To be certain, Song Jie decided to call the Director of the Summoning Department.
After a short conversation, his nerves eased considerably.
Professor Jiang Yunming, the Director of the Summoning Department, told him that things would be much easier if he had auxiliary summoning tools to assist him.
Song Jie gave it some thought, then decided to check their prices.
The moment he saw them, he nearly fainted. Even the cheapest summoning props cost hundreds of thousands, and some went for millions!
Although he had saved a decent amount over the past three years, it was nowhere near enough to buy something like that.
"Never mind… I'll try first. If it doesn't work, I'll get the props later," Song Jie muttered to himself.
He sat down cross-legged, closed his eyes, and began to connect the Summoning Star Trail.
Within his spiritual world, the seven stars aligned one after another, forming a faint moon-silver track that pulsed with otherworldly energy.
Moments later, the air before him trembled. A dimensional rift appeared, and Song Jie's consciousness slipped inside.
When he opened his eyes again, his surroundings had completely changed.
"Is this… another dimension?" Song Jie looked around in awe.
The plane stretched endlessly in all directions. He couldn't see its boundaries at all. With no clear destination, he could only wander aimlessly in search of a potential companion.
At the same time, he thought about what kind of creature he wanted as his first summoned beast.
After a long period of searching, he finally spotted a large eagle soaring in the distance.
"A flying beast would be perfect," he thought, focusing his mind to establish contact.
However, the proud creature completely ignored him.
"I don't believe that!" Song Jie gritted his teeth and tried again, pouring more spiritual energy into his mental communication.
"Follow me, and I'll take you on a life full of delicious meals!"
"Follow me, and I'll find you a dozen female eagles—you'll be in heaven every day!"
"Brother Eagle, give me some face, will you?"
…
No matter how earnestly he pleaded, the eagle remained utterly unmoved. Even when Song Jie tried to brand it with a spiritual imprint, it resisted effortlessly.
"Fine! Don't let me run into you again!" Song Jie snapped, then exited the dimensional space.
The attempt had drained a huge amount of his mana.
His Summoning Stardust was still only Level 1, allowing him to cast a mental imprint only three times before depletion.
After using all three attempts, he had no choice but to return.
"I failed the first time, huh…" Song Jie sighed, but he wasn't discouraged. Failure was normal — he could just try again tomorrow.
The Next Day
Just as he was preparing to enter the dimensional space again, a system prompt suddenly echoed in his mind.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations! Your skill "Dimensional Summoning" has evolved into "Dimensional Summoning +2"!]
"Huh?" Song Jie froze for a moment, then realized what it meant.
Literally speaking, "+2" meant he could now summon two dimensional beasts!
"This system really doesn't play by the rules…" he muttered helplessly.
Still, he couldn't help but imagine — if the ability evolved again, could he one day summon seven beasts at once?
As exciting as that sounded, he immediately shook his head.
"No way. I can barely afford one, let alone seven freeloaders…"
He sighed and stood up. "Forget it, I'll just go with the flow."
After a night of rest, his mana was fully recovered.
This time, he would find two creatures to summon!
He connected the seven stars again, forming the Summoning Star Trail. His consciousness entered a different dimension — one he hadn't visited before.
But after half a day of searching, he hadn't encountered a single creature.
Just as he was about to give up, something caught his eye.
"Huh? What's that?" Song Jie flew closer.
A small creature floated before him — about the size of two fists. It had a pair of delicate wings, two green leaves sprouting from its head, and a glowing green body that radiated vitality.
"A plant-type spirit?" Song Jie whispered.
The little creature blinked at him with large, innocent eyes that seemed to say, 'Kiss me!'
Song Jie chuckled. "You're too cute… yeah, you'll do nicely."
He was just about to sweet-talk it when, to his surprise, his spiritual imprint connected instantly!
"Huh? It actually worked?" Song Jie gasped.
Turns out, the smaller ones were much easier to convince!
"What a sin," he muttered twice, shaking his head before exiting the dimension.
"Come out!"
Song Jie quickly formed the Dimensional Summoning spell, and a glowing crack appeared in the air.
A moment later, the little green elf fluttered out, hovering nervously as it glanced around the unfamiliar room.
"Don't be afraid," Song Jie said softly, holding out his hand.
Since their bond was already formed, the elf could faintly understand his words.
"This is my world," he said gently. "From now on, we'll grow together—and fight side by side."
The elf let out a crisp "ring-ring-ring" sound, as if replying.
Song Jie smiled and gently stroked the green leaves on its head.
The little creature relaxed, flitting curiously around the room before landing—
—right on top of his head.
Song Jie froze. "Ahem… come down, okay? Daddy doesn't want anything green on his head."
Though it didn't understand the joke, the elf obediently fluttered down to his shoulder.
"I'll call you Xiaolu from now on," Song Jie said with a grin. "It suits you."
The little elf twirled happily in the air, clearly liking its new name.
"Xiaolu," Song Jie chuckled, "tell Daddy, do you have any companions?"
The elf immediately shook its tiny head.
"That's a pity," Song Jie said with mock sadness. "I thought maybe I could find you a playmate."
Xiaolu: Daddy is so nice to me!
Reader: Beast!!
Song Jie sighed helplessly. "Looks like I'll have to work hard to earn money to raise this little one."
Then he remembered — he'd have to raise seven someday.
Just thinking about it made his heart ache.
He decided not to search for another beast immediately. His mana was still depleted from bonding with Xiaolu.
After all, the more times he left a spiritual imprint, the deeper the bond would become.
At the same time, he began planning his next move — because one thing was clear: he desperately needed money.
The academy's basic resources alone couldn't sustain the cost of raising multiple summoned beasts.
After some thought, Song Jie finally made up his mind.
He would become a Hunter!
With his current strength, he was comparable to a High-Level Mage (Tier 3).
If he registered as a high-tier mage, hunter teams would definitely recruit him — and he'd never lack bounty missions again.
"It seems that's my best option for now," Song Jie decided. "High risk, high reward — but worth it."
He looked at Xiaolu, who was resting on his shoulder, and chuckled.
"I don't even know what kind of abilities you have yet."