Ethan pinched the bridge of his nose lightly and shook his head. He got this feeling that this was not going to be an amicable relationship.
Albedo then narrowed her eyes as the realization of something being amiss hit her. "Wait…" She turned towards Ethan.
"How did you summon me here? How did you even get my remains? If I remember correctly, I was sentenced to burn in green fire. Nothing comes out of green fire except ash."
She may not have lived a long life, but she lived long enough to know that summoners required a catalyst to set up the initial contract between them and the dead spirit they intended to call back.
This catalyst was a body part belonging to the spirit at some point in their life.
Ethan chose not to waste time trying to explain the logic behind how he was doing so with a system, and instead said, "It doesn't matter now, does it? It won't change that you're here at my call."
Albedo tilted her head both ways and raised her shoulders in a shrug, saying, "Fair point."
Then suddenly her grin returned again, and she started walking around him in a circle, with her tail swishing behind her like a cat inspecting new territory.
"So, what's the deal, summoner boy? Why'd you call me out? Need someone killed? Something stolen? Or maybe…" She leaned in close, her voice dropping to a sultry whisper. "You just wanted some company?"
Ethan ignored how she circled around him while replying. "It's none of that. I'm only trying to figure out this summoning thing."
"Hm…" Albedo muttered, but only because her sight had just noticed something at the far corner of the room. Blades and swords of different sizes were stacked side by side and hanging on the walls.
Ethan's focus had only just returned back to the screens explaining [Borrow] and [Bonding], when suddenly, Albedo's body vanished in a burst of dark smoke and reappeared in the exact same fashion before the blades.
Ethan's attention was immediately drawn away from those screens as he lifted his head towards his summon, whose right hand was already on the hilt of a certain blade.
"Step away from there, please."
Ethan said, and once again that registered as a command that she had to follow.
Ethan didn't know just how far her passive Self-Will could go, and if the assassin could attempt to charm him, then it wasn't foolish of him to assume that she could attempt to kill him too.
Albedo stopped, then said in a grim, menacing tone that was completely at odds with her previous playfulness, "I should warn you, summoner. I don't appreciate being forced to do things."
Then she raised her head up and heaved a dramatic sigh before stepping back and asking in a much sweeter voice, "Can I at least keep these ones?" She batted her eyelashes at him in an over-the-top display of innocence.
Ethan chose to ignore the first statement that came off as a threat. He already understood her nature as a person, so that was to be expected.
However, he stared at the twin short blades she was pointing at, then asked her, "Do you not have a weapon yourself?"
"I do, but I want those ones." Albedo could tell valuable and powerful weapons by just looking at them.
And Ethan stared at her for a moment too, wondering why she really wanted that, then finally said, "Alright, you can have them. But put them away immediately."
"Oh, you're such a generous master," Albedo purred, snatching the blades from where they were displayed. She tested them with a few hand movements, twirled them with surprising grace, then slid both hands back to secure the blades behind her.
Her head then turned towards him and she teased, "Awwwn, I might actually start liking you"
Ethan shook his head and returned his attention back to the screens before him while Albedo disappeared from there and returned to his corner, hovering around him and trying to understand what it was he stared at so intently.
[Borrow Lv.1 → You are able to borrow a skill from a summon. At Lv.1 you can borrow only one skill at a time and it is not on the same level of effect as the summon]
"I see," Ethan muttered to himself.
"What?" Albedo looked at him, still puzzled.
Ethan paid no direct attention to her. However, he instead activated the Borrow skill with a thought.
[Borrow Skill Activated]
[You have temporarily borrowed: Short Distance Teleportation]
[You are able to teleport within a 30 meter radius]
Albedo felt a certain sensation, but before she could speak of it, Ethan vanished in a burst of smoke and reappeared off to another part of the room.
A little smile crossed Ethan's lips as he stared at his hands for a moment.
Albedo then said, "Doesn't the saying go, 'ask first and it shall be given'?"
Ethan then tilted his head towards her and said, "You died a thief, Albedo…"
"Ow, that's as low as it gets," Albedo said, feigning hurt and placing a hand dramatically over her chest.
Ethan rolled his eyes and shook his head, then decided to try out the other skill.
[Bonding Lv.1 → By using this skill you achieve a state of sync with your summon. At Lv.1 you begin to share sight and thoughts with your summon]
"Hm…" Ethan muttered. The description of this skill gave him a certain concern. Then he asked the system in his mind, "Is this all of my thoughts or the ones that come from the point this skill is active?"
[Your Vision and Thoughts from the point this skill is Active]
Ethan nodded slightly in contentment seeing that answer.
"You're doing that thing again where you're staring at nothing and…" But Albedo couldn't continue any further as she had gone mute abruptly.
The usage of the Bond skill had taken her by surprise.
