A Dual Crest Summoner In Infinite Summoning World

A day of rest was more than enough to recover all his normal body functions. The numbness in his body—largely in his legs—had lessened. His parents had banned him from using the power in him. Dante told him they would talk about the power inside him when he came back in the evening today.

It had to be the Chi talk.

Thinking about what had happened last night, Auren felt embarrassed. He did not even remember when was the last time he had cried. It had left him feeling strangely lighter than before. Still, his mind for this new life of his had not changed much; even if he tried, he wouldn't be able to match the level of innocence shown by Kenzo and other kids his age. More than that, he hated the idea of faking emotions for such a reason.

He could walk normally, but Sable and grandma told him not to do the swordsmanship practice, so he was just randomly walking around in their backyard. The black powder wrapped in a piece of cloth was in his hands. He had learned thoroughly all the various changes he could make the strange material go through using the polished stone remote. The mental image forming took his Chi and was something he had to put a lot of effort into practicing, but he had managed to do that too.

He could turn it into any shape he wanted. The 1 kg powder was not much to do with, but still, something was better than nothing. The more intricate the shape was, the more Chi and focus it took to make. Things like sharp knives and simple shapes were what he had practiced for. The good thing was, once he shaped it, he didn't have to use the Chi to maintain it—which meant he could take his time to make intricate shapes on the black particles available to him.

After Auren had progressed in his Chi control in these past six months, he had even managed to lift a little bit of particles into the air. Just inches from the ground—the higher it went, the more Chi it would take. Maintaining the gravity-opposing force also took a lot of Chi. Auren barely managed to keep the little thread on his hand still in the air for a whole second. And that took over 70% of his full Chi. He could do it, but after doing it, he wouldn't be able to do anything else.

Another good thing—when he used Chi for these 'Adjustments'—there was no backlash. It was like the Chi was meant to be used for his summons. Using it on his body was not the way it was supposed to work. He could confirm it—humans were not supposed to have such things.

'Wait a second, am I an alien now?'

Auren—the alien. That does not roll off the tongue at all. Since he had excess Chi, Auren practiced his shape-forming on the black particles after doing the daily summoning.

'Huh? That's weird..'

He could easily pull the Chi around his body. At first, he had to tug on it and it took a few seconds before he could assert any notable control over the path the Chi traveled in his body. But now, it was like the Chi was waiting for his mental orders, and when he touched it just a little, it followed what was in his mind accurately. He could truly control even a small part of it with high precision. Did exerting a lot of Chi suddenly increase his control over it? That made no sense. Guess he could ask Dante in a roundabout way in the evening.

Auren did not use even a tiny bit of it on his body. Now that he thought about it—it was a stupid thing to enhance his body in such a way without knowing much about this mysterious force. There was no way to ask his family what Chi was when he could barely even talk two years ago as a three-year-old.

Playtime was over soon. Sable bathed him with all smiles on her face. Then they started their study session for the day. He had already learned all the alphabets, and they had moved on to words. Stories had become more frequent since that was the most efficient way he learned new words from both Sable and grandma.

Something in today's story did not make sense though. His grandma continued,

"..he was all alone that day. Come evening, being a young fool, he decided to keep the window open and finally get a look at the Thralls. He even kept less fire around that day to attract a few—as they say, 'Not every closed door hides a pie—some hide claws.' He saw a Thrall but the Thrall also saw him. Through the window, it attacked with its huge claws. The boy—Nyome, his name is—it broke his nose and left marks all over his face. We met him once, Auren. Do you remember that man asking us if Dante had hunted a boar lately?"

Auren had stopped paying attention midway through. It wasn't his first time hearing about Thralls and Echoes, the monsters that came at night to get the sinners and disobedient children. But that was just a fake story, right? Was that fucking real?

"Wait a second.. Thralls and Echoes are real?" Auren asked, his eyes wide and face shocked.

Sable and grandma looked at him with equally surprised faces. Then Sable said,

"Of course, Auren. Didn't we teach you about monsters that come at night long ago?"

"I thought it was just a story," Auren replied, while his mind raced, thinking about all those nights when he had heard strange growling noises from outside. All those complaints he had heard in Sunday gatherings about not having enough money to keep the fire in their houses. The obsession his family had to close down their house before 7, when the Sun was nearly gone.

First magical abilities, and now monsters? He was indeed in an alien world.