Chapter 68: The Shit-Stirring Dragon
The intense lightning gradually faded, revealing a majestic eagle with sharply defined features, its wings spread wide.
"Attaboy, my son!"
Kael struggled to lift his head. Seeing the Wind Eagle, which had nearly doubled in size, he couldn't help but grin despite his extreme weakness.
[Summoning Beast: Thunder-Wind Eagle]
Rank: C
Species: Accipitridae Bird
Attribute: Wind, Lightning
Abilities:
Lord of the Sky: Envelops its body in Wind Style and empowers itself with Lightning Style, allowing the Thunder-Wind Eagle to instantly reach extreme speeds, even breaking the sound barrier. (Speed and duration are dependent on chakra control and reserves. Consumes a massive amount of chakra.)
Wind Blade: Spits a large wind blade from its mouth.
Bursting Spiral Sphere: Condenses chakra to its limit and spits out a high-speed, rotating ball of explosive wind, capable of dealing devastating damage.
Crippling Blow: Gathers a large amount of chakra to form a continuous stream of lightning, unleashing a devastating, wide-area attack on the enemy.
Thunder God's Descent: Spits a beam of high-voltage lightning, annihilating all objects in its path in a short time.
System Evaluation: Wind and lightning are formless, but when combined, they represent the ultimate in offensive power in the Shinobi World! After being modified by wind and lightning chakra, the Thunder-Wind Eagle has become an extremely rare dual-element Ninja Beast. If it can one day truly fuse the power of wind and lightning, its strength will undergo another massive change.
Looking at the system information, a satisfied smile spread across Kael's pale face.
"What a ninjutsu cannon!"
He could already picture Little Wind raining down destruction from the sky. Air-to-ground, it would be invincible. Kael was extremely pleased with this secondary synthesis. Evolving the Wind Eagle into a "ninjutsu eagle" was the perfect way to capitalize on its aerial superiority.
"My combat style is about to become much more diverse. Goldie, the 'taijutsu dog,' can be the frontline tank to draw aggro, while Little Wind bombards them with ninjutsu from the sky!"
One month later.
Kael finally completed his last synthesis. With the exception of Little Gray, he had used the chakra metal to perform a secondary modification on his other five summons.
But his entire supply of chakra metal was now gone.
He had found a blacksmith to forge and cut the metal into dozens of small pieces, hoping to use it sparingly. But when he'd tried to synthesize, the system prompted that the amount was insufficient. The Earth Dragon, in particular, being the largest of his summons, had consumed nearly half of his entire stock, making his heart ache. This material was incredibly rare and precious; you couldn't buy it even if you had the money.
Fortunately, the results made the cost well worth it.
[Summoning Beast: Earth Dragon]
Rank: C
Species: Annelid
Attribute: Earth
Abilities:
Earth Glide: The Earth Dragon has an affinity for earth and stone, allowing it to move through both environments without obstruction.
Petrified Defense (Passive): The Earth Dragon's body is composed of rock and rare metals, giving it extremely high defense against sharp weapons, blunt force, and even ninjutsu.
Earth Style: Rock Armor: The Earth Dragon has mastered Earth-nature and shape transformation to a high degree, allowing it to form an armor of extremely hard rock around its body, increasing its defense.
Earth Style: Petrification Beam: The Earth Dragon fires a gray beam of light that petrifies the enemy.
Earth Style: Earthquake Wave: The Earth Dragon burrows underground and uses its own chakra as a catalyst to disrupt tectonic plates, causing a localized earthquake.
System Evaluation: The most disgusting shit-stirrer in the enemy's eyes!
"The Earth Dragon still doesn't have much offensive power," Kael mused, "but it's gained an incredibly rare control ability, and it's tanky as hell!"
The creature that had once been a mere tunneling support unit had, after its second synthesis, become a full-fledged meat shield. It had instantly secured a critical strategic position in Kael's lineup.
"But..." He looked at his house, which was now a pile of rubble, and his face twitched.
RUMBLE...
The ruins shifted, and the Earth Dragon's head poked out. Its body was still the same gray-brown color, but it looked much thicker and more solid. The sight of its massive, segmented body was enough to make one's skin crawl. The part of it sticking out of the ground was already larger than Kael's entire house.
Ptoo!
It spat out a piece of Kael's floorboard and looked down at him, its thought-voice small and sheepish.
"Bzz... Master... I didn't mean to..."
Kael took a deep breath and forced a strained smile. "I know, I know... Thanks to you, we're moving to a bigger place."
Kael walked alone toward Jade's house. His own work was done; it was time to report to the village leader. Although Jade had said he would send someone to notify him in a month, Kael figured it was better to be proactive.
Besides, a month had passed, and Jade hadn't called for him. He figured the other shinobi were still busy with missions. The thought of him lounging at home for a month while everyone else worked hard made him feel a little guilty, but also more grateful for Jade's kindness. Kael was sure no one else in the Shinobi World would ever be as accommodating and indulgent as Jade had been.
His summons were all too massive now to hang around on his person, and it was inconvenient to bring them out in the village for fear of scaring the residents.
On the way, he summarized the results of his month of synthesis.
"My summons now cover control, burst damage, defense, and heavy assault. I have almost no weaknesses... except for my own personal strength..."
He couldn't do anything about that. He wasn't like his summons; he couldn't just find a material and get a massive power-up. His own talent was decent, but it would take time to develop. As his summons grew stronger, his own weakness would become his most fatal flaw in future battles.
"There's no use rushing my own training," he sighed. "For now, I have to rely on my summons to protect me. The enemies I'll face will only get stronger. To avoid being targeted by powerful or high-speed ninja, I'll need to stay on Little Wind or Little Dragon whenever I'm outside—one to fly, one to burrow."
He then thought of his other new C-rank summon, the Blazing Ant Queen.
"Besides its worker ants gaining a metal-like defense, nothing else changed..." He was a little disappointed, but considering he'd only used the smallest piece of chakra metal, he quickly let it go. Besides, the ants' nerve toxin was already terrifying. Giving them better defense to cover their main weakness was a huge upgrade.
Lost in thought, Kael arrived at Jade's simple, two-story house. Its location, in a remote part of the village just like Kael's own, spoke to the leader's humble nature.
"Brother Saburo, could you please let him know I'm here?" Kael said with a smile to the young shinobi in his twenties standing guard. This was one of Jade's trusted aides.
"Lord Leader already said you can go right in. He's resting inside. You can see yourself in," Saburo replied, shaking his head. He looked at Kael with a complicated expression.