The Divine Summoner: Godson of Altima

by Antony W. F. Chow

  Ellaria tasted it and commented. "The onion chunks are too big. And please cut back on the cream a bit," the food critic opined. "But the salt and herb spices are just right," she added.

  Bel remained silent because he was eating like a pig and didn't bother to offer suggestions to improve the pudding. For him, the relevant question was whether the food was edible or not.

  The food researcher considered her words and recalled the formula for today's sample. Luka jotted down some notes on parchment and returned it to his storage. Unfortunately, the village did not produce any paper and had to trade for it from wandering merchants who visited Langerlan occasionally. Luka obtained a small supply from Dilya solely because he needed it to keep track of his experimentation.

  Afterward, Ellaria sparred with the boy to burn off some calories, and then Luka teleported to the shadow realm to continue his magic and swordsmanship training. His shadow magic proficiency increased tremendously over the past three months because the plane enhanced its effectiveness, duration, and power.

  For Luka, the most significant area of improvement was in shadow summoning. Initially, he could summon fifteen shadow hounds. Now, this quantity exploded to fifty! Secondly, his minions increased in rank to "Improved Summoned Shadows," and these monsters were much more formidable than before because they possessed greater intelligence and health. Since they belonged to the same pack, the hounds worked cooperatively in attacking their target. Thus, Bel began having trouble fending them off during spars.

  Finally, the mage unlocked another part of the summon tree: Shadow Clone! With this new magic, Luka could create a doppelganger with his exact physical abilities! This spell was different from the light magic's Doppelganger in that the clone took the form of a faceless shadow and could move via Shadow Walk. Luka could use his shadow clone for sneak attacks and assassination. On the other hand, the light version provided a replica of Luka if he needed to be at two places simultaneously to fool other people.

  Luka also practiced his swordsmanship with the clone and used Critical Insight to uncover weaknesses in Luka's style of combat. Then he spent time brainstorming ways to overcome these vulnerabilities and polish his swordsmanship. But the teenager was mindful that sparring against himself provided limited benefits because Luka could become predictable and develop bad habits.

  When Ellaria informed Luka that he would participate in the archery competition, the boy switched gears and began to practice his bowmanship. He created an archery range in the courtyard and spent at least an hour nightly firing at the target from long distances. Luka wanted to surprise everyone and hid his improvements with his range; thus, he pretended that he couldn't hit from sixty feet distance.

  In preparation for the competition, Luka asked his tutors for information regarding its format. According to Aquilan, the competitors fired each arrow simultaneously for ten shots from the same distance, starting at thirty feet and then progressively moving back five feet per round. A judge will call for competitors to fire each arrow.

  The target itself split into a central circle and nine outer rings. A competitor receives a perfect ten points if his arrow hits dead center, nine points if it lands within the next segment, and one point less for each successive ring beyond until he gets one point for the outermost region.

  An official scorer will tally everyone's points, and whoever had the lowest score will be eliminated each round. Then competition will continue until a final winner emerges.

  Dalyor pointed out that the competitors won't receive any breaks aside from the scoring intermissions. This format also tested the competitors' concentration and stamina.

  Luka incorporated these rules for his evening archery practice, and he simulated the competition's conditions. He fired off ten shots at thirty feet, then another ten at thirty-five, and continued to move back until sixty feet before repeating it. Luka continued his practice in this manner for two hours per evening. He devoted his remaining free time to practicing magic.

  However, since Luka spent a significant portion of his evenings on archery, his shadow magic improvement eventually stalled. Or rather, it plateaued because the mage's proficiency was high enough that further advancement was challenging to achieve without a teacher. Luka had branched away from summoning and started experimenting with various properties of shadow essence.

  In particular, he examined the characteristic of shadow as the opposite of light. The researcher appreciated the healing properties of light magic and realized that shadow magic should offer the opposite. After a week of experimentation, Luka developed a corrosive effect and a delivery system for it in the form of a cloud. He created a new spell called "Shadow Cloud," and this magic corroded both organic and inorganic compounds within its area of effect. Since this magic was high-tier, it required 100 points of mana per ten feet per ten seconds.

  The corrosion effect acted like acid and indiscriminately melted everything within the dark cloud. When Luka threw a wooden practice sword inside, he saw that the weapon vaporized within ten seconds. He cast Dispel on the cloud and managed to dissipate it. But the corrosion remained behind for the duration of the spell. The mage used Mend on a sword's remnants, but the item did not return to normal. He wondered if time magic would work, but Luka didn't have access to it.

  By the time the Good Harvest Festival arrived, Luka had completed his preparations to introduce his salted pudding and his participation in the archery competition. On the morning of this annual event, he ate breakfast with Ellaria and Bel as usual. Afterward, the foster mother brought the two to the floor and remained behind at her oak tree base because Ellaria had set up a stall there to barter her excess share of soybeans and other crops.

  On the other hand, Aien assigned Luka to assist in the production of the salted puddings. Whenever inventory ran low during the day, he would make more of the pudding. Luka was among only a handful of people who knew the complete formula to make this product, and the elves weren't comfortable with him running around the village.

