Chapter 54: Chapter 54

Professor Temeric looked at Dane, who had raised his hand, and smiled to himself as if he had known that would happen.

However, he asked as if that weren’t the case, “What is your major and name?”

“My name is Dane Sogres, and I am a freshman in the Autonomous Department.”

“Dane Sogres. Ah. I’ve heard that name before. I heard you’re very talented?”

It was an obvious provocation. However, Dane did not get caught up in Professor Temeric’s intentions and answered calmly.

“The deans evaluated me that way.”

An answer that showed neither humility nor pride.

‘Look at this kid.’

Usually, students would act humble or arrogant, but he was different.

“I see. I heard that the dean was in charge of your test. She said that you created an additional link to Eterarch, who she had summoned?”

There was a commotion at those words. Everyone knew that he had passed the test, but they had no idea about the specifics.

“H-he created an additional link to Eterarch?”

“Does that make sense?”

“The professor said he connected a link to the dean’s summons…?”

There was a commotion, but it quickly became quiet as soon as Professor Temeric spoke.

“Just hearing about it, it seems like you have incredible talent. But you know, that talent is something that doesn’t follow common sense.”

“Is that so?”

“So, show me. I think everyone is curious about the talent that the dean passed without hesitation.”

Professor Temeric was curious.

Was it really true?

Whether it was true or not, he was planning on finding the answer.

“If you can successfully summon here, today’s lecture will end immediately. What do you think?”

So, he threw out a subtle bait. But Dane wasn’t easily fooled.

“I don’t like the idea of the class ending.”

Professor Temeric frowned and asked, “Why?”

“I came here to learn, but it would be a shame if the class ended in exchange for showing my talent.”

“Ha.”

Look at that. He was truly a different kind of child. If it were any other student, they would have nodded because they wanted to be the hero who made the other students finish class quickly.

Of course, the other students didn’t feel the same.

“Ugh, what’s wrong with that freshman?”

“Ah. It’s not often that Professor Temeric makes a suggestion like that!”

“Was it a lie? Maybe that’s why he’s trying to kill time?”

Either way, Professor Temeric’s curiosity was slowly turning into interest.

“Then is there anything you want?”

The answer that came out of Dane’s mouth was quite shocking.

“If I can demonstrate my qualifications, may I ask you to recommend me for a special selection test?”

Professor Temeric suddenly burst into loud laughter.

“Hahaha. You’re really quite funny. A recommendation? You want me to write a letter of recommendation for the special selection test?”

“Yes.”

Whether he laughed or not, Dane’s tone remained the same. Professor Temeric’s voice became heavy again.

“Do you know what that means?”

“I know. It means I have to truly show off my talent here.”

“Have you ever thought about a case where the opposite is true?”

Dane shook his head and stated, “No. I didn’t think about it.”

It wasn’t that he couldn’t think of such a thing, but that he didn’t.

Professor Temeric laughed at the confident answer. How could there be someone like that? Even his second sister, Clare Sogres, wasn’t quite as confident.

‘That crazy boy…’

Digron was just staring blankly at Dane. When he thought about it later, he realized that he had incredible talent, so much so that it couldn’t even be compared to himself.

But going beyond that and making such a proposal? To the fearsome Professor Temeric, and as a freshman at that?

‘House Sogres is full of crazy people.’

Now, Digron’s trauma had become so strong that he flinched at just the sound of the name Sogres.

Professor Temeric finally said, “Then prove it. If you satisfy my conditions, I can easily write you a letter of recommendation. Though, my hand might hurt a little.”

At those words, a murmur arose among the other students from the Summoning Department.

“Does that make sense? He’d write a recommendation letter for someone not in our department?”

“Isn’t it okay as long as you have talent? And he’s Senior Clare’s younger brother.”

“Wow, House Sogres is really…”

Professor Temeric continued, “But if that doesn’t work… you’ll have to be prepared.”

It didn’t seem like he was going to punish him, but it was scary enough.

Of course, Dane nodded without a care.

“Yes. Alright.”

“Very well. Come down. The blank sign is here.”

Professor Temeric stepped aside, placing a blank sign on the podium. Dane came up to the front of the podium in front of everyone and picked up the blank sign.

Then he shouted without any preparation, “Answer my call.”

That was when a summons appeared in the air.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Kurrrrrr…”

It was a 5th-rank summons, Gendpu.

“O-oh my God.”

“It was real!”

“Isn’t that a 5th-rank summoner?”

“How is that possible with just a blank sign?”

Dane’s action caused an intense reaction. As soon as Gendpu saw Dane, he started wagging his tail and whining.

“Long time no see, how have you been?”

“Kkkking!”

He had been frequently calling him to increase affinity, as well as to extend the duration of the summoning, but this was the first time he had called Gendpu since arriving at the academy.

Thanks to that, Digron’s heart started pounding.

Digron could summon almost any summons below 4th-rank, but he couldn’t summon Gendpu.

This was precisely the reason for it. It was because his link had been broken once before.

‘My… my Gendpu…’

It was heartbreaking to see Gendpu, his summons, wagging his tail and getting along with Dane. However, there was something bigger going on.

The son of Count Sogres entered the school. His somewhat stable life at the academy was completely shaken up.

Even though the atmosphere of the Academy was evaluated based on Academy life regardless of the family background, it was not always like that. If anyone who knew what had happened between his family and House Sogres…

‘What if he says something bad about me?’

