Chapter 77: Summon Cards

A dark shadow still hovered over Pierre’s face, and he watched the system messages come and go with an unreadable expression.

[Host, your sign-in rewards are: +1.5 Stat Points, The Weeping Ghost (Item) ×1.]

Pierre’s eyes brightened with joy when his system world began to crumble.

[Disconnecting from LOVE.exe…]

Roy watched as the generated LOVE.exe environment dematerialized, leaving the blue-patterned grid floor and sky.

[Sign-In Complete!]

Having seen Pierre’s rewards, Roy was eager to see his. ’D-Don’t tell me…’

[Host, your sign-in 2x rewards are: +3.0 Stat Points, The Weeping Ghost (Item) x2.]

’The weeping ghost!’ Roy almost melted at the sight when his vision flipped, and he found himself back in the bathroom of the APC.

He breathed out steamy air, his hands and legs trembling from excitement.

’Calm down, Roy. You’re being stalked,’ he told himself.

“A-Ahem!” he cleared his throat.

“Sigh… That was one helluva sign-in session.”

He summoned his cube.

[23:57]

’I wonder, when I get another Linked Host, would I have to choose between the EXEs when signing in each day?’

Roy thought about this regarding the countdown, but since he had no clue, he let it be for now.

[Sign-In Rewards]:

[3.0 Stat Points (Unclaimed) ~Tap to claim~.]

[The Weeping Ghost ×2 (Unclaimed) ~Tap to claim~.]

There was no point in hesitating this time. Roy claimed the rewards.

With three new stat points, he pondered which stat to increase. He could go on and increase his Defense further, since he had already begun doing that earlier.

However, he had to take into consideration what Master Abraham said.

Steeling his mind, he put the entire three stat points in his Physical stat, taking it from 5.0 to 8.0.

Immediately, Roy felt a tangible sense of bolstering all over his body, and steam emerged. His muscles bulged and tightened, his bones strengthened to carry the weight, and he felt the ground was now further away a bit.

“Ah…”

Roy let out a satisfied groan and straightened his back.

Crack! Crack!

He flexed his neck and took in a deep breath. If anything, he was more capable than the average adult male. Stronger, faster, more agile, and more reflexive.

Roy looked at himself in the mirror and was simply taken by his current visage. Eight abs lined themselves on his abdomen. His acne problem and slightly receding jawline problems were all gone!

He grinned. ’If I had known I was gonna look so awesome, I would have put the previous stat points into my physique.’

“Show me my profile.”

+

[Host Data]

Name: Roy Mclloyd

Age: 16

Level: 7

EXP: 940/7000

Stat Points: 0.0

Number of Sign-Ins: 8

Skills: Link (Active), 2x Multiplier (Passive)

Linked Hosts: 1/1

Overall Stats: Physical = 8.0, Willpower = 4.0, Attack = 1.0, Defense = 3.0, Chance = 1.0 >> Total = 17.0

Overall Rating: “You are no longer a loser.”

Miscellaneous: [Apple], [The Weeping Ghost (2)]…

+

Roy read the new overall rating and smirked. “Damn right I’m not.”

’Now… for the new item.’

With a mere thought, the details came up in a new panel.

+

Item: [The Weeping Ghost] ×2

Type: Card

Tier: 2 (Uncommon)

Description: “Even in death, Hanabira Reina didn’t want to leave your side. Summon the weeping ghost to aid you once per day.”

+

“Sweet!” Roy exclaimed, not bothering at all about the bastard supposedly hiding in his shadow.

Generally, there were six types of items, namely: Weapon, Armor, Consumable, Tool, Charm, and Card.

Weapons were all offensive gear, consisting of guns, swords, and so on. Whereas Armor were all defensive equipment, consisting of shields, armor, clothing, cloaks, and so on.

Consumables, however, were edible one-time use items, mainly consisting of potions, buffs, food, and drinks. Tools and charms were similar but different in the sense that the former consisted of items that couldn’t be directly classified as weapons; for example, a rope, a teleportation device, or even a cup. And charms were then unique items with a singular effect, either active or passive, just like the cursed rag-doll.

Lastly, Cards, also known as Summon Cards, were essentially beings or constructs from the sign-in world given to the Host. They were the polar opposite of Abyss Souls.

’Uncommon! And I have two! That’s twice per day!’ Roy pursed his lips in a funny manner, preventing himself from laughing like a maniac.

