After spending a few hours like that, Leon could not feel anything different about himself or that anything had changed. All he knew was that some kind of deeper connection had perhaps taken place, he wasn't sure.
"Kinda feels like I've wasted time a little bit." Leon sighed as he got up to draw a new summon from the door. Day by day, this was starting to look like a gacha draw.
Calling forth the door, aside from the usual theatrics, he watched as a new undead appeared from the door, emerging from the mass of shadow and stepping into his room.
Watching the skeleton emerge, Leon's eyes widened in shock, as this time, it wasn't even a skeleton that had come out, but a… mummy?
The creature had its entire body wrapped in dirty white bandages, with a hefty sabre strapped to its back also wrapped in white cloths that was surprisingly cleaner than the one on itself. Its entire body was wrapped, leaving only the space around its eyes, elbows, knees, and feet exposed. Its eyes were hollow, housing a dark crimson hue that seemed to emanate deep malice Leon could not explain.
Quickly checking his mind space to access its stats, he found something utterly shocking.
…
Summon: Undead Desert Skirmisher
Description: An Undead Desert Skirmisher specializing in fast and precise attacks, scouting, and hit-and-run tactics.
Grade: 2 (Peak)
Potential: 2 (Peak)
…
'Oh wow.'
Leon looked at the summon again, studying it more in detail. It really looked like the mummies he would see in movies from his past life. This was amazing. It was actually a Grade 2 peak summon!
'Is this good luck, or did this come from the exercise I just did?' If he was right, this meant Alyssa had just given him a great help going forward.
Being in a good mood, he stored the new summon in his summoner's space and went down for food. Now that he no longer had any problem with walking about, eating in the dinning with the others was something he was going to be doing.
Reaching there, he walked into his stepmother scolding Alyssa harshly. He was actually surprised to witness the scene, as it looked rather out of character even though he couldn't remember much of his mother.
As soon as she saw him, she rushed towards him, taking his hands and checking his body all over. "You're alright. Oh, thank goodness. Stop listening to your sister always, she's just a battle maniac, don't be like her! You still need to rest even though you have been healed, at least for some days, before doing anything strenuous."
Leon was going to protest, but he could sense this wasn't the time for that. He managed a smile and comforted his stepmother. "I-I am fine. Actually, going to that dungeon helped me a lot, I even broke through my understanding and have grown a little stronger." He said. Not giving her a chance to protest, he looked towards Alyssa, "than you, Alyssa."
Alyssa almost flinched at the compliment, turning her head the other way.
'This big idiot! Does he want to punish me intentionally for testing him in the dungeon?!' She thought to herself. Her mother glanced at her briefly, and she could feel the cold glare for a moment, a cold shiver washing over her.
"You broke through, did you?"
"I did. It was really thanks to today's experience and Alyssa's advice. All thanks go to her." Leon further explained with a bright smile on his face.
"Is. That. So?" His stepmother reiterated. How could Leon realize that it was common knowledge that breakthrough either came from deep insight and strengthening the bond between summon and summoner, or from a more trial by fire way by surviving great ordeals. Giving the fact that he just came from two successive dungeon experiences, it was clear what was going through his stepmother's mind. Alyssa actually put him in danger right after he had survived one.
It took Alice explaining in clearer detail for their mother to understand and calm down.
"That is a relief~" She sighed. "Does that mean we have another genius in the family? Breakthrough through insight and bonding in just a few hours is not exactly something so casual or common, you know? This is wonderful, Leon."
They talked for a while more before eating.
Leon who was eager to test the strength of his new summon found it difficult to fall asleep. He almost left for the green dungeon they visited earlier, but stopped himself. It was not a dungeon that disappeared after being cleared, instead it entered a refractory period. No one understood the mechanism behind this, but that was how dungeons normally worked, and they would have to be cleared regularly else a dungeon break occurred.
The following morning, without waiting for Alyssa, he left home and hurried to the dungeon.
On getting there, he made his way into the premises, but faced unexpected resistance from the staff stationed there.
"You can't just walk into any dungeon like that. You're not even registered yet! Even if you were, it's not possible without reservation." The guard stated angrily. How could anyone say they didn't know this basic fact? Even ordinary people knew this simple fact. It was clear that the youth before him was trying to play tricks.
"I-I am sorry, sir, I was not aware. Please, one minute." Leon said in shame.
Retreating some distance, he made a call to Alyssa quickly.
It turned out that Alyssa had booked the dungeon in advance too, and the reason there was no guard the day before was also because of this, she got special treatment in a way, and her people handled everything.
"Don't worry. That dungeon is not a busy one, it should be free for today. I'll make reservation now." She said.
"Oh really? Thank you very much."
…
Within three minutes, Alyssa called Leon and gave him the details.
He presented the necessary information to the guard, and after being made to sign a death waiver, something he didn't have to deal with the day before, he was allowed access into the dungeon.
This time as soon as he went in, he summoned the new skeleton warrior and the Undead Desert Skirmisher.
After wandering for a while, he tremors came, twelve depressions opening in the sand simultaneously, the bright yellow and red shapes of sand lizards emerging with the unhurried confidence of creatures operating on home ground.
Using the skeleton warrior as a bodyguard, he allowed the Undead Desert Skirmisher to attack. While its description was something about hit and run tactics and scouting, looking at the big blade on its back, he trusted it would have more capabilities head-on against monsters in direct confrontation.
Leon pointed the skirmisher forward and stepped back to watch.
What happened over the next several minutes was genuinely interesting.
The skirmisher didn't charge. It moved laterally first, circling the nearest cluster of lizards at a pace that kept it outside immediate strike range while it read the group's formation. Then it committed, not to the nearest target but to the one on the edge of the group with the least lateral support, coming from the blind angle the sabre already drawn in a strike that connected before the lizard had fully registered the approach.
It moved again immediately, not staying to finish, relocating to the next blind spot before the group could coordinate a response. A second lizard caught a slash across its flank, and the third took a hit to the base of its tail that compromised its movement.
The sand, Leon noticed, was being used quite effectively. The skirmisher kicked it deliberately into the faces of the lizards it passed, a half second of impaired vision that it converted into distance or position without breaking rhythm.
One, three, five… The count climbed with a consistency that was more impressive because of how little damage the skirmisher was absorbing in return. It wasn't overpowering them, it was just simply never quite where they expected it to be.
At ten, the skirmisher was cornered and caught in a series of terrible assault. Leon immediately sent in the skeleton warrior to assist, there was no need to wait until it was too damaged and had to be forcibly recalled back into the summoner's space.
In a short moment, the monsters were dealt with, and the skeleton warrior returned to Leon.
Leon stood in the desert heat and looked at the cleared field.
The skirmisher came to stand beside the skeleton warrior, sabre still in hand. The crimson eyes found Leon across the sand with the particular attention of something that was registering him rather than simply facing in his direction. It felt a little strange, as it was a first experience, but not malicious.
"Good work," Leon said.
He wasn't sure why he said it. Neither of them could understand him, technically. But it felt like the accurate thing to say.
He left the dungeon wanting more, and stood outside in the comparative mercy of the construction site's shade, and thought about Grade 2 Peak performing like that against twelve Grade 2 Entry targets.
He could only think about rushing home and try to deepen his connection to the door to see whether, maybe he would summon an even stronger monster. It was an exciting thought.