I can Summon anything from toasters to AR-15s.

chapter 8: One month later

Ivan moved quietly through the dark, damp tunnel, the air thick with the stench of waste and rot. Beside him, a sluggish waterway carried the city's filth, its brown surface bubbling faintly under the dim light of his flashlight. He walked with measured steps, each one sending a hollow echo through the long passage, dirty and neglected.

He glanced down at his weapon, the PP19 Bizon, with its familiar weight reassuring in his gloved hands. The gun had seen better days, though—it bore the scars of his first quest, with the tip of his barrel full of scrapes and parts dented from the creatures he had faced. But Ivan had since repaired it, only replacing the important components and adding new attachments, including the flashlight mounted along the side, casting a stark beam ahead.

His attire was also different; instead of wearing head-to-toe riot gear, he was encased in a full-body hazmat suit, the slick material clinging to his form and sealing him from the foulness around him. A military-grade respirator covered his face, filtering out the pungent fumes rising from the sewers. On his combat belt, a handgun, a couple of grenades, a small healing elixir he'd bought from Eldarion, and a long combat knife hung within easy reach. He kept his gear light—additional armor would only slow him down in the cramped tunnels.

It had been a month since his first quest with Tanya, Kyle, and their hot-headed leader, Ramset. The memory lingered like a shadow in the back of his mind—the near disaster with the migrating goblins, the chaos and terror as they were almost overrun. He could still picture Kyle training at the guild, sparring with his teacher. Ramset, ever the firebrand, had joined Solas, the party that consisted of marksmen and scouts, while Tanya had returned to her village with her parents, who weren't pleased to hear about her brush with death.

Class D. The rank was new but earned. After the goblin quest, he had moved up from Class E, his reputation growing with every mission he completed. Over the last three weeks, he had taken on hunting quests—eliminating goblins, harvesting slimes, and mandrakes—and he'd done some of it alone. Dangerous work, even for higher-ranked adventurers, but Ivan had his reasons.

He checked his status bar, now level 80. His stats had improved dramatically: he could handle high-caliber guns without worrying about recoil, lift heavy weights with ease, and run at speeds that would rival athletes, even in the restrictive hazmat suit. His stamina had grown as well, allowing him to push himself further and faster than before.

Satisfied, Ivan turned off the flashlight from his barrel and brushed his gloved fingers along the wet, grimy wall, summoning a primitive wooden torch. Pulling it free, he hesitated for a moment before lighting it. Through trial and error, he had learned that most monsters reacted differently to light. Flashlights, with their harsh, white glow, often deterred monsters. They mistook it for a mana lamp, assuming it belonged to a powerful mage or a large party, and kept their distance.

But a wooden torch was a different story.

Its flickering, uneven light made the monsters think they were dealing with ordinary adventurers—weak prey, easy to hunt. Ivan had learned that the hard way during one of his early solo quests. Now, he used that knowledge to his advantage.

The soft orange glow of the torch cast dancing shadows on the walls as he moved deeper into the tunnels. His footsteps quickened. He knew what awaited him in these depths—mutated rats, slimes, and worse things that lurked in the darkness. this season is winter, and many monsters haven't adapted to snow, like slimes that often live in labyrinths, drakes that struggle to fly in cold weather because they're featherless, and goblins that have a harder time finding food due to the scarcity of resources during the winter months. These creatures only survive by staying inside dungeons or sneaking inside the capital's swerves. But they weren't the reason he had come; he was looking for something powerful.