Shane withdrew his consciousness from the Book of Heroic Spirits, basically understanding the rewards this time.
"And the authority can be saved? It's fine not to use it immediately? That's quite user-friendly." He muttered to himself, a hint of emotion in his tone. Then, without hesitation, he used all the authority directly.
Hard-earned rewards should naturally be converted into tangible power immediately.
Saving them and not using them is the biggest waste!
"Use [Depth Increase] authority twice!"
As his will was conveyed, the Book of Heroic Spirits trembled slightly. It was as if illusory ripples spread before Shane's eyes. The supposedly formless and intangible "Pool of Heroic Spirits" was briefly manifested, entering his perception.
He "saw" the invisible water level drop two full notches, accompanied by two deep, distant hums, diving into a more ancient position.
"Next," he didn't stop, his thoughts turning again, "Use the [Filter Summoning Heroic Spirit Characteristics] authority as well!"
Information on the pages flowed again, glowing faintly.
Several icons of different shapes lit up, floating before his eyes. At the same time, specific rules regarding characteristic filtering clearly surfaced in his mind.
He first noticed two major categories of options.
"Classes..." Shane's gaze swept over the lit icons, whispering their names.
"Saber, Lancer, Archer, Rider, Caster, Assassin, Berserker."
This basically covered all the most mainstream classes in history.
It was worth mentioning that when Shane tried to scroll down, he saw a few more icons that were dim and unlit.
Two of the images could barely be made out: one seemed to be a clown looking left and right, and the other looked like a holy figure holding a staff.
"Insufficient authority, so I can't choose them?" Shane guessed, not dwelling on it too much. He skipped over these locked parts and turned his attention to the other category of options.
A blurred scale bar woven from light and shadow was slowly unfolding beside him.
One end emitted a pure and gentle radiance, symbolizing the extreme of "Lawful Good."
The other end settled into a dark and unruly purple, symbolizing the extreme of "Chaotic Evil."
This was the Heroic Spirit's alignment tendency, which Shane could adjust at will.
Looking further down, there were actually many entries that were locked, only displaying names but unreachable.
Such as Sky, Earth, Man, Dragon, Beast, Star... these legendary attributes.
But these required at least three uses of the filtering authority to unlock this layer of attribute selection. Currently, these entries were locked to him.
So Shane just glanced at them briefly without looking further, focusing his attention on the available options in front.
"Phew..." He took a deep breath and began to consider carefully.
After all, he didn't know when the next trial would be completed.
First, the alignment tendency. He didn't want to summon a paranoid maniac whose ideals were diametrically opposed to his own and with whom he couldn't communicate.
Overly strong views on good and evil often had a powerful infectious quality. Every time he summoned a Heroic Spirit, he had to immerse himself in their legends and memories. If he wasn't careful, he might be led or infected by their will.
So, whether extreme good or extreme evil, both could bring unnecessary trouble.
After thinking for a moment, he extended a finger and gently moved the pointer on the illusory scale to the exact center.
Shane didn't consider himself a pure saint. For survival and his goals, he didn't reject using some extraordinary means. But at the same time, he had his own bottom line.
So, a Heroic Spirit who stood in the secular middle ground, not strictly bound by simple good or evil, might be more suitable for him.
Next was the class selection.
"Caster..." Shane's gaze first lingered on this class.
Logically speaking, since this was a world where magic was the mainstream system, summoning a Caster proficient in magic would undoubtedly help him understand and integrate into this world's power system the fastest.
But a detail in the information transmitted by the Book of Heroic Spirits caught his attention.
The power system used by Caster-class Heroic Spirits was called "Magecraft," not "Magic."
There seemed to be some essential difference here.
Considering that this opportunity to dive into the rare pool was exchanged for two Depth Increase authorities, Shane didn't want to choose a class with unknown potential and unclear "world compatibility."
"Yeah, let's wait until later when I summon a Caster normally without using authority to study it."
Shane's gaze swept over the other options and finally settled on one class—Saber.
According to the information from the Book of Heroic Spirits, this was the most balanced class in terms of comprehensive ability among the seven basic classes, and usually considered the strongest. In particular, it possessed the highest rank of Magic Resistance among all classes.
In this magical world, powerful Magic Resistance was undoubtedly a huge guarantee.
"You're the one!" Shane hesitated no longer and made the final decision: Class—Saber! Alignment Tendency—Neutral!
The moment his thought settled, the summoning officially began!
Hum—!
An indescribably majestic force swept out from the illusory "Heroic Spirit Pool."
Although it didn't act on the material world, it set off turbulent waves in Shane's perception.
He "saw" the scene before him distort and change. The walls and furniture of the inn room dissipated like a fading oil painting, replaced by a scorching, leaping illusion.
Fire!
Raging fire!
Raging flames ignited out of thin air all around him. These flames were unusually concentrated, burning close to the space around him, forming a tight combustion field.
The air trembled violently under the high temperature, making everything appear unreal. Waves of heat slapped against his face, bringing a stinging pain like needles. His nose was filled with the smell of scorching heat, making him almost unable to breathe.
Aside from the burning itself, there was nothing here.
Shane tried to move, but as before, his consciousness could only change along with the environment.
He didn't know how long the sea of blazing fire lasted...
Just as he felt his skin was about to be charred into charcoal, all the flames and heat suddenly contracted inward, rushing madly toward his open palm.
The burning pain receded rapidly, and the surroundings returned to normal. It was still that ordinary inn room, as if everything just now had been a hallucination.
Shane looked down and saw a dark golden card lying quietly there, warm to the touch.
On the card was the silhouette of a person standing with a sword, their posture upright, carrying a silent majesty.
"Success? This is... the Saber who responded to me?" Shane murmured, realizing his throat was a bit dry.
The flame illusion that appeared just now was too realistic.
Unlike the snow mountain wasteland he could only see when summoning Arash last time, this time, he even felt the scorching heat on his skin, as if he were truly in a sea of fire.
"Does this mean the Heroic Spirit summoned this time is stronger? So the impact on reality is also deeper?" Shane pondered secretly, surprised and happy.
As expected of an existence summoned at the cost of two Depth Authorities, it was indeed extraordinary.
It was just that the boundless flame scene covered too broad a scope. He tried hard to search his memory but couldn't think of a Heroic Spirit famous for the "Saber" class who was closely connected to such infinite blazing fire.
He tried to guess a few possibilities.
For example, Nezha, who controlled the Samadhi True Fire. Although famous for the Fire-Tipped Spear, he also used swords, so he barely counted.
Or the Cherubim from the Bible, guarding the Garden of Eden with a "flaming sword that turned every way."
There was also Surtr, the ruler of Muspelheim in Norse mythology, wielding the giant sword "Twilight," himself the embodiment of fire.
But Shane felt that these guesses didn't seem to match the scene in the illusion of flames burning everything, as if using the body itself as fuel.
He shook his head gently, feeling it was a bit far-fetched.
"Never mind. Since it's done, let's see the answer."