We marched down the exit tunnel. My eyes locked onto the orb depicting the legion turning towards a fort that I hadn’t noticed before. It seemed that they went on a hunting trip?

I grabbed Linda's hand, “Cast earth manipulation spell.”

She nodded her head, mouthing the incantation. I quickly took control of the spell. Creating a new tunnel towards the village not far from here. Collapsing the tunnel behind us so that any scouts won’t follow us back.

“Hey, why are we leaving to begin with?” Lillian asked.

“Because the other two will either die, get captured, or lead enemies back to that hideout upon failing.” I replied.

Lillian eyes widen. She no longer asked questions.

“How hard do you think it would be to kill demons?” Jordan asked.

“Do you think we can take them with our skills?” Kyle rebukes.

Jordan shook his head. “I know fire spells. My family are blacksmiths. So we had to have excellent fire control. So I could probably take out one or two before I get too low on mana. What about you?”

Kyle frowned, turning away from Jordan. He whispered, “I only know some household spells. My Mother works as a laundry worker in a noble castle.”

Jordan sighed and turned to Linda. “What about you?”

Linda glanced at me. “I work on a farm. We had to fight off wild beasts, so I know a couple offensive and defensive spells but I won’t be any use against Masters levels.”

Jordan eyed her for a second before glancing at me. He sent a glance at the female nobles. They were also dressed in leather armour. He licked his lips and made a decision.

“How about you, two?”

Lillian didn’t answer him until I glanced back.

“I know some support skills. Like increasing mana recovery, haste, barrier, group haste, and such stuff. As for offensive, other than like wind blade and Wind slash. I didn’t bother to learn other spells.” she muttered.

The other girl spoke with a quick voice. “I can cast healing spells. I helped my mother in church to heal the injured all the time.”

I held up my hand and made some stone benches. We were near the village. I wanted to camp underneath and do some raids into people's homes while they slept. Sadly, my mining speed was slow.

I clicked my tongue and pulled out a table. I pulled out some ingredients and began grinding some ink. I was going to have to create a new card for summoning some earth spells. I pulled out a vial of liquefied mana and a funnel. Making sure to get all the ground up powder into it. I plug a brown stopper into the mouth, shake it up until the clear liquid changes to dark brown. Usually when mixing ink for runes, the darker the color, the closer the ink quality to that element.

I pulled out a brush and contract paper and began detailing what I needed. Any earth element that could manipulate earth.

The girls were pretty nosey as I began inscribing runes.

“Is this how you do summoning magic?” Lillian asked.

I nodded. “Yes, there is apparently a class that will teach you how to summon a familiar. Which is similar to the method I am using now.”

“What’s the difference between what you are doing and summoning? Also you never said what was your speciality.” She continued nagging.

I dipped the bush into the ink and shot her a glance. “I am a summoner but different from other summoners. I don’t waste mana bringing them fully into this world. I only use the bestowal magic to infuse certain aspects of my summons for my own power. This makes me a lot faster when casting spells and more versatile. For example, I am creating this to summon an earth spirit. So I can dig tunnels faster without breaking every twenty minutes.”

Linda blushed and looked down at her feet.

“Familiar is different from common use summon because you are contracting with a creature for life. Familiars are usually the weak or less intelligent of their species. They don’t have much strength on their own, so contracting with you in a mutual situation will clear up some weaknesses.” I lectured. “For example, my familiar is an Archangel but not a battle orient angel. It’s more of an Angel of wisdom but there are benefits to taking an Angel as familiar. The biggest for people seeking immortality is the limited Immortality.”

I put the brush back into the cleaning water jar. Rolling up my sleeve as I created a magic circle with my sword.

“My Mother told me that you couldn’t pick your familiar. So how did you get an Archangel?” Lillian followed me like a curious cat.

“You don’t pick your familiar because the magic is seeking one that is utterly compatible with you. Plus the location is a must for using summoning magic. Ignoring that, your mindset at the moment of the spell has to be perfectly in line with what you hope to summon. For example, the Duchess, I kicked off my construct, has drake familiar. The two girls, who left on their own, had Flaming Mane Lion and ThunderBird. Symbols of their house and that kind of energy is probably saturating their houses.”

I checked my work with a satisfied grin. I cast the contract into it and activated it.

A blue circle instantly rose up, blocking off the sight for a few heartbeats. When it dimmed down, a dark brown humanoid creature stood in the circle. It looked around for a beat before turning to me.

Speaking in ancient earth language, its voice rumbled in my head. “I accept your conditions.”

I waved the circle away and clasped my forearms with the creature. A series of memories flickered through my mind. It was a lord in the Earth plane, a Divine Earth Spirit. It had fought in many wars, killing many celestials and demons alike. Finally crawling out a pit of bodies to slay its original lord and take over his position.

It would gain much from me as I was offering an ounce of Aether every full moon. However, I would gain so much more. The knowledge and power it held would boost me up into Grand Magus status. It would take up one of my contracted summoner slots but I merely had four so far.

Fire Demon, Wind Wolf, Divine Earth Spirit, and Wraith. My familiar would allow me to summon any subjects under it which kept me from idiotically contracting a bunch of creatures just to fill out my slots like some people I knew.

The earth spirit disappeared but I was still granted access to its ability. I packed up my supplies and ignored the awestruck look of my companions.

“What spirit was that?” Jordan was the first to break the silence.

“Earth spirit. Very ancient being.” I replied.

I began digging the tunnel much quicker than before. It was almost like I was just gliding through the ground. I didn’t even need to look at my orb to keep track. I knew my location and could feel the vibrations of people walking on the surface or behind me.