Chapter 1: No matter how many times I summon, no rares appear.

by ryuxenji

It was a glowing magenta crystal about the size of a thumb. 

A youth with a slightly tenacious look — my cousin brother, seven years older than me, who had just become a senior in high school — picked up the crystal with his finger tips and set it within a mysterious circle array with a radius of about 1-metre which had been drawn on the floor. Depending on the viewing angle, the crystal seemed to be reflecting light or sucking light into itself. 

I would only learn much later that the circle was a summoning circle used by Mage Summoners, and that the crystal was a "magic stone" used as a medium to summon illusions into this world. 

For now, I was only seeing the external movements. I don't remember what I was thinking at that exact moment. What happened after was so deeply engraved in my memory that everything else before and after was awfully vague. Why had my cousin shown that to me? Or, well, why had I tried to see it? I don't even remember that. 

And yet, the sight of my always-smiling, secular cousin with his eyes closed and hands together in seeming prayer to God was a scene that had been inexplicably seared into my brain. 

Then, in the next instant —— the summoning array emitted a dazzling golden light. 

My cousin's eyes sprang open in surprise. 

A few seconds later, a golden dragon appeared before our eyes. It wasn't very big. In fairy tales, dragons were said to be as large as mountains or fortresses, but the dragon that had appeared before our eyes was at most about the size of my not-yet 9-year-old self right then. Its wings were still small and immature, probably unable to lift the little dragon itself even if they were fully spread out, and its smooth scales looked like they could be peeled off just by plucking at them gently. 

Still, even so, its existence alone was absolutely beautiful. I was stunned speechless by its presence, but beside me, my cousin was yelling,

"A Gold Dragon! It came! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!! "

**************

That must have been my starting point. A turning point in life. On that day, that wondrous scene engraved deeply within me a yearning for that dragon, and so I decided to become a Mage Summoner just like my cousin. 


§§§

Let's talk about summoning magic. 

Summoning magic is magic which draws power from a world from a different dimension to manifest apparitions in this world. It requires a magic stone as a medium. The magic stone is used as a core to attract the power needed to construct a physical body in this world. The constructed creatures are called vassals and, in most cases, they are loyal to the summoner. Depending on the type of summon constructed, the vassal could be a most reliable partner with intelligence equal to humans. 

Mage Summoner was one of the most versatile of the many magical occupations. Glory was almost guaranteed if you could summon a powerful partner. The country invested a lot of effort into cultivating Mage Summoners to increase the nation's military strength. Even if you were poor and had been born in unfavourable circumstances, if you were found to have high aptitude to be a Mage Summoner, you would receive free training and would have a secure job with the government in future. There were always success stories like this circulating around. 

However, things that are too good to be true are often not so simple. There are some hurdles to overcome to feature in such a success story. 

First and foremost, the appropriate aptitude to be a summoner is a rare quality. Secondly, the summoned creature is not chosen by the summoner, but is completely random. And thirdly, due to their essential role as the core of a summons, the magic stones needed are ridiculously expensive. 

The magic stones are valuable items. A middle-class family can live off the price of a magic stone for 3 months. The magic stone my cousin had used back then had been provided by the Mage Summoning School when he had been admitted for having the appropriate aptitude to be a Mage Summoner. It was frankly amazingly lucky for him to have summoned a legendary Gold Dragon, which was listed as an SSR-rarity summon in the Summoning Index, in his first attempt at summoning. 

Therefore, after putting in seven years of blood, sweat, and tears, driven by the envious yearning for my cousin's dragon, I finally beat the odds to become recognised as a Mage Summoner in the making. After that, I attempted to summon with the magic stone I received as a privilege of admission to the school... and was thrust into the depths of despair by the second hurdle of summoning success. 


**********

"... What the hell is this?"

I, who had approached the summoning with so much hope and earnest sincerity, was ruthlessly knocked down by reality. Of course, at this time, I was no longer the clueless me of 7 years ago. Now, I knew more about summoning magic, within limits, and I had also been recognised as a potential Mage Summoner. Of course, I also knew that the target of summoning magic was random, and that the colour and intensity of the light produced during the summoning would determine the quality of the summoned creature. 

The light from my first summoning was light blue in colour, and it was as faint as the light from a dying candle. As expected, what appeared before me was a single creature of indeterminate form. At a glance, the only other thing I could see was that the floor seemed to be wet. 

My cousin had specially taken leave from work to accompany me at my first summoning. With the backing of his summoned dragon, he was already a famous first-class Mage Summoner now. Seeing the results of my summoning, he frowned and sighed. 


