“I can feel it. Time is up.”

  Rusty looked around the forge with a hammer in his hand. Ever since his adventure in the summoner mission had ended, he had spent weeks working in the soul forge. During that time, he managed to remake many of his weapons and armor pieces using a new and improved high-steel alloy, complete with several added enchantments.

  His blacksmithing skills had grown dramatically, and he had even been fortunate enough to recreate the lightning enchantment he once used on his old halberd and helmet. The soul forge provided the elemental materials he needed, and now his entire body was protected from the weakness that had troubled him for so long.

  From what he could tell, as long as he received an elemental talisman from a summoning chamber mission, the soul forge would provide the materials needed to recreate it. Since he possessed both the lesser flame and lightning enchantments, he was supplied with everything required to reproduce them. Because of this, he was able to forge weapons that carried both elements at once.

  From time to time, he sparred with the mercenary leader in the training facility, studying his patterns and even facing multiple opponents at once to sharpen his tactics. After completing his summoning chamber mission, he was also permitted to challenge people like Bartholomew. He spent long hours in the library as well, steadily expanding his knowledge.

  Yet the summoning chamber remained silent after a single attempt, just as it had before. The lack of response was disheartening. It was the only feature that granted him direct rewards through the talismans, while everything else demanded massive amounts of time and effort.

  “It is time to go.”

  Rusty left the smithing area and entered the central heart of the soul forge. Alexander and Aburdon were already waiting to send him off.

  “See you on the other side.”

  Alexander said.

  “Do not forget to summon me first and give me my new body. You promised it.”

  Aburdon added, though Rusty recognized the lie.

  “I never promised anything like that.”

  He shook his head and moved toward the middle armor. As before, a strange force pulled him in, and the world faded to nothing.

  Everything seems in order. Rusty appeared in the hidden compartment of his smithy. He did not know how much time had passed in this world, but his life detection skill assured him that everything was fine. Gleam was nearby, and so were the children. This gave him a moment to check his system.

  As always, his stats had increased. He also noticed a pattern. Within the D rank range, seventy-five points appeared to mark the threshold between D minus and regular D rank. This suggested that one hundred fifty points likely indicated D plus, while the upper limit of the rank seemed to be two hundred twenty-five.

  ‘I should be able to earn many Overpoints if I stay on track. Now for the new skill.’

  Rusty could tell he was progressing well. His body had grown strong, perhaps even strong enough to challenge beings of higher rank.

  He read the description and wondered if the system was guiding him toward a particular path. The skill appeared designed to enhance his puppet armor henchmen by increasing their abilities or stats. It also functioned on ordinary armor, suggesting that he might even strengthen humanoids who wore armor in his presence.

  ‘Not that good but not that bad either…’

  He had expected something more powerful, yet he could not complain. He was someone who could absorb skills from others whenever a particularly strong one appeared. The problem was the cooldown, which had grown rather long. Even though he had obtained the skill from the knight hobgoblin quite some time ago, it was still on a two-week cooldown.

  ‘It seems the skill uses this world’s time standards instead of the Soul Forge. I should remember that.’

  The skill was precious, but the longer he used it, the fewer skills he could take. It was best saved for boss monsters like the hobgoblin knight or for powerful humanoids such as the mercenary leader.

  ‘I should stretch my legs and tell Gleam she can stop guarding my body.’

  Rusty began to move. He stepped out of the compartment, and immediately something strange happened.

  “Oh?”

  “?( ??? )?”

  He had barely stood up before Gleam launched herself at him, tackling his face. Her antennae wiggled as she examined his new body, which did not look very different from before. He barely noticed her excitement because a window appeared before his visor.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  He had not expected this, yet the options were clear. He could now unlock a function that had previously been restricted to evolutions. The smithing area had already been unlocked, and the amount of time he could spend there had increased. Now he could choose one of the remaining areas.

  “( ? -?)?”

  Gleam tapped his steel helmet in confusion, which prompted him to respond.

  “Ah, sorry, Gleam. How have things been? How long was I gone?”

  “(?? ? ??)”

  “I see. So I was gone a bit longer than last time, and everything is fine?”

  She gave him a quick rundown of the situation. No one had questioned him about seizing the merchants and nobles' treasure or about attacking the bandit camp. Everyone was safe. That left him free to think about the unexpected opportunity.

  “I do not really need the library. If I do not know something, I can just ask Alexander or Aburdon.”

  His guides suffered from a strange form of amnesia. They knew a few things, but rarely in detail. For true understanding, he needed the books inside the Soul Forge. Even so, they knew enough that the library felt like the least important feature. That left the training chamber and the summoning chamber.

  “If I unlock the training chamber, I could fight people inside it before facing them in real combat.”

  This would be an enormous advantage. If he could observe an enemy, then enter the training chamber to face a replica and study their tactics, he could win almost any battle. Even powerful foes could be defeated if he understood their patterns. Most beings had weak points that were not obvious at first glance. After fighting the mercenary leader several times, he discovered subtle openings. They were small things, such as a brief shift in stance before a thrusting attack, an opening to perform a deadly counter.

  “But… it is probably more worthwhile to get more rewards from the summoning chamber.”

