"Hear me out." Arian tapped Godfrey's shoulder. "Her summon is under an oath, making it as dangerous as a nuke to a place like this, so we have to keep her in a dark space. But she isn't in bonds. It's uncomfortable, I know, but if that summon somehow gets out, this place will be revealed to the authorities."

Arian continued solemnly. "Give them enough images and a summon with the ability to teleport might suddenly appear with an army, endangering twenty thousand lives."

Godfrey shut his eyes. "Is there no way it can be broken?"

"There are two possibilities." Arian lifted up two fingers. "The first is to kill the specific Oathmaker whose oath she is under, but that isn't easy. Those people usually keep themselves hidden, and their summons are all owls, it's impossible to know which one. No one recovered from the Readjustment Program has been able to tell."

Arian walked downstairs to the sitting room and Godfrey followed him.

"So Oathmakers are the ones that handle the Readjustment Programs?"

"Yes," Arian replied, sitting down. "They make you swear never to feed your humanoid summon, never to hide another humanoid summoner, and never to miss a class. The three fundamental paths. Other than that, their owls can see into your memories and edit what they want, totally remaking you."

Godfrey frowned. "That's not really an option. These people must be in secured places, and my family might be on the most wanted list right now. So what's the second option?"

Arian leaned forward. "Gaining enough interest." He leaned back, crossing one leg over the other as he continued speaking.

"You're basically starting from scratch. With your mother's healing ability, she'll be able to open a clinic or join the health institute. Rising to prominence isn't a problem for a healer, but one of their problems is that their ability doesn't work on themselves. That's where we fighters become important."

Arian cracked his neck. "That aside, oaths go deep into the soul. Getting there means entering the soul space of a different human being, which can end with both parties becoming hollow shells. You should know that the hollow shell is one of the severe side effects of losing a summon. The person basically becomes a living dead. That and it would consume decades' worth of mana. We've tried it on several people. Few have gone through it as long as Victoria. She's been going through Oath Binding for at least twenty years."

Godfrey grimaced.

"I'll take you to the elders and tell them that you will join the Vagabond Cohort. The Vagabond Cohort is a bunch of talented fugitives, something like your school, but here we learn about dungeon monsters, go on raids, and defend the north and south gates from great spawns. There is the Elite Class and the Regular Class. A single Elite Class can lead a squad of Regulars. They can own their own equipment and the rest. But here's our catch." Arian revealed a smile that made Godfrey's eyes narrow.

"You're going to be the sole Elite Class without a squad. I've seen what your summons did to those policemen. With those four knights, you already have a squad, a summoner and his summons. You're a God-made summoner, a true definition of the title."

Arian rose to his feet. "You have much to learn, Godfrey. Skills like Overload and Mastery are here for you to learn. But first, we need to meet the Elders."

Godfrey followed him out of the house, squinting at the pickup truck parked before the building. He descended the short staircase and boarded the truck.

"How long has this city been here?"

Arian started the truck, stepping hard on the accelerator. "It's been here for more than seventy years, and it's located in a dungeon, a blue gate dungeon called Rice Paradise. It's one of the largest dungeons known, but our city would have been found if it was just lying somewhere in a dungeon. That's why we have that tower."

Arian pointed at the tower in the heart of the city. It was easily the tallest building, and almost anyone in the city could see it.

"A summoner lives there. His summon has cut this city from the dungeon, hiding it within the fabric of space. So anyone could be walking through where this city is right now."

***

After a few minutes' drive, Godfrey found himself in a large hall. Three individuals sat on three tall stone chairs, spaced strategically around a semi-circular stone table.

Behind them, the wall had a circular opening with a rectangular one connecting to the round opening in the center of the wall, and another came down after the round hall.

These holes were covered with glass. As the sunlight hit it, it spread out with visible rays into the hall.

Seated in the middle was a handsome old man with a smoke pipe, John Lugard, the humanoid summoner. To his right was Inara, a woman with light red hair and rose flowers arranged around it like a crown.

She looked to be in her early forties, as opposed to John Lugard, who looked younger than his age when he was in his mid-seventies.

Seated at John Lugard's left was a dark-skinned man with a great beard, braided with a golden medal attached to it. He also tied a scarf around his head and had a tiny horizontal scar across his nose. He was Orion, a man in his late fifties but with a great muscular build, even bigger than John Lugard's.

All three of them were like great lions, and Godfrey felt like a kitten. All of them had powerful summons, Godfrey could feel their presence even without seeing them.

"What a handsome young man. I heard you killed three hundred policemen just to protect your mother. Sons like you make me wish I got married when I had the chance," Inara pouted, her voice crisp and mature as her rosy red lips curled into a smile.

Godfrey couldn't understand how a woman this attractive had lost her chance to get married, especially now summoners beyond king tier could live longer.

"Stop messing with the boy. Arian said your summons might be the rarest kind we've ever seen. What could be so rare about a knight-type summon?" Orion asked deeply.

"Arian also proposed we make you part of the Vagabond Cohort and an Elite Class right at the start. All of this doesn't make sense. And what is most odd of it all is him saying your talent might be the greatest to ever exist." Inara leaned on her palm, scrutinizing Godfrey with her charming rosy eyes.

"Can you show us your summons?" John Lugard finally spoke, the hall reverberating with his voice.

'Reveal us. Let them see!' Godfrey heard Tempest's heavy voice in his mind and slowly exhaled.

"As you wish."

....

A/N: Don't worry, I plan to tie everything perfectly with the characters we've being seeing so far. They'll just be on different factions and we'll be seeing more of the Fanatics and their wildness soon!

Thank you for supporting this work so far guys! Your comments, gifts, powerstones and golden tickets have kept me going.... Even when I was quite down.

Cheers!!

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