SSS Awakening: Only My Summons Evolve

Standing over the mangled body of the massive, fish like humanoid, Verso felt the adrenaline finally begin to recede from his body as he suddenly felt a wave of nausea.

The cavern smelled like a fish market that had been left to rot in the sun, mixed with the sharp salty scent of the lake.

Verso looked down at the Siren’s gaping tooth filled maw, which was still frozen in its final silent scream.

’I really hate this part.’ 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Verso sighed and bent down, rolling up the sleeve of his hoodie.

He hesitated for a second before plunging his hand into the Siren’s mouth, his fingers pressing against the cold slimy interior.

The texture was even worse than it looked, it was literally a mixture of thick, viscous mucus and jagged needle like teeth that scraped against his skin.

He rummaged around the back of the creature’s throat, his face twisting in a mask of pure revulsion.

"This is so fucking disgusting..." He hissed through his gritted teeth.

After a few seconds of digging, his fingers brushed against something hard and unnaturally smooth. He gripped the object and pulled it out with a wet sucking sound.

In his palm laid a small crystal that pulsed with an intense blue light.

[Attribute Crystal: Strength 23]

"Fucking finally!"

Verso shot up to his feet, the disgust momentarily forgotten as he stared at the crystal in awe.

Since his awakening at the very last second of the exam, he had never truly had the chance to increase his base stats by farming.

He had been relying almost entirely on the raw power of his summons and his own limited tactical capabilities.

But here, by some stroke of luck in the real world, he had secured a massive boost in his stats. This crystal meant that he had basically maxed out his strength stat up to twenty, which was a monumental jump for someone at his rank.

He was about to crush the crystal and absorb it when he felt a familiar, heavy presence watching him.

He turned around to see Little Bone standing a few meters away, still holding the black scythe. The massive skeleton was holding its own skull with its hand, slowly shaking its head back and forth.

The flames in its eye sockets flickered with a judgmental light, clearly showcasing its disappointment in how Verso had nearly walked himself into a toothy death.

"Hey, any more overacting and I will synthesize you with the gargoyle!" Verso snapped, pointing a finger at the skeleton.

The threat worked instantly.

Little Bone froze, the flames in its eyes shrinking to tiny wisps of fear. It stood perfectly still, looking at its master with the kind of undivided attention one usually reserves for a life and death situation.

"Now pull out and cut its tongue off," Verso commanded, pointing down at the Siren’s corpse.

"We need that for the point submission."

Little Bone looked from Verso to the slimy, mangled carcass. The summon did not have a face, but the way it slumped its shoulders spoke volumes.

The skeleton bent down, carefully pulling its tattered dark cloak over its bony arm to act as a makeshift glove before plunging its hand deep into the Siren’s maw.

As it rummaged around, the skeleton’s ribcage gave a rattling sound as if the skeleton was actually gagging in disgust.

’Serves you right.’ Verso thought, watching the skeleton suffer for its earlier attitude.

However, as he turned away to face the lake, the satisfaction faded.

Little Bone was not entirely wrong. If it had not been for the Nameless Skeleton’s quick thinking and its spear throw, Verso would have been a meal.

This had been a brutal, eye opening moment. He realized he had been taking these creatures way to lightly because of his experiences in the Realm Menu.

He had not anticipated that a Siren would possess a mind control ability that could bypass his defenses entirely.

This meant that the next time he stepped into a cavern, he needed a better plan than to just walk in and hope for the best.

His gaze slowly turned as it landed on the water.

The Sea Serpent was peaking its massive, draconic face out of the murky red lake. Its golden eyes were fixed on Verso, waiting for its next command.

Up close, the creature looked even more imposing than the one he had killed in the Realm Menu. Its scales were thicker, its fangs looked larger and the pressure it exerted was significantly higher.

’This guy looks a little different than the one I killed...’

Verso didn’t quite understand why the summon had been able to completely overpower the Siren.

From what he knew the Siren was also a pretty well known elite creature, meaning that the Serpent should not have just killed it this easily.

Maybe it was just the environment, or maybe because the Serpent had superior stats than the Siren.

’I should check it out though.’

He flicked his hand and pulled up the summon’s status window.

[✦Summon Window✦]

Name: Sea Serpent

Title: -

Rank: Elite (0%)

Stats:

[Strength: 23 (+5)]

[Agility: 29 (+5)]

[Endurance: 26 (+5)]

[Mana: 18 (+5)]

Manifestation: [Scale Armor]

Abilities: [Vortex], [Tidal Wave], [Last Push]

Verso froze as he stared at the blue text.

His eyes scanned the numbers over and over again, focusing on the small, glowing plus signs next to every single attribute.

’It has a plus five stat bonus?’

That instantly explained the sheer dominance.

A flat five point increase across all stats was a massive advantage when it came to Elite creatures as even a single stat point at this rank was able to change how a fight would end.

Suddenly, the puzzle pieces in his head clicked into place.

’This must be the synergy from the talent!’

He remembered the description of his Son of The Seas talent. It had explicitly mentioned a superior synergy with any ocean type beast.

This meant that just by his very presence, any ocean related summon that he brought out received a significant stat bonus.

A sinister smile slowly began to spread across Verso’s face as he looked at the massive Serpent in the lake.

’Wait... doesn’t this mean I don’t have to risk my life at all?’

A new strategy began to form in his head.

He no longer needed to risk his own life in the dark caverns or waste his golems as disposable shields.

He could simply island hop using his gargoyle, find the Siren nests and let the Sea Serpent do the heavy lifting.

To rank in the Top 100 he did not need to fight every other candidate, he just needed to be the most efficient hunter on the island.

"Little Bone, hurry up with that tongue," Verso called out, his voice now filled with a renewed, cold confidence.

"We have a lot of islands to visit, and I don’t want to keep our new points waiting."

The skeleton finally yanked the bloody tongue free, holding it out with a trembling disgusted look.