Chapter 42: Chapter 42 – Summon Spirit
The next day, Sunday, was a peaceful day for Matthew. He spent his day home watching television and searching the web how to obtain a totem for his skill.
Sacred objects, objects blessed by gods, were easier to find than objects possessed by spirits or blessed by greater spirits. The later rarely gave their blessings to humans while lesser and greater gods used to bless objects more frequently.
He could always pick the Summoner skill Summon Spirits, since he still didn’t pick any skill for his Summoner class, and use them to possess an object so that he could use the Healing Totem skill.
However, the Summon Spirits skill could be dangerous to use, since not all spirits were friendly. It was better to learn how to use the Summon Spirits skill first at Laufgraan before trying to summon any at home.
By noon, Vanessa called Matthew saying that she transferred to him his part of the reward from the Shedu’s body. The gold tiara they found however had some sort of resistance to the Identify skill. Vanessa went to the appraiser of Eric’s guild and he could not see any information on the tiara. She was now looking for another trustworthy appraiser who was more skilled than the one from Eric’s guild.
Matthew checked his bank account. Vanessa transferred 80% of the reward to him. He immediately called her back and they argued for about an hour about the division. Matthew wanting to share it 50-50, but Vanessa insisting he should get a bigger share because he did most of the work.
Matthew eventually conceded after Vanessa promised to share the profits from the tiara evenly between the two.
The rest of the day was uneventful for Matthew, save for Sarah coming back home with a variety of eye patch models for Matthew to try, since he lost his last one in the Labyrinth of Enkidu.
On Monday, Matthew arrived early at the adventurer school. And went to talk with Professor Claude in the teacher’s office.
"How are you doing Matthew?" Claude asked on his ever calming tone while serving Matthew some tea.
"I’m doing good." He answered with a nod thanking for the tea.
"How you’re dealing with the demonic mana. Any other episode of outburst?"
"I was forced to use it in a dungeon. We faced a particular strong enemy in there and I needed its power." Matthew admitted looking away ashamed.
"It is not a problem using the demonic mana, Matthew. It’s not illegal and it is not a sin." Claude said putting a hand on his shoulder. "What is bad is letting the negative emotions it brings to control your behavior."
Matthew swallowed hard remembering how he tried to kiss Vanessa and got so angry when she slapped his face that he almost hit her back.
"Anything else that happened?" Claude asked taking a sip from his tea cup.
"Yes. I should’ve told you this before, but when I use demonic mana, my vision returns to my left eye."
"Really?" Claude asked getting closer to Matthew. "Let me see."
Matthew hesitated, but Claude’s presence was comforting and he quickly came to trust him.
Matthew removed his eye patch and allowed the demonic mana to surge from deep within him. His left eye’s iris became crimson red losing its natural blue hue.
"Can you see now?" Claude asked examining his eye.
"No." Matthew said annoyed about being touched. The demonic mana influence already governing his feelings. "I can only see when I do this." He added releasing mana making his eye shine. "I can see everything red with my left eye." His voice was now deeper and somber.
"I see." Claude said and quickly applied the Purification skill on Matthew making the demonic mana retreat inside until he saw Matthew flinch from pain. "Sorry, I went too far."
"It’s ok." Matthew said fixing the eye patch back over his left eye.
"That’s quite interesting. I’ve never heard of demonic mana healing soul damage. This is actually quite a find Matthew. I’ll report this to the Dean. We might’ve stumbled on something really important."
"Really?" Matthew asked incredulous.
"Really. This is unheard of." Claude kept his soothing tone even in face of such revelation which made Matthew doubt his sincerity.
"There’s one other thing I wanted to ask you." Matthew added. "I leveled up in the dungeon this Saturday. You’re familiar with my unique skill, aren’t you?"
"Yes. The docent body are all aware of your particular skill. You don’t need to worry, though. We can’t disclose any information about the students."
"So, I drew the Witch Doctor class. I was thinking on how can I get a totem or a sacred item to use with the Healing Totem skill."
"That’s a hard thing to do. Totems are rare and few people are willing to give away sacred items. If you do find any out there, they’ll most likely be very expensive."
"Yeah... That’s what I read online." Matthew pouted. "Who do I speak with to learn how to summon a spirit then?"
"Oh. You also have the Summoner class? That’s fortunate. You want Professor Lydia. She’s a great Summoner, she’ll teach you well." Claude said looking around. "She’s not in yet. You can try speaking with her after class. I’ll tell her you’ll be looking for her."
