Broken waited patiently as the swirling energy danced around Gaia’s Fate Ring. He couldn’t help but wonder what kind of upgrade she was about to receive.
When Polly had received her first upgrade, her form changed from three tails to four. Though the visual difference was subtle, the boost to her skills was immense-everything felt
revamped and supercharged.
As for Gaia, even her current abilities were extraordinary, despite being limited to just 10 minutes of use. Broken wouldn’t complain if the upgrade simply reduced the cooldown from an hour to 30 minutes. After all, he had the right to be a bit greedy.
Minutes ticked by, and finally, the notifications he’d been waiting for appeared before him. [Congratulations, Broken! Gaia has successfully received an upgrade.]
[As a reward for this great achievement, you have been granted 20 stat points!]
He remained silent for a moment, absorbing the notifications, his excitement building. Reward stat points were always a personal favorite of his, but what mattered most right now was-what exactly was the upgrade?
“Gaia?” he called out.
“Yes, Master.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, now check the ring. There’s been an upgrade,” Gaia responded calmly.
Broken quickly examined the ring, eager to see what new enhancements she had received.
[Queen Gaia’s Fate Ring]
[Grade: Unique]
[Durability: 100/100]
[Weight: 420]
[…..]
[Skills:]
[Awaken the Nature Goddess: Allows the wearer to access Queen Gaia’s incredible powers and tap into her magical abilities to aid them in their endeavors.
Cooldown: 60 Minutes
Duration: 5 Minutes]
[Nature’s Herald: Connected to Nature Conjuring, this skill lets the summoner call forth a single powerful creature from the same group of beasts, summoning them one at a time instead of all at once. Summoning a new creature will cancel the previous one.
Mana Cost: 200
Cooldown: 10 seconds
Duration: 5 minutes]
[User Restriction: Have an established contract with Queen Gaia.]
Broken nodded slowly after reading the details of the upgrade on Queen Gaia’s Fate Ring. Everything seemed the same, except for one new skill added to the ring. Since Gaia had only mentioned the ring, his curiosity piqued. He checked her list of abilities, but nothing had changed there.
So, the upgrade only affected the ring, he thought.
Nature’s Herald? Broken smiled as he read the description. The new skill allowed him to summon one of Gaia’s twelve nature creatures from her beast arsenal individually.
These 12 Nature Beasts usually could only be summoned together when Gaia was called forth, and even then, her presence lasted for just 10 minutes. But now, with this new skill, he could summon them one by one, adjusting his strategy based on their abilities and roles in battle.
According to the skill’s details, the summoned creature would last for 5 minutes with a cooldown of just 10 seconds, and the Mana cost was surprisingly low. This meant that as long as he could manage his Mana, the summon could essentially remain active indefinitely. The short cooldown also gave him the flexibility to adjust his strategy on the fly, summoning the right creature at the perfect moment. It was a valuable addition to his toolkit, offering him a new level of control in battle.
[Nature’s Herald has been activated. You’ve summoned Fern Rabbit.]
A small rabbit, with fur resembling soft, green ferns, materialized before Broken. It was the size of a normal rabbit, but its body, made of leaves and small branches, allowed it to blend seamlessly with nature. The rabbit sniffed the air curiously before approaching him.
“Can you talk to them, or listen to what they say, Gaia?” Broken asked.
“Master, while they can follow commands, they don’t have much awareness for two-way conversations just yet,” Gaia replied. “You can issue orders, but you’ll need to wait for them to evolve further to develop more complex interactions.”
“That’s good to hear,” Broken said, satisfied with the potential for growth.
The Fern Rabbit was truly a top-tier Nature Beast, excelling in support abilities. It could heal targets and grant them temporary stealth, a powerful advantage in battle. Additionally, its other skill allowed it to boost attack, defense, and movement speed, making it a versatile ally for any situation.
[Healing Herbs: Heals a targeted ally over time and grants them temporary stealth.]
[Verdant Blessing: Temporarily boosts the stats (attack, defense, and movement speed) of all nearby allies.]
But he knew the team needed something more specialized to handle their current problem: the lack of a tank. He considered summoning a tank from the twelve beasts to better support the team’s needs.
