Vol 2 Chapter 9 (1/2)
Spiritcon, Hot Dog, Quitting School
The summoning ceremony had officially begun. All the freshmen in school started reciting their summoning verses, and paid full attention to their surroundings so that they could summon spirits that they would be truly compatible with.
As for how long the summoning took, that was indefinite because the spirit population was about the same, or maybe even more than the human population, so it was no easy task to find a compatible spirit among the spirit populace. Of course, to save some trouble, one could always just head to a spirit shop and buy a spirit straight from the store. But if a summoner were to do that, the relations.h.i.+p and the compatibility between the summoner and the spirit wouldn’t be quite the same, as it would be from a summoning. After all, spirits sold in a spirit shop were captured, so, at least to some degree, it would only be natural for them to be fearful of humans. Because of this, ninety-nine percent of summoners would get their very first spirits via summoning.
Since I already have Silent Water, I obviously didn’t pay much attention to the whole summoning thing… Alright, actually, it had more to do with the fact that I couldn’t summon any spirits. It was quite clearly stated in our reference books that the lower level spirits, in order for them to avoid being hunted, would still pick appropriate masters for themselves, as per their own levels. So, a summoner shouldn’t be without any spirit, simply because he had lower amount of spiritual energy… So why then? Why was it that when it came to summoning spirits, I just couldn’t do it? I let out a sigh of resignation, and gave up on trying to summon any spirits altogether.
So while my cla.s.smates were busy focusing on summoning their own spirits, I took this opportunity to chat with Freed and Yalide to pa.s.s the time.
Soon enough, one of the boys shouted, “It came! It came! My spirit!”
Everyone looked towards where the commotion was: A boy was shouting excitedly at a small, gray squirrel that stood in the middle of a glowing magical circle.
However, when the boy found out that the squirrel was of the earth type, his excitement cooled. The reason was because its attribute was an earth type.
The boy’s reaction was quite common. Spirits of the same species could be of different types of attributes: wind, fire, water, lightning, wood, earth, metal, fog, or poison. Of all the different types of attributes, earth and wood had the lowest rankings among the elements. That was because people didn’t think that these two types of attributes were very effective during battles.
But, to me, the type of attribute a spirit possessed wasn’t that big of a concern; it was one’s own spirit after all.
The little earth elemental squirrel belonged to the lowest cla.s.s, and when it saw its master, it ran frantically towards him. I could see that boy’s expression freeze at that moment. But, after a short while, he was moved by the little guy’s adorableness and formed a contract with it.
That boy’s contract marked the beginning of the actual summoning. Soon after, many more people summoned all manners of spirits, with all different types of attributes. Satsuki, that girl, even summoned a middle cla.s.s fiery lion; it was no small wonder that she ranked eighth among the freshmen – that was really something!
That b.u.m, Yamada, managed to summon a low cla.s.s boxing kangaroo spirit… with a wind type attribute. Wind type spirits had great speed, they could augment their masters movement speed and increase their masters’ attack speed. To a battle technician like Yamada, a wind type spirit was the optimal choice.
Speaking of, there was also my fiancée, Kamiki Kuji. Since the day we had that conversation about the deal behind our relations.h.i.+p, I kept getting the feeling that she had been watching Satsuki and I closely, and her glare was constantly intensifying. Even when it was Satsuki who came over and leaned on me, in her mind she probably interpreted it as though it was me who was keen on Satsuki, and at the same time, wanted to marry her, the beautiful fiancée, right?
Anyway, Kamiki summoned a middle cla.s.s monkey spirit, with a wind type attribute, which was completely different than the magic she wielded (fog and poison).
When I saw this, I was both astonished and sympathetic. This was because most of the time, summoned spirits would be of similar or complementary types to the summoners’ magic; only in very rare cases could people summon spirits with attributes contrary to their own magical abilities. I guess Kamiki was one among those very rare cases; that was indeed very unfortunate.
‘Kid, what are you talking about? Fog and poison, they benefit the most from wind type spirits.’
‘What do you mean by this? Um… Wait a second, fog and poison? Wind could change the direction of fog, and spread the poison… so it does seem like this combination is actually the most complimentary.’
‘That’s right, this actually is the best combination; what you people called the unfortunate few were just people who haven’t discovered the effectiveness of their own spirits.’
‘Freed, you are really amazing! But, are you really a high and mighty dragon G.o.d? How could you know so much?’ I thought Freed’s knowledge on spirit was astounding.
‘This, let me tell you! This, I have to tell you!’ Yalide just wouldn’t stop yelling.
‘Shush you, and go take a nap or something. Stop interrupting our conversation, you perverted dragon.’
‘I have to say it.’ Yalide was rarely this calm… could it be that Freed really had some secret that he couldn’t tell people?
‘Kid, don’t overthink this, don’t overthink this. Let’s stop this conversation now; we can talk some other day.’
‘Listen up, you, stinking brat! You and this white dragon were talking about me all day, about how lecherous I was, weren’t you? Well, okay, I’ll admit it; I really do appreciate s.e.xy, beautiful female humans; of course, I also like beautiful female dragons. But, do you know, that Freed, he even…’
‘You, shut your mouth!!!’
‘…He actually likes spirits! He is a bona fide Spiritcon!!! It doesn’t matter to him if the spirit is big, or small; young, or old; male, or female, so long as it is a spirit, he’s obsessed with it. There was this one time, I heard him order…’
‘Stop it, stop it! Let’s not talk about the past!!!’
How come Freed was behaving just like Yalide right there? Could it really be true that he was a Spiritcon? But, this shouldn’t matter, right? Being a dragon G.o.d, shouldn’t it be pretty normal to care deeply about spirits?
‘Right, right, right, right you are, kid; it was totally worth it for me to help you through h.e.l.l and high water.’
‘Brat! Why? Why? Why can’t you wait till I am finished before you draw your conclusion? Why is it that you can think so highly of Freed and so poorly of me? Let’s just think about this for a moment: those are spirits we are talking about; never mind the age gap, just from body size differences alone… Wait, this would be like a grown man with a little loli!!! Oh, hurry up and think better of me too. Since I am a dragon G.o.d, isn’t it normal for me to like s.e.xy, beautiful, female humans?’
‘Why don’t you listen to yourself and take your own advice? “Never mind the age gap, just from body size differences alone”… are you really in a position to talk about Freed? It is really difficult for me think any better of you, Yalide, considering your obsession with beautiful female humans. Besides… you really are lewd… if you were a human, my bet is that you would have been a wanted rapist by now…’
‘That’s right! You are fantastic, kid! How fortunate am I to be able to inhabit your body? I now solemnly take back all the things I said about you being stupid!’
‘Errr… thank you? Ahem, “Spirit-obsessing-Freed”? Don’t you get any funny ideas towards Silent Water.’
‘Kid, like you said, I am a dragon G.o.d; my concern towards spirits is based purely out of love! Love, don’t you understand? It is completely different than Yalide, whose feelings towards female humans are filled with lewd thoughts…’
‘I wonder just who it was that routinely ordered those spirits to call himself “My Lord Dragon G.o.d”’! You pervert!!!’ Yalide became angry.
‘I…’ Freed became speechless.
This… I was stunned, I couldn’t believe that Freed…