"Leon Carter."
Once called, Leon stepped out, walking slowly unto the open space below and stepping inside the fighting ring which was at least twice the size of a football field but equal on all sides.
Following behind him was the student who was going to be his opponent, a young boy just like him. They took their positions opposite each other, with considerable distance between both parties. The boy looked well relaxed standing before Leon, as if he was already sure of victory against his opponent. Leon saw the confidence in the boy and just breathed deeply, trying to calm himself.
Leon closed his eyes briefly as he tried maintaining stable breathing. Even though he appeared confident, this was another world, and he really was about to get into his first fight. He was yet to experience a summoner's battle for himself, but based off all he had read online and what he had observed so far in the earlier battles, it seemed like the connection between summoner and summons was a real disadvantage at times.
While a stronger connection meant being able to draw out more power from the summon, it also meant being connected at a deeper level, so there was a very sharp and uncomfortable give and take system there which he wasn't a fan of by any means.
'God I hope this skeleton surprises me.' He thought to himself.
Just then, the instructor's voice cut through his thoughts, "like I've explained, you can always access the arkashic records and check on your summon within your summoner's space in your mind. You can check your summon's grade and estimated potential. You can go ahead and do that now. If you are yet to name your summon, also do so now. Same with the rest of you." He said, gesturing to the others watching.
Leon remembered and closed his eyes to focus while he accessed his mind space. In only a few seconds, his skeleton summon came up before his vision and my thought alone, he peered into its capabilities, which were rather simple and not so informative as he had thought, or perhaps it was peculiar to this summon.
…
Summon: Skeleton Warrior
Description: An undead skeleton warrior, wielding a great sword.
Grade: 1 (Peak)
Potential: 1
…
"Potential 1… wow." He said under his breath. There really was no future for him with this damn skeleton.
Once they got into positions they both called out their summons. Starting from a faint outline of the summons to full materialisation, both summons appeared and stood in front of their summoners. While Leon summoned his skeleton warrior, his opponent called forth a rank 2 beast, the creature looked like a flesh eating Bison, its teeth and size of its mouth unfitting to be classified as that of a Bison, not in the slightest.
Seeing the beast, Leon swallowed a bolus of saliva. 'Bone head, you'll have to give it your best from the very start.' He said in his mind. Since summoners could communicate with their summons mentally, he didn't need to speak out loud.
As he said so, the skeleton's eyes that shone a dull sky blue burned brighter, like an ethereal flame, and it changed its stance, from a lazy stance to a battle ready position.
As soon as the instructor called for the spar to begin, both summons charged at each other. The skeleton ran with such fluidity and speed that shocked everyone, even Leon, especially because of the weapon it had in hand, which should have made that impossible, not to mention, undead skeletons as monsters were not the type to be classified under agile in any way.
The skeleton raised its sword, bringing it down in a cutting arc against the Bison, but the beast's head was too thick, so only a scratch was made as both locked positions. The Bison easily pushed back the skeleton in a contest of strength, while the skeleton locked its legs as it resisted the Bison while being pushed back several metres.
Leon was going to give directions, but then the Bison stopped pushing the skeleton backwards, and it jumped back a couple times, creating space. Immediately, it began running towards the Bison in an arc, approaching from the side, its sword drawing the line on the ground as it dragged it along.
Leon was starting to feel hopeful at the outcome and how the match had started, it seemed like he still had a chance, perhaps a Grade 1 skeleton at peak wasn't so useless after all?
That was when he saw his opponent smirk. He knew the opponent was about to make a serious move, but he just didn't know what it would be.
The skeleton made its way to the Bison and once again struck with a wide and powerful swing, but the Bison moved out of the way and dodge, allowing the sword to strike the ground hard, digging into it.
The Bison then made a run of its own, charging to close the short gap that had been created, in that last second when the skeleton pulled out its sword and was going to dodge, the Bison accelerated in an instant, running through the skeleton whole and shattering it, drawing gasps from everyone watching.
"Argh!" Leon screamed in pain as he fell to his knees. 'So this is what it feels like for your summon to be destroyed? Sick bastard.'
"Stop!" The Instructor called out immediately. "Jason Daniels! You will be panelised for that!" He said before rushing towards Leon who was on one knee gritting his teeth in pain. He clenched his abdomen tight, fighting through the pain before the instructor arrived. "Are you alright, student?" He asked, his eyes showing some concern.
"Alright, Sir. Just feel like I've received a nasty punch." Leon groaned.
"You'll be alright, your summon as well. You'll just need some time to recoup. Go back to your seat." He said, helping Leon to his feet and assisting him out of the ring. "I don't want to see what just happen repeat itself, understood?"
The crowd of students answered uniformly, and the sparing continued.
Leon could see from people's expression and even hear a few remarks. Most of them, like himself, were impressed and surprised by the strength of his summon, the only difference was that they thought his summon could grow stronger in the future, while he knew very well that it's strength had already capped, unless he was able to find a way to get it to evolve in future, if not he was doomed.
While many saw some positive in Leon and his summon, there were still others that laughed at his weakness. While it was true that a summoner could get stronger the more he bonded and synchronized with his/her summon, that was not standard, and even then, there was no way his summon would go above Grade 2.
'This honestly sucks.'
After everyone was done sparing, the instructor took them for a brief theoretical class where he analysed each student's individual summon, pointing out where they fell short during their battles and how they were to improve. It was nothing deep, just brief instructions and that was it, everyone was free to return to do whatever so they pleased.
Leon was the first to arrive in his room after a brief meal at the cafeteria. The school provided breakfast and dinner, and that was all, even the quantity was little, so Leon was still feeling hungry. That was when it dawned on him that he was yet to check if he had any money of the sort anywhere, after all, he was a rich kid in this world.
"Or else…" After searching all around, it came as no surprise that there was nothing at all anywhere. His phone had no bank app or anything of the sort, and the only thing resembling a digital wallet only had so much left within it. 'Do I really have an evil stepmother in this world?'
Just then, Dustin and Raul entered the room still talking amongst themselves.
"I told you, didn't I? It might be a Grade 1 beast, but it rocks, literally." Dustin said just as he saw Leon. "Dude, that skeleton was sick! I wasn't expecting too much against that beast to be honest, but that thing was seriously powerful for a skeleton. You just might be up to something here, you know?"
Once again, Raul couldn't help but face palm mentally, Dustin appeared to be loose lipped, and unaware of the fact too.
"I was equally surprised." Leon said.
During the battles, Leon got to see Raul and Dustin's summons. Raul's was a Black Panther, a Grade 2 summon with shadow element, a rare summon. Dustin's summon was a Grade 1 summon, Stone Golem. While being Grade 1, it was a monster that could hold its own against summons of higher grades because of its sturdy defence.
They spoke for a while before everyone settled doing their own thing. That was when Leon left the room and headed behind their dorm building. It was already evening now, and the sun had long set.
'What is this feeling I've been getting?'