The morning after her Awakening began quietly. Elara sat at the dining table eating the breakfast Mike had prepared before leaving, listening to his final reminders about food, equipment, and the responsibilities that came with becoming an Awakener. Once he finally left, she closed the door behind him and returned to the apartment, relieved to finally have some time alone.
Her first priority was obvious.
She opened her Genesis System and looked through her newly acquired abilities. She had already seen the names of her three class skills, but yesterday had been far too chaotic for her to properly understand what any of them did. Now that she had time to herself, she decided to start with the basics and inspect each one carefully.
[Demon Summoning Ritual]
[A ritual used to summon demonic entities.]
[True Name Discerning]
[Allows the User to perceive the true name of a supernatural entity.]
[Minor Pact Binding]
[Allows the User to establish a basic agreement with an entity.]
Elara read everything carefully.
Once she had a basic understanding of what her class skills involved, Elara moved on to the next step.
Research.
Her first search was obvious.
Demon Summoner.
The results were disappointing.
There were records of demonic creatures, demon-related abilities, battles involving demonic entities from the gates, and even old texts discussing demonic races, but there was no documented Awakener with her exact class. Elara tried different spellings, different search terms, old Federation archives, and obscure historical databases, but the result never changed.
Nothing.
She stared at the screen for several seconds.
"Seriously?"
She tried different combinations, with space, without space, all caps, no caps, But there was no result..
"So I really am the first one."
The thought was strangely exciting.
It was also slightly frightening.
If nobody had ever awakened as a Demon Summoner before, there was nobody to tell her what she was supposed to do.
So Elara changed her approach.
If she couldn't study her own class, she would study the closest thing available.
Summoner classes.
That search produced far more information.
She found records of Beast Summoners who formed contracts with magical creatures, Elemental Summoners who called forth creatures associated with fire, water, wind, earth, lightning and other elements, Undead Summoners who controlled corpses, and several stranger classes that relied on spirits, plants, constructs, insects, or other creatures.
Elara spent hours reading about them.
The exact mechanics varied, but most summoners had some method of obtaining their creatures. Some required contracts, others required rituals, some needed special materials, while others relied almost entirely on their own mana.
The more she read, the more interested she became.
Elara opened her status and focused on the first-class skill.
[Demon Summoning Ritual]
The moment her attention settled on it, additional information appeared.
[A ritual used to summon demonic entities.]
She focused harder.
The information expanded.
[Requirements:]
[Monster Blood — 3 Vials]
[Summoner Blood — 1/2 Vial]
[Monster Claws — 6]
[Monster Hair — 42 Strands]
[Summoner Hair — 42 Strands]
Elara stared at the list.
That wasn't all.
Further information appeared describing the formation itself. A large circle had to be constructed using her own blood, with a six-pointed star arranged inside it and a hexagon positioned at its center. The six triangular sections surrounding the hexagon each required seven strands of the monster's hair and seven strands of her own hair, while a monster claw had to be positioned between each adjacent section.
She was also required to place four candles around the central formation and sit cross-legged within the hexagon while supplying mana to the ritual.
Elara read the instructions again.
Then she looked at the screen.
"That's complicated."
The system, unsurprisingly, offered no response.
She leaned back and thought about the materials.
If she was going to do this, she wanted to use something strong.
Her eyes moved toward the Federation's Awakener marketplace.
People with access to the platform could buy monster materials from hunters, guilds, specialized suppliers, and other Awakeners. Because Elara attended a prestigious private institution and came from a powerful family, her account had access to a higher level of information and listings than an ordinary newly awakened student would normally see.
She began searching through the available materials.
Eventually, she settled on Wyvern components.
Wyverns were powerful creatures, and their materials were considered among the best that someone at her current authority level could reasonably obtain.
There was only one problem.
Elara had searched a wyvern's image, Now as she stared at the creature on the screen.
There was no hair. She searched on the platform but still there were no hairs available.
She looked at the ritual requirements.
Then back at the Wyvern.
