Chapter 63: New Summon

Leon found an empty practice room some distance from the one they had just left. He checked inside before entering, making sure it was empty, then he entered and closed the door behind him and placed his bag beside one of the chairs. He hadn’t used the Door that day, and though the rule of only being able to summon only after a fixed time had eased a bit, missing a day would just mean losing one possibly good summon.

There hadn’t been much reason to be excited about it recently. Most of the undead he had gotten over the past few weeks were Grade 1s which he had to let go, with only a few Grade 2s mixed in. Another Skeleton Warrior wouldn’t really make much difference to him now, but not using the Door certainly wasn’t going to increase his chances of getting something better. His lucked couldn’t be stacked.

Leon took a seat and closed his eyes.

Inside his summoner’s space, the Door was standing where it always did. Leon approached it and placed his hand on its surface, thinking briefly about the change he had felt after the tournament. He still didn’t know what exactly had changed, or if it was even something he could control.

’Maybe it’ll just happen on its own.’ He consoled himself not to think oo much on it.

That was all he could hope for since there was no one he could ask about a strange Door that gave him a random undead every day. Once, he tried looking at some books in the library, it didn’t take long for him to understand he was a special case.

After spending a little more time in anticipation, he opened his eyes and summoned the Door.

It appeared with its usual drama, and a few seconds later, opened up for the summon to come forth.

Leon watched in anticipation as a tall figure walked out from the darkness behind the Door, with its armour making faint sounds as it moved. Leon’s eyes first went to the long sword hanging by its side, before moving up to the deep blue lights within its hollow eye sockets and the familiar build and armour...

’Another Swordsman?’ He thought to himself.

He checked its Grade, and just as he expected, it was the same with the Undead Great Swordsman he already had, Peak Grade 3.

’About time.’ He thought with a smirk appearing on his face.

He had hoped to get something different, perhaps another kind of Grade 3 undead, but after a prolonged season of weaker summons, it still felt amazing.

While he would have wanted some different type of undead for diversity, it was still a Grade 3 summon, and Leon had just watched one of these defeat Linda’s Yeti. There was no reason for him to complain about getting a second.

Leon walked around the Swordsman and looked it over. Its armour was intact, unlike the one that had fought Linda that evening, but apart from that, he couldn’t see any difference between the two. The Swordsman remained still as he examined it, only turning its head slightly to follow his movement.

There wasn’t really anything for him to test.

He already knew what an Undead Great Swordsman could do, and summoning the other one into the practice room just so the two could stand beside each other seemed pointless.

’In a tough situation, one can stay with me while the other goes ahead.’ He thought.

He stopped for a moment after having the thought.

He had mostly looked at his summons based on what they could defeat, but another undead capable of fully making its own decisions and judgements gave him more options than simply having them attack from two directions. He could send one ahead while keeping the other close to him, meaning he wouldn’t have to choose between protecting himself and using his strongest summon in a fight.

It didn’t solve the problem of his own weakness, but it was still useful.

’Perhaps it can even lead the others?’ He had never thought of that. It was something worth trying.

Leon looked at the new Swordsman once more, before placing it in his summoner’s space. He didn’t hesitate to exchange it with a Skeleton Warrior.

With that done, there was no reason to linger. He picked up his bag and checked the time on his phone. Dustin and Raul were probably still talking about the spar.

..

When Leon entered their room, Dustin was sitting on his bed while moving one hand in the air, apparently trying to demonstrate something to Raul, who sat by the desk.

"I’m telling you, it used the arm to get over." Dustin said.

"I saw it."

"Then why are you arguing?"

"Because you said it jumped over the wall."

"But it did get over the wall."

"That’s not the same thing."

Leon closed the door behind him, causing both of them to turn towards him.

"Finished whatever you were doing?" Raul asked.

"Yes."

"Anything interesting?"

"Not much." Leon said as he placed his bag down.

"Anyway, you knew what I meant." Dustin said, turning back to Raul.

"That doesn’t make it what happened."

Leon sat on his bed and listened to the two of them continue for a while. Neither seemed tired of the argument, and he couldn’t really see why it mattered whether the Yeti jumped over the wall or used the arm to get over it.

...

The next morning, the academy called all the students for an assembly. The message had been sent over the night, so every student woke up to it the following morning. It was to be held in the morning, so everone prepared accordingly.

Leon joined Dustin and Raul on their way there, and some of the students walking close to them were already discussing the National Tournament, assuming the announcement had something to do with it.

"Think they’re finally giving us the details?" Dustin asked while glancing towards them.

"Maybe." Raul said.

’National Tournament?’ Leon thought, as he continued walking without joining the discussion. They were already heading to the assembly, so guessing what it was about wouldn’t make them find out any faster.

Most of the students had arrived by the time they found their places. Several teachers were standing at the front, along with a few people Leon didn’t recognize. They weren’t dressed like students or regular members of the academy staff, and it didn’t take long before the conversations around the room changed from the tournament to who the strangers were.

Lex, one of their teachers and combat instructors was also there, speaking quietly with one of them.