The video game-like System was the Aurelian family’s bloodline inheritance that had been granted to the founder of our line by the great spirit Erethia Paoriyenis. Most of the noble families had some sort of special family secret, artifact, or skill that gave them an edge over other summoners. Mine did not give me more power. The Aurelian System simply provided a way for its inheritor to know if they were training their powers correctly by giving them a simple way to measure their abilities.

“Yes! Thank you! Thank you, Ashara,” I said as I danced a little jig.

[You’re welcome.]

The great spirit smiled. Greatly daring now that I had established a contract, I walked over to Ashara and raised a hand to try to touch her, but my fingers passed through her body.

“Will you help me heal my mother?” I asked her.

[I will when you have enough power.]

Ah. Ten MP must not be enough.

She seemed to sense the darkening of my mood and patted me on the head.

[Don’t worry, I’ll teach you how to become stronger. Now go through the Door. You’ve been on this plane for too long.]

A glowing rectangle of light appeared beside her, and, without further ado, I stepped through it.

***

Once I passed the written test, I had to spend two weeks going through the admissions process, which involved a lot of paperwork and filing of documents. Thankfully, I had enough money to pay for my tuition and living expenses because Lynette’s so-called fiancé, Tristan, broke up with her through his lawyer. Their betrothal was a political one arranged between their families, and it seemed that Earl Cynan, Tristan’s father, no longer considered it advantageous. Thus, at his father’s behest, Tristan sent a letter of apology breaking off the engagement along with a large sum of money as compensation.

Though it was shameless of me, I sent back the letter and instructed my lawyer to gouge Tristan’s family for as much money as he could since they were the ones at fault. Eventually, after a lot of back-and-forth discussions and negotiations, the lawyers settled on triple Tristan’s initial offer and my personal guarantee I would publicly proclaim that I had broken the engagement myself. That way, both of us could save face.

From what I remembered from Chaos Blood Summoner, Tristan was a minor summoner who sided with the royal faction during the civil war. Since I had decided to join the rebel faction in the future, we would be on opposite sides of the conflict unless I was able to prevent the war from occurring in the first place.

I felt no animosity towards Lynette’s ex-fiancé. In fact, I felt almost grateful to him, since I would be in big trouble if I didn’t have the money I had taken from his family. Thanks to their actions, I now had enough funds to get me through four years of study at the Academy. I would be twenty-one by the time I graduate, old enough to make my own way in the world as a summoner with a great spirit of healing.

Everything was going exactly as planned!

Except for this. I definitely hadn’t planned to do this.

[Faster.]

Obeying Ashara’s command, I started running faster. I’d already made one lap of the oval track, and I needed to complete five more.

[Good. Don’t slow down until the last lap.]

“Yes ma’am,” I said.

My quest to raise my MP started on the day that I established a contract with Ashara. She knew exactly what to do because she had trained two summoners previously.

Based on her instructions, I got up at dawn and did half an hour of stretching, followed by lifting weights in my dorm room. Then I had to increase my stamina by running six laps around the oval every day.

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Students could use the field so long as they did it outside of the track and field team’s training hours. Right now, it was an hour after dawn, so I was alone. The training field was behind the Academy’s gym and was surrounded by a grassy open space and a small forest with plenty of charming little gravel footpaths.

A soft breeze blew through my hair that I had tied up in a high ponytail. Lynette was in decent shape, but after the second lap, I was already feeling tired.

[You can do it. I’ll heal you right after you finish the sixth lap.]

I ran as fast as I could. Sweat was pouring down into my eyes, and I used my sleeve to wipe it off. The clay and cinder surface of the track was mercifully soft. I would hate to do this on concrete or asphalt. I ran until my heart felt like it was going to burst.

“Can you heal a heart attack?” I said.

[Yes.]

My summoned spirit was implacable.

I kept on running for what felt like hours. My lungs were burning, and my legs were on fire, but I pushed onward. Sweat was running in rivulets down my face and back, and every step felt like I was running through quicksand. I was exhausted, but I refused to give up. I was determined to finish, no matter what.

