"Third Magical Foundation Stage..."
Yuca was surprised once more as she managed to consolidate enough magic power to breakthrough to the next stage. She was currently in her room after she was done with her assignment, and they payment she got was directly transferred to the school due to her debt.
She was unaware that the amount of money she got was a lot more than what was promised to her due to the impossible feat she achieved. She still thought she had to do a lot more assignments before she could pay off all of her debts.
Even with how unaware she was, she could somewhat noticed that her Familiar was odd. The potential it gave her after the contract was much more than normal monsters. Even orcs would simply limit her to the Third Magical Foundation Stage before she had to find other resources to increase that, or summon a stronger monster to compensate for the lacking potential.
"The book listed Paraph as part of the Level 0 Fire Realm. It can't be this strong right?" She muttered under her breathe.
Talking about the Paraph, she glanced at it and saw that it was simply hovering around her room. As if curious about everything. Through their bond, she could feel it's utmost curiosity and innocence as it moved around her room. It hadn't lost it's interest even at the simplest things despite being here for two days now.
"Uh... hey, Para." She waited until she got the attention of Para. "What's your ranking on the Fire Realm?"
She was wondering about that. Paraph was too strong for what the book listed it as. She wanted to know if this monster was amongst the top or something.
Her expectations was betrayed when she noticed it replying to her. She easily managed to understand what it tried to say through it's movements with their bond, and she frowned for a bit as she translated what it said as it being at the bottom rung of it's realm.
"Oh..."
That was unbelievable. The Paraph was a bottom tier entity from the Fire Realm. She wondered just what kind of monsters were in there that the Paraph who could spread fire everywhere was considered a low tier one.
"Do you ever sleep...?" Even as she asked that out of curiosity, she had put her attention to her book which she hid on the pillows of her bed.
She understood what it tried to convey with their bond as she opened the book and read the contents of it. Based on the Paraph, it wasn't aware of the concept of sleeping, so she could take that as a no.
"I see." She nodded at it's reply, before her attention was fully focused on the book.
She flipped the pages beyond the Paraph's depiction and read the other creatures from the Fire Realm. All of the creatures held fiery forms, though she couldn't really gauge whether they were strong or not as there was no description on the book. Only the magical formula and their names.
"These circles... that's a lot of patterns. I think even with the increase in my mana with my breakthroughs, I can't do these things!" She shook her head. Then she quickly flipped the pages until she was on the Water Realm category. "How about this one?"
Yuca doesn't want to specialized on a single element. She wanted to at least be capable of using the other elements. Professors warned them of spreading their specialties as it would make it harder for them to advance in stage, but since she became a Summoner, she always wanted to be the best. So she wanted to take that insurmountable feat of mastering every elements.
The very first thing that her eyes laid on was a simple depiction of a drop of water. This creature was called the Phalos. She tilted her head, wondering how a drop of water became a creature, but she still decided to take that as out of any creature on the Water Realm, it had the series of pattern that was more bearable to her.
Just like Paraph, it had the same two circles and one hundred twenty eight patterns on each of it. The patterns on the circle were a lot different, but was still doable to her as she memorized the circle on her mind.
After she was confident enough that she could form it with her magic, she closed the book and decided to summon her second familiar. She thought that, because the Paraph already had a decent potential it could give, that the Phalos might also be capable to do it too.
She was just starting on forming the magic circle when she heard a knock on her door. She perked up, confused.
"Who could it be?"
She walked to the door and opened it, only to be surprised to see the familiar red eyes looking down on her and that sharp features. It was the secretary of the Headmaster, Zeltria de Mauveille.
'... Why is she here?' Yuca tensed up. She felt a bit nervous, thinking she might have done something once more.
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Headmaster Emeltria de Fontaine watched the girl on the guest sofa, trembling with her lips pursed. She looked like a normal student, though she reminded herself that this was the girl who summoned a creature that could burn the west side of their building, which was filled with a lot of enchantments along with the structure itself being made of enchanted bricks.
It was also the same girl who had summoned a fire elemental that could make a weird mundane fire that turned into magical ones overtime.
"Yuca Meidill." She finally decided to speak after she watched the girl fidget for awhile now.
"Y-yes!?" The girl was flustered. It was obvious because it was the Headmaster who was talking to her.
