Rise of the

  Weakest Summoner

  Volume 9

  J. R. Saileri

  Disclaimer

  Copyright © 2024 by Saileri / J. R. Saileri

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form possible without permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Cover design by Resuta.

  Typography by MikeWe.

  Edition: 01.03.2024

  Acknowledgements

  First of all, to my lovely supporters from Patreon, who decided, for whatever reason, to honor me with their presence, often sharing kind words, comments and feedback, besides the obvious financial support. I love you all guys and girls! Even if I started writing just for fun, you are now partially my reason to keep improving further and further!

  And from that incredible, supporting family, I want to specifically mention my Living Legend backers—Moheebi3abc, Lynderyn, Muff_Diver_Dave, Jeffrey B., and Shadow Silvermane; my EX rank backers—Julian, Wiliam H., Sura, James M., and D3monEmper0r; and of course my S-rank backers—Soen Kigi, Fandley, Darth Mole, Dennis W., William J., Michael S., Tonatsi, Robert H., Fussel, Trenton S., SIDracon, Alvzorin, Rando C., TheGovnor, Drew P., Solomon P., Eddie F., Chocotaku, RandomRandomly, Nicholas G., Cody B., Saint.J, Atomic0chicken, Patrick F., Zadwolf, Seamus M., Jonas, and Timmy.

  Moving off this long Patreon-train, I can’t not bring up my best friend—Peres. Even though I’m sure it’s annoying at times, I can always count on you when a random word that I need suddenly decides to escape my chaotic mind. Your help in catching it is very much appreciated.

  Last but not least, to all the readers that follow my works, and to You, who reached for this book. I can never fathom how thousands of people are following me on these various fantasy journeys. Thank You for giving this story a chance. Many of you might not be aware of how anxious an author can get about their own writing. But, just the thought of making someone enjoy a good time even for a brief moment is something incredible. I hope you all will never run out of good books to read!

  CONTENTS

  Foreword

  Story So Far

  Chapter 1 Every Blade Requires Sharpening

  Chapter 2 Tough Negotiations

  Chapter 3 The Origins of the Night

  Chapter 4 One of Us

  Chapter 5 More Gifts

  Chapter 6 The Forgotten Joy

  Chapter 7 More Trouble Brewing in the Neighborhood

  Chapter 8 When One Door Closes, Another Two Open

  Chapter 9 Local Entrance Exam

  Chapter 10 When One Wall Is Not Enough

  Chapter 11 Set in Stone

  Chapter 12 Actions and Their Consequences

  Chapter 13 Throne of Power

  Chapter 14 Grand Preparations for a Grand Occasion

  Chapter 15 Memorabilia and Trophies

  Chapter 16 Relics and Mementos

  Chapter 17 Trinkets and Vestiges

  Chapter 18 The Real Demon

  Chapter 19 Undercover Construction

  Chapter 20 At Your Mercy ❤

  Chapter 21 A Rain of Memorable Offerings

  Chapter 22 The Beginning of Surprises

  Chapter 23 Woes of a Ruler

  Chapter 24 The Dawn of the Dragon Valley

  Chapter 25 Pledge After Pledge

  Chapter 26 A Great Start

  Chapter 27 New Roles

  Chapter 28 Bundle of Delight ❤

  Chapter 29 In the Need of Steeds

  Chapter 30 Strength in Numbers

  Chapter 31 Soul Storage

  Chapter 32 Two Souls, One Body

  Chapter 33 Draconic Augments

  Chapter 34 The Good and The Bad of Mentorship

  Chapter 35 To Hurt, Not Wound

  Chapter 36 The Trifecta of Academics

  Chapter 37 Fire Versus Fire

  Chapter 38 Stories to Be Told

  Chapter 39 Sea of Flames

  Chapter 40 Spirit in Stone

  Chapter 41 Just a Scratch

  Chapter 42 Limits to Surpass

  Chapter 43 Trial of Combat and Wits

  Chapter 44 Former Acquaintances With a Twist

  Chapter 45 An Unforeseen Relationship

  Chapter 46 A Valuable Opportunity

  Chapter 47 Masterful Disciple ❤

  Chapter 48 A World of Mysteries

  Chapter 49 Great Artisanal Migration

  Chapter 50 Life of a Dungeon

  Chapter 51 Winter Is Coming

  Afterword

  What’s Next?

  Where To Find Me?

  More Stories Like This

  Foreword

  Yo! Saileri here! Just wanted to throw in a few words before we dive into the book. Also, a huge thank you for deciding to give my novels a try!

  I have seen many people mentioning that it would be so nice to have a short summary of the story at the beginning of the volume and that’s exactly what I decided to include in my book. The section before Chapter 1 briefly summarizes the events of Volume 8, so if you are coming here straight after reading it, feel free to skip it without losing anything. For summary of Volumes 1-7, check the beginning of the earlier books again. If quite a few days have passed since you read my story, I hope this will help you refresh your memory. Of course, it won’t be as detailed as the book itself so I still recommend reliving the first volumes completely ;)

  This story was written in the form of a web novel published on the Internet, which sometimes slightly differs in reading experience from what the usual books offer. Such stories are often long-going, with hundreds of relatively short chapters, and a similar situation takes place here.

