Chapter 8 – Summoning Ritual

After the pub construction finished, glowing exclamation marks displayed on the newly built pub. It was showing an introduction of the pub’s function.

In the game, he had built a pub, but Tang Yu worried if the rule would be somewhat different now that it’s in the real world. So he was happy to find the introduction feature.

Without further hesitation, Tang Yu clicked on the feature.

[In the pub, the lord had the power to summon an adventurer once a day for free. After using the free attempts, the lord must spend 500 units of spirit stone to summon again.]

[The adventurer’s rank is divided into D, C, B, A and S rank. The higher the rank, the higher the growth attributes will be. On the contrary, the higher the rank will be harder to summon. Upgrading the pub will increase the probability of summoning high-ranked adventurers.]

[Summoned adventurers had five basic jobs; warrior, mage, priest, assassin, sniper. Strength isn’t fixed based on the adventurer’s job or rank. The first level pub can summon up to level five hunters and lay the foundation for peak adventurers. Leveling up the pub will increase the top level limit and strength of the summoned adventurers.]

[After summoning the adventurer, the lord is given a choice to recruit or not to recruit the summoned adventurer. In order to recruit, the lord must sign a contract with the adventurer. The first level pub only has space for three adventurers. Leveling up the pub will allow the lord to increase recruitment space for adventurers.]

[For the first summoning, the lord is guaranteed to summon an adventurer of B-rank or above.]

Tang Yu was relieved to discover that the rules were not much different than the game.

The reason why Tang Yu chose to build the pub first was because he needed the manpower.

Particularly, the first summoning was a guaranteed B-rank and up! It’s exciting just to think about it.

Tang Yu was familiar with the random draw system in a game. Even though it said that he could get B-ranked or above, he would never get an A-ranked or S-ranked. But B-ranked adventurer was good enough.

The B-ranked ones might seem average, but when he first got his first A-ranked adventurer in the previous game, he knew how rare the chance was to summon one.

In this particular situation, when the game system had come alive to the real world, Tang Yu speculated that the system classification might be similar to class divisions of modern humans. However, in reality, the qualification detection method was still relatively inaccurate, as it could only measure a person’s qualification in general. It’s not possible to get a clear qualification division.

He was originally an E-ranked person without awakening qualifications, while most hunters had D-ranked qualifications. Perhaps only a few people would get B rank or above. Besides, an adventurer was equipped with a job division, also skills, and a complete job system. With this, a summoned adventurer could easily crush the hunters who knew nothing.

Tang Yu released the complicated thoughts he had and focused on the summoning ritual.

“Let’s start the summoning ritual!”

Tang Yu took a deep breath, opened the system panel, and clicked the summoning system.

In the middle of the pub, a huge magical circle appeared. Elaborate runes engraved on it.

The runes were like pointers, they rotated and combined continuously. The shining light radiated around the magic circle, like a portal to another world which slowly shrinking.

An adventurer was being summoned!

The job and strength of the summoned adventurer were unknown!

Tang Yu held his breath.

The portal shrunk, and purple light burst out.

Purple? Purple light?

Tang Yu’s heart beat faster, he couldn’t help but recite the prayer in his heart.

White light represented D rank.

Green light represented C rank.

Blue light represented B rank.

The purple light…

It’s definitely an A rank!

The purple light slowly turned into a human figure—the adventure with a tattered cloak with the figure still being unclear. But Tang Yu carefully observed longer before realizing the figure was a female adventurer.

“Tiring! Adventurer Elaine. Rank A, Job: mage, is the lord sure to sign a contract with this adventurer?”

Without a doubt…

“Of course!”

…

In an old rotten wooden house, a cloaked woman was sitting on a croaked bed. She was holding a book and reading it with full concentration.

This is Elaine’s home, she had no other family around.

The lonely days had continued for the last several years. From the beginning to the present, Elaine had become used to it. This book was more important than the house she’s living in now.

That was her grimoire of spells.

She found it below her bed. That was the only thing she had apart from her parent’s belonging.

‘Whooo- ‘

A sharp alarm echoed through the entire city. Elaine looked startled with a gloomy face.

This was the alarm for the black wave attack. She was very familiar with the sound as if it was imprinted in her soul.

Three years ago, the same alarm echoed when the first black wave struck. Her parents, who were working outside the city, never returned.

That year, she became an orphan. From that moment on, the once warm house filled with laughter had never been the same.

In grief, Elaine was awakened. She realized that she could control the power of the element and was surprised that she had ice ability. Only mages possessed such power. The mages were powerful and noble. Their status was even higher than ordinary warriors.

But being able to use ice ability was only a prerequisite in order to become a mage, but Elaine had no way to learn the magic craft.

In the entire city, only the lord had grimoire in hand. The book was too precious, she would never get her hands on the book unless she’s a loyal servant to the lord. However, there were rumors that the lord of the town was an aristocrat who believed only the blue blood of nobility could master the magic craft.

Elaine shook her head, she had no choice but to make a living in the slums.

Young, alone and penniless, Elaine had to live hard in the slum. This was where people ate other people in order to survive. Fortunately, she was awakened, and her physical strength towered above ordinary people. She became adept at living in the slum.

Until one day, she found a rusty grimoire under the cracked floor in her house.

The content of the grimoire was intermittent. Elaine, who originally had no knowledge for magic craft advanced rapidly thanks to the grimoire. She learned how to cast one spell after another.

“Ha…”

Elaine sighed and walked out of the house.

She put on a large cloak with a hood to cover her body. After living in the slums for a few years, this became her habit. The best way for a girl to stay safe in a place like this was by hiding.

The slum area was located at the outermost edge of the city. From one glance, it’s just a bunch of cluttered houses stuck together with towering city walls at a distance. Elaine saw some soldiers rushed towards their designated spots.

Outside of the city wall was a gray sky. The sky had always been this dark grey for as long as she could remember. Elaine kept her most prized grimoire hidden inside her cloak. There’s nothing valuable left in her house. After a while, she decided to take a look at the situation.

At this time, the nearby area filled with scared people running around because of the alarm.

When suddenly.

Boom!!

A dazzling fire set ablaze in the distance, puffs of smoke rose high. And with a loud rumbling sound, the towering city wall collapsed!

Fear reflected in Elaine’s eyes. The city wall had never been breached. Even the fierce battle to defend the city three years ago left the wall intact. But this time, when the black wave stuck, the city wall immediately collapsed.