Its body was covered in scales, while its wings were lined with feathers.
Her eyes narrowed.
"...What do I do about that?"
She considered it for a few seconds.
Then she shrugged.
"Potato, patato."
If the ritual wanted a material from the monster that served the same role as hair, feathers seemed close enough to her.
With that problem temporarily solved, she began checking prices.
The first thing she saw was the price of Wyvern blood.
$90,000 per vial.
Elara blinked.
She checked again.
Still $90,000.
She then checked the claws.
$6,000 each.
Six would cost $36,000.
Then she reached the feathers.
$30,000 each.
Elara stared.
She needed forty-two of them.
Her fingers moved across the calculator.
Three vials of blood.
Six claws.
Forty-two feathers.
The total appeared on the screen.
$1,566,000.
Elara was silent.
She checked the calculation once.
Then again.
It was correct.
"That's insane."
She opened her bank account.
Mike had given her $500,000.
Her monthly allowance was $25,000, and she had been saving around half of it for the one year that she had been living alone. Her accumulated savings came to another $127,000.
Available funds: $627,000.
She was short by $939,000.
Elara stared at the amount for a moment.
Asking her family for money wasn't unusual. They were wealthy, and now that she was an Awakener, spending money on equipment and resources was perfectly reasonable.
Still, almost a million dollars was a little difficult to ask for casually.
She picked up her phone.
Mike first.
The call rang.
And rang.
And rang.
No answer.
Elara frowned and tried again.
Still nothing.
She tried a third time.
Nothing.
"He's probably busy."
Next came her father.
No answer.
Then her mother.
Still nothing.
Elara stared at the screen after the third unanswered call. She hesitated before opening another contact she rarely called directly.
Grandfather.
Her finger hovered over the name.
Her grandfather was one of the most powerful people in Atheria, an important figure within the Federation, and someone she respected enormously. He had always been kind to her, but she had never spent as much time with him as the rest of her family, and whenever they did meet, some part of her became instinctively careful around him.
It was completely irrational.
She knew that.
Her grandfather adored her.
Still, the awkward feeling wouldn't go away. She feared him unconsciously.
Now she was going to call him after barely seeing him for who knew how long and ask for almost a million dollars.
Elara sighed.
"Great."
She closed her eyes for a moment, then pressed the call button.
The response came almost immediately.
Her grandfather's face appeared on the screen, and the moment he recognized her, a broad smile spread across his features.
"Ah! My lovely granddaughter!"
Elara immediately felt her shoulders tense.
"I..."
Her grandfather laughed warmly.
"I'm so happy you called. I've been waiting for you to remember your old grandfather ever since I heard you awakened."
Elara's face became slightly warm.
"I'm sorry."
"Sorry for what?" he asked cheerfully. "You awakened yesterday. Surely you haven't already forgotten your old man?"
"No."
"Good. Then tell me, how are you feeling? Are you tired? Are you eating properly? Have you started preparing your equipment yet? Did your brother come see you? And did my son?"
The questions came one after another, leaving Elara struggling to answer before the next one arrived. Her grandfather's enthusiasm made it very difficult to connect the terrifying figure she had seen in official reports with the man currently smiling at her through the screen.
Eventually, he noticed her hesitation.
His smile softened.
Then he gave a small sigh.
"How did you remember your old man today, hmm?"
There wasn't even a hint of annoyance in his voice.
If anything, he sounded amused.
Elara swallowed.
"I need some materials."
"Materials?"
"For one of my class skills. I was researching the ritual, and I found the requirements."
Her grandfather leaned closer to the screen.
"Go on."
"I need three vials of Wyvern blood, six claws, and forty-two Wyvern feathers. I also need forty-two strands of my own hair, but that's not exactly expensive."
He listened patiently as she explained everything, occasionally nodding.
"How much?"
Elara hesitated.
"The total is $1,566,000."
There was a brief silence.
"And how much do you have?"
"Six hundred and twenty-seven thousand."
Her grandfather raised an eyebrow.
