Excerpt of “The summoning of lesser Devils, Volume 4, Chapter 6”:
One of the more common failures of the previously described rituals is the summoning of a so-called “Japanese”. This “Failure of Target-Acquiring” is commonly created when the destination rune fails or the targeting rune is too broadly configured. Try fixing your runes by narrowing down the angeles of the Zaxib's Rune, or if you use one, by changing the sacrifice to something more in tune with your target world.
It is not known why rituals, that fail to find an appropriate target, instead of summoning nothing, summon a “Japanese”. The most accepted theory (cf Mareins "Primer on integrated dimensional space" version 6, chapter 7) makes an extremely weak space in “Japan” (world the Japanese origin from) responsible. The faulty ritual after failing to acquire a target tries to broaden its search, goes to way of least resistance and ends up in Japan.
With the Ruger’s configuration as a failsafe, it is possible to stop this symptom from happening, but the author advises against using it. It heightens the cost and rids oneself only of a quick method to determine in which part of the process the ritual failed.
In the early days of summoning significant effort was expended to research the origins and possible uses for the, easy to summon, “Japanese”. These efforts were proved futile. The summoned “Japanese” are all getting a gift, from the automated divine response to peaceful dimensional crossers, but got no distinctive qualities beyond that. Most of them never learned a useful profession, are unable to level and already over 20 years old, so that they got a significant disadvantage against people, who gained experience since their childhood.
Their world is controlled one or a group of mind magic users. The summoned “Japanese” show the typical symptoms of being ecstatic after being summoned, without being able probably explain why they feel so happy to be ripped out of their supposedly peaceful and wealthy world. Moreover, their memories contain a lot of inconsistencies and unbelievable information. One example is the often-mentioned flying boxes out of metal, which are supposed to be shaped like birds and to fly without magic. Closer questioning reveals that they are unable to fly higher than 15 Kilometers, which any mage, who extensively tested a fly-spell knows, makes absolutely no difference as a border. Their memories are obviously tempered with and any technical information they have is most likely rigged to kill anyone trying to replicate the mentioned deeds.
The author advises to just ignore and dispose of the “Japanese”, as all summoners do and to not waste time on trying to get something useful out of their professional tempered with memories.
I looked down on the lumps of flesh and the, in the darkness, barely seeable black soot, which was once the magic circle of the ritual. I wanted to sigh, but forcefully suppressed it. As long as you do not sigh, you have not yet given up. At least that is what told myself.
Almost reflexively, I started to draw the runes for a second fireball in my mind. Only to stop almost immediately as I realized I was out of mana. I did not even want to curse anymore, as my view fell on the six, big mana-crystals I painstakingly produced over the last months. “Let’s just ignore all of this until tomorrow” With that thought I turned around, ignored my failure and with careful strides, as to not damage the magical safeguards on the ground, left the room determined to get a healthy sleep before thinking about the ramifications of my second failure.
Directly in front of the door to my summoning room was the stairway, on which I dragged my tired body up to the third floor of my untypical square mage tower. The tower was not always mine. Six years ago, my father did not come back from one of his regular deployments with the duchy’s militia. A couple weeks later the news of his death in one of multiple skirmishes arrived. At that time, conflicts about some unnamed hamlet erupted between the duke and one of the neighboring earls. A couple of skirmishes took place in which the earl managed to obtain a couple of small, early victories, but was forced to sign the hamlet away as the duke threatened to raise levies in his much larger duchy and start an all-out war. In the conflict died about two dozen men on both sides, which was about the population of the nameless hamlet.
Arriving on the third floor I went straight to my bed, stepping around or over boxes, books, bundles of clothes and the occasional uncleaned plate. This was my bedroom, living room, library and dining room all at once. My bed was located at the north-west corner surrounded by a couple of bookshelves to protect against the cold wind, which blew through the only makeshift stuffed cracks in the walls. The situation only got worse, when the east-side window broke, last winter. I nailed the window shut, but there was still a cold breeze blowing through the room. I was getting quite worried over the humidity damaging the books and did not fully trust the straw on the ground to keep the room dry. Since I got no money to repair the expensive glass window, I probably had to move with all my stuff in the kitchen on the first floor, soon.
