“Aah! What the hell just happened!” Rick screamed at the ash before him. He had tried teleporting a pencil and all he got back was ashes.

He had been at it for almost a week now, trying to comprehend the planar laws and become a Summoner. But his first attempt had become a complete disaster!

Rick flipped open the Lemegeton beside him, and read through it again, his finger tracing through each line. After a minute, he immediately realized.

“Dumbass, you just sent a pencil through the Fire Elemental Plane,” he said poking his forehead. “what else did you expect to get?”

Realizing his stupidity, he immediately got back to his second attempt. He drew two talismans with the Space Core Rune. He looked around the house and found a wrench to try out the teleportation on.

“Oh man! If I have to keep pricking myself for blood, this will suck!” he grimaced as blood seeped out of his finger.

He activated the first talisman and set up the other one at the other room.

“It’s the moment of truth,” Rick took a deep breath, placing his palm on the second talisman. “Ianuae Magicae”

The next moment, a red-hot wrench appeared on the talisman, burning the talisman away under it.

“Yes!” he celebrated fist clenched.

*Ding

[Congratulations!]

[You have successfully become a Novice Summoner]

*Ding

[Congratulations]

[You are the third person to become a Summoner]

[Reward: 1/2 Blessed Stone]

“Just half of a Blessed Stone,” Rick wondered aloud, reading the notification. “Stingy.”

He bent down to pick up the wrench from the floor, circulating his Mana to avoid getting burnt. He had become a Summoner at last, but it had bothered him that there were people who had figured it out before him. He was slow on the uptake even with the huge advantage of having the Lemegeton.

He did not want to admit hit, but he was slowly realising his mediocrity.

After admiring his handiwork for a while, he spent rest of the day scanning the house and after that peevishly looted the neighbouring houses of all the paper he could find, before hauling it back to his base. By dusk, when he returned, he had enough paper to make a hundred more talismans.

After a quick meal, he sent Samira another message before settling back down for the day. The sky quickly turned, and he did not want to start making the talismans without first figuring out what he would teleport and more importantly, a way to quickly sort through them in the nick of time.

As he brainstormed, a shine caught the corner of his eye. It was Samira’s Word Transmission Scroll. He walked over to it and checked the message. It read, “On way.”

As soon as he read it, another line of text replaced the first. “Stand out.”

He fished out the grimoire to check Samira and Jay’s location on the World Map. Sure enough, their dots were now overlapping his own. It could only mean one thing, both Samira and Jay were coming back.

He followed his sister’s instructions and walked out the door and instructed his security golems to stand down.

After nearly an hour of nervous pacing and hiding behind the bushes, he heard an unfamiliar sound from one end of the road. Rick peered out and noticed two cycles approaching slowly.

“Is that them?”, Rick spoke under his breath. “What happened to the car?”

As the two cycle-riders came closer Rick was able to make out Samira’s face and immediately jumped out from his spot to greet them.

“Sam!” he waved.

“Hey little brother,” she smiled and gave Rick a warm hug.

---

As the trio headed back in, Rick got them some canned food and water- the best and only food he had on him and showed them to their rooms for the night. He figured after nearly a month of on-road adventure, the duo could use a good night’s sleep.

The next morning, Rick was the first one up. He decided to wait for the other two to get up. He had a lot to tell them and was sure that they had a fair share of things to share as well. It did not take very long, within the next half an hour first Sam and them Jay appeared one after the other.

“Well, I think we should address the elephant in the room,” Rick started. “What happened to the car?”

“That’s the elephant?” Samira said, a chuckle escaping at Rick’s question. “Bro, what happened at our house. We saw it on our way over here. It was completely burnt.”

“That- that’s an elephant too I guess,” Rick scratched his head before explaining the entire situation with Hands.

“Well, you did what you had to do,” Jay consoled as Rick reached the part about blowing the house with Hands inside.

“That- that is true, I admit,” Sam agreed, begrudgingly.

“Okay, so what’s up with the cycles?” Rick asked, his mood dampened.

“It stopped midway,” Jay replied. “And it’s not just our car, all electronics seem to be somehow decaying, becoming defunct. Cars, bikes, even flashlights.”

“The theory that is going around is that with the atmosphere changing, the very physical workings of the planet might be getting altered,” Sam added.

“But for them,” Rick said, “It will become a task to even move around a bit.”

“Yeah, that’s why the cycles. They have made a big comeback,” Sam started, “Especially with how buffed the average population is now.”

“Tell him about the Tamer guy,” Jay called out as he checked the kitchen cabinets.

“Oh ya, we met a guy Hugo, he was an accountant before. But now he can tame wild beasts,” Sam explained. “You can even ride them, once they are tamed, like horses. But they are expensive. Since there is no real currency, he will only accept a barter.”

“So we tried to get one, by offering one of your golems. But even that did not budge his interest. He said there could be many making clay dolls. But as far as he knew, he was the third person in the world to become a Beast Master.”

A smile came up Rick’s face.

“Isn’t he being a little pompous,” he said.

“Well, he is being a little boastful. But,” Jay replied. “I mean your golems are amazing, but if there are only three Beast Masters, it could be quite difficult to get some sort of transportation.”

“We gave him one of the Word Transmission Scrolls,” Sam replied, handing Rick a talisman. “I figured, if there is anything that Hugo would want, you will be the best chance of having it.”

“Well, maybe,” Rick started, taking the talisman from Sam, “the Third Beast Tamer would like to meet the first beast tamer. Isn’t that right Pip.”

“Peep! Peep!”, she called out jumping out of Rick’s shirt-pocket and landing on the table in front- chest puffed. She was pissed someone dared question her mommy’s abilities.