At that time, academy life and everything else would be over. His younger brother Denar was supposed to be admitted next year, and this could block his future.

‘Should I apologize again? Or should I go and have a word with him?’

While Digron was clutching his head and desperately contemplating, Dane said, “I summoned Gendpu.”

Professor Temeric was momentarily stunned by the sight of Dane stroking Gendpu’s head. He had summoned him immediately using the blank sign… Had he already signed a formal contract before? Or another way?

Whatever it was, one thing was certain.

‘Things might not go as planned.’

His original plan was to make Dane look like he didn’t pass the test, and then use that to create a negative public opinion about Professor Delphineso, who had passed an unqualified child.

But not yet.

‘It’s just a summoning, after all. Can he really last for thirty minutes?’

Thirty minutes would be impossible.

Not to mention it was the 5th-rank summons, Gendpu. No matter how high his affinity, there were things that were possible and things that were not. In most cases, after ten minutes, the link became faint and concentration was also lost.

Of course, that wouldn’t change for the boy in front of him even if he was a genius.

“The second condition remains.”

“Yes, I know.”

However, then Dane made a suggestion.

“But thirty minutes is too long. Can I do something else?”

By something else…

“The third condition.”

The third condition. In addition to the other two conditions, it was to show ‘specialness’.

“Ha.”

Professor Temeric eventually revealed his true feelings. Had he ever seen such an impudent little brat?

The term ‘specialness’ used here was extremely subjective. So, if Professor Temeric had made up his mind, there was nothing he could do.

Professor Temeric eventually nodded and said, “Prove it.”

“Yes.”

Dane answered without hesitation, and Professor Temeric felt a hint of uneasiness.

‘What are you trying to show me?’

The three conditions for special admission.

Two things had already been fulfilled.

I had already summoned Gendpu, whom I’d signed a contract with, and I could maintain him for about thirty minutes without any problems.

Now all that was left was to show something ‘special’.

The simplest thing was to show Karnas.

If my second sister’s guess was correct, this guy was a summon from Beyond the Horizon. If that were the case, that alone would be enough. This was especially true in that it was a summons hatched from a Familiar’s Egg.

However, it was too early to reveal Karnas now.

The little one was sleeping in my arms right now, and he might feel burdened by the attention of other people since he was only a day old. I had to treat him carefully since he would be with me from now on.

That was why it had to be proven by something else.

What kind of things were there? How could I apply for special selection by demonstrating my ‘talent’ as a summoner?

It wouldn’t be possible to choose just anything. That was the feeling I got from this professor.

I had never formally entered into a contract with any summons. Gendpu was truly a ‘special’ case.

Simultaneous summoning was still physically impossible… With the special magic I possessed, it might be possible.

Every human being possessed magic power, but my magic was more special than anyone else’s.

Whoooong…

So I started using my ancient magic to do something that Professor Temeric probably wouldn’t have expected.

My magic power flowed through the path linked to Gendpu.

“You haven’t started yet?”

Professor Temeric didn’t seem to have any idea what I was trying to do yet, but such a reaction was only temporary.

“Krrr…”

Gendpu began to react to my magic. Then, Gendpu’s body slowly began to grow.

“N-no way…” Professor Temeric’s trembling voice was heard.

“Could this be ‘Summons Strengthening’?”

“Oh my God, does that make any sense?”

Gendpu was now growing into a rather intimidating figure.

“Grrrrrrrrr!”

His teeth grew and his fur became more voluminous. His body size seemed to have grown by almost 1.5 times.

“Oh my God… you have to be at least a 5th year…”

“What the hell is with him? Is he a late bloomer or something?”

“Wow, damn. The Summoning Department is really being humiliated today…”

Summons Strengthening.

It was a skill that could generally be learned in the latter half of undergraduate life.

Of course, it was said that not everyone who learned it could use it. It was said that there were students who barely succeeded in strengthening their 7th-rank summons by the time they graduated.

Anyway, to strengthen a summons, you had to rearrange the code of the summons linked to you, infuse it with magic power, and temporarily strengthen its characteristics.

Since I was not a ‘regular’ summoner and did not have a sign, I couldn’t summon any other summons besides Gendpu.

However, something else was possible—if you had pure talent and the magic power to back it up.

Normally, ‘Summon Strengthening’ started at the 7th-rank and required reaching a certain level. Of course, I was currently fourteen years old and a freshman…

“I wonder if this proves the ‘specialness’ that the professor spoke of.”

Professor Temeric’s mouth was wide open as he witnessed the 5th-grade summons being strengthened.

It wasn’t like everyone could do it once they reached 5th-year, either. What I did was a little more ‘special’ than the usual strengthening.

“Is this special?”

The ‘special’ he wanted shouldn’t be ‘ordinary special’. So, in addition to strengthening a summons without a sign, I also did ‘Link Strengthening’.

Professor Temeric would have clearly seen this.

If Summons Strengthening was all about external changes or making certain characteristics deeper… Link Enhancement was a method that went beyond that, making the connection between the summons and summoner stronger, making them move almost as one.

Ancient magic power and the talent I was born with. There was a lot of effort and honing that had been put in over the years.

This was the combined result.

Of course, I only succeeded recently, so I couldn’t maintain it for long… but it should be enough to surprise him.

“…Link… Enhancement as well…”

Professor Temeric, who was quietly muttering in disbelief, just stared at my enhanced Gendpu for a long time.