"Thank you Professor."
"Was that all?" Claude asked.
"How’s the investigation about my situation coming?" Matthew asked getting up.
"I’m sorry, Matthew. I didn’t hear anything about it."
"I see..." Matthew sighed. "Then that’s all. Thank you Professor."
"You’re welcomed Matthew. Feel free to come again if you have more questions."
After morning classes, Matthew met Professor Lydia that offered to tutor him on how to use the Summon Spirit skill on the afternoons. Since Matthew couldn’t train because of his injuries, he had the afternoons free that week.
They met on the flower gardens, where Lydia gave him a very heavy book on the elemental realms telling him to read that later.
"All of it?" Matthew asked looking at the pages, it had over 2600.
"All of it." Lydia was stern. "You need to be familiar with the elemental realms to know how to access them when casting a summoning spell. Otherwise you can summon dangerous things to our realm."
"I understand." Matthew said straightening his back on instinct. "Do I read it now?"
"No. You read at home. Now you watch. I’m going to summon a spirit. Try to learn everything you can from this."
Lydia used chalk on the floor and drew a circle. While she worked she explained that every summoning needed a circle at first that determined the location the summon spell would take place.
"I’ve seen a man summoning his pacted creatures before. He didn’t use a circle." Matthew observed remembering when Orson summoned his horde in hell.
"Yes. Practiced Summoners can cast the summoning with no need to draw the summoning circle. They can visualize the circle perfectly in their heads and form their mana in its shape. However, for beginners, is better to draw it first. That way you don’t need to visualize the circle in your head, you just need to shape your mana over your drawing following the lines." She said while writing runes around the circle. "You can do that, can’t you, Matthew?" She added in a teasing voice.
"Yes." Mathew nodded after swallowing hard.
"These runes are like coordinates. Each spirit realm have their own coordinates, their own runes for you to follow. The book I gave you have the elemental realms basic runes. Other spirit realms are more difficult to handle, so for now you’ll focus on the elemental ones."
"I see." Matthew said looking through the pages of the books.
"I always recommend starting with earth spirits, since they are usually more docile and tame. Air spirits are usually little brats. Water spirits are a bit lazy. And fire spirits are usually aggressive." Lydia said while bending down and drawing another set of runes. "The runes inside the circle are like a poem or a song. Each type of spirit will prefer one song over the other. So you use these to call the type you want."
Matthew tried to concentrate on the runes she drew on the floor instead of on her curves that got well defined by her dress when she bent over the floor. He could not avoid stealing some glances though.
"And lastly, you use the skill to cast the spell. Remember that the strength of the spirit you call is proportional to your Charisma stat. Your mana is like honey to them. The greater your Charisma, the sweeter your mana is." Lydia said while pouring mana into the drawing she made on the floor.
A bright ball of light flashed on the center of the circle and soon a very short and stout man appeared on the center. It had a long white beard and was dressed like a middle age peasant, brown pants, green tunic and a conical red hat.
"Lady Lydia!" The man said with a smile. "I’m always glad when you call. How may I help you today?"
"The usual Sven. Garden work." Lydia smiled at him.
While the little man walked around the flowers using his magic to clean the garden and tend to the plants, Lydia explained:
"Sven is a Gnome. Gnomes are earth spirits. They are usually very friendly towards women. But don’t try to summon them yourself. They hate men." Lydia told Matthew getting close to him. "Also, remember that to keep a summoned spirit you need to constantly feed it mana. So summoning a lot of spirits can be dangerous."
"Feed?" Matthew asked.
"Yes. Spirits literally survive on mana they eat. That’s why your Charisma is very important. Its about the taste."
"A friend of mine has an ice spirit she is pacted with. I don’t think she feeds it mana." Matthew said referring to Paula and Lumi.
"Oh. A pact is a different approach. You bound your soul with the spirit. This means that the spirit no longer has to consume mana. But it also means its life is bound to yours. A spirit that accepts a pact gives away its immortality to be with the person they choose. It’s very romantic."
Matthew felt a little bad for Lumi, but then remembered how happy the bird was with Paula. It was very romantic, he agreed.
"I’ll instruct Sven on his work now. You should go read the Earth Realm Chapter of the book. As much as you can for tomorrow. We’ll try summoning a spirit with your mana."