CHAPTER 2: SHIKIGAMI THE FIRST SUMMONER

Lucas felt the pain ease as the yokai stared at him. He opened his eye and half expected to see the world as how he saw it, but to his surprise he found himself staring at well… himself.

He shook his head thinking he was seeing things, he looked at the yokai. "Why can I see myself? And who are you? And what do you mean you have been waiting for me?"

The serpentine yokai chuckled and hovered around him. "Master Shikigami, one question at a time, my name is Ryuk. I'm one of the low-level shikigami you can summon."

Ryuk introduced himself as the Umbrella closed itself and returned to Lucasʼ hand.

A third text window appeared in front of Lucas, who looked at it to see what was written there.

[Ryuk (Familiar)]

[Shikigami class C]

[Attack:30]

[Speed: 60]

[Defense: 20]

[Passive: Retribution- Dealing damage to monsters grants Ryuk the ability to increase his attack potential by 15% scaling with the targeted monster's level]

[Ability: Cloud creation - Ryuk can create puffs of tangible clouds that he or anyone close to him can ride on. When angered, the clouds can discharge lightning bolts]

[Evolution level:-]

[HP: 7,800]

Lucasʼ jaw dropped at what he was reading, the creature barely longer than 23 feet could do such amazing feats?

He turned to look at Ryuk who had stopped moving.

"You haven't answered all my questions Ryuk" Lucas got up from the grass and wiped off the grass blades that stuck to his clothing.

"Ah yes, Master Shikigami, the reason you are seeing yourself is because you are looking at yourself through my eyes. Your left eye is the eye of the Shikigami." Ryuk replied, his scales changing pigment from green to pale white.

Eye of the Shikigami?

Lucas raised an eyebrow, he was not believing this. Firstly, he becomes the first summoner the game has had ever since the announcements of the roles were announced.

If being a summoner was not enough, he discovers that he's some kind of an Onmyodo and has an Umbrella that can talk adding to Ryuk.

His mind could not process it all; were there hidden abilities to other classes too? Or was it just only for him? Either way, Lucas was glad deep down, that he went with the Summoning class even though he had no choice in the matter.

He then remembered something that he saw prior to calling out Ryuk. "Ryuk what is the tree of vitality?"

Ryuk hovered behind Lucas who was walking away from the Colosseum and the town it was in, heading to the next location. The foot of the tower, Hysteria.

"The tree of vitality is an ancient tree that the Onmyoji used to create shikigami papers, it is associated with the ancestral home of all shikigami, and like the Umbrella it is a portal that allows Shikigami to cross to this world."

Lucas nodded, the brief explanation made by Ryuk was enlightening. The biggest question he had was where was he going to find the tree?

"Master Shikigami, you need to get stronger." Ryuk broke the silence.

Lucas hummed in agreement, Ryuk was right. His base stats were beyond mediocre, and if he wanted to beat the game he had to get stronger.

"Ryuk, do you have an idea how I could summon other shikigamis without the need for the Shikigami paper?" Lucas asked as he raised the Umbrella in his hand to be at his eye level.

"Yes, aside from me, you can summon my sister Ryuji."

Lucas nodded, at least he was not restricted to a single Shikigami he could summon. He opened the game interface holding his information and clicked on the Summoning Icon.

[Summoner: Shikigami]

[Summoning class passive ability: Taming]

[ Defeating a monster, the summoning passive allows Shikigami to make the monster his familiar scales with his level.]

"Master watch out!"

Lucas focused on what Ryuk was seeing just in time to duck under a fireball that flew over his head. He looked at the man standing before him with a smirk, clearly proud of what he had done.

" Didn't see you there!"

Lucas could hear the patronizing tone in the man's voice. He knew the man did that on purpose; Lucas just nodded and walked past the player without paying attention to him.

Ryuk glared at the man who threw the fireball— His crimson eyes narrowed dangerously as his nostrils puffed out fumes of clouds which formed a sizeable cloud.

He was ready to retaliate when Lucas raised his hand.

"Leave him Ryuk,"

"But Master!"

Lucas turned to look at Ryuk who had stopped to confront the player. His eyes were void of emotions, cold as they could be. "Don't waste your time on him."

The man smirked and raised one hand. Fire ignited in his palm taking a form of an orb. "Listen to him, run along."

Lucas turned around again and continued walking. He had no time to squabble with insignificant people because they had angered him, he had a better control of his emotions.

Ryuk growled, the cloud beside him crackling as it turned obsidian with fulgurates flying through it. Without waste, the yokai turned around and followed Lucas.

The duo of master and familiar walked for a while without saying anything to one another, one angry at the fact the other allowed himself to almost get harmed and did not retaliate while the other just kept his ideology to not get angered over trivial things.

As they made their way to the next part of Hysteria, a horde of growls caught their attention.

Lucas stopped walking, and in front of him was a pack of wolves. A majority of the wolves were brown in color, the one with silver eyes, black hind paws, and a purple mane immediately stood out from the rest.

The game interface immediately registered it and provided the data it had.

[Purple mane wolf]

[Class C monster]

[Attack: 70]

[Speed: 60]

[Defense:50]

[HP:13,500]

Lucas stared at the status window, 13,500 HP, it had more HP than Ryuk and its physical perimeters were out of the roof for a class C monster.

[passive: Roar of the pack leader- The purple mane wolf has the ability to get stronger when there are more wolves around. The strength of the pack increases its damage by 50% and speed by 80%]

Lucas grinned a bit— although the other wolves weren't as physically impressive as the purple mane one, they did have something they could offer him and that was experience points; He opened the Umbrella and like earlier it glowed obsidian.

