SLKD – Volume 2 Chapter 9

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Volume 2 Chapter 9 – Spiritcon, Hot Dog, Quitting School

The summoning ceremony had officially begun. All the freshmen in school started reciting their summoning verses, and paid full attention to their surroundings so that they could summon spirits that they would be truly compatible with.

As for how long the summoning took, that was indefinite because the spirit population was about the same, or maybe even more than the human population, so it was no easy task to find a compatible spirit among the spirit populace. Of course, to save some trouble, one could always just head to a spirit shop and buy a spirit straight from the store. But if a summoner were to do that, the relationship and the compatibility between the summoner and the spirit wouldn’t be quite the same, as it would be from a summoning. After all, spirits sold in a spirit shop were captured, so, at least to some degree, it would only be natural for them to be fearful of humans. Because of this, ninety-nine percent of summoners would get their very first spirits via summoning.

Since I already have Silent Water, I obviously didn’t pay much attention to the whole summoning thing… Alright, actually, it had more to do with the fact that I couldn’t summon any spirits. It was quite clearly stated in our reference books that the lower level spirits, in order for them to avoid being hunted, would still pick appropriate masters for themselves, as per their own levels. So, a summoner shouldn’t be without any spirit, simply because he had lower amount of spiritual energy… So why then? Why was it that when it came to summoning spirits, I just couldn’t do it? I let out a sigh of resignation, and gave up on trying to summon any spirits altogether.

So while my classmates were busy focusing on summoning their own spirits, I took this opportunity to chat with Freed and Yalide to pass the time.

Soon enough, one of the boys shouted, “It came! It came! My spirit!”

Everyone looked towards where the commotion was: A boy was shouting excitedly at a small, gray squirrel that stood in the middle of a glowing magical circle.

However, when the boy found out that the squirrel was of the earth type, his excitement cooled. The reason was because its attribute was an earth type.

The boy’s reaction was quite common. Spirits of the same species could be of different types of attributes: wind, fire, water, lightning, wood, earth, metal, fog, or poison. Of all the different types of attributes, earth and wood had the lowest rankings among the elements. That was because people didn’t think that these two types of attributes were very effective during battles.

But, to me, the type of attribute a spirit possessed wasn’t that big of a concern; it was one’s own spirit after all.

The little earth elemental squirrel belonged to the lowest class, and when it saw its master, it ran frantically towards him. I could see that boy’s expression freeze at that moment. But, after a short while, he was moved by the little guy’s adorableness and formed a contract with it.

That boy’s contract marked the beginning of the actual summoning. Soon after, many more people summoned all manners of spirits, with all different types of attributes. Satsuki, that girl, even summoned a middle class fiery lion; it was no small wonder that she ranked eighth among the freshmen – that was really something!

That bum, Yamada, managed to summon a low class boxing kangaroo spirit… with a wind type attribute. Wind type spirits had great speed, they could augment their masters movement speed and increase their masters’ attack speed. To a battle technician like Yamada, a wind type spirit was the optimal choice.

Speaking of, there was also my fiancée, Kamiki Kuji. Since the day we had that conversation about the deal behind our relationship, I kept getting the feeling that she had been watching Satsuki and I closely, and her glare was constantly intensifying. Even when it was Satsuki who came over and leaned on me, in her mind she probably interpreted it as though it was me who was keen on Satsuki, and at the same time, wanted to marry her, the beautiful fiancée, right?

Anyway, Kamiki summoned a middle class monkey spirit, with a wind type attribute, which was completely different than the magic she wielded (fog and poison).

When I saw this, I was both astonished and sympathetic. This was because most of the time, summoned spirits would be of similar or complementary types to the summoners’ magic; only in very rare cases could people summon spirits with attributes contrary to their own magical abilities. I guess Kamiki was one among those very rare cases; that was indeed very unfortunate.

‘Kid, what are you talking about? Fog and poison, they benefit the most from wind type spirits.’

‘What do you mean by this? Um… Wait a second, fog and poison? Wind could change the direction of fog, and spread the poison… so it does seem like this combination is actually the most complimentary.’

