Heroine Creation: All My Summons Are Custom Made-Chapter 48: Don’t Play It Down

Lancet and Luke trotted into the room, keeping a fair distance to avoid assumptions that they had been walking together.

Kasto and Anita rose from their beds. "Where the heck have you guys been?"

Luke said nothing. He climbed onto his bed, instantly pulling a worn comic book over his face to shut out the rest of the room.

"Lancet!" Kasto blurted out, deciding to focus rather on him. "Man, we were looking all over for you."

Anita let her puppet collapse into a lifeless heap of joints and stood up, brushing off her skirt. Her usual nervous demeanor was replaced with a bright, genuine relief.

"We wanted to congratulate you properly," she said. "Winning the MVP back to back is no ordinary achievement. You’re making us famous by just being your roommates."

Lancet leaned back against the heavy wooden door for a second, letting the solid surface hold up his weight. The headache was still there, ever faint.

"Thanks," Lancet managed, his voice raspy and devoid of any celebratory excitement. "But I really didn’t do much. Astensia did the heavy lifting. I just tried not to pass out."

"Don’t do that. Don’t play it down," Kasto insisted, stepping forward. He glanced nervously at Luke’s motionless form, then lowered his voice slightly. "Those tips you gave us really helped. I was actually one of the top contributors. Anita did great too for her Summon’s first time."

Anita flashed a happy smile.

Lancet nodded tiredly. "I’m glad it helped, guys. Now if you just move out of the way... I really need some shut eye after today."

"Hold on a bit," Kasto said, grinning like he had a secret. He reached under his pillow and pulled out a small, tightly bound leather pouch. He walked over and pressed it firmly into Lancet’s chest.

"We know you’re completely drained. So, we used some of our profits that we were rewarded today."

Lancet frowned, peeling back the flap of the pouch. Inside, nestled in protective velvet, were two glass cylinders. They were filled with a thick, incandescent golden liquid.

Magical Supplements.

Lancet’s tired eyes widened.

"Guys..." he started, feeling a genuine pang of gratitude cut through the fog of his exhaustion. "These are expensive. You didn’t have to—"

"Just take them," Anita said softly, offering a warm smile. "You earned them. We got those Profits because of you anyway. And we know you need it."

"I really appreciate it," Lancet exhaled quietly. He carefully closed the pouch and slipped it into his pocket. "Truly. But right now, if I don’t lie down, my legs are going to give out."

"Get some sleep, MVP," Kasto grinned, heading to bed himself.

Lancet dragged his feet across the room and practically collapsed onto his thin, uncomfortable bunk.

He didn’t bother changing out of his uniform. He just kicked off his boots, shoved the pouch of supplements under his narrow pillow, and pulled the scratchy blanket up to his shoulders.

He lay there in the dimming light, staring at the ceiling. He didn’t know what he was waiting for but he just waited.

After twenty minutes of staring without sleep, Lancet willed his system interface to manifest.

The familiar, comforting golden screen materialized in the pitch-black space just inches from his face, casting a faint, warm glow over his tired features.

⸢ Profile: Lancet Leogardt ⸥

⸢ Class: Architect (Dull) ⸥

⸢ Rank: 1★ Bronze ⸥

⸢ Level: 2/50 ⸥

⸢ Grace: 1/1250 ⸥

⸢ Power: Omnipotent Character Manipulation ⸥

⸢ Skills: Heroine Creation ⸥

⸢ Attributes ⸥

⸢ Strength: 31 ⸥

⸢ Agility: 43 ⸥

⸢ Constitution: 30 ⸥

⸢ Intelligence: 39 ⸥

⸢ Dexterity: 50 ⸥

⸢ Retention: 250 ⸥

He scrolled down to the single most important number he had accumulated that day.

⸢ EXP: 12,680 ⸥

Lancet stared at the five digits, feeling a phantom itch crawl beneath his skin. Over twelve thousand experience points.

Quite a lot of returns for one Dungeon Clear.

If he dumped all of it into his attributes right now, he could easily push himself to Level 6—higher if he allowed the system to allocate it itself.

But he had a better idea.

It was a rookie mistake to level up while physically stagnant. Tomorrow, he had open access to the training facility.