  Aien will supervise the street stalls at various locations throughout the Langerlan to hand out samples and trade the official products for other goods. The supervisor promised to barter for some meat on Luka's behalf with the hunters.

  Although Luka felt disappointed that he would remain inside the factory during the festival, he knew that his role as a pudding chef was invaluable to the elves. Thankfully, Aien permitted Luka to leave for the archery competition.

  However, the salted tofu pudding proved extremely popular as a novelty product, and Luka spent the festival's first day making this dessert nonstop! After sunset, the chef stayed inside the factory to continue making soft tofu and creamy onion.

  Consequently, Ellaria visited the factory and brought dinner. Afterward, Luka fell asleep, and she carried him home. The tired boy slept through the night, and Ellaria woke him up the next morning.

  Unlike yesterday, the elf accompanied Luka because Ellaria will watch him perform in the archery competition, starting at nine o'clock sharp. When they arrived at the archery range, Luka saw fifteen archery target stands.

  "Good morning, Luka!" a girlish voice greeted.

  The boy turned and saw Caeda. Luka waved at her with a smile.

  "Are you ready?" Aquilan asked. The instructor felt reassured when he saw no hint of nervousness in Luka.

  "You better not lose in the first round," Dalyor said with a grin.

  "I won't," Luka replied.

  "Oh, you're full of confidence? That's good," Dalyor replied and patted his pupil gently on the back. The tutor was impressed by Luka's work ethic and wished the student would advance deep into the competition rounds.

  "Let's choose our positions now since it's on a first-come-first-serve basis," Aquilan suggested.

  "Okay," Luka nodded. He equipped a bow and quiver of arrows and then chose a spot to the left-center while Aquilan stood to his left and Dalyor to his right. The cliques quickly formed on the competition line with the conciliatory faction o
n the left while the militant group claimed the right side. The neutral members stood at the center.

  The competitors waited patiently until the judge finally appeared on the competition field. The official was a male elf named Halueve Morsys, the best archer in Langerlan, and possessed many trick shots that other elves couldn't hope to emulate. He worked as a fletcher and made various specialty arrows by modifying the fletchings attached to them.

  Halueve checked each lane to ensure the contestants were ready. Once he confirmed that all fifteen competitors stood at the starting line, the judge raised his right hand and said, "Ready, aim, fire!"

  The sound of "twang" filled the air as fifteen arrows released in unison. A moment later, these projectiles tore into the archery target.

  The crowd applauded or gasped depending on the result of their favored contestant.

  But Halueve cut through the noise and raised his hand again.

  The competitors quickly disregarded the previous shot and prepared to fire the next one.

  "Ready, aim, fire!"

  This process repeated nine times in succession before the scorers approached the targets to tally up each competitor's points during the first intermission.

  Luka took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. He felt giddy because the human managed to hit the central circle ten times.

  "Good job, Luka!" Caeda cheered.

  The officials moved the starting line five feet back and waved the contestants to back away. Assistants replaced the targets with new ones.

  Halueve raised his hand and made an announcement. "Contestant Number Two has been eliminated. Would the remaining contestants please get ready for Round Two," he said.

  Luka was in the fourth lane; therefore, he was Contestant Number Four. He looked to his left and saw a male child with an embarrassed expression as he walked away from his lane. However, the crowd applauded and cheered him. "You'll do better next year!" "Practice more!"

  Once the eliminated contestant joined the audience, the judge raised his hand again. "Ready, aim, fire!" The second round finished shortly. Luka managed to maintain his accuracy and received full marks.

  This time, the judge eliminated Contestant Number Fifteen.

  In the third round, Luka kept pace and remained perfect. But in the fourth round, his release was slightly off, and the teenager received nine points for the errant shot. Thus, Luka lost his perfect score, which four other contestants maintained.

  But Luka felt relieved because he already reached his goal of advancing to the second round. Therefore, his final placement in the competition didn't matter as much to him. Thus, Luka treated the remainder of this competition as merely a test of his practice methods.

  Surprisingly, he continued to advance in the competition. In the eighth round, three contestants received eighty-eight points, which was the lowest score. The judge used his discretion to eliminate all three competitors! Among them was Aquilan, whose face turned bitter.

  Daylor laughed and pointed at the loser while Luka tried to console his friend. "We'll avenge you," he said.

  The disheartened elf didn't react. Instead, Aquilan dragged his feet in a daze and entered the stands.

  Daylor looked around and saw five contestants remaining; the other three belonged to the militants. "It's up to us to carry the torch," he told Luka.

  "I'll try my best to follow you," the human replied earnestly. Frankly, Luka was surprised that he lasted this long, and he wasn't confident that he could keep up with Daylor.

  Alas, in the ninth round, Daylor was eliminated!

  "Go home!" the militants taunted.

  Aquilan immediately retorted, "Luka will beat all of you!"

  Daylor glumly stood next to Caeda, who tried to cheer him. "You did great!"

  "Keep going, Luka!" Ellaria yelled.

  The crowd became animated because they realized a human had unexpectedly reached the quarterfinals of the competition! The militant faction jeered him while the conciliatory group offered encouragement.

