A Mysterious Summoning

 

Woodman’s question sounded at the depths of Marius’ mind, pulling him away from his complicated ponderings. Though Marius was no longer distracted, he didn’t answer immediately; he took a moment to calm his mood before speaking directly.

“We came from Earth, a simple world with no magic or strange abilities. It’s a world that focuses more on technological advances rather than the supernatural.”

Woodman frowned as he heard those words. He shook his head and spoke, “Now, this is unexpected; I’ve never heard of that world before. A civilization that doesn’t focus on the mystic arts. How strange an Otherworlder can’t be summoned from a world with no magical abilities. I met a few summoned warriors many years ago, the most famous amongst them arriving from realms now recorded in our Summoning System as Godly Worlds. Each world listed in the records had a civilization based around the principles magic and mystic arts. If what you said is correct, then no summoner should have been able to connect to your world as it’s a world with no mana power. In that sense, this Earth world must be unknown and rather distant, and the only way to find it would be to use a method which could detect a magical anomaly in its domain.”

Marius narrowed his eyes at this; he pondered. So, even he doesn’t know our world. Since he doesn’t, who could have possibly called us to these lands if most summoners couldn’t? No, wait. Ria, herself was sent to our world. Judging by this, could it be that those who sent her are the culprits for my family’s summoning? The old man mentioned that they’d need to detect a source to find our world with no magic. Our world has no magical elements. Nuclear energy would be the most that could come near the category. However, I feel that supernatural elements are likely of a different nature. Maybe, what they sensed would have been related to me, or rather, my innate talent. It must be, for when we were summoned, I could recall that feeling I used to have as a child, that strange calling to another land that faded after I met Ria. I had thought it to be nothing, yet it was that very same feeling which caused us to be summoned here.

While Marius had a deep contemplative look, Woodman stared at him with a hint of surprise on his face. His lips curved upward into a smile.

Heh, he’s a relatively quick lad. He seems to have already picked up on that hint about him being the anomaly of his world, which is only logical considering his insane amount of strength shown for his level. Not only that, but his bloodlust is also incredible. 

Woodman had a stern look on his face as, while staring at Marius, he could see a surge of murderous red energies swirling around his body. In moments, the auras began to fade before being swallowed up in the depths of his being.

Woodman couldn’t help but to admire him as he used his finger to play with his gray beard, his mood now more intrigued.

To possess such a trait could only mean that he’s lived a life as a battle-hardened warrior or an elite assassin. I truly do wonder how many souls have fallen to his fists. Still, I suppose now isn’t the time for such ponderings. He is indeed the anomaly of his world. Not to mention himself, but I could also consider his family abnormal. Especially that wife of his, transferring her to his world was already suspicious enough; it meant that they could already detect his presence and must have been forming a link with him for a long time. Like this, his summoning to our world wouldn’t be strange, but since it’s related to their kind, I’m getting a bad feeling about it. I need more information.

Not bothering to get off track, Woodman looked at Marius and asked, “Young lad, if you don’t mind me asking, I’ll need you to recount the exact happenings which led to your summoning here.”

Marius, who had only now woken from his thoughts, didn’t hold back this information; he didn’t know anything, so it was better to let someone with more knowledge enlighten you on things you don’t understand.

When Woodman heard Marius’ words, down to the description of the summoning formation, his expression was stern, but as he heard about the dark hand that had momentarily appeared, his face sunk.

“This… how can this be?” He exclaimed as his eyes showed a stern look.

Marius seeing this look, felt uneasy. He knew his summoning wasn’t so simple. He didn’t ask but waited for him to explain the circumstances. It only took a moment for Woodman to regain his bearings.

The look he now gave Marius was different. It had a severe vibe as he spoke, “Young one, I had my suspicions, but from what you’ve said just now, it’s clear that your family’s summoning was most definitely intentional. You said that you’ve been experiencing the sense of being called. You are correct in your senses, as that’s the first effect of a Pre-Summoning. Think of it as a kind of link, a link to connect one world to another using a being as a connection point. Normally it would work without fault, summoning the connected being, but as your world had lacked a strong concentration of mana, the culprit would have needed another method to summon you. The best way to fix this is to increase the mana of a world surface. One can do this by sending a lifeform or entity with sufficient mana power and have them stay for an extended duration of time. For any summoner to perform this, they would need to be extremely powerful, and willing to pay a large price. Judging by the fact that your wife is a Hellion and one who had arrived at your world years ago, she was likely sent there to aid in allowing your summoning. This matter is quite serious; I’ll need to think this over. For now, I highly recommend that you speak to your wife about it. You can come and speak with me again after she has finished her Readaptation Phase and you’ve garnered the full details.”

“Ria…” Marius muttered with a look of conflict on his face. He thought about their life together and their first encounters, her beautiful smile vivid in his mind.

With a sigh, he nodded, accepting the old man’s suggestion. He had already planned on speaking with her once she awakened. However, now he had a direction in which he could start the conversation.

