Soul's Calling

Willing his inventory space to appear, Rentaro opened it and immediately spotted what he was looking for.

A small, bluish crystal orb glistening in a gentle light.

The orb was surrounded by a strong aura of life and seemed to emanate the auras of several elements, though Rentaro couldn't distinguish what each aura was with his inexperience.

[This "Soul's Calling" seems to be made up of a myriad of elements. The summon you call forth will only have strong affinities for what the depths of your soul can connect to, only taking in the affinitive elements and dense aura of life force. As for the other elements, because of the dense accumulation, they will linger in the orb.]

[Once you get the chance, complete the First Contract mission and store the orb into the Elemental Essence Gourd. Hmm, doing so should allow the orb to recollect the elements it lost from the gourd. However, the strange aura of life won't be replenished.]

'Nothing we can do about that. How do I start the summoning with this howev—'

Fumbling with the small orb in his hands, Rentaro was just about to ask how to use it when it started glowing up. Its appearance looked like that of a star undergoing supernova.

A small mouse had just managed to get outside of the house, squeaking as it noticed a burning light that rapidly expanded in its direction; it quickly turned tail and scurried off into the forest.

***

The village elders were startled as they felt the sudden emergence of a myriad of auras belonging to the many different elements and a dense life force.

Elder Astrona in particular glanced with wide-eyes towards the small guest house he had given Rentaro before rushing over; the other village elders in close pursuit.

"Grand Elder Tuross, Grand Elder Vlita, Fleley, Tlarc, Phans... a lost youth was brought back the other day. Icrin found him near the First Forest Zone. This aura seems to be coming from the guest house I supplied him with." Elder Astrona explained as he led the way.

"Whatever he's doing is certainly causing a lot of worry. What is this youth's name?" Grand Elder Tuross, an aged, skinny man with white hair, asked in deep contemplation.

"His name is Rentaro, Grand Elder."

"Oh, looks like the situation is changing once again." The elderly woman by Tuross' side, Vlita, suddenly spoke out with a tone of worry, but more so curiosity.

The other elders remained quiet as they followed Astrona and the two grand elders.

One thing everyone seemed to have in common however, were their flashing ice-blue irises and dark pupils as they looked in Rentaro's direction and watched as the "supernova" encompassed the house.

Questioning whether they should move closer to investigate, they suddenly saw a combustion of blackness overtake the light.

***

"Wh-What's going on?"

Rentaro could no longer hold in his thoughts and maintain his cool as the bright star was suddenly eclipsed by a darkness.

Then, the small eclipsed star rapidly converged into a small ball of black fire.

The shape rapidly changed, looking like a small egg one moment, and a large cocoon the next.

[I have no knowledge regarding this item, "Soul's Calling," so I don't have any helpful tips for this situation. Everything should turn out okay in the end, so let's just watch for now.] Wilhelm helplessly shook his nonexistent head.

As fate shuffled the deck and dealt their hand, the duo could only stand back and spectate from the sidelines, 'such is life at times.'

Slowly, a figure started to shape within the dense mass of black fire.

The figure's outline had a strange lizard-wolf-like body and six legs, each with five pitch-black, ravenous claws scorching with heat. It had a long tail—seemingly sharp as a blade—with what appeared to be sharp protrusions sticking out along its spine.

The outline of its facial structure had two curved, pitch black, ram-looking horns alongside its mouth which was split in three with small, yet sharp, teeth. Atop its head were another two pitch black horns.

Suddenly, four of what seemed to be eyes opened up, each burning a molten-lava-like color.

The surrounding conglomeration of fire and smoke gradually cleared away, revealing a staunch figure around the size of a wolf with a body covered in obsidian scales.

The beast took a step towards Rentaro, deeply imprinting its claws into the ground.

Rentaro was shocked, but before he could panic, he heard an abrupt childish voice ring out from a boy?

"You are the one who brought me into existence?" The phrasing seemed as if it came from a being out of this world... and in a way, it did.

Rentaro quickly realized the "boy" speaking was actually the summon directly in front of him.

