Levi, Piper, and Anna were standing behind a glass, talking while they waited for Victor to be ready. Because Levi had become a magic user under strange circumstances, he had not experienced what happens when the body is fused with magic. He told Victor that he would conduct the ritual, as it would be good for Levi to practice. He also said he would allow Victor to stay and teach him some very basic summoning.
“Is it painful?” Levi asked.
“Not initially,” Anna said. “It can be quite painful as the magic opens up pathways within the soul of the person. This allows the mana core to enter into that space and craft its own pathways throughout the body.”
“That,” Levi said. “Sounds horribly painful.”
“It is not pleasant, no,” Anna agreed. “It often leads to the person losing their faculties, this is why we had him strip down.”
“Are you ready Victor?” Piper asked.
“Yes,” Victor said with steely resolve. Levi nodded and walked around from the glass. He pulled out his wand and started to draw a ritual circle with chalk. The ritual circle was not the most complex. It was a circle inside a hexagon with a star. There were two rune circles, one on a point and one in the direct middle. Levi instructed Victor to stand in the middle and he placed the magic essence in the pointed rune circle.
Levi walked out of the circle and pressed his mana into the chalk. The chalk lit up bright white. The magic essence began to float into the air and, with force entered into Victor’s abdomen. Victor’s skin went translucent as his skeleton became visible for all to see. The essence cube opened up a space next to the heart would be. Tendrils started to attach to the skeleton and dig into the bones. Victor's organs became visible after the bones were thoroughly stuck with the tendrils; the same process happened to his organs.
His organs grew a little thicker than how they once were. Thin layers of ligaments, facia, and tendons appeared more visible as the tendrils impaled them throughout all of Victor’s body. After that, muscle tissue and Victor’s veins appeared. The muscles were met with the same fate as everything else so far. For the veins, something different happened. Rather than impaling the veins, the tendrils mirrored every single vein in the body of Victor. Next to Levi’s stomach, a void started to appear; it began filling slowly. After some time, the dark pathways that had no life or color started to glow as the void was being filled with mana. The mana would leave the void and move into mana veins, creating a blue glow.
A layer of white membrane coated the muscle tissue and veins before the skin was visible once again. Levi was fascinated at how magic was fused with the body. He had never heard anyone really talk about it before. This was a firsthand lesson in magic and its effect on the body. He went back behind the glass with the girls as they waited. Victor had been kneeling on the ground as the process was very painful. Blood had been pouring out of his nose and seeping out of his pores. He was covered in sweat and blood. He looked at his arms and felt strange.
“That was not pleasant,” Victor said. “I need to shower. My head is throbbing.”
Levi walked over and handed him a lesser mana potion. “Congrats,” he said. “Drink this, it’ll help with your headache. You’re low on mana; that’s what that feels like.”
“I know you planned on teaching me,” Victor said, exhausted. “But I would like to go home and spend time with my family for a few months. I have my regimented workouts. I won’t be able to enroll in the guild until this session is over.”
“Sensible,” Anna said. “I will stop by in a week to give you proper training to help boost your attributes.”
“Thank you, ma’am.”
“You will have to stop calling me ma’am. I’m not that old,” Anna said with a smile. The trio saw Victor off and returned to Levi’s room.
“What a nice kid,” Levi said.
“Indeed,” Anna replied. “Well, we have a few days before the guild starts up. What do you want to do?”
“Sleep,” Piper said, flopping onto the couch.
Anna chuckled, “I would not be opposed to sleeping for the rest of the day.”
“Yeah, I’ll need some time to chill,” Levi said.
He hurried across the hallways in a panic. The readings were off the chart a dungeon was going to appear near a city in the Onyx kingdom. Distractedly passing by other administrators he pushed his way into his director’s office, despite there being another person in there.
“Tycen,” the voice said. “What is the meaning of this?”
“Excuse me, director, I am sorry to barge in, but this is urgent,” the man named Tycen said.
“Fine, what is it? You’ll have to excuses us son, duty calls,” the director said to the other occupant in the room. He got up and walked out. “What is it?”
“Director Kintra, there is a dungeon that will form next to the city of Arcross—a big one, one that will spew out 3-star monsters regularly.”