"Ah... a Blue Jelly? That's unfortunate... "

"Blue Jelly...? "

Despite the twitching of my cheeks, I began flipping through the hand-me-down Summoning Index I had received from my cousin. The Summoning Index was an archive of all the beings which had been summoned by Mage Summoners thus far. It was a collected labour of knowledge which contained all kinds of information on summoned creatures, such as their abilities and appearance rate. I found the name only after turning a few pages. No, the truth was that I already knew the name even before I had struggled my way to its record. After all, I had studied the Summoning Index extensively every day until it was almost worn out ever since I had received it from my cousin on my 15th birthday. 

I was just trying to escape from reality. 

Blue Jelly. Commonly known as Blue Jelly Slime. Rarity — N. There was no mistaking it. It was infamous for being the weakest of all summons. You could see it everywhere on the streets outside. It was a summon of the lowest tier, one that could die from a child stepping on it. 

In short, it was a miss among misses, a miss of the greatest magnitude. It was completely incomparable to the dragon my cousin had summoned. It was at a level where one could not comprehend how the two could have come out from the same summoning magic. 

I was stunned, but then I turned to my cousin. Before the summoning, he had said to me, "You're talented, so I wonder if you could summon an SSR+ like me. Ahahaha." He was currently trying to avoid looking at me in this painfully awkward situation. And then, a glimmer of hope made me ask,

"...I'll work hard and pay you back later. Lend me a magic stone. "

"...Ok. "

Subsequently, I borrowed magic stones from my cousin until he refused to give me any more... From the borrowed stones, I summoned a total of 7 different types of Jelly Slime. My cousin wasn't smiling anymore, and my own expression was as stiff as a Noh mask (according to my cousin later on). I could only stare soullessly at the floor messed up by the Slimes. Getting 7 Slimes in a row was too unlucky no matter how you looked at it. 

However, I only became keenly aware later on that it was much too naive of me to despair from this kind of odds. 　



§§§

Summons come in different rarity levels. From the very bottom, it goes N, N+, R, R+, SR, SR+, SSR, up to SSR+. The lower in rarity, the easier for the summon to appear and the lower its stats. In the same vein, the higher the rarity, the less chances the summon would appear and the greater its stats. The Gold Dragon that my cousin summoned was an SSR, but it would grow up to become an SSR+. It was a dream vassal any Mage Summoner would drool over. It could be said that it was an existence that could bring a lifetime of golden glory to its summoner. The Jelly Slimes that I had summoned were the lowest possible N-tier summons, and due to their completely liquid form with barely any firmness at all, I could not even keep them properly without putting them in a bucket. Gold Dragons can speak in human tongue; there was no way to communicate with Slimes. They did not even have mouths to begin with. 

The difference was overwhelming. This overwhelming disparity was due to the summoned type. Of course, there was no way I would begrudge my cousin who had lent me all the precious magic stones he had, but I would be lying I said I wasn't at all jealous. The power of a Mage Summoner depended more on the strength of the summoned vassals than the actual skills of the summoner. Although there was a prevailing theory that it was more likely for an experienced summoner to summon rare vassals, the type of summoned vassal was pretty much completely random. There were cases where newbie Mage Summoners like my cousin back then managed to summon Dragons, and there were also cases where accomplished veteran Mage Summoners obtained Slimes in succession. 

Though it was impossible for a Mage Summoner to continue summoning vassals indefinitely, in any case, I currently found myself in need of magic stones. Jelly Slimes may be useful to some extent after raising them properly, but rather than going through all that trouble, it was probably a better idea to place my hopes on summoning a new vassal. However, I had no money. Even if my cousin would be willing to bestow more stones upon me, my pride would not allow it. If things continued the way they were, I would likely have to abandon my pride one day, but at this point, I still had my pride and wished to find a more elegant solution. 

Mage Summoners were considered elite. I did not have the free time to take up a part-time job, and besides, I would receive a set amount of scholarship money even without having to work. 

I began saving to the extreme. I latched onto a cute girl who had a fondness for summoners and managed to get her to support me, allowing me to save up my scholarship money for magic stones. I was a total demon of savings. My classmates' nickname for me was "Purse Strings"{Referring to how he is such a miser with his money; being tight with his purse strings.}. In this manner, I was able to obtain three magic stones in my first year at the school... and succeeded in summoning three Jelly Slimes. One of them was a rare auspiciously-coloured red and white Slime which only appeared during the winter seasons. Its rarity was N+. I felt like dying. 

