Chapter 25
Chapter 25
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 25: Standard of Summoning
The mansion located not too far from the Main Castle gate, but not in an excessively conspicuous position, was quite pleasing to Iden's eyes.
The fence was low and neat, and the outer wall still had the air of being new.
Although far from flashy, it was a form impeccable as a house for a beginning.
"This is the reception room. How is it? I think the linear yet calm atmosphere matches you well."
"This is a study with a feeling of containing nature, giving points with a dark brown bookshelf and subtle light green curtains. Is it okay?"
Iden slowly looked around the mansion interior with Erwin who was excited(?) for some reason.
The structure leading from the entrance to the reception room, dining room, and study was practical without superfluity, and the positions of windows also showed traces of being arranged considering lighting.
There was no conspicuous luxury, but traces of good management remained everywhere.
Above all, what caught his gaze was the basement.
Going down along the stone stairs, a space much wider than expected revealed itself.
The ceiling was high, and the walls were firmly reinforced.
It would have been a space originally used for storage or evacuation, but to Iden's eyes, it approached with a completely different meaning.
'If it's here, it's enough.'
Width where there would be no interference even if multiple summoning circles are spread.
Thick walls that wouldn't damage the upper part even if mana goes out of control.
It was a space ideal beyond measure for repeating experiments on the premise of failure.
Iden, having looked around the mansion, hired ten servants with one gold coin.
Gardener, cook, servants, and even a coachman.
Although not luxurious, it was sufficient personnel to run a Baronet's mansion.
Since he decided to walk the path of a noble, it was necessary to cultivate the mansion for social interactions.
Moreover, it was a position obtained by a commoner origin carrying the Northern Grand Duke on his back.
It was natural not to bother making things to be faulted for.
Therefore, the overall management and operation of the mansion were entrusted to Erwin.
She agreed willingly, and began to cultivate the mansion's bedrooms and garden intensively.
Iden considered there would be no one as trustworthy as her for work handling documents, management, and people.
Instead, he focused on what he had to do.
During the day, he held onto strategy books.
Not to learn how to command the front line, but to learn how to stand and fight on the battlefield directly.
Movements to survive among troops, approach and withdrawal using terrain, how to maintain judgment in confusion.
He ruminated on sentences recorded not from a commander's perspective, but from a combatant's perspective.
When night came, he went down to the basement.
Drawing summoning circles on the floor, flowing mana, and repeating failures.
The Summoning Arts book received from Eldmonde was already opened several times, and whenever a blocked section occurred, he found him immediately to solve it.
The book condensing decades of trial and error and records was valuable line by line, and the Northern Grand Duke's teachings became nutrients one by one.
Iden no longer relied only on senses.
Understanding the system written in the Summoning Arts book, he intentionally decomposed mana and subdivided the general conditions of summoning.
He tried to recognize his limits clearly.
Driving body and spirit to the limit to check directly where it is possible up to, and from where it is dangerous.
Of course, he didn't forget to stop by the Main Castle intermittently to check the trends of Northern foreign tribes, nor did he omit gauging the air raid timing to hit the capital.
Even in the original work, the gap between hitting Hamelon and the incident where the Wintel family eldest son dies in the capital Helon wasn't described long.
Since they were heavily defeated in the Hamelon air raid, he decided to move expecting at least 2 years to 3 years if long, and decided to devote all concentration to Summoning Arts training for the time being.
Day and night.
The boundary disappeared again.
Especially the space called basement contributed greatly to breaking down that boundary, and he spent day after day with meals Erwin brought directly and time she told him.
Even though he bought a noble title, his life was still no different from past days.
No, it was correct to say it became harsher.
Iden read until Eldmonde's Summoning Arts book became tattered, realized and mastered, and established his own Summoning Arts from limited general formulas.
The Summoning Arts book written by Grand Duke Eldmonde was truly no different from a treasure chest.
According to that Summoning Arts book, there existed strict grades and hierarchy of formulas in summoning circles.
Belonging to the lowest rank is General Summoning Arts.
A method of dragging only the form for a limited time through temporary connection with an entity existing in another world.
Although mana consumption is low, there is no autonomy of the entity, and continuous mana is consumed for maintenance.
Thanks to entities relying solely on the summoner's command, it was a general technology easily usable by any Summoner.
Above that is Contract Summoning Ritual.
A formula making the summoner's body powerful by forming a continuous connection with a specific entity through clear medium and conditions, requiring high mental strength and understanding of the summoner.
If failing or exceeding the mental allowance limit, backflow or erosion occurs easily, boasting high danger to the extent that prohibiting attempts unless one is a highly skilled expert is the best policy.
Therefore, it was called Contract Summoning 'Ritual'.
And a higher concept explained by allocating only extremely few pages even in the Summoning Arts book.
High-Rank Summoning Circle.
This wasn't simply 'calling' something, but a formula reconstructing the summoning space itself and overlaying part of the laws of another world onto the present world.
