Silence spread across the room as everyone seemed to have froze momentarily.
The crowd below the platform watched with almost the same level of confusion as Dean.
Dean on the other hand, stood without moving an inch for about 2 seconds, watching the slime keenly before he finally took a slow breath.
He mustered courage after feeling his body free up and stretched his index finger forward in an attempt to touch the rainbow colored slime.
'Even if it was poisonous or something, it wouldn't kill its summoner… right?' Dean thought as he proceeded.
The moment his index finger poked the gelatinous surface of the slime. It rolled over to the side like a deflated ball.
Then the surface of the slime wobbled again and two slits suddenly appeared on its surface.
Dean withdrew his finger immediately he saw the slits.
The slits slowly peeled open to reveal two large goggly eyes. They stared directly at Dean and he had to admit in that moment.
"It's sooo cute…," a feminine voice beat him to it.
"Don't call it cute," another voice quickly queried her.
Others had began whispering but immediately Dean half-turned, silence returned, except for the blonde boy with blue sharp eyes who kept talking regardless.
"This fool is wasting our time," the condescending tone of the boy was loud enough for Dean to hear.
"Hey," a hand tapped the boy's left shoulder softly.
"Keep your voice down Rogue, That fool would find you to your house."
The blond boy shrugged but stopped talking.
All of the room's attention now shifted to Mr Cruff. Everyone was now anxious for his verdict, after all, they didn't know what to make of the slime creature and he hadn't said anything yet.
Cruff stood by the side. Cold sweat on his forehead as he kept tapping on the glowing compass device in his hand as if it held the secrets of the universe.
The screen of the device had completely froze immediately the Slime appeared.
'This is impossible,' Cruff panicked.
He stopped tapping on the dead device and finally looked up with effort like he could feel the weight of a hundred eyes crushing down on him.
He cleared his throat with a quick cough. Trying and failing to keep a calm expression.
"There has been an operational failure in the device," he spoke with the calmest tone he could muster.
"Master Dean Gray, you'll have to come back to the W.S.A for further evaluation,"
Immediately he said that. A older man stepped back slightly. His face alittle grim with eyes now focused on Dean.
Cruff coughed, catching himself.
"I mean re-evaluation…"
Cruff was trying his best not to cause immediate panic after all, the only familiars capable of damaging this device were calamity class but even those could be read before they destroyed the device with their verge pressure.
But whatever this was, it froze the device instead, not destroy it like calamities would.
The device at this point was simply unable to quantify what it was, like it was outside its scope of understanding.
"Re-evaluation?" A brunette girl asked with visible irritation.
"He must have broken the machine," a stern looking boy in his early twenties said.
"Couldn't be that thing right?" The girl replied while pointing at the slime which was now wobbling in Dean's hand without a care in the world.
Another wave of silence followed as Cruff raised his hand. A sign of authority.
"It is not Master Dean's fault. The W.S.A would take full responsibility for this and another summoning date would be announced."
This was the instructor's attempt to play politics and make the whole thing look trivial but some veterans in the midst of their kids understood something was off.
Dean all this while had tuned out the rest of the room.
His mind was focused on something else. He held the slime which just silently stared at him in his grasp.
It fitted into his palms like it was always meant to be there. An unseen tether strung between them like a form of innate understanding manifested from thin air.
But the growing sense of understanding and commune between the summoner and familiar was interfered with.
Ding!
Something appeared right in front of Dean's view while the slime rested on his palm.
[SYSTEM INITIALIZATION IN PROGRESS]
[Host: Dean Gray]
[Age: 17]
[Race: Human]
[Summoner Rank: Aspirant- Tier 1]
[Active Bonds: 3/3]
[Attribute: Body of the sage ]
_______________________________________
[Summoning Status ]
[Familiar 1: Wind Sprite ]
[Classification: Common Class - Mid]
[Skills - Expand to reveal]
[Familiar 2: Earth elemental]
[Classification: Common Class - Mid]
[Skills - Expand to reveal]
_____________________________________
[Familiar 3: [Unknown]
[Classification: Paradox]
[Standard analysis: Unavailable]
[Potential: Unavailable]
[Ability scan: Analyzing ]
[Scanning still in progress….]
[ The host's complete profile would be provided by the system after complete analysis and attunement is complete.]
Dean's eyes widened in both shock and general confusion. What exactly was he looking at right now.
'So my new life came with patch notes,' he questioned not himself but the world itself and maybe even the creature that seemed to be melting into his palm like it wanted to nap.
" Dean… Gray…."
"Can …. You hear me?"
"DEAN GRAY!!!"
Dean's black eyes snapped back as Cruff yelled at him.
"Did you even get anything I just said," the stern voice of the bald man asked as he glared at the boy.
"Yeah…Sure!" Dean responded with a forced grin.
"You may get off the Summoning sphere now," Cruff instructed.
Dean nodded once.
Still holding the slime like a scoop of multi-flavoured ice cream in his palm.
He walked down the stairs slowly and from where he stood. He noticed some eyes looking at him with darkened expressions, others with contempt while some carried awe.
This mixed reactions, he felt like he had seen them before. He'd been here before. In his former life.
This was the same eyes they gave him when he'd made that fatal mistake. The mistake that ended his fighting career. The mistake that killed a man.
A/N: if you're enjoying the story, add to Library.