Chapter 31 – Summoning for Dummies

Asterios and Miria cuddled together for around ten minutes until the heat of the moment completely washed off them and they started feeling the chilliness of the night. He suggested taking a dip in a stream not that far from their location as he stumbled onto one during his stroll through the forest and Miria agreed.

They arrived there without any issues and went in together. The shy Miria was completely back. It amused him to see her awkwardly cover herself with her arms and tail while blushing furiously. He patted her head and turned around so that they could wash themselves comfortably. Especially Miria.

After they were done bathing and then drying up, the duo began heading towards the encampment together. Miria was clearly happy walking by his side as it was easily seen from her gleefully dancing tail and the quick glances she kept stealing at Asterios. He was glad that her mood was good.

“So… the place I booked for the night is not that spacious and really crowded. I didn’t expect you to finish your business that fast…” he started the conversation.

“Ehehe… I’m sorry for lying to you, Master. I told you I have things to do while I just shamelessly ran away…” She giggled wryly.

“It’s fine. Forget it. Anyway, it might be a bit uncomfortable so I think you should spend the night at home this time.”

“Ummmm… I don’t think that’s a good idea…”

He turned his face towards her. “Why?”

“The bed…”

“Ah… So it wasn't a figure of speech.”

She hastily looked away with a completely red face and kneaded her joined hands in the front. Asterios chuckled and brushed through her hair.

“I understand. We’ll have to huddle up closely then. Not that I dislike this idea.” He smiled at her and so did she.

It disappeared from her lips after a moment as Miria looked down and stroked her collar. Asterios didn’t miss that.

“Something wrong?”

She shook her head gently. “No… it’s just that I… Yesterday wasn’t the only time I’ve lied to you… The collar… it—”

“It’s a proposal, right?” he cut her off.

“Eh?” Miria turned her face to him with wide eyes. “You knew?”

Asterios chuckled. “Not really. At least not for sure. But from the time we spent together and also from your mind during our deepened connection, I figured out that you aren’t exactly that much into master/slave play to be that happy about getting a collar which you could wear in public. You looked truly overjoyed that day. So, I apologize for sounding rude, but I assumed that for beast people it might have another meaning.”

She dropped her eyes to the ground and Miria’s shoulders slumped.

“Hey, hey. It’s not like you lied to me there. You just didn’t tell me the whole truth. So, don’t feel so down, okay?”

“But still…”

He sighed and moved his hand to her waist, pulling Miria into his embrace and placing a soft kiss on her lips. They separated and stared each other into the eyes. Ast brushed over her cheek with his thumb and then moved his hand to the collar.

“Are you regretting this?” He faintly pulled the strap and leaned closer to Miria’s ear. “Because I certainly am not,” he whispered.

After he backed away, Asterios was met with a loving gaze from Miria, accompanied by her rosy cheeks.

“Never," she answered and hastily closed the distance again to leave a quick peck on his lips before shyly looking away. He released the embarrassed panthergirl to not tease her too much and Miria switched into her beast form, allowing them to get back to the camp fast.

They arrived at the tent functioning as their place to stay and laid down on the narrow mattress together. Miria fell asleep on Ast’s chest under his gentle caresses over her head and her sensitive ears, cuddled up to him closely.

The next morning, Miria returned home for a moment to change the sheets on her bed. It would be bad if she left them unattended in their poor state. While she carried them to the washroom, she didn’t miss the knowing smirk her mother showed when they passed each other, making her shiver in embarrassment.

Reducing their bedding to such a state was nothing shameful for Pantherkin as going into heat was obviously part of their nature, but no matter how many intense baths Miria would take, it was close to impossible to hide from her mother’s nose what she and Ast did last night. 

She hastily left the place as soon as she could, in hopes that she wouldn’t stumble on her father. After coming back to Asterios, they went to eat breakfast together in one of the restaurant-like tents where he filled her in on what he was doing when she was gone. As they ate, Miria started going through the guide too, having Ast explain the most important details to her.

Later, after they revised the information about the next three floors, the duo strolled together through the camp, heading outside of it, towards a clearing where they would be able to talk more about their first trip into the dungeon and their future plans.

Before they reached the starting line of the tents, a familiar, female voice resonated through the air, making Miria’s ears twitch towards the source.

“Hey! It’s them! They are here, come on!”

They both turned around to see three people running, clearly in their direction. Ast and Miria instantly recognized the Martial Artist and Warrior from the day before yesterday, now with their Mage friend jogging in between them.

The trio soon reached their destination and stopped, calming their breaths. The boy raised his face after doing so and looked at Miria.