Summoner's mana amount, structural understanding, spatial recognition ability, flexible agility, and fast brain rotation etc. are all required, and if even one goes awry, activation itself is impossible. Among those complex High-Rank Summoning Circles, Iden focused on one.
Grade 7 among recorded names.
'Rebuild Glish'.
Form reconstruction type summoning circle.
A formula simplifying the concept of matter, reducing life definition to minimum units, then recombining to 'birth' a new life form.
Theoretically capable of summoning the most stable life form and boasting extreme efficiency with no continuous mana consumption, but at the same time, a formula of dangerous structure with no limit on 'size' depending on the mana amount the summoner infuses.
And as much as that, it was an extremely complex formula.
Iden repeated turning that page dozens of times.
To realize, he brought dozens of sheets of new parchment and repeated reading, copying, and erasing again.
What Grand Duke Eldmonde wrote for decades was no different from the 'Standard of Summoning Arts' defining the concept of Summoning Arts beyond simple 'records'.
3 months.
He chewed and swallowed every single sentence Eldmonde left.
Why this line bends here, why this pattern doesn't close, verifying parts not understood by splitting the summoning circle directly.
And finally...
On the basement floor, a summoning circle of a different dimension from before was drawn.
Not a simple cross-section but a multi-layered cross structure.
Based on the center, six auxiliary patterns were arranged as if rotating, and the binding gate covering firmly on top was closing slowly.
As mana flowed in, lines on the floor took on blue light and moved alive.
Iden, suppressing the beat in his chest, recited the final formula.
"Rebuild Glish."
Along with the feeling of the basement floor sinking abruptly a beat late, dazzling blue light begins to surge from the entire summoning circle.
Blowing gust began to sweep the surroundings, and even Iden who was enduring ended up flying and crashing into the wall.
Kuuung—!
"Kuhuk!"
And instantly, rays of light and gust disappear.
Iden raised his body hurriedly.
However, it was quiet at first.
Not a general silence.
Noisy silence right after a storm swept through.
Next, a gigantic lump of translucent blue began to be created from the center of the summoning circle making a sound like thick oil rubbing.
Gurgle, rumble—
Slowly, but surely taking form and covering the floor.
The surface shook softly, and a deep white core shone in the center.
The lump continuously growing centering on the core as if the Big Bang exploded was none other than a Slime.
The problem was...
"......Uh."
It was when Iden raised his head and looked at the ceiling.
The Slime's size faithfully followed the calculation of the summoning circle and the mana amount the summoner infused, but regrettably, the size of the basement wasn't included in that calculation.
Squeeze, rumble.
The top part of the enlarging Slime touched the ceiling.
Squeeze—?
Rumble.
Hic.
The ceiling withstands the soaring resistance.
Stone crumbs scatter like rain.
Iden cheered.
No.
It's a 20-gold mansion.
Fortunately, the Slime stopped trying to grow bigger, and the body blocked by the stone wall of the basement ceiling began to spread sideways.
Squish, gurgle—
Eventually in the middle of the basement, a giant Slime pressed flat against the ceiling was summoned.
Like a too-large cushion forcibly crumpled into a box.
Like a pufferfish fully angry at teasing.
The Slime trembled its surface once as if dissatisfied.
Iden looked at that scene for a moment, then sat down leaning against the wall.
"...It is a success though."
Shedding a laugh of success along with a sigh of relief that he protected the 20-gold mansion.
The Slime constantly squirming as if uncomfortable while flattened against the ceiling was proving his first High-Rank Summoning success.
Of course.
"E, earthquake—!! Everyone under the table!"
"Prepare for earthquake!!"
"Everyone run away—!!"
Although the mansion interior had to suffer from a sudden earthquake alarm due to vibration originating from the basement.
**
"...."
"Ha...."
"......."
"Haha...."
"......So, you did this...?"
Grand Duke Eldmonde, who was urgently summoned(?), couldn't continue his words seeing the Slime filling one side of the basement.
The Slime was looking at Eldmonde with a frowned glabella, and Iden Summonfield standing next to him was shedding an awkward laugh.
The reason Iden called him was simple.
Heart wanting to boast to the teacher?
It wasn't.
Because he wanted to unsummon the Slime causing aftershocks in the mansion hurriedly, but was in a situation difficult to handle due to the absence of practice for unsummoning circles following the first success of High-Rank Summoning Circle.
Iden scratched his head awkwardly and opened his mouth.
"Since I'm still clumsy at unsummoning High-Rank Grade 7 Summoning Circles...."
"...."
Eldmonde looked at the whining Slime without a word, then soon burst into hearty laughter.
High-Rank Grade 7 Summoning Circle.
Memory of taking 6 months to realize it himself, who considered himself mastered in Summoning Arts, came to mind, and his dark grey pupils, now dulled through all sorts of hardships, emitted light again.