In Ye Chui’s small wooden house, the table was laden with all the food stored in the cabinet: bread, dried meat, apples, and even a few carrots. Debbie, the quirky girl, sat at the table, devouring everything with gusto. She was clearly starving, paying no mind to dining etiquette in front of Ye Chui. Of course, she might not have had any such awareness to begin with.
From her attire and earlier conversation, Ye Chui could tell that her Anduin family was likely a noble lineage. Yet, he saw no trace of the refinement one might expect from a noble lady in Debbie.
As a soul from another world, however, Ye Chui didn’t find her off-putting. To him, the girl was lively, unpretentious, and rather adorable.
“Got any more food? Your house can’t have just this little, right?” Debbie wiped her mouth, looking at Ye Chui expectantly.
Alright, she was also incredibly at ease, not treating herself as a guest at all.
“You’ve already eaten a week’s worth of my rations in one go,” Ye Chui said, sweating a bit. He got up to rummage through the cabinet for more food but only found a few hard, mouldy pieces of bread, likely stored too long.
Debbie, unfazed, stuffed them into her mouth and chewed. “This bread has a weird taste. Is it a unique Stan Town flavour? It’s got a hint of aged caviar.”
Ye Chui was speechless. Aged caviar? He poured her a cup of tea and seized the chance to ask, “Are you a swordmaster? The kind who uses a greatsword?” He recalled the Wealth Goddess in the temple wielding a giant sword.
“Swordmaster? With a greatsword?” Debbie looked offended. “Do I look like some crude girl to you?”
Ye Chui glanced at the table littered with food scraps, tempted to solemnly tell her she did. But her next words piqued his interest.
“I’m a summoner.”
“A summoner?” Ye Chui’s eyes lit up.
From Wade’s memories, Ye Chui knew there were four paths to power on this continent. The most common was the swordmaster, who trained in swordsmanship from a young age with no restrictions, though talent was needed to excel.
Next were mages, who required a magical aura and a grimoire’s approval to awaken. They were far rarer than swordmasters but played a crucial role on the continent, with the most powerful figures often being mages.
Then there were holy disciples, devout followers of the church who drew power from faith. Churches dotted every town and village, and wherever a church stood, holy disciples—mostly women—could be found, wielding power through sacred chants.
Finally, summoners were the rarest. Becoming a summoner required not only a magical aura but also exceptional mental strength. Summoners could call forth magical creatures or heroic spirits to fight for them.
Heroic spirits were the undying souls of past heroes, fused with magic to become immortal entities.
In Stan Town, there were many swordmasters, mages, and holy disciples, but only three summoners, who rarely appeared. Wade’s memories held no record of him witnessing them summon creatures or spirits.
Now, this quirky girl was claiming to be a summoner!
“You’re a summoner? What can you summon?” Ye Chui asked, brimming with excitement.
“Since you’re so curious, I’ll show you,” Debbie said, clearly eager to show off. She rummaged in a small pouch on her skirt and pulled out a pale green key. Just as mages relied on grimoires to cast spells, summoners needed magical tools for summoning, and Debbie’s key was such a tool—a summoning key.
“Denizens of the demon realm, lend me your power. Come to this world with your purpose, quieter than death, freezing all, even time itself. You are my familiars, you are…”
A chant with a strange, rhythmic cadence flowed from Debbie’s mouth. A magical door adorned with intricate patterns slowly materialized before her, about half a metre tall and wide. She inserted the summoning key into the door.
Ye Chui’s breath caught as he watched, wide-eyed. Though he was growing accustomed to this magical world, a summoner’s ritual was still a novelty. He hadn’t known summoners needed chants. But then, Debbie’s chant abruptly stopped.
Her brows furrowed, as if pondering something.
“What’s wrong? Is there a problem?” Ye Chui asked, wondering if she’d been injured in the dungeon.
“Oh, I forgot the words,” Debbie replied, shaking her head. “Never mind, it’ll do.”
She inserted the key into the summoning door, turned it, and pulled it open.
Ye Chui was dumbfounded. “Forgetting the chant doesn’t matter? That’s way too lax!”
“Summoners don’t actually need chants,” Debbie explained nonchalantly. “It just feels more impressive with a few lines.”
Ye Chui was speechless. Was this girl some kind of chuunibyou?
The summoning door opened, and Debbie shouted into it, “Xiululu, get out here!”
Under Ye Chui’s expectant gaze, a fluffy creature slowly crawled out. Calling it a fluffball wasn’t quite right. In shape and size, it resembled a chubby, furry cat with cyan fur. Its expression was strikingly human, its round face radiating displeasure. Half-emerging from the door, it shot Ye Chui a disdainful glance with its triangular eyes before turning to Debbie.
“This is my first contracted magical creature, Xiululu. Don’t let its looks fool you; it’s super strong. I’ll have it show you,” Debbie said to Ye Chui, brimming with enthusiasm.
But then, “This great lord is in a bad mood today and doesn’t feel like working,” the cat-like creature said dryly before retreating back into the door, slamming it shut with a bang. The floating door vanished.
Ye Chui was speechless. Was she summoning a magical creature or some grumpy overlord?
“Ahem, this happens sometimes,” Debbie said, a flash of embarrassment crossing her pretty face. She quickly covered it up. “I have an even stronger heroic spirit summon, but it costs a lot to call forth, so I can’t show you.”
“Really? What a shame,” Ye Chui said, not at all enthusiastic.
Then a key question struck him. “Debbie, why were you in that dungeon? What was that place?”
At this, Debbie’s expression turned serious, her eyes sparkling.
“That dungeon was a ‘Gods’ Relic’! Legend says that after the Fall of the Gods, countless divine fragments scattered across the world, accessible only through unique teleportation arrays. I stole a broken array from the old man, thinking it was useless, but when I touched it, I was inexplicably transported there.”
“Then what about that door?” Ye Chui pressed. The temple’s sudden collapse and the door’s appearance felt odd, especially since his iPad’s map had led him there.
“How should I know? Gods’ Relic entrances often have multiple access points. Maybe you stumbled upon one leading to that dungeon,” Debbie explained, her knowledge of adventuring far surpassing what Ye Chui had gleaned from Wade.
Then her eyes lit up further, as if struck by an idea.
“Since that door opened once, it can open again. That place must have a coordinate we can access. I found some great stuff in there over the past few days…”
