Touch of Fate

Chapter 109: Summoning Problems

Mike tried to concentrate on every aspect of the spell as it began to take shape. Once the mana stored in the scroll reached a certain point, it began humming in a vaguely melodic manner for about thirty seconds before the ink began to burn with a purplish flame. A small magic circle appeared on the ground in front of him, and a misty shape started to take form.

Madeline took a moment to explain the scroll as the creature appeared. "Since you are probably new to the magic world, let me give you an introduction to scrolls. They are a type of one-use magic item that uses a specially crafted ink to encode both the chant and the mana required to cast a spell, only needing a small amount of mana to activate it. While this means that almost anyone can use scrolls, there are a few downsides to them. They take a long time to fully cast, are entirely limited to the amount of power incorporated into it at the time of its creation, and are slightly expensive to make. The ink used for the Scrivening of scrolls is composed of monster cores collected from dungeons. Hm, it looks like your summon is about to appear."

The form eventually coalesced into a small reptilian shape that was vaguely reminiscent of Audra, but with several key differences. It had a mottled blue and yellow hide, with a chaotic pattern of spikes running along its spine. Instead of forelegs, it had two folded wings that it walked on, in a manner that reminded Mike of the vargulf. Once fully formed, it raised its head, stretched its wings and gave a high pitched cry. As it did so, there was a crackle of electricity along its body.

"Oh! A lightning drake! How fascinating." Madeline clapped excitedly. She pulled out a clear crystal disk and started looking through it at the drake. Seeing Mike's questioning glance, she explained. "This is a Summoner's Lens. It lets us evaluate the type, power, and affinity of things brought into existence by summoning magic. Looks like you have multiple affinities."

Mike waited for her to continue.

"You definitely have the dragon affinity, no question of that. Which means you can summon a whole multitude of reptilian and draconic creatures. Congratulations. But it also looks like you have some elemental affinity, as well. Fire and Air at the very least, judging from the drake's elemental composition, but I suspect you might just happen to have a general elemental affinity, which opens up a ton of options!"

Madeline was obviously very excited about this discovery, even Carol was looking a little jealous, as she concentrated on her own scroll. There was a repeat of the humming and the purple flame, and another magic circle appeared in front of her.

From it emerged a grey colored rabbit the size of a large dog. A single straight horn grew from the center of its head. Madeline took a second to evaluate it with her lens.

"A Horned Rabbit! Very good, Carol. It looks like you the beast affinity, with a focus on mammalian creatures. With this you will be able to conjure a wealth of combat ready monsters with a fair amount of flexibility. Assuming you practice, you could become a powerful adventurer or even knight. Congratulations as well."

Carol nodded happily, but there was a twinge of unease in her face.

There was a pop as the conjured drake vanished, evidently reaching the end of its time. Mike took a few moments to examine his [Status] and seeing the new entry there, turned to the instructor. "Ma'am what should we do to practice once our skills are unlocked?"

"Summoning Magic is a lot like Arcane Magic in the sense that it cannot be free casted with any degree of reliability. There are simply too many variables that are dealt with through a chant. Ordinarily, new students wouldn't be allowed to use chants in class until they have been approved to do so, but we do have special dispensation to do so.." She looked at the pair of eager faces before sighing.

"I'll teach you two basic chants, on one condition. Promise me you'll only practice them here, when I'm around."

They both nodded their agreement.

She started by repeating the chant she had used for conjuring the stools. Mike listened again, trying to burn it into his memory. Hopefully, he wouldn't forget it.

"You'll probably be a little more excited about this next one, Conjure Minor Creature. It will let you conjure a small and fairly weak monster, usually related to your affinity, but you can try to force a different result if you so choose. Now, listen carefully."

She cleared her throat and stood in what Mike had come to recognize as the orthodox 'chanting pose,' with back straight and chest thrown forward, "I call to thee from beyond the veil, take the shape of my desires and bring forth my will. [Conjure Minor Creature]"

A circle appeared in front of her, and a short humanoid figure appeared. A cruel looking, rat-like face with a mouthful of teeth grimaced at the three of them with undisguised hatred. It was dressed in ragged clothes, and holding a sharpened bit of metal in one hand, which it waved around aggressively.

With a slightly disappointed sigh, Madeline explained. "This is a Lesser Gremlin, one of the least powerful members of the Fae. When you get a little farther down the path of the summoner, there are higher level chants which will conjure more potent creatures. Nevertheless, it's a good place to start."