“That’s not good, how certain of this are you?” Director Kintra asked.
“Quite sir,” Tycen said. Tycen was an Avian. Avians looked like angels. Human features with massive wings attached to their backs. Tycen was from the Triad Islands, where Avians are the prevailing race. He had dark bronze skin, purple eyes, and purple hair. He had a small afro with a perfectly cut tapper and sharp lines. He had a bald face with full lips and a large nose that had a studded earring in one nostril. He had a piercing on his left eyebrow. The people from the Triad Islands were tribal folk, and he had tribal tattoos on his right arm as a full sleeve.
An adept fighter, he had just recently graduated from the warrior guild. Finally reaching 3-stars, he gained a class evolution as an Aviator. He was happy with the evolution it combined his skill with a weapon and his ability to fly as an Aviator was a mixture between a paladin and a flying specialist. Tycen used a conjured morning star as his weapon, he was able to practice enough spellcasting to allow him to conjure weapons. In case his mana ever ran low he carried a cavalier sword with him.
Tycen was not from any royal family, a small one that believed in doing the right thing and fighting for what they believed in. He was the third magic user in his family. The first to become a warrior. He wanted to join a team and explore the greater world. This led him to transfer to the Onyx kingdom from the Triads. He was stationed in Avult, the city a little more north of Arcross, not too far.
He was working for the city’s Adventure Federation as an analyst while working to make a name for himself. Unfortunately, he had not gotten to do many monster hunts or dungeon hunting because he was so diligent at his job working for the director.
“Well then, I’ll need you to go to Arcross right away and warn the guilds. So that they can prepare,” Director Kintra. Kintra was an elf; he had alabaster skin, dirty blonde hair with blue eyes. He was tall and slender. Kintra had been a director of the Adventure Federation for nearly a decade. He was a hardworking man who did not play into any politics from the big aristocratic families. This was why he was stuck in the small town of Avult. He refused to be bribed. Kintra liked Tycen. Tycen was a hard-working avian who wanted to make a difference in the world. He trusted that Tycen would make the right calls when going to the city and handling this situation that was increasingly getting worse.
“Yes sir,” Tycen responded with a slight bow before turning to leave.
“Wait Tycen,” Kintra said.
“Yes sir,” Tycen stopped at the door.
“What is the ranking of the dungeon?”
“4-star sir,” Tycen said.
“How fast can you get there?” Kintra asked.
“Tomorrow sir.”
“Very good, gods speed.”
Levi walked to the cafeteria to grab some breakfast for the party before they started their day. They had spent the last couple of days resting. It was time for them to resume their intensive training regimen. He walked into the cafeteria and saw a very handsome standing there looking lost. The man had purple hair and purple eyes. He wore clothes that looked more official than standard clothes, with a small pin. He had a sword at his hip and an over-the-shoulder briefcase.
“What’s up man,” Levi said. “Can I help you?”
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Yes sir,” the man said. “I’m looking for the professor of this guild.”
“You came to a summoners guild to look for a professor? You know there are the other guilds.”
“I am aware, yes sir,” he said again. “I have already talked to the other guilds; this is the last one. To my surprise, I was told that there was a student here along with professors.”
“You can stop calling me sir,” Levi responded. “I’m Levi, what’s your name man?”
“I am Tycen Washiro,” Tycen said. “Nice to meet you, Levi. I do not mean to sound rude, but you are darker than most humans from this region, where are you from?”
“I noticed that too,” Levi said. “I’m from a faraway land, far far away. Come on, I’ll take you to our professors. Let me grab this food first though.”
“That would be much appreciated.”
Levi grabbed plenty of food for him, Piper, and Anna. Levi looked at the big guy next to him, who was a head taller than Levi. He grabbed some more food. “I think professor is in a meeting,” Levi said as they were walking through the rather empty guild halls. Tycen was looking everything over with an assessing look. “You hungry?”
“I am, but I do have a job to complete,” Tycen responded.
“Nah come on, you can eat with us,” Levi said. “I’ll take you to professor after we eat, deal?”
“Alright, deal,” Tycen said, never turning down a free meal.
