“These spells aren’t summoning, not in the sense of saying the right words of power, making the right gestures, and channeling ether in the correct way, and out pops an angel or demon or what have you,” professor Toadweather continued. “I mean, one is a summoning spell, but it’s not… that sort. Instead, it’s… well, we will see. Let’s start with the first of the spells.”

  She turned and began to draw on the board, filling the space with easily the most complex fourth circle spell that I had ever seen. It was easily on par with the three fifth circle spells I had seen before, and it incorporated a variety of different runes from conjuration and abjuration alike. On top of that, the entire thing looked strange, almost as if it was meant to be written out like a ritual, rather than simply cast.

  I studied the spell further. There was a section that looked similar to the banish spell, but hyper-specialized in order to reduce the ether cost and space that it took up within the formula. Yet another section reminded me quite a bit of the planar protection spell, but it was intertwined with the summoning spellform in a way that suggested that it protected against the summoned being specifically, while also being attached to the structure, again reminding me of a ritual or an imbuement.

  “Summon otherworldly sage,” professor Toadweather said, her voice deadly serious. “This spell is easily the single most potent fourth circle spell I know, and it is going to be crucial to any of you who wish to make a path out of summoning. It works well in conjunction with the spell that we’ll be covering next, but we’ll touch on that in a moment. Before we break down this spell, we are going to have to touch on a rather nebulous concept: sagedom.”

  She turned and wrote the word on the board before underlining it twice and turning back to us.

  “Knowledge is power, but not all power is knowledge. I know a vast amount about both summoning magic, my original pixie bloodline, and my vastly augmented current bloodline. A nascent immortal cultivator might have tremendous insight into their dao and element. A swordsinger might only know two or three of the tones, but have such a deep understanding of those tones that they can produce them through their blade. But by that same token, a kraken might have as much or more power as I do, but no knowledge or wisdom in wielding its power. A mage who has a powerful affinity might have only ever used it in the most straightforward applications, and have no knowledge or wisdom to pass onto others. A songcaller might rely on charisma and force of will to get their tones to respond, and lack any knowledge or wisdom on the tones themselves. Those with the knowledge, wisdom, or both, are marked as a sage. Those who lack it are not.”

  “How does one determine where the line is?” I asked, and professor Toadweather sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

  “An annoying question. Not at you for asking it, but at Magyk. There seems to be some sort of determination, but establishing a firm threshold is all but impossible. Many believe that Magyk weaves a trigger into our souls, and only after reaching a certain mental state does the trigger activate. But I don’t know, and I don’t think anyone does.”

  “Can you summon people with this spell?” someone else asked.

  “Assuming you are on totally separate planes, it is possible. Indeed, there are spellcasters who will wish to make contact with you, in order to be able to summon you to them for consultation. The nice thing about that is, like any other summoned being, you are not truly there and at risk of death, you can refuse the call, and you can activate the banishment section to banish yourself.”

  She waited for a few moments to see if anyone had any more questions on the topic before she gestured to the spellform on the board and continued her lecture.

  “As the name suggests, the spell can summon a single entity of nearly any power, so long as they have sufficient knowledge and intellect. I will warn you against trying to summon a creature too powerful, however. The spell provides immense protection to the user, but it’s not infinite. It also provides a method to banish the summoned creature, but that can be resisted by a being with a sufficient power gap over you. If you were to attempt to summon a god or demon lord, you’d find yourself a delicious lunch. For them, that is. Not for you. And that’s assuming they respond to the call at all – plenty of entities won’t respond to someone they view as beneath them, and some that do, well, it’s safest to ignore them. But I’ve done a lot of talking. It’s time to show you how this spell actually works!”

  She turned to the open stone floor of the solarium and flicked her fingers. Three different pieces of chalk rose off the board and began to draw on the ground, slowly working to form the spell that she’d written on the ground. I stared at them, wondering why the idea of using the animate writing implement cantrip to write rituals and imbuements out for me, rather than going through the painstaking, hand-cramping process of drawing it all myself had never occurred to me. The spells were animated based on the user, so I’d still need to go over it and check the runes, ensure the angles all lined up, and make certain that the chalk hadn’t petered out at any point, but it would still be a massive time saver and wrist pain reliever.

