SSS Awakening: Only My Summons Evolve

Verso guided his Stone Gargoyle to land as he slid off of its back and looked at the two figures standing near the entrance.

These were none other than Xavier, who was clutching his crackling spear and Moon who looked entirely too relaxed for a man standing in a bloodied warzone.

"Yes, it’s me." Verso said, raising his hands in a don’t shoot gesture as he dusted off his hoodie for what felt like the hundredth time that day.

"But what the hell happened down there? The beach looks like a butcher shop."

Xavier let out a long, weary sigh, his gaze drifting toward the blood stained shoreline below the mountain peak.

"It’s a pretty long story. By the time we came back from our hunt, we saw that a massive free for all had broken out."

"Apparently, some groups got tired of looking for Sirens and decided to look for people who had already found them instead."

He paused, his eyes shifting toward Moon with a look that was full of judgement.

"So, we..."

"Huh? What are you looking at me for?" Moon interrupted the conversation, a wide, predatory grin splitting his face.

He turned back to Verso, looking remarkably proud of himself.

"Yeah, the beach was getting crowded and annoying, so we just decided to camp the gate for some extra points! Much more efficient than flying between Islands, don’t you think?"

’Something is seriously wrong in this guy’s head...’ Verso stared at Moon, completely baffled.

The boy was talking about hurting and potentially killing other students as if he were discussing a boring afternoon chore.

There was literally zero remorse in his voice, instead he sounded pretty happy that had he found a shortcut.

"Don’t give me that look, scum!" Moon shouted, pointing a finger at Verso’s nose.

"You’re acting like I’m the bad guy here when you’re the one who lied about not having a flying summon just so you could hitch a ride with my sister!"

Verso’s face instantly turned deep red.

He opened his mouth to protest, but the words died in his throat as he realized his secret was well and truly out. The Gargoyle stood right behind him, as a piece of rocky evidence that he could have flown himself down the mountain at any time.

"I-it wasn’t like that!" Verso stuttered, looking everywhere but at Moon’s smug face.

"To be fair," Xavier cut in, taking mercy on Verso and changing the subject.

"it worked out pretty well in the end. Between the Sirens we found and the donations we collected at the gate, we ended up submitting over eleven points."

Hearing the number, Verso’s jaw nearly hit the sand.

’Eleven?! And here I thought I was doing well with my solo run!’

He re-evaluated the two boys standing before him.

While he had been carefully island hopping and fighting for his life against fish-women, these two had been acting like completely bullies who robbed several groups out of all of their hard earned points.

"So," Moon said, leaning against a nearby rock and looking at Verso with a curious, expectant gaze.

"How many points did the solo scum of our group manage to get? One?"

Verso took a breath, trying to regain some of his dignity.

"I wasn’t able to steal any points from other groups," He started, his voice steadying.

"But luckily, I was able to take down six Sirens on the outer islands."

The silence that followed was absolute.

Xavier’s grip on his spear loosened, his eyes widening in genuine shock. Even Moon stopped grinning, his eyebrows shooting up toward his hairline.

"Six Sirens?" Moon barked, his voice a mix of disbelief and newfound respect.

"That’s fucking insane, scum! You really are something. We were only able to take down four together before we gave up on the hunt and started camping here."

Verso’s eye twitched.

’How many groups did you both even take down?’

According to Moon’s math, they had only killed four Sirens, meaning the other seven points which were more than half their total, came from jumping other candidates.

’You literally destroyed some people’s lives...’

To Verso the red eyed boy’s words were a reminded that the elites did not believe in humble hard labor, they played a mean and dirty game.

"So, did Lua and Han show up yet?" Verso asked, looking around the empty mountain top.

Xavier shook his head into a no.

Finding out that their team’s heavy hitters were still out hunting, the three of them decided there was no point in lingering near the blood-soaked beach.

They turned away from the mountain edge and made their way through the gate, the shimmering blue energy of the gate washing over them as they exited the dungeon.

As they reentered the open grounds where the gate was located, the bright afternoon sun greeted them.

The group walked together as they approached the Examiner, a stern looking man in a grey suit who looked like he had not blinked in three days.

Xavier had already submitted the team’s initial total points, so Verso reached into his slimy hoodie pocket and pulled out the six blue tinted tongues.

The Examiner took them with a pair of silver tongs and gave a single nod before he went on to note something on his tablet.

’Does he already know what team I am in?’ Verso wondered, but seeing that the examiner did not give him any feedback he believed that this must be the case.

Turning around and walking towards a stone bench on the edge of the open ground Verso asked his group the question on his mind.

"So... When do we re enter the dungeon?"

Although he had been mentally strained already and had already experienced a near death encounter, he was worried about their teams ranking because for him this Exam was a matter of life and death.

"I don’t think we need to go back in anymore," Moon said, already flopping down on the bench and pulling a sleek, high tech smartphone from his pocket.

"According to the live ranking, we’re already in the top ten."

Verso stood in front of Moon, completely frozen.

"Wait a second," Verso said, his voice flat.

"Did you just say... live rankings?"

"Huh? Didn’t you know?" Moon said, looking at him like he was a caveman who had just seen fire for the first time.

"The rankings update live on your phone via the Academy app. Here, look."

Moon flipped his phone around, showing the screen to Verso. There, inside the clean golden interface, was an insane leaderboard.

---

[Summoner Academy National Exam]

[Live National Standings]

[1. Team Alice: 36]

[2. Team Leonard: 28]

[3. Team Mailene: 25]

...

[6. Team Han: 17]

---

Verso stared at the glowing screen.

This was when he realized that the gap between the Elite world and his own was not just about money and bloodlines. It was also about knowing that there was a damn app for the exam.

’I’ve been hunting in the dark like a fucking caveman while these guys were directly checking the scoreboard...’

Verso sat down on the bench as he buried his face in his hands and let out a long muffled groan.