The Regressed Extra Becomes a Genius Chapter 121

After taking a closer look, it’s clear that these two items are indeed related to summoning magic.

And most likely, they belong to one of the two types within the summoning class—contract summoning.

“Hm.”

Summoning magic typically brings forth summoned beings in one of two ways.

One is spiritual summoning, which ‘creates’ a lifeform based on one’s mana and attributes.

The other is contract summoning, where the summoner borrows the power of an already existing entity.

Spiritual summoning is a type of summoning magic that draws from the summoner’s mana and summoning energy.

You can think of it as breathing intent into your mana to create “living mana with a will.”

Of course, turning mana into a living being isn’t something just anyone can do.

Like with support magic, only those naturally gifted in this field can perform this high-difficulty technique.

About 80% of summoning-specialist mages are born with this “will-creation” talent.

But summoning isn’t only for the naturally gifted.

If one uses contract summoning instead of spiritual summoning, even the ungifted can wield summoning magic.

The method for contract summoning is simple.

You summon a monster with a contract scroll and form a pact with it.

Because of its simplicity, first-year summoning classes mostly focus on this method.

The school even provides contract scrolls for the lowest-tier monsters, like slimes.

That said, it’s not like just anyone can make a contract.

The rank and compatibility between the summoner and summon must align to a certain extent.

“Summoning, huh.”

An unexpected dilemma presented itself.

Thinking about it, it might actually be a good idea to learn at least one type of summoning magic.

If I can raise a summon properly, it’s essentially like gaining a reliable ally.

Also, unlike spiritual summoning, contract magic depends less on the user’s ability.

With proper development, even a small investment in summoning magic could yield good results.

Of course, there are drawbacks to contract summoning too.

It consumes a huge amount of mana to maintain, and if the summon dies, all your efforts go down the drain.

That’s why very few summoner mages specialize in contract summoning.

“Alright. I’ll use it.”

Truth be told, I’ve always had some interest in summoning magic anyway.

Might as well dip my toes in now.

And contract summoning is something I can either learn manually or acquire through a trait, so it’s fine.

“What do I do first?”

I rubbed my chin in thought.

I did take a basic summoning class in my first year, but I possessed this body starting from second year. Which means, I don’t actually know much about summoning.

“Guess I’ll start by taking the potion.”

Yeah, that seems like the best move.

I swallowed the elixir in one gulp.

Like most elixirs, it didn’t taste great.

But hey, it’s not about flavour.

[Summoning energy has increased.]

[Your odds of a summon forming an affinity with you during contract summoning have risen.]

[Due to your adaptive trait, ‘Potion Amplification’, additional summoning energy has been acquired.]

“Did it work?”

I checked my body. I didn’t feel a huge change. Maybe a faint new energy… but it wasn’t obvious.

“Hm.”

Guess I’ll try the summoning ritual.

I spread the summoning contract out neatly on the floor.

From what I remember, you inject mana into the scroll and then apply your blood.

I moved quickly.

As I infused mana into the scroll, the text on it began to glow blue.

Then, I used magic to make a small cut on my hand and let some blood touch the scroll.

[The contract scroll is absorbing your summoning energy.]

A voice echoed in my mind.

It was the “will of magic” contained in the scroll.

[Searching for contractable summons based on available summoning energy.]

[You may choose one from three possible summons.]

I can choose from three?

Then, right in front of my eyes, options written in glowing magical script appeared.

[Viewable Contract Summons]

[Please select one.]

1. Arin, Demonic Beast Archer of the Netherworld
2. Lilia, the Fiery-Tempered Alluring Succubus
3. Gretel, the Immortal Hell-Demonic Tree

“…What the.”

And the moment I saw the choices, my heart began to pound.

Right in front of me was a lineup I had only ever dreamed of.

“Is this for real?”

I rubbed my eyes and looked again. I wasn’t seeing things. This was real—not a dream.

“This is insane.”

Everyone’s got a fantasy like this at least once.

