Free Web NovelAstral Plane, another world, alien star — to people, these were unknown existences different from the current world. They brought many disasters, but they also brought new knowledge and discoveries, so judgments about the alien star were mixed.
Sylutia approached the summoning array, set the gemstone in place, and scanned her surroundings with her eyes.
Although she knew the Hundred-Eyes Sect's much more "economical" summoning methods, this was an academy, and she was not the cruel type. She opted to use other resources instead of sacrificial offerings.
She retrieved the heart of a Third Tier monster and placed it in the array, then selected some simpler Second Tier materials and placed them in as well.
After finishing the setup, Sylutia calmed herself and initiated the ritual. She then actively used the Star Sensing Method to draw on the ritual array's power, aiming it at a fissure she knew in the World Wall. That immediately saved about sixty percent of the power the summoning needed, and the prayer-based communication became much easier.
Next she followed the special method to search for the floating Eye Tyrants in the Astral Plane, communicate with them, and draw one down.
If someone else did this, it would be like shouting through a horn: "Eye Tyrant, come over, I have something good here."
The strength of the ritual array determined how loud that horn would be, the quality of the offerings determined how attractive it was to the Eye Tyrants, whether communication went well decided if the descent would be smooth and reduce accidents, and finally the strength of the spirit will decided whether the summoned otherworldly creature could be controlled.
Sylutia put her hand to the blue mist rising from the array and silently recited a prayer to the Master Who Gazes All Truth. At that moment, an invisible breeze spread from the array and lifted her hair.
To the other apprentices, the girl seemed to enter a mystical state. Her aura and the array gradually synchronized, and the array's pillar of light extended toward the endless distant horizon, as if her body remained here while her consciousness had already entered the faraway Astral Plane.
Seeing this, the instructor beside them was somewhat surprised, but since the situation remained under control, he did not step forward to interrupt.
Compared to the crude summoning of other mages, Sylutia could clearly sense those distant star-like existences. She could now choose the type and individual Eye Tyrant she wanted from among them.
"Gloom-Gaze Evil Eye, Blood-Rage Evil Eye, Purple Eyes Evil Eye..."
The sensation was like browsing a shop. She could clearly understand each Evil Eye's abilities and status, and the difficulty of summoning and controlling them.
As she pondered which Eye Tyrant to call down, a far stronger presence appeared in her perception.
Crack-Lightning Evil Eye (Fourth Tier · Alien Star)
This one was clearly a tier stronger than the other called Eye Tyrants. Ordinarily, a Fourth Tier Eye Tyrant would look down on the offerings in the array, and if it descended, the difficulty would be far greater than for a Third Tier Evil Eye.
Should she pick it?
Sylutia considered it. Failure wouldn't matter much; this was, after all, an experiment. Even if she failed, she would learn what went wrong and gain experience.
She began to communicate with that Evil Eye, establishing an invisible mental link.
If an ordinary mage faced a tier gap and alien-star corruption at this point, their mind would immediately be impacted. A misstep could cause fainting or mental breakdown.
But Sylutia herself was a Star, so she was immune to the informational pollution and shock from the alien star. Her mental power was actually closer to a Fifth Tier Transcendent, so naturally she did not fear this Evil Eye.
After some communication, a light flashed in Sylutia's eyes. Her skirt and hair rose and floated without wind, and the array erupted in brilliant light.
The instructing teacher relaxed, drew his staff, and a pale-blue Veil covered the whole area, ready to respond to any emergency.
Soon, the spectral image of a small Eye Tyrant rushed out of the array. Its diameter was nearly four meters, not far from the height of an eight-story building. Before its body fully manifested, the nearby apprentices felt their legs go weak and could only take a few hesitant steps forward before they adjusted.
They stared in shock at the white-haired girl who floated at the same level as the Evil Eye. She extended her open palm toward it, and a pale-blue contract sigil traced by light imprinted itself into the Evil Eye's pupil, which then faintly glowed.
Two minutes earlier, the array's light had begun to dim, and now the small Eye Tyrant hung silently. Its gray-blue thick hide bore purple-red, lightning-like neural veins. Fat little tentacles swayed and writhed in the air, and its large eyeball had a deep-blue pupil that slowly rotated as it observed the environment.
"Was that thing really summoned by the chief?'' some students whispered with trembling voices.
"That oppressive psychic presence... you dare to look it in the eye for so long? If you stare too long, you'll be mentally controlled."
"Has Hedra the chief really got it under control? It won't suddenly go berserk, will it?" some students still couldn't believe it.
Another instructor floated over and approached the Eye Tyrant, carefully inspecting and sensing it for a long time before nodding at Sylutia.
"It seems you've fully controlled it. Very good, very good," he said, nodding and repeating his praise twice.
"Let me find a stronger target for it," he added, then walked to a corner of the hall to adjust equipment. Soon a massive white stone lion descended from the ceiling and landed on the floor.
Its heavy body made everyone feel the ground tremble beneath their feet, and people gathered their light to watch the white lion.
[White Lion Colossus] (Fourth Tier · Castle)
One of the academy's giant guardian statues. Sculpted by the school's mages and scholars, once activated it can unleash great combat power and superb defense.