“What are you? You’re not human,” Levi asked.
“I am an avian,” Tycen responded.
“Dope.”
Levi showed Tycen to his suite and walked in. The tall avian had to duck to get through the door frame. He was surprised to see two women sitting at a dining room table wearing baggy tunics and drinking tea. He was transfixed by the darker of the two. She had dark black hair that was in a messy bun, with two small curls falling on both side of her face. She was very attractive to Tycen, quite possibly one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen.
“Oh hello,” said the other woman. She was attractive too, but in a different way. She sat more relaxed and causal. Her brown hair fell just past her shoulders. She smiled brightly and was friendly. The one Tycen had been caught off guard by looked up and gave an awkward smile.
“Hi,” Tycen said, staring at Anna.
“Levi,” the beautiful woman said.
“Yes, Anna?” Levi responded. Tycen took note of her name.
“Who is this avian?” Anna asked.
“This is Tycen, he is here on some important business, but professor is in a meeting, and he said he was hungry,” Levi said. “Come on don’t be shy let’s eat.”
Tycen walked in and once again was completely thrown off by what he saw. Laying down in the sunshine was a metallic-looking creature that sent shivers down his spine. In the corner were three entities just sitting and interacting with each other. One looked like deep nothingness with a blue ring around it; the other two looked like little ghosts. AND then to top it all off there was a floating hooded cloak with two glowing eye slits inside the white-with-blue smoke-designed cloak.
“Are you a familiar summoner?” Tycen asked Levi.
“What gave it away?” Levi asked.
“He is,” Anna said, giving him a sharp look. “I am Lady Anna Onyx. This is Lady Piper Vendular, and you’ve met Levi.” She said his name like it was a curse word.
“Pleasure to meet you, Princess,” Tycen said with total respect.
“Please, call me Anna,” she said. This got a look from Piper and Levi. The two of them remained quiet but they shared a look, stifled a smile, then ate their food in mock peace.
“The one laying down is Anza, the smoke spirt behind me is Vapor, the two cute ghost-looking ones are Willow, he’s the blue one, Crystal she’s the white one, and the black hole is Dameion.”
“I do not know much about familiars, I must admit,” Tycen said. “I did not grow up with anyone who was fortunate enough to have one for themselves. If I recall it takes a summoner only to have them unless you find an essence.”
“Yep,” Levi said.
“Where are you from, Tycen?” Anna asked.
“Originally the Triad Kingdom. I currently work and live in Avult. I recently finished my guild training and wanted to find a team to do adventuring with. Teams are not as popular in my homelands. So, I came here hoping to find someone who would have me. I am an aviator.”
“I don’t suppose there were any summoner’s in your city?” Levi asked.
“No, in fact, the building has been shut down for decades,” Tycen responded.
“You are looking for a team?” Piper said. She looked at Anna who tried her best to hide her disapproval of the next words coming out of Piper’s mouth. “We could always use one more, if you want?”
“You have not even seen me fight. You do not know if I am evil. Why would you want me on your team?” Tycen asked, a bit shocked.
“That’s easy,” Piper said. “Levi brought you here. And better yet, you followed the complete stranger.”
“I assume you wouldn’t have invited me if you suspect something nefarious?” Tycen asked, looking at Levi.
“Yep,” Levi said in between bites.
“Thank you, if you do not mind,” Tycen said. “Can we arrange a time later today, when I am done with my duties to discuss further? This is not a no, but I want to be sure that we can provide mutual benefits. After all, you just met me.”
“A discussion would be wise,” Anna said sharply to Piper. “We are a very unique group obviously, since we have a summoner on our team. It would be good to share what we feel comfortable with. Join us for dinner tonight and we all can share then. Is that enough time for you to consider?”
“Also,” Levi said before Tycen could say anything. “We aren’t done with the guild for three more months. You have time to decide. You are more than welcome to visit on the weekends and can stay here. I can get you free food while you’re here. There is no rush to decide.”
“Yes, what he said.” Anna said.
“Well, since we’re done eating,” Levi said. “Let’s go meet the professor.” The two men left the room to head to Professor Egret’s office. On the way there, Tycen asked Levi a question.
