First Summon

[Tell him]

A pang of guilt rose in his chest as the notification appeared.

Daniel gulped and looked back at Tirmar, "You're implying that I conquer an oasis, yes?"

A mischievous grin remained on Tirmar's face. "The oasis disappears when a lord dies."

Daniel cursed inwardly at the revelation, but Tirmar continued, "The water is only a mirage in the desert. What people don't realize is that it's not real." Daniel's attention honed in on his words as he continued, slowing down his rate of speech, "You will create the new rivers here. The 'real' rivers of the desert." 

There was an empire over a thousand years ago in human history that had used this tactic. The soldiers of the ancient Mongolian Empire would go inordinate lengths of time without water before consuming the blood of their own horses to keep themselves alive. But even then, it's not maintainable. Daniel seemed to understand the implication of what Tirmar was saying but it wasn't practical at all. 

Tirmar continued, "There's a lord 5 miles north of here. You guys went the wrong direction last time." As he said this, he began walking away. "Oh, and when you use that summoning scroll, don't piss yourself- you'll need the hydration." 

Daniel scoffed inwardly as he heard his words, he knew what to expect during a summoning. It was common knowledge outside of the origin expanse. He got the impression that Tirmar hadn't left the origin expanse for quite a while. Daniel somberly watched Tirmar walk away into the far desert before taking a look back at the summoning gate. 

He was ready to have a companion again. Now that he had directions to a nearby source of water, he didn't mind having assistance. Daniel was somewhat tempted to leave the origin expanse again, for good this time. To just forget about this desert in its entirety, but he knew that wasn't an option right now.

-

Daniel patted Michael's head with his newly inscribed war rune before loud banging sounded at the door. Michael looked down knowingly and after a few seconds, Daniel pushed his little brother further into the small apartment. "Let me handle this."

As Daniel moved to the door, he opened to find a somewhat overweight elder with an almost comical expression of frustration on his face. "Where's the money?" the landowner said with haste.

Daniel immediately scrambled to pull his crystal watch out and check his balance. "I'm sorry, I can't pay in full toda-"

The landowner grit his teeth and cut Daniel off, "-No! This is the last time I'm taking your financial problems into consideration. You have one week, Daniel! If you don't have my money in one week, you and your little brother can go live outside the eco-dome." Daniel wanted to beg but he knew the man was right. Obviously they couldn't leave the eco-dome or they would die, but it was still certainly a possibility. Their city wasn't exactly known for their charity. Daniel gulped and nodded, "Ok, I'll have it to you by the end of the week."

The landowner slammed the door shut and the sounds of his grumbling could be heard from inside the apartment. Daniel slumped on the wall before ravenously grabbing multiple containers of water from the kitchen. Michael stared in shock, "Are you going back to the origin expanse, already?"

Daniel curtly nodded and spoke to Michael hastily, "I just need to find a way to make a bit of money for the time being."

Daniel patted Michael's head and smiled, "I promise, soon, we won't have to worry about money."

-

Daniel frowned while thinking of his brother. 'I don't quite believe it myself.'

As he looked over to the summoning gate, he retrieved a scroll from his war rune. There was about a 5% chance of summoning a 1 Star summon. Anything higher than 1 star wasn't likely at all. Anything higher than 3 stars was a statistical impossibility. It was fine though. He didn't necessarily want a high star summon because they were harder to control, especially for a new lord. He wasn't hoping for much. He sighed and threw the scroll in the summoning gate. As he did so, the gate lit up like how he had seen in class. He smiled lightly as the gate's 10 stars blinked once and went back to 0.