“I’m sorry for stopping you. We just wanted to say thank you properly for saving us from those scorpions, to the both of—” 

He stopped when his gaze moved to Asterios, showing visible signs of confusion and hesitation. The boy scratched his head and glanced back at Miria as if to confirm something, then at her furry arms he could never forget, and back to him. 

Ast then realized that they saw him only in his awakened mode and smiled. “Yes, I’m the same person. My hair and eyes tend to change colours now and then.”

The adventurer also smiled wryly and bowed his head a bit. The two girls on his sides did the same. Previously, Asterios didn’t have time to take a better look at them than just to estimate their roles and how bad their condition was, so he glanced at the party as they showed courtesy.

The boy looked to be around fifteen or sixteen. His friends also seemed to be around the same age. Most likely a group of childhood friends who decided to become adventurers for whatever reason they came up with. Maybe out of necessity. Who knew.

One of the girls, the Mage, stepped forward and made an even more respectful bow towards Asterios.

“Thank you for sharing your medicine with me. I would have definitely died if not for its effects. I’m eternally indebted to you and I would really want to repay your kindness even a bit, but I don’t have anything I could use to do that, so I—”

He plopped his hand onto the dark violet hair of hers. “I don’t need anything. Your gratitude is enough. Just make sure that in the future you guys will pick your battles more carefully. It’s not shameful to run away. Dead men tell no tales. I would give you a good scolding, but I think you’ve gone through enough to understand your mistakes.”

Sad expressions clouded their faces when the party was reminded of their fallen friend.

The boy spoke up again. “Yes… We do… It was all my fault… As a leader, I—”

“You are a unit. The responsibility is shared. Go, sit down together and talk about the mistakes each of you made. All of them. Blindly following the leader without voicing out your doubts is one too.” He looked at each of them. “We’ve received your thanks. There’s no debt to be repaid. Just, if you ever find others that would remind you of your past selves, make sure to pass your experiences onto them.”

They all nodded respectfully and then looked at Miria. She didn’t know what to say in such a situation so she just smiled and nodded her head to them too. “It’s as Master said.”

Hearing the woman call the man by her side master was a little bit unusual to them, but they noticed the collar on her neck and assumed that she must have been his combat slave. The young adventurers weren’t familiar with collars for summons. Not wanting to impose on their saviour anymore, they left after one more round of bowing. The duo returned to their path.

“You were really cool back there, Master.” Miria took a step forward, turned around and smiled at Ast.

He shook his head slowly. “I just quoted some random inspirational words I’ve read in books to cheer them up. It’s nothing to be proud of.”

“Using them properly at a correct time is a feat worthy of praise though.”

He smiled too and reached for her head. “Right. Thank you for the compliment.”

She enjoyed his pats for a moment and they made their way to the clearing. At the spot, they sat down on the grass and began talking about their fights in the dungeon from the first to the last one. 

Asterios shared with Miria all of his observations, pointers, suggestions of improvement and views on her performance. Miria informed him about every single detail and sensation she went through during the battles, to give him as much feedback on the spells Ast used as it was possible. They spent a lot of time analyzing their movements and cooperation.

Then, they reached the last fight with the scorpions and he shared his worries about the number of enemies being a potential issue for them as a 2-man party and they started debating what or who should fill the holes that were left in their team until Miria started getting curious about the summoning itself.

“Master, how does summoning actually work? I’m sorry if that’s a silly question, but it’s not like you summoned me the usual way, right?” she asked.

Asterios stroked his chin. “Hmmm, that’s a good point. You just popped out of nowhere while draining lots of my spiritual energy. Okay, let me give you a short briefing.”

He took out a notepad from one of his belt pouches and switched into a lecturer mode while Miria sat cross-legged in front of him, eagerly focusing her attention on his explanation.

“Let’s omit all the little technicalities you don’t need to bother yourself with and make this simple. You already know that the Summoner’s aptitude dictates how strong beasts he can attract during the summoning ritual. The keyword here is attract. Imagine summoning being something like sending a Message without a recipient into—... no, you aren’t that well-versed in magic, let me rephrase that,” he switched his planned explanation when noticing Miria’s head tilt a little when he mentioned that spell. She would most likely understand if he said it was telepathy or something, but why complicate things.

“Ekhm. Let’s say there’s a sheltered town named Summoner. Many people live in it. We will call those people Spiritual Essence and Spiritual Energy. The more of them and the more skilful they are, the better attractiveness of the town is and the higher the chances for the city to attract valuable newcomers, right?”

Miria nodded vigorously. The way he presented it was very amusing to her and obviously easy to understand.

