Kousuke and Kouhi were currently on the tenth floor.
It had been quite some time since they started deploying Summoning Circles, and they had come to check if there were any changes in the naturally occurring monsters.
While the Summoning Circles were primarily set up for subjugating foxes, they were also installed in other locations.
This was because they wanted to confirm how summoned monsters would behave.
“Hmm… As expected, the monsters’ levels are increasing on average,” Kousuke said.
“It’s not quite evolution, but it seems like leaders are appearing that can rally groups,” Kouhi replied.
“In other words, coordination too?”
“I wonder? I think it’s partly due to their species… but there are groups that seem to be acting under command,” Kouhi said, while subjugating approaching monsters.
“Hmm… I wonder if the foxes are okay?”
“That shouldn’t be a problem. After all, there are many evolved individuals,” Kouhi responded.
“Is that so… But with this, we might be starting to see the cause behind the monsters’ power-ups to some extent?” Kousuke mused.
First, they summoned monsters using Summoning Circles that were not meant for familiars.
They couldn’t confirm whether the summoned monsters being subjugated was a condition. After all, all summoned monsters were defeated.
Considering the evolution of the Wraiths in the Northeast Tower, Kousuke was convinced that summoned monsters were involved in the leveling up and evolution of monsters.
Kousuke himself thought this was a benefit of becoming a god, but in reality, it wasn’t.
He had been doing something similar even before becoming a god, but Kousuke didn’t realize it.
Thinking this far, a question arose.
What about the monsters outside the tower?
Kousuke shook his head as he considered that.
In the first place, the conditions for the natural generation of monsters were not even understood.
Sometimes they reproduced normally, and sometimes they split.
What was puzzling was that they sometimes appeared out of nowhere.
Regarding this, Kousuke suspected that something was performing summons.
Unfortunately, he had never found any traces or evidence of such summons.
“Summons… you say?” Kouhi asked.
“Ah. I don’t know who, though. Perhaps the world itself is doing it,” Kousuke replied.
“The gods?”
“Hmm, I wonder? I think they would answer if you asked them, but I don’t think they’re doing it,” Kousuke said.
“Why is that?”
“Because it’s hard to imagine gods, who cannot directly interfere, doing something like that,” he explained.
Kouhi’s expression became thoughtful at Kousuke’s answer.
“If that’s the case, then who is?”
“Who knows? Well, even if we call it a summon, it’s certain that it’s completely different from existing ones. I don’t even know if it can be called a summon in the first place,” Kousuke said.
From Kousuke’s perspective, it was difficult to conceive of life spontaneously appearing on the spot, so he was stretching the definition to call it a summon.
Realizing this, Kousuke shook his head and stopped thinking about it.
“This is no good. It’s all just speculation and has no real meaning. Let’s stop this conversation,” Kousuke declared.
“Okay,” Kouhi agreed.
The original purpose was to investigate the cause of monster evolution on the tenth floor.
Regarding that, they could almost say the answer was found.
Simply knowing that monsters appearing from Summoning Circles were the key was a sufficient result for them.
Of course, there were likely other conditions, but confirming all of them was impossible.
Some monsters evolved naturally, so they couldn’t check each one individually.
It had been a long experiment, but Kousuke was satisfied with the results obtained to some extent.
He decided to end the experiments conducted so far.
The reason was simple: they had acquired the surrounding towers, so they could conduct experiments in new towers whenever they wanted.
The plan was to make the tenth floor a tier for the foxes from now on.
After finishing their inspection of most of the tenth floor, Kousuke and Kouhi returned to the Management Layer.
♦ ♢ ♦ ♢ ♦ ♢ ♦ ♢ ♦ ♢ ♦ ♢ ♦ ♢ ♦ ♢ ♦ ♢ ♦ ♢ ♦ ♢ ♦ ♢ ♦ ♢ ♦ ♢
Upon returning from the tenth floor, Kousuke was greeted by Wanri.
Since the previous incident (?), Wanri had also started coming to the Management Layer like this.
“Welcome back, Kousuke Onii-sama,” Wanri said.
“Yeah. I’m back,” Kousuke replied.
Wanri tilted her head at Kousuke’s response.
“Huh? Did you go see your companions?”
“Yeah. Just went to the tenth floor for a bit.”
“Ah, were you going to check something?” Wanri also knew that Kousuke was checking something on the tenth floor.
“That’s right. But that’s over now, so you can summon freely from now on, okay?”
Wanri, who had the authority, could of course set up Summoning Circles. While not as much as Nana, Wanri also performed summons herself.
“Really? There are few in that area, so I wanted to increase the number.”
“Is that so? I’m sorry I couldn’t increase them for you due to my own circumstances.”
Wanri hurriedly shook her head.
“No, it’s not that the numbers are insufficient. It’s just that having a few more would allow for more stable hunting…”
“I see… Well, from now on, you’re free to do as you please, so summon whatever you like.”
“Understood,” Wanri said, nodding and moving away.
She would probably head to the management room to summon immediately.
Kousuke didn’t head to the management room right away, but instead went to the lounge space that resembled a living room.
Peach and Silvia were in the lounge space.
Kousuke had business with both of them, so it was fortunate that he could speak to them.
“This is perfect. I had something I wanted you two to do,” Kousuke said.
“What is it?” Silvia asked.
“I’d like you to do it on the lower floors, or rather, I want you to do it on the lower floors…”
He then explained the sudden idea he had on the tenth floor to the two of them.
“When did you come up with that~?” Peach asked.
“No, just now. I thought of it after seeing the results on the tenth floor,” Kousuke replied.
Hearing Kousuke’s answer, both of them let out deep sighs.
“With Peach, it might be possible, but I think it would be difficult for me to implement,” Silvia said.
“No, no, I said it’s okay to do it as much as possible at first. Ultimately, I want you to do as I said,” Kousuke explained.
“It’s not that easy for me either~?”
“I know it’s difficult, but the width is just right for your respective areas,” Kousuke said.
“I agree with that,” Silvia said.
The towers managed by Peach and Silvia were narrower on each floor compared to Amamiya Tower.
This made it significantly easier to conduct the experiment Kousuke had requested than on the floors of Amamiya Tower.
“In that case, what about Floria’s place?” Peach asked.
“Of course, I’ll ask her later. The north and south sides are too wide, so it won’t work,” Kousuke replied.
“If that’s the case, I’ll try to make it work. But it will use a considerable amount of divine power,” Silvia said.
“Consider that necessary expense… Well, to be honest, management of Amamiya Tower has been hitting a wall lately, except for Fairy Stones. I’m hoping this will be a catalyst,” Kousuke admitted frankly.
Peach and Silvia looked at him with exasperated expressions at his honesty.
“Isn’t that assuming success?” Peach asked.
“No, it’s not. Of course, it would be best if it went well, but the important thing is the process,” Kousuke explained.
He thought that if they could find something applicable during the process, it would be a huge success.
“Well then, I’ll accept it,” Silvia said.
“Me too~!” Peach agreed.
Relieved by their agreement, Kousuke let out a sigh of relief.
If they had refused, Kousuke had even considered conducting the experiment himself in the Northwest Tower.
He also intended to ask Floria, but even if she refused, with these two willing, he wouldn’t have to get involved himself.
Kousuke hoped that Floria would also participate in the experiment.
Though it may seem like he’s hinting at something mysterious, fundamentally, the core members never refuse Kousuke’s requests related to the towers.
After all, they were successful individuals who raised their Tower LV to ten in an unbelievably short period.
…Regardless of how they normally act.
