The Over-Break System

POV: Melody

-Trial Quest: Summoning Beyond Your Scope.-

-You Must Summon and Form a Contract With a Being; what Type of Being and the Timeframe you have to complete this Quest is determined by the Difficulty Setting you Choose.-

-Please choose the Difficulty Setting you wish to partake in. *Reminder, a higher Difficulty Setting will result in better Rewards.*-

-Beginner, Adept, Advanced, Expert, Master.-

"Cynrik always said to choose the middle option in situations like this, and since Advanced is the middle option, that will be my choice." After thinking about her past training, Melody quickly selected her Difficulty.

-You have selected the Advanced Difficulty, adjusting the settings and parameters for your Trial Quest.-

-In two minutes, you will be transferred to a realm between realms. Below you will be the residential planes of existence of multiple types of Spiritual Beings. Each one of the residential planes will have a platform where you will find an ancient summoning altar.-

-Your objective is to choose an Alter and summon a Being a minimum of 1.5 Tiers higher than yourself, so Tier-3.5.-

-You will have Five attempts to summon and sign a contract with an appropriate being.-

-Due to the Difficulty setting chosen, there is no time limit on the Trial quest; however, after contracting a Spirit Being that meets the standard quota or using up all attempts, your Trial will either be Passed or Failed.-

Before Melody could even finish reading through the prompts presented by the Passing Down Interface, she was instantly teleported to a void that resembled nothing she had ever seen.

However, if Cynrik, Brance, or Selene were present, they would have easily recognized it as outer space.

Floating high above in this empty black void, Melody looked down and saw several spheres, each in a different color and each giving off a different feeling.

Some of these spheres frightened her, while others made her feel super comfy the more she gawked at them.

It took Melody a couple of minutes to compose herself and get used to the feeling of being weightless. Several attempts at moving toward the nearest sphere resulted in her merely flailing about like a fish out of water. Still, after realizing how she looked, Melody began trying to swim, and after a half hour of struggling, she finally touched down on the platform above a Bright Royal Blue sphere.

-You have arrived on the Ancient Alter Platform of the planet Aquasho.-

-You will only have one attempt at summoning an Aqua Spirit from this Alter.-

"Aqua Spirits, planets, hm." Puffing her cheeks in thought, Melody peeked out over the platform's edge and peered down at the giant sphere that the Passing Down Interface called Planet Aquasho.

"I wish I knew more about this place, like the average strength of the Spirits born there, but it's worth a shot." Rubbing her hands together for good luck, Melody walked up to the alter and placed her palms on two corresponding recessed spots before channeling her Mana into the structure.

"Hear my call, accept my offering, oh Great Spirits; come forth and aid me." Speaking a standard chant, she had learned the day she became a summoner, and performing the ritual she had known for as long as she could remember, Melody, channeled 3k MP into the Alter, triggering a bubble-popping sound.

A few seconds later, a small orb of water manifested above the Alter and soon took the shape of a small dolphin.

-Congratulations, a Tier-1 Spirit Dollphan has heard your call.-

Once manifested, the little Dollphan squeaked as it floated around Melody happily, causing the girl to giggle as she scratched it under the chin.

"I am sorry little one, I wish I could take you with me, but because of my Quest, I can't. Maybe we will meet again someday if the stars align." Smiling sadly, Melody patted its head before stepping back from the alter and canceling the summoning.

As quickly as it appeared, the small Dollphan sadly disappeared, supposedly back to its planet.

-You have used one of your five summon chances, the only one available for Planet Aquasho. Please move to a different alter and try again.-

Sighing, Melody turned around and lept off the platform before swimming her way through the zero-g environment of space, making her way over to another platform; this time, it was above a shiny emerald planet.

-You have arrived on the Ancient Alter Platform of the planet Vesta.-

-You will only have one attempt at summoning a Gem Spirit from this Alter.-

Going through the motions, Melody spoke the chant and channeled 3k Mana into the Alter; however, this time, she felt a much stronger reaction from her ritual.

Before her eyes, a round stone appeared and unraveled, almost transforming into a palm-sized humanoid being.

-Congratulations, a Tier-4 Berylite Spirit has heard your call.-

-Warning, this Spirit is twice your current strength; you may not be able to contract it. You are advised to woo it before attempting to contract it.-

The small Hazy, Aquamarine Humanoid Spirit tilted its head cutely at Melody and looked at her with strange yellowish-white eyes filled with curiosity.

"Hello, little one," wearing a sweet smile, Melody extended her hand, palm facing up in an attempt to coax the Berylite spirit to land on her hand.

"Uwaa," the Spirit said in a chime-like high-pitched voice as it floated over and plopped its body into Melody's palm.

Melody, unperturbed by the fact that the little Spirit in her hand was supposedly Tier-4, played with it for a bit, feeding it a variety of resources that were wasting away in her inventory, such as leftover Codexes and XP crystals, much to the Spirit's delight.

After nearly an hour of feeding and playing around with the small Spirit, Melody made her move.

"Would you like to sign a contract with me? I know I may not be super strong yet, but one day I will be, and I can promise you all kinds of tasty stones and gems, even Codexes of all different elements." Speaking softly not to startle the little guy in her hand as it munched happily on Codexes like they were rock candy, Melody couldn't help but feel nervous.