She raised her hand. "There is no need to be tense. I only called you for something simple." She waited for the girl to calm down before she continued. "You called that monster Paraph, right?" With her nod, she continued. "Then, before anything else, can you tell me anything you learned about your familiar?"
"Uh... Sorry, I also have no idea what kind of species it is. All I know is that it came from the Fire Realm, and that it's at the lower part of it's hierarchy."
"I see." She was a bit surprised at that.
She heard of a secret world called the Fire Realm. It was a secret world owned by the Flame Empress, Efreet. There were many resources within it that was beneficial to mages and summoners who focused on fire elements only.
Though she heard that fire slimes were the most common monsters on that place. She hadn't heard of any creature called Paraph in there, so she thought this Fire Realm might be a different one than the one she knew.
"Hmm... well then, as for why I called you here, I wanted to know the magic formula for summoning the Paraph. As for the payment, I think waiving off your debts might be appropriate?"
Yuca's eyes became wide as she heard her claim, and she immediately stood up and bowed deeply at her.
"Please! I would gladly share the formula, Headmaster!"
Emeltria nodded before she recalled something. "Oh right, while we're at it, can you tell me where you learned the summoning method for the Paraph?"
"... It's from an untitled book that I bought on the Candice Street at a stall. If I recall correctly, it was being sold by a tall and beautiful wandering summoner with violet eyes and long purple hair." She said.
"... I see. I understand. Then please show me the formula, and then you can go back to your room."
The Headmaster didn't ask for the book itself. It was common courtesy between Summoners not to ask for their personal possessions. Unless they were incredibly close, they could simply ask for the other Summoner about the info on those book, not borrow it directly from them.
Yuca nodded and she quickly drew the summoning circle for Paraph. After that she left after a few more words were exchanged between them.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
After making sure that the girl left, she took the paper where she drew the summoning circle, and narrowed her gaze when she looked at each of the patterns drawn on it.
"Wait... this is too complex. These symbols... aren't these--!?" She gasped when she realized some of the symbols written on it. "Phantasmal Language!?"
Phantasmal Language, or the Words of Fantasy. It was a series of magical symbols that was believed to be the predecessor of every magic in this world. It was impossible to actually remember every symbols of Phantasmal Language, as it was an ever-evolving symbol that held pure, and raw abstract laws and concepts.
It was an incredibly obscure, and lost magical language that could only be discovered from the most ancient ruins or secret worlds. She simply managed to discover that it was Phantasmal Language because her Master showed her three symbols that depicted Fire, Flame, and Heat. Those three were even incomplete, though she could see signs of those symbols being included on the circle.
Now she had a great urge to disregard courtesy between Summoners and just ask for Yuca's book, but she stopped and decided to look for the woman whom she bought it for.
As for summoning Paraph, she didn't bother. It was a circle filled with the symbols of a very obscure and ancient magical language. She wouldn't have enough Mana to summon one even if she was on the Third Arcane Expansion Stage. She would need to be at least on the Core Formation Stage before she tried it.
She stopped for a moment when she thought about it.
"Wait a minute... just how did that girl summon that Paraph? Isn't she just at the Magical Foundation Stage!?" She felt incredibly curious, but she shook her head. "If I recall correctly, she has an absolute affinity for monsters... but still, the amount of Mana needed is comparable to summoning a Grand Entity. Did she have enough magical power to do that?"
She frowned, before she closed her eyes and let out a sigh.
"It doesn't matter. I have to find that wandering summoner first and ask her about it!"
With that decided, she called for her trusted aides. Though her intrigued was hooked by Yuca Meidill.
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It was early in the morning when Yuca entered her classroom. When attending class, Familiars weren't allowed on the classroom so currently Para wasn't with her. She left the Paraph on her room with a promise that it shouldn't do anything troublesome like spreading it's fire.
Classes on this school were always open after an off day. This world had eight days on a week, which meant that classes were always done four times every week. This was done so students could study, and then applied anything they studied personally on the next day.
Classes wasn't that long. They only took two hours before they were given free time to explore more of the school or fight some people for their rankings.