[Good job.] Ashara was only satisfied after I had finished all six laps. [Soon you’ll be able to do seven!]

I collapsed to the ground, exhausted, my heart pounding in my chest. It felt amazing to push myself this far. My muscles were trembling, and my vision was blurry, but I felt alive. I felt like I had accomplished something. I lay there for a few moments, feeling the cool grass on my skin and the sun on my face, before slowly getting up and walking back to my dorm room.

[Here you go.] Ashara healed my body of its muscle fatigue.

A warmth spread out from the top of my head down to my toes. “You’re the best, thank you!”

I took out a fine cotton handkerchief from the pocket of my navy-blue trousers and used it to pat my face dry. Academy students were given regular and athletic uniforms, but I was dressed in an old shirtwaist and trousers since my daily morning runs were not part of any class or club activity.

Now that Ashara had healed me, I felt great. The walk to my dormitory building took ten minutes, and I passed by a few early risers. The male students doffed their caps, and the female ones made a little curtsy as I walked by them. This was a more courteous age than I would have expected based on what I had read in “Chaos Blood Summoner.” Of course, these courtesies were made because I was now a summoner, and they could all see that I had a silver mark in the middle of my forehead.

Summoners were greatly respected in this country. Merlin, the first summoner, was the founder of Prythia, and its citizens were ruled by a king who was always a summoner. Ashara had informed me that the marks were something that Merlin had invented in order to distinguish summoners from commoners. The darker the mark, the stronger the summoner. Mine was silver, the lowest rank.

From lowest to highest, the ranks were: silver, gold, jade, indigo, crimson, dusk, and black.

The truth was that my mark was actually just a creamy white, but it was called “silver,” probably because it sounded fancier. Likewise, “gold” was just a darker yellow color and “jade” was a light green.

Even as a low-ranking summoner, I was accorded more courtesy than most because I was also a countess. Apart from the royal family, there were five ranks of nobility, the highest being a duke, followed by the marquess, earl, viscount, and baron. Though it was confusing, the female version of an earl was “countess,” which made me middle ranked among the titled nobility. Here in the Academy, however, most students were either commoners or the sons and daughters of nobility. Their parents held titles, but not them. Thus, among the entire student populace, I was second in rank only to Duke Marius.

“Good morning, ma’am,” said the people I passed by.

“Good morning,” I said to everyone who greeted me, hoping that they didn’t find the sight of a sweaty and disheveled countess too strange.

I gave a sigh of relief when I reached the side entrance to the summoner’s college, which was officially called Merlin’s College, but was commonly referred to simply as “Merlin’s.”

From the outside, Merlin’s Teruel Hall was an impressive sight. Built three hundred years ago in the Classical style, the golden limestone exterior was punctuated with tall, narrow windows capped by pointed arches, and the roof was sprinkled with a bewildering array of pinnacles.

I nodded to Old Tom, the college proctor in charge of the morning shift, as I entered through the gatehouse. Then I had to hurry across the Great Quadrangle to the eastern corridor, and up the staircase to the ladies’ residential rooms, the entrance to which was guarded by no fewer than eight female proctors at all times.

“Good morning, Miss Lynette,” said Mrs. Ashmore from her designated spot in front of the door leading to the dorm.

“Good morning,” I said. Even though it was tiring, everywhere I went, it was necessary to always observe the courtesies, since to do otherwise would invite criticism.

Quickly making my way to the small room that I now called home, I grabbed a uniform and cleaned myself up. Sadly, there were no showers available in this era, but the dormitory maid had left towels, a basin, and a pitcher of hot water on the side table for me. That would normally be enough for a female student’s morning routine, but I was a sweaty mess, so I went to the shared bathing facilities for a proper wash. At least they had indoor plumbing!

After a short but refreshing bath, I changed into my uniform, a white shirtwaist, elegant jacket, and sensible navy-blue skirt, and went downstairs to the Great Hall where breakfast was being served.

Unfortunately, breakfast would have to wait because the moment that I left the dorm area, I was ambushed by my so-called rival.