It should have been a momentous event.
A third summon. The last one he'd ever get.
Just when he'd lost all hope, fate swung in his direction again.
It looked promising...
He had the light show. The silence. The mystique.
Then—
Someone laughed…
And it all went to shit…
It started with a snort from the back and then another.
And in no time, he had an epidemic of mockery on his hand.
By the time Dean lifted his head again. The silence that came along with the slime had completely shattered.
"What is that?"
"A slime?" Someone else answered with a question.
"No. Ohh… I think it's just a slime," one of the vampires laughed.
"Another Common class…I'm scared,' a blond girl said with worry.
But Dean wasn't here for their judgement.
He stared at the slime and it didn't look threatening at all.
Didn't look majestic or something that could be helpful.
It just sat there. A wobbling gelatinous blob with multiple faint colors underneath its surface, like it was too confused to pick one.
'Hope this thing isn't poisonous,' Dean gulped and stretched his index finger forward to poke it .
The body of the slime cave in with his touch, as two slits appeared on its surface like gills.
Against his better judgment and every warning alarm in his head screaming for him to retreat.
Dean leaned in and watched as the slits slowly opened, revealing a pair of large eyes.
Eyes too large and innocent to be on something like this.
"Aww…" a girl at the front roll couldn't help herself.
"It's kind of cute…" another spoke as if she had read Dean's mind.
"Wait…why does it look like that?"
A few girls leaned forward, but it wasn't just them.
Some male veterans leaned in as well, curiosity replacing mockery.
Dean eyes remained on the slime. As an unseen tether of understanding formed between them.
The slime tilted to the side as If it recognized him now.
Narrowing his eyes. Dean couldn't help but over think how that was abnormal.
But if he were being honest, what did he know?
This was his first summon. Notwithstanding to the originals earlier two.
"What can you do?" Dean whispered. And almost like it heard him.
The gelatinous blob suddenly sank into the cracks of the pillar. Disappearing completely.
"Did you see that?" A blond boy with sharp blue eyes pointed.
The crowd's chatter stopped as every one looked at Cruff. They had to understand what this was.
The bald man had a puzzled expression. Cold sweat on his forehead as he kept tapping on the device in his hand.
..Bzzt…
The device in his hand let out a sharp, broken tone.
The screen of the device had completely froze immediately the Slime appeared.
He stared at the pillar and it's surface grew darker by the second.
'This is impossible,' Cruff panicked.
He stopped tapping on the dead device and finally looked up with effort.
The crowd's expectation was now over-bearing. They needed to know whether to wow or continue cursing.
Clearing his throat with a quick cough. He tried and failed to keep a calm expression.
"The device has malfunctioned," he spoke with the calmest tone he could find.
"Master Dean Gray, you'll have to come back to the W.S.A for further evaluation,"
He continued. But just as he spoke. A look of recognition appeared in the eyes of a veteran who stepped back.
Cruff coughed, noticing the shift in the crowd.
"I mean a re-evaluation…"
His words provided no answer. At least to the crowd who expected him to classify it.
But how could he? The device meant for that didn't understand what it was dealing with either.
"So what is it then?" someone asked what was on everybody's mind.
"It's just a slime!" another tried to make sense of it.
"But it went inside the pillar!" an equally confused voice spoke up.
The crowd was divided between confusion and annoyance but no one was laughing anymore.
Dean exhaled slowly at the sight of the commotion.
Then, without thinking too much about it, he placed his hand lightly against the pillar again.
For a brief second… everything seemed fine. If you could call it that.
Then something shifted beneath his palm.
The slime slipped back out slowly. Its body was now as transparent as the pillar.
Dean frowned. This didn't answer his question.
Glancing at the pillar, his eyes widened.
He looked at the slime then back to the pillar.
The transparent glowing pillar was black as night and all the cracks on it were fixed.
'What exactly did you do?'
He was barely through with his question when he heard it.
[Ding!]
A chime sounded in his head.
Dean looked forward and blue translucent screens manifested in front of his eyes.
[SYSTEM INITIALIZATION IN PROGRESS]
[Host: Dean Gray]
[Age: 17]
[Race: Human]
[Summoner Rank: Aspirant- Tier 1]
[Active Bonds: 3/3]
[Attribute: Body of the sage ]
_________________________________
[Summoning Status ]
[Familiar 1: Wind Sprite ]
[Classification: Common Class - Mid]
[Skills - Expand to reveal]
[Familiar 2: Earth elemental]
[Classification: Common Class - Mid]
[Skills - Expand to reveal]
_________________________________
[Familiar 3: [Unknown]
[Classification: Paradox]
[Standard analysis: Unavailable]
[Potential: Unavailable]
[Ability scan: Analyzing ]
[Scanning still in progress….]
[ Host full profile would be available after analysis and attunement ]
Dean's eyes widened. And his heart began pounding.
He was excited… and confused at the same time.
After all, he was an avid reader of webnovels, light novels. They were the escapism of his tough life.
He understood the texts but that didn't mean his mind wasn't.
'How did things get this crazy?' he thought as he glanced at the slime.
It had climbed on the hand he placed on the pillar and stayed there.
"You're weird," Dean muttered.
"Dean… Gray…."
"Can …. You hear me?"
"DEAN GRAY!!!"
Dean's eyes got some clarity as he looked at Cruff.
"Did you even get anything I said," Cruff asked sternly as he glared at him.
"Yeah…Sure!" Dean responded with a forced grin.
"You may get off the stage," Cruff instructed.
"The ceremony is postponed."
Dean nodded once. As he watched the slime return back to its rainbow colored form.
Walking off the stairs, he had the summon carefully.
Not because it was fragile but because he wasn't sure what it would do next if he didn't.
And just then, the pillar behind him crumbled into dust.
A/N: if you're enjoying the story, add to Library.