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  When the spell was finished, professor Toadweather drew out a satchel of ether dust and began to gently pour it on the ground, following an exacting path around the outermost of the four circles that made up the spellform. As she did, she spoke to the class, lecturing us.

  “A weight of ether crystal dust worth about three thousand silver is needed to empower this spell, and it’s part of why the spell is so powerful. Thankfully to anyone who is on a budget, the dust isn’t consumed in the casting of the spell. There are also certain elements that can be added in order to improve the robustness of the defenses, namely by adding a conceptually antithetical substance to this section right here. If I were to summon a sage of bladework, I might add in a shield. An angel? Something demonic. A faerie? Iron. So on and so forth. If you channel your power into this section right here, you’ll activate the banishing spell. Like I said, don’t trust it to save you against overwhelming power. Now, watch and listen closely.”

  She began to go through the long and complex chant for the spell, which was markedly more difficult than any other fourth circle spell that I’d ever cast. The gestures were constant, and she was flicking out symbols one after another as she walked around the circle. After the spell finally finished, she called out, speaking in the bloodline tongue of demons.

  “I call forth the sage Salvua, from the plane of Saznanje!”

  There was a ripple of magic, and after several long moments, a flash of darkness erupted within the circle. It filled the entire space, revealing that it was a dome, rather than a cylinder or two dimensional circle. Then the darkness faded, revealing the form of a demon. He looked relatively humanoid, but had bright red skin, claws instead of hands, wings, a lashing barbed tail, and four inch long horns. He was remarkably attractive, and I wondered if he was a concubus of some sort. I would have been able to tell if I could smell him, but the dome seemed to be stopping his scent from reaching us – probably a good thing, if he really was able to use it to alter our minds.

  “Venerable sage of storms and toads, I greet you,” the demon said, his rich baritone rolling through the halls of the class. “I presume you once more wish to introduce me to a collection of neophyte summoners?”

  “Quite!” our professor said, and the demon turned before giving us a sweeping bow.

  “A pleasure to meet you all, children. I am Saluva of the plane of Saznanje, as you no doubt heard. If any of you wish to call me forth to create a bargain of some sort, or to share information, then I would be delighted. I am perhaps the foremost expert on traps, wards, and glyphs out of all the demons of Saznanje, at least within my relative weightclass.”

  At that, there was another ripple of shadows, and then the spell emptied out, and professor Toadweather chuckled.

  “Try to avoid making deals with him for power. He’ll make it tempting, but it’s foolish beyond belief. He’s got two hundred years of experience with tricking fools and stealing from them. If you must make a bargain, do it through the planar contract spells, using the rules we discussed, and weaving your intent into the spells. Now, he is the only free name that I’m going to be giving out, but that does not mean that he is the only one that you have access to. At this point, each and every one of you has the ability to summon sapient beings. Ask around, find names, and form relationships. These contacts will serve as a power base for much of your future summoning. Finally, if you don’t specify any name, this spell will contact a random sage within the power class the spell can contain.”

  She flicked her hands out, and a shimmering golden spirit appeared. It immediately went to work with a conjured broom, sweeping up the ether crystal dust and placing it in a bag, brushing off the chalk, and then wiping it down with a cleaner. As it did that, professor Toadweather turned and began to draw a new spell on the board. At first, I was certain that it was a teleportation spell, as it contained many aspects similar to teleport small object and arcane passage, but as the spell went on it started to gain elements of the lesser planar contract, as well as familiar compact. Both of those aspects were highly limited however, keyed into something very specific.

  “This spell is called worldmerchant, and it’s a variation on lesser planar contract. Rather than negotiating for the services of the summoned creature, you may instead use this spell to negotiate for something from this realm. In exchange, you will agree to give up something of your own. Once you and them have agreed, the spell ends, and each of you will know when the other has obtained payment. Once both parties have found the object they plan to trade, said objects are exchanged across the planes.”

  “That sounds incredibly powerful if you have some useful planar allies,” the girl who thought she had a draconic bloodline said. “You could use it to obtain a weapon crafted by a god of forging for the cost of an apple, if the god wanted you to have it..”

  “Assuming that the god was actually willing and able to hand it over, and not bound by their creed or powers to not. That’s a less common prospect than you seem to assume,” professor Toadweather responded. “But yes, it can be a powerful tool, if leveraged alongside your existing summoning abilities. Now! Let’s start breaking down these four spells…”

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