Chapter 9: First Troop : Buff Fairy

William’s eyes locked onto the tiny figure, barely the size of his palm, hovering under the branches of the Luminara tree. She looked like a kid, with annoyingly cute golden eyes and elf-like pointed ears, scanning the surroundings with way too much innocent curiosity.

She wore a short yellow frock, covering her fragile frame to her knees. The dress looked like it was stitched from autumn leaves. Two tiny, transparent wings buzzed on her back, catching the light and throwing off a faint golden glow.

Her golden-yellow hair tumbled over her tiny shoulders. The instant she spotted William, she shot toward him with no hesitation at all. She zipped circles around him, giggling every few seconds, like this was the best day of her life.

William just stood there, looking at her, as she zipped in front of his face. She looked like some overexcited kid who’d just found her long-lost dad. Before he could wrap his head around it, Rollie chimed in.

[Any troop you summon will be loyal to you, especially the main ones. They’re born from the tower core, which is basically a part of you now that you’re the lord. That’s why she thinks you’re her dad.]

[And that makes me her motherrrr~]

William facepalmed. ’Single my whole fucking life, then I get here, and suddenly I’ve got a system wife and a fairy child. This shit just keeps getting weirder.’

After a few laps, the fairy came to a stop right in front of his face, eyes practically sparkling with adoration. The pure affection in those annoyingly adorable eyes was almost weaponized.

"Well, damn. She’s too cute," he muttered, raising his hand. He brushed his fingers over her cheek; the fairy leaned in and pressed her face to his touch, letting out a soft, "Kyuuuu~."

William put a hand over his heart. "Fuck, that’s too much," he groaned, still petting her. After a moment, he pulled his hand back, and she zipped over to perch on his shoulder. He shot her a sidelong glance and asked, "Rollie, what’s her ability?" Rollie answered by opening her status panel.

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Name: Glow Fairy

Race: Light Fae

Rank: Tier 1 (Low)

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Attributes

Strength: 2

Constitution: 4

Agility: 6

Intelligence: 5

Mana: 15

Affinity: Light

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Skill

Light Touch (Low)

Casts a buff on a single person, increasing all their attributes by 20% for 30 seconds. While the buff is active, it cannot be cast again.

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Rank Upgrade Conditions

Tower points: 20/20

Tier 1 core: 0/3

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William expected her to be weak, but seeing her attributes laid out like that, yeah, they were absolute trash. Suddenly, he felt a stare from the fairy perched on his shoulder. She was giving him those puppy eyes, waiting for his opinion.

’Shit... How am I supposed to say anything bad to her when she looks like that?’

With a gentle smile, he said, "Your skill, Light Touch, is great. It’ll come in super handy for the trial. Don’t worry about your low stats, once you tier up, they’ll rise. I promised to make the Fairy Race the strongest, so just do your best for now."

He brushed her tiny cheek with his fingers and said, "Since you’re my first troop, I’ll call you Lumina."

The moment she got her name, a blinding smile lit up her face and she squeaked a ’Kyuuu~,’ hugging his fingers with all her fairy strength. William smirked. "Maybe having fairy troops isn’t so bad after all."

Then he glanced back at her status and thought,

’As cute as she is, summoning more fairies sounds like a dumbass move. What if I get stuck with another buff fairy? I’d be completely screwed.’

’The trial’s in three days, and with stats this low, they’re about as useful as wet tissue. I’ll either have to try my luck with gacha or buy something from the tower merchant.’

He flopped down with his back against the Luminara tree, waiting for the flowers to sell themselves off.

Didn’t take long. In an hour, those flowers were gone, sold like watermelons on the beach. All ninety vanished, and his TP shot up to 270. William stared, wide-eyed. "Damn... That was fast. Too fast. I even got private messages begging for more, offering to pay extra."

A flicker of greed crept in, but he shook it off. "No fucking way. I’m not turning into an asshole for some TP. Not worth my life," he muttered.

He already knew how he’d spend the points. Lumina was fast asleep on his shoulder. He gently scooped her up and set her on a tree branch, carefully not to wake her up.

He stepped away from the tree and called, "Rollie."

[Yes, dear~]

"Rollie, roll a Rare Draw," he said, a crooked grin spreading across his face.

He didn’t hesitate and went straight for the Rare draw. Risky? Sure. But he wanted quality, not quantity. Worst case, he’d still have 170 TP left to waste at the tower merchant.

Rollie started the draw. Ten cards floated in front of him, looking just like the Normal draw ones, except every single one glowed bright blue with a bold R stamped in the center.

William stepped closer. No point overthinking it, they all looked the same, but the second card in the top row practically screamed at him.

He reached out and snatched it up. Instantly, the rest vanished, leaving him with a single card in his hand. "For fuck’s sake, just give me something useful for the trial," he muttered, making his wish specific this time.

He flipped the card over, heart hammering in his chest. Whatever was on that card, it hit him like a truck. Rollie’s voice chimed in immediately with a confirmation message.

[Congratulations! You’ve won: B-rank Troop token (Uncommon)]

The card vanished from his hand, replaced by a coin-sized golden disk. One side bore a tower silhouette, the other, a bold letter B. With the coin in his palm, Rollie pulled up the item’s status.

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Item: B-rank Troop token (Uncommon)

Description: This token will summon a random B-rank troop from the Ascension Realm. The troop’s cultivation will be the same as the rank of the tower core. To use just hold the token and say ’Summon’.

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William’s hand trembled as he gripped the summon coin. He forced himself to breathe, checked the token’s status, and then broke into a grin. "Let’s fucking go. B-rank, not S or higher, but way better than a fairy. No shot I’d get a B-rank for just 100 TP at the merchant."

He clenched the token and said, "Summon." Almost pleading, he added, "Gimme something big and bulky."

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[A/N]: Please consider supporting by sending some Power Stones and Golden tickets. Your support means a lot and really helps me continue writing.