Stunned for a second, Rentaro remembered that "Soul's Calling" had the ability to create brand new life and that this summon of his, despite the full-grown and rather scary appearance, was merely a newborn.

He lifted his hand mystically, storing the orb and its remaining elemental energies in his inventory with flamboyant motions as the newborn summon watched with overflowing curiosity.

Rentaro flashed a smile, "That is correct, I am the one who summoned you! My name is Rentaro Eccel and I would like to make a Soul Contract with you!"

"A Soul Contract? Okay! So, you'll be my brother from now on? Like Eldest Brother Wilhelm?" The summon howled in an excited manner.

"How-How do you know about Wilhelm already? And how can you speak so fluently?"

[Because of the premise behind "Soul's Calling," this summon of yours was created based on your deepest desires. Any memories pertaining to your deepest desires were shared over to his soul as well.]

[As such, he has clear memories of me, of contracts, and the desire for companions. That's only my hypothesis, of course. We can only continue to theorize in the future if we gather more information.] Wilhelm analyzed as he expressed his own inquisition.

"Alright then, looks like you'll be my little brother from now on. You don't have a name yet, so your name will be Roy, Roy Eccel!" Rentaro smiled.

After everything that had happened so far, Rentaro realized it was best to just accept anything that was thrown to him as long as it wouldn't harm him or his companions.

Roy laughed childishly, "Alright, how do we make the contract?"

[Rentaro, use the "Sacrificial" knife and allow a drop of your blood to fall upon Roy's forehead. He must accept the drop into the core of his soul and the Soul Contract will start.]

"Alright, Roy, close your eyes and leave everything else to me."

Following Wilhelm's instructions, Rentaro cut his left forefinger once again and left a drop of blood flow onto Roy's forehead.

Rentaro felt a convulsion in his mind from the system before the drop disappeared upon contact with Roy's forehead. Following which, Roy and Rentaro's body trembled as if they were freezing in the cold.

[The Soul Contract is beginning. Stay strong, you two.]

Wilhelm's sincere words entered Rentaro's mind before all of his attention was diverted by the pain of having his soul binded by the Soul Contract.

Around him and Roy, numerous golden runic symbols formed and were imprinted into their bodies, traveling into the depths of their souls.

These runic imprints were formed through the system's use of the World Laws themselves, and served to bind the contracts.

Roy's soul had been created using "Soul's Calling," because of that his soul was fairly strong and he managed to withstand the pain.

Rentaro, having reconstructed his soul from near dissipation a couple times, once while unconscious and the other while binding the grimoire, fared well overall. At least he managed to hold in any screams and grunts.

The Soul Contract only took a minute to complete, but as it occurred in their souls, it felt as if they spent hours struggling against the pain.

Roy's soul had strengthened even more after the Soul Contract, while Rentaro's soul had partially broken down and reconstructed once again, further strengthening his soul.

Rentaro, although tired, managed to stand up after completing the contract. Roy followed in his footsteps as Rentaro took his grimoire out, about to review Roy's information before checking out the system missions tab.

It was at this point in time that a cool wind passed over him, his summoner robe flowing in the wind, and the remaining smoke around him dispersing into the surroundings.

Turning his glance to where the door used to be, Rentaro realized it had been burnt to ashes.

Registering everything that had just occurred, he realized it wasn't just the door, but the entirety of the house that had been burnt to ashes.

Following which, he panicked as he noticed the group of village elders, who stood in shock as they saw Rentaro's current appearance and Roy—the fierce-looking creature who stood on all four behind him.

Wilhelm coughed, [Ahem. Luckily, I made you an Uncommon tier summoner robe. It has some elemental protection, so it wasn't burnt to ashes.]

Rentaro couldn't be bothered to pay attention to Wilhelm as he was rather embarrassed by the elder's stares, "Oh, um, greetings elders. Elder Astrona... this is my partner, Roy."

Not understanding the current situation, Roy happily exclaimed as he saw more people around, "Hey! My name's Roy!"

