The Summoner And Contractor System

There were a few dozen trees, all of which seemed to be hollowed out. While the trees within the clearing weren"t as tall as the 56 meter tall trees around Krose village and the other sections of the forest, they were still a good 45 meters tall on average. Their branches were wide and st.u.r.dy with animals walking along them, they seemed to be opening holes in the wood and creating new homes. Poking out their heads from other holes in the tree, the animals seemed to be different types of birds and hybrids of squirrels and possums. Many burrowing animals were seen walking along the ground, digging out holes and making their own homes and pa.s.sageways.

There were several differences between these animals and the ones from Rentaro"s previous life. For one, the animals fur, skin, and eyes were strange colors here if compared to their other worldly counterparts and the animals seemed to have stronger physical abilities. Not to mention, their bodies were also covered in strange patterns, tattoos, and markings. Rentaro reasoned that such characteristics were caused by this world"s vast quant.i.ties of qi and elemental energy in the atmosphere.

"Interesting, right? Beasts usually don"t develop intelligence until their cultivation increases, but this bunch of small animals seem to have enough intelligence to have developed a village of their own." A voice rang out, coated in gentleness.

Rentaro was startled out of his observation before he realized it was Haz who spoke up, his serious expression wiped off his face leaving Rentaro with one thought, "How does his tone and facial expression change so fluently?" While he thought that, his response was much simpler.

"Ye-Yeah, it"s really amazing."

"All of these little guys are at the first foundation establishment stage, the pond stage. Because they"re not very strong, they group up. Let me tell you this, if they all group up on a second stage foundation establishment, the creek stage, they"ll manage to win in the end. The casualties they"d suffer would be immeasurable however."

Rentaro felt his mind buzz as his outlook on the small animals changed once again. Strangely enough, a lot of the animals had their gazes focused on Rentaro. Rentaro breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed the gazes were filled with happiness and attachment, rather than hostility.

[People with strong connections to nature and purity are generally well-liked by creatures of Innocence, Rentaro. Summoners have very close ties with nature, which makes them lean towards you even more.] Wilhelm"s voice echoed out, offering a brief explanation.

"Creatures of Innocence?"

[Uh-hm, the term is rather broad and every individual has their own concept on the meaning behind innocence. The general explanation is that the creatures are embraced by nature, they try to live lives of simplicity, purity, and peace, without the desire to bring harm to others. The markings that cover their body signify their Innocence, in case you"re curious.]

"Don"t worry, although these little guys aren"t the most intelligent, our village has formed quite the relationship with them. Awhile back, they had been attacked by a foundation establishment third stage, the stream stage. We happened to be pa.s.sing by and saved the little guys, they"re rather inviting towards us now."

"That about sums up the story. Now, let"s set camp here for the day. Today and tomorrow, we"ll be teaching you some of the basics. These little guys will naturally help us teach you as well, hehe."

Icrin, who was playing around with a small squirrel-like creature, suddenly jumped. "What do you mean, "set up camp here for the day," I thought we were returning home before night!"

"Oh, why"d you think that?" Haz replied, a sly smile taking form on his face.

"Be-because Gramps said so!"

"Hehe, you know Elder Astrona is as mischievous as you are, so it"s not that surprising. Anyways, your bag is already packed full. Did you not think about why he"d pack food and water for you, Icrin?"

"Uh... he forgot we"d be there for only a day...." Icrin"s voice weakened as he responded this time, a bad feeling bubbling up inside of him.

"NOPE! He just didn"t want to tell you that you"d be here training with me..." Just when Icrin thought that would be the worst part of the sentence, "for an entire seven days, that"s right, a whole week, Icrin!" Haz"s face warped in excitement, while Icrin"s face was only turning more pale by the second, until he looked deathly pale.

Icrin finally couldn"t handle it anymore and he fell over, seemingly pa.s.sed out. Rentaro mused that Icrin looked like a sick dog, all he was missing was the foam at his mouth. Three animals hopped onto his stomach, holding sticks with leaves attached to them like flags as they took on poses, prompting the corners of Icrin"s mouth to raise and blowing his cover of being pa.s.sed out.