This part of the sign-in system was what really caught Roy’s eye when he was younger.

The B-Class Executioner, Golden Masked Ranger, with his ZURG.exe, used his cards to summon other Masked Rangers to aid him in a gate break. It was an event that happened at least thirty years ago, but it was frequently televised to inspire the next generation. And boy did it inspire!

They fought an abyss creature that was at least the length of a twenty-story skyscraper. Golden Masked Ranger summoned a giant mecha-robot that they piloted and used to defeat the abyss creature.

And an additional feat, after the final blow, they faced away from the abyss creature, and it exploded behind them!

Roy even had countless Masked Ranger action figures and toys when he was much younger, but gave them all away last year, believing he had outgrown them.

’No, I still have my Golden Masked Ranger. Yes. It should be somewhere under my bed back at home.’

Summon Cards were just too amazing. However, the thing with items were they were system-specific, that is, one type showed up more than others in the individual systems. For example, an engineering system would give more tools and armor, but no weapons or charms, or a swordsmanship system would give weapons and armor, but absolutely no charms and tools.

Roy stretched his body and yawned.

“Mehn, I’m beat.”

It was already past midnight. He postponed testing out the summon card to later in the day.

* * *

Roy dreamt of the Reanimated Elder Weredeer getting married to Nana, where he was the groom’s bestman, Master Abraham was the priest, and Donald was the talking dog.

When asked if anyone would object to the union, Golden Masked Ranger stood up from the crowd and screamed vindictively, “I object!”

The wedding guests gasped, and one said, “You need to leave!”

“Uh…” Roy groaned as he awoke. “What was that dream? Goddamn.”

The voice of a frustrated woman talking faster than she could think entered Roy’s ears, and he rose from his bed.

Wolfman snored loudly and slept soundly on the ground beside him, effectively blocking the walkway.

’Tch. So his snores were that weird the Weredeer in my dream constantly made,’ Roy lampooned with a frown.

But then he smiled. ’Nothing can ruin my day.’

In a simple sleeveless wife beater, he washed his face in the bathroom and walked towards the front of the vehicle, stepping over Wolfman’s broad body.

“…not going!” Dr. Sally yelled.

Master Abraham was in the driver’s seat as usual, while Dr. Gretsch was in…

’My seat!’ Roy fumed, but then smiled. ’It’s just a seat. Nothing can ruin my day.’

“Can you just calm down for a second?” Dr. Gretsch said to Dr. Sally, who was standing and emitting steam from her ears.

“Are you crazy? How should I calm down when you want me dead?!” She screamed.

Dr. Gretsch was about to say something when Roy spoke up.

“What’s the problem?”

“Roy…” Master Abraham voiced, merely glancing back. “Mr. Professor’s response came in this morning. Sunfire is on her way…”

Roy nodded. “That’s good.”

“…but he wants us to help the survivors complete the field mission,” Master Abe completed.

Roy’s eyes twitched slightly. “What does that mean? We’ll help recover whatever sample they were looking for?”

“Yes.”

Roy had his opinions, but he first asked, “Did you agree?”

Master Abraham fell silent. Dr. Gretsch spoke instead, “Black Zero has agreed to help. I understand that this is most inconvenient for you all, but this mission is of utmost—”

“Can you shut up about that already?” Dr. Sally cut him off, her small frame and usually gentle demeanour striking a direct contrast to her current display.

Her frowning eyes were frantic; fear was evident in them. It was quite apparent that all she wanted to do was go home.

’Those spiders really did a number on her mind.’ Roy observed. ’But this is supposed to be my training. I don’t want to embark on some hard, top-secret mission. Goddammit.’

“Dr. Sally,” Master Abraham voiced, turning slightly, “please sit.”

Under his intense, almost unforgiving gaze, she could do nothing but obey. She sat down in the captain’s seat.

“I am actually a C-Class, not a D-Class. The Association just doesn’t know. No one here is going to die. So don’t be scared,” he said to her, his voice calm and calculated.

A sense of deeper calm washed over Dr. Sally, and she wore an expression of understanding.

“And Doctor, I agreed to help under the condition that Roy agrees to it too. Do not misquote me,” he added, facing Dr. Gretsch.

The middle-aged man with a receding hairline nodded. “Sorry. I understand.”

He turned to Roy and asked, “Will you help, Roy? Without Black Zero’s aid, I don’t think we can get any further…”

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