With the time, the tower started to sink more and more in the ground, which in combination with its location, caused the ground floor to be regularly flooded after rain. Because of that reason, I already had to bring all the stuff, which was originally stored there, up in the kitchen and library. The situation got even more cramped after I started to study summoning and needed to clear out the bedroom on the second floor to make space for the circles.
I fell fully clothed down on my bed, pulled my shoes of and threw them away, before climbing under my sheets. The mana expenditure in combination of with the sustained concentration and sleep deprivation of the last days made me fall in a deep and dreamless slumber, almost immediately.
The next day I woke up around noon, still not completely recovered. After awakening, I just kept lying on my straw mattress and checked my available classes.
Hedge Wizard
An untrained person dabbling in the magical forces he does not understand and is unable to fully control. Hedge Wizards know a lot of magical cantrips and some minor spells. They are mostly people who despite their lacking talent still choose to pursue a magical career. Most of them are found in isolated villages, where they, like their female version (Hedge Witch) use their power to help the villagers with small feats of magic. It is common for Hedge Wizards to develop their own, small spells in their life.
Very low intuitional feeling for magic. Slight intuitional adjustments, when trying to develop own spells. Cantrips and self-made spells cost 30% less mana.
Affinity +0.5, Intuition +0.5, Intelligence +2, free Attribute-point +1 per level
Hedge Wizard related skills level faster.
When taken gain immediately: Affinity +3, Intuition +3, Intelligence 10, free Attribute- points +3
Hunter
Very low intuitional feeling for magic. Slight intuitional adjustments, when trying to develop own spells. Cantrips and self-made spells cost 30% less mana.
Affinity +0.5, Intuition +0.5, Intelligence +2, free Attribute-point +1 per level
Hedge Wizard related skills level faster.
When taken gain immediately: Affinity +3, Intuition +3, Intelligence 10, free Attribute- points +3
Small intuitional feeling for animals nearby. Animal tracks are easier to spot. Slightly easier to sneak while in nature.
Perception +1, Agility +2, free Attribute-point +1 per level.
Hunter related skills level faster
When taken gain immediately: Perception +6, Agility +10, free Attribute-point +3
Trapper
A specialized Hunter, who forgoes other aspects of the profession, for singularly focusing on trapping animals and sometimes, sentient beings. There are uncountable, different ways and variations for traps and they differ for every Trapper. A lot of planning and information is needed to create the perfect trap, but masters of the trade are able to kill even way stronger creatures than themselves.
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Small intuitional feeling for good trap placements. Easier to estimate prey behavior.
Agility +1, Intuition +1, Perception +2, free Attribute-point +1 per level.
Trapper related skills level faster.
When taken gain immediately: Agility +6, Intuition +6, Perception +12, free Attribute-point +4
I choose to ignore the useless or downright insulting classes like Peasant or Homemaker, which were probably shown to everyone, who plucked a random plant or cleaned his own dish.
The last progress I made was one and a half years ago, when I unlocked the trapper class, through accidentally managing to catch a wolf in one of my traps. It was not a bad class. Hell, it was even the best I got up to this point, but I was still determined not to take it. I wanted to be a mage, and I wanted it badly. It probably became an unhealthy obsession on this point. The best I managed to get in that direction was Hedge Wizard, but that class would forever doom me to a life in mediocrity, the very same I was determined to escape with being a mage.
The lesson, that was my father’s death for another’s cause, was not wasted on me. Being a subject means giving your overlord might over your wellbeing. You always have to remember an overlord is still just a person. A person will always be primarily concentrated on his own wellbeing not on his subjects. This even holds true for priests and monks. There is a reason, that for following the will of the gods, rewards are included in every religion.
