SSS-Ranked Summoner: Only I Summon All Heroes And Heroines Of Legend-Chapter 18: Instructor Mary Scathach

She picked up a piece of chalk and turned to the blackboard.

"Summoning is not simple magic in the traditional sense." Her hand moved across the board in smooth strokes. "It is a contract. A binding agreement between two entities across dimensional barriers."

A diagram began to take shape. Two circles connected by a single line.

"The summoner." She tapped the left circle. "And the summon." She tapped the right. "Connected through what we call the Ethereal Link."

Altair leaned forward slightly. This was interesting knowledge to him.

"This link is not just symbolic," Instructor Scathach continued. "It is a tangible thread of mana that binds you to your summon. Through it, several critical exchanges occur."

She wrote three words on the board in quick succession:

MANA

ABILITIES

MIND

M.A.M

"First, mana." She underlined the word twice. "Your summon exists using your mana as its primary fuel source. Some summons are more efficient than others, requiring minimal upkeep. Others will drain you dry in minutes if you’re not careful."

Scattered murmurs rippled through the class as students exchanged knowing looks and experiences.

"How many of you have felt exhausted after maintaining your summon for extended periods?"

Nearly every hand in the room went up. Altair kept his down, which earned him a curious glance from Ryka.

Instructor Scathach nodded. "That exhaustion is your mana pool depleting. A summoner’s mana capacity directly determines how long they can maintain their summon in this realm."

She moved to the second word.

"Abilities. Through the Ethereal Link, you are able to use some of your summons abilities, and with better skill and bonding, you could even share some physiological adaptations of your summon. This is quite advanced however."

The class remained calm, although most had began to imagine what cool abilities of their summon they could replicate themselves.

"And my most important," Instructor Scathach continued. "Mind. This is a very advanced phase that if mastered, allows you direct your summon. Not through verbal commands, but through the link itself."

" Your will becomes their directive. But it is double edged, because when your mind is strengthened with your summon, you also experience a portion of what it experiences. Pain, fatigue, even emotions in some cases. This allows for better coordination in combat, but it also means if your summon takes significant damage, you feel it."

The students murmured again.

"Does it get easier?" someone called from the back.

"With training, yes. But never mistake tolerance for immunity."

Altair glanced at Ryka, She was staring at her desk.

Instructor Scathach set the chalk down and faced the class.

"Questions so far?"

A Berdania student raised her hand. "Are we limited to specific abilities of our summon?"

"Not necessarily, but what abilities you can use depends on If the bond is strong enough and the compatibility is there." Instructor Scathach nodded. "Don’t be too hasty though, most of you won’t reach that level until well into your second or third year, if at all."

"Any more questions?." She turned to the rest of the class.

The hall was silent, the class was too busy processing everything.

Instructor Scathach picked up her journal and flipped to a marked page.

"Good. Now we move to summoning planes and gates."

She snapped her fingers.

Behind her, a three-dimensional illusion materialized. Multiple spheres, each rotating slowly, connected by thin threads of light that wove between them like a cosmic web.

The class collectively leaned forward.

"Our reality," she gestured to the smallest sphere in the center, "is one of many. Each represents a different plane of existence. Your summons originate from these planes."

She touched one of the larger spheres. It expanded, revealing landscapes that looked nothing like the world Altair knew.

"When you summon, you’re not creating your summon. You’re calling it across dimensional barriers from its home plane to ours, through a summoning gate."

"How do we know which plane our summon comes from?" A Slykhar student asked.

"You don’t, initially. But with study, observation and communication, you can identify the characteristics, and tell were yours comes from." She dismissed the illusion.

Altair thought about Heracles. The Codex didn’t pull from general summoning planes. It pulled from itself, or maybe, the codex was a plane in itself.

"Now." Instructor Scathach’s tone shifted. "Reverse summoning."

The murmurs started immediately, the students had become anxious and uncertain.

"Yes, you heard correctly." She said, settling the noise. "Reverse summoning is the act of transporting yourself to your summon’s plane of origin through a summoning gate."

"Summoning gates aren’t originally custom made for specific summons, a gate could open a channel to whatever lies beyond, it is your unique summoning seal that creates the specificity to what you summon, and what you reverse-summon to."

"It is delicate, dangerous, and absolutely prohibited without faculty supervision."

She gave them a moment to understand.

"However," she continued, "it is also one of the most effective methods for strengthening your bond. By entering your summon’s native environment, you gain insight into their nature, their instincts, and you may even negotiate deeper contract terms."

"How do we do it?" Omar called out from the back.

Instructor Scathach looked at him.

"You reverse the summoning seal. Instead of pulling them here, you use it as a doorway to go there. But..." she raised a finger, "this requires precise mana control, environmental preparation, and most importantly, your summon’s consent."

"Is failure lethal?" Ryka asked quietly.

"Yes, very lethal."

The word hung in the air like a guillotine blade.

"Respect the process, and recognize you’re not yet ready to enter on your own" Instructor Scathach said firmly.

"Summoning planes are hostile environments governed by rules that differ from our own. Time, space they move differently. And some planes will actively try to kill you simply because you don’t belong there."

She walked to her desk and leaned against it.

"Which brings me to our next class."

The energy in the room changed immediately.

"We will be conducting a practical exercise. Each of you will be reverse-summoned into a controlled plane under faculty supervision. You’ll have one hour to explore, understand the complexity of alternate planes and return."

"One hour?" someone muttered.

"Yes, one hour," Instructor Scathach confirmed. "You will enter in groups of three. A safety in numbers approach, and it allows for emergency extraction if one of you encounters trouble, you will be graded from survivability and knowledge gathered."

She brushed her robe.

"That’ll be the end of this class." She gathered a few books.

"Before next class, form your groups. Three students per group. Choose wisely, becaue these are the people who will pull you out if things go wrong."

Altair felt Ryka turn toward him at the exact moment he turned toward her.

Their eyes met.

"Partners?" she asked.

"Sure," he confirmed.

"That’s two," Ryka said, already pulling out a notebook. "We need a third."

Altair’s mind went immediately to Finn. If he were here, this would be solved already. Finn would probably be vibrating with excitement at the idea of exploring another dimension.

But Finn was still in the infirmary, wrapped in bandages and unconscious.

"Finn’s out," Altair said, stating the obvious.

"Yeah." Ryka tapped her pen against the paper. "So who else?"

Altair scanned the classroom. Around them, students were already clustering into groups. Voices overlapped as people called out to friends or frantically searched for anyone who’d take them.

Omar had a group instantly. Two Slykhar students flanked him before Instructor Scathach had even finished speaking.

Altair kept looking. Most of the Daeryion freshmen had paired off with each other. House loyalty ran strong in situations like this.

His eyes drifted forward.

Svenja Hohenzollern sat alone in the front row.

She hadn’t moved. She hadn’t even turned around to scan for potential teammates. She just sat there, arms placed on her thighs, staring at nothing.