«Summoning failed! Insufficient Magic Essence!»
The panel was annoying to stare at, even for Damien who’d seen it over a dozen times.
He frowned as he read the text written on it.
Throwing his eyes off the panel as he dismissed it, he took another look at the green landscape he found himself.
Now that it was day time, it looked beautiful. The trees stretched so high that some in the distance could kiss the clouds. He could hear the sound of birds chirping and when he listened closer, he could hear the sound of a waterfall as well. He’d have to check it out later.
Remembering he was on a journey to get stronger, he asked Mithas. “Can I see my status, please?”
[Sure!]
A second later, a panel popped up that revealed an update to his stats.
««««««••••••»»»»»»
Name: Damien Terrace
Race: Human
Level: 5
Exp: 63/150
Talent: E-Rank Summoner
Life Force: 650/1300
Magic Essence: 100/100(+6,500 from LF conversion)
Strength: 22 Agility: 20
Stamina: 22 Endurance: 22
Intelligence: 17
••••••••••
Skill: SSS-Ranked Summons
Subskills:-
Pact of Summons
Essence Devourer
Transformation (locked)
Merger (locked)…(locked)
««««««••••••»»»»»»
He smiled as he saw the newly unlocked Subskill. Even though he hadn’t used it yet, he was eagerly anticipating the results it would yield.
However, when he saw his Life Force and Magic Essence, his smile disappeared.
He didn’t need Mithas to explain to him the conversion rate. He’d immediately done that himself. One Life Force point was equal to ten Magic Essence points.
Even now that he’d converted half his Life Force points to Magic Essence points, he still couldn’t summon a mythical beast.
“Mithas, don’t tell me I wasted all those points for nothing.” Damien muttered as he glared at the panel. He didn’t even know what to do. He was afraid to convert even more as Mithas had told him there was a chance he’d go unconscious after using up more than eighty percent of his Life Force.
[Not at all. You’re simply trying too much to summon one.]
“Huh? Isn’t it a mythical beast? Aren’t I supposed to try that much?” Damien was confused by Mithas’ response.
[You should. The system summons a random mythical beast in most cases but in a situation where the host is trying so hard to focus on a certain kind of beast, the system fulfils the host’s request by summoning that beast.]
“Oh… I see.” Damien’s voice became lower as he understood the explanation Mithas had provided.
Just now, he’d been focusing too much on the Nine Tailed Fox he’s summoned before and when the system tried to summon a Nine Tailed Fox, it turned out that the available Magic Essence wasn’t enough.
“Do your thing then.” Damien said with his hands folded as though he’d totally given up on trying.
[Attempting to summon in place of the host.]
Damien heard Mithas speak and a second later, there was a panel that confirmed its request had been granted.
«Summoning a Random Mythical Beast…»
Soon, Damien could feel energy leaving his core. It was being sucked rapidly at a rate he’d never experienced. Last time, he’d been almost unconscious and so he didn’t feel it. This time was different.
Wooooong~
Damien felt the energy gather and condense into a blue portal just a meter away from him. It continued to gather until the portal looked stable, like it was originally a part of that location.
The portal shone with white light and then…
Plop!
Something dropped out of the portal and a second later, the portal vanished again. Even with all the converted Life Force, Damien could feel that his Magic Essence had dropped to less than twenty percent.
However, that didn’t matter much to him at the moment. He was curious to know what he’d summoned. As he approached the spot, he discovered a round drop of something that looked like a viscous substance. It was light blue and somewhat transparent which made him think of it as a giant drop of thick water.
“Huh?”
Damien stared at the thing as it remained immobile, refusing to move. He bent down and with a finger, he slightly nudged the round blob that was as large as his head.
«Congratulations! You have summoned a Stellar Slime!»
[Would you look at that?]
Almost after the panel appeared, Damien heard Mithas’ voice.
[Leave it to me and I’ll summon the best mythical beasts you could ever think of.]
The voice sounded arrogant. It had always sounded that way to Damien but this time, it was a little too obvious.
With a condescending look at the blob on the grassy floor, Damien asked. “What the hell did you summon then? What’s a Stellar Slime?”
[Well. It’s a mythical beast that is so rare that even among mythical beasts, its existence is a myth.]
“That doesn’t sound right in a way.” Damien said with a raised brow.
[Truth be told, they’re almost extinct. You definitely possess absurd luck to pull one of the very last few.] Mithas responded and for the first time, Damien felt like he’d been praised by the system.
“So, what does it do? How strong is it?” Damien asked. Nudging the blob-like creature even harder.
[I suggest you enter a Pact of Summons with that thing before you ask such questions.] Mithas said, its voice laced with a tone of concern and warning.
Damien was still playing with the creature when Mithas’ warning reached him. Each nudge made it jiggle in a way that excited him.
“Why? Is it going to eat its summon…”
Damien hadn’t finished his speech when the slime moved with blinding speed. Its blue transparent body wrapped around Damien’s hand and within seconds, it made its way up to his shoulder.
“Ahh!” Damien screamed as his entire right hand became enveloped by the slime. It began to burn as though the arm was wrapped in acid.
[That’s exactly what it’ll do.] Mithas seemed unfazed by Damien’s cry.
“Get it off! Get! It! Off!!” The boy screamed as the slime continued to extend toward his neck.
[I can’t, but the Pact of Summons can. Since it’s entirely different from the others, a little blood from the summoner should do the trick…]
Damien didn’t wait for Mithas to finish when he bit his other arm, drawing blood.
“Here’s blood to form the damned pact!” Damien slammed his bloodied palm onto the slime. The blood immediately disappeared and the slime’s advancement stopped.
«You have entered a blood Pact with a summon: Stellar Slime!»
[That was fast. Congratulations.]
Damien could feel the mockery in Mithas’ voice.
________________________
A/N: There has been a slight change. So as not to confuse the readers, Mithas acts like the system guide to Damien. It is the system’s voice. However, although it comes with the system, it is different. It is somewhat sentient and can communicate with him. It also possess more access to the system than Damien himself.
Damien has now become aware of the difference between Mithas and the system and so, he’s able to differentiate. When Mithas speaks to him mentally, it will be encased in [ ] and when the system speaks to him as a panel, it’ll be encased with « ».
The reason why [ ] was initially used in general was because in the start, Damien had been unconscious and Mithas had to read all the panels that popped up during that period. I hope this explains things. And please, power stones!! More power stones = more chapters after all. Comments are welcome as well.
Thank you all! 🙂