‘That’s right, this actually is the best combination; what you people called the unfortunate few were just people who haven’t discovered the effectiveness of their own spirits.’

‘Freed, you are really amazing! But, are you really a high and mighty dragon god? How could you know so much?’ I thought Freed’s knowledge on spirit was astounding.

‘This, let me tell you! This, I have to tell you!’ Yalide just wouldn’t stop yelling.

‘Shush you, and go take a nap or something. Stop interrupting our conversation, you perverted dragon.’

‘I have to say it.’ Yalide was rarely this calm… could it be that Freed really had some secret that he couldn’t tell people?

‘Kid, don’t overthink this, don’t overthink this. Let’s stop this conversation now; we can talk some other day.’

‘Listen up, you, stinking brat! You and this white dragon were talking about me all day, about how lecherous I was, weren’t you? Well, okay, I’ll admit it; I really do appreciate sexy, beautiful female humans; of course, I also like beautiful female dragons. But, do you know, that Freed, he even…’

‘You, shut your mouth!!!’

‘…He actually likes spirits! He is a bona fide Spiritcon!!! It doesn’t matter to him if the spirit is big, or small; young, or old; male, or female, so long as it is a spirit, he’s obsessed with it. There was this one time, I heard him order…’

‘Stop it, stop it! Let’s not talk about the past!!!’

How come Freed was behaving just like Yalide right there? Could it really be true that he was a Spiritcon? But, this shouldn’t matter, right? Being a dragon god, shouldn’t it be pretty normal to care deeply about spirits?

‘Right, right, right, right you are, kid; it was totally worth it for me to help you through hell and high water.’

‘Brat! Why? Why? Why can’t you wait till I am finished before you draw your conclusion? Why is it that you can think so highly of Freed and so poorly of me? Let’s just think about this for a moment: those are spirits we are talking about; never mind the age gap, just from body size differences alone… Wait, this would be like a grown man with a little loli!!! Oh, hurry up and think better of me too. Since I am a dragon god, isn’t it normal for me to like sexy, beautiful, female humans?’

‘Why don’t you listen to yourself and take your own advice? “Never mind the age gap, just from body size differences alone”… are you really in a position to talk about Freed? It is really difficult for me think any better of you, Yalide, considering your obsession with beautiful female humans. Besides… you really are lewd… if you were a human, my bet is that you would have been a wanted rapist by now…’

‘That’s right! You are fantastic, kid! How fortunate am I to be able to inhabit your body? I now solemnly take back all the things I said about you being stupid!’

‘Errr… thank you? Ahem, “Spirit-obsessing-Freed”? Don’t you get any funny ideas towards Silent Water.’

‘Kid, like you said, I am a dragon god; my concern towards spirits is based purely out of love! Love, don’t you understand? It is completely different than Yalide, whose feelings towards female humans are filled with lewd thoughts…’

‘I wonder just who it was that routinely ordered those spirits to call himself “My Lord Dragon God”’! You pervert!!!’ Yalide became angry.

‘I…’ Freed became speechless.

This… I was stunned, I couldn’t believe that Freed…

‘Actually…’ Just when I was about to defend Freed, someone shoved me.

When I turned around, I saw Satsuki; for some reasons, her alluring eyes were looking at me with sympathy.

‘Lin Xiang, don’t give up, keep going, you can do it, your spirit will come, for sure.’ She comforted me gently.

When I zoned out in my conversation with Freed, it must have appeared to her as though I was down in the dumps because I couldn’t summon any spirits?

If it was before, I might have been really depressed about it. But! I had already formed a contract with Silent Water, and she was a king class level spirit to boot! King class! How could I possibly be depressed?

Of course, I couldn’t tell Satsuki all these exciting news. So I simply smiled and said, “Nothing to worry about, Satsuki. Actually, my summoned spirit said that it was expecting guests at home today, so it couldn’t make it here; that’s why it’s a no-show.”

“Lin Xiang…” Satsuki’s alluring eyes started to mist up. I really didn’t understand this girl; clearly, it was me, not her, who couldn’t summon any spirits, so why on earth was she crying? It made me agitated.

