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nTranslator: HunterW3

nEditor: RED

nDuring the party at Lee Jiwon’s home…

n“Hehehe!”

n‘Let me rest!’

n“No!”

nShaman Ko ran endlessly; through trees, down hills, and over boulders. It was having so much fun. But the Dungeon Mole that was still tied to Shaman Ko felt like it was dying as it was dragged around everywhere.

n“Huh?” In the middle of its play, Shaman Ko heard a sound it had never heard before in its domain. Shaman Ko turned its head to the new sound, and saw a small bird perched in a tree. Shaman Ko suddenly rushed towards it and the bird quickly flew away when it saw Shaman Ko scrambling after it.

nUnfortunately for the little bird, this was Shaman Ko’s domain. There was nowhere for it to run. Just because it could fly didn’t mean it could escape Shaman Ko’s grasp.

nShaman Ko leapt up from the ground and jumped right over the bird, hitting it like a flyswatter. The bird fell straight to the ground from the force of the blow. The bird got back up on its feet and tried to flap its wings and fly again, but it must have broken a wing. All it could do was jump a couple centimeters off the ground.

nShaman Ko slowly walked over to the frantically chirping bird. It picked up the poor thing and brought it up to eye level. “This is my home.”

nA strange thing had entered Shaman Ko’s home without its permission. It didn’t matter if it was big or small, strong or weak; any strange beings that entered Shaman Ko’s home without permission were Shaman Ko’s enemies. Shaman Ko reacted only one way towards its enemies; by getting rid of them! It was how the epitome of greed protected its belongings.

nAfter Shaman Ko declared firmly to the bird that it had invaded Shaman Ko’s home, Shaman Ko tightly squeezed the bird in its hand. It was impossible for the bird to withstand that amount of pressure, and it was destroyed in an instant. All that was left was a bloody pulp and feathers in Shaman Ko’s hand. Shaman Ko looked emotionlessly at the mess and gave its hand a good shake, before getting back to his playtime with the Dungeon Mole still tied to it.

n“Hehehe!”

n-Let me rest, I said!-

n——

nAfter the weeklong feast ended, I was back up in my room overlooking the garden. “Can this even happen?”

nA skill of mine had been removed on its own. Deleting skills was a pretty common occurrence. I had done it a few times during my past life and I had even deleted Heel Kick some time ago. But there was only one way to delete skills, and that was to go to a skill shop and have the clerk or system do it for you. There was no other way to remove skills and yet…

n“It still got removed…” I recalled the message I received during the first day of the feast.

n——

nAfter the short talk with my mother, I could finally smile. I fully understood what she meant and was able to enjoy the party. I was the star, after all… and then the message that appeared.

n==Summon: Sparrow (1

/1), (Active) has been removed.

nYou will not be refunded the golden rings spent on learning this skill.

nThe skill point used to learn this skill will be returned to you.==

nI was shocked at the message that came without warning. It didn’t make sense at all. I held my tongue, however, and acted as if I was still enjoying the party. It might be something I hadn’t experienced before, but I wasn’t a child to go running for help at the first sign of danger.

n—

nBack to the present…

n“Ha…geez…” Thankfully, the skill was only level 1, so it didn’t need any EXP and it also didn’t cost much to learn. The important part here was why. Why did it get removed?

nI got up from my seat. I didn’t know enough to figure out why it happened. It didn’t cost that many golden rings, so I could still learn it again and see for myself if it would happen again. I left my house and used both Blinks to quickly get to Store 72. I went straight up to the skill shop and bought the skill again. I left the Store once I had it, since I couldn’t use skills inside, and once I was outside, I quietly activated the skill.

n“Summon: Sparrow.”

n==Sparrow has been Summoned.==

nIn an instant, a small sparrow appeared before me, chirping and flying around me in a circle before alighting on my shoulder. It seemed to know that I was its owner.

n“There doesn’t seem to be any problems…” The skill worked completely fine. Just as I was closely examining the little bird, it burst like a balloon. It just popped for no reason, and then that same message appeared.

n==Summon: Sparrow (1

/1), (Active) has been removed.

nYou will not be refunded the golden rings spent on learning this skill.

nThe skill point used to learn this skill will be returned to you.==

n“Huh? What the hell?” The fact that it just happened right in front of me made it that much harder to believe. I never really had a Summon skill before, but I at least knew that this was not normal.

n“Okay. Let’s say it died, for whatever reason. But why would it get removed just because it died?” A Summoned creature could die during battle. Sometimes, that was their role; to tank damage for their caster. The only penalty for a dead Summon creature was at most just a 24-hour cooldown before it could be summoned again. If the penalty ever affected the summoner, then no one would ever learn Summoning skills.

nSo obviously, none of this made sense to me. The Summoning skill was removed as soon as the Summon creature died, as if the creature only had one life.

nI went back inside the Store and up to the skill shop to learn another Summoning skill that only cost 1 skill point, called Summon: Pocket Monkey. Most summoners used this Summon beast as a pack mule to carry items when their inventories got full. When I left the Store this time, I used Blink once to get some distance away from the crowd.

n“Summon: Pocket Monkey!”

n==Pocket Monkey has been summoned.==

nThe Pocket Monkey was summoned without any problems. I quickly examined the little beast.

n==Pocket Monkey (Owned by Lee Jiwon)

nThe pouch on the Pocket Monkey’s belly is actually quite large on the inside.

nThis Summon beast possess no combat abilities whatsoever.