“Maybe if my father also read the books, his master bequeathed on him, he would still be alive” flashed an futile thought through my mind.
For the cause of being a mage, I performed the ritual yesterday. It was actually the second ritual. A couple of months ago, in late summer, the first also failed to produce the imp I wanted to summon. The problem was I even knew what went wrong. After the first time, there could still be some doubt, but after yesterday, it was undeniable that, without outside help, my talent was simply not good enough to perform the summoning.
Name Lucius Baal Class Unclassed Level 17 Strength 7 Agility 9 Endurance 7 Perception 11 Intuition 17 Intelligence 19 Affinity 5
The last stat “Affinity” was the problem. It directly translated to ones talent in magic. Affinity influenced the amount of mana, its regeneration and the difficulty a person had to move it. Needless to say, my affinity was abysmal. A child with the talent to be a mage needed, with the right technique, a week to unlock the attribute and it would be somewhere over ten. I needed multiple years and discovered mine to be two. Every two levels someone without a class gained an attribute point and since unlocking it, I put every single one in affinity. Even with these points, I only managed to bring it up to five. The training methods in the books did not manage to influence my affinity stat a bit.
I still wanted to slap myself for every point I spend before unlocking Affinity. Some were necessary, like the one I spent on agility running away from a goblin, which somehow managed to cross the mountains in the south without being killed by a patrol. Or the one spent on perception after I nearly stumbled into the lair of a bear. The ones that irritated me were the ones spend on intelligence and intuition in my childhood, when I still thought me not unlocking the affinity attribute after such a long time made me somehow special. It indeed made me special, especially untalented. In my innocence I somehow believed the words my mother told me, when she came to search for leftovers to turn into money. If I really got the talent, she talked about; I would have had one of the best starts to becoming a mage. A since my birth higher than average Intelligence and an unlocked Intuition in combination with a high affinity would make me a top mage. At that time I already subconsciously started to doubt her, but my books also stated that most mages put their attribute points into mental stats and just trained Affinity up to go with it.
However alas it should not be. I was now in the awkward situation of having extremely high Intelligence and Intuition for my level, but not the mana to put it to use in spells. The best I managed was a fireball spell and it took all the mana I had. Without more training, the cost was as low as I managed to get it with my mental attributes and with my current speed of two fireballs per day, it would take me my whole life to master this one spell fully.
I needed more levels to raise my Affinity, but it was getting increasingly hard to get them while being unclassed. As an Unclassed individual, I gained a bit of exp for everything I did, but not anything worthwhile. If you got no destination, every step you take is useless. When I took care of the small vegetable garden at the foot of my tower, it would hardly make me a better at being human. On the other side if I were a farmer, taking care of the garden would definitely make me a better farmer. In the same relation would the exp-gains for the farmer be much better, than these of the Unclassed individual.
After failing to unlock the mage class with spells, I got no further idea what to do. The only hope I got now was the Summoner class that was mentioned in one of the darker books in the collection my father unwillingly left me. For that cause did I try to conduct the rituals. Apparently, once you managed to summon and bind an imp successfully, you would unlock the class.
“Enough brooding over my situation. Let’s get going.” With jerk, I sat up, threw the damp sheets to a side and started to feel around for my shoes. I inwardly cursed the Myself of yesterday for throwing the shoes in a corner too far to reach from my bed, before standing up and involuntarily wincing as my warm foots came in contact with the nearly freezing floor.
After putting on my shoes and doing my morning tour around and over stuff to the stairway, I went straight down in the kitchen. On the way, I ignored the door to the summoning room, with only food on my mind. “First breakfast, I tidy up in there later”
After stoking the left embers in the hearth and getting a small fire going, I warmed up some oatmeal and started eating. The winter was coming and it was getting cold, so I sat with my chair close to the hearth. After warming up my inside and outside, I tried to procrastinate facing my failed ritual and tided up the kitchen.
