Hajin sat beside the fire stones with his notched sword across his knees, chewing a stringy scrap of venison.
[ CringeSlayer91: AI is getting out of hand lately lol ]
"Okay, what's an AI, some guild that hires really bad actors?" He squinted at the floating row and jabbed his skewer toward it.
[ CringeSlayer91: artificial intelligence, computer made, you're doing the bit really well ]
"Great, you explained one weird word with three weirder words, thanks, amazing teacher, truly."
'Computer, bit, made, is Earth just a pile of nouns that nobody bothers explaining to me?'
[ CringeSlayer91: you look like an anime protagonist kicked out of his clan ]
"No clue what an anime is," he laughed, tugging his shirt off the bandage on his shoulder, "but the kicked-out part? Nailed it, three years ago, family of the year."
[ CringeSlayer91: lmao we just pay rent and complain online ]
"Rent, finally, a word I actually know, see, we're bonding now."
He waved the skewer at the forest like a tour guide showing off the worst inn in the kingdom, "Trade you, your landlord for my deer, at least your landlord doesn't scream people into boulders."
[ Function available | Veil connection, one summon slot open ]
Hajin choked on the venison and pounded his chest until it went down.
"Summon slot, open, a real one?" he squeaked, eyes still watering, "not the one that kicks me in the brain every single time?"
[ Veil | Souls stranded in interrupted reincarnation ]
[ Goddess's fall | Deeper cycle severed, soul loom broken by the allied pantheon ]
[ Retrieval | Female souls trapped in the interrupted cycle ]
[ Male souls | Continue through the surviving standard cycle ]
He read the rows twice, and his grin slid off his face somewhere around the second line.
'Souls, actual people, not the obedient guard dog that every tutor in the Flint courtyard promised me.'
"Quick lesson, the Veil holds souls stuck outside reincarnation, only women's souls on the part I can reach, some gods broke their goddess's road and left them stranded there." He waved a hand at the screen for his audience.
[ CringeSlayer91: harem protagonist confirmed lol ]
"Harem? What's a harem, another computer thing?"
"No, wait, don't tell me yet," he said, scratching his jaw and frowning at the laughing row, "you'll just use three more weird words, explain it later, whoever comes through gets dinner first, though one deer makes a pretty sad welcome party."
[ Retrieval | Soul's free acceptance required, refusal closes that resonance ]
[ Accepted return | Vessel formation and true-name anchor required ]
[ Individual memory and temperament | Bond does not replace willingness ]
"They can say no, huh?" Hajin let out a low whistle and tapped the consent row, careful not to brush the calling prompt below it.
"Good, I've met plenty of people who ask permission after they already took your stuff." His laugh came out short and sour, no joke in it.
'The family wanted a weapon on a leash, but nobody in there owes me a damn thing.'
He pushed his sword away across the moss and opened his palm above the trampled ground, "Hey, anyone in there who wants another shot, there's room, the world's not safe and the food's mostly gone, but the choice is yours."
[ Call extended | Focus on one answering resonance, acceptance pending ]
Mana poured down his wrist this time without slamming backward into that sore spot behind his eyes.
"No headache? No headache!" He cackled and nearly toppled off his rock, "three years of brain punches, and now it just works?"
Light spun open above the moss, widening slowly while he braced his elbow against one knee.
Presences brushed his awareness, faint and faceless, then drifted away before he could catch a name.
"Nope, it's fine, take your time, nobody's getting dragged anywhere, I'll wait." He kept his palm open and let the light turn at its own pace.
One presence hit him hard enough to straighten his spine, fierce and wary, then pulled back from the light.
'That one's angry, or scared, or both, and honestly, same, I really get it.'
"Another life, not an order," he said, keeping his fingers open and his voice low while his shoulder trembled, "that's all I've got on this side of the door, you decide if it's enough."
The presence returned slowly, touching the light like someone testing river ice before trusting it with weight.
[ Soul reply | Return accepted, vessel formation authorized ]
"She said yes... holy shit, somebody actually said yes to me." His voice cracked, and he scrubbed his eyes before the viewer could call it crying.
