Chapter 36: What Are Your Powers?

She stepped forward and reached toward Emil’s chin, but before her fingers could make contact, Atlas moved.

His axe flashed into position, its tip stopping barely an inch from her throat. His expression remained completely cold, his warning clear without needing a single word.

"What are you trying to do? Your mana is overflowing each second, almost as if you’re preparing to subdue someone," Emil said, eyes scanning Sia from top to bottom.

Then his attention shifted towards Valera. "What’s she doing? Weren’t we just here to get Aquila cured?"

Valera was standing beside the door; she had already grabbed her temple and was caressing it lightly. "Sia, please restrain your curiosity. You’re always like this whenever you see something new."

’What? So it wasn’t because she wanted to harm me but because she found Aquila interesting. That’s fine with me, at least I’m sure she’s not trying to harm me or something,’ Emil said inwardly, relief flickering over him.

Emil passed by Sia and made his way through the door. Inside, he found Aquila sitting on the bed, his enormous weight causing the mattress to sink dangerously low, as though the frame might give out at any moment.

The moment Aquila noticed Emil entering, he immediately rose and lowered his head, preparing to kneel. Before he could, Emil spoke. "You’re injured. There’s no need for all that. Focus on your recovery."

Aquila’s back remained firm, but he didn’t try to do anything against Emil’s will.

Soon, a portal appeared beside Aquila, shimmering brightly with gold. "Go and rest. The environment there will make your recovery sooner."

Emil had learned through the memories that when a summon was in the mind realm, their stamina and mana usually regenerated, and their wounds healed.

Aquila bowed his head once again before passing through the portal.

Now only Emil remained inside the chamber. He sat on the bed and leaned over it. "Fuck!! I seriously was way too scared... I never expected that I’d grow this close to my summons..." he muttered under his breath, only audible to him.

Emil sat there for a few more minutes before going back outside. Atlas was still holding Sia back from entering through the gate because she would have gone and questioned him all over again.

Emil waved his hand at Atlas, signaling him to stand at ease. Atlas followed his command, placing his axe gently on his shoulder, though his stance still seemed like he was prepared to act again.

A sigh left Emil’s mouth. He bowed his head once because he knew Sia was someone with higher authority than him. "I’m thankful that you used your skills on my summon and saved him."

After saying that, Emil headed toward the first chamber, with Atlas following closely beside him. Valera exchanged a brief glance with Sia before following them toward the first chamber as well.

When they all reached there, Valera didn’t waste any more time and asked Emil directly, "You only had a single summon a few days ago, so where did that guy come from?"

That question was important because he already had a tremendous amount of potential, but now having more than a single summon? This definitely wasn’t rare, but not common either.

She wanted to brush the feeling off but couldn’t, because it felt like this summon and the former were part of a set.

’Are there more of such kind?’ she said inwardly as she waited patiently for Emil to reply.

If there were, and their tiers and potential were higher, then Emil was indeed an Emperor Tier—and a frightening one on top of that—because having more than one summon made him more of a threat than a summoner with a single or dual summons.

"I don’t have to reply regarding this, right?"

"I’m a part of this tower, but in the end I don’t have to answer someone regarding mine and my summons’ growth," he said politely, noting the hierarchy between them.

His words made Valera freeze; she couldn’t even fathom his answer. But she soon regained her composure, sighed once, and replied, "Yes, you’re correct about that. I was overstepping my boundaries as your senior."

"It’s all fine as long as you stay loyal to our tower."

Emil raised his brow at her statement. ’Loyal to the tower? What does she mean by that? I’m not going anywhere, so why is she talking as if I’m some kind of variable?’

But he let those thoughts pass and asked something else. "When I gave a mana core to Atlas, he became stronger, but I also felt as if I grew stronger. Why is it so?"

She looked at him for a second, confusion gleaming in her eyes. "You didn’t know about it till now?"

Emil shook his head once before replying. "Is it common knowledge?"

Valera grabbed her temple, sighed, and looked at Emil with an uncertain expression. "Summons and Summoners are connected to each other. When a summon gets awakened, a summoner gains half of its tier through Resonance."

"You’ll always level up alongside your summon, and that helps you to fight beside them during battle."

"There are more correlations between a summon and summoner."

"The summoner and summon mutually benefit from their connection, allowing them to share power, traits, abilities, or even physical manifestations. That’s known as Symbiosis."

’So that’s why I got filled with sudden strength whenever Atlas got stronger... and also I can manifest the traits and abilities of Aquila and Atlas? Then doesn’t that mean the Summoner Class is actually a cheat in this game? Why’s this class so defamed then?’ Multiple questions appeared in his mind, making him wonder about the game mechanics compared to fellow players.

"It’s a wonderful thing, though. I didn’t want to waste much time dealing with them either."

"But I surely did want to try using skills against them. No worries, we can do that in the dungeon, which we will attempt soon."

He turned towards the way that leads to Asteria once again and started walking. Portals opened beside them both. Before they passed through them, they gave a slight bow to Emil.