A Dual Crest Summoner In Infinite Summoning World

Auren wore his armor back once it had dried up enough. A bunch of boys started hacking away at thinner trees to try and get the wood for ladder making. Some were preparing to enter the forest and hunt something with their summons.

Good thing, most of them had animal summons and probably wouldn't starve to death, but this part of the forest was uncharted and anything could possibly exist here—like the Basilisk that had come from the deep forest. It had not spawned out of nowhere.

"Where are you going?" Auren heard Althea's voice behind him as he tightened his armor on his small body.

"Away from here.."

"You won't survive on your own," she retorted.

"Maybe, but if I stay I will be dead by the night," Auren replied and walked down the river.

"Come back before night or thralls will swarm over you.." the little lady said behind him.

Auren knew he could not go alone without the Screaming Stone; he didn't want to go downriver anyway—if he went his own way, then that direction would be north, towards the Stormlands. For now, Auren wanted to check the surroundings and see if there was anything worth knowing.

Auren walked beside the river, taking in all the surroundings. There was a way he could go back—both on the waterfall and the valley. He could make his black suit into a rope. Not just that—he could make tools that would help him climb up the wall. It would be physically challenging considering the height of the wall, but with a few stops he could potentially do it.

But it would turn into night when he reached up—without the Screaming Stone there was a very slim chance of him surviving. And there was no way he could reveal his summon to those brats. But if push came to shove, Auren would not hesitate to steal one of the Screaming Stones the noble sons had and climb the valley on his own, leaving others behind. It wasn't a very morally good thing to do—leaving behind barely 11–12-year-olds—but he was no saint at all. He didn't even want to come here.

Auren found nothing of importance even after walking for hours—he did see some rabbits at the edge of the forest though. Creating a few small daggers, Auren threw them at these creatures, killing two rabbits. That would do as food for the day. All the way, Auren kept looking up at the top of the valley but there was nothing he could notice up there. Not even the Basilisks.

By the time he returned to where the others were, the evening had started to turn into night. The seven people had cut down two trees, but they were still uncleaned and nowhere close to the ladder. They did somehow manage to start a fire though, and some small animals like squirrels and other birds were being roasted on the open fire and eaten by some boys. Auren stayed downstream from them and cleaned the rabbits he had killed. Some kept glancing his way but none came near. Once Auren was done cleaning, he brought them near the fire and let them get ready. He had picked up a lot of firewood on his way, which he added to the fire one by one, waiting for his dinner to get done.

"I thought you were leaving.." said the little lady.

"I thought you guys were making a ladder.." Auren replied.

Everyone once again eyed him but none said anything—perhaps they were too tired, or maybe it was the effect of the roasted rabbits.

"What did you see?" the older son of Cornvell house asked.

"I went for over three kilometers, no sign of anyone on top—not of any man or Basilisk. Even if we managed to climb up the waterfall, just going around the valley trying to find any place easy enough to climb up will take weeks. We are not prepared to stay near the river for weeks—it's where all animals gather." Auren once again tried to explain why staying here was a bad idea.

The oldest son of Earl Breagor replied, "We don't have any other choice. We have some of the strongest summons—we can easily defeat any predator coming our way. If we stick near the river long enough, our parents will eventually find us."

Guess in the little time he was gone, the children of earls had cemented their leadership over everyone else. There were three of Earl Breagor, two of Earl Cornvell, and three other sons of barons including the baron lord's brat. Auren remembered that was barely half the number of teenagers that had fallen down the valley along with them. Were the other half even alive?

"Fine," Auren sighed.

He had to stay with them; might as well try to get along.

Then added, "There is no rope for making a ladder—one of us has to climb up the waterfall and check out the land ahead alone. The time we spend trying to get up has to be on the basis of hope that there is a way ahead. Otherwise our efforts will be wasted."

"Can't you listen, Goat-brain?" The baron lord's brat said in a hissing tone. "If anyone could, we already would have done it."

"You can't?" Auren looked towards the younger son of Breagor and asked.

The boy was clearly surprised, and so was his sister. With their rainbow thread technique they could possibly do it—unless they too were hiding their abilities like him and were unwilling to show it to others.

"I.." the boy hesitated, exchanging looks with his sister. But before he could make any excuses, the oldest Breagor spoke up,

"No, he can't."

"I can do it.. if somehow my summon can reach up there," the older Cornvell boy said.

"With your summon's special ability that is possible. Yes, he can do it," Petricia said, brightening up and looking towards the oldest Cornvell boy. She sure was an expert at playing the cheerleader role. He may be surrounded by barely teenagers, but being the children of nobles, their nature was much more treacherous than normal people Auren had encountered in his old life. Some of their actions held hidden intents.

"But there is still the question of how to send the summon up.." The young Breagor boy said, getting them back to the topic.

The rabbits were ready—Auren broke a piece that was enough for him and gestured for the others to have at it. Everyone received a piece—the two rabbits were healthy enough for that. The first to eat was Althea herself.

Auren chewed on the meat while looking at the waterfall. What could they use other than his own black particles? He had noticed some vines wrapped around tree trunks on his way—they could use those. They were dried up and too thin for humans, but a medium-sized jaguar's weight might be supported. It wasn't enough to reach so high up even once though—let alone twice. They would have to search for more of it first.

The night Auren spent atop a tree—and even then, using the dark of night, he shaped his black particles into a small cage of sorts. Maybe a bit too paranoid, but without being prepared he wouldn't be able to relax, so it was better to do it for his sanity. Althea and others kept telling him to stay with them and take part in keeping watch shifts, but Auren refused. They knew better than to force him. Petricia kept trying to talk to him as if they were cousins or something—it was like all that had happened before was just a dream. All the way on this hunting trip, she never even looked at him once. It was clear she wanted to befriend him because of her own safety concerns, not for his.

The next morning, Auren woke up early and used his obsidian stone to revert the thin cage into the rubber-like swimsuit again before anyone could notice it. The guys keeping watch were trying to get fish from the river with dawn breaking and were barely succeeding. Auren was quite impressed seeing the oldest Breagor boy using his Wolverine in the river to catch fish like a pro. The flow was too strong though, and the shallows barely had any fish, so they had only gotten enough for everyone to have a mouthful.

Auren told everyone about the vines and half of them went searching for it along with him. Some of them had held hope that their parents would find them by now, but doubts were starting to creep onto their faces. No one was stating the worst, but it was clear all considered it to be possible. Even a spirit beast like a dark jaguar was no direct match for two rock-skinned Basilisks with their dangerous, unique freezing ability.

By midday, Auren and his ragtag group of noble children had gathered enough vines, tied them together, and even fashioned a somewhat flimsy bow and arrows to shoot the vine upward and somehow make it stick.