"So you're short?"
"Yes."
Elara looked increasingly embarrassed despite knowing she had absolutely no reason to be.
"I need $939,000 more. Could you please send it to me?"
Her grandfather stared at her for a moment.
Then he laughed.
"Such a simple task, and you're hesitating this much?"
Elara blinked.
"I..."
Before she could finish, his fingers moved across his own device.
A notification appeared on her screen.
[Transfer Received: $2,000,000]
Elara's eyes widened.
She stared at the amount.
Then at her grandfather.
"Grandpa."
"Yes?"
"Why did you send me two million?"
"Because you asked for money."
"I only needed nine hundred and thirty-nine thousand."
"And?"
Elara frowned.
"You sent more than double what I asked for."
Her grandfather laughed.
"Aren't you going to need more money for other things?"
Elara opened her mouth.
He continued before she could answer.
"Equipment, food, training, transportation, Genesis World preparations, and whatever else you need while figuring out your class. What exactly were you planning to do after spending every last penny?"
Elara remained silent. She hadn't really thought about that.
Her grandfather smiled mischievously.
"Live on air and water?"
She looked away.
"I wasn't going to do that."
"Good. Because that would've been rather stupid and I don't think my granddaughter is stupid."
Elara's mouth turned red as a tomato. Her grandfather noticed but didn't tease her on this.
The conversation continued for a few more minutes, with her grandfather asking about her awakening, the other students, her first day as an Awakener, and whether Mike had been bothering her. Elara answered each question, gradually becoming more comfortable as the conversation continued.
Eventually, her grandfather glanced toward something outside the camera's view.
"I have to go for now."
Elara nodded.
"Okay."
"And Elara, I'm very happy you called."
Her expression softened.
"Thank you, Grandpa."
"Come visit me when you're free."
"I will."
"I'll hold you to that."
The call ended.
Elara stared at her darkened screen for a few seconds.
Then she looked at her account.
Available Funds: $2,627,000
She shook her head with a small smile before placing the phone down.
Far away from Elara's apartment, Asher veyne lowered his device.
The warmth that had filled his face during the call remained for a few seconds before his expression gradually returned to something colder.
He was sitting atop a mound of corpses.
Thousands of bodies covered the landscape beneath him, scattered across a battlefield that stretched beyond what the eye could easily comprehend. Blood flowed through the cracks in the ground, pooling between broken armor, shattered weapons, and the remains of creatures that had clearly possessed immense strength before their deaths.
Around him, the aftermath of a battle had left almost nothing standing.
His clothes were splattered with blood, yet he seemed completely unconcerned by it.
For a moment, he simply looked into the distance.
Then the smallest smile appeared on his face.
"She's such a lovely girl," He sighed. "I don't know why she fears me though."
There was melancholy in those words as well as genuine happiness.
He glanced down at the devastation below.
"Perhaps I'll finally get to see her again soon."
The smile remained.
Then he turned toward the battlefield.
"Now..."
His expression hardened.
"...where were we?"
Back in her apartment, Elara opened the marketplace again.
This time she had no hesitation.
She ordered the three vials of Wyvern blood, six claws, and forty-two Wyvern feathers, along with the other materials required for the ritual. The total came to $1,566,000, and after confirming the payment, the system gave her an estimated delivery time.
Six hours.
Elara stared at the message.
"Six hours?"
There was nothing she could do about it.
She spent the wait continuing her research, reading more about summoner classes, monster materials, rituals, and the ways experienced Awakeners prepared for their first summons. She checked the requirements of her own ritual repeatedly, making notes and reviewing the formation until she was certain she understood every part of it.
The six hours passed slowly.
By the time the delivery finally arrived, it was almost eight in the evening. Elara immediately carried the sealed containers upstairs and spread everything across her living room floor. Three vials of Wyvern blood, six claws, forty-two feathers, and forty-two strands of her own hair were laid out in front of her, each piece waiting to be placed exactly where the ritual demanded.
