Summoning Technique

"Look, everyone! The sea is ahead—we've reached the coast! We'll be back in Ishgar soon!" Staring at the expanse of blue in the distance, Miss Diphiya bounced excitedly on her feet as she shouted.

"Yes, yes, yes! We're almost there. We'll be home soon. But Miss Diphiya, could you please be quiet for a while and let us get some proper rest?" Having just set Kaldiz down on the ground, Sordil was panting heavily. He looked weakly at Miss Diphiya, who was chirping nonstop like a sparrow.

"Brother Sordil, how about we discuss who's going fishing later?" Miss Diphiya hopped down from the rock and walked briskly over to Sordil, asking sweetly in an obedient tone.

"Miss Diphiya, I was wrong! I shouldn't have spoiled your mood, much less blamed you. Please forgive me!" The instant Sordil heard her words, he surrendered. Lindel and the other two turned their heads away at once, their bodies trembling slightly.

Kaldiz grew even more curious at the sight. Whenever the two of them had a minor disagreement along the way, Miss Diphiya would invariably say something like that, and Sordil would quickly surrender. It made him even more eager to know what those words meant. Yet no matter how he questioned Sordil during the journey, Sordil always hemmed and hawed, refusing to explain clearly. Lindel and the others were even more tight-lipped about it. This led Kaldiz to suspect that Sordil was either afraid of water or afraid of fish. But since Sordil showed no reaction while standing by the sea, he must have been afraid of fish. And so, following his own assumptions, Kaldiz drifted farther and farther from the truth.

After spending these days together, Kaldiz had learned that Sordil and Miss Diphiya were both young masters of Fostadu, the dragon clan's hidden realm. He had also learned that Fostadu had once been part of the Western Continent. Like Star Forest Moon Boat, they were close to humans and opposed the policy of slaughtering them. Moreover, Fostadu had also been attacked by Koreita in the past. The difference was that they had repelled Koreita's assault before relocating their entire clan to Ishgar on the Eastern Continent, while Kaldiz's own people had died under Koreita's attack. Perhaps because they shared a common enemy, Kaldiz felt much closer to Sordil and the others.

"Brother Sordil, we're about to cross the sea and return to the Eastern Continent, but Uncle Kaldiz still hasn't recovered his Flight Ability. Is there anywhere on the ocean where we can stop and rest? What should we do?" Having calmed down, Miss Diphiya gazed over the vast sea horizon and spoke worriedly.

"I've thought about that too, so I plan to try using a newly learned spell to solve the problem." Unlike Miss Diphiya, Sordil was excitedly imagining how he should face those guys once he succeeded, how to gain their trust, and how to form contracts with them. As his thoughts reached an exciting point, Sordil stood there chuckling foolishly to himself, drool even trickling from the corner of his mouth.

"Brother Sordil? Brother Sordil?" By the time Sordil came back to his senses, Miss Diphiya was shaking him desperately, occasionally waving her right hand in front of his face. Kaldiz and the others were also looking at him strangely.

"Uh, I'm fine! I'll start casting the spell now." Sordil first assured everyone that he was all right, then turned around and began chanting the spell.

"All eighty-eight stars of the heavens, I am the one who has formed a contract with you. I am the one who opens the gates for you. Now I command you to reveal all gates before me. Open! Gate of the Spirit World, reveal yourselves in this mortal world for your most sincere friend!"

As Sordil finished chanting, a bright yellow surge of magical power burst from his body and extended upward until it vanished beyond sight. Suddenly, the clouds in the sky began to disperse, and countless stars glittered overhead. Then they began to drift slowly along some unseen path, gradually accelerating. The sky steadily darkened, while the stars moved faster and faster. At last, they formed a massive white sphere of light that fell from the heavens.

Boom

The sphere of light crashed into the ground, stirring up fierce winds and scattering smoke and dust everywhere. When Sordil and the others opened their eyes again, the white sphere had vanished. In its place stood a colossal blue-violet gate, a hundred zhang tall. Stars of various colors continuously flickered into existence upon its surface. Occasionally, different stars appeared at the same time and linked together into strange patterns. Had Sordil and the others looked carefully, they would have discovered that there were exactly eighty-eight stars of different colors.

Everyone stared at the enormous gate in shock. Even the massive dragons seemed incredibly small before it, much less Seraf, who was human. At that moment, Sordil was equally baffled as he stared at the blue-violet gate. According to the records in Mildian Magic Academy's library, the consciousness of an otherworldly ruler should have appeared and formed a contract with the summoner. Why had only a gate appeared? Just then, Miss Diphiya slowly approached the gate and tried to push it open. She was immediately flung away by a rebounding force, only stopping after being thrown nearly a hundred meters. The others who tried met much the same fate.

"Don't touch the gate. This is a passage to another plane that I summoned with magic. You haven't formed contracts with it, so you can't open it!" Sordil stopped Miss Diphiya and the others from trying again. Then he turned and walked before the gate, continuing, "In a moment, I'll enter another plane through this passage. Wait for me here, and whatever you do, don't come in. Your lives could be in danger! Uncle Kaldiz, keep an eye on them for me. Don't let them do anything reckless!"

After asking Kaldiz to watch Miss Diphiya, Sordil stretched out both hands and pressed them against the gate. Sure enough, as he had expected, no outside force rejected him, and he breathed a sigh of relief. If he got hurt by a gate he had summoned himself, he probably would never be able to show his face around Miss Diphiya and the others again. However, while the enormous gate did not attack him, it showed no intention of opening either. No matter how much strength Sordil used, it did not move in the slightest. He stared at the blue-violet gate for a long while before suddenly thinking of something. Since he had created this gate with magical power, why not try opening it with magical power?

Bzzzz

As Sordil poured in his magical power, the great gate began to hum and slowly recede backward. The world beyond it gradually unfolded before everyone. Blue and violet stars floated in the air, while specks of light occasionally darted past them and vanished beyond the limits of their vision. Looking at the familiar yet utterly unfamiliar scene before him, Sordil was overcome with emotion. In his previous life, he could only watch it through a screen. Now, it had opened its arms to him. Carrying complicated feelings in his heart, Sordil stepped through the gate. As he entered, the blue-violet gate gradually transformed into motes of light and dispersed into the air, while the sky returned to normal.

"Do you think Brother Sordil will be all right?" Miss Diphiya stared worriedly at the gate as it dissolved into specks of light overhead.

"He will. Master will definitely return safely—and only after resolving the difficulty we're facing now!" Though Seraf did not know Sordil's plan, he spoke with absolute conviction. Hearing him, Lindel and the others nodded in agreement.