Online Game: Starting With SSS-Ranked Summons-Chapter 561: Trial of Comprehension [3]

These beasts weren’t real. They were projections, tests, challenges without substance. If he simply refused to acknowledge them, refused to see them as threats, they would vanish.

He opened his eyes and stood still, letting the next beast approach unchallenged.

It tackled him, driving him backward into the blood. Claws raked across his chest, very real pain exploding through his torso. Teeth found his arm and bit down until he felt bone grinding.

Arthur roared and threw it off, gasping for breath as he struggled back to his feet.

They’re real. They’re definitely real.

"Damn it." The words came out ragged, barely audible over the constant sounds of more beasts approaching. "This is ridiculous."

He was missing something fundamental. The trial wouldn’t be impossible, wouldn’t be designed to simply kill him through attrition. There had to be a key, a solution he wasn’t seeing.

Arthur killed three more beasts on autopilot while his mind raced.

Then an idea struck him.

His status. The system that governed this world, that tracked progress and growth. If he was making progress toward his domain, it should show there.

And if he wasn’t...

Arthur pulled up his status screen with a thought, something he should have done ages ago.

The translucent display materialized before him, glowing faintly in the darkness. He scrolled past his basic information, past his attribute scores, down to his talents.

There.

[Primordial Summoning: 0%]

Zero percent.

Arthur stared at the number, feeling something cold settle in his gut that had nothing to do with the blood soaking his clothes.

Despite everything he’d done, despite the countless beasts he’d killed, despite feeling like hours had passed in this nightmare, he hadn’t made any progress at all.

He was doing something completely wrong.

The realization hit Arthur like a physical blow, more stunning than any beast’s attack had been.

He hadn’t advanced at all. Every kill, every struggle, every moment spent wading through blood—completely meaningless in terms of actual progress toward understanding his domain.

I’m not supposed to be fighting them.

The thought crystallized with sudden clarity, so obvious now that he wondered how he’d missed it for so long.

This was a trial of comprehension for his Primordial Summoning talent, not a test of combat prowess or survival instincts.

Fighting the beasts had nothing to do with understanding what summoning truly meant.

Arthur stood motionless in the chest-high blood, ignoring the approaching snarls and growls that heralded the next wave. His mind raced through everything he knew about his talent, stripping away assumptions and surface-level understanding to reach something deeper.

What was summoning, fundamentally?

It wasn’t about domination. He’d already tried that approach—attempting to control or tame the beasts—whilst it worked, it wasn’t great.

It wasn’t about combat effectiveness. The talent made him powerful, yes, but that was the result, not the essence.

What does it actually mean to summon something?

A beast lunged from the darkness. Arthur didn’t move to defend himself, too focused on the question consuming his thoughts. Teeth sank into his leg, pain flaring bright and immediate.

He barely noticed.

Summoning is... calling forth. Bringing something from one place to another. From beyond into here.

That was the mechanical description, the surface understanding. But domains required something deeper. The Winter Beast had said it explicitly—fundamental comprehension, not shallow knowledge.

Another beast attacked. Arthur let it, his body taking damage while his mind dove deeper into the question.

Why do I summon? What’s the purpose?

To gain power. To have allies. To build an army.

No. Those were benefits, applications. Not the core truth.

The blood around him stirred with more incoming threats. Arthur could hear dozens approaching now, their sounds overlapping into a wall of predatory intent.

Think. What am I actually doing when I summon a creature?

He summoned beasts he’d killed. Brought them back from death into service. Transformed enemies into allies through the act of—

Contract.

The word resonated through his consciousness with unexpected weight.

That was the missing piece. Not the summoning itself, but what the summoning represented. Every creature he called forth entered into a bond with him.

A connection, a relationship that transcended simple master-servant dynamics.

Summoning isn’t about taking. It’s about connecting.

The beasts around him suddenly felt different. Not enemies to be destroyed, but... something else.

There was potential. Infinite possibilities.

Arthur extended his hand into the darkness, palm open, no longer clenched into a fist. He wasn’t trying to dominate or control. He was trying to understand.

"You’re not my enemies," he said quietly, his voice barely audible over the snarls. "You never were."

The darkness shifted.

Arthur felt something change in the space around him, a subtle alteration in the fundamental nature of the trial. The beasts were still there—he could hear them, sense them—but their hostility felt less certain now, as if his words had introduced doubt into their purpose.

"I’ve been approaching this completely wrong," Arthur continued, speaking as much to himself as to the unseen creatures. "This trial isn’t testing whether I can survive against you. It’s testing whether I can understand what you represent."

He took a step forward through the blood, moving deliberately toward the sounds rather than away from them.

"You’re manifestations of my talent. Parts of what Primordial Summoning actually means. And I’ve been trying to kill you instead of... instead of..."

Arthur paused, the next words forming slowly as his understanding materialised.

"Instead of accepting you. Acknowledging what you are. What you could be."

That’s it. That’s the fundamental truth.

His Primordial Summoning talent wasn’t just about power or utility. It was about forming bonds with beings that existed beyond himself. About recognizing potential in others and creating connections that transformed both parties.

Every summon he’d ever contracted had gained benefits—instant healing, evolution, restoration to peak condition. And he gained their strength, their abilities, their loyalty. It was never a one-sided relationship, never simple enslavement.

It was partnership. Mutual benefit. Connection across the boundary between self and other.

"I don’t need to fight you," Arthur said, his voice carrying new certainty. "I need to understand you. Accept you. Maybe even..."