"Uwaa, mmm waaa." The Berylite Spirit hopped to its feet, with a half-eaten Codex still in its mouth, and extended its small gemstone hand to Melody while nodding vigorously.

Feeling her heart skip a beat because of how cute the Spirit was, Melody began softly chanting her Spirit contract skill. After 20 minutes of non-stop chanting, she and the Berylite Spirit lit up in a soft green glow before the Spirit floated up and merged into her chest.

DING DING

-Congratulations, you have signed a Spirit Contract with a Spirit who is Initial Tier-4. As such, your stats have increased exponentially.-

-You have Passed your Trial Quest, With an S+ Rating. You will receive extra benefits upon completion of your Tier-3 Evolution.-

-Now Commencing Tier-3 Evolution.-

Without even being able to celebrate the completion of her Trial Quest, Melody was assaulted from all sides as her body began breaking down at a microscopic level. She didn't even have time to scream as the horrendous pain shocked her nervous system.

---

POV: Gabby

-Trial Quest: Hunter's Game.-

-You Must Survive and hunt a predetermined amount of prey; the Timeframe and amount of prey you must hunt to complete this Quest are determined by the Difficulty Setting you Choose.-

-Please choose the Difficulty Setting you wish to partake in. *Reminder, a higher Difficulty Setting will result in better Rewards.-

-Difficulties below Expert will be removed since you have two capped stats, and your Beast Companion has a Bloodline.-

-Expert, Master, Grandmaster.-

Reaching up and scratching Milo's tummy, Gabby read through the notifications and looked up at her kitten's face.

"What one should we choose, Milo? I know Big Bro Cyn always says to choose the middle option, but in this case, aren't we kind of in a bind?"

"Meew." Milo hummed while bobbing his head up and down in understanding.

Crossing his paws and resting his chin on them, Milo read the on-screen notifications displayed on the monitor while his tail swished slowly from side to side.

"From what I learned in the library, there should be seven difficulties in the Passing Down Quest chain, Beginner, Adept, Advanced, Expert, Master, Grandmaster, and Legend. Yet I only have three options, all of which are on the tail end of the spectrum, so even if I do go for a Master level Difficulty, the odds of me passing may end up being slim to none."

Sitting down on the ground with her legs crossed, Gabby plucked Milo off her head, rested him in her lap, and began petting him for comfort.

"Meeww mew meww." Wrinkling his nose as if to say, "why are you so worried? You have me", Milo meowed while looking between the monitor and Gabby.

"Yeah, you are right; together, we are both pretty strong, even Big Bro Cyn and Brancie say so. Let's gear up and choose the Master Difficulty then."

In a flash, Gabby was decked out in her new gear. The first new addition was two gauntlet bracers similar to Cynriks, which he had handcrafted and named the Huntress Tools. Although they didn't have nearly as many attachments and add-ons as his Assassins tools, both had a mechanism that opened out into arm-mounted crossbows and was equipped with two sets of Hidden Blades along with the Grapple attachment.

Aside from the Crossbow mounting, a unique mechanism would extend out a hidden blade and turn it into a handheld dagger, giving Gabby the last resort hand-to-hand combat weapon she desperately needed.

Next was her outfit, a breathable and flexible beast hide leather sleeveless armor top with chainmail underneath, a pair of leather shorts, and some fierce thigh-high gauntlet boots.

Holstered on both hips were several pouches filled with extra bolts since Cynrik was adamant about not relying on her inventory and always having readily accessible ammo.

The finishing touch was a hood with thin extensions that looked like rabbit ears, a trademark of Gabby, and although her new gear wasn't pink, it was a deep shade of Amethyst.

Once geared up, Gabby gave the signal to Milo, who glowed in a strange orangeish-red light before growing to the size of a full-grown lion. Like Sie and Vii, Milo had learned a size modification skill and could change from being as small as a kitten to his full size in a second.

"That's my good boy," Gabby chirped as she embraced Milo's head and planted several kisses on his face. After giving Milo some love, she pulled out his complete set of armor from her inventory and began fitting all the pieces into place on his body. First up was a breastplate strapped around his shoulders like a collar mixed with a harness, followed by two medium-sized kite shields that acted like pauldrons. Up next was what Gabby could only describe as a plate armor buttcape that covered his flank, followed by two impressive armored gauntlets on his front legs.

These gauntlets stopped just above his paws and were meant for defense, not offense since Milo could enhance the strength of his claws. The second to last piece of equipment was a triple-joined helmet that covered from the back of Milo's head to his nose, leaving his bottom jaw and the two arm-sized sharp fangs open.

And last but not least was a comfortable saddle connected to the buttcape armor and the breastplate harness. With Milo's strength and size, it was easy work for him to become a war mount for Gabby. Thus Cynrik decided to make her a saddle since she would no doubt try riding Milo into battle even without one.

*Milo's Armor will be posted in Discord.*

Everything was in a matching shade of Amethyst, and the shield pauldrons had the MyrkLys Emblem printed dead center. With Milo Geared up, Gabby hopped onto his back, gave him some behind-the-ear scratches, and chose the Master Difficulty.

-This series is exclusively published on Web if you are reading it anywhere else...You Wrong, Fam. PS Check out the Discord, https://discord.gg/dcxKNJEMwg-