If he tore his muscle fibers apart pushing his physical limits on whatever training Astensia had for him before applying the EXP, the system’s growth multiplier would be drastically higher.

The EXP would heal and reinforce the active damage, leading to permanent, denser gains. This meant higher points and even a higher level. So, he had to be patient to get the best out of the massive EXP haul.

Besides, that wasn’t what his focus was tonight anyway.

He swiped his hand across the air, shifting the interface to his resources.

⸢ Currencies ⸥

⸢ CP (Creativity Points): 3950 ⸥

⸢ AP (Archetype Keys): 0 ⸥

⸢ Inventory ⸥

⸢ Narrative Coupon : 0 ⸥

⸢ Modules : Creation | Roster | Stats | Relics | Archive | World Weave | Quest Log ⸥

A bittersweet spread across Lancet’s face. 3950 CP. He had almost lost his balls for those numbers.

With that amount, not only was the price for Thor covered, but with the Narrative Coupon feature, he could create an extra Heroine too. One with a Gold Rank.

As for now, it was time to bring the Heroine of Thunder to the Academy.

His finger hovered over the glowing [ Creation ] module. He pressed it, his heart hammering against his ribs in anticipation of the drafting screen.

Ding!

A harsh, crimson alert box slashed aggressively across his vision, the red light reflecting violently in his eyes.

⸢ ! Insufficient Summon Slots. ⸥

⸢ Note: A vacant Summon Slot is required to initiate the Drafting phase for a new Heroine. Current Slots: 1/1. ⸥

⸢ Requirement: Level up an active Summon to get a Summon Slot ⸥

Lancet froze, his grin morphing to a frown.

"You have got to be kidding me," he breathed into the silence of the room.

Even for the drafting phase? He couldn’t even begin weaving the character’s conceptual framework without an empty slot ready to anchor it. He was locked out.

He gritted his teeth, swiping aggressively over to the [ Roster ] tab.

The screen shifted, displaying the beautiful character card of his sole creation: Astensia.

⸢ Profile: Astensia Valengard ⸥

⸢ Title: The Ironwill of Mortality ⸥

⸢ Class: Ironwill Knight (Advanced) ⸥

⸢ Rank: 8★ Platinum ⸥

⸢ Level: 200/250 ⸥

Lancet focused on her EXP pool. During the dungeon raid, he had subconsciously noted that Astensia was being rewarded exactly half of the total EXP generated by her kills, while he got the full boon.

He tapped her profile to open the detailed view.

⸢ Available Heroine EXP: 6,340 ⸥

Right below that number was the massive, intimidating yellow bar that tracked her progress to Level 201. Lancet placed his finger on the glowing 6,340 value and manually dragged it down into her leveling pool.

The system chimed softly. The yellow bar lit up, a vibrant gold creeping from left to right.

Lancet watched it intently. For a Level 200 entity, a haul of over six thousand EXP was usually a drop in the ocean. But she had been sitting at the absolute edge of her threshold before they ever stepped foot in the dungeon today.

The golden line pushed forward. It crawled past the 98% mark. Then 99%.

Lancet held his breath. Come on. Come on.

The bar halted.

It stopped just a microscopic fraction of a millimeter away from the edge of the bar. It was so close that if he didn’t squint, it looked full.

But it wasn’t. The system’s rigid mathematics cared nothing for visual proximity.

She was left needing mere tens of numbers. A handful of experience points to cross the threshold into Level 201 so he could get his second Summon Slot.

Lancet let his hand fall to his side, and he sighed dramatically.

’Curse you, Renan,’ he hissed. If Renan hadn’t joined him in the Higher Dungeon, Lancet would have had the Slot right this moment to create Thor.

Frustrating.

But Lancet took a slow, deep breath, forcing the anger down. Raging at the system wouldn’t change the math. He just needed a few tens of points. A microscopic amount.

He didn’t need another Higher Dungeon for that.

Tomorrow, the Academy’s top tier facilities were free for him. Killing dummies and fake monsters didn’t yield high rewards, but they dropped tiny, single-digit amounts of EXP.

If Astensia killed enough of them, it would be enough.

Lancet closed the interface. The golden light vanished instantly, plunging him back into the comforting dark of the dorm room.

Only a little set back. But no big deal. After tomorrow, he would have two Heroines.