"I'm truly sorry, King Arbus. We'll meet you in the village later to talk about our future plans, there's something we still want to try out here. Merus, please take them back."
"I-I see."
Allen wanted to figure out what his newly unsealed Skill Kingship did.
There was no real issue if someone watched him do that, but he did not want to bother the king.
The dark elf army had arrived just a moment earlier, but now Merus was going to return them to the front gates of their village.
At least they had witnessed the Demon General be destroyed by Cecile's Extra Skill, along with the rest of the oasis city.
"Also, please think about what I mentioned."
"I'll have a meeting with the elders. It might take some time to come to an answer."
Sophie spoke to King Arbus before he left.
They had been talking a lot about the state of elves and dark elves while they fought the Pagan Worshippers together in the desert.
No one else knew exactly what they had spoken about, but it was likely the relationship between the two races was going to change.
Or at least that was the feeling one got hearing them talk.
Merus then took them back to the village, and the king and his army vanished from there.
They had no reason to stay outside, so they began entering the village.
It would have been more practical to take them inside the king's palace, but that could cause unnecessary unrest, so the [Nest] was placed outside.
"Lady Shea?"
"It seems they have obtained some new power. But it seems only Allen and his party can see or understand it. I guess he really is Elmea's servant or something like that."
Lud was confused, while Shea just looked at Allen with her eyes narrowed.
Every race had their respective Gods.
Some worshiped a Spirit God or a Beast God, while others followed various others depending on what miracles they expected, or the environment they lived in.
Shea was a descendant of Albahar's royal house, who worshiped the Higher God Garm. After meeting Allen, she was carefully observing him, trying to understand exactly who he was.
Her current conclusion was that he was the God of Creation Elmea's servant, or someone with a strong connection like that.
Allen had obtained the power to cripple the Demon King's Army, and he seemed destined to meet many similarly strong allies as if by luck.
"Did Garm speak to you?"
"Not a single word. I don't understand why he won't grant me strength. Prince Zew got it, but why not me…"
"I-I see…"
Albahar's royal family had a special power to govern over the rest of the beastmen.
And just like how the elves had a connection with the Spirit Gods, Princess Shea also could establish contact with the Beast God Garm.
That applied to Prince Zew as well.
Multiple descendants from Albahar could speak to the Beast God Garm.
The Albahar Kingdom was not the only beastman nation.
It was the biggest one of them, but there were countless smaller countries of beastmen just like Albahar.
The leaders of those smaller countries were all descendants of Albahar however.
The Beast God Garm did not seem very interested in fighting the Demon King's Army.
That was why now many beastmen were helping in the war either.
But Prince Zew ignored the Beast God's decision, fighting for what he thought was right.
When Allen heard of all that, he figured that even after a thousand years had passed, they probably still had some aversion towards humans.
As for Shea's army, 2000 had stayed behind in Clebeur, cleaning up the last Pagan Worshippers after Basque escaped.
"Merle, this might take a while so give us a roof okay?"
While Shea and Lud talked on one side, Kiel spoke to Merle at another.
Allen's tests started.
It was not even noon, but from Allen's attitude it was obvious he could be busy until the sun began to set.
The desert sun was blazing down on them, so Kiel asked Merle for cover while Allen was busy..
"Alright Kiel. Hum! Tam-Tam Descend, Mode Turtle!!"
Merle curled her back while holding her arms next to her body, taking what Allen had coined the 'protective turtle pose'.
Tam-Tam landed with a heavy thud, turning into a moving fortress that resembled a tank.
Once equipped with a Vulcan Cannon it could fulfill the dreams of any man.
Its outer shell plates began to move, creating a roof with shade to protect Allen's party and Princess Shea from the bright sunlight.
Tam-Tam's stats changed depending on the mode activated.
Mode Eagle had increased speed and attack, while Turtle was sturdier with more Endurance but little in terms of offensive properties.
(It's a good thing we're in a desert too.)
This location allowed him to test Special and Awakened Skills without worrying about any repercussions..
Though he refused to answer whether he would hold back if there was grass or forests around him.
Bleep!
The Grimoire appeared in front of Allen and one page began to glow.
Wondering what it was, Allen checked the page.
-Dear Allen,
First of all, thank you for supporting us and being part of this amazing journey.