  The illusory battles were useful, but he could simply grow stronger before facing real enemies. The summoning chamber provided experience talismans as well as talismans with enchantments. With those, he could advance more quickly and level up at an impressive pace. If he encountered a powerful opponent, he could always run away, so the only reasonable choice was to focus on summoning.

  “Wait, does that mean… I can visit Gwen whenever I want?”

  Rusty had been saddened by the idea that he could only see his summoner every few months. His evolutions had slowed down each time, so he assumed the next chance to see Gwen would be at least three or four months away. If the summoning chamber followed the same cooldown pattern as the smithing chamber, then he could meet her several times a week.

  “It sounds too good to be true. There is probably some kind of catch.”

  “(? -?)?”

  Gleam was confused about why Rusty had grown distant and was staring into space, but she chose not to prod. Rusty, meanwhile, remained convinced that this new unlock could not be as good as it appeared. Even so, he accepted it, and soon another message appeared.

  “Is that it?”

  He had expected more, but once the notification faded, nothing else appeared. He opened his system to investigate and discovered a few changes. Previously, there had only been one option to enter the Soul Forge, but now there were two separate entries. One led to the smithing section and the other to the summoning chamber. This suggested they now shared a timer.

  “That is disappointing…”

  It looked as if he would need to manage his resources more carefully. The smithy inside the true Soul Forge was still far superior to anything available here. Enchanting would be easier there, which meant he would have to budget his time. To be sure of everything, he needed to see how this new chamber functioned. The earlier version of the Soul Forge had introduced restrictions that did not exist in the real one, so it was likely that this version of the summoning chamber would also come with new limitations.

  “Gleam, could you watch over my body for a while longer?”

  “( ?? ? ?? )ゞ”

  Gleam was a little confused about why Rusty was climbing back into the hidden compartment, but she only wiggled her antennae in approval. Even though he was never unconscious for long when using this secondary method of entering the soul forge, the summoning missions tended to last longer and followed their own timing.

  Once his body was hidden again, he activated the new option and felt his consciousness shift, just as it had many times before. He arrived in the summoning chamber and immediately noticed a few differences. The room looked smaller and there was no exit at all.

  It cannot reach any of the other chambers. I wonder if unlocking the other two will let me walk between them.

  It was becoming clear that his link to the true Soul Forge was slowly strengthening. The more he evolved, the closer he came to the point where it would become a permanent part of him. Once that happened, he would likely gain unrestricted access to everything it offered. It might even reveal something entirely new that would push his power even further.

  With that thought in mind, he turned to the summoning chamber console. It looked exactly the same as before, and it did not take long for him to find the missions tab. The moment he opened it he noticed that something was wrong. One of the missions was grayed out and bound by chains. He tapped it to see if anything would happen, and a message appeared.

  “Ah…”

  It seemed that because his rank had shifted from D minus to regular D rank, Gwen no longer had enough levels to summon him. In the past, whenever he entered the summoning chamber, a significant amount of time would pass, which probably allowed her to catch up. This time, the gap appeared too large and it left him in a difficult position.

  “Should I just upgrade her stats or wait?”

  He could no longer access her mission, yet there were other opportunities available. Some of them could even let him earn summoner coins. He had always wanted to explore the missions offered by other summoners, but focusing on Gwen had seemed like the better long-term strategy. Now that he was no longer as limited, he could use these other missions to gather coins and then funnel those resources back into her, making her stronger.

  “What should I try then?”

  “That sounds interesting…”

  “Another necromancer…”

  “Dungeon core…”

  Rusty examined the three choices and immediately dismissed the dungeon assignment. He refused to become a puppet of something like that again. The necromancer mission was not much better, since it required complete obedience and risking failure or reduced rewards if he denied any order. That left the first quest, the call for vengeance, as the only real option.

  Once he made up his mind and selected the mission, the familiar sequence began, this time with a visible countdown. Numbers starting from one hundred appeared before him in a separate window, and he was instructed to load items into his temporary inventory. Since the mission seemed to involve fighting multiple opponents, he decided to switch to a different frame, the Goliath.

  He fumbled for a moment because the timer was short and he had not prepared proper loadouts while he was busy crafting. Fortunately, swapping items was simple, and within a minute, he had gathered everything he needed. His body expanded into a heavier form, bulkier than the older Goliath frame. In this shape, he could carry a massive tower shield along with his trusted halberd.

  Once everything was ready, he stepped onto the summoning circle and waited. His mind raced with possibilities. This was a new summoner in a new place. He still did not know whether he was traveling to entirely different realms or different worlds, but he hoped that by meeting more summoners, he would eventually discover the truth.

  The world turned white, then red, and a scream echoed through the void. When the light finally faded, Rusty found himself standing before a strange statue. It looked like a creature forged from two separate ones, part stag and part wolf. Its antlers rose in a spiral pattern, and its muzzle was carved wide open as if caught in a permanent roar.

  Blood stained the stone at its base, and nearby, he saw several bodies. It appeared to be a family of four. The two larger humanoids were likely the parents, both curled protectively around a much smaller figure. None of them were alive, and the ground beneath Rusty’s feet was soaked with their blood. A breath of wind swept through the ruined clearing and carried with it the faint voice of a lone survivor, the one who summoned him.