Tsukuru smiled as he saw the information in the System message.
Not only was there the information that he had expected to receive. It seemed that by creating the Yuki-Onna he had met some secret requirement in the System.
This also wasn't the first time this had happened.
Back when his Video Summon Skill had Leveled Up after his fight with the Palewalker on Pioletic, he had also met some secret requirement, that had unlocked the "Video Exchange" Skill.
It seemed that his System had "special requirements", whose information wasn't shown to the System's user, which would unlock certain Skills when specific conditions were met.
On top of that, Tsukuru had finally learned what that "other method" for obtaining Skill Points that Reiju had mentioned was.
'So I can obtain Skill Points by creating Summons, huh?' he thought. 'Actually, it seems like I get more Skill Points for greetings Summons than I do from Leveling Up. Almost like the System is incentivizing me to make as many of them as possible.'
When Tsukuru had Leveled Up after he defeated the Minotaur, he had only gained a single Skill Point, just like how he only gained a single Stat Point for Leveling Up.
But when he had created the Yuki-Onna, he had gained two Skill Points, twice that much.
Tsukuru's eyes narrowed as he re-read the info box for the new Skill.
''Video Mind',' he thought. 'It kinda sounds like a mix between Telepathy, a Sensory Link, and Mind Control…though it appears that I only have access to the Telepathy Part for right now.'
Additionally, for the first time since creating Artoria, Tsukuru had finally received some Beast Gear for creating a Video Summon.
And one of them appeared to be some kind of Beast Accessory.
It was then that he felt a hard shove on his back.
Looking behind him, he saw Layla and Erin still staring at him, and judging from the impatient look on Erin's face, she was most likely the one who had just shoved him.
"Well?" Erin asked, her arms crossed. "What are you waiting for?"
Tsukuru's face morphed into a look of annoyance.
He turned back around, and extended his left hand out in front of him.
"Summon," he replied.
The sound of electronic interference filled the air, causing the others in the room to all turn to the table.
When they did, they saw pixels begin to appear in front of Tsukuru.
The pixels clustered into a Humanoid shape that was noticeably taller than Tsukuru's other Summons, with the exception of Demona.
There was a bright flash of light.
Once it faded, the Yuki-Onna appeared in front of Tsukuru, Layla, and Erin.
Layla stared, wide-eyed, as she took in the Yuki-Onna's appearance.
She had a flawless, pale-white complexion, without a single trace of a blemish or imperfection.
In fact there was only one word that came to Layla's mind.
"Beautiful," she muttered under her breath.
As the Yuki-Onna stood directly in front of them, the three students could see condensation leaking off of the Yuki-Onna's exposed skin, like fog coming off of dry ice, and they could feel a noticeable temperature difference just from standing near her.
But, it wasn't an unpleasant, chilling feeling.
It was like standing in front of a fan or air-conditioner on a hot day.
A moment later, the Yuki-Onna began to kneel in front of Tsukuru.
She knelt in front of Tsukuru on both knees, with body arced down, and her hands touching each other in front of her, her fingers forming a triangle.
As Tsukuru looked at her, he couldn't help but compare it to the stereotypical bow of a hostess in a Japanese Hotel.
"Greetings, my liege," the Yuki-Onna replied in a soft tone of voice. "How may I be of service."
Tsukuru stared at the Yuki-Onna bowing in front of him.
His System's "Scan" Skill automatically activated, causing a HUD to appear.
In it, the System's circular vector appeared over the top of the Yuki-Onna's bowed head, with a line extending out to the left of it.
The line extended upwards, leading to a square with an up-close photo of the Yuki-Onna, with information displayed underneath.
[Name: Yuki-Onna
Rank: Infantry
Grade: Elite Pawn
Pawn Points: 0/15
Skills:
Cold Front
Snow Dash]
'Looks like this Summon actually has some starting Skills,' Tsukuru thought.
He reached out his hand and touched her right shoulder.
He couldn't help but notice how refreshing cold her skin was to the touch.
"From now on, your name will be Yukina," Tsukuru replied.
