Chapter 81: Summon

“Oh, and I called for backup before we started this run. We aren’t clearing the entire district ourselves, so once the others arrive we’ll divide the remaining area between us”

With those final words, the eagle pushed against the ground, launched itself upward and climbed between the surrounding trees before clearing the canopy.

The Wild Beast had become a bronze silhouette against the blue morning sky in seconds.

Rhos watched them disappear northward, dropping his hand.

Handlers were interesting people.

The Merge didn’t automatically turn every animal enhanced with spiritual energy into a bloodthirsty monster.

Many creatures retained most of their ordinary instincts and behavior despite being altered by the spiritual energy saturating the world. The most obvious difference was often size, although mutations could take countless forms depending on species, environment and exposure.

Animals whose spiritual changes became sufficiently pronounced were broadly called Wild Beasts.

Humans capable of taming, training and working alongside them were commonly known as handlers.

Wild didn’t necessarily mean hostile. Not in every case at least.

The eagle Bront was an example of a Wild Beast.

He was an enormous eagle that could breath blue spiritual fire capable of incinerating an entire swarm of locusts. But he wasn’t some mindless predator attacking everything nearby.

Bront understood Arlen, responded to instructions and seemed to possess enough personality to become offended when criticized.

Being able to tame a Wild Beast was an achievement in and of itself.

And a scion being able to do it was rather unusual.

Rhos looked toward the distinct speck one final time.

Despite having the blood of a legend flowing through his veins, Arlen was surprisingly down to earth. Pleasant too, which wasn’t something he expected from a member of a prestigious family.

Granted, Rhos didn’t have much experience with prestigious families.

He had encountered plenty of people belonging to Sects and organizations connected to the Thirteen Legendary Figures, but actual descendants were rather rare to be found on the lower ring.

Well, apart from Arlen, Rhos had met a scion of another prestigious family descending directly from Morrigan.

That person had been involved in his indoctrination into the Eternal Darkness Sect after he entered Elderwood.

Rhos’s expression became distant. He didn’t remember much about it.

But he remembered the suffocating feeling of being an Outborn child surrounded by adults telling him what he was supposed to believe now that he had entered “proper” civilisation.

‘Not something to think about. Not now, at least’

He lowered his gaze toward Morri and his so-called summon stared back at him.

That was the convenient story he decided to use.

Introducing Morri as a mysterious Spirit created from a Wrath would raise a lot of eyebrows. So, calling her a summon solved the probability of being questioned relentlessly.

Not everyone minded their own business better than Koa.

Technically, it wasn’t completely false to call Morri a summon. He summoned her, therefore… summon.

Summons weren’t unheard of. Much like Otherworldly Treasures, they were spiritual manifestations intimately linked to a person’s Patron Spirit.

Rather than existing permanently in the physical world, a summon normally remained dormant within the user’s soul until called forth. Their appearances varied wildly, from animals and humanoid beings to things that didn’t fit either category.

Morri shared enough of those characteristics to pass, surprisingly well even.

She looked unusual enough that people were willing to accept the explanation without immediately assuming something was off.

In fact, Morri possessed most of the advantages expected of a summon while seemingly avoiding their greatest drawbacks.

One of them being spiritual energy consumption.

Compared to Otherworldly Treasures, summons were expensive.

Manifesting one required spiritual energy, and maintaining its physical existence continued consuming the user’s reserves. Keeping a summon manifested unnecessarily was generally a terrible idea, especially during extended operations.

That was why Arlen’s suggestion made perfect sense.

Except Morri didn’t do that. At least, Rhos couldn’t feel any drain.

Rhos had kept her manifested for extended periods without noticing his reserves diminishing. If there was a cost, it either wasn’t coming directly from him or was so insignificant that he couldn’t perceive it.

But that wasn’t information he wanted to share.

Since he claimed Morri was a summon, he needed to behave as though she followed the same rules as one.

Rhos crouched to the little girl’s level and held out his hand.

“You did well today. Better than I expected, actually, so don’t look at me like I’m punishing you. You can rest for a while, and I’ll bring you back out if we need you”

Morri looked at him with an expression that suggested she would rather continue.

Rhos kept his hand extended.

“We’re trying to look normal, remember? Well, I am. You don’t know what I’m talking about”

“Sha narai, morra?”

“Exactly. I couldn’t have said it better myself. Knew you would understand”

If only Koa was here to interpret. But unfortunately, she couldn’t look after the little girl due to her work.

At any rate, he concentrated on the connection he had with the little girl.

The sensation had become easier to recognize after experimenting with it several times. The instant he felt it, he willed Morri’s manifestation to end.

Morri glanced down as her outline began glowing. Her fingertips became translucent, breaking apart into wisps of crimson and white spiritual energy.

The light flowed toward Rhos’s palm continuously and within seconds, the little girl was completely gone. He lowered his hand and focused inward for a moment.

He couldn’t sense Morri normally, even when she was inside him. Dead Soul remained just as troublesome regardless of location.

But the Soul Bond made it easier to recognize her now that he knew such a connection existed.

“That’s done. Now what?”

He looked north.

Arlen had offered him a place on Bront before they entered the district that morning. Rhos had respectfully declined.

He preferred solitude when traveling and also because moving through a forest on his own feet felt more natural than sitting on the back of an enormous bird.

“Well then. Let’s get to it”