NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 334: Done It
The brightness and intensity of the light filling the summoning chamber would have made it difficult to sense how much time had passed if it had gone more than a few seconds before it started to fade, gradually revealing a silhouette in the center of the room where the balloon of golden membrane had been.
Zach looked on in awe as the light faded and withdrew into the newly summoned familiar, simultaneously revealing their fair and otherworldly beautiful appearance.
Clear blue hair like the sky that appeared to sparkle in the remaining darkness of the summoning chamber billowed down her slender back like ocean waves trapped in time. Her maid dress, which confirmed her identity as Zach's familiar, was of a deep blue shade like the night sky and served to bring out the lighter hues of her hair and eyes.
Her eyes swirled with mysterious multi-colored light as she looked at Zach. She blinked once before bowing politely with her hands in front of her waistline. Her bow snapped Zach out of his daze, and he smiled.
"Hello," he said gently.
Zach's new familiar looked up.
"I greet my Master," she answered simply.
She was a little withdrawn, but so had Yanael been when she was first summoned. Zach wasn't bothered by his new familiar's formal and standoffish attitude. Instead, he took a deep breath as he prepared himself mentally.
'Moment of truth,' he thought to himself before focusing. It was time to confirm his and the Empress Dowager's hopes.
He pulled up the summoning interface.
[Zacharia Evandiel - Troublemaker] Explore more at empire
[Level 30 Master Summoner]
[Innate Skill: Divine Luck]
[Contract Skills: Blessed Defense | Material Extraction | Transcension | Eyes of Truth]
[Contracts: Yanael | Alzara roi Kalam | Soara | Mandra]
[Yanael – S-Rank Angel *Battle Maid Variant]
[Alzara roi Kalam – SS-Rank Desert Witch *Battle Maid Variant]
[Soara – SS-Rank Deity of Death and Transcendence *Battle Maid Variant (SSS) (Incomplete)]
[Mandra – SSS-Rank Archon *Battle Maid Variant]
[Titles: 1]
"...yeah, baby!" Zach's sudden cheer and fist-pump startled Nora, and she looked at Zach in confusion. But he was too busy dancing with a grin on his face to notice at first.
But he caught himself after a few steps and stopped.
"Ahem." Zach brushed and straightened his shirt before looking at Mandra.
"Welcome aboard. It's a pleasure to have you, and I hope you enjoy your time with us."
"The pleasure is all mine, Master."
"Great! Then, I hope you don't mind explaining what an Archon is?"
Soara froze. She was the only one who reacted to that word. Even Mandra, the Archon herself, just looked at Zach in silence for a moment. However, since she was already standing still, no one noticed Soara's reaction.
"It is…an exceedingly powerful mage, Master," Mandra briefly explained.
Zach's eyebrows rose slightly. A mage. A mage was on the same level as Soara would have been if her strength had been intact.
"You must have worked hard." Zach nodded. Soara had also worked hard to acquire her strength.
But there had been twelve deities in the Labyrinth of Syst and not a single Archon. That didn't necessarily mean anything. Maybe the Labyrinth just preferred deities. But Zach had a feeling that becoming a deity and becoming an Archon were two different paths.
If his shallow understanding of gods and deities helped him anything, it was that becoming a deity was connected to worship of some kind, hence the Titles the Labyrinth's deities had. They represented aspects of reality and nature.
A mage, however, was a little different, Zach just didn't know the details.
Mandra nodded with a calm expression, a little surprised at Zach's sudden compliment.
Soara wanted to say something at Mandra's lacking explanation, but she quickly understood why the Archon hadn't explained what she was. Even with an SSS-rank familiar added to his roster and with everything else he had under his belt, Zach still didn't have sufficient authority to learn about that.
But Mandra's addition had still eased up on numerous restrictions for what they could tell Zach. Of course, the juicy pieces of information were still tightly secured, but with this, it might be easier to expand on the Empress Dowager's lecture and delve into the issue with Zach's constitution.
Zach inspected Mandra a little more while the others also looked at her with various mixes of wariness, curiosity, caution, and intrigue. But the summoning ritual had finished, and the stone wall separated from itself again, revealing the patiently but eagerly waiting Empress Dowager and Princess Rienne.
Zach would have to ask Mandra about the Eyes of Truth some other time. Now, however, he could maybe take the opportunity to ask the Empress Dowager about something else that had started piquing his curiosity.
As soon as she stopped staring at Mandra that is.
"Umm…" He started saying.
"Schh!" But the Empress Dowager hushed him before he could finish more than a syllable.
Zach looked toward the princess for help, but she just shrugged.
Zach could only wait until the Empress Dowager was done with her inspection. He glanced at Mandra, who didn't seem too bothered by it.
'That's a relief.' It would have been worrisome if his new maid didn't take well to being looked at and started attacking the Empress Dowager. Fortunately, it seemed Mandra was aware of the situation and the stakes, even without anyone explaining it to her. It also seemed that she was aware of the difference in strength between her and the Empress Dowager.
She might be an SSS-rank familiar, but her master was only level thirty, and she had just been summoned. She would need some time to bring out as much of her strength as Zach's level would allow, and then she would need Zach to level up for her to get even stronger.
Eventually, the Empress Dowager nodded and turned to Zach with a questioning look as if asking for confirmation.
Zach nodded.
"SSS-rank."
Zach and the Empress Dowager high-fived to celebrate without another word.
Zach had done it. He was on a perfect summoning streak. Unless he had a special body that would let him withstand the pressure of a more powerful familiar, it would have been impossible to summon higher ranking familiars at each stage.
Rienne rolled her eyes. Her grandmother looked younger than her age, but she was still old. Why was she barely acting any more decently than Zach? And what were those dance moves?