Item Summoning

John walked into his conjuration class, surprised to see that instead of the five students there was only one today.

“Most of my students do not take my class every day, Mister Newman. The students who you do not see today only take my class on Mondays.”

John nodded, still slightly unnerved by the professor’s ability to read his mind.

“Today, you will be practicing the art of conjuring objects. While this is mostly used to summon weapons for combat, it can also be used for less violent reasons.”

The professor began to draw a circle on the chalkboard. It wasn’t nearly as intricate as the last one. When he finished, the circled glowed slightly and a book materialized half inside of it and half out. Aarav took the book and the circle disappeared.

“It is quite the handy way of storing items, and an easy enough skill to master. First, you draw your circle. Then, you reach into the Abyss with your Spirit and open up a space for your items. This space can be as large or small as you wish, though larger spaces are more difficult to open. Then, you assign a unique combination of runes to the space you opened. Once you feel that the connection is solid, you may fill the space with the items you wish to store.

“The Abyss is an infinitely large realm, and there is no limit to how much space you may appropriate for yourself. That being said, it is difficult for most people to memorize the runes they assigned to each of their item summoning circles. The wise thing to do, then, is to write them down. This book is full of the runes I have assigned to my own item summoning circles, and I advise you both to imitate me in this regard. I know books are relics to the youths of this age, but your electronics do not work in the Abyssal plane of existence.

“If you were to store your smartphone in it, when you withdrew it you would find that it had been wiped clean of all data. Even the basic data needed to run its integral software. You will have reduced your device to a large flash drive, or, for those less electronically inclined, a very expensive paper weight.”

He smiled then, amused by Karen’s look of absolute distress.

“It is also wise, if you wish to protect your items, to encrypt your rune book. If either of you were to look in my book and attempt to draw one of my item summoning circles, you would most likely fail.”

He grinned.

“Would either of you like to try?”

He looked at John. John shrugged and said,

“Sure, there’s no harm in trying.”

Karen shook her head no, unwilling to try. The professor handed John the book, it was a heavy tome. John guessed easily over a thousand very thin pages. He cast observe.

रहस्य की किताब: Rare Item

An encrypted list of all of Aarav Vaar’s most prized possessions. Intellect requirement (35) met. Break code?

Yes No

John opened the book to a random page in the center and narrowed his eyes at the words. They were a soup of ancient Greek symbols, Korean characters, and other scribbles John couldn’t identify. He went through the motions of someone wrestling with a complex problem and ran his finger along lines of text. Then he tapped ‘yes’ with an expression of slight enlightenment. Ding! The words on the page realigned themselves and glowed orange. Were there was once a jumble of ink, there was now a glowing summoning circle. If Aarav and Karen were surprised, they didn’t show. John reached his hand into the circle and grasped around. That was when the Professor’s eyes widened. John grasped the hilt of something and pulled. Out came a wooden bo staff, magnificently carved with the same encryptions as the writing in the book. Karen gasped.

“That is enough, Mister Newman. Hand me the book and my staff. The two of you will spend the remainder of class practicing item summoning.”

He turned away from them and sat cross legged, muttering to himself in a language John didn’t understand.

“I’ve never seen the professor so agitated. He must have really underestimated you.”

Karen was whispering to John.

“He can probably hear you, you know.”

John smiled as her face turned pale and she scurried off to a different corner of the auditorium, casting worried glances at the professor who was still muttering. He tapped the notification that he had received earlier.

Achievement Unlocked! Code breaker: translate an encrypted text.

+100 Exp.

John shrugged it off. He had a long way to go before reaching level 10, and the small experience bonuses he was getting weren’t helping much. He sat in the center of the room and looked through his inventory.

This is totally a more advanced version of what we’re learning. I can’t use this around here or he might have a heart attack.

John looked at his professor. He showed no signs of having heard what John had just thought.

He’s even too preoccupied to read my mind. I seriously need to tone it down with my skills around here. I’m pretty sure I’m already attracting too much attention from the headmistress. I need more information on the politics of this school, the social structure. I have no idea what’s going on. It’s only my second day, but still. I got jumped, or at least they tried to jump me, and I was almost the one that got in trouble.

John made a circle on the ground in front of him, about a foot in diameter. As he continued grumbling to himself, he started writing pi around the edges of it.

3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510582097494459230781640628620899862803482534211706798214808651328230664709384460955058223172535940812848111745028410270193852110555964462294895493038196442881097566593344612847564823378678316527120190914564856692346034861045432664821339360726024914127372458700660631...

The circle started glowing an eerie green. John frowned at it.

That can’t be good.

He started to erase the numbers, but was interrupted by Professor Aarav.

“Mister Newman! What do you think you’re doing?”

John looked up at him, confusion plain on his face. Aarav was right behind John, his face was a visage of fury.

“It started glowing a weird color. My instincts told me that that wasn’t a good sign. I’m erasing it.”

“You could have leveled the entire school! Did none of your previous instructors warn you of the implications of that number?”

John sighed.

“I haven’t had any formal schooling before this. I haven’t had any schooling before this. No one has taught me anything, no one has warned me of anything. I only placed in 4th year classes because of my combat. You were there. You didn’t ask of any prior schooling experience.”

Aarav’s face slowly relaxed, his breathing slow and measured.

“Your skills and apparent power were indicative of at least some schooling. Never before has someone reached such heights without instruction.”

He took a deep breath.

“The number. That particular number is powerful beyond reason. If used by someone who is too weak to handle it, it causes immense destruction. It summons a portal between the Abyssal plane and our world through which anything may enter. If the magic caster who opens the portal is too weak to control the creatures that enter, they consume the caster and use the power gained to wreak havoc in our world. The Spiritsmith has a deep distaste for magic done in plain view of those who are not involved with the Abyss. More often than not, she obliterates all involved and leaves no trace of any records that those who are not involved with the Abyss may have made.”

John frowned at Aarav’s mention of the Spiritsmith.

“I realize that you don’t know who the Spiritsmith is. She is a facet of the World Spirit, the omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent **** of nature that controls the known multiverse. Such a **** cannot be contained by merely one identity. More and more facets of her identity are discovered over the years, and large Abyssal organizations are usually sponsored by at least one facet of the World Spirit.

“Firesmith is sponsored by the Spiritsmith. The Golden Rose is sponsored by the Lady of the Lake, although over the years her name has been shortened to just The Lady. The most common facet of the World Spirit referenced, though, is Gaia. Almost all facets of the World Spirit are female, but male facets have been discovered as well.

“I would go into detail about the personalities of the different facets I have introduced you to, but this is a class on conjuration not on clericy. I am slightly disappointed that your first attempt at item summoning was nearly so disastrous. Class is nearly over as well.”

Aarav looked at John expectantly, as if John was supposed to pull a miracle item summoning circle out of a hat. He wasn’t going to reveal his inventory. His gut told him that that would be a bad idea. Maybe the raised wisdom stat was finally making itself known. The bell rang. Aarav’s frowning face was the last thing he saw before being teleported to his next class.