly difficult for it.

Time ticked by second by second, and Rhode's heart grew increasingly anxious. He felt his body was somewhat exhausted, and even his spirit was somewhat lethargic—this was a manifestation of his soul power nearing depletion. Yet, there was still no movement inside the church. Could it be that they hadn't found the control hub yet?

"Whoosh!!"

A shrill gust of wind whistled past Rhode, causing his heart to skip a beat. He instinctively dodged to the side while attempting to activate Shadow Blink, but the moment he prepared to evade, his footing faltered, and the skill that should have triggered failed to take effect.

His soul power was on the verge of exhaustion!

Rhode's heart sank, but there was no time for him to dwell on it. He hurriedly spun around and thrust his sword backhanded. The hard stone claw collided with the gleaming white blade, producing a harsh, grating screech. The Gargoyle retreated rapidly after its failed strike, but Rhode was in no position to pursue.

Just then, a voice suddenly rang out from behind him.

"Mr. Rhode! We found it!!"