As the Skill [Kingship] has become available to use, we've chosen to make some adjustments to the properties of the [Command] Skill.
The stats gained by Command have been fixed at 5000.
Given its lessened effect, we've improved its cooldown, and made adjustments to its range.
We've improved clarity in summons as well, I'm sure you'll appreciate them in due time.
All Staff members here in the Divine Realm continue working to improve your experience, so we are grateful for your continuous support.
While minimal, please make sure you carefully commit them to heart together with Merus.
-Yours truly, First Angel Lupto,
-And all Staff members.
(These read almost like patch notes, and a nerf at that.)
Just when the Kingship Skill became available, the Command Skill was nerfed.
But at least they had compensated for the nerf with other adjustments.
'I'm back.'
Merus returned while that was happening.
"We got a letter from Lupto. It mentioned your name too."
'What? That girl…'
Even though they were siblings, it seemed that Merus and Lupto were not on the best terms when it came to summons.
Allen had many questions hearing Merus' annoyed remark, but he decided not to pursue the matter.
"Anyway, I'll try Kingship out, Merus."
'Alright.'
Allen had been waiting for Merus to come back.
He chose Merus to be Test Subject 01.
Merus had many human features, so any changes would be easy to spot.
"Kingship!"
Pooff!!
"""Ohhh!!"""
Merus began glowing as his body changed.
Merus always had a pair of wings on his back.
Just like an angel's.
After Kingship, he had three pairs of them, making them six wings in total.
He used to be half-naked too, but now he was wearing gorgeous and brilliant attire.
"Your height didn't change though."
'Seems that way.'
Merus began grasping his own body to feel the changes himself.
He still looked like a boy in his late teens, and his naturally curly brown hair was the same.
Then Allen checked the Grimoire to see the changes in stats.
"Pff?!"
(What? This much?)
He was shocked seeing the numbers written there.
"Pff? That's incredible Merus!"
Kurena was confused hearing Allen's reaction, so she peeked into the Grimoire.
[Species] Angel
[Rank] A
[Class] King
[Name] Merus
[Strength] 32'000
[Mana] 32'000
[Attack] 32'000
[Endurance] 32'000
[Agility] 32'000
[Intelligence] 32'000
[Luck] 32'000
[Blessing] +2000 to all stats
[Special Skill] Attribute Enhancement, Angel's Ring, Command
[Awakened Skill] Judgement Thunder
All his stats had increased by 10'000.
They were higher than those of any other summon so far.
"Try hitting that rock over there with Judgement Thunder."
'Alright.'
Cecile's [Small Meteorite] had left an enormous rock, more than a 100 meters wide, burrowed into the sand and its upper half looking like a dome.
Merus used Judgement Thunder on it, and the rock was shattered to dust.
A moment later everyone felt a shockwave pass by them.
Thanks to the boost in stats, the Awakened Skill was clearly more powerful.
It was similar to how Command could make a summon stronger with an increase to their stats.
The physical changes were also varied.
(Command also appeared amongst his Special Skills. I guess there's no need to keep looking at Merus if I assume that works the same way as mine.)
Allen had noticed [Command] listed in Merus' Special Skills.
"Come out, Orochi. You'll become a king."
Allen decided to continue checking the effects of Kingship.
'''Graahhhh!!'''
"""?!"""
"That's so hugeeee, what's going on?!"
Dogora had been looking away, practicing swings with his axe, but even he was surprised and turned around to look at it.
The Dragon A summon was usually a hydra with 5 heads and 100 meters long.
That was already an enormous beast, but Kingship tripled its size, making it 300 meters long, and its heads also tripled to 15.
Its necks seemed to stretch up into the sky.
"Huh? What does this mean?"
"What happened?"
Kingship seemed to work slightly differently from Command.
When Command was used on a Dragon A summon, it would simply rank up into a [General] class Dragon A.
On top of that, a General Dragon A summon gained the Special Skill [Militarization], allowing it to ascend the class of other summons into Soldiers.
Command would make a summon's class [General] and double its size, [Soldier] summons were only 1.5 times their size.
But this made Allen wonder something.
"Cecile, Orochi got this big, but Merus didn't grow at all. What's different?"
"I dunno."
"Hmm, maybe I should check the sizes of others. Come out Bee, time for Kingship. Wait what?"