Mana dragged through his arm as a shape gathered above the moss, and a heartbeat thumped beneath the crackling fire.
Pointed wolf ears rose above dark hair, and a furred tail curled close against the body forming beneath them.
The last light folded into flesh, and a woman dropped to her knees before tipping weakly onto her side.
Hajin realized what the System forgot, flushed to his ears, and spun toward the pine so fast his neck cracked.
"Clothes! You forgot clothes, you useless glowing box, who summons somebody naked into a freezing forest?!"
"Seriously," he hissed at the sky, scandalized, "you build a whole person from scratch and skip the pants part?"
He groped behind him for the coat while keeping his gaze nailed to the bark like it owed him rent.
"Coat coming down, just a coat, that's all, you don't have to say anything." He backed toward her breathing and lowered the coat by feel, still glaring at the tree.
The canvas settled over her shoulders, and he pulled his hand away before it lingered anywhere at all.
[ Vessel unstable | True-name anchor required, establish designation now ]
Light began unraveling from her fingertips like sparks leaping off a dying campfire.
"Wait, wait, wait, a name, right now? Okay, uh, okay—"
He held his open palm above the covered shoulder without grabbing anything, "Your name here is Juna, hold onto it and keep coming back."
[ Designation accepted | True-name anchor: Juna ]
[ Insignia | Forming ]
A crescent and broken chain glowed through the canvas over her chest, and the pulse answered in his wrist.
Her breathing deepened as the outline held solid, and Hajin sagged back against the boulder with a wheeze.
'Breathing, solid, not falling apart, I'm counting that as the best morning of my whole life.'
Old scars crossed the arm outside the coat, and he decided they were none of his business yet.
[ CringeSlayer91: bro named her in two seconds, what is this speedrun ]
"She was coming apart, you want a naming ceremony, go complain to the fire," he grumbled, face still burning.
[ CringeSlayer91: coat move was smooth ngl ]
"No idea what ngl means, but I'll take smooth, smooth sounds good." He puffed out his chest, then winced when the bandage pulled.
Her eyes snapped open, amber and fixed on his face, then jerked to the scabbard behind his hip.
She dragged the coat tight across her chest and folded her ears, pulling both legs under the canvas.
He slid the sword farther away and showed both empty palms, "Hey, easy, I'm not stopping you, there's meat by the stones, just watch the roots if you—"
She sprang sideways before he finished, snatched the venison off the stones, and vanished uphill wearing his coat.
Branches snapped beyond the shelter, then her footfalls faded into the pines and left him crouching beside nothing.
"...Three years waiting for my first summon, and she robs me blind, honestly, respect."
[ CringeSlayer91: perfectly valid, stole breakfast AND your drip ]
"My what? If drip means coat, then yeah, that coat cost me months of saving, damn it."
"But barefoot on that slope, alone? I'd rather lose the coat than find it wrapped around another carcass." He stood slowly, wincing at his shoulder, and squinted toward the loose scree above the trees.
'Bare feet, loose stones, and a temper, that is a terrible combination on any mountain.'
[ Bond | Juna active, direction tether available ]
[ Guidance | Position only, private thoughts inaccessible ]
[ Movement | Remains Juna's choice ]
"Position only, and I can't make her come back, good, I wasn't planning to anyway."
A thread of light pointed uphill and held steady, carrying direction and nothing else.
He kicked dirt over the embers and tamped it flat until no spark remained.
He checked the core pouch, slung his pack, and tucked the wrapped venison clear of his sleeve.
[ CringeSlayer91: ten credits says she bites you when you catch up ]
"Keep your money ready, then, and yell if something big comes down that slope while I'm watching my feet." He ducked under a branch with his hand well away from the sword.
'Thirty credits in my wallet, and I'm not betting a single one of them against a sure thing.'
'No hauling her back with a name, I find her first, then I ask what she wants.'
A fresh smear of mud marked the rock where she slipped, and he followed it higher into the trees.