nItems can be stored inside the Pocket Monkey’s pouch.

nIf the Pocket Monkey is attacked, it can drop some of the items it is storing.==

nI didn’t see the same notification that told me I could use Predation on it, like when I first got the Dungeon Mole.

n“Predation!” I shouted to see for myself.

n==Predation cannot be used on this target.==

n“…” So I was wrong. But before I could do anything else, the Pocket Monkey blew up the exact same way the Sparrow had.

n==Summon: Pocket Monkey (1

/1), (Active) has been removed.

nYou will not be refunded the golden rings spent on learning this skill.

nThe skill point used to learn this skill will be returned to you.==

nI was completely clueless as to why this was happening. I had never heard about this happening in my past life. “I just don’t get it.”

nI went back to the skill shop and bought the Sparrow skill to check it before it blew up and learned that it also didn’t have the Predation notification. When the Sparrow blew up again, I finally realized that there was nothing more I could do, and I decided to head back home. I might as well think from the comfort of my own room.

n——

nBack in my room…

n“Are Summon skills the problem?” None of my other skills were removed, just the Summon skills.

n“Summon: Dungeon Mole.”

n-Ha…ha…I just can’t deal with that Shaman Ko!-

nIt sometimes said things I didn’t really get, but I could still Summon it without any problems. I stared at the mole as it spread out on its belly on my palm and snoozed away. I then finally realized the difference between the mole and the other Summon beasts.

n“It belongs to both me and Shaman Ko?” The Sparrow and the Pocket Monkey had only belonged to me, but the label on the Dungeon Mole clearly said that it belonged to me AND Shaman Ko.

nWhen I realized that, I began to put together the answer. “The Scroll of Predation comes from Shaman Ko’s Roulette Wheel, and the only target Predation works on is the Dungeon Mole.” Shaman Ko was in the center of it all, including Predation.

n“Hmm…” I was sure that Shaman Ko existed within me. I hadn’t realized it then, but that voice I heard when I got the Listen skill that cried out when it was annoyed about something came from Shaman Ko. But Shaman Ko was a different entity than other Summon creatures. It couldn’t exist in the real world, like the Dungeon Mole could.

n“Shaman Ko consumed Predation, which is how Predation is on the Roulette Wheel, and also means that Predation is now one of Shaman Ko’s abilities. That’s why I and Shaman Ko both own the Dungeon Mole and how I can use Predation on the mole.” The pieces were slowly starting to fall together.

n“Then… does that mean Shaman Ko was killing off those normal Summon creatures?” Shaman Ko was probably rejecting those creatures, as it didn’t see a real use for them.

n“And the reason why I can’t use Predation on the Sparrow or the Monkey is because only I owned them. Shaman Ko has to own them as well, in order for me to use Predation on them.” A shiver ran down my spine once I finally understood why that was happening. I double-checked my facts in case I had missed something, but that was the only explanation I could come up with.

n“So… now what do I do?” Predation only lasted a day, but it had unlimited uses. Right now, I could only get Sparrow, but there were other Summons, like Invisible Beetle, Fire Butterfly, or even Phoenix. Saving Predation was too much of waste when there were so many Summons I could try to use Predation on. There was a chance I could obtain an ability no one would normally be able to get.

n-Give me candy!-

nI looked down at the mole in my hand. “Just how did you get yourself captured by Shaman Ko in the first place?” I asked, but I didn’t get an answer. All it did was squeak, demanding I give it a piece of candy.

n“Fine, fine, here you go. What can you know, anyway?” I ripped open a piece of candy and handed it to the mole.

nI stroked the mole as it licked the candy. I felt much better now that I understood what was going on. I just didn’t know yet what to do about it. “Will it fix itself if I just leave it alone?” I wondered if Shaman Ko would ever give up if I kept throwing Summons at it.

n“Well, I can figure that out later.” I finally decided to shift my attention to the quest rewards that had been on the back burner for a week.

n“Open Stats Menu.”

n==Name: Lee Jiwon

nLevel: 678 Death Count: 0

nTitle: Earth’s First Deva

nHP: 8,865,700

/8,865,700 MP: 357,800

/357,800

nStrength: 20,974 2,658 Agility: 14,051 Vitality: 14,151

nWillpower: 3,518 Intelligence: 3,248

nUnassigned Stat Points: 1610 114

nFatigue: 0

nSpecial Effects: Luck Boost (X 1), immune to all Status effects, Dungeon Seeker 14 points

nPhysical Attack: 79,181 Physical Defense: 31,347

nMagical Attack: 11,304 Magical Defense: 19,384==

n“Heh.” I had gained three levels while waiting for the quest to end, and received the 1550 extra Stat points. I hadn’t been satisfied with the leveling these days. While my pace was faster than anyone else’s, it was definitely slowing down recently. But those extra Stat points from the quest reward were enough to put my worries at ease for now.

n“20,000 points isn’t so far now.” I put all of the unassigned points into STR, as always.

n“Now then, it’s time for the main course.” I took out the Rank 8 Random Item Chest from my inventory. The last time I got one was from the Time Attack quest, and I had gotten the Rank 10 Infinite Space Ring from it.

nI carefully opened the chest and saw that the item was unfortunately purple, meaning that it wasn’t Rank 10, but either Rank 8 or 9.

n“No, no. It’s okay if it’s not Rank 10. I have enough for now.” I gathered myself and picked up the item inside the box. I had never seen or heard of this item before.

n“Call?” I repeated its name.

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