Silva looked at the clone, confused, his mind struggling to piece together what the clone was saying.
The clone saw the confusion on Silva’s face and let out a tired sigh. He walked beside Silva and sat down on the bed.
“When you asked for summoning, the goddess said you could summon anything that isn’t human, not tame them alone. Sure, taming is an aspect of summoning, but it’s only an aspect.
There’s more to summoning, and you would think that your brain would have pieced that together by now, rather than just scraping the surface of summoning like you have been doing.
You have been summoning skeletons and doing a little bit of necromancy, but that’s all. There’s more—way, way more to it than you know.
You possess the power of the abyss. Have you really thought about what the abyss is? Is it just the name of a magical affinity, or does it have more to it? Which do you think it is?
Because when I hear the name ‘abyss,’ I don’t think about a magical affinity. I think about a wave of gruesome torture and pain.
Have you ever wondered where the gate of hell you summon leads to?” the clone asked.
“No, I just thought there was a void hidden behind the gate. I didn’t think there was anything there,” Silva replied.
“And you never felt the need to find out? With all that brain power and intelligence, you’d think this is something you would easily know,” the clone said.
“I know, I know, I’m stupid. Tell me what you think is there and how it relates to my summoning,” Silva said.
“Hmm, I think—better still, I believe—that there is an abyss behind that gate. The place your abyssal abilities are linked to, and the same place that I’m sure the first dark dragon was linked to.
The name ‘abyss’ makes me think of a place of darkness and chaos, and all your abilities from the abyss feel that way,” the clone said.
“I see what you’re getting at. There might be a plane linked to my abyss abilities, and there might be lifeforms there that I can summon.
And when I do that, I can store them in the summoning plane, right?” Silva asked.
“Now you’re using that overpowered brain of yours,” the clone said.
“We can attempt going into the abyss through the gates of hell, but it’s really risky. And with the plan I have now to enter the empire, I can’t risk it yet.
But I want to go to the summoning plane and see where you guys stay, if that’s possible,” Silva said.
“Definitely, it’s your body, after all. You just have to focus,” the clone said.
Silva did as he said and closed his eyes. For the first time, he tried to find the summoning plane inside his body—the space where he could store summons.
He had looked through his body before, multiple times, but he had never come across something like that. However, now that he focused on finding it, he found it.
It was like a rippling black ball floating in the void. As soon as his consciousness touched the ball, he was pulled in immediately.
Silva opened his eyes to see that he was in a city—and not just any city—it was a city made of beautifully crafted buildings filled with mana-based technology.
It was like some sort of modern magical world, sitting right inside of him. The clone entered the place and saw Silva’s astounded face.
“You like it? The other clones and I worked on this city, tapping into your mana, waiting for the day you would finally come inside here.
We didn’t know that you had no clue about the place. Otherwise, we would have told you about it sooner. It’s a space where you can come, and your summons can stay.
This city is not the only place. Beyond here are mountains, forests, and more, though they are empty,” the clone said.
“How? How does this place even come to be? It looks extremely massive. How can this all be inside me?” Silva asked.
“Well, it’s because it’s inside you that it can happen. You have more mana than is needed to hold this place together.
All we use is actually a little amount of it that comes into the plane. The plane grows in size the stronger you get, giving you far more space,” the clone said.
Silva looked around, his eyes gleaming with excitement as he thought about all he could do in this place. His mind had already started thinking about the best ways to put this place to use.
“This place is awesome,” he said with a smile.
[You have received a message]
[Hidden message unlocked]
Silva saw the system notifications and was a bit surprised. A hidden message?
“System, show me the message,” Silva asked, and the message showed up.
[Silva, this is Ophelia. Since you are seeing this message, then I’m to believe that you have found the summoning plane.
I made the plane hidden in you so that you could only access it by consciously looking for it. Sorry I hid it from you, but it was needed.
When you asked me for the power of summoning, I suddenly had an idea then—a way to help you with the power you need to win this.
But this power goes against Order, and I could not tell you face to face, unless you found it yourself. And when you did, Order would have no issue with that. Then I could tell you, which is this message.
The abyss affinity is linked to the abyss, a realm that even gods are scared of. But you have the abyss affinity, and you even became the Joker of the Abyss, which gives you certain privileges.
If you head into the abyss, you may not survive. But if you do, and you tame abyssal creatures, you can use the summoning plane to keep them. But that’s the risky version.
The summoning plane has a way to allow you to use your summoning magic to tap into the abyss.]