  Also, as no one in the world, I’m not perfect, so if you happen to stumble on any mistakes, feel free to bash me on the head about them in my Discord server. There’s a dedicated channel for that there. I finally got myself an editor, but things can still escape our eyes, obviously.

  Without further ado, enjoy!

  Story So Far

  Beware! Spoilers from Volume 8!

  For Volume 1-7 summary, check Story So Far in the previous books!

  After reclaiming the Descending Spire, Asterios and the ladies chose to rest up a little. A few days later, they gathered in the medical facility once more, where they attempted to use the magical device once more and see if it affected his seal. Unfortunately, it didn’t, but they got the idea to try with the Spire’s core too and Asterios meditated in front of the draconic power source.

  A small memory was unlocked, showcasing Ast’s infant self cutting through the air with his tiny claw, which made his parents want to move forward with their plans to seal his powers and memories. He conveyed everything to the others and they considered the ramifications of the ability he had seen, alongside the other matters.

  Wrapping up everything they could, Asterios and the girls returned to Kraedorion and began catching up with the matters they had missed during their expedition. They met with Kindra and talked about all the new arrivals in Glimmervale, including many families they knew, like Richtensteins for example. During their absence, a lot of the defensive wall had been built and the town experienced a few small architectural changes.

  Meeting with the Committee, Ulyssen handed them a letter from Silvia’s father, which called them in for a meeting. During the discussion with Welrond, the king revealed that the Elf Queen requested for Asterios to visit her nation. After considering the request amongst themselves, they agreed to see what she wanted and began preparing an official delegation, employing the help of Tina’s squad.

  But, before that, Silvia had a small duel with her father, where she showcased her progress and boasted about achieving another level of their family’s technique, officially surpassing Welrond in terms of individual power. During the bout, he also had an epiphany and progressed slightly, thankful for that opportunity. Then, while the girls chatted with the king a bit, Asterios took Silvia to clean up after the fight, and they spent a sweet moment together in her old room, damaging her dresser in the process a little bit.

  When they returned to their own castle, everyone split up to handle various tasks while Asterios went to find Camille and inform the maid that Silvia would be staying at her father’s place for a day or two to handle a few responsibilities. The woman shocked him by pulling him into a room and putting him through a test where she gradually became less clothed and bolder until he stopped her and berated the maid for even trying something like that. They talked it through and finally buried the hatchet as Camille realized they both wanted the best for the princess.

  Soon later, Asterios decided to fulfill his promise to Venuzathor and went to host a spar with the massive Dracodon. He needed to learn how to create bigger gates to transfer the beast first but managed to do it by imagining his sources as people and negotiating with them to coordinate. During the bout, he learned how to give in to his instincts without getting fully lost in them and the two draconic entities had an epic fight near Selene’s mountain.

  With all the preparations completed, Ast’s party departed for the land of the elves and met with the queen. She made an error by trying to address him by his true race and he firmly requested a sec
luded location for the discussion. Queen Civienne presented them with her issues and hopes that a True Dragon could help save her dying friend. Asterios agreed to at least try.

  Led deep underground and through multiple safety measures, they arrived in a spacious chamber designed to mirror the surface. Inside, they met with an emerald-haired woman who turned out to be a Lesser Dragon, recognizing Ast’s race instantly. After assuring her that he wasn’t there to enslave her, she berated the queen for testing him with that earlier intentional mistake and they began discussing the woman’s illness, who introduced herself as Althea.

  Checking Althea’s condition with his draconic sense, Asterios recognized a familiar poison in her system, one they had seen in the hands of the cult they had struck down in the territory of the Damascu Clan. They concluded that she had gotten poisoned while taking care of the hideouts, but Tina suggested that their aim might have been the Tree of Life.

  Such revelation made Asterios and the others question the loyalty of some people and they forced the queen to revisit the grave of a recently passed elder. As they suspected, there was no body. An evil scheme was underway.

  As the queen rushed out to start preparing for a grand operation of securing the people they could trust, Althea shared her story with them, bringing up Civienne’s upbringing too. The Dragon lady planned to kill herself to rid the queen of her only weakness. Instead of doing that, Asterios suggested she could leave with them and become his teacher.

  Giving Althea time to consider his suggestion and Civienne to handle her royal affairs, Asterios and the girls spent a day going out on dates around the beautiful capital. At the very end, he shared a rather intense moment with Bryn as they finished the night inside Althea’s lair with a lot of reassurance that the Valkyrie’s body couldn’t be more perfect.

  The next day, Imadil and Cynthia invited them to their personal forge and offered to produce new equipment for Ast’s party. They discussed the details and agreed that they needed better materials. Miria suggested looking for the legendary meteor from the stories in her realm and they made it their new goal whenever they had some time to spare.

  Civienne called a meeting with Althea, Asterios, Fievedem, and the duo of Spellsongs. They discussed the possibility of the cult infiltrating the nation and what should be their next steps. In the end, there was no better action than to retrace their steps from the previous raiding operation and that was what they decided to do.