  "Silence in the crowd!" Malueve ordered sternly. Once the noise abated, the judge raised his hand to signal the tenth round's start with a starting distance of seventy-five feet! "Ready, aim, fire!"

  After each competitor discharged all ten arrows, the audience began to tally the points themselves. Luka received seventy-two points, and the other competitors had seventy-seven, seventy-five, and seventy-one points, respectively. The elves quickly realized that Luka reached the top three!

  Luka scored seventy points in the eleventh round while the other contestants received seventy-two and sixty-nine points. He entered the finals!

  The crowd split along the factions and cheered their favored candidate.

  Luka turned to his right and saw an unfamiliar competitor.

  The elf noticed the gaze and turned toward Luka with a puffed chest and raised chin. He said, "Remember the name, 'Nindrol Olonelis' because he will be the winner of this competition!"

  Luka smiled faintly at the proud elf who addressed himself in the third person. "Good luck to you," the human replied politely.

  "For this final round, will the two contestants take the middle lanes?" Malueve ordered out of the blue.

  Luka and Nindrol obeyed and stood side-by-side.

  Unbeknownst to them, Phraan pushed his way through the crowd until he stood closer to the human. He was miserable and disappointed in the performance of the representatives from the militant faction. In his mind, the top three placements belonged to his group.

  A human becoming a finalist in archery was humiliating, and Phraan vowed to make the children train even harder once this event was over. But in the meantime, he decided to take precautions to ensure that Nindrol wins this competition.

  The judge raised his hand. "Ready, aim, fire!"

  Luka focused his attention on the archery target. Although his shoulders and back felt sore from pulling the bowstring frequently today, Luka received an adrenaline rush from being in a face-off with his competitor. Now, the two contestants could immediately see who was in the lead after every shot. The human felt exhilaration and joy, and his body felt more robust than before.

  Nindrol, on the other hand, experienced tremendous pressure to perform in this format because he represented not just the militant faction but also the entire village! If he lost to a human, then Nindrol would be scorned and vilified for as long as he remained in Langerlan. Thus, the stakes were much higher for him than for Luka.

  In the first round, both arrows landed in the central circle! The crowd applauded and cheered. The second and third rounds produced the same outcome. But in the fourth round, Nindrol faltered in his release, and his arrow landed in the first outer ring; he received nine points.

  Luka, however, maintained his perfection.

  The audience murmured when they saw Nindrol losing for the first time.

  In the fifth round, the two contestants traded results from the previous game, and the scores were tied again. Each competitor received nine points in the sixth and seventh rounds. They faltered again and received eight and seven points for the next two shots.

  The villagers became incredulous at this moment because the scores were still tied!

  "This is the final round! Silence from the audience!" Malueve ordered. Once they obeyed, the judge raised his hand. "Ready, aim, fire!"

  "Twang!" "Pik!"

  As Luka released his arrow, a stone struck his elbow and caused his arm to jerk slightly. Consequently, his shot became off-target and landed in the lower-left quadrant of the target for two points!

  Nindrol, on the other hand, received six points for this round. The elf became jubilant and raised his arms in triumph!

  The crowd became wild and applauded.

  However, Malueve was livid because he saw the interference with Luka's release. The elf possessed the sharpest pair of eyes in the village, and he quickly retraced the stone's flight path and discovered the culprit.

  The judge ignored the crowd and rushed over to pi
ck up the stone. He raised it in the air and said, "Due to outside interference, the final shot will not count. The scores remain tied at 82 points apiece. Henceforth, Luka and Nindrol are co-winners of this division!"

  The villagers turned silent at this astounding announcement. The elves valued fair play, and they became incensed upon learning that someone cheated to help a contestant! Members of the conciliatory faction glared at the militant faction with suspicion and ridicule.

  Folen Umesandoral calmly pushed through the crowd and approached Malueve. "May I examine the object?" the ex-general requested politely.

  The judge handed over the evidence.

  Folen examined it and frowned. Although the stone was small, its owner could use wind magic to send it flying at a contestant's arm. With perfect timing, this could interfere with an archer's arm movement and alter the projectile trajectory. Thus, Folen became convinced that someone interfered to ensure that Nindrol would win. The general felt embarrassed and turned toward the audience. "Who threw this stone?" he asked with anger in his voice.

  Malueve already learned the identity of the culprit but declined to speak up. He believed this was an internal matter for the militant faction to handle. Thus, the judge deferred to Folen as the group's leader to dole out punishment for this despicable act.

  A moment later, Phraan stepped forward and raised his hand. "I did it," he admitted openly.

  The crowd gasped.

  "Why?" Folen inquired cooly.

  "I was unhappy with the fact that we're losing to a human in archery," the perpetrator answered. Phraan glared at Nindrol and scorned the child's incompetence.

  The leader shook his head. "It's true that Nindrol losing in this event is embarrassing. But the damage is limited to the boy and his reputation. However, your cheating reflects poorly on your comrades, teachers, and leader. I want you to reflect and understand the difference by spending sixty days inside the Ancestral Tombs. Now go!"

  "Isn't this punishment too harsh?" someone complained.

  "Yeah! Phraan is our leatherworker! We need him!"