When the bedroom door burst open, Arthur was already sprawled out on his mattress, staring intently at an open textbook and trying his absolute best to look like a model student.
There wasn't a single trace left of Lady Arne Margadalen. The blonde paladin, her colossal sword, and the heavy pile of golden armor had vanished back into the void, recalled just a split second before the doorknob turned.
"I always tell you to knock before you enter, Unc!" Arthur said, rolling into a sitting position and letting out a breathless laugh to hide his pounding heart.
"As long as you live under my goddamn roof and shit my food, I will bust in here whenever I feel like it," Uncle Potus barked, stepping into the room.
Arthur smiled, raising his hands in mock defeat. "Alright, alright! Your house, your rules, okay?"
"Damn right," Uncle Potus said, a rugged grin breaking through his worn face as he looked up at Arthur. He was a short, stocky man, hardened by years of blue-collar labor, but his eyes carried a warmth that always gave him away.
The grin faded slightly, replaced by a tense, probing look. "So, how did it go at the Awakening Ceremony? Any luck?"
Arthur slowly shook his head, feigning a look of quiet disappointment. He wasn't about to let his uncle know he had just summoned a gold-tier, mind-blowingly hot Paladin. More importantly, his summon was a complete anomaly that defied the laws of the academy. If he guessed right, the higher-ups were probably already scrambling to figure out what the hell he had pulled out of the Rift. Keeping it a secret for now was a matter of survival.
"Good. That's good," Uncle Potus said, his voice dropping into a heavy, somber tone.
Arthur blinked, surprised by the reaction.
"I know you wanted a beast, kid. I know you wanted a creature that could give you a better shot at escaping this rough life we're living," Potus sighed, leaning against the doorframe. "But honestly? I think it's for the best. I lost your father and your mother to a dungeon and the monsters inside it. I can't lose you, too."
A heavy wave of sadness swept through Arthur's chest, suffocating the lingering excitement from moments before. Underneath the blanket, his hands clenched into tight fists.
It had happened eight years ago. His parents had both been active Summoners, signed to the exact same raiding guild. His father had been a frontline Iron-tier Summoner, while his mother was ranked slightly higher as a Silver-tier. Her primary summon, a rare Light-Weaver Sprite, had been a dedicated healing creature that spent its time patching together injured Summoners and their maules on the battlefield.
They had been assigned to a routine, standard-issue Bronze-tier dungeon. But midway through the raid, the gate violently mutated, turning a blood-red color, signaling an unpredictable dungeon breakout. When the enforcement squads finally cleared the anomaly, the entire crew was gone. They were presumed dead, swallowed by the Rift, and had never been seen or heard from since.
Uncle Potus had taken the heavy responsibility of raising his brother's son all on his own. That was why the short man looked so visibly relieved right now. In his mind, Arthur failing the awakening meant he was safe from the meat-grinder of the dungeons. He wouldn't face the same tragic fate as his parents.
"I really wanted a summon, but I guess you jinxed me, huh?" Arthur said, forcing a self-deprecating laugh. "Don't worry. I'll just focus on my civilian studies and become a big-shot lawyer. You'll be proud of me."
Uncle Potus took a few steps forward, his rough, calloused hand coming down gently on Arthur's shoulder. "I'm already proud of you, kid. And I believe in you. You're going to make a fine lawyer."
He let out a heavy sigh, his eyes scanning the quiet room before a sudden realization hit him. "You didn't cook anything for dinner, did you?"
Arthur shook his head, offering a sheepish shrug.
"Yeah, I figured. You're hurting from missing out on a summon," Uncle Potus said understandingly, giving his shoulder a comforting squeeze. "It's okay. I'll head downstairs and whip something up for us while you decompress."
"Actually, just put my food in the warmer, Unc," Arthur called out as his uncle turned toward the hallway. "I'll heat it up in the morning. I think I just really need to crash and rest right now."
In reality, his mind was racing, entirely consumed by the urgent desire to call Lady Arne back out the second the coast was clear.
Uncle Potus gave a knowing nod. "Alright, get some sleep, kid." He stepped out, quietly shutting the bedroom door behind him.