It was relatively simple to come up with a name for the Yuki-Onna, she just needed something either cold, ice, or winter related.
And while for a moment, he considered just naming her something like "Shirayuki", a name that was quite commonly used for Yuki-Onna in anime, it felt a bit too…on-the-nose…to him.
A set of two new System messages appeared in front of Tsukuru.
[Naming Ritual complete. Your Infantry-Rank Elite Pawn-Grade Yuki-Onna will now be known as Yukina]
[Name: Yukina
Race: Yuki-Onna
Rank: Infantry
Grade: Elite Pawn
Pawn Points: 0/15
Skills
Cold Front
Snow Dash]
"Thank you, my liege," Yukina replied, as she brought her right hand up to her chest. "I shall honor this gift for as long as I draw breath."
Yukina then got up on her feet.
Layla, who couldn't stop staring at the new Beast, which appeared to be the most Human-looking out of the group with the sole exception of Rakshara, found herself continuing to glance back and forth from Yukina and the card that Tsukuru had used as a "template".
"Wow," she replied, causing Tsukuru to glance back at her. "You weren't kidding about them coming out differently than what you based them on."
Erin narrowed her eyes.
"It doesn't matter how she looks," she replied, taking a step forward. "It matters how she fights."
Erin pushed her way past Tsukuru, shoving him to the side in a process, until she was staring slightly up at Yukina.
Unnoticed by Erin, but noticed by Layla, Yukina's eyes had hardened imperceptively for a moment upon seeing Tsukuru being pushed to the side.
"It's time to see what she's capable of," Erin replied, looking Yukina over.
She didn't seem to have any form of muscle mass on her, and she was dressed in what looked like a formal dress, not something someone would wear for combat.
Additionally, Erin couldn't see a single weapon on the girl.
Erin glanced back at Tsukuru with a hardened expression.
"For all of our sakes, I hope you didn't waste your time making some weak, delicate flower," she replied.
Yukina's eyes tightened, her feeling slightly insulted at Erin's words.
They were, ironically enough, equally as insulting to Yukina as Tsukuru's words claiming that she had only won their first fight due to her having a higher-Tier Beast Weapon had been.
Layla gulped, seeing the look.
Erin and Yukina continued staring at each other for a moment, a noticeable tension between the two.
Eventually, Yukina turned back to Tsukuru.
"Shall I accommodate this girl, my liege?" she asked with a smirk that had a significant amount of "Shizuka" energy to it.
She turned back to Erin, her smile somehow getting sharper, and more predatory.
"After all, I would love nothing more than to show this girl 'what I am capable of'."
Layla shivered, the passive-aggressive undertone in Yukina's words as she spoke Erin's own words back at her not lost on her.
Tsukuru looked at Yukina for a second, before turning to Erin.
He gave her a look that screamed "You walked into the ass-whooping yourself".
Tsukuru gave a dismissive wave of his hand.
"Very well," he replied.
Yukina and Erin exchanged one more look, and the two walked towards one of the empty spaces in the Assembly Hall.
The others all watched as the two girls faced each other, with Erin on the left, and Yukina on the right, a significant amount of space between them.
"I don't know about you guys," Raten replied. "But my hopes aren't exactly high for this one. That girl doesn't have any claws, weapons, or muscles of any kind."
On some level, Quinn couldn't help but agree.
Given Yukina's appearance, he couldn't help but compare her to those two women who had been in charge of "assessing" them during the Ability Level Placement Test.
Back with Erin and Yukina, Erin tightened her grip on her sword.
Erin looked at Yukina with an intense, scrutinizing gaze.
Despite her appearance, Erin remembered that this Beast was created to be an Elemental User.
And according to Tsukuru, she possessed the same Ice Element that Erin did.
But then again, having an Elemental Ability didn't make you strong.
Erin felt a level of soreness and fatigue in her body.
'My MC reserves must be running low due to how many Ice attacks I used in my fight against him,' Erin thought, her gaze momentarily shifting towards Starrk. 'I'm going to just have to fight her using my sword until my MC regenerates.'
Erin held her arm out to her side, and charged toward Yukina.