With silent steps that seemed to echo like thunder in his ears, Godfrey ascended the hexagonal platform, his gaze fixed on the headmaster, who stepped aside to let him stand at the center of the stage.
Beside the headmaster stood a woman holding a tablet, a device used to measure the tier of a summoner's summon. She would be the first one to see whether he was merely a human… or whether he had a summon lying dormant within him.
"Calm yourself. Take deep breaths and close your eyes. You'll find yourself in a place we call your soul space, and there you will stand before your summon."
Godfrey obeyed while the headmaster continued, "It will be dark, but do not worry. The light of your summon will be the only light you will need…"
By then, Godfrey could no longer hear what the headmaster was saying.
The dungeon cores glowed faintly; their brilliance dulled beneath the sunlight, and Godfrey felt himself drawn inward, into his soul space.
He had heard countless experiences before, of his mother and many others.
It was always the same: they appeared floating in what looked like an endless dark space, and their beast awaited them there.
Some said they were frightened at first glance, some were overjoyed, and some recoiled at what they saw.
But when Godfrey opened his eyes, he didn't know what to make of the sight before him.
He stood upon a massive staircase as wide as a highway. The blocks that made up the steps were pure white, as though marble and magic had fused into one. The staircase stretched upward toward a towering wall crowned by a colossal wooden double door.
And above it burned a radiant sun, its piercing light flooding everything in brilliance.
Godfrey looked around slowly, bewildered.
Where was the darkness?
Why wasn't he floating in space but instead standing on a staircase?
'It can't be that I died the moment I was about to awaken, right?' he chortled, though the jest felt hollow.
Whatever the case, it was better to see what awaited him at the top; there was no other way.
The moment he took a step, the world shifted, and Godfrey found himself already standing before the great door.
Carved into its surface with exquisite detail was a great oval shield crossed by a longsword.
He placed his hands against the wood and gave it the gentlest nudge.
The door swung inward.
"My God!"
The headmaster snapped toward the woman with the gauging device, deep lines etching his temples.
"What is it?"
"His tier…" the woman whispered as she looked at him, horrified. "It's 1…"
"It's what?!" The headmaster stepped closer, his voice sharp.
A few seconds later, the woman finally managed to speak.
"It's 12.1."
She could barely force those words out, as though her voice was chained to a heavy stone and dragged down.
The headmaster's eyes widened.
"His summon has the potential of a 12.1? That's King-tier!"
The woman shook her head vehemently and thrust the screen toward him. "It's 12.1 — and the potential…"
The instant he saw the tablet, the headmaster's face was drained of all color, as if he had seen a ghost.
The reading revealed that the potential exceeded 12.9.
It was incalculable.
At that very moment, a golden diagram flared above Godfrey, its brilliance forcing Isolde, Snow, Dale, and the others in his class to squint their eyes as much as they could since they had leaned out from the windows to get a better view of the awakening.
With a thunderous metallic crash, a figure descended from the diagram arrat.
It landed heavily, clad in ornate golden armor layered over thick steel and a white cape fluttering from its shoulders.
The figure stood a full seven feet tall, a great oval shield in one hand and a longsword in the other. Its presence was imposing, almost suffocating. The helm bore a single narrow vertical slit, no wider than a finger, glowing faintly from within.
"A knight!" Snow muttered, disdain flashing in his eyes.
Everyone knew humanoid summons; the golems, orcs and the likes were considered inferior compared to beast summons. The only notable exceptions were Adam's Monkey King, which was part monkey, and Cain's Dark Seraph, which carried celestial blood.
"You've summoned a humanoid creature," the woman announced aloud, her voice steady now. "Tier 3.0 and potential 6.0."
Then, she shot a brief, furtive glance at the headmaster.
Only the two of them knew what the device had displayed moments ago. Yet this was the reading she spoke aloud.
Was he one of those rare summoners who possessed two summons within them?
If not, then was the gauge wrong?
But since when did a low-tier summon possess such absurd growth potential?
"You may descend," the headmaster said in an even tone, his expression unreadable as he watched Godfrey retrieve his summon and step down from the platform.
Yet his mind spiraled with calculations.
"He stays under watch. There's something we haven't grasped yet. I need to know if that boy is truly a low-tier summoner or a king-tier monster hiding in disguise."
"A humanoid summon? What a terrible way to start the ceremony!"
Godfrey heard someone mutter from the crowd, their voice tight with fear for their own child's fate.
"It has absurd potential, though. Imagine the chance to rise from a low-tier to a high-tier wasted on some ancient knight whose sword might not even scratch a beast."
Godfrey's eyes snapped to the man who had spoken, standing beside his child. Their eyes met, but the disdain in the man's stare didn't faze him.
Nothing did, not when his thoughts were in chaos.
He remembered the stone door. The symbol carved into it. The glimpse he had caught behind the chamber of the knight he had summoned. Everyone said the first thing you saw in your soul space was your true summon.
The first thing he saw wasn't the knight.
It was the staircase leading up to what looked like a palace.
If that was his true summon, then the knight was only a part of it.
Which meant behind the other doors…
There were more knights.
When he finally stepped into his classroom, his thoughts faded under the weight of every gaze fixed on him.
The boy who was once mocked for having no summon now had one, but that hardly changed anything.
"Your father's summon could spit gold and wipe out an army of orcs," Dale sneered, clutching his stomach as he laughed. "But yours can only wave around a puny sword and shield. Did the garbage just upgrade into the garbage bin?"
His lackeys roared with laughter, while others only looked at Godfrey with pity.
With a summon like this, he would always remain a mockery to his father's legacy.
"It's about time for combat class. Let's test what that knight of yours can do." Siegfried rose to his feet, his green eyes sharp with grudge as he ruffled his hair and strode out.
One by one, the others followed, some casting him pitying looks, some mocking with their faces, and some pretending not to care.
Finally, only Isolde remained.
"It's a cool knight," she said at last.
Godfrey rolled his eyes. "The entire class is waiting to see me get humiliated publicly."
"Truueee…" She pursed her lips. "But every summon has its advantages. I bet your knight has his."
....
A/N: I hope you enjoy this novel. Support by adding to your library and giving a power stone or two. Thank you.