The Summoner's Rebirth: Awaken, Milady

Chapter 11: Stranger Danger

It wasn't because of a malfunction in the System, she truly did not possess a summoning [Main].

She was confused.

Was it her mana? Was it insufficient?

No, she succeeded in summoning Dianthe. Although Dianthe was a lower - ranked Spirit, it was still a great feat.

Through her experiences, she also obtained the ability to gauge her mana output.

The mana it took to summon a creature was now possessed by her.

Normally, people would start with mob monsters such as goblins and weaker monsters that didn't require a pact. With Spirits, you needed to gain the other party's approval, for them to answer to your summon to be able to acquire their assistance.

The question was: How did she summon Dianthe?

Dianthe was similar to the one she knew in the past, but the law of nature itself contradicted the hopes she wanted to place her bets on.

Contracted summons weren't able to live on without their contractors. A pact between the two parties would mean that the summon will henceforth live on their summoner's mana, creating a symbiotic relationship.

Without her existence, the summons she trusted and loved- they would perish.

The magic circle she created was certainly that of a summoner's spell. The System recognized Dianthe as her summon, but wouldn't recognize her as a Summoner.

Troubled, Aria racked her brains to search for a solution to this problem. She still planned to pursue the path of a summoner.

If possible, she wanted to regroup with her past summons. Regretfully, that couldn't be realized.

'..Runes would be a plausible solution.' Runes could be absorbed and turned into Mains for her. If she could find a summoning skill, perhaps she could walk down the path of a summoner.

She was sure that her unfilled Job section was where the [Summoner] occupation she desired would be.

'How many runes will it take until I find the correct rune?' Aria sighed.

Dungeons yielded her EXP to grow, so she wasn't complaining, but it would mean that she had to risk her life multiple times.

At least until she got stronger.

'Next, the sword.' Aria drew the newly obtained blade from her inventory.

[Halvargg] was the sword she got as a reward from the dungeon quest.

[Halvargg]

- [+20 ATK]

- [The Protector] | [Halvargg] was blessed by a master craftsman. The sword was given to a Knight along with a task to protect his master with all his might. The Knight died whilst protecting his honor. To continue his task, he asked the craftsman to inject his soul into the sword and left it as a family heirloom for his future successors. The sword will respond to those who have a will to protect.

Sizing up the blade carefully, Aria was quite satisfied with the design.

It was a longsword type. Thankfully, Aria was best in handling a longsword. She didn't know what she would do if she got a greatsword or a dagger of some sort.

Aria grabbed the handle tightly and went into her usual stance. Immediately, the sword's blade glimmered with a golden luster.

[You have successfully imbued <Halvargg> with your mana.]

[Skill [Mana Blade] obtained.]

Aria blinked. She didn't expect to obtain a skill so suddenly.

"Dumbass System, trying to force me to become a Swordsman class?" Aria grumbled. It was so easy to gain the skills necessary to prevail in swordsmanship, why can't it be the same with summoning skills?

Come to think of it, Summoners were very scarce. The one who taught her the arts of summoning was her revered teacher and parent figure, Hel.

After he disappeared, Aria continued to learn from what he left and took over his research.

Reminiscing about the past, she wielded the sword and felt the urge to test it. Unfortunately, there were no open targets.

Even though she was experienced in the past, a millennium, or more, had passed. She would require a whole lot of training before she could get back to her prime state.

"[Halvargg].. Please don't break that easily?" Aria stored the sword back into her inventory. She was able to take things in and out of the inventory box just by thinking about it.

She lamented that it would be better if the sword was stored in a sheath, where she could just draw it with ease whenever there was an attack. Her reflexes would be delayed if she had to draw the sword out of the inventory first.

Then again, she got a glimpse of the world and saw that nobody wore protective armor or displayed their weapons in blind sight.

Monsters did not appear outside of the gates.

'..Must be the change in time.' Aria had to adapt to the new environment without revealing the fact that she was an ancient human.

'What about Yoo Jin? Can I trust him?'

She was originally someone who didn't mind if a stranger wanted to assist her. As long as they had acceptable levels of power, she was willing to let them in.

Of course, the level of secrecy would be different per important member.

However, this time was different. She was someone who came back from a betrayal, and she couldn't bring herself to trust another.

At the same time, she knew that she needed a pillar of support in this new world.