Who could just pass by something like this and pretend they didn’t see it?

I never imagined an opportunity like this would come to me.

“…Yeah, it has to be this one.”

No matter how I thought about it, this was the only choice.

Even the name stands out.

[You have selected ‘Gretel, the Immortal Hell-Demonic Tree’.]

An immortal hell-demonic beast?

“Just the name alone sounds ridiculously strong.”

A beast from hell.

The first image that popped into my mind was Cerberus, the mythological guardian of the underworld’s gates.

Even if not Cerberus, there’s Hydra, Chimera—plenty of hellish beasts in mythology.

If a monster like that showed up, it could give me a massive advantage in what’s to come.

Of course, the name “Gretel” isn’t something I recognize from myth, so maybe it’s not based on mythology after all…

But since it’s a hell beast, surely it’d be incredible in close combat?

What kind of monster would it be?

That’s when the summoning circle began to emit a powerful light.

Was the summon finally appearing?

Woooooom…

Flash!

[Contract summoning successful.]

[Achievement unlocked: “First Steps in Summoning Magic”.]

[Reward: 3,000 points.]

[Achievement unlocked: “Rare Species Contract”.]

[Reward: 3,000 points.]

“Oh! Oh! …Oooh?”

I blinked. What appeared was completely different from what I expected.

A demonic beast from the Netherworld… So it was a “magic beast” just like the name implied.

But it was… different.

What I had imagined was a “beast”, a ferocious animal.

But it turned out to be a tree.

―……?

In front of me was a tiny tree, no bigger than the size of my palm.

Of course, it was clearly not an ordinary tree.

It had eyes, a nose, a mouth.

And arms and legs.

“…What the.”

The tree looked up at me with big, sparkling eyes.

Its head had no leaves, which gave it a weird newborn-baby-like vibe.

I think this is what they call the uncanny valley.

I stared down at the tree in disbelief, and then the tree looked up and said,

“Goo-goo.”

[Gretel feels hungry.]

“……”

Meanwhile, Jung-hyun was reviewing the test footage from earlier that day on a monitor.

Compressed mana.

And a perfectly shaped magical orb being fired.

What he was watching was none other than Kim Sunwoo’s evaluation test.

The video had already leaked online, racking up over 500,000 views.

As expected, the spotlight was on Lee Seo-jun and Kim Sunwoo—split pretty evenly between them.

“…Something’s not right.”

Jung-hyun frowned as he watched the video.

The rate of growth was just too fast.

If he had shown monstrous growth from the beginning, like Lee Seo-jun or Yoo Ara, it might be one thing.

But this kind of sudden, explosive progress was something he’d never seen before.

Sure, there were rare cases of people awakening their talents late and growing rapidly.

But Kim Sunwoo had completely surpassed that.

And while he couldn’t be certain, it looked like the orb shimmered with a silver tint right before it was fired.

“…Is he hiding something?”

A secret, huh…

Could it be that Kim Sunwoo was the one who killed Jang Ye?

“…No.”

They’d found traces of a light-element manifestation orb in Jang Ye’s wounds.

Kim Sunwoo used attribute-less orbs.

For reference, both the light attribute and the attribute-less type were incredibly difficult to master.

The light attribute could only be used by those born with a natural affinity, and the attribute-less style required pure imagination—making it just as challenging.

Of course, there were a few mages out there who used dual attributes.

Very rare, but they did exist.

Still, mastering two different and difficult elements was no small feat.

Just as most mages focus on one of the four major schools of magic, sticking with a single elemental attribute is much more efficient for development in both form and imagination.

But a high schooler, barely 18, using two elements?

It’s a stretch, to say the least.

“…Then again, even his current power is hard to believe.”

Eighteen years old, already mastering compressed projection magic.

And with an insane performance boost on top of that.

“Something’s definitely fishy.”

Jung hyun pulled a rectangular communication artifact from his coat.

This device was untraceable and commonly used for shady purposes.

He turned on the screen and saw a message waiting for him.