A quarter of an hour later, as I was faced with the need to go outside and get water to start to seriously cleaning, I could no longer put off dealing with the failure of yesterday.
Standing before the door to the summoning room I took a deep breath, opened the door and after seeing my target threw my fireball at the remains of the useless member of a devil subspecies. The round sphere of warping flames and heat disintegrated the skin and flesh with no problems, but started to shrink rapidly as it tried to do the same with the bones. Only just before the fireball completely went through the target and was about to hit the floor behind it, were last remaining bits of bone turned into ash. The now pitiful, small ball of heat collided with the floor and extinguished with sizzle, managing nothing more than to slightly warm up the thick planks.
I thought about the descriptions in the book, that I found the spell in. Of fireballs, that turned metal into liquid and could even penetrate small walls. Of course, if I casted the spell directly on the wooden planks, they would be charred. With a bit more mana in the spell, I could maybe even manage to put them aflame. Nevertheless, to see a fireball falling to set wood on fire was pitiful.
Holding my breath, I rushed in the room, ripped the scraps of fabric between the shutters out and opened them. Only after hanging my head out of the window, did I dare to take another breath. Even with all my preparedness, the smell of burned flesh caused me to gag. “You could have opened the window yesterday, but no you needed to let the stench permeate the whole room” I thought to myself.
About ten minutes later my face was quite cold, but the smell was at least bearable. Pulling my head inside I turned to the destroyed source of my hope. I felt pain in my heart for every cracked and crumbled piece of crystal, each of which I painstakingly produced. Each of the six crystals symbolized half a month of work. More than three months I fed every dreg of mana I could muster into them. It was not enough. I know what went wrong. The mana crystals the book spoke about were supposed to be formed in one single action, by extracting the mana out of your body and compressing it, until it formed a tangible crystalline structure. Alternatively, you could also use naturally formed crystals, which were found in a couple of spots around the world. The second method had no use for me. I knew those crystals existed, but they were not something, a Nobody like me could get. I do not even think the court mage of the duke has one.
Therefore, only the first method remained for me. What was exactly, what I did in the first ritual. In the description of the circle, six mana-crystals along with the summoners own mana, were required to power the ritual. These crystals had to have a minimal weight and size. A standard, which the small grain-sized ones, I was able to produce, were a long way from meeting. I compensated through quantity. In the theory, a single big mana-crystal holds the same amount of power, than the same weight in smaller ones. With this hypothesis, I conducted my first ritual. And failed. Miserably.
So miserably, I was not even able to tell what the warped thing I summoned was, before half a day of work, putting the pieces together. Every small piece of crystal powered the circle for the fraction of a second, before being out of power. Every time one of these pieces was empty and crumbled to dust, the circle stopped for an even smaller fraction of a second, before another mana-crystal took over.
Imagine flying at the speed of sound through the small and winding alleys of a city. The force that makes you fly is able to navigate you perfectly through these alleys, but now imagine this force stopping for just the fraction of a second… After getting smeared across a wall, because the force did not steer you around a corner, you get picked up, accelerated, only to hit the next wall after the force gets interrupted once again.
There were 212 mana-crystals. The probably humanoid creature was just a pile of different parts, as it arrived in the middle of the ritual circle. After getting pounded in 212 different worlds, dimension and whatever else was out there, the only two things I was able to discern, was the humanoid outline in the hole at the start of the ritual, and that its blood was red.
Yesterday, with my second try, I went another way. I tried to make six big crystals by slowly forming parts of them. Every twelve hours, when my mana was full, I added another part on the crystal. Over three months the crystals began to grow until each one finally got the required size and weight. Alas yesterday my biggest fear was realized. There were small, fine cracks in the crystals. Every time I stopped and started working again, after my mana regenerated, a crack was added and these cracks started to act up, in the ritual. They made for an uneven output of power, as some parts of the crystals were delivering mana faster or slower.
The result was the burned out circle and crumbled crystals I saw before me. I went to work clearing up.