Chapter 51: Chapter 51

Even Dane, who no longer got nervous or shaken by simple things, seemed helpless in front of a new situation.

He was trying to inject magic into it, but he was trembling, strangely enough. However, it wasn’t because of nerves.

It was because of excitement and curiosity.

Dane thought, ‘I wonder what’s inside this?’

And if it hatched, what would come out?

Familiar’s Egg.

Up to this point, anyone could get one if they had the money. It just took a lot of money. Hatching a Familiar’s Egg was a different matter, as that was a problem that couldn’t be solved with money.

Not only had the hatching conditions not been fully discovered, but the user’s magic power and the unknown familiar inside the egg had to have matching ‘magic frequency’, which wasn’t even something one could tell until the egg hatched.

The egg was already hard to get, but you needed a lot of luck to hatch it. However, if you could just hatch one, its value was indescribable. This was because a summoned creature that could only stay for a certain amount of time would end up staying in this world permanently.

Needless to say, that was if the summons was a powerful one.

Dane gathered his magic power as he recalled the stories his second sister used to tell him whenever she had the chance.

It was clear that there was a reaction… so what if it really woke up?

“I’ll begin.”

Dane proved his talent once again.

‘An absurd talent at that.’

Clare clicked her tongue.

How did this make any sense? Just showing a reaction would shock summoners all over the world.

After all, almost all of them had seen Familiar’s Eggs but had been unable to make them react like this. Even though he was an amateur summoner without even a formal sign…

‘How far does this boy’s talent extend?’

At this point, she started to wonder…

What kind of kid was Dane?

Whooooong!

Dane had started injecting the egg with his magic power.

Even though it was filtered, the magic power was almost completely transferred to the egg. This meant that the magic power was already incredibly pure, without needing to be refined.

She already knew it, but seeing it with her own eyes left her speechless. At least half of the magic power of most mages would have been filtered out.

Whoooooooong!

The egg reacted accordingly. Clare could tell that this was a reaction that occurred before hatching, as there were cases of Familiar’s Eggs hatching.

However, it was more intense than she had anticipated. The more mana was put into it, the greater the reaction.

About three minutes passed like that.

Clare felt like it couldn’t be done, so she walked up to Dane, who was concentrating, and said, “Dane, let’s take a break. If you keep this up, you’ll run out of mana.”

“It’s alright. I can still do it.”

Dane didn’t stop pouring his magic power in. It was as if he felt it would be a shame to stop there.

Clare tried to talk him out of it, but she seemed to find his focused expression cute, so she just smiled and backed away instead.

Then another three minutes passed.

‘I wonder what would come out?’

As the tension reached its peak, there was finally a response.

Crack.

The egg started to crack.

“…!”

Clare wanted to scream, but instead of reacting hastily, she kept her mouth shut. Dane was also calm and still.

‘Is this boy really fourteen years old?’

A thought suddenly occurred to her.

If she looked closely, there were times when he was calmer and more mature than her or their eldest sister.

No, in many cases, this was true.

She remembered Dane taking her to their eldest sister when they had a huge fight as a child and cleverly reconciling them.

Clare found herself laughing inwardly at the stupid question she thought of.

‘But he’s so cute.’

No matter how mature and cool he seemed to others, to her he’d always been a childlike little brother and her only precious younger sibling.

So it was also a shame.

If the age difference was just a little smaller, she could have helped him a lot by spending two years, or even just one year, as an undergraduate student at the academy.

As she thought so一

Craack.

The egg cracked open more and more.

The cracks on the shell, which had been appearing little by little, gradually widened in range…

Craaack!

It spread everywhere in an instant.

Clare regretted not having recorded this scene with magic. Why couldn’t she have thought of that? Regret always came too late, no matter how fast or slow.

Meanwhile, the shell cracked even more.

Then—

Thunk.

The cracked egg broke open and something popped out from inside.

“Whoa!” At that moment, Dane stopped channeling his power and took a small step back.

“Dane, are you okay?”

Clare quickly caught Dane, who was staggering. At that moment, she didn’t even care about the egg. The condition of her younger brother was more important.

“I’m fine. I feel a little dizzy.”

“Should I give you some magic restoratives? Huh? How about your body? Are there any hot spots?”

“I’ll feel better after a little rest.” Dane shook his head and pointed at the egg. “But that aside, sis. Look.”

Clare turned her head and saw it.

“Something… seems to be trying to come out?”

A black object was wriggling and breaking out of an egg.

“Krrreuk.”

The cry was clearly a response of life. Clare quickly calmed her magic and stepped back.

“What’s the matter?”

“Just in case. There have been cases where a familiar recognized the first person it saw as its owner. Dane, that’s your familiar, so go quickly!”

It was Clare’s considerate and loving side at play. Dane quickly approached, as his second sister told him to.

What he encountered was…

“Kikreuk?”

Something that looked like a wyvern had hatched from the egg.

“Huh?”

Dane was shocked.

