The Summoner's Rebirth: Awaken, Milady

'..!'

Water spirit!

Hope welled up in her heart.

She felt a surge of joy.

'Yes.' Aria replied to the notification.

[A contract has been formed.]

[The 'Lower Water Spirit' wishes to aid you in battle.]

[You have depleted your mana.]

[New condition: Mana depletion.]

A headache attacked Aria once again, leaving her stumbling over nothing.

Her mana was sitting prim and proper at 0, causing her to feel dizzy.

She bit her lips and fell to the ground, struggling to regain her focus.

"Let me borrow your power," Aria beckoned for the unnamed spirit to come closer.

The two hands were joined, and Aria felt the spirit's mana flow through her.

The power of 'Borrowing'.

This was something that couldn't be done without mutual trust between the summoner and the summoned creature.

But this newly summoned spirit trusted her enough to lend her power.

'..Truly just like Dianthe.' Aria mused over the similarity. The spirit's trust towards her already reached a point where it was willing to lend her its energy without further commands.

With her thoughts cleared up by the temporary supply of mana, she picked up her sword and coordinated with the spirit.

"Wash them down. No need to do it altogether. Separate them into factions, I'll charge into the small groups. Block the other factions while I deal with one," Aria instructed.

The summoner's language was universal for all of the summoned creatures. Even though their native tongue could be massively different, the creature would understand the commands no matter what.

Only, the higher-ranked spirits would be able to understand commands much better.

Aria felt a sense of melancholy standing beside the new spirit. She wasn't Dianthe, as that one had no chances of surviving after what happened to Aria.

The spirit was low-ranked, but she understood Aria's instructions.

The spirit seemed to have agreed and turned to the pack of wolves.

Similar to a water jet, it created strong currents of water to separate the unified pack.

The wolves were thrown into disarray and confusion.

Aria took advantage of that and charged without hesitation, slaying five wolves in succession.

[Level D Blue Wolf <Mad> successfully murdered.]

[Level D Blue Wolf <Mad> successfully murdered.]

[Level D Blue Wolf <Mad> successfully murdered.]

[Level D Blue Wolf <Mad> successfully murdered.]

[Level D Blue Wolf <Mad> successfully murdered.]

[Experience points increased by 8700.]

However, the level up sound didn't come up.

Instead, a notification popped up.

[You have accumulated enough experience to break through the first stage.]

[You have not been registered as a <Player> yet. You cannot proceed.]

[You have not unlocked your <Adapter> power. You cannot proceed.]

Aria opened her mouth, but stopped herself from saying the necessary words.

'What would happen if I merged with this System? No, wait, what even is this System?'

She had never heard of something like it.

Risks.

The most essential part required to advance in life.

"Alright, whatever, accept everything," Aria charged forwards once again.

The System seemed to be helping her. If not for the leveling system, she'd have no mana. She'd be doomed.

She continued her battle.

The wolves' fur had been drenched in Dianthe's water.

Water pooled on the ground too, but that wasn't enough to hinder Aria.

She made perfect maneuvers and reached the wolves in no time without slipping.

Slash!

[Level D Blue Wolf <Mad> successfully murdered.]

[Experience points increased by 2200.]

[Experience bar full. Storing excess points in the bank.]

[Initializing merge program...]

[Fusing <Player> features with the host...]

[Unlocking <Adapter>...]

'..!' Aria felt her body be charged with a warm surge of energy, something that was similar to mana, yet wasn't the mana she was familiar with.

[Information updated.]

[Congratulations. You have became the Seventh <Player>.]

[Congratulations. You have unlocked the <Adapter> Title.]

[Breaking through Stage 1.]

[You have advanced to Stage 2.]

The barrage of notifications was annoying as it took away from her focused battling mode, but the sensation that followed was a much bigger reward for the inconvenience.

"Woah," Aria let out a sound of surprise as she relished in the feeling of being powered up.

"I feel like I can do anything," The feeling was addicting. Her instincts were raised, the power she manifested multiplied, and she wanted nothing but to put the power to use.

"Dianthe- Wait, I haven't given it a.." Aria wanted to call the spirit, but her reflexes made her say a name that didn't belong to it.