“Okay. Now, the town is usually closed, surrounded by a moat and equipped with a drawbridge. All around the city are various kingdoms, called Realms. Different entities live in them. Our city decides that it wants to employ help from one. Now, they can assume two strategies. First, not care who joins as long as they are good. Second, have in mind specific qualities they are looking for. Let’s go with the latter one since that would be what we will most likely be using. So, they know what they are looking for. Let’s say they want someone who can heal. The town prepares various valuable materials which could possibly help attract the attention of entities with that ability, the Summoning Materials or Catalysts.”

Miria’s eyes kept sparkling during his fake story. Asterios couldn’t help but chuckle. He felt like a storyteller entertaining children. But seeing her so engrossed was a really pleasant feeling.

“So, they have the materials and then they lower their drawbridge, creating a pathwalk between the town of Summoner and all the kingdoms around, via the decree called Summoning Ritual. With the way for newcomers to arrive secured, the town starts releasing messengers carrying the information about their requirements and prepared valuables, who travel all around and shout their news to each kingdom interested in trading those materials for the help of one of their vassals. The messengers are called Echoes of Consciousness.”

He stopped for a moment to take a sip of water.

“When one of them finds an entity that is willing to check out the town of Summoner, they escort them back to it. Then, the vassal appraises, evaluates, judges the city, discusses things, asks questions, etc, etc, and if the terms are suitable for them, they sign a contract with the town, asking for something in return for their services. If they don’t, they return to their kingdom and Summoner starts sending out more messengers until they all get spent and tired. That’s it. In the simplest words. I hope I didn’t offend you with how childishly this sounded.”

Miria started clapping joyously. “Amazing! I had no idea that Master was able to explain magic in such a way! Even kids would be able to grasp the concept with that!”

Asterios chuckled. “Again, I’ve read lots of books. Those with more poetic narrations too. There’s always a grain of truth hidden in every oversaturated story.”

He could feel the growing respect from her towards him through their connection. It was a weird feeling gaining in someone’s eyes from simplifying something to such banal levels. He was glad Miria didn’t get offended, but she most likely wouldn’t get no matter how he portrayed it. She knew that he would never mean it that way.

“So, I think I’ve got everything, Master. We will be trying to use some catalyst to aim for a specific summon, right? I don’t think the quality of your spiritual energy will be a problem with that ferocious energy. Who do we look for?” Miria started inquiring about their plans.

“First of all, I would like to try with my normal mana, it has improved significantly. And we don’t even know if I can choose between them or even try to hide the scarlet one. During the ritual, my circuits and aptitude should be completely visible to the summons.”

Miria nodded. “I see. I think it’s a good plan. Then, about the entity?”

“From what we already spoke about, I think we should aim for another frontliner who will take some weight off your shoulders and help you fight. I take care of the buffing and I can also heal decently, mostly out of combat since it needs focus, but my scorching energy is potent enough to improve natural regeneration by leaps and bounds as you have already experienced it,” Asterios shared his opinion.

“Hmmm… I want Master to summon a beast that would stay by your side. I could focus on fighting more if your safety was assured. Could be a beast or entity capable of magic perhaps. Or ranged attacks if Master really wants to help me. But, I would really insist on the first option,” Miria spoke her mind with a protective expression on her face.

Asterios pondered over what to do. He was pretty sure that the summon would not be weak so his spiritual circuits would need some time to cool down after their attempts or signing of the contract, so it would be good to choose the best option here. He started sipping more water while playing different scenarios in his mind.

“Ummm… Master?” Miria brought him back to the world of the living.

“Yeah?”

“Could you maybe like… go for both?” she asked.

“Both?”

“I mean, something that is a great fighter and also good with magic? I don’t know that many magical beasts… maybe like...”

“Like what?”

“A Dragon?”

“Psshhhhhhhhhhht, cough, cough, cough! What?!” Asterios accidentally choked on the water from surprise.

Miria quickly jumped to his side worriedly, but he signalled her that everything was fine.

“Dragon? I’m happy that you think so highly of me, but still, a Dragon? There’s no way that a mere Human like me can make one obey. I don’t have a mountain of gold to offer.” He chuckled at her.

“Sorry…” Miria apologized for startling him.

Ast petted her cute ears. “Do you want to see one that badly?” She nodded her head shyly. “Hahaha, okay, maybe one day we will try, just so that you can take a good look at one. But only after we are strong enough to run away if it decides to squash us just because we dared to try luring it here, hahaha.”

He laughed openly as he kept stroking Miria’s head. She also giggled and rested her cheek on his shoulder. Miria felt that if it was him, a Dragon would surely agree. She was certain that there weren’t many Humans, no, people like Asterios in the world. There was something about him that she couldn’t properly describe with words. Like a feeling of being truly cherished. Something attractive about his powerful spiritual essence. Not exactly in a brainwashing or seductive way, just like he was something more.