She should have been hungry enough to stop and eat first. Instead, the thought barely registered. Her eyes were dry and gritty from staring at screens for most of the day, and whenever she blinked, it took a little longer than usual for her vision to clear. Her back had been aching for hours, her shoulders were stiff from sitting in the same position, and there was a dull pressure behind her eyes that only grew worse the longer she worked.
None of it mattered.
She started drawing.
The large outer circle had to be made using her own blood, while the six triangular sections around the center were formed from the Wyvern blood. Each triangle required seven feathers and seven strands of her own hair, while the six claws were positioned between the adjacent sections. Four candles were placed around the formation, leaving the central hexagon completely clear.
Elara took her time, even though her body was begging her to stop. She measured every section, checked every line, counted every feather, and recounted every strand of hair. More than once, she caught herself staring blankly at the formation for several seconds because her mind had simply stopped processing what she was looking at.
She blinked hard and forced herself to continue.
By the time she finished, her legs were aching from kneeling on the floor for so long, her hands were stained with dried blood, her hair had fallen messily around her face, and her stomach felt hollow. She leaned backward and slowly rolled her shoulders, wincing when the muscles protested.
For a moment, she simply sat there with her eyes closed.
She was exhausted.
Completely exhausted.
But when she opened her eyes and looked at the completed formation, the tiredness was pushed into the background by a rush of anticipation.
She had actually done it.
This was the first real use of her class.
Elara pushed herself upright, though it took slightly more effort than she wanted to admit. She stepped into the formation and carefully lowered herself into the center of the hexagon, sitting cross-legged as instructed. The four candles around her flickered softly, their flames bending despite the absence of wind.
She closed her eyes.
Her back hurt.
Her eyes burned.
She was hungry enough that she could probably finish an entire meal by herself.
And yet, when she began circulating her mana, a strange clarity settled over her.
The energy moved through her body before flowing outward.
The ritual reacted immediately.
The crimson lines lit up.
The Wyvern blood began to glow.
The feathers trembled.
The claws vibrated against the floor.
A strange pressure filled the apartment.
Elara opened her eyes.
A blue interface appeared before her.
[Demon Summoning Ritual]
[Ritual materials detected.]
[Formation verified.]
Another line appeared.
[Evolution Points Available: 48,888]
Elara stared at the number.
She hadn't expected the ritual to interact with her talent so directly.
A final field appeared beneath it.
[Evolution Points to Allocate: 0]
She stared at the empty field. She had just got this talent yesterday, She didn't even know how it worked or what the evolution points were worth.
Logic dictated she should start small.
Probably a few hundred.
Maybe a thousand.
Test it first.
See what happens.
Then decide.
Elara looked at the number again.
48,888.
Her finger moved toward the field.
She hesitated.
She knew absolutely nothing about what those points were worth. She knew using all of them was reckless. She knew the sensible thing would be to test the ability gradually, especially when she was already exhausted enough that her judgment probably wasn't at its best.
Her finger remained over the input field.
Then she smiled faintly.
"...What happens if I use all of it?"
She entered the full amount.
48,888.
Her finger moved toward the confirmation button.
She paused for one final moment.
Then she let her intrusive thoughts win.
She pressed it.
The system accepted her decision without hesitation.
[Evolution Points Allocated: 48,888]
The ritual simply.
The Wyvern blood ignited with crimson light.
The feathers rose from the floor.
The six claws began vibrating.
Mana surged through the formation.
The apartment trembled.
Elara's exhaustion vanished beneath a sudden jolt of adrenaline as the center of the hexagon slowly darkened, and something on the other side of the ritual began forcing its way into her world.
Her heart hammered inside her chest.
She had no idea what she had summoned.
She didn't even know whether what came through would be anything like the demons she had imagined.
But there was no turning back now.
The light intensified.
The candles burned violently.
The entire formation erupted with energy.
And Elara could only sit there, cross-legged in the center of the hexagon, exhausted to the point of trembling, and watch as her first summoning finally began.