Chapter 1: Four Horny Beast-Kin

As an orphan, I decided from a young age that I would enter the Academy.

Not knowing when my ability might awaken, I focused everything on preparing for the written exam.

That preparation paid off. The moment I became an adult, I scored well enough on the Academy’s written test to scrape by and earn my place.

The celebration did not last long. To remain at the Academy, I needed a special ability.

Yet as the weeks and months passed, nothing appeared.

I went through every consultation and therapy the Academy offered. Mana still refused to form inside my body.

I attended every class without fail, but my practical scores stayed at the bottom, and I failed the midterm outright.

Then the final warning came.

If I could not display any ability during the final exam, I would be expelled.

Only a moment ago, Mana finally settled into my body as if it had been waiting for the last possible second.

"Yes! Finally!"

I shouted the words at the top of my lungs inside my tiny dorm room.

Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes, but I forced them back.

This was not the time to fall apart.

Tomorrow was the final exam, and the night was already deep. The teaching assistants and instructors who evaluated abilities would be swamped. They would not have time to examine me properly.

That meant I had to discover what kind of ability I possessed right now, on my own.

Even the weakest ability had value somewhere.

Holding onto the words of a teacher who once told me that, I carefully spread the new Mana through every part of my body.

The first manifestation of an ability was always dangerous. No one could predict what might happen, so caution was everything.

I let the Mana circulate.

Hummm. Whoooosh.

A low, steady hum filled my ears.

A clean sound. Good. That meant the Mana was flowing smoothly.

I kept it circulating for several minutes, then reached for the next step.

The Academy had given every student a measurement promotion paper for exactly this situation. Students who did not yet know their ability could use it.

It looked like ordinary blank paper.

When someone with Mana placed both hands on the sheet and forced the energy out through their palms, the paper reacted.

Whoooosh.

Ding.

Acquired the basics of Summoning.

If Summoning is successful, the Stats Window and abilities will manifest by the system’s choice.

Bluish light poured from my hands.

Mana that felt like the water attribute filled the small room.

At the same moment, a translucent window appeared in front of my eyes.

There it was. Proof that my body could finally use an ability.

"I’m a Summoner. Holy shit, I’m actually a Summoner. Okay. Okay, this is good. This is really good."

Summoner was known as one of the hardest fields to study and one of the most difficult abilities to awaken.

If a Summoner failed to keep a proper relationship with their Summoned Beast, the creature could turn on them, attack them, or even kill them.

Some Summoners ended up as little more than slaves to their own beasts.

Yet the current number-one Hunter was a Summoner.

She had summoned a dragon and held the top rank for years without challenge.

The overwhelming power those two displayed together had inspired countless prospective Hunters to dream of becoming Summoners themselves.

Maybe I could do the same. Who could say? Perhaps I would summon something extraordinary and completely change my life.

To become a true Summoner, the first step was always the same: summon a beast and form a contract.

Nothing felt more exciting than the first successful manifestation of an ability.

"Alright... here we go."

It felt like I was holding a lottery ticket that was about to win.

My heart pounded hard.

I remembered something important. The very first Summoned Beast set the tone for everything that followed. People said you could already see a Summoner’s potential just by looking at that initial partner.

Elysia, the current number-one Ranker and a Summoner herself, had summoned an A-rank senior dragon on her first attempt.

That same dragon had grown into an A+ elite and still fought at her side.

What rank would appear for me?

Curiosity burned too strongly to ignore.

If I wanted to be a Summoner, I had to summon something. There was no other way.

My heart kept racing. My hands would not stop trembling.

I recalled another piece of advice from a teacher: no matter what kind of beast appeared, respect it.

The fact that I had become a Summoner mattered more than the rank of the creature that answered.

Even if an F-rank beast showed up, I would treat it with care.

I was in no position to be choosy.

"Okay. Breathe. Just breathe."

I drew a steady breath and ran through the summoning method in my mind several times.

Gather Mana into a single point, channel it into both hands, then draw the Summoning magic circle in the air.

Because this was my first time, I chose the most common and academically proven safe circle taught in basic classes.

I raised both hands and began tracing the pattern I had practiced so many times on paper.

Whoooosh.

A blue magic circle took shape in the air, line by line.