Excited to try it out for himself, Mike began mumbling the chant. Something about the words didn't feel quite right, so he subconsciously altered it a bit. "I call for thee from beyond veil of reality. Clothe thyself in the form of my desires and carry out my will. [Conjure Minor Creature]"

Mike had a second to regret his hasty decision, as he felt a massive amount of mana leave him, nearly driving him to his knees with fatigue. A huge circle of runes took shape, filling much of the space in the pavilion. The air hummed and crackled with barely contained energy as a giant shape began to take form, pushing Killian and his small pile of stools out of the way.

[I might have been a bit too zealous.]

With an earsplitting roar, a draconic creature emerged from the circle. It stood on four clawed legs, and stretched a pair of wide leathery wings, brushing the roof of the pavilion with their easily 40m spread. Crimson scales coated its flanks and back, turning into a softer, yellowish color along its underside. Two pairs of slightly curled horns rose from the crown of its head, just above its ruby-colored eyes which were fixed on Mike expectantly. With a slight rumble, it blew out a breath of air as hot as a blast furnace.

Mike heard a clatter behind him, and glanced back to see that Carol had collapsed, evidently fainting from the shock. Madeline, however, was absolutely thrilled, and started peppering him with all kinds of questions.

"Is that a Lesser Flame Dragon?! This is amazing! How did you summon one with that kind of chant? What is your secret?" She yelled while shaking him excitedly.

[That's only a LESSER Flame Dragon? How big are these things supposed to get?] Mike wondered absently if he needed to worry about Audra becoming too big to even fit into the city.

"Well, I think I mixed a few of the words up during the casting process. As soon as I finished I felt a massive drain on my mana reserves, and then it took form." He replied, still giving the dragon an eye. He wondered if he could...

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Unnamed

Age: 0

Race: Lesser Flame Dragon

Class: Conjured Dragon

Title: None

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[Well, I guess that answers that.]

"So, how do I get it to do something? Will it understand it if I just speak?"

Madeline took a break from her inquiries to answer his question, "Conjured creatures are essentially a manifestation of your mana. As such, you simply have to apply your will to get them to take action. Called creatures are an entirely different story, however. Anyway, you said you messed up the chant? Do you remember what you changed? This could be a major discovery!"

Frowning slightly, Mike reached out with his mind and tried to control the dragon. There was a slight hesitation as the red-scaled monster blinked, then it turned its head towards an unoccupied section of the pavilion, took a deep breath, and launched a cone of intense flame.

"Awesome! It really did listen to me." He celebrated briefly, before realizing his mistake as the fire traveled past the edge of the stone floor and set alight a few of the trees nearby.

[Crap! Crap! Crap!] He quickly concentrated his will and, reaching out with one hand, extinguished the fire before it had a chance to spread too far.

He sighed in relief once the danger had passed, but noticed that silence had descended on the pavilion. Looking around he realized that both Madeline and Killian were staring at him. Carol was still unconscious.

"Mike? Did you just use Elemental Magic?" Madeline asked hesitantly.

"Well.yeah. I'm primarily an Elemental Mage. I only took this class because I was interested in it."

"Is that even possible?" Killian asked quietly to no one in particular.

"That..is....incredible! I haven't heard of anyone besides really powerful Tier 4 mages or Heroes being able to do that. You must have a really potent class." Madeline was gushing again.

Mike took a moment to glance through his [Status] and confirm the two skills he had gained.

- Basic Summoning Magic (Tier 1, Rank 2)

The most basic form of Summoning Magic. It allows users access magic skills for the three primary forms of Summoning Magic: Conjuration, Calling, and Binding. Higher levels of skill provide a bonus on mana efficiency and potency. This is a Prerequisite and Limiter skill for all other Summoning Magic skills.

- Basic Conjuration (Tier 1, Rank 2)

The most basic form of Conjuration Magic. Allows the user to conjure objects and creatures based on mental images, summoning them into existence for a limited duration. Higher levels of skill improve mana efficiency.

[I guess that means I need to work on Calling and Binding skills now. Although, I wonder if Bind Familiar counts for that.]

A hot breath on the back of his head reminded him that there was still a very large dragon sitting in the middle of the pavilion, crouching slightly to avoid damaging the roof.

Rather than answering Madeline's implied question, he asked one of his own. "So, how long are these conjured creatures supposed to stick around for?"

She puffed her cheeks out at him for his diversion, but answered nonetheless. "Normally they vanish within a few minutes depending on how much mana you invest into the spell when casting it. Now that you mention it, this guy has been sticking around longer than I would expect for a summon of his size."

The dragon looked between the two of them before settling down on its haunches in an almost cat-like manner. It didn't seem to be going anywhere soon.

[This might be a problem.]