[Is the mission proceeding smoothly, Jung hyun?]

The sender was Cheonhae.

Jung hyun typed a reply:

[2nd Year, Class A — Kim Sunwoo. Keep a close eye on him.]

[89 people have become your fans.]

[You’ve received 3,000 points as a reward.]

Friday morning.

When I opened my eyes, a message appeared in front of me.

“…Fans?”

At first I didn’t get it, but I quickly figured out the reason.

It had to be because of yesterday’s public ranking test.

The video from the test had probably leaked again, and the whole “underdog uprising” thing was getting attention.

Attention like this was never a bad thing—unless it drew in interest from one of the main villains.

“Yaaawn.”

I stretched big and headed to the bathroom.

Washed up lightly and changed into my school uniform.

When I checked my smart student notebook, a few messages had come in.

They were from classmates pretending to be buddy-buddy all of a sudden.

There were more than usual, but stuff like this happened from time to time, so I ignored them without a second thought.

I glanced to the side—and saw the tree.

I mean, Gretel.

He was sprawled out on the floor, snoring away.

Normally, summoned creatures disappear the moment the summoner cuts off the mana supply.

But for some reason, this one didn’t disappear.

And the weirdest part?

We weren’t even connected by mana at all.

Yesterday, when it said it was hungry, I sprayed it with some water, and it laughed and fell asleep—been like that ever since.

“…It’s not dead, is it?”

I walked over to Gretel.

Up close, I could see it breathing lightly, just like a sleeping human.

If I listened closely, I could even hear it snoring.

Yeah, it was alive.

A very strange summoned tree in more ways than one, but I figured I’d leave it be for now.

I could figure out how to use it later.

“Yaaawn.”

I stepped outside for breakfast. On my way to the cafeteria, I could feel people sneaking glances at me.

Probably because of the public test.

But today felt a little extra.

“Sunbae-nim?”

A voice called out—it was Choi Seo-yoon.

I turned and saw her approaching with Song Seung-ah.

“Heading to the cafeteria?”

“Yeah. You too, sunbae?”

“Yep.”

“Oooh~ Then let’s eat together!”

Seo-yoon smiled brightly.

Seung-ah saw us and suddenly stopped walking.

“Uh—uhh? Oh, right! I forgot I had something to do…”

And just like that, she bolted off somewhere.

Seo-yoon frowned as she watched her go.

“What’s with her lately? Did she eat something weird?”

“For real. That’s not like her.”

“What do you mean?”

Seo-yoon turned to me with a sharp look.

“It’s nothing. Just a passing comment.”

After eating with Kim Sunwoo, Choi Seo-yoon opened the door to Class 1-A’s classroom.

As usual, the moment she stepped in, a bunch of eyes turned her way.

“Seo-yoon! I heard you ate with Sunwoo sunbae today?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. We bumped into each other.”

“Ooooh…”

The other students looked at her with a weird mix of curiosity and envy.

“What’s that about?”

“Well, that sunbae’s kinda hot right now, isn’t he?”

Seo-yoon tilted her head.

Kim Sunwoo? Hot?

Well, the magic he showed off yesterday was impressive.

So maybe.

“So what’s his real skill level, anyway? You’re close with him, right? You should know.”

Seo-yoon tilted her head again.

“Huh? His real skill?”

When she didn’t seem to understand, another student who’d been quietly listening stepped in.

“Ah, they’re on about that again. Seo-yoon, just ignore them.”

“Ugh, stop saying that like we’re making stuff up.”

As the two bickered, Seo-yoon asked,

“What are you guys talking about?”

“It’s nothing. Just some rumors floating around school about Kim Sunwoo sunbae.”

“Rumors?”

“Yeah, the school community site was buzzing about it last night. Like some kind of new cult or something.”

…A new cult?

She’d been focused on training last night and hadn’t seen any of that.

“What kind of cult?”

“They’re saying Sunwoo sunbae is actually hiding his true power, and that he’s even stronger than Lee Seo-jun.”

“…What?”