When Allen used Kingship on an Insect A summon, there did not seem to be any change whatsoever.
Allen was trying to use Kingship on summons of all species.
So far they had all nearly tripled their stats and gained the [Command] Special Skill, but their visual changes were too varied.
It was hard to say whether there was a pattern to it or not.
Allen gave up on rationalizing that and continued testing the Skill.
'Allen, it seems the cooldown is just one hour now.'
"Huh?"
(Seriously?)
Merus held a lightning bolt in his hand as he spoke to Allen.
His Awakened Skill [Judgement Thunder] had a cooldown of one day, but after Kingship it had been shortened to just one hour.
The sun was starting to set as Allen turned to the Insect A summon.
"Maybe there was no visual change so she wouldn't get targeted and killed?"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
Cecile did not quite understand what Allen was getting at.
"I think their way of fighting will be pretty different now. Just a single Bee should be enough to take care of the situation in the Central Continent and Rosenheim."
The Insect A summon with Kingship applied could use [Coronation] to produce a Queen Bee every hour.
The Queen Bees born through [Coronation] could produce a hundred Beelings.
That meant that a single Insect A summon would be able to produce more than a thousand Beelings in less than a day.
On top of that, the Beelings could be turned into [Soldiers] as well, which would increase their size by 1.5 times.
That meant that an army of ten thousand Beelings could be created in just a handful of days.
Allen was constantly creating more of them all over the world, trying to figure out if there was a limit to how many could exist, but it seemed he had no reason to worry about that anymore.
Currently Allen has dedicated more than fifty of his slots for Insect A summons.
The war relied mostly on numbers to be won, so Insect A summons that could reproduce in large quantities were essential.
Their Minion Stingers were useful as well.
But now a single Insect A summon would be able to create an army of more than ten thousand members.
Even A Rank monsters would be overwhelmed by them.
Allen suspected he would be able to deal with the war even if he returned dozens of Insect A summons to the holder in his Grimoire.
Merus' stats were impressive, but the usefulness of not needing to have so many slots taken up by Insect A summons was also a great help.
"Wait, so they look the same in case the enemy tries to differentiate between the main one?"
Cecile finally arrived at an answer.
If the Insect A summon that gave birth to a Queen Bee was taken down, the Queen Bee would vanish.
If either of them spawned any Beelings, they would also vanish.
The entire army of ten thousand Beelings could disappear with the loss of a single Insect A summon.
If the Demon King's Army found out about that, they would prioritize the main summons.
"I think that's the most logical answer. I guess that's why Tsubame is also the same size, considering they always infiltrate behind enemy lines to leave [Nests]."
Not just the Bird A summons, but most Bird summons would take such roles.
If they became too big, they would be easy targets and the enemy would shoot them down.
Kingship did not change the size of Bird summons, so Allen would need to continue using Command to increase the size of the Bird B summons he used for transport.
"I wonder if Solarin is any different then?"
"I'd wager there's little point for a change there."
The Grass A summon, which looked like a bean with arms and legs, kept its chest proudly puffed for receiving Kingship, but other than that it looked the same.
"You're right."
After that exchange, Cecile patted the Grass A summon that looked so confident.
There really did not seem to be any need to change its size.
After a few days of testing, Allen found out there was a limit of ten thousand Beelings for an Insect A summon.
The Queen Bees could continue spawning them without any worry.
(Well, I guess these are the results I got so far.)
[Effects of Command and Kingship]:
Kingship raises stats by 10'000 Command raises stats by 5000 Kingship will increase the summon's size by 3x, Command by 2x, and Militarization by 1.5x The summon species that grow in size are Beast, Stone, Fish, and Dragon The summon species that become more gorgeous are Angels and Wraiths The summon species without any visual changes are Insects, Birds, and Grass Kingship is only applicable to one A Rank summon of a given type Command can be used on three B Rank summons of the same type simultaneously Summons can use Militarize on as many summons as they want If a summon with Kingship applied moves 100 kilometers away, the effect is undone If a summon with Command applied moves 10 kilometers away, the effect is undone The cooldowns are 1 hour for Kingship, 3 hours for Command, 6 hours for Militarize
With that, Allen's experimentation with his newly acquired Skill [Kingship] concluded.
Their next goal now that he was familiar with Kingship, was to check the floating island again.
