The Ultimate Summoner

Chapter 7: Competition Begins

Chapter 7: Competition begins

Aldrin returned to his clan compound and began preparations, the entire clan was in a state of activeness as discussion about the upcoming contest was on everyone’s lips.

In a few minutes they were all gathered in a large colosseum, where each of the contestants and their forces were displayed as a show of might and intimidation.

There were five including Aldrin, they were Akibrus Draca, Damian Draca, Orion Draca who was a step brother to Akibrus and lastly Azura Draca who was the only female in the mix.

Amongst all five Aldrin had the smallest amount of forces with only three hundred and one warriors with the extra one being part of the resources he got from his bargain with the ancient gryphon clan,

Following him was Azura who had a warrior count of a little over seven hundred following her was Akibrus who had a warrior count of a thousand men, Orion had one thousand two hundred men and Damian possessed one thousand five hundred men.

This display also showed the intensity of their connections with other forces which had a vital role when leading a clan, a clan with more allies tended to be stronger than one with lesser allies.

“You are all gathered here today for the trial that would decide who is to be chosen as the clan heir in the next three months, direct killing of other contestants is forbidden although clashes can occur between factions. Ratings would be decided on by various factors. If there are no questions then you may leave.” Oliver, the clan head announced.

“Here are the territories every one of you has chosen to conquer, wishing you all the best of luck.” He added and a holographic map appeared midair with four zones circled out with name tags.

Several noisy chatters instantly broke out amongst the clansmen who were present and a gambling session opened, with different odds on each contestants depending on their chosen territory and the size of their forces, obviously Aldrin had the lowest odds and highest payout ratio, the major factor was due to his forces which was just one man above the default army given by the clan, secondly the territory he intended to raid was one of the hardest to raid and took the longest time to reach, everyone else would reach their destination in an average of five days but it would take Aldrin seven days to reach his.

Azura and Orion had chosen the same target which would lead to a clash between both forces and this led to Azura having the second least odds as she had a smaller army when compared to her rival.

“I don’t know if Aldrin is brave or stupid, aside the fact that he was unable to get any help, he even chose to raid a fortress, before he would get there most of the others would already be done, at that point there would be no point in this.”

“What do you know, if he successfully raids it, it might carry more merit since it’s obviously harder than the rest”

“One should only bite what they can chew.”

Several whispers travelled around many of them either praising Damian or condemning Aldrin but some of the elders who had keener eyes were surprised and the extra person Aldrin had recruited.

“That person is using a mask and is actively suppressing their aura but it’s obviously a grandmaster grade practitioner.”

“How on earth did he manage to recruit one, I thought his negotiations with the gryphon clan failed.”

“Didn’t those bastards already say they were abstaining, they didn’t even give audience to the others and what kind of trickery did he use to gain an audience and even employ a grandmaster?”

Several elders voiced out their doubts in hushed whispers but in the end everyone was dismissed.

…

Due to the terrain, carriages would be unable to be used and all the warriors resorted to using horses to travel.

During their journey, Aldrin separated his men into three hundred-man teams, each comprising of three positions, the tanks, the damage dealers and healers.

The tanks were tasked with the duty of providing cover for the others and were situated in the forefront of the team and comprised majorly of zen warriors who possessed sturdy bodies, the damage dealers were majorly zen practitioners with ability to use ranged techniques and skills and were situated in the middle of the team while the healers were zen practitioners with the healing ability situated at the rear of the team.

Aldrin had chosen that particular fortress for two reasons, the first reason was because of a particular resource that was recently discovered within it, only few knew about this but no one had yet to made a move on it, the second reason why he dared to raid it was because of the terrain advantage, the fortress was located at the top of a hill and the path to the hill possessed many large trees and rocks which made it a perfect place to use guerilla tactics and lay ambush, with his minimal amount of men, they could advance and retreat at any time giving him the ability to slowly wear down the orcs till they could take over in one fell swoop, and finally was the massive amount of resources he received from the ancient gryphon clan, while he only received one man who wouldn’t make any move unless highly necessary, he received plenty of advanced war tools.

It has been six days since Aldrin and his men departed home, the night laid a blanket upon the earth as tiny stars adorned the sky, a temporary camp was made and Aldrin alongside four other people were within the commander’s tent making last minutes adjustments to their plans.

“Jon, you and your team would be in charge of luring the orcs downhill, they’re majorly physical class type of beasts with low intelligence, so kiting them would be very easy” Aldrin said to a young well build man who was the appointed team leader of one of the hundred-man team

“Kane, you’ll split your team into two and lay ambush here and here to create a pincer attack and rapidly eradicate the orcs being lured by Jon.” He said to another man who appeared to be in his thirties with blonde hair and a brutish appearance.

“Sky, you’ll be in charge of providing backup to both teams whenever you deem it necessary.” He said to the team leader of the third team.

“If you have any questions please feel free to ask?” he finally concluded and all four men stared intently at the map laid on the table while running several simulations in their minds.

“I guess there isn’t much to say now, the plan seems pretty feasible to me, once we get closer and have a better grasp on what we’re dealing with then we’ll make adjustments.” Kane said and the other agreed.

“Well in the meantime I’ll go have some rest, the fourth person who had the appearance of a man in his early forties said and the others gazed at him with unkind eyes but he just ignored them and left.

“Commander who is he, how dare he show blatant disrespect?” Jon asked in fury and Aldrin shook his head with a wry smile

“Please ignore him, his identity is a little special and he won’t be taking part of the raid unless a particular situation comes up.” Aldrin replied and the three team leaders nodded before excusing themselves out of the tent.

The moment they left Aldrin stretched his body and let out a yawn.

“Riding all day and formulating the perfect strategy really does a number on someone.” He said to himself as he moved away from the planning table towards a futon.

With a thought he brought up his profile window which now had a few changes to it.

[Profile;

Name: Aldrin Draca

Race: Human

Age: 20

Alias: Trash

Class: Spirit Practitioner

Subclass: Summoner

Grade: Mortal

Level: 1

Stats;

Strength: 7

Agility: 8

Stamina: 8

Vitality: 10

Spirituality: 2000

Zen: 0

Skills;

{Active}

>> Summoning {Mortal; Level 1}: Summons any creature contracted to host

>>Spirit Suppression {Spirit; Level 1}: Suppresses target(s) via spiritual pressure, judgement based on difference in spirituality stats. Cost 20spirit per second. Pressure can be increased at an increase in spirit costs.

>>Power of Stars {Unknown Grade}: Unknown Effects

{Passive}

None

Contracts:

None]

He had acquired the power of stars recently during one of his attempts to create a contract with a summoned creature, he had no idea how it formed nor its effects but that was the only solace he had so far as he had tried every night for the past six day to contract a creature but none of them has been successful.

Sitting in a lotus position he began to breathe in a specific pattern which he had learnt long before now, suddenly his mind became clear and tranquil devoid of all stray thoughts.

Using pure will and spirituality he separated his astral body from his physical body, a feat that should have been impossible for anyone below a grandmaster grade zen practitioner or a master grade practitioner who was adept in mind and soul techniques.

Soon a blue translucent version of Aldrin was standing before the physical version which was still seated in a lotus position, without a second thought he flew into the air passing through the tent like it wasn’t even there and heading right into the sky.

In less than a minute he pierced through the barrier that separated the world from the void and surrounding him was a sea of stars which appeared so close and yet so far away.