"Why does it look like a frog? No... it must be something else..."
As if to answer his hopeful thoughts, a croak was heard when the light completely faded. Qiris stared in disbelief at the small green frog that looked at him without moving, its large round eyes seeming as perplexed as he was...
Then came the fateful announcement from the summoning system:
---------------------
Name: -
Species: Frog
Element: Water
Rank: 1 (Beginner)
Quality: 1 star
Skills: -
---------------------
Qiris remained frozen for a few moments before opening his interface with one last hope:
---------------------
Name: Qiris Valsan
Rank: 1
Talent - Summoning without potential
Summons:
- Frog (Unnamed) - 1/1
Skills: -
---------------------
A heavy silence filled the room as Qiris stared at the information.
"..."
Qiris stood amidst the chaos unfolding before his eyes, his expression marked by the difficulty of understanding the situation. In front of him, the small 30-centimeter frog jumped and hit the wall before stopping, staring intensely at it.
"I refuse!" exclaimed Qiris, observing the creature whose intelligence seemed to be at the lowest level, fixating on the wall with an almost defiant intensity, as if it were a formidable opponent.
Helpless, he decided to read the information about his talent before deciding what to do.
[Talent - Summoning Without Potential]: Allows erasing all concepts of potential.
"Huh?" Qiris said, perplexed by the displayed information. Despite his efforts, nothing else appeared. He began to think out loud.
"That little idiot over there is ranked 1 with a one-star potential. Either potential means nothing anymore, or it's fixed at 1 no matter what for all my summons..."
Qiris was already apprehensive about the future when a new window appeared.
[Name Selection - "Little Idiot" registered for the summoned creature]
"..."
"Little Idiot?"
The small frog turned to observe its master, seeming to feel a bond forming at that precise moment.
"That name suits you quite well. Well, I'm going to introduce you to someone you'll have to get along with."
Qiris opened the door, closely followed by a hopping silhouette.
"Ralls, I'm done, come here. Let me introduce you to Little Idiot."
At the bottom of the stairs, the massive black dog, tail wagging with excitement, rushed towards Qiris and discovered a small green thing hopping down each step. Their gazes met.
"Oh, Little Idiot, let me introduce you to..."
Qiris didn't have time to finish his sentence before seeing the small green creature leap directly and hit Ralls' head.
Ralls, surprised but unharmed, intensely observed the small green creature staring at him from the ground.
Qiris was speechless in front of a window that had just appeared.
[Little Idiot has learned Propelled Headbutt]
"Little Idiot, this is Ralls and Ralls, this is Little Idiot. Be nice to him, he's not very smart."
Qiris made a firm decision: not to think too much and let things take their course.
"Little Idiot, come eat. Tomorrow, we'll go to the tower to level up."
Qiris opened the fridge in the kitchen, but the frog was fixated on Ralls with a particular intensity.
"Here, eat this tonight. Tomorrow, we'll buy frog food."
He took out pieces of meat that he cut into small cubes before placing them on a plate on the floor.
Little Idiot, who had been observing the massive black creature as solid as a wall until then, finally turned his head towards the meat pieces. He approached slowly, squinting his eyes without moving further.
Ralls and Qiris watched eagerly. Suddenly, without warning, Little Idiot propelled himself and sent the plate and meat pieces flying before landing heavily on the ground. He then proudly got up before slowly swallowing the scattered pieces.
Qiris and Ralls exchanged a look: one depressed, the other sympathetic towards the young man.
***
The next morning, a young man and a frog-headed towards a small shop in the commercial alley named "Affinity."
The shop was well-known in Astral because it was where summoners could discover their affinity after their first summoning and learn their first spell for free.
"Little Idiot, if you break anything here, you'll never eat anything again!" Qiris warned firmly. The small creature shuddered, remembering the taste of the conquered meat from the previous day.
The young woman behind the counter discreetly observed Qiris and his little frog, her mind stirring with contradictory thoughts.
"Another novice coming to discover his affinity" she thought. 'Like all new summoners in the city, he passes through our shop. But with all this recent agitation...'
She recalled the rumors circulating in the city and the instructions from headquarters. "A hidden expert or a genius who has just summoned his first creature... The imperial family has even issued a reward for any information."
Her eyes lingered on the small frog. "A frog-type summon? No, impossible that it's him. Experts don't come to a novice shop, and a genius surely wouldn't have such an... ordinary first summon."
She shook her head slightly, dismissing her suspicions. "I'm getting worked up over nothing. He's just a new summoner like the others. No chance that the summoner sought by the imperial family would show up here for a simple affinity test."
Regaining her professionalism, she addressed a welcoming smile to Qiris. "Welcome to our shop! How can I help you?"
Qiris focused again.
"I've come to discover my affinity and learn a spell related to it."
"Very well! Please follow me."
Arriving at a counter where she prepared the table for the examination, she began to explain to Qiris.
"There are several elements in this world, and all associated affinities exist as well. Here we test the elements that 90% of people possess: fire, water, wind, earth, and nature."
She placed five gems of different colors on the counter before continuing.
"For rare elements like lightning or metal, you'll need to make an appointment for a rare element test. As for very rare elements like light or darkness... you'll have to go to the capital for that."
Little Idiot observed from Qiris's knees the blue stone placed on the counter, squinting his eyes.
"Alright! Here are five stones representing each of the basic elements: Fire is violent and destructive, its spells are often offensive. Water is soft and formless, its spells are related to support. Earth is rigid and unshakeable, it's often linked to defensive spells. Wind is free and fast, it's an intermediate element between support and attack. Finally, nature is resilient, its spells are related to support and crowd control. Note that all this only concerns summoners, there is aquatic summons with formidable destructive power or infernal summons without offensive strength but with great assistance capacity."
Qiris nodded in understanding while knowing that it didn't hurt to review the basics.
"Your summoned creature has a water affinity if I'm not mistaken?" she asked, smiling at the small frog.
"Yes... it's of the water element..." Qiris replied while noticing that Little Idiot was squinting his green eyes even more towards the blue stone. He placed a hand on his head in case he tried to propel himself onto it again.
Little Idiot seemed ready to face his new opponent but was disappointed to be interrupted in his mental preparation.
"Very well! There's a 50% chance that your affinity is identical to that of your first summoning. I'm going to ask you to place your hand on each of the stones placed in front of you," the young woman calmly explained.
Qiris nodded again before placing his hand on each stone:
The fire stone — Nothing.
The wind stone — Nothing.
The earth stone — Nothing.
The nature stone — Nothing.
The water stone began to glow intensely while Qiris felt Little Idiot getting excited under his other hand...
Little Idiot took this light as a direct provocation and wanted to confront this blue entity daring to touch his master...