章 64: Summoning for beginners

"HONG…"

The spell-model on the fifth page of the 'Grimoire of All Beginnings' started glowing blood-red as soon as Hugo's Kundalini-mana flowed into it.

All of a sudden, the dim light started flickering, illuminating the area around Hugo with a crepuscular glow. The spell-model began to spin at an ever-increasing rate, with a stifled whooshing sound, calling out to Hugo like a mermaid to a sailor.

He felt his mind and soul start to form a bizarre faint connection with a mysterious space, entirely separate from where he was situated. But the connection felt subdued – like it was being blocked by another entity.

"I won't fail!" Hugo yelled as he forcefully forged a link with his base chakra to funnel more mana into the Grimoire. He was well aware that the knowledge keeper's posterity test was most likely rife with danger and his only protection could end up being a spell he mastered in this short time of preparation.

"Aargh…" He growled as he pushed himself to channel more mana into the Grimoire. The blood vessels on his forehead were already bulging; a symptom of the mounting pressure and stress he was facing.

His legs went wobbly as he felt the great strain tearing at his mind, however, he steeled his will and continued channeling the mana needed to weave the summoning spell through Infinitus.

"HONG…"

With a muffled explosive sound, the spinning summoning-circle escaped the confines of Infinitus and materialized directly in the physical world right before Hugo's eyes.

It shone blindingly bright, like the sun, except blood-red. Its radiance overcame Hugo's vision, making him momentarily lose sight of his surroundings. He covered his eyes reflexively due to the sheer intensity of the light being emitted by the spell-model.

After being blinded for a few seconds, Hugo managed to open his eyes but was befuddled by what he saw before him.

A charred brown chest hovered right above the Grimoire.

[What the hell? Isn't this meant to be a summoning spell?] Hugo felt deeply confused. He rubbed his eyes to get a clearer look at the plain wooden chest.

Its exterior had no visible mysterious runes, enigmatic ciphers nor shimmering lights contrary to Hugo's initial expectations for his first visualization of the summoning spell-model.

"Maybe my dimensional summons are within the box" Hugo mused. Though he was tickled by this odd likelihood, he stretched out his right hand to poke the unremarkable chest.

The results were what he expected. The chest was tangible but had no visible lid that could be opened to access its contents. It appeared to be similar in form to an ordinary savage chest commonly used to save coins in primitive societies, albeit without any inlet to its interior.

[Maybe Infinitus has a way to open this strange chest…] Hugo turned his gaze to the fifth page of the Grimoire once again. The pocket-sized Infinitus no longer lay in the grip of Hugo's left hand but instead floated mystically below the bizarre chest.

"Dimensional summoning chest," Hugo muttered after reading the text inscribed beneath the spell-model of the summoning circle. At some point, the model had stopped spinning and began pulsating at regular intervals in concert with the chest above.

[Most times, the simplest solution is usually the correct one…]

"Here goes nothing…" Hugo muttered. He placed his right hand atop the chest and started channeling some of his infrared mana into it.

Instantly, like a wolf pack scenting some meat, the chest started gobbling up the small amounts of mana still present in Hugo's esoteric channels. In a matter of seconds, Hugo's mana which had already been significantly thinned by his previous escapades was bottomed out.

However, Hugo's Kundalini mana came to his rescue once more and continued to sustain the abnormal consumption of his energy reserves.

"HONG…" A sound akin to a muffled explosion reverberated through Hugo's mind. He felt the box tremble intermittently as an opening formed at its top. In a blink, the opening had enlarged at a staggering pace into a space large enough to be visible to the naked eye, allowing Hugo to assess the chest's contents.

Inside it lay three crystalline mini-sculptures of savage wolves that radiated an ancient bestial aura. Hugo was left marveling at the ingenuity of the entity that had curved such delicate sculptures.

Resolving not to waste any more time, Hugo extended his hand and channeled mana into the two sculptures portraying the visages of a pair of adolescent black and white wolves. Although the wolf sculptures' appearances were alien to him, Hugo could still perceive a distinct connection with them.

[These two must be the puppies from the cave… But how did they grow up so fast?] He wondered. However, he did not cease channeling his mana whilst concurrently practicing the Psykhe-Mental-Exercise.

In a matter of seconds, his consciousness exceeded the confines of his physical self and plunging down a mysterious passage probably formed by the dimensional-summoning-chest…

And in a blink, Hugo arrived in another formless blood-red space clearly distinct from his spiritual world but also oddly connected to him.

This was Hugo's summoning space which was solely linked to his esoteric body. On Gaia, once a mystic formed a contract with a mystical beast like the wolf pups from before, he would gain access to his summoning space positioned in the astral plane.

The summoning space was basically a portable store of powerful beasts that could be used to overwhelm an opponent. It would grow in size as the mystic advanced his powers to greater realms.

For his case, the summoning space should have been only a few square meters in diameter. However, he was surprised to find out that his extended beyond what his eyes could perceive. This should have only been possible once he had reached the knight's or even the kingship realm of power. Yet he clearly hadn't.

Besides that, the dimensional summoning chest shouldn't have materialized in the physical world. Hugo could tell that the summoning chest's connection to his summoning-space made his spell way more efficient.

[Infinitus must be expanding the summoning space and easing my casting process… Or maybe, this has something to do with my fortified soul! How do the creatures in the summoning space feed?] He mused.

Suddenly, the howls of the two wolves sounded from afar, breaking him out of his musings.

Hugo looked in the direction of the sound and was immediately filled with joy. The outlines of a pair of medium-sized wolves were advancing towards him at breakneck speed…