Embracing Magic - E.M Chapter 14 (Part 2)

Barely capable of forming a contract with a spirit, but it would be difficult for the spirit to grow. That was the extent of Rodin’s talent in spirit summoning.

‘How do I identify the attribute?’

The paper distributed by the instructors didn’t include instructions on how to form a contract with a spirit. It was said that one would instinctively know how to form a contract upon summoning a spirit.

‘Lastly, let’s try summoning a familiar.’

Rodin stood up and looked towards the changing room. As expected, there was no one.

Checking the time, he realized that 25 minutes had already passed since he entered the shower room.

‘I need to hurry.’

He closed his eyes and chanted the rune words for summoning a familiar. At the same time, he envisioned connecting his mind with a world where the familiar would play.

‘Did it work?’

He felt a sensation as if a large passage was opening. It was a clearer sensation than with spirit summoning.

He slightly opened his eyes. A large, black passage, bigger than an adult’s head, appeared.

‘It’s definitely open…’

―Screech!

“Huh?”

A white creature popped out of the black passage. It had twinkling eyes.

The creature, trying to squeeze out of the passage, rubbed against it, struggling to come out.

Rodin instinctively reached out and supported the creature’s chin. Using Rodin’s hand as a foothold, the creature strained its neck and slowly wriggled out of the passage.

“Oh!”

As it emerged halfway, its form became more distinct.

At a glance, it resembled a white bird. Only its eyes were red, as beautiful as embedded jewels.

But upon closer inspection, it wasn’t a bird.

Its body was covered in scales, like a fish, instead of feathers. The pure white scales were so fine that they looked like skin.

It had a lizard-like snout instead of a beak, and its wings were much larger than its body.

The creature finally wriggled its way out completely, revealing a long tail that could wrap around itself.

“You. I’ve seen you before.”

-Screech?

“I’m sure. I have a good memory.”

Before becoming a slave, he had often seen a creature like this sitting on the wall of his house. No matter how much meat or grains he threw, it would only stare at him, ignoring the food.

When he went inside, it would disappear, and when he came out in the morning, it would be there, staring at him.

It had visited him like that for about a year before it stopped appearing. The last time he saw it was about two years ago.

“This one looks a bit smaller than the one I saw back then.”

Upon closer inspection, its eye color was different. The one he saw at home had eyes bluer than the sky.

“But how do I make a contract… ouch!”

The white creature bit his extended index finger. It bit so hard that red blood dripped from his fingertip.

At that moment, something connected between the creature and Rodin. Though invisible, Rodin could feel it.

“So, this is what a unified feeling is.”

He remembered reading in a book that when a contract was formed with a familiar or spirit, one would feel a unified sensation as if becoming one.

‘Is the contract formed? But what do I do with you?’

He had formed a contract with a familiar using a low-grade, low-grade summoning technique. Revealing that he had used such a ridiculous summoning technique for a contract would be unacceptable.

‘Actually, it’s perfect.’

He wanted to have at least one power that the instructors and the committee were unaware of. Forming a contract with a familiar was ideal.

“Ah!”

Rodin quickly turned on the shower and wetted his body. He then hastily dried off and came out to the changing room.

“What should I do with you?”

Recalling what he had read about familiars, he pondered.

Familiars and spirits were summoned from different dimensions and contracted, sharing some similarities. They both had independent wills and could move on their own.

However, there were many differences.

Spirits didn’t consume much magical power upon summoning. Even with little magic power, a summoner could summon a spirit.

However, the summoner’s magic power was continuously consumed to keep the spirit summoned. If the spirit exerted its power, the summoner’s magic would be heavily depleted.

In contrast, summoning familiars consumed a lot of magic power. Without sufficient magic, it was difficult to summon them.

But once summoned, no additional magic was consumed. Even if the familiar engaged in fierce combat, it wouldn’t draw magic from the summoner.

Spirits, once summoned, remained bound to the summoner, whereas familiars became independent entities upon summoning.

“If I dismiss you now, I won’t be able to summon you again soon. Resummoning will take quite a while.”

Rodin had no magic power at the moment. Normally, he wouldn’t be able to summon a familiar.

Currently, the familiar was with him because of the summoning contract, but once dismissed, it was uncertain when he could summon it again.

“Um, would you like to wander around on your own?”

-Screech?

“I can’t reveal you just yet. Can you understand?”

-Screech, screech.

Rodin opened the window beside the changing room. He gestured to the familiar, which perched on the window frame.

“Oh! Your name. What should I call you?”

-Screech.

“Jito. It means ‘friend’ in ancient language. I’ll call you Jito from now on.”

-Screech.

Jito pushed off from the window frame and flew away. It soared high into the sky, circled around, and quickly headed towards the southern forest.

“So fast.”

Rodin decided to find out more about Jito in the library tomorrow.

He didn’t even know Jito’s grade yet, making it hard to estimate how much magic would be needed for resummoning.

Watching Jito leave, Rodin felt a strange emptiness, as if a precious friend had departed.

‘But what about the creature I saw in my hometown?’

He had thought it was a common animal.

Seeing it hang around for nearly a year, he had never imagined it could be a familiar. At that time, he didn’t even know what familiars were.

‘It looked exactly the same.’

Except for the eye color and size, there was no difference.

‘Was it someone else’s summoned familiar?’

The creature had stayed around for a whole year. It seemed too long for it to be a brief summoning by some familiar summoner.

—

Rodin returned to his room.

Despite spending quite a long time in the shower room, room 301 remained unchanged. The three were still on the floor, struggling with the training techniques.

“How long are you going to do that?”

“A little more.”

“I don’t know. I’m going to sleep.”

“Okay, see you tomorrow.”

Hedler responded half-heartedly and immersed himself in the training technique again. Cory and Lant seemed too absorbed to notice Rodin.

‘Hmm, Cory definitely gathered magic power.’

Though very faint, it was undoubtedly magic power. There was more than before Rodin showered.

But no magic power was felt from Hedler and Lant.

‘I’ll find out tomorrow.’

Hyung_Otaku2

•