Elder Fleley, the youngest of the elders, immediately fainted. Encountering a strange situation that no one could expect to run into life, you couldn't entirely blame her.

Elder Tlarc was next to her, reacting fast enough to catch her before she hit the ground.

The two grand elders looked over towards Elder Astrona, indicating that he should start up a conversation and see what was going on, as they expected an explanation for the recent events.

Elder Astrona sighed, not daring to refute the grand elders as he too was rather curious about what Rentaro was doing.

"Hah. Rentaro, little friend, could you please explain what's going on here? You see, you gave the whole village quite a scare with whatever you were just doing...."

'Wilhelm, is it dangerous to tell people I'm a summoner?'

[You won't be able to keep it hidden in the future, especially when you fight. There's no point even trying to hide it, especially with Roy being right behind you at the moment.] Wilhelm encouraged, reassuring him that there wasn't any point in worrying about what the future may bring.

"I'm sorry for causing a ruckus. That just then was my first summoning and I was making my first contract with Roy." Rentaro responded, unknowing that he spoke so bombastically.

This time, it wasn't Elder Astrona who responded, but Grand Elder Tuross as his ice-blue eyes flashed with a light of interest, "You're... a summoner? Well, your first summon is certainly... interesting. I'm not even sure what species it belongs to. In the meantime, you should get some rest. There's an extra guest house across the way for you."

"We'll take care of the mess here. You should go rest and manage your things." Grand Elder Vlita chimed in with her concern, seemingly in coordination alongside Grand Elder Tuross' tactical judgement.

[Rentaro, I don't sense any harmful intent directed at you. You should take them up on their offer and handle everything you need to while we’re here. Luckily, we ended up in a village like this. Had it been a place full of experts, we may have been attacked by other cultivators out of greed in this world where the strong rule over the weak.]

[Furthermore, while it appears like we're only in a village right now, it is more probable to say we're in a small clan. Based on my prior knowledge, this "Krose Village" seems to be a demon-race clan and from the way they use their eyes, it seems that they specialize in mental cultivation arts.]

[For future reference, I'll clear up a common misconception for you Rentaro. Demon clans aren't necessarily evil, so you don't need to be any more cautious around them than anyone else.]

Although Rentaro was stunned after hearing that Krose Village may be a small demon clan, he didn't hold any prejudice against them.

Rentaro gave a small bow, his face still burning red, "Oh, alright. Thank you elders! And, um, about the house—"

"Don't worry, little friend. It's a mere guest house, and we rarely have guests anyways. I'm sure you have much to do after summoning Roy, so prioritize that." Grand Elder Tuross quickly interrupted with a smile.

"Haha... Thanks again, elders."

Rentaro turned around and hustled off towards the other guest house, his face flushed red, accompanied by Roy.

His current plan was to collect his mission rewards and then start cultivating the first stage of the Scripture of the Elementalist, Affinity Awakening.

As for what happened afterwards, he had yet to sit down and think about his future.

***

"What are your intentions towards Rentaro?" Elder Astrona questioned the two grand elders in a wary tone.

Although he didn't know much about the youth, he had no desire to put him in any precarious situation.

"Don't worry, we won't do anything harmful towards him or pry into his secrets. We all know that Icrin, the pride and future of our clan, can't be sheltered forever. Now that this youth, Rentaro, has made an appearance... why not let him and Icrin become friends?" Grand Elder Tuross offered a simple explanation.

"Tuross is right. That contracted summon, Roy, is something that none of us had ever seen. To make a contract with such a summon… No, to even be a Summoner of all things... I thought such skills had already been lost to time. This boy's potential must be boundless, perhaps he has some special background. Letting Icrin accompany Rentaro when he leaves will be the best decision to protect him and help our clan rise in the future." Grand Elder Vlita agreed with Tuross' ideas.

"Alright, as long as no harm comes to them, then I'll agree with your thoughts." Elder Astrona relented with their reasoning.

Tlarc, Fleley (who had woken up shortly after fainting), and Phans agreed with the grand elders as well, making the decision unanimous.