Roy, ignoring the situation between Haz and Icrin, was busy playing with the small animals. Some of them stood up and tried to beat him in height, clambering on top of one another and forming a small tower of three squirrels holding one another up. Roy nudged the one on the bottom, tipping their small tower of squirrels over.

Ichi and Shin were laughing as they watched, at the same time they were pitching tents in the small animal village. There were small animals which helped them set up the tent, whereas others watched in curiosity.

Off to the side, Phu was busy practicing his sword techniques. Each slash he made with the sword was without any harm, he seemed to be practicing his sword stances and sharpening his control with his aura through the sword.

Tsyun seemed to be the most relaxed there as he was lying on a small hammock that seemed to be made of a strong, rope-like plant. While it seemed as if he wasn"t doing anything, Rentaro was under the a.s.sumption that he was meditating.

"Alright, Icrin, get up. I know you"re faking it, don"t make me force you up."

Icrin hopped up with the animals scurrying away, stumbling to Rentaro"s side. Rentaro signaled Roy through their mental connection through the system, prompting him to return.

"Very good! Now, let"s get started! You three have already learned to conceal your footsteps, at least to an extent. Preventing tracks is one key to preventing others from tracking you. If the person tracking you is high in cultivation however, they"ll be able to track remnants of your aura. At your current stages, you three aren"t able to hide your aura from such existences. As such, you can only fool beasts who lack intelligence or cultivators around the same foundation establishment stage as you with such simple methods."

"If the person or beast tracking you can sense your aura even when you conceal it to your best measurement, you need to use the method of sending your aura into multiple directions to trick them or at least buy time to escape further. Such methods would usually involve linking your aura to a moving animal, a vehicle like a boat or ship of some sort, or an object, if you can launch said object very far away, like throwing a spear. Hehe."

"The second topic we"ll learn is tracking. Naturally, these little guys will help us teach you."

In response to his statement, the three gave him blank faces, except for their questioning glares. Icrin couldn"t help but wonder if Haz had actually snapped this time or if Haz had actually been insane this entire time and he merely pushed it off as a joke to prevent the situation from escalating.

Haz"s response was to think over what he had just said, wondering if he had said something wrong that confused the three. He traded glares with his friends, who nodded as if to say they clearly understood his meaning.

"Hah, you three ignorant kids, already looking at me like I"m crazy! It"s rather simple, we"ll have a few of the animals run and hide, then one of you three will have to track them. Simple, no?"

The three gave simultaneous nods in response, sparking a confident smile on Haz"s face.

"Alright, Icrin, you"ll start first." As he told Icrin to start, he signaled two birds and three squirrels to hide. The traces of their aura seemed to vanish instantly as they scattered from their original location. The animals left without leaving any footsteps, pa.s.sing through bristly bushes without stirring the slightest wind and shaking nearby bushes. In fact, the animals managed to hit up sticks and leaves from beyond view, causing other bushes to slightly shake, trying to shakeup Icrin"s thought process.

Icrin"s eyes lit up as he looked towards their starting positions. His gaze followed the paths they took as they ran and hid, he seemed to not only be looking for their locations based off of following their aura, but also calculating how far they could"ve gotten based off of the initial speed they traveled at.

From there, Icrin took to the trees for higher ground. He not only had to find the three critters on the ground, but the two birds who took to the sky as well. Luckily, they stayed within the forest clearing. With the Krose bloodline increasing his mental capacity, speed of thinking, and exceptional eye techniques, he managed to track the five animals with ease.

Afterwards, Rentaro and Roy"s turn followed. The two ended up working together with the reasoning of being a Summoner and Summon. The two started their search by tracking the aura of the five animals from where they started.

Unlike Icrin, their mental capacity and thought processing speed, along with general tracking skills, were significantly shallower. The two started their search at the origin point, the location where the animals started running from.

Compared to Rentaro, Roy was in a better position to lead the tracking operation. Relying on his sharpened senses that he was born with, Roy managed to establish a path that the animals" aura traveled in.

They took longer than Icrin to accomplish the task, but Roy"s sharp senses managed to track the five animals down in the end. Wilhelm"s suggestion quickly followed the completion of their task, advising Rentaro to try his luck at summoning again soon with hopes of summoning a tracking-oriented summon.