  Regrouping with Tina’s squad, they took Althea and let the Dragon lady guide them through the steps she had taken while fighting the cult. At first, they didn’t spot anything useful, but while resting near a small lake, they noticed that the fish were all dead and followed the stream to investigate.

  Finding a crack in a nearby cliff, they sent Umbra inside and found a damaged facility that leaked toxic and poisonous contents into the river. Althea noted that they weren’t aware of that location but it still looked like it had been evacuated, pointing at the obvious existence of moles in their strict team that had led the assault.

  Since the queen needed time to process everything again, they returned to Glimmervale for now and hosted a small meeting with the people they trusted during which Asterios revealed his true form. Afterward, they moved to Miria’s realm to talk to her mother about the weapons the panthergirl was using since they had been crafted from the same meteor steel as in the legend.

  Oria shared their story with the party and mentioned that Miria’s friend, Zoe, had ancestors who settled down in their current village after leaving the region where the meteor had supposedly fallen. So, they paid Zoe a visit and verified that information from the wolfgirl and her mother, taking the younger canine as their guide.

  After a quick flight in the clouds, the group arrived in the Scorching Steppes and began their investigation. They soon stumbled on a secluded settlement full of Lizardkin. The reception they received wasn’t the warmest but they still got the permission to look around a bit. Unfortunately, a small conflict broke out and Asterios used his draconic influence to stop it, revealing his true nature.

  The chief of the village then started revering him and invited his group to talk, explaining that they had a True Dragon master in the past too, who was now dead. They visited the beast’s underground grave and found a Dragon’s Heart somehow still persevered amidst the bones, which was the source of the tribe’s strength according to the chief. The meteoric ore they were searching for was in the hands of the tribe but the Lizardkin didn’t have the means of producing more without the blood of a True Dragon.

  Asterios returned to Althea and consulted the wise Lesser Dragon. She advised him to take the tribe over as his own servants and assimilate the Heart for more power. Getting convinced after a moment, he returned and made an offer to the chief, giving him the chance to receive his protection.

  His proposition was accepted and they hosted a big ceremony during which he shared his blood with the whole village, gaining a huge following in the span of a few days. The tribe could once more produce the special metal and began working on it for him. When the festivities ended, the girls were still in a happy mood and invited Asterios for an unforgettable night all together.

  The next day, they brought the technique and some ores to their elf friends and left the artifact creation in their skilled hands. The queen’s people were still working on the poisons they had found in the destroyed hideout so Asterios decided to work on accepting more of his relatives and trusted allies into his draconic connection just as Althea advised him to.

  So, he and the girls traveled from place to place and offered the positions of servants and aides to many people. Amongst those who joined were big figures like King Welrond, King Zegion, Patriarch Grotger, and even Ast’s mother. A bunch of their friends also made it in, like Suanori, Ellie, and so on.

  Soon enough, they received a request for a visit from Cynthia and quickly headed for the duo’s workshop. The pair of elves presented them with a new weapon each, and they were all in high spirits after witnessing the masterpieces. They tested the new gear out right away, sparring with each other.

  By the end of those bouts, they all refocused on the issue of the cult but couldn’t figure out anything new. Suddenly, Abyss showed up and dropped a riddle on them, angering the queen a bit. Miria managed to solve it and reveal that their enemies were hiding deep under the capital.

  Preparing a grand operation on both the surface and the tunnels underneath them, Ast’s group accompanied Civienne and Althea into the darkest depths of the old passageways. They found the sealed door which was supposed to protect the remnants of the Tree of Life completely deactivated, which wasn’t a good sign.

  As they reached the main temple, they realized that it had been turned into the cult’s headquarters and decided to infiltrate it. Removing all the noctis on their path, they found the control center, where the supposedly deceased elder waited for them. Althea dealt with the man quickly and they turned the defensive systems on, watching as the intruders died in droves.

  The Dragon lady showed them the way to the Tree’s stump, where they began taking down experimental towers holding giant containers with various toxins, stuffing the Tree of Life full of a poisonous concoction. In the middle of their attempt to destroy them, the cult’s leader showed up and engaged them in battle.

  Defeating the matriarch didn’t allow them to rest on their laurels as she called forth a powerful entity with her dying breath. A toxic serpent sucked in the remaining substances and launched itself at the stump. Asterios drew on the abilities of all his mates and surrounded his draconic body with spiritual energy, smashing the floor before his opponent succeeded.

  They all fell into Althea’s lair from above and engaged the big snake. The fight was hard and treacherous, during which the serpent wounded Althea badly and sank its fangs into the stump before getting killed. The Tree of Life was dying and Althea suggested a way to save it by fusing its soul with Ast’s natural source.

  The ritual was a success and Asterios found an Arch Dryad, Tia, inside his inner world. After conversing briefly, she asked him to save her best friend which was Althea and he woke up. With her help, he shared a lot of power with Bryn, and over the course of a whole day, the Valkyrie cleansed the Dragon lady from her malady.