She could feel the gaze of her classmates around her as she took her seat. She felt a bit fidgety as this was the first time she felt these kind of intrusive gazes. Most of the time, the gaze she got was always with a sneer or were insulting. Now it was probing and there were hints of nervousness on some of them.
"Hey... it's Yuca right?"
"The Fire Princess, Yuca Meidill?"
"Who would have thought that a monster summoner will have a strong fire affinity?"
"Is it really true? Did she really increase the temperature of the Hellfire Furnace?"
"She is the one who burned the west side of this school, so I think it's not an exaggeration!"
"She also defeated the Galvant Heiress. That's the Princess of Blue you know?"
"Really? Isn't that the one who had the Sea Empress!? Yuca is supposed to be no match to her with their element alone... how come?"
"We actually have a classmate like that? Just what kind of Familiar did she get?"
"You will be surprised. It's not even a beautiful entity, but just a floating sentient fire!"
"No way!"
Yuca just lowered her head. Though she felt someone poking her shoulder so she was obliged to look to her side and saw the familiar face of her only acquaintance on this room.
"Yuca, are you alright?" Those wide light brown eyes and that short bob cut hair gave this girl a refreshing and innocent vibe.
Yuca nodded. "Yes, I'm fine. Just felt a bit sleepy..." She lied. She just felt embarrassed at the people whispering to each other about her. "So, how is your day Mea?"
Mea Crocea, one of the bottom ranking Summoners of this school who was slightly better than her. She was the only person on this school who was on good terms with her, likely because she was a weak Summoner like her.
Though Yuca wasn't able to win against this girl when she was a goblin and orc summoner. Mea's talent was Golem Summoning, and even when she was incompatible with other summons, she managed to create a loophole and made a contract with a Stone Valkyrie, which was another type of golem but with a feminine figure.
"Ah, I'm still trying to breakthrough to the Third Magical Foundation Stage. I think I am getting closer to consolidating the Earth Essence within my body." She blinked her eyes. "Wait... how come you felt more powerful than me now!"
"Ah... right, I just broke through to the Third Magical Foundation Stage..." She felt a bit awkward when she said that.
She was surprised too. She knew Mea had been stuck to her stage for a few months now. She even had two Stone Valkyries on her contract, but she couldn't even advance to the third stage. She thought she might have to find another Book for a new type of golem summoning, as she only had the summoning circle for stone golems.
The girl gasped. "Whoa... is it really true that you got a high class entity as a Familiar!?"
"I don't know if it's a high class entity, but my Para took a lot of my mana when I'm summoning it!"
"Oh, it took a lot of Mana? Then it might be on the same level as a Superior Entity if someone like you, who can summon a thousand orcs at the same time, said it took a lot of Mana!"
"Yeah, you can say that." Yuca shrugged.
"That sounds amazing!" Mea clasped her hands in excitement. "Ah... I also want your incredible talent on summoning. You have a lot of Mana even though you are limited to summoning monsters. If I have something like that, I might be able to summon a stronger golem!"
"It's not that impressive. Even if I summon a dragon, they are incapable of growth at all. Even I envy you because you can summon monster girls at least..."
The two of them talked like that for a moment until their homeroom teacher arrived. After that the class started and they became quiet.
Their professor started their lecture for today.
"Today, we are going to talk about the tiers of summoned entities. I think some of you know about it as I saw some of you frequenting our School Archives." Yuca noticed their professor glancing at her for a moment before he resumed on his topic.
The topic involved was about the grades of summoned entities. He covered about what were these tiers, and how it related to their summoning.
Summoned Entities were separated from their tiers. Each tiers indicated just how strong these entities were. Tiers were separated on twelve categories. These categories were; Lower, Common, Middle, Higher, Peak, Superior, Grand, Supreme, Epic, Legendary, Mythic, and Divine.
Goblins were Lower Entities, and they could be simply summoned by a single point of their magical power with an incredibly simple circle with four linear patterns. While Orcs were Common Entities that could be summoned by a single circle with eight linear patterns.
Creatures that reached the Higher Entity Tier was considered top class on this country. The Headmaster's contracted entity Emerald Phoenix was a Peak Entity, which gave her greater potential for the fire affinity, and the power to control fire willingly. Many of the well-known figures of this city either had Peak or Superior Entities as their Familiars.