Wings that were still covered in mucus but definitely visible, small but strong-looking forelegs, and sharp teeth that looked similar but different from those of a wyvern…

“Kek, kek.”

The flames that came out every time it coughed…

Plus…

“Kirrruk?”

The bright, sparkling eyes that looked at him.

“Haha.”

Dane cautiously reached out his hand, feeling an emotion he couldn’t quite explain. Then the little guy finally broke out of his shell, crawled out, climbed onto Dane’s hand, and met his eyes.

Dane smiled brightly at the sight.

“Hello. Nice to meet you.”

Clare’s jaw dropped from where she had been hiding when she saw the beast in Dane’s hand. Even Dane could guess from the expression on her face that she had never seen it before.

The fact that the summons that just hatched from the egg was definitely not a normal one was soon proven.

“A summon… from Beyond the Horizon?”

A summons from Beyond the Horizon.

They said that such beings were like dreams to summoners.

“Only a select few summoners could summon one—only five in all of history.”

This was something my second sister had already told me before.

“In my case… it’s a slightly different field among summoning techniques. I just thought it was completely impossible, but I didn’t know that our youngest could summon something like this!”

By the way, my second sister was a bit of a special case among summoners. Although the field was not yet extensive, it was said that she had recently been able to summon some ‘spirits’. It could be said to be a case where abilities were expressed in a somewhat unusual manner.

But according to my second sister, it wasn’t even ‘special’ compared to me.

“This is a big deal, Dane. That creature in your hands right now is definitely a summons from Beyond the Horizon. All of its features point to it.”

“Does that mean it’s not a previously existing summons?”

“That’s the biggest reason. I know all of the common summons in the world, even their childhood forms. However, none of the summons I know of have a form like this. The wyvern is similar, but its detailed features are clearly different.”

My second sister continued to explain step by step and carefully placed her finger on the creature that was wriggling on my hand.

“Kikreuk!”

Then the little one retreated warily. When I put my hand out to try to calm him down, he rubbed against me instead.

“It seems like he definitely recognizes you as his master.”

Well then, that was a good thing.

“You don’t know what he is?”

“Right. I don’t know. I should look into it now. But there are no summons similar to it in any of the literature. In the end, it is a new creature that has never been seen before.”

A new creature. Why did he come to me?

I recalled my Ancient Magic again. Maybe that was the common denominator.

“A new creature…” I stared blankly at the eggshell.

Just in case, my second sister told me to take it. It was said that among the creatures that hatched from eggs, there were often cases where they ate the eggshells to obtain nutrients.

I turned to her and asked, “What should I do?”

“First of all… We need to approach this cautiously. Dane, let’s keep a record of what this child likes and dislikes, what his characteristics are, how much he sleeps, if he gets aggressive, if he can fly, and how much he grows each day.”

There were so many things to keep track of, but it was well worth it.

The moment I saw it, an unknown emotion began to boil up deep inside my heart.

Could it be called paternal love? Or maternal love?

I wasn’t sure what it was, but one thing was for sure: I felt like I had to protect him.

“Will you come to my lab whenever you have time? It doesn’t have to be every day, but whenever you have time. Alright?”

“Alright, I will.”

It was just the first day, but I felt like my academy life was getting busier and busier. I also had to participate in Professor Kelthas’s swordsmanship training.

But it was rather enjoyable. After all, there were so many things that wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t come to the academy.

“Oh, and it would be better to take him with you if possible… but if you did that and got caught, there’d be chaos.”

That was only natural.

“How about leaving him here in the lab?”

But I shook my head.

“He can’t hide forever, right?”

“That’s true, but…”

“So what if I get caught?”

“I’m afraid you’ll be in danger.”

I grinned and said, “It’s fine.”

Because I was stronger than she thought. Of course, I thought as much, but there were always…

“I have you two, right?”

My older sisters who protected me.

My second sister ended up just laughing and said, “Alright, alright. So what if you get caught?”

“Right?”

As always, if there’s a will, there’s a way. However, there was one thing that was bothering me.

“Then how about I get an official sign issued this time?”

“A sign? A summon sign?”

“Yeah.”

I originally planned to get the sign issued slowly. Not only was I a ‘beginner’ who hadn’t even taken a class on summoning, but I also didn’t want to rush through multiple lessons at once and learn things in a rushed manner.

“Will you be okay?”

“Yeah.”

But now, I changed my mind. I’d have to give it a try.

Wasn’t I a ‘genius’ in name?

“Alright. Dane, did you sign up for the summoning class?”

“Yeah. Orientation is tomorrow. The professor’s name is Temeric Spiano.”

“That’s good. If you listen to the lectures carefully and show off your talents, the special recruitment for summoners will definitely come up.”

A special selection.

“It’s hard to even meet those qualifications, but Dane, you’re different. Of course, there will be a faculty meeting, but I’m sure you’ll be granted the qualifications.”

How interesting.

“Kikreuk?”

Right, friend?

By the way, the little one…

I needed a name for him.