Being a Summoner on our Evolved Earth

New Path of Growth (26)

"If dragons are supposed to be mighty, then why would I have to go the agility route to become one?" Vicki noticed the anomaly.

"Before, dragon's were just myths. Now that I actually have the power to evolve creatures, it may be possible to get there by focusing on strength as well, I just figured agility would be better for flying type creatures. Guess I based it on my prejudices." Lucia shrugged. Vicki seemed to be lost in thought again.

"So what would I become if I went the earth route?" After another hour Vicki had more questions.

"Hmmm, maybe a basilisk or drake? Again, my theories are based on myth's and human imagination. We'd have to actually pick a route for me to find out how things actually work. You could also choose another element as well." Lucia answered and sent images of different basilisks to Vicki. "Your scales were red in your previous evolution, you may have affinity with the life element to become a phoenix." Lucia added while sending knowledge on the phoenix.

"So many choices... What do you think is most useful?" Vicki still couldn't decide.

"If wind does allow you to fly even when carrying someone, then that would be useful for travel and aerial scouting. Earth would be more practical with finding shelter in any terrain as well as maybe being able to defend an area better than any other. Life would mean that you could be a healer or have strong regeneration so even if you suffer wounds it wouldn't hinder you much." Lucia gave her point of view on the benefits of each.

"Then what are the negatives of each in your opinion?" Vicki asked.

"Wind while increasing your power and mobility, would mean you would have trouble defending yourself from attacks which is why agility would be better suited now that I think about it. Earth means you are heavily defended, but its hard to catch the ones in the air and it is likely that you would destroy the area around you in a fight. Life while letting you sustain longer in a fight wouldn't really boost any of your other attributes. It may bring you back from near death, but the others may help you avoid those situations in general. I may just lack understanding of the life element though. In the past my Unicorn was a healer of the life element. The unicorn had the ability to sacrifice its life for its Master and would send it into a sleep state for a whole day after." Lucia reminisced about the game for the first time.

"You used to have other familiars? What happened to them?" Vicki was suddenly curious.

"I don't know. Before the world reset, my powers and familiars existed in a virtual... Fake game. It was all pretend." Lucia smiled wryly. "I never got to talk, or eat with them personally like I do with you guys."

Vicki looked like she was in thought for a bit, then grinned, "Well then tough luck for them!" Lucia chuckled and patted Vicki's back. "So Aegis is going to be death and ice right?" Vicki suddenly asked.

"Yes?" Lucia was surprised by the question.

"He's got defense down pat then. I'll aim to become an agile dragon." Vicki finally made her choice.

"Alright, I'll help you get there." Lucia said as she put the stone that she was trying to turn into a bowl down and started her random summon for the day. The requirements this time was dying winged creature of wind element that wanted a chance to live even as part of someone else or wind element creature with wings. In two minutes the three magic circles formed and made the cave feel cramped for space.

The first circle held a sparrow missing a wing, the second held a large bat that looked badly diseased, and the final circle had a large eagle inside. To Lucia's surprise each of them was at second evolution already. She moved to the sparrow in the first circle.

{Hello, just to confirm is your element wind?} Lucia asked. The sparrow weakly lifted its head and nodded.

{Are you willing to become a part of another creature in order to live?} Lucia asked while watching the sparrow intently. The sparrow looked out of the circle at Vicki for a bit, then nodded yes. Lucia felt that this bird had already lost its will to live, but since she got answers to her questions, she moved on. She repeated her first question to the bat that was taking big breathes as if it couldn't get air without doing that.

{Yes.} The bat said after taking a breath. Then Lucia asked the second question again.

{Yes, pain end.} It pleaded while trembling. Lucia nodded to it and moved to the final circle.

{Just confirming, are you wind element?} Lucia asked this question once again. The eagle nodded, but the circle flashed. Lucia raised an eyebrow since that meant it either lied or attacked.

{Are you willing to be fused with a stronger creature?} Lucia asked. The eagle seemed surprised that she didn't dwell on the circle flashing, then it shook its head to say no. Lucia felt this bird was suspicious, so she used a function of the circle she hadn't tried before. She sent a shock of mana to the bird which caused shadows to erupt for a moment before dispersing. Inside was the dark fairy from her first summoning in the dungeon. Lucia sighed when she recognized it. She indeed wanted to punish this trickster, but helping Vicki was of higher priority now. So Lucia immediately kicked out the fairy from the selection.

She then glanced back at the other two while thinking, 'Why can't I take both? Such a waste.' After that thought, a contract appeared in front of both of them. Lucia was shocked when she saw them both hastily sign it with mana. Lucia fake signed both and as expected, the fairy had tried to pull its trick again with illusion contracts. After pulling up fresh contracts she properly signed for both to become fusion materials. As soon as the magic circles dropped Lucia cast [Cleanse] on the bat which caused its disease to disappear near instantly. The bat froze in shock for a while. Then Lucia used [Healing Spring] on the sparrow which caused it to go from dying to regenerating its lost wing. It too froze in shock.

"Vicki which one do you want to fuse with first?" Lucia turned back to ask. Vicki watched them intently for a while before pointing at the bat.

"The wings on that one resemble the pictures you showed me." Was Vicki's reasoning.

"You don't have to follow the pictures exactly you know." Lucia said with a chuckle.

"I know that. Also, shouldn't we wait until Aegis is done?" Vicki asked worriedly.

"It's fine, he'll be done in an hour or less." Lucia said then she cast her spell, [Creature Fusion] 

"Primary soul is Vicki, secondary soul is large bat." Lucia once again felt one third of her mana drain from her body to wrap them together before they were absorbed back into their contracts. That left only the sparrow to keep Lucia company. It was under a material contract instead of a servant contract though, which meant it didn't have to defend her with its life. It took a few more minutes for the sparrow to completely regrow its wing before it started to chirp happily.

"Calm down little one. even if you want to try out your wings, it is raining outside." Lucia quickly stopped it as it was trying to fly. It calmed down and instead flapped its wings to land on her shoulder instead. Lucia pet its smooth feathers then went back to trying to carve a stone into a bowl with another stone.