1 Way of the summoners

Ellundril.

A world of sword and magic.

The inhabitants of that place have many enemies. Monsters, demons and even other humans. The strange system existing within allowed living beings to raise their strengths by fighting or through hard work. Where they could hence see the according raise in their statistics and levels.

Our main protagonist, not yet very known of the world goes by the name Wangzar Delainess. He is a very eccentric young man. First, he has his hairs blue. Something only him had since centuries and which caused him a lot of torments. Other youngsters loved to play pranks on him while adults despised him, he didn't receive much love aside from his parents. They deeply love him. One of them, his father the earl Sidik Delainess, is a descendant of the side branch of the King's lineage. Whereas his mother is the daughter of Dawnbreak family's current head Dirvir. Her family is a noble one and the longest present until this days but isn't as rich as it used to be.

The second reason he was flagged as an eccentric was caused mainly by his two hobbies. He loves magic but he has no talents so he spent a good part of his youth readings many books about magic, history and creatures. That quickly led to his other hobby. Since his father wanted him to learn the art of the sword, he often disappeared from sight. Sometimes reading in the Dungeon, or on the wall. Sometimes reading in the kitchen or even going outside to the nearby forest in spite of the dangers. They were his reading spots found as he lurked around, searching for new books.

"Way of the summoners". That was the strangest and most mysterious book found by him so far. When he was seven and only one year after he learned how to read, he stumbled upon an old wooden chest in a corner of the deepest part of the castle's library. It was there since a long time according to the amount of dust accumulated on top of it, the wood, however, was still sturdy and beautiful despite some cracked lines as if it defied the flow of time. Inside was a blue book that strangely matched the color of his hairs. The letters or perhaps words were runes he had never seen before. Symbols from another era along with very complicated drawings of magic circles.

When he asked Sidik, he was told that the chest was there even before the earl's birth. But that no one wanted to go near it, as if repelled by some weird powers and the chest was eventually forgotten. No one around Wangzar knew about the letters but he could find himself having some deep feelings regarding them as if he would one day understand the mysteries hidden within the runes. At that time, he still didn't know of the book's name: Way of the summoners.

Now that he is eleven years old. New books were a rare sight and he already had read all of the books within the castle. He spent most of his times studying the blue book in a clearing at the forest east of the castle, hidden from all.

It wasn't that he has no siblings - He has a younger brother and an older sister - or other kids his age, but he isn't liked by them. The main reason is because of his hair, blue hair is only known from an old race, the Elsheens. Almost no record remain of them except for the fact that they were evil, and the "good King Almericus" had won a campaign against them, saving humanity long ago. Whether he was part of that race or not was unknown but he was truly born from Sidik and Yilyen's union. The other reason was that he didn't try to befriend them. He felt no reason to meddle with people who didn't like him.

From all his research until now, he found that there are two types of summoning. The first one is the direct summon of monsters or entities such as elementals. They would appear when summoned and disappear when they die, or when the mana was too low to maintain them. The more concurrent summons one maintained and the more exponential the consumption would be. The second type of summoning was a contract type. That could either be done directly with a being that accepted a contract of master and servant relationship. Or through a summoning circle.

Beings summoned in this way usually showed hostile behaviors. But if he could beat them they would have no choices but to accept the contract.

Wangzar thus decided after he succeeded summoning his first monster, a wolf, that now is finally the time to test the second option. If anything goes wrong, he could just halt the summoning and the being would return to its place.

After stealthily going into the castle's storage, he stole a purse containing the necessary mixture for drawing circles together with different tools, inks, and a pile of parchments.

Wangzar then began his serious training. Besides the times when he has meals with his family and the time he spends sleeping, most of his time is used in learning how to draw magic circles. Whenever he is not studying them he usually tries to decipher more about the long remaining part of the blue book which seemed to talk about magic and elements.

The only person he talked to on his own volition aside from his family is the court mage of the castle. Today Wangzar specifically went to meet him since he has a few questions to ask.

