{"What's ya name? Spellcaster."} Lucifer side eyed him as he took the spellcaster to a place near the tree and the waterfall.
"My name? It's Barrel. Barrel Banks."
{"Alright Bal, I'll help you summon your first powerful companion. Having something to support and protect you is a must in this world."}
"I can't believe I'm going to learn how to summon on a raid mission…"
{"Well, life's a mystery. There's no past without the present and that's why the future is a gift."}
"Huh?"
{"Think on it. Now let me give you a crash course in summoning. Hold out your hand."}
"Yes sir!"
Lucifer placed a glowing stone onto Barrel's palm.
{"Summoning is different for each person. Anyone can summon but to summon a powerful companion, it's not the summoner that chooses but the companion itself. There are mythical beasts, godly beings and of course the normal companions but there are also sentient beings of legends. It is true that to summon these; the summoner must be as powerful as the beings being summoned but ultimately no companions will tolerate incompatibility. Now let's begin."}
The glowing stone flashed twice before Lucifer raised an eyebrow.
{"Your not from the kingdom of Allure are you?"}
"Eh…"
{"I'm only asking because those you would summon would be aligned to your birthplace. For my time being with my master, the kingdom of Allure has no such entities aligned with them nor are you from this land but from another. You look surprised, was this the first time you've heard of this?"}
"My grandma often told me that she wasn't from here, that she came to the kingdom of Allure by accident after meeting my grandpa…"
{"Well this makes things much more interesting."}
"Huh?"
{"Come on let's see who's your first high class companion is."}
"Oh…kay…"
A small magical circle appeared in front of him.
{"Think of every story your grandmother has told you. She must've told you her stories no?"}
"Ah… y-yes…"
{"Think of someone or something that you've connected with in those stories and pour your energy with that 'something' in mind. Do you have 'it' in mind?"}
He gave a little nod.
{"Good. Summon 'it'."}
The circle grew larger before a figure rose from the circle.
The figure then morphed into a very stunning looking woman. She wore a gorgeous crimson plated armour and an assortment of daggers strapped all around her legs.
The woman looked around before kneeling down to Barrel.
{"Hello my master. I am Shyvana of Whymn. It's a pleasure to finally meet you."}
Barrel's eyes widened.
Lucifer had a toothy grin as he looked down to the kneeling woman.
{"Bal, congratulations, you've just summoned a legendary warrior from your homeland. What country do you hail from, milady? Where is Whymn?"}
{"Like my master, I come from the kingdom of Whymn, Britannia."}
My eyes widened at the name.
Britannia? Great Britain?
No way… it can't be Great Britain… could it?
Lucifer; Christian, Posika; Norse, Taki and Tosh; Japanese, Amilie; Rome and now Shyvana from Great Britain?
None of this make any sense unless… is this world is like an alternative version of Earth?…
I could see Lucifer eyeing me as he tilted his head to the side.
{"Now that you've summoned your first companion, let's see how strong she really is. Would you like a little spar with me, Miss Shyvana of Whymn?"}
The stunning woman turned her head to Lucifer before turning her head back to Barrel.
{"What would you like me to do, my master?"}
"Oh…"
Barrel gave a quick glance to Lucifer who shrugged.
"If you like Shy." Barrel shrugged.
Shy's demeanour brightened at Barrel's words. I couldn't tell if it was from either Barrel calling her Shy or the fact that she is probably fond of fighting or maybe both. She does have this tomboyish charm to her.
{"I would love to, my master."}
Shy stood up from her kneeling position and turned to face Lucifer who had a wide grin on his face. Shy drew two blades from the sheathes strapped to her thighs.
{"Ready when you are, my mentor."}
Lucifer froze and raised an eyebrow but his smile never faulted.
{"Interesting."} Was all Lucifer said before Shy launched forward.
{"Easy there. It's only a spar."}
Lucifer spoke as he gracefully matched Shy's speed as her face developed from confidence to shock.
Lucifer haven't unleashed 5% of his power like he did back at the arena.
This made me wonder why he used his powers then than now when Shy is certainly more skilled and powerful than everyone combined back at the arena.
It was strange but being surrounded by powerful beings like the shadow legion, especially Lucifer, I've slowly became more aware of what power is and how strong someone is.
Lucifer countered every blow, every pin and every off handed manoeuvres by just simply evading everything she threw at him.
{"Oh! Why can't I land a hit?!"} Shy huffed as she swung her blades aimlessly.
{"I may not know what another's land power is like or how strong your people is but everyone and everything has an aura. You have a powerful aura, a will that's so strong that you, someone who's already dead, could be summoned. Your form, your posture, your positioning, your handling with a blade. Someone taught you well. Whilst you'll never win against me; against any other, I feel like your master is in safe hands. You've lost your purpose when you died but now, Bal is your second chance. Serve him well."}
With the first strike, Lucifer has used in the spar, since it started, the little spar had ended.
{"I'm sorry my master, I've failed to uphold your honour, I'm useless…"}
Shy dropped her blades, along with herself to the ground in distraught.
Barrel walked towards his fallen summon, knelt down and hugged her.
"Don't ever say that. Your not useless. I need someone like you."
{"You do?"}
"Yes, of course. I'm just a little bit higher than average spell caster, with little to my name but the grade I've obtained. Do you still want to protect someone like me?"
{"My god has answered my prayers. I will protect with everything I have, my master."}
As soon as she said that, she lifted her hand to his head and stroke his hair.
"Thank you." Barrel whispered to Lucifer who looked down upon the two with a smile.
{"No need to thank me. Just helping my master out."}
Barrel furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.
He turned his head around to me.
Huh? My heartbeat thumped in my chest at the sudden attention. What in the world is Lucifer saying?
I glanced at Lucifer for a split second to see him giving me a look.
Wait… does he wants me to recruit Barrel?
Isn't this poaching? He's a member of the High Flyers guild…
{"Master, you need powerful allies. Currently, The Knight's Order, Baihu and The Shadow Legion are at your command but that's three companies out of ten. Little princess has developed a system for you to gain as many powerful allies as you can in preparation for the God's game. I think it's time for your fourth company to be created and Barrel will be a very fine leader for it."} Lucifer spoke directly into my mind and everything he said is correct.
Hmm…
I was going to turn the magic association into my next company and have Faron as the head but maybe Barrel is better.
{"With your capabilities, I think you can summon at least two more times before you run out of energy to even perform the most basic of spells. I suggest you should only summon one to protect yourself and use the rest in casting spells. You need to up your energy considerably if you want to even think about summoning another."}
As I walked up to them, Lucifer was giving Barrel some useful tips.
"Hey guys, how's it's going?"
{"I've raised his grade up by one."}
"Wait… you did? But how?" Barrel asked in confusion.
{"Learning to summon is the most basic as spell a caster could learn but leaning how to summon a higher companion? It's not about the grade but the connection the person has with their companions. Subsequently, if you can summons a companion that's higher than your current grade, than of course, the grade will have to match. Bal, your grade was a S. With a higher summon, you're now a SS. Obviously, if you could summon two, your grade will rise again but that's a life long thing…"}
"Ah… yes. Thank you."
{"Just think of your summons like family. Whoever or whatever your summons are, know that they will always be with you no matter what. Like this little guy."}
With three distinct growls, Cerbi appeared out of nowhere and bounced around Bal.
Wait… is Cerbi a summon?
{"To answer your question master,"} Lucifer spoke inside my mind, {"Cerbi is indeed a summon… well not anymore but he was."}
What do you mean?
{"When I was little, I lived with my servants who later became my only family inside that big house. I needed a companion, someone or something that I could be codependent on and well… I summoned Cerbi."}