This white lion was carved from white marble and looked majestic. Stone wings were sculpted on its back, allowing it to fly slowly.
"Command the Eye Tyrant to attack the white lion, Hedra."
"Yes, teacher."
Sylutia had the Eye Tyrant turn. Its huge body rotated nimbly through the air like a nimble Fat Man, then its pupil focused on the giant white lion tens of meters away. Astral power gathered as star-blue light funneled into the focus before its eye, and electric currents flowed across its body, crackling with fearsome snaps.
[Crack-Lightning Shot]
A dazzling pillar of light flared, and the fierce blue-white glare made many students' eyes burn. The radiant beam slammed into the white lion's light Barrier.
The thin membrane that emitted a faint white light resisted the brilliant beam for several seconds before shattering. The beam then struck directly into the lion's chest. Electric light exploded, and invisible currents spread throughout the hall, making many students' bodies tingle.
Ten seconds later the light subsided. The students rubbed their eyes and looked again at the white lion used as the target. Its chest had been blasted open, exposing inner stone structures, and blackened scorch marks and streaks of electric current ran across its body.
"The force is strong. Even among Fourth Tier entities, it's a fairly powerful individual," the teacher commented, nodding. With a wave of his staff, the shattered stones floated back into the lion's chest, restoring it bit by bit until it looked as pristine as before with no sign of damage.
Though not yet a professor, the teacher possessed Fifth Tier strength and, as a member of the Mithril Clock school, was clearly stronger than an ordinary tiered Transcendent.
"Think about this: go to the second floor of the summoning hall and get a contract slate. Etch its data and the contract on it. Then future summons will be much easier, requiring only a small amount of offerings," the teacher suggested.
"All right," the girl nodded. She floated up and entered the second-floor storage room to have the attendant retrieve a slate.
Before long she returned with a weighty square stone slate and, under the teacher's guidance, etched the contract and information onto it.
When finished, a faint glow spread across the Eye Tyrant and its demeanor stabilized.
"Very obedient, and the etching went smoothly. Seems you found a good one," the teacher said with satisfaction, telling Sylutia to store the slate safely.
"Since the summoning is still ongoing, you can feed it some things now, and in exchange harvest a few tentacles as quality materials."
"Don't worry. These Astral Plane creatures have strong regeneration; losing one or two tentacles won't take long to regrow. The only thing to note is to find something it actually likes, so it will give them willingly."
"You're probably not prepared. I'll open the permissions so it can choose from the materials stored in the hall. I'll cover the cost."
The teacher waved his staff and opened the hall's surrounding pillars, revealing sealed compartments. Each compartment stored summoning materials.
Sylutia turned to the Eye Tyrant and communicated with it, asking what it wanted.
The Evil Eye's pupil spun as it quickly focused on the various materials, observing and selecting. The process lasted about three minutes.
Just when everyone expected it to pick something rare, the Eye Tyrant instead fixed its gaze on Sylutia and looked toward the hidden pocket at her skirt's waist.
A thin blue beam marked the spot on her waist.
"What is it?" Sylutia glanced at her waist and took something out — a special griffin-feather key.
She mentally scoffed: not this. That thing was her most treasured possession; she couldn't give it away.
But additional information flowed into her mind, causing her to hesitate and think.
She opened the key, revealing what it stored. Finally, when she brought out the White Moon Potion she had previously brewed, the Eye Tyrant's focused blue point shifted to the vial.
"You want this?" Sylutia asked, surprised.
The potion was used to purify Distortion corrosion. Logically, as an alien-star being, it should be the one causing the corrosion, so why did the Eye Tyrant want this potion?
Though puzzled, Sylutia loosened her grip and chose the three best-quality White Moon Potions to float toward the massive Eye Tyrant.
As they approached its maw, a hidden fissure in the Eye Tyrant's underside gaped open and the three vials were swallowed into its mouth, then it crushed them as if chewing ice; the liquid splashed everywhere.
In that fleeting instant, Sylutia glimpsed the inside of its mouth. There were remains of various other Astral Plane creatures, many exuding bizarre Distortion auras.
It seemed that even Astral Plane creatures could not always properly digest the strange and exotic beings they consumed.
Soon Sylutia felt the Eye Tyrant's frenzied aura calm somewhat. Its mood also improved, and it moved nimbly around the hall, its huge body occasionally frightening staff and students.
After circling several times, the Eye Tyrant returned to Sylutia and regarded her for a while. It relaxed its tentacles, and two of them, one large and one small, naturally detached and thumped onto the floor.
The larger one was the size of two oxen, weighing about a ton, while the smaller tentacle was about the size of an antelope and weighed over three hundred jin.
[Flesh Tentacle (Large)] (Fourth Tier · Superior)
[Flesh Tentacle (Small)] (Third Tier · Superior)
Strange flesh tentacles from Astral Plane creatures, usable as casting materials for the Tentacle Summoning ritual or as flesh offerings in ceremonies. Do not eat them casually.
After doing this, the Eye Tyrant circled the hall once more, then its form faded into a specter and gradually vanished, leaving Sylutia staring dumbfounded at the mountain-sized plump tentacles before her, unsure how to deal with them.