These type of people held a lot of opportunities in the future. If they weren't held back by the poor state of their country, they might have already achieved the Core Formation Stage, which was the next level after Arcane Expansion.
Yuca already knew about all of this. She had read about it on the school library a long time ago. She still recalled the contents of those books with her magic-aided photographic memory.
She knew that the complexity of the summoning circle and their grade also decided just how strong a summoned entity was. Her Paraph had the same difficulty as summoning a Superior Entity, so she thought the Paraph might had given her a lot of potential.
'It's just a pity that it's a monster. It can grow more if it is a monster girl...' She shook her head in regret.
The other students were taking notes about it. Unlike her who tried to learn more about summoning and anything related to it, most of her classmates only concentrated on fighting and raising their rankings on the school so they could become more stronger.
It took awhile until their professor was done with the topic.
"I hope some of you learned something about this topic, and you shouldn't just summon whatever you fancied with. You'll face a greater backlash if you try to summon something that your magical power can't handle!"
"""Yes, Sir!"""
Only a few answered sincerely, while others were nonchalant about it. The professor shook his head when as he quickly noticed those who didn't took his advice seriously.
As their professor left, the students quickly tidied up their stuff and left the classroom. Yuca was also leaving early when Mea suddenly called out to her.
"Wait, do you have any plans on this day Yuca?"
"Huh?" She turned to her and thought about it. "Hmm... oh right, I'm going to summon another monster. I am hoping it's as strong as Para." She simply said.
"Oh, You don't want to hang out somewhere?"
"Nah... Sorry, I'm a bit busy right now." She also wanted to have some time to meditate, so she couldn't spare the time right now.
"Hmm... then maybe next time? I want to see your summons too!" She said.
"Sure. I'll tell you when..."
With that promise, the two left on their way. Yuca quickly walked back to her room.
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She was glad when she saw that Para hadn't done anything else. She could feel it in their bond that Para was simply satisfied floating around the room, but she was still a bit nervous because Para was always like that even with it spreading it's fire.
The sentient fire quickly spun around her when she entered, and she nodded before it told her.
"Okay, I'll be summoning someone. I hope you are not allergic to water..." Para flickered for a bit, which she took as confirmation.
She doesn't have enough time last night as the Headmaster had called her to her office, so it took her this long before she could summon it. Now that she had free time, she decided that she wanted to summon the Phalos and find out whether it was as strong as Paraph.
She focused her mind and controlled the Mana within her body. Forming it into the pattern she got from the summoning circle based on the book. It took her a moment, but she got an easier time managing to form the bluish summoning circle with her magic. She thought it might be because of her advancement to her stage, so it became easier to her.
She poured her magic, activating the summoning circle and reaching out to the entity on the other dimension. In an instant, the circle shined brightly as a light silhouette occured in front of the circle. That silhouette slowly took the figure of an enlarged drop of water before it solidified it's existence.
After that, it was done. She opened her eyes and saw a crystal blue liquid that floated on the air. It's shape was literally like a drop of water. It wasn't a ball or any shape, but literally shaped like how someone would draw a rain drop. It's size was the same as her clenched fist, which meant it was near the size of the Paraph.
"... So you are a Phalos?" The sentient drop of water moved as if it was diving around like a fish. It's sharp tip moved like a tail fish as it swam on the air. "What can you do?" It swam on the air for a moment. "Uh... spreading water?" Yuca raised her eyebrow.
She could somewhat understand the Paraph about how it could spread fire. Fire spreads, so it was common sense that it would happen. Though spreading water?
She couldn't wrapped her mind about that.
"... Well, why don't you show me how you do it?"
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Half an hour later...
The whole field where students took their summons to try out their capabilities was completely flooded. There was fresh and crystal blue water that filled the whole courtyard up to their knees. It was still spreading, and if not for the timely intervention of the professors, it might have entered the interiors of the school, or even spread out of the walls of this academy.
Yuca's smile was tense as she watched this unfold, while the Paraph and the Phalos simply spun around each other in happiness, as if they found their long time friend.
"It really can spread water..." She felt a sense of deja vu, but simply dismissed that as she was more distracted at the ridiculous sight of a drop of water just simply producing water endlessly.
Fortunately, she wasn't called to the Headmaster's Office again.