Arthur sat in absolute silence, straining his ears as the heavy thuds of his uncle's footsteps faded down the stairs and toward the kitchen. The moment the house grew quiet, Arthur braced himself to summon his gorgeous Paladin once more.
But before he could even utter the command, the air in front of him rippled violently. A sleek, golden holographic notification snapped into existence right before his eyes, pulsing with an ominous light.
SUMMONER STATUS
[TITLE] : Unrecognized Commander
[CLASS] : Soul Binder
[RANK] : Copper I
[AGE] : 18
[STATUS] : Stable
CORE METRICS
[CURRENT FORTITUDE: 2.9
[ACTIVE SUMMONS] : 1
[SOUL STABILITY] : 87%
[MANA RESERVES] : 74%
CONTRACTED SUMMONS
[Radiant Templar Paladin: Lady Arne Margadalen]
Rank : Gold
Fortitude : 7.8
ACTIVE SKILLS
[SOUL LINK – Lv.1]
Establishes a telepathic and sensory bridge between the Summoner and the contracted entity.
[FORTITUDE CHANNEL – Lv.1]
Directs raw spiritual stamina into the summon to temporarily mitigate high mana consumption during heavy-tier combat.
[EMERGENCY RECALL – Lv.1]
Instantly forces an active summon back into the soul core.
Cooldown scales with damage taken.
[SPIRIT ASSIMILATION – Lv.1]
Allows the Summoner to temporarily draw a fraction of the summon's raw physical attributes into their own body.
PASSIVE SKILLS
[ECLIPSE MULTIPLICATION]
Locked / Conditions Unmet.
[SUMMONER INSIGHT]
Grants an inherent, intuitive understanding of foreign beast structures and weak points.
[DUAL AFFINITY]
Anomalous trait. Permits the anchoring of two opposing elemental or spiritual attributes within a single soul core.
Arthur blinked, staring hard into the empty space right in front of his face. The glowing, translucent interface hovered silently over his messy bed.
"Huh. I get my own profile too?" he muttered under his breath, leaning back against his pillows to study the lines of floating text.
His eyes drifted down past his name, stopping dead on his rank. Rank: Bronze I. A dark, triumphant smirk played on his lips. Most Summoners started off at the absolute rock bottom as Iron-tier garbage, struggling to control basic woodland pests or common rodents. Skipping an entire tier straight out of the gate was a massive, unprecedented head start.
"I have a Fortitude consumption of 3.9?" Arthur whispered, his pulse quickening as he noticed the math.
Because Arne had a massive 7.8 fortitude, he had got a manageable 3.9. But even halved, that was an insane number for a rookie. Hey... that's even higher than Alexa's Umbralon, and that beast caps out at a maxed 3.4.
He tightened his fist beneath the sheets, feeling a phantom resonance of raw power humming beneath his skin. "Does this mean I've gained supernatural abilities too? Can I actually fight alongside her?"
Summoners were meant to just stand in the back like helpless, fragile scholars forever. His eyes locked onto Spirit Assimilation, a high-level skill that allowed a master to channel a fraction of their summon's raw, unadulterated power directly into their own flesh. Seeing that specific skill unlocked and sitting right there on his list sent a thrilling jolt of adrenaline straight to his chest.
"If she has the potential to grow in power and evolve, does that mean my capacity grows too?" He paused, a reckless, soaring thought taking root in his mind. What if he eventually summoned another one? A Platinum-tier warrior? Or something even higher?
Before he could fully lose himself in the daydream, the blue interface flickered violently. The status window fractured, its clean lines dissolving into static before a stark, blood-red tab forced its way to the front of his vision.
[ EVENT TRIGGERED ]
[ TRIAL Dungeon ]
[ TRIAL DETAILS]
[TRIAL TYPE] : Private Domain Manifestation
[TRIAL RANK] : UNKNOWN
[DIFFICULTY] : UNKNOWN
[SURVIVAL RATE] : UNKNOWN
[TIME REMAINING:] [00:59:58]
[WILL YOU ACCEPT?] [YES / NO]
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