"Let's go back to Yoo Jin.." Aria turned around and wanted to go back.

But then, a presence disrupted her calmness.

An ominous presence.

Coming out of nowhere.

"Who's there?" Aria asked loudly, but received no answer in return.

She narrowed her eyes and heightened her senses.

Even after doing that, she still couldn't spot the other party's exact location.

"It's bad manners to spy on people. Come out and state your wish," Aria exclaimed.

She didn't know if the other party was an enemy, and whether they were stronger than her or otherwise.

She gulped her saliva. If they were stronger, what would she do?

"Shouldn't it be the opposite?"  Instead of complying with Aria's order, the foreign voice asked a question back.

A male voice.

'The opposite?' Was he telling her that she was the one in the wrong?

"What do you mean?!" Aria inquired.

"Who are you? What are you doing here? Actually, you know what? There's another way we can solve this matter in,"

The voice disappeared for a few seconds.

Then, a projectile was shot.

Aria had strong battle reflexes, so she immediately jumped out of the shot's trajectory and evaded taking the hit.

'What the...'

It was a pebble. A mere pebble managed to crack the ground. The hole it created was at least a foot deep.

Even the Red Ogre wouldn't be able to do such a feat.

Upon further inspection, Aria found traces of golden mana on the pebble.

The mana was potent. She didn't know the origins, but it was way more potent than normal.

"...So you're attacking me without a proper reason now?" Aria glared and drew her new sword [Halvargg] out of the inventory. "Very well. It shall be done according to your desire,"

If he wanted a fight, she will gladly entertain him.

"Dianthe! Spread your presence!" Aria commanded.

Dianthe appeared out of thin air and floated upwards. She went just high enough to not go past the tallest tree and dispersed.

This was a convenient technique that made use of a water spirit's liquid state.

By converting mana into certain conditions, you could change the spirit's form.

In this case, Dianthe was turning into a mist.

Each and every single particle of water she manipulated was connected to her and Aria.

The mist traveled through the forest.

In no time, Aria found her target.

"Water Blade!" Aiming at the position she found, Aria slashed at the air and created a wide slicer that flew at a high velocity towards the coordinate.

The opponent started to move.

Aria clicked her tongue and asked Dianthe to keep tracking. By sharing her senses with the spirit, she was still able to locate the other party, although they moved fast.

Aria kept casting the Water Blade spell, whilst simultaneously closing in to the attacker.

The distance between them grew nearer and nearer.

Aria maintained her attacks, cornering the enemy into repeatedly avoiding her blows.

She didn't give him a chance to retaliate.

Being too focused, she forgot where she was fighting in.

They were originally inside the forest, but they had exited the area.

Aria kept administrating her blows, not noticing that they were nearing the house Yoo Jin was in.

Another Water Blade was sent.

Aria didn't pay attention to where she aimed, since Dianthe was the one tracking the man's position. She just locked onto the man.

Even if he avoided the blow, the blades still connected with another surface. In the forests, the trees were the ones who had to take the hit.

However, this time was different.

"That's Yoo Jin's house!" Aria panicked. She couldn't stop a Water Blade that has been launched.

Although it was a long distance attack, she had no chances of stopping it in time.

The man seemed to react to her words, as he turned around and saw a stray Water Blade aimed at the lone white house in the middle of nowhere.

"Tch!" Instead of getting away from the blade, he chased it.

"Regalia!!" The man shouted.

A lion's roar resounded.

Golden mist enshrouded the man, who was now standing in front of Yoo Jin's house.

The Water Blade had long evaporated after coming in contact with the man's strange mist.

After the mist cleared up, Aria was able to see clearly.

A golden barrier covered his arm. It was comprised of hexagon shapes, aligned into a perfect pattern.

The barrier was the one that took care of the water blade.

"What?! What happened?!" Before long, Yoo Jin's figure stepped outside the house and peeked.

He saw a few trees having unnatural deep cuts carved into them, along with two familiar figures standing in hostile positions.

It only took him a few seconds to realize what happened.

"ARIA-NIM! SUNGHA-HYUNG!" Devastated, Yoo Jin screamed as he looked at the two battlers in anger.

Both Aria and 'Sung-ha' dropped their fighting stance and had a common understanding on what the other's identity was.

Whatever it is, it was connected with the little boy, Yoo Jin.

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