The announcer’s energy was infectious.

  “Earlier today, Tirren of the Sunflower Cult challenged the Frost Father’s Champion to a fight. Several renowned Seidren have thrown the gauntlet towards the champion, but he has never accepted a fight.

  Until today.

  We have record setting attendance for a monster fight today. This is the first ever sold-out fight for a red sand circuit monster fight! In Tirren recently progressed to sand stage Siedren. He previously fought as an aspect-less Tree seidren, but has now taken the bronze and force aspect. Our excellent team of monster hunters has deviated from the usual schedule. Originally we had planned for a rock snake, a monster local to the ice spires, but we have asked our monster hunters for a special treat, and boy have they provided it.

  Today, Tirren will be fighting a Vridlea, or as the monster hunters call it, a Crabanchula. These monsters are part giant spider, part king crab! Several years ago, one of these beasts progressed to a desolation-tier monster, we assume feeding off echidna and deep sea dragons. It emerged from the sea and destroyed the city of Narboro with its massive size and power. It managed to drag the Earl Seidren Thorngrip into the sea, and took his life.

  This, of course, is only a descendant of that terrible city-smashing monster, but we should be in for a great fight!”

  In one preparation room as the announcer loudly told the spectators about the history of the Vridlea, Tirren sat with his stolen treasures in his lap.

  THESE ARE MANA TREASURES. ITEMS IMBUED WITH SUFFICIENT MANA SO THEY CAN BE TAKEN IN BY SEIDREN WITH COMPATIBLE ASPECTS. WHEN I TOOK THEM, YOU WERE ASPECTLESS, AND COULD TAKE ANY MANA TREASURE. NOW YOU ARE SAND SEIDREN, SO THERE WILL BE CONVERSION LOSS. THE BLACK FEATHER IS LIKELY A FEATHER FROM A DEATHHAWK. YOU CAN FEEL THE DEATH AND SKY ASPECT MANA IF YOU TRY.

  THE PEARLS ARE WATER AND STONE ASPECT TREASURES AND THE MARBLE IS A STONE TREASURE. HOLD THEM UP TO YOUR CHEST.

  Tirren looked at the treasures in his manasight and together with his mana sense, he noted the feeling of the different aspects. He held them to his chest, and then, at the urging of his demon, he pulled them into his mana well. The stone was first, and as Tirren pulled on it, it slowly transitioned to mana which streamed into his mana well. Once it was there, he could feel it sitting in his mana well, and it was a heavy weight. He did the same with the pearls. As he pulled those into his mana well, the weight of them began to push at the borders of his mana well, and he noticed that mana was spilling out of the well, and into his mana pathways.

  THESE WILL SLOWLY BE BROKEN DOWN INTO FORCE AND GOLD MANA, BUT YOU CAN SPEED THE PROCESS AS WELL. KEEP THE MANA INSIDE YOUR WELL, THE PRESENCE OF THESE TREASURES WILL STRETCH YOUR WELL, AND THE BENEFIT WILL BE INCREASED IF YOU KEEP ALL THE MANA INSIDE YOUR WELL. WHEN YOU ARE READY, YOU WILL DO THIS WITH MY RING.

  Tirren could feel his affinity for the stone aspect, as it seemed to be close to his metal aspect, but the water affinity was strange to his mana sense. The death aspect had an affinity with the force aspect, and strangely enough a small one with his gold aspect.

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  Tirren finally pulled the deathhawk feather into his mana well, and it positively bulged. He focused on breaking the treasures down, and tried to keep his mana contained, but small parts of it spilled out, and manifested as swirls of force which swirled around his arms and legs as he sat in his meditative pose.

  As Tirren was thus engaged, his platform began rising into the arena.

  THIS IS MY FIGHT.

  “No, I will let you fight another one, this fight will be very important.”

  PROMISES TO THE FELL ARE POWER. REMEMBER THIS.

  Tirren lost control of his limbs, and barely maintained his consciousness as his body was taken from him. He watched the stadium come into view as a third party viewer in his own body.

  In the other preparation room, Zed Alarcon stood calmly in the room which contained a large chitinous spider-crab. The spider trembled in one corner of the room, as Zed had shed enough of his mana veil to let the spider know of his Opal rank.

  Zed was carefully finishing his pentagram, lovingly painting the remaining sigils around the diameter of the pentagram, which would act as the guide for the energy required in the summoning.

  Once the pentagram and sigils had been fully completed, Zed dutifully checked every piece, making sure they were correct. He was certain they were, as he had spent a hundred hours on each sigil, learning memorizing, and recreating them according to his master's instruction. But a hasty summoner was a dead summoner.

  As an Opal Seidren, Zed had a psychic well, and a mana well, which were requirements for progressing to Opal Seidren. However, Zed also had a third well, with a small drop of malevolent energy inside. As Zed considered, he decided that his own mana would suffice for this low-level summoning. This was supposed to look like an accident, and if the Crabanchula grew tentacled or extra eyes, it might be incriminating.

  Zed pushed his mana, blood and shadow aspect, into the pentagon. The mana flowed as it had hundreds of times before in a complex pattern which solidified into a thick line of air which grew into a hazy line, and then a tear appeared in the air. It widened enough for three long fingers to poke through and grab the portal to the fell. Then came a hissing voice.

  “What is desired, summoner?”

  “There is a corpus here. Take it if you can. In a few minutes, this door will open, and a Seidren will be on the sands. Kill him.”

  The Djinn poked his head around the entrance to the fell and peered over at the monster cringing in one corner of the room clumsily trying to draw its legs closer to itself and not draw attention to itself.

  Typically, a summoner would draw a pentagon around themselves, if inviting the djinn personally, or at least around the subject of possession, be it magical item or victim. This summoning was very low level, so Zed kicked the circle of his pentagram, breaking the protection and barrier.

  The demon walked cautiously out, and then eyed Zed. It could attack him, and attempt possession, but Zed almost welcomed it with a small smile.

  The demon then crawled over to the Vridlea. Small motes of essence drifted away from it as the demon could not be here overly long without a corpus. Then the demon leapt towards the Vridlea, and turned incorporeal as it entered the monster. The monster began thrashing as the contest for its will was fought. Once the fight was over, the monster stood up, then rushed towards Zed. Zed gave a backhand blow, and a red shadow extended from his hand which struck the monster. It collapsed with a squealing cry.

  “Remember your instructions.”

  Zed reached into a pocket and pulled a drawstring bag full of what looked like small marbles. They were monster mana stones, and would empower the spider. Zed threw a handful of them in front of the new demon monster, and tapped an artifact in his pocket.

  A portal opened behind him, and he stepped into it.

  The monster began crushing the mana stones and inhaling them. As it did, it grew noticeably larger, and its mana weight increased in Zed’s senses.