[Bond skill activated]
[You and your summon both share visions and thoughts]
Albedo's lips curved into a playful grin. "Oh, that is invasive," she teased. "But I like invasive." She licked her lips in a certain fashion before instantly disappearing and appearing before Ethan.
She leaned closer into him, circling her index finger around his chest in what felt like an intimate gesture, then said in a teasing tone, "You can see my thoughts and all the nasty things I could do to you, but why do you keep yours blank, darling?"
Then Ethan's lips curved into a sly grin as well, and he leaned closer to her. So close their nose almost touched. With his eyes staring into hers, he said, "Save the imagination. It's not happening."
Albedo stared back at him a little longer before saying, "I take back what I said about boring. You are something, summoner."
Then she turned away, giving Ethan some space.
In that moment they shared thoughts, Ethan made his mind go blank by simply thinking of nothing at all except darkness.
But within Albedo's mind? Oh boy.
He had seen very detailed, very graphic visions of how she wanted to seduce him, pin him down, have her way with him in about fifteen different positions, then immediately after, slit his throat, cut him up into several pieces, and hang his body parts on a thread like some kind of demented art installation.
The transition from the sex to the murder was so seamless it was actually disturbing.
And whether she had intentionally thought those things up just to mess with him, or if they were her actual desires, was impossible to tell.
Albedo was the kind of crazy that was hard to read.
Ethan deactivated the Bond skill, heaved a sigh as the visions of the disturbing scenes left his thoughts, then he returned his focus back to the screen. Well, that was all for now on his class statuses.
The next on his list of things to learn about himself became his race, well, at least one half of it. "I wonder what it feels like to be a demon," he whispered to himself.
Hybrids could control their forms, deciding when to or not to show what they truly were.
Ethan closed his eyes and reached deep into his consciousness for that other part of himself, then willed his form to shift and reveal his demon side.
That was when it happened.
Mana surged out of him. His eyes gained a purple glow, and dark horns grew from his forehead as the formation of his teeth became sharp and pointed.
When he was done, only darkish purple miasma flowed out of him.
Albedo, who had been watching the transformation, had widened eyes and nervous sweat on her face. All she could see from her view was a being of total darkness.
"My summoner is a high-ranking demon?" she whispered.
As a demon herself, she knew and understood hierarchy. And what she was looking at right now was way above her station.
Ethan didn't let the transformation stay for long anyway before altering his form back to look human. He looked at his palms a little longer as he recalled the sensation he had felt moments ago.
That was truly different and empowering.
Albedo, who had approached him at that point and had lost every smile and flirtatious expression on her face, then said, "I now understand why Charm failed to work on you."
"Hmm… Why?" Ethan asked, genuinely curious, but Albedo felt he was acting ignorant.
"Are you serious right now?" she said, sounding irritated.
"What makes you think I am not?" Ethan looked at her with a really straight face that suggested he might actually be serious.
Which then made her answer, "Charm doesn't work on those whose resistance is simply too high. As a high-ranking demon, I will not be able to use Charm on you."
She paused, then added with a hint of respect in her voice, "You outrank me by a significant margin."
"Oh? I see," was all Ethan said. After a moment, he added, "You'll have to return now, Albedo."
"Wait, already? But I was just starting to—"
And with that, a magic circle formed beneath her foot, disintegrating her into purple light.
A moment after, he felt himself get tired. It was, after all, very deep into the night. But aside from that, he actually did need rest.
Perhaps it was the fact he had only just woken up in an almost dead body less than two hours ago or something.
Eventually, he returned back to his room, letting himself slump on the bed. He reached out to a device by the bed's edge. This was called an Arcphone in this world.
Their own version of a smartphone, and if Ethan was being honest, it looked far more intriguing than the Androids and iPhones they used on Earth.
This one had a transparent holographic screen with a metallic chassis framing it.
He had pulled it closer to look at what the time was, but noticed he had received about 16 unread text messages and 37 missed call notifications.
They all came from a certain contact: "My Beautiful Girlfriend" with different silly heart emojis. A name style that Beatrice had forced him to save her name with.
One of the messages started with "YOU WILL DIE ETHAN!!!!!"
He sighed and said, "I'll need to lose that contact," before falling away into sleep.
——————
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Hi Guys! I'll be applying for a contract after this chapter but I must tell you all, gaining this contract is not within my power.
After all, my last book got rejected twice, forcing me to reupload the third time before applying again.
That's how I got it at the third try.
Although ofcourse I'm trying to stay positive. Buttttttt just know that if such happens again, I won't be dropping.
Hello No!
Instead I'll only reupload the chapters again and continuing applying till I get. So this me asking you all to kindly stick around!
Oh and the chapter uploads will start progressing consistently into 2 a day once I score a contract.
Thank You For all the support so far. I appreciate them