It was my first attempt, yet the lines came out cleanly.

It felt right. Keep the pace slow. Do not rush. Maintain the same careful pressure.

Memories of the long struggle to awaken Mana rose unbidden. The ridicule, the contempt, the endless failure.

Today those years of effort finally bore fruit.

Back when I had no Mana at all, I had researched every possible ability, never knowing which one might appear.

Among all of them, Summoner felt like destiny.

I felt no dislike and no resistance toward it.

An ability was never something a person could simply choose.

Whoooosh.

I finished the outer circle, a clean ring with no extra pattern. The moment the final line closed, the Mana inside me surged.

Thump. Thump.

My heartbeat grew louder. The flow of Mana shifted, turning into a rapid current that churned through my body.

Sweat beaded on my forehead, my palms, and every other surface of my skin.

Still my concentration held. The first summoning was too important to botch. I kept drawing.

Then the crisis arrived.

Bzzzzzt.

A gnat, appearing from nowhere, brushed past my eyes.

I had heard the warnings. Even the slightest deviation while drawing a magic circle could cause the entire summoning to fail.

Because this was my first attempt, I wanted it to succeed. I tried to ignore the insect and continued the pattern.

Bzzzzzt.

The gnat refused to leave. It began circling my head.

It landed on my face, flew off, then returned to circle again.

"Get off. Come on, get off!"

I blew air at it. The effort bought me only a few seconds.

The insect acted as if someone had sent it specifically to sabotage me. It kept interfering with the ritual.

Bzzzzzzzzzt.

I had completed only half the circle when the gnat shot straight at me.

I could hardly believe it, yet the insect skimmed right past my nose.

"Ah... ah... no..."

I could not allow a reaction. If I coughed or jerked, my posture would break even if I tried to stay still.

I held my breath and accelerated the remaining lines of the circle.

Bzzzzzzzzzt.

Whether it was pure bad luck or some deliberate mischief, the gnat circled once more. This time it darted into my nostril and out again.

Oh no. Wait. No, no, no.

I clenched my hands tighter around the incomplete circle and focused every bit of will on stopping the sneeze that was already rising.

The sneeze proved stronger than my control.

"Hah... hah... achooo!"

The sound exploded out of me so loudly that the entire room seemed to shake.

Whoooosh. Whoooosh. Whoooosh.

My body jerked from the force of the sneeze.

At the same instant the Mana inside me went wild.

The magic circle, which had been glowing with a soft blue light, flared into a fierce blaze.

The room filled with blue radiance as intense as a detonated flashbang.

I could see the damage clearly now. The circle I had drawn was completely distorted.

It twisted, shuddered, and swelled as though it were about to explode.

"What... what the hell?"

My body locked up at the sudden change.

No. My body had truly stiffened.

I remembered the warnings. When a Summoning circle drawn with Mana went wrong, anything could happen.

Most of the stories ended the same way: the circle exploded and the caster died.

Whoooooosh.

The blue light grew even brighter until the entire room was drowned in it.

I squeezed my eyes shut against the glare that was too intense to face and shuddered at the sudden turn of fate.

"Aaaagh!"

Mana tore through me without restraint.

Heat far beyond normal human temperature flooded every part of my body, burning from the inside.

I had only just awakened Mana and learned I was a Summoner.

All I needed was to complete the first summoning. Was I going to die right here instead?

"This isn’t fair! I can’t die here! I still have to become a Hunter!"

The words tore out of me before I could stop them.

I had become an orphan for one reason.

Monsters that poured out of a Gate had killed my parents.

I wanted revenge for them.

I also wanted to become a Hunter so that no one else would have to suffer the same loss I had.

And now I was about to die because a single gnat had ruined a magic circle?

Could any death be more pointless than this?

"I’ll do anything. Just... someone, help me. Please."

Frustration pushed me so far that for a brief moment I even considered making a reckless contract with a devil.

"Kkyuuu~ Found a good Male!"

"Is that right? Perfect... This Male is okay, Nyan!"

"Kyaaa~ He’s handsome and decent... I wonder what his place is like?"

"Woof. Woof. Good. Virgin and top-notch Semen? No need to say more, he’s a Male who suits us. Hunting success...!"

The moment those unidentified voices reached me, my consciousness dropped straight into darkness.