The spirit, however, seemed to like the name. It approached Aria with delight, responding after being 'Dianthe'.

Aria blinked.

The spirit wanted to attend to her, looking forward to the next order.

"..Oh well. Using the same name wouldn't hurt. Dianthe? Are you fine with that?"

The spirit bobbed its head to agree.

"I want to try something,"

There was a set of tiers for a summoner's privilege, from simply lending mana to possession of ones body, and the ability to control and obtain vision from multiple summoned creatures purely by thoughts.

This time, she would try the second tier.

Summoners could be considered as all rounders, especially the ones on the top of the rankings.

If they trained themselves right, summoners could become absolute monsters. There was nothing that prevented them from casting spells, attacking in close combat, and rampaging with the summoned creatures at once.

It was unfair in battle, but the pain it took to reach a high level in summoning was not something anybody could persevere through.

Eccentrics.

People called them eccentrics for devoting their entire lives to summoning.

There were many other paths. Easier ones.

For other careers, you could offer careless efforts and still yield results. Although it might be little, it was still there.

However, if you chose to become a Summoner, you had to be both talented and devoted.

It was either: climb up to the top and stand high, or be dunked to the lowest pit on Earth with no achievements tied to your name.

There was no high, middle, to low effort.

There was another tier for what a Summoner's effort had to be around.

"Water Blade! Water Blade!" Crescent - shaped water blades were formed after Aria slashed at the air. It headed towards the remaining wolves and cut some of their heads cleanly.

Whoever survived from the strike was directly approached by Aria, who dealt the finishing blow.

[Level D Blue Wolf <Mad> successfully murdered.]

[Level D Blue Wolf <Mad> successfully murdered.]

[Level D Blue Wolf <Mad> successfully murdered.]

[Level D Blue Wolf <Mad> successfully murdered.]

[Level D Blue Wolf <Mad> successfully murdered.]

[Level D Blue Wolf <Mad> successfully murdered.]

[Level D Blue Wolf <Mad> successfully murdered.]

[Experience points increased by 12650.]

The second tier of Summoner arts was borrowing the creature's skills. Although the firepower would be lessened, the opportunity to use every single element, down to the higher leveled spells were something not possible for any other class except the Summoner.

That was one of the enticing points about Summoner classes.

However, even getting to the second tier was hellish for normal people.

It could take tens of years for someone to finally grasp this level of connection with their summon.

"Water Blade!" The remaining wolves were taken down with ease. The power up had raised her strength significantly. It felt like she was cheating.

When she reached the last wolf, she landed one last strike and effectively ended its life.

The grind ended.

[<Blue Wolf> 50/50.]

[Level increased by 1.]

Aria Schreiner | Lv.12

Title: <Adapter>

Job: -

HP : 3025/3025

MP : 185/185

System Points(SP) : -

Strength: 10

Vitality: 10

Agility: 10

Intelligence: 10

Dexterity: 10

Remaining status points: 60 (+20)

'...' She glanced through the changes in her status.

There was a set of new information that contained five attributes, from strength to dexterity. She could decipher the use just by matching them to the information she possessed.

However, the title <Adapter> bugged her. She had seen the title prior to this, but the System mentioned 'unlocking the power'.

What power was it? Who could explain to her?

'I was the Seventh one to join.' Aria remembered the notification.

It meant that apart from her, six other people who possibly has the same fate as her existed.

'The world is vast. Could I meet them without any clues?'

Then again, one day hadn't passed since she came out of the coffin.

Rather than focusing on others, she should focus on herself, first and foremost.

The blood that was dripping down from her sword wasn't something she appreciated, so she asked Dianthe to wash it down.

It was then that she remembered where the sword came from.

Turning back, she could see the trio huddled up in one corner, Il-hoon being the only one conscious, whilst Yoo Jin was still hiding behind a wall.

She looked down and twitched at her current attire.

"..You there," Aria pointed her sword at Il-hoon, whose face was filled by tears.

"Can you.. take off your clothes?" Scratching her temples, she didn't even think about how weird the sentence must've sounded like.

She just wanted to wear clothes and not look like a pervert.