Second year at the school. My grades dropped due to my extreme thrift and obsession for magic stones, but then a friend told me that I could get a bonus reward of 5 magic stones if I graduated at the top of my class. Driven by my desire for magic stones, I threw myself into my studies while working a part-time job. At the same time, I seduced the girl who was my rival in studies and made her grades drop. This incidentally resulted in my girlfriend dumping me. 

With that, two years later, I had a terrible reputation as trash, but I still became the top graduating student and obtained 5 magic stones. 

When I graduated, the Slimes I had in my keeping had increased by 5 more, bringing my total up to 15 Slimes. By that time, the Slimes under me had already levelled up considerably and now had a firmer consistency, as if potato starch had been added to their original liquid form. The other summoners in my class had already gained other types of vassals, so I was the only one who was actually raising Slimes. When the 5 magic stones I received from my top student award resulted in Slimes as well, the contempt in my classmates' eyes turned to pity. My nickname changed from "Purse Strings" to "Slime Master". 

At the time of my graduation, my cousin, with the backing of his Gold Dragon and several other SR vassals he had fortuituously obtained, had become one of the top 5 Mage Summoners in the country and was now considered a super elite. To congratulate me on my graduating with top honours, he gifted me with 10 magic stones. By the way, I had already cleared up my previous debt of magic stones with him. With these 10 new magic stones, I summoned 10 Slimes. I was advised by my cousin that it would be better for me to give up on being a Mage Summoner and just take over my family's inn. 

Having only managed to summon Slimes thus far, I did not receive a job offer from the government despite graduating at the top of my class from an elite school. No one blamed me for it since it was a well-known fact that the results of summonings were random. However, the situation still dealt a great deal of damage to my sensitive heart. 

By the time I graduated, I had already summoned 30 vassals. This number was the highest among my peers. Among my peers, the Mage Summoner right behind me in terms of number of summons had 5 vassals, but none of the 5 were Slimes. How many tears have I shed over the injustice of it all? And yet, the fault clearly laid with me. No matter how easy it was to obtain N-rarity vassals, there were countless other type of N-creatures I could have drawn. 

I had pulled Slimes all year round, through spring, summer, autumn, and winter — thus, I had obtained a complete set of the regular Slimes, seasonal Slimes, and even the event-limited Slimes. It reached a point where I was asked to write a book about Slimes. After graduating, it was compulsory for a Mage Summoner alumnus to serve the country. However, due to the strange occurence of receiving no job offer from the government, I wrote the book to kill time. My former classmates (now Elite Mage Summoners) supported me out of sympathy, and so my book became a bestseller and I received a large sum from royalties. If an Elite Mage Summoner was unlucky, this sum would be greater than said summoner's salary. 

Having received this great sum of money, I began thinking. I shall buy more magic stones with this money and obtain other vassals. Even before I began to summon, my cousin was already looking at me with pity in his eyes. 

I was a captive to the occupation of Mage Summoner. Or rather, I was a captive to summoning. The Gold Dragon, which had only been as big as I had been as a child back then, had already grown up into an adult and was now fully resplendent in its majesty as a dragon. My Slimes were now solid enough to use as a water pillow. 

I thought, I cannot stop here. I cannot stop summoning until I get a dragon. 

It is said that the probability of summoning an SSR+ vassal is about 0.01%, followed by 0.1% for SR, 5% for R+, and 10% for R. In terms of probability, I had already summoned 30 times, so it would not be surprising for an R or R+ to appear soon. 

Even if there was a temporary bias in my summons, the odds should still eventually converge. It could be the next summon. Or maybe the one after that. 

Whichever one will do. 

The royalties were equivalent to about 100 magic stones. I could pull as I like. If an SR doesn't appear, it would be a scam. With that much money, a single person living alone could live comfortably without having to work for 10 years. However, I chose to pursue the glory of a Mage Summoner over 10 years of idle living. 

I arranged my room neatly, and then drew summoning arrays on the floor with all the spirit of an Elite Mage Summoner who had graduated at the top of his class. One after another, as if I were running a summoning assembly line. 

My room was soon overflowing with Slimes, and my parents were furious. 

After using up all the magic stones, I contemplated calmly in my room filled with Slimes. 

Now, I have no choice but to attempt the forbidden art of combining vassals. If I don't do this, I will not be able to summon again. 


Vassal Fusion. It was an evil technique which violates bioethical principles by fusing separate sentient vassals together to form a new vassal. 


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Next: Chapter 2: This is not what I want.

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