Others Summon, I Forge Beast Armor

When Luke was fighting the dummies that she brought to life, Seraphina watched him, her emotions between anxiety and cheer.

She was anxious because the dummies were fighting with the intelligence she had given them, and one good strike could hurt Luke if he made a mistake. But whenever a dummy missed, she cheered, and whenever Luke splintered one, she couldn’t help celebrating.

She jumps in fear whenever a dummy’s sword came too close to Luke, and will clap and cheer when Luke evades it and destroys the dummy in return.

”What a master...” Serpahina praised after Luke’s success.

From the way Luke fought, she wasn’t sure if anyone out there could match him!

The courtyard was quiet after the fight, with only the crickets filling the silence as pieces of the dummies were still scattered.

Despite being blessed with Mythic-tier intuition, the dummies didn’t stand a chance against Luke. He overwhelmed them from beginning to end. Does that mean Luke was strong enough to take on a Mythic entity’s army if the situation ever called for it?

But after a while, Luke realized he wasn’t as flawless in battle as he had assumed.

Whether it was his own vines or the swords of the dummies, there was a wound on his shoulder.

”Damnit,” Luke muttered because the adrenaline left him and pain replaced it.

He must’ve sustained this undetected wound when he took three dummies at once, proving just how deadly Seraphina’s imbuements were.

Dummies were able to land a hit on Luke, something a Greater-grade Beast like the Hundred-Eye Crow was unable to!

”Master, you’re bleeding,” Seraphina said as she ran over to check on Luke and saw the nasty gash on his shoulder.

The cut was so bad that she didn’t waste any time helping him. Her hands were glowing in an effort to heal him because she had healing and restoration powers. But Luke didn’t want Seraphina to use her magic on him this time because he wanted to handle the injury himself.

”Don’t worry, Seraphina,” he said, waving her off while facing the blood. ”I want to heal myself.”

Seraphina pulled her hands back with a confused look on her face and asked, ”You can?”

She didn’t remember him having any healing skills, so the idea of him patching himself up seemed impossible.

”I must be able to,” Luke said, clutching the bleeding wound with his gauntlet. ”I could use my gauntlet to burn it shut, but that won’t restore my skin. I have to do it with my new bodyplate because the Olympian Serpent must have some kind of restoration.”

Luke focused on the snake-like armor covering his body and tried to feel beyond its pronounced abilities.

The Olympian Serpent had survived for millennias, mastering innumerable toxins and biological forces.

If it can reject corruption and poison, then it must have something that can reverse damage.

Meanwhile, Seraphina still wanted to help because seeing Luke bleed worried her that he might pass out, but she also respected the fact that he was trying to master his new armor.

If he wanted to do it himself, then she must help him tap into the restoration powers within the Olympian Serpent.

”Yes, Master. You are right. The Olympian Serpent is a vessel of life and venom, a wellspring of vitality,” she said from memory. ”Sit down. Let me help you.”

Luke looked up at Seraphina and realized she was the best person to teach him this since she knew the Olympian Serpent firsthand from their shared era.

He listened to her and sat cross-legged on the floor, ignoring the pain of the wound.

Seraphina smiled at the harmony they shared and sat cross-legged too, while the courtyard’s quiet created the perfect environment for meditation.

Soon, Luke felt a clearer connection to the Olympian Serpent Bodyplate. The armor definitely had more layers to discover.

”Healing is the process of using a part of your soul to repair your body,” Seraphina explained. ”The soul contains the nature of the energy, and fortunately, the Olympian Serpent’s soul is perfect for this.

All you have to do is focus on your body first. Feel where it is damaged, then emit the energy from your soul and guide your body to repair itself.”

Luke closed his eyes and focused. The first thing he did was meditate on the Aeon in him until he held a spiritual image of his soul. This let him qualify and separate the Olympian Serpent’s soul from the rest of his internal containment.

Seraphina says that the nature of the Olympian Serpent strongly supported this process because it had one of the highest affinities for life and healing among all living entities ever known.

So once Luke qualified the Olympian Serpent’s soul from his overall, it was easier to follow the rest of her directions.

He guided the energy to his wounded shoulder, transformed it into vitality, and allowed it to enter the damaged flesh.

A minute later, Luke breathed in and out as the wound began stitching itself together. Thin vines did the work while a green glow hummed on the flesh. When the light faded, the wound was gone, leaving his skin perfectly intact as though nothing had happened.

”Thank you, Seraphina,” Luke said as a delightsome feeling travelled through his body.

”My pleasure, Master,” Seraphina replied with a bow.

It was the beast master who is responsible for training and evolving their summons. But Luke isn’t your ordinary. He could also learn from his summons, and it appeared Seraphina got his spiritual side of learning covered.

She lifted her head from the bow and asked curiously, ”Is that all you got? Usually you might be able to comprehend a newer skill or technique anytime you cultivate that deeply.”

”Yes, I think so,” Luke replied, finding sense in her words as he remembered the experience he just felt a moment ago.

He must have extracted something bigger while comprehending how to restore his body. If only he could manage to manifest this new spin on his power...

Seraphina watched Luke with eager eyes as he closed his eyelids to meditate again.

After a while, his body began glowing with aura that looked like a Purgatory Charge, but he was motionless in contrast, and the aura was green in color.

All of a sudden, thick roots burst out from Luke’s body and started burrowing through the ground at a speed that even shocked Seraphina. These roots spread through the courtyard, under the fortress walls, and continued spreading into the city at all angles like a web.

Luke felt the roots regardless of how far they travelled. It was like they were part of his senses, allowing him to see and feel things miles away.

Luke opened his eyes, and the manifestation ceased as the roots eerily crawled back into his skin from wherever they went.

”What could that be, Master?” Seraphina asked in sincere surprise. She had never seen anything quite so phantasmic.

Luke helped himself up from his cross-legged sit and offered her a warm smile.

”It’s a skill called Rooting Witness. It helps me detect everything within a radius as big as a city.”