“Don’t cry, don’t cry, please, I beg you, my dear Miss Satsuki. Please, please, please don’t cry! Oh, where’s your spirit? Wow, isn’t it too big? It isn’t a dog, is it? Wait, what, a lion? And how could this possibly be? It has a fiery tail and it’s burning hot.”

“It’s a fire type spirit, so of course there’s fire; besides, when have you ever seen a normal dog all fiery and burning hot?”

“HOT DOG.”

“Pfff~~~” Satsuki laughed and cracked a beautiful smile.

“That’s right, you should smile more; the more you smile, the prettier you look. Here, let me pat your spirit… Wow!!! Amazing! Can I ride it, like a horse? It won’t take a bite out of me, right…”

—————————— Classroom

“Well, with the exception of a certain individual, the Spirit Summoning this time around has been quite successful.” The homeroom teacher glared at me when he mentioned “a certain individual”.

Needless to say, all the students in class, except for me, had all successfully formed contracts with spirits. This was on par with everyone’s expectations.

“As for that certain individual, I didn’t have high hopes, and I certainly didn’t expect him to summon an amazing spirit. HOWEVER, to not even able to summon a single spirit?! Is this a joke?! Since the school’s founding a hundred years ago, the school had overcome many difficulties and challenges, but never in the school’s history had the school encountered such a sorry excuse of a student who couldn’t even summon a single spirit. Well, then, Mr. Incompetent! Stand up, please! Please, explain yourself to your classmates, and to me, the reason – WHY– you couldn’t summon – even – ONE – SINGLE – spirit!!!” The homeroom teacher sounded real agitated. It looked like he was truly angry. Well, to be fair, having a student not being able to summon a single spirit, this had to be a first for the school.

Helplessly, I stood up, and said nothing. What could I possibly say? I wasn’t in my best condition? I didn’t have enough time? Or maybe I could say something along the line: “since I have already formed a contract with a king class spirit, those other inferior spirits are beneath me”, and let everyone laugh at my silly jokes?

Silence is golden. Besides, this homeroom teacher never did like me and I couldn’t care less, so I let him yell at me and just chatted with Freed and Yalide to while the time away.

‘What should we have for dinner tonight? To celebrate Silent Water and I forming a contract, I am going to make something.’

‘Make whatever you like. After all, you are the one who would be eating it.’

‘How about getting some books?’ Yalide suggested.

‘Books?’ Since when did he start to enjoy reading books?

‘Since when I first saw the book called “The H Lifestyle between My Master and I”! The girl on the cover was so beautiful, so sexy! I fell in love the moment I laid eyes on her.’

‘Argh… kid, how about we chat about what we are going to do for dinner? How about silver carp?’

‘That’s is a pain to make, how about salmon?’

‘Hmm, that’s not bad. How about another dish too, like steak? The lowest class spirit should like steak.’

‘That’s not a bad idea.’

‘Hey!!! Don’t you dare ignore me! Want the book!!! I wanna read it!!!’

…

“So! Mr. Incompetent! You understand me now?” When I turned around, the homeroom teacher just finished with his “lecture”, and the clock in class showed that ten minutes had passed. After his long speech, other than the fact that his hair was a bit messier than usual, he wasn’t even short of breath or red in the face…

“I understand! What sensei said was right!” The moment I said it, Satsuki looked at me all nervous like.

What’s going on?

“Oh? You’ve grew a conscience as a useless piece of garbage? Or perhaps you’ve finally realized that you are incompetent and have decided to quit school? Since you are not completely unrepentant, I will help you with the preparation for quitting school.”

Oi, oi, oi, what just happened? Quitting school?

“Sensei, I….”

“I understand that right now, you are quite burdened by your guilty conscience. That’s why, I have decided to go to the headmaster’s office with you. You’re my student, after all!!!” This homeroom teacher, whatever his name was, Youtaku, or Yousetsu, he sounded like he was really sympathetic but he could barely hide the excitement on his face. Look, you could even see his lips curling up a bit, I am pretty sure he was smirking!

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