"Hello, sir Isledel. May I take a bit of your time? Today I have a few questions regarding magic circles."

"Little Wangzar, you are still trying to mess around with magic circles, they are dangerous, you have to be careful. But fine, ask your questions."

Isledel is an old man, past his fifties. His gray long hair and beard were really fitting the wrinkles of his face. The man was among the rare who like Wangzar. The Earl's child devotion toward magic was what made him change the way the court mage saw him.

"Look here this magic circle, it is one that should be able to stir the spell "Torchlight". Can you verify if I drew it well, I want to try it." Wangzar took a scroll out of his leather bag.

Torchlight was, according to its name, a magic from the light attribute that brought sparkling light akin to a torch. Wangzar wanted to use it since winter was near and the sun was setting down more and more early.

"The details of the circle are accurate, the main line is well drawn as well and the roughness you still did a week ago isn't there. You should not only be able to use this scroll for the Torchlight spell, but the scroll should also be usable a few times. Try it." After Isledel checked the drawing, he returned the scroll to Isledel.

"Yes! I'll try it right away."

The moment enough of Wangzar's magical power was poured inside the scroll, a white bulb appeared 50 cm above the parchment held in his right hand. Light stretched across and the room became a bit brighter.

"Ahah I succeeded!" Said Wangzar, a rarely seen smile appeared on his face.

"You truly did Wangzar, that's wonderful! You have way more talent for this than magic."

"I can keep going forward now! Say, Isledel, could you tell me what I could improve on this drawing."

"Here, the curve is slightly too bent. And this line could be heavier..."

"I understand, what if I did that, could the spell still work?"

"That… I don't really know. If you had another line crossing this symbol, I think the spell will not work and the scroll might even explode…"

Torchlight is one of the easiest spell commonly spread for beginners. It is harmless but helpful in many situations. However, the young Wangzar couldn't even cast it. He has enough mana, that isn't the problem. Even his incantations are good. When his parents made him take the test to see how much mana he possessed, the result showed that he even has an amount far higher than the average. The problem lay with his main element, it is impossible to determine.

Humans can have varying abilities regarding magic. They more commonly had a better ability for fire or water, sometimes to more rarer elements and rarely to none. Wangzar is an exception. He has affinities but the test couldn't determine what they are.

That's why he is now trying to learn how to use scrolls. They convert the elements gathered in the air directly instead of using one's body as a vessel and produced a spell as long as enough mana was infused. Scrolls are often used when one was bad with elements. They could also be used by someone who had a sufficient amount of mana but didn't follow the path to become a mage. They are popular but not that common since they are really difficult to produce. Even the court mage of the Earl's castle has limits about what he can draw and he needs to take time for each scroll. If Wangzar can obtain sufficient result in the art of scrolls, it will be a great help for his future.

Depending on the quality of the drawing and parchment, the number of time a scroll could be used and the puissance of the spell would differ. The different designs were often the fruit of long research and experimentations from passionate magicians. It is really hard for someone to transplant an incantation into lines, circles and runes.

The magic circle Wangzar has to draw for the summoning is far more complicated than the one for the Torchlight spell.

Time passed after his meeting with Isledel and Wangzar is now 2 months away from his twelfth birthday. Earl Sidik once again arbored a discussion with his wife.

******

"My lovely wife, do you really think we have to send our child to the mage school in the capital?"

"Sidik, the Striould academy is the perfect place for Wangzar. They will definitely help him in his study of magic."

"But even though he loves magic, he has never succeeded in launching a spell. And I'm afraid his blue hair…"

"Our Wangzar has already checked everything in the castle, he has read every book more than once. In the academy, he'll have powerful teachers and a wider library. Besides, the academy accept students from everywhere. Be it beastmen or elves."

"Alright, you got a point. But to reach the academy, it's a 3 weeks trip in a carriage. We have to give him a powerful escort."

******

In the meantime, at the clearing, secret place of Wangzar. The ground arbored the beautiful lines of a magic circle.