[Shikigami gate opened: Ryuji]

From within the abyss, clandestine by the Umbrella a similar yokai to Ryuk manifested outside, this one being a bit different in eye color and mane color in comparison to Ryuk.

The Ryuji's status window appeared in front of Lucas.

[ Ryuji (Familiar)]

[Shikigami class C]

[Attack: 55]

[Speed:70]

[Defense: 45]

[Defense growth: +45]

[Passive: Sibling Rivalry - alongside Ryuk, Ryuji gains the ability to conjure fire which is transferred to Ryuk. In exchange, Ryujin is equipped with Ryuk's retribution]

[Ability: Earth control - Ryujin can create solid earth and manipulate the surrounding Earth including the vegetation]

[Evolution level:-]

[HP: 9,000]

Lucas stared at Ryuk and Ryujin who were hovering on either side of him.

"You can share passives?" Lucas asked.

Ryuji looked at Lucas and her eyes widened a bit. "Master Shikigami?"

She turned to Ryuk who nodded.

"We will discuss this later, for now, we have pressing matters." Lucas declared snapping the two Yokai's out of their reminiscent stage.

The two yokai agreed and looked at the wolves awaiting Lucas's orders.

"Now then, Ryuk conjure a cloud front and Ryuji fire a fireball through it," Lucas commanded the Onmyodo Umbrella closing and settling in his hand.

Ryuk roared, his roar sending shivers down the wolves' back. All except the purple mane wolf which was growling, its blue eyes glaring at the human and the Shikigamis.

Ryuk puffed out cloud tuffs and made a humongous cloud that covered the wolves from all sides. The orange cloud lit into fire as Ryuji opened her maw and propelled a bluish flame which combined with the cloud created a mushroom cloud of flames, that consumed the wolves.

[Purple mane wolf lost 3,800 HP]

[Shikigami gained: 13,000 XP]

[Retribution triggered]

[Ryuk and Ryujin attack increased by 15%]

Multiple status windows opened in Lucas' line of sight. He was at an awe— one attack from the two siblings obliterated most of the wolves in a single blow.

The purple mane wolf jumped out of the cloud of fire, its fangs bared out while its right paw was raised above its head. The claw struck Ryuk sending the Yokai crashing on the grass, while the wolf acrobatically maneuvered its body and landed 15 meters away from Lucas.

[Critical strike]

[Ryuk lost 4,600 HP]

[Hidden Effect from the purple mane wolf triggered.]

[Ryuk lost 150 HP]

Lucas looked at the status windows, the wolf single attack dealt that much damage to Ryuk?

Simply unbelievable.

"Ryuk you OK?" Lucas asked as the Yokai returned to his side.

Ryuk nodded. "Yes Master"

Lucas looked at the wolf again, it had less than 10,000 HP. He needed an idea to cleave down the HP of the wolf without allowing Ryuk or Ryuji to lose more HP.

If the wolf's first attack was a critical strike, Lucas was certain it will constantly deal critical strikes whenever it attacks.

The wolf growled again and leaped into action, its maw open ready to take a bite out of Ryuji.

Lucas, Ryuji, and Ryuk noticed the wolf and Ryuk puffed out a cloud that settled in front of Ryuji absorbing the bite force from the wolf which soon retreated after.

"Ryuji, create an Earth pillar, Ryuk lightning bolt, and fireball," Lucas commanded the two yokai.

Ryuji nodded; her eyes glowed blue for a moment as she exerted her control over the terrain causing it to distort and an earth pillar rose from the ground beneath the wolf.

The pillar knocked the wolf airborne.

[Purple mane wolf lost 2,000 HP]

Ryuk seeing the wolf being hurled airborne— quickly rotated his body around the wolf keeping his distance, each rotation Ryuk left a trail of clouds which created a bubble around the wolf.

Unleashing a roar, Ryuk let out a blue torrent of flames into the clouds, the clouds upon welcoming the torrent of flames changed pigment becoming obsidian grey.

The cloud sparkled dangerously and it exploded in a flare of lightning and flames.

[Burn status effect activated]

[Purple mane wolf lost 2,500 HP]

[Critial strike]

[Retribution activated]

[Purple mane wolf lost 8,000 HP]

[Gained 12,000 EXP]

Lucas cheered as the status windows revealed the information before him. The wolf was difficult to deal with but he saw how Ryuk and Ryuji shined when working in tandem even though it was the first time he had started the game and started using them.

[Do you want to activate the summoning skill? Yes / No]

Lucas looked at the screen and nodded, he pressed the yes button and another status window appeared.

[Purple mane wolf successfully tamed]

[Yokai Shikigami class B]

"Huh, the class for the wolf changed once it became a yokai?" He mused to himself.

The tallied Exp he had attained added together made up 25,000 EXP and from what he read, the convention of EXP to status points was 1:1000.

He huffed and sat down, unbeknownst to him how much he had exhausted himself when he dealt with the wolves. He watched as Ryuk and Ryuji faded into particles which returned to his Umbrella.

[Insufficient mana]

Lucas thought to himself, he had 25 points to distribute among his attributes.

[Shikigami]

[Class: Summoner Class]

[Vitality: 30]

[Intelligence:45]

[Speed: 30]

[Strength: 15]

[Endurance: 25]

[HP: 4,500 (+360 Extra HP)]

[Ability: Onmyodō summoning]

[Mastery: 15]

[Inventory: Onmyoji Umbrella (Kasa-obake)]

Having added the points to his defense and mastery over his skill; Lucas got up from the grass and resumed his walk.

He walked 6 steps when he met another set of visitors.

In front of him stood a group of 5 people, three males and two females. From what Lucas could tell, the males were either fighters or assassins from the way they were dressed while the females were either mages or supports.

"Can I help you?"