The Summoner's Rebirth: Awaken, Milady

Aria jumped out of the base's window stealthily and escaped into the forest. She hiked up the hill that was positioned in the middle of it all, where she could view the city's condition from the peak.

She sat down and relaxed herself.

"Rallaka," she called out, summoning the spirit from the space.

The Earthen Spirit popped out, still in the form of a ball of light. Rallaka was definitely on the brink of pushing through his bottleneck, it was such a shame that it could not happen inside Leonis' dungeon.

Thinking about Leonis, it was still quite the shocking news to her that she had killed Leonis. Extinguished the last bits of his remaining life force.

She also thought about the rewards that were given from back then, but held it off as she had to make plans for today. To secure her livelihood and the following days too.

The spirit lingered around Aria, wondering for what purpose he was brought out.

"Now.. I was actually presented with several paths, but which one do you actually like?" Aria asked the Earthen Spirit.

Rallaka thought for a moment before answering.

"The truth? Wouldn't it be better if you are alone? I think we could survive by our own at this point. Especially.. about the dungeon boom that is about to come. Wouldn't that disperse the need to try so hard to monopolize the dungeons?" Rallaka gave his input.

Aria also agreed with Rallaka's words, but if there was something that Aria respected, it would be team effort and the various dealings with threats a great team was able to pull out. There were situations that the current her, which only possessed a low variety of two spirits, could not deal with.

For example, the fight with the cluster was impossible to beat without [Lichte] at this current time, but as long as she managed to regain her battalion of summons, she would be back to dominate.

This time, she would not show excessive leeways. She wouldn't be so dumb as to get betrayed once more.

She, too, managed to escape from being stamped with the mark of a betrayer because her issue was resolved in a calm and peaceful manner. However, the betrayal that she experienced was still unclear up to this point. The suffering that she had to endure. The very thing that started this journey.

The incident that allowed her to view this modern world she captured with her gaze right this very moment.

"...Actually, I have been curious about one thing," Aria carefully spoke up.

"What is it?" Rallaka twirled around and asked in a goofy tone.

"Since you existed in my era, what have you heard about me? Particularly about my disappearance.. or death. Or something like that. Basically the moment I stopped doing things. What happened to the rest, the ones that were my companions?" Aria found it hard to spout out all the words she wanted to say.

She was curious.

She did not want to dig down at this matter anymore, but it just bugged her. Something was wrong, but she couldn't pinpoint what it was. Who it was.

"...Does this relate to the reason why you are here in the modern era?" Instead of answering, Rallaka questioned.

He was here because he was trapped in a deal, but Aria never told him how she got here. The famous Summoner Aria Schreiner being damned in the modern world. How did that happen?

"Sort of, yeah," Aria vaguely answered, her mood dropping down.

She spent a long time trying to get to this timeline. If it wasn't for Rallaka and the fact that the world still had similarities with hers, Aria would have thought that she entered a completely different dimension.

But how could that be? She never moved from the coffin, she never felt herself being moved? If she jumped dimensions, what made that happen?

It always bugged her. The more clues she found out, the more she felt irritated because the truth was still encased in a deep fog.

"Your disappearance.. huh," Rallaka mumbled. "I don't think I know much about that kind of news. I am not actively engaged in the world's matters anyway, I am a passive spirit," Rallaka said.

"..I suppose you are right. I have never heard of your name," Aria replied.

Considering Rallaka's high identity, Aria should have learned about him sooner or later, but she actually never did that.

However, Rallaka knew about her and Leonis.

"It is not your fault. We are practically on completely different sides to the world. I don't appear to the mortals that often, the reason I know about you is because someone coincidentally discussed your story in detail before me, the reason I know about Leonis is because he was a daring person that trespassed literally every location. I met him once because he trespassed into my friend's lair, where I was chilling back then,"

Aria then sighed, peering into the city where high buildings were scattered everywhere and technology thrived without a stop.

In the near future, this view would probably be disrupted. A massive change would occur. Dungeons would sprout at an astonishing rate. The Association would not be able to keep up.

"As much as I'd like my own path to sprout, I guess my next move now is to seek Alena and train for the time being. For the sake of the dungeon subjugation, I probably have to get along with [Lichte] too," Aria currently still had little subordinates and haven't even recovered her status as a formal Summoner.

She wondered what it would take to unlock the Summoner job. It could not possibly be a trigger in the mechanism like [Contract three creatures into your summons.], right?

If so, then Aria would voice out a complaint.

Asking her to contract spirits without actually letting her use summoning spells. How was that fair?

Unless she had the lucky encounter with a spirit and managed to settle down a civil contract, she wouldn't achieve that.

The reason why that was near impossible was because the cost of using a Summoning skill as a non-Summoner was astronomically high, and the reason creatures like Dianthe and Rallaka was able to get into a civil contract was because they had a stream of consciousness. A developed mind that could converse. That was why they reached this point.

But those who had thoughts were only strong and high-leveled creatures, where was she supposed to fetch one that would be willing to be under her despite her current prestige?

"Why is it this hard to become a Summoner, damn it?" Aria longingly sighed as she recalled her prized summons that she had always boasted about.

All of her hard work, her perseverance, her everything, it disappeared because of that tragedy.

But somehow, Aria did not feel as vexed as when she first woke up in this world. She once felt hatred brimming from her core heart, wishing that she could break free from her coffin and tear Azef into a thousand pieces.

But the target of her revenge, Azef was now definitely gone without a trace.

She also started to build herself back up. Have a new life. Meet new people and progress through fights.

It seemed like there was a bright chance for her. Unlike Azef who was gone, she still existed and lived on.

Why does hate have to cover her future up? Why did she have to keep being bothered by a dead man's issues? If she continued to pursue nothing but revenge, then opportunities that should have brought herself more benefits would evaporate and mess everything up.

Must she let go of the matter now? Wasn't that the wise decision? It had to be done sooner or later.

Aria's object of revenge was too far for her reach.

It sounded like the mature choice, but she couldn't hold back her negative emotions completely yet.

It still needed time.

For now, she wanted to open this second volume to her new life.

She reached for her mobile device and called Alena.

"Alena, I will be requesting your help. The previous matter, I will be accepting it," Aria said in a short and concise manner.

"Ao, I knew that big sister would be calling me to tell this! My magic hasn't gone rusty at all~ Anyway, big sister, you should come to XXX Hotel. It is where I am now. About lodging, needs, and everything, I have actually prepared it all specially for you," Alena excitedly announced in one long strike.

Aria broke into a chuckle hearing the girl's voice. "XXX Hotel, is it? I will be heading there right now,"

"Understood, big sister! Please take care and get here safely, Alena will be waiting~"

The call was hung up, and Aria did one final stretch before picking up her pace and heading towards the location Alena told her using the convenient system of GPS tracking.

"Let's go now, shall we?" Aria said, jumping off the hill and starting to run.