Of course, that was a separate matter. There was one thing he heard that didn’t quite register with him. He glanced at the old man and questioned, “You said she’s in a Readaptation Phase. What’s that?”

Woodman glanced in the direction of the house and replied, “It’s simple. Those sent to another world will experience the same process akin to a restart. Whatever power she had in this world would be reset. Naturally, the opposite would occur once she returns to the world of her origin, the very things she lost would come back to her, but her previous power and skills shall all be reset to the initial stages of her kind.”

Marius thought and spoke, “Is this something with serious side effects?”

Woodman shook his head and replied, “In normal cases, it wouldn’t be. But overall, it depends on the person. They might be weak for a brief period, but their training will be significantly faster until complete recovery; they might even have a change in talent, one that might allow them to achieve a higher level of power than they’d initially possess. In some ways, they could even be treated as Partial-Otherworlders.”

Marius didn’t care about anything else, the only thing he focused on was that nothing would happen to his wife, and she was safe. He heaved a sigh of relief while showing a grateful look to the old man and spoke, “Thank you for your guidance.”

Woodman laughed as he heard this and spoke, “Ha ha… so you do have manners, that’s good, at least you know when to give this old man some face.”

Marius had a strange look on his face; it wasn’t that he didn’t have manners; he simply didn’t trust him and was merely cautious about his agenda; even now, he still had a tinge of alertness around him.

Woodman looked at him for a while before he rose to his feet and spoke, “Well, that’s it. I’d say that’s enough of a greeting. You should go back to your wife and kids. If you wish to learn more about this world and its customs, you can refer to the books in my study downstairs. Just a little advice, this world is dangerous, so you’ll need to be able to protect not only yourself but your family. There’s an assortment of techniques and battle skills that might come in handy. You can ponder upon them until you and your wife have come to an understanding.”

After saying this, Woodman stood up and headed towards the house, leaving behind Marius, who now sat alone within this lush field, his face calm as the cool wind rustled his hair, shifting it to the side as he contemplated.

Ria, just who are you in this world? What is our marriage in the end?

Marius had a tinge of worry, but he shook his head and pushed down his unnecessary thoughts as if he didn’t want to overthink this.

I suppose it doesn’t matter, for, despite our sudden fate, I accepted her as she was. There is no need to worry about the unknown. We’ll get through it when it comes to it. In this unfamiliar land where creatures such as those beasts and persons like that man can exist, there is only one thing that I should be focused on doing.

Marius’ eyes now flashed with a firm ray as he stood up and gripped his fists, causing his muscle to bulge as he inwardly spoke to pep himself up.

I must grow stronger, strong enough to survive these dangers and carve out a place for my family.

As if the world heard his determination, the wind grew stronger, pushing away the scattered leaves and petals about the field, some even gliding towards the clear lake at the opposing ends of the house.

Woodman had a faint smile as he glanced at him before continuing his way, his mind seeming to sense Marius’ will as he muttered, “Good, such is the spirit of a man.”

Having now rebuilt his mood, Marius soon took the chance to ponder his changes. Now that I think about it, I had quite a few changes when I arrived here and another transformation after besting that creature. Let’s see what’s different – Show Status.

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Name: Marius Edgewick

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Status: System Chosen

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Effects:

A System recognizes User as it’s inheritor.

The System’s abilities will awaken to those bounded to User.

Condition of awakening (Not yet met)

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Level: 3 | Age: 29 | Race: Human

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Battle Rank: One-★-Star G Rank

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Defense: G★ | Strength: G★

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Agility: G★ | Vitality: G★

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Mana Power: G★ | Sense: G★

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Mastery Points: 165

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Inborn Abilities:

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(EX-Max) Empowerment Level 5

Grade: Tier II

Skill Type: Active

(SM:0/8000)

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Normal Effect:

Increases Strength, Defense and Sense by five-★-star levels.

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Special Effect – Strengthen All:

User can strengthen any object, using the Empower Trait.

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Learnt Skills: None

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When Marius saw his status, he looked in-depth as he pondered. I am at Level 3, and I can guess that the EX-Max on my Empowerment skill is some type of skill rank. Odd, as soon as it awakened, it gave me a special effect, what’s the meaning of this? Hmm, it says that I can strengthen anything I wish, but it’s also a bit vague, strengthen in what sense? Che! So, it’s so confusing, just like that panel marked as Battle Rank. I have no idea what the One–★-Star G Rank Warrior, and the G★ rating in my battle attributes signifies. How does it weigh against the strength of those other warriors and creatures in this world? It looks like I’ll need to find some time to experiment a bit and see how all this works.

Having arranged his thoughts, Marius rose to his feet and turned towards the small wooden house. He then took a step forward with a strange flicker in his eyes as he pondered. Since I’ve had chances, I’ll need to check on the children and see if anything’s different about them. My awakened status has made me quite curious; it’s saying that they will be able to awaken the powers of my System, but it’s lacking some type of condition. Hmm, maybe I’ll be able understand it around them.

While in thought, he soon left the fields and once more entered the building, heading up towards the room to meet with his family.