“Do you really want me on your team?” Tycen asked.
“You seem confused by the offer,” Levi said. “We wouldn’t have offered it if we didn’t mean it.” Levi turned and approached a small hallway with two doors on either side. Tycen had remained quiet, thinking about the request. Levi knocked on both professors’ doors. Professor Egret opened her door, and inside was professor Bertrum.
“Oh, perfect,” Levi said. “You’re both here. This is Tycen he wanted to see y’all. My work here is done. Professors,” he gave a small nod of his head and smirked. “Tycen, see you at dinner tonight.”
“Thank you, Mr. Winters. Mr. uhhh” Professor Egret said.
“Washiro, ma’am,” Tycen responded.
“Mr. Washiro, very good, please do come in.” she instructed. Levi left them to their business and went back to his suite. It was time to train.
While Levi was training, Tycen met with the professors.
“Thank you for your time,” Tycen said. “I work as an adjunct for the director of the Adventure Federation in Avult. I monitor mana readings for dungeon activity. A 4-star dungeon will appear in four months. I believe that there will be an entry restriction. All the dungeons from the past that manifest so close to cities have one.”
“That is interesting news,” Bertrum said. “Dungeons that close are dangerous. The dungeon is right after our graduation.”
“Yes, the timing is rather fortunate,” Egret mused. “Do you believe the dungeon’s restriction to be star ranked?”
“Yes ma’am,” Tycen replied. “I believe it to be 3stars are only allowed inside.”
“Any other restrictions?” Bertrum asked.
“Maybe an entry time limit but that depends on the dungeon crafter or DC as we call it,” Tycen responded. “They’ll set additional rules.”
“I imagine you are here to tell us that the dungeon, until its beaten will spit out monsters?” Egret asked.
“Yes ma’am,” Tycen replied. “3-star monsters.”
“You’ve no doubt talked to the other guilds. Any teams formed should go, everyone else should stay and defend Arcross. Of course, only those that pass.”
“Precisely ma’am,” Tycen said. “The other guilds shared your sentiment. From what they told me there are only three official teams, The Wintoars, a trio of the crown princess, and a group of rangers. The other guilds proposed that teams created after the word gets out will not be permitted to challenge the dungeon.”
“It would prevent less dangers that way,” Bertrum said.
“Indeed,” Egret said. “What do you say Bertrum?”
“Let’s go along with the other guilds. We will announce prior to the battle of the guilds.” Bertrum responded.
“Mm yes, sensible,” Egret responded. “Do you have a team Mr. Washiro?”
“No ma’am,” Tycen said, the confusion crossed his face.
“May I bother you with a dilemma I am facing?”
“It’s our duty to help young folks out of their dilemmas,” Egret said. “What is it?”
“Well, it’s just that Lady Vendular invited me to join her team, with Lady Onyx and Mr. Winters, Levi. They just met me and were eager for me to join… why?” Tycen explained.
“What did they say when you asked them?” Egret asked.
“They said they trusted Levi; well Piper said it. Anna was cryptic.”
“You want a team, yes?” Bertrum asked.
“Yes, I do.”
“How would you have gone about finding a new team?”
“Probably found a contract and asked the team I found to join.” Tycen admitted.
“Seems pretty similar to what just happened, except they beat you to the punch,” Bertrum said.
“I guess so,” Tycen mused. He knelt quietly for several moments in deep thought. After a while he looked up, knowing what he was going to do.
“If I were you,” Egret said. “I would join. Whatever reasons Levi has, he’s a hard worker and so are the other two. You seem like a diligent young man. I’ve seen Mr. Winters firsthand and he is the hardest worker this guild has ever seen, and I am talking three centuries worth of students.”
“Levi might be full of self-doubt, but he is a hard worker and is doing his best to eliminate those thoughts. That being said, I agree with Professor Egret. Levi works hard and his familiars are an attribute to his strength. They are all bonded beyond breaking. His soul strength must be impressive because each and every one of his familiars are off the charts in all categories. Especially Anza, she is a force. You don’t get that level of connection with familiars if you don’t work hard to have a relationship not ownership. His familiars are a testament to the man. My recommendation is to join his team.”