His thoughts drifted to the Thorn Ox, a Nature Beast specialized in tanking damage. Though it didn’t offer support abilities, its true strength was in absorbing and reflecting a portion of the damage it took, making it a formidable defensive choice to protect the group.
Still, he knew the key to victory lay in adapting. Broken needed to utilize each Nature Beast’s abilities based on the team’s needs, reading the battlefield and summoning the right creature
at the right moment.
“That’s so cute…”
Broken suddenly heard a voice and, turning his head, saw Calista walking towards him.
“Sorry,” she stopped in her tracks, looking slightly embarrassed. “Uhm… I just wanted to see
if you… need anything, and…”
“No, thanks, I’m fine,” he replied.
“That?” she pointed at the rabbit.
“It’s my summon,” Broken explained. “It has support skills, like you.”
“Really?” Calista’s curiosity got the better of her as she walked closer and sat down to get a
better look at the rabbit.
“What does it eat?”
“Eat?” Broken hadn’t really thought about that before. Since the Fern Rabbit was summoned from Gaia, it likely drew its energy from the Monster Core Gaia consumed.
“Monster Core?” he answered, though his tone was uncertain.
“Can it fight too? Why didn’t you summon it earlier?”
“Yes,” Broken nodded. “I just didn’t think I needed it until now.”
He kept the truth to himself—that this was his first time summoning the creatures
individually like this.
The journey continued, and this time, the small creature following Broken-his Fern Rabbit -drew some attention. The tiny summon often vanished into the tall grass and shrubs, its
small size making it easy to miss. Some of the team even found it amusing.
“Broken, that’s adorable, haha,” Subaru said with a grin.
“Thanks,” Broken replied simply.
“But seriously, what does this rabbit even do?” Subaru pressed, still chuckling.
“Draw laughter?” he said in his usual flat tone.
“Ahahaha, that’s so funny,” Subaru burst out, laughing uncontrollably.
Broken kept walking, silently thinking to himself, “Is this idiot laughing at my joke, or is he
laughing at me?”
Before long, another battle erupted as monsters appeared from several directions. While the Fern Rabbit wandered seemingly unnoticed, some of the team began to feel something
strange during the fight.
“What is this?”
“Is this from the rabbit?”
“Wait, this buff is actually powerful!”
They quickly realized that the tiny, unassuming rabbit was far more than just a cute pet-it
was providing substantial buffs to the group.
After the battle ended, a few team members were left with injuries, and Calista was struggling
to heal them all. Then, to everyone’s surprise, the Fern Rabbit approached one of the injured
men.
“Wait, get it away from me!” the man said.
Before he could move, Marlene cracked her whip against the ground, silencing him with a
sharp look. The rabbit began licking the man’s wound, and to everyone’s astonishment, the
injury started to heal.
“The rabbit can heal too?” one of the team members exclaimed.
When another battle broke out and the team began to struggle, Broken quickly summoned another creature-Thorn Ox. With its skill, Thorny Defense, the ox increased its defense and reflected a portion of damage back to the attackers.
Charging into the fray, the Thorn Ox tore through the monsters, disrupting their formation and causing chaos. The monsters lost momentum, scattered by the ox’s brutal assault. This gave the rest of the team a much-needed breather to recover and launch their own attacks from a distance. The Thorn Ox acted as an effective tank, something the team had been sorely lacking, and it made a noticeable impact on their battle tactics.
As the fight concluded, the team’s attitude toward Broken shifted. The looks they gave him were calmer now, more respectful. They remembered how they had marginalized him not long ago, but after seeing his summons in action, they couldn’t help but acknowledge his
value.
“That’s impressive, Broken,” Subaru said with a laugh. “How many summons do you have?” “If I told you more than 12, would you believe me?”
“Really? That’s more than Marlene has! Hahaha. I’d like to see all of them,” Subaru teased.
“Maybe next time, when the moment’s right.”
After some time, Marlene, who had kept her distance and hadn’t spoken to Broken much,
approached him. “We’ve arrived at our destination,” she said.
***
Author’s Note (this doesn’t increase the chapter price)
I wrote this chapter on my 6-year-old son’s birthday. To celebrate, my wife, our two kids, and
I headed to the waterpark and had an absolute blast!
However, it looks like the fun took a toll on me, too-haha. I was so exhausted while writing this chapter that I almost fell asleep, but I powered through and got it done! Enjoy!