The reason summoners are powerful is because they can summon otherworldly creatures.
However, summoning otherworldly creatures into the real world consumes a large amount of mental power and life force. It's not uncommon for summoners, lacking sufficient essence but forcibly attempting a summoning, to end up turning into dried husks themselves before the summoned beast even appears.
Therefore, to take shortcuts, the concept of offerings came into being.
Offerings can be living people, dead people, insects, zombies, or even the summoner's own flesh, blood, or soul.
Just like money – the more money you have, the better things you can buy. By the same token, the higher the quality of the offering, the greater its effect on the summoning.
For example, a Tier 1 offering like a Blood-Sucking Insect can summon Skeleton Soldiers; a Tier 2 offering like a Red-Crested Beetle can summon Armored Corpses; a Tier 3 offering like a Venomous Gryphon can summon a Tyrannomon-like beast; a Tier 4 offering like a Azure Thunder Eagle can summon a Thunder Giant...
Of course, just like in the real world where sometimes you spend a lot of money but still end up buying fakes, counterfeits, or knock-offs, using offerings for summoning can occasionally result in summoning utter garbage. There have been occasional incidents where high-grade offerings like Bone Dragons or Zombie Kings ended up summoning Goblins or Wild Boar Beasts. Countless summoners have died due to these "counterfeit and shoddy" products!
Even Li Jiayu once capsized in a ditch – his Demon Hunting Group received a mission to subjugate a pair of Black Knights. When the main combatants of the team exhausted all their strength to kill the female Black Knight, the team was already exhausted, on the verge of collapse. The team's only hope was Li Jiayu's offering summon. As long as he used the female Black Knight's corpse to summon a corresponding summoned beast, dealing with the remaining male Black Knight would be much easier.
However, the tragically unlucky Li Jiayu ended up summoning a hen!
Amidst the hen's clucking, everyone in Li Jiayu's Demon Hunting Group coughed up blood in anger. With no other choice, the group had to retreat, leaving behind the corpses of two teammates. Every time he recalled it, Li Jiayu felt indignation and self-blame.
Of course, back then Li Jiayu was only an apprentice summoner, so mistakes were normal. But after Li Jiayu advanced to Grand Summoner, such blunders never occurred again.
Conversely, like winning the lottery in the real world, sometimes summoners can summon beasts far exceeding the tier of the offering. If you're lucky enough, you can strike it rich overnight; you might even use an ordinary sow to summon a Frost Dragon!
But the probability of that... one can imagine how infinitely close to zero it is, though it doesn't mean it's entirely impossible.
Therefore, the profession of a summoner, frankly speaking, is a gambler's profession. With good luck, you can turn the tables in one go and seal the victory; with rotten luck, you might fail spectacularly, even dragging the entire team down with you.
Now, Li Jiayu was about to gamble again!
The Scythe Beetle before him was a mid-Tier 1 offering. If nothing unexpected happened, Li Jiayu could use it to summon creatures like Skeleton Soldiers, Pixies, Berserker Goblins, or Orcs. If luck was slightly better, he might summon high-Tier 1 creatures like Lesser Nagas, Ogres, or Blue Bears.
As long as he had a summoned beast for protection, Li Jiayu believed that with his command ability and proficient axe skills, he could definitely confront the Red-Crested Beetles head-on. Then, by dividing and conquering, he could kill over ten Red-Crested Beetles right away, obtain Insect Crystals, and secure his first pot of gold in the apocalypse!
"Li Jiayu... you, can you stop bringing up us wetting our pants all the time? It's embarrassing. We didn't do it on purpose..."
Sun Weiwei stammered, her face beet red. She remembered the old Li Jiayu used to be very polite and gentlemanly, extremely nice to girls, even earning the nickname "Friend of Women." But now, whether in speech or action, he easily made women blush... She really didn't know what medicine he had taken to change so drastically.
"Who told you girls to pee standing up? You can do it, but I can't talk about it? Peeing standing up is clearly a male privilege. You imitated us, see? Your pants got wet, didn't they?"
Li Jiayu was in a good mood and didn't mind cracking another joke. However, he knew when to stop. Seeing the girls blushing red, almost crying from shame, he stopped talking nonsense and changed the subject:
"Move aside, I need to properly handle its corpse."
Although the classmates didn't understand how Li Jiayu intended to handle it, out of trust for him, they obediently complied, tactfully stepping back. However, they still watched his every move intently, curious about what even more surprising thing he would do next.
"Who has a small knife?" Li Jiayu touched the scratch on his face inflicted by the Scythe Beetle and suddenly asked.
A classmate quickly handed over a small knife, the kind attached to a keychain, like a small fruit knife. It would certainly be useless against insects, but it was sufficient for slitting a wrist.
Actually, using the axe to cut his wrist was also possible, but the fire axe was stained with insect blood. Although not poisonous, it would contaminate Li Jiayu's blood offering.
"Jiayu, what do you need the knife for? To dissect the insect?"
"..." Li Jiayu was rendered completely speechless by a certain girl's question. He held his breath before replying stiffly:
"No, I'm using it to let blood."
Saying this, Li Jiayu had already made a light cut on his own elbow with the small knife. Blood immediately gushed from the wound, dripping drop by drop onto the insect's corpse.
All the classmates watched with wide eyes, unable to understand why Li Jiayu was self-harming. However, seeing his solemn expression, they obediently kept quiet, not daring to disturb him, lest they break his concentration.
Then, Li Jiayu's fingers flew like fluttering butterflies, forming several hand seals, while chanting an obscure, difficult-to-understand incantation – in the eyes of the classmates, he truly seemed like a mystical figure, not like those charlatans pretending to be supernatural, but rather like a mage from a game, or an Eastern Taoist priest.
"...Endless void, profound fissures, even separated by thousands of spatial barriers, we are connected by fate in the unseen... I am Li Jiayu, the summoner from the central world. Please heed my call..."
Just as Li Jiayu was solemnly reciting the incantation, Wang Siyuan's expression suddenly changed drastically, and he exclaimed:
"Jiayu! Another Scythe Beetle is here!"
Li Jiayu's heart pounded in horror. He quickly looked out the window, only to see another red Scythe Beetle hovering menacingly several tens of meters away, its wings vibrating, its compound eyes glowing with hatred – needless to say, it viewed Li Jiayu as an enemy and wanted revenge for its companion being trampled under Li Jiayu's foot!
"Damn it! It's a Scythe Beetle King!"
Waves crashed in Li Jiayu's heart; he could no longer maintain his composure. He hadn't expected the second Scythe Beetle to arrive so quickly, and worse, it was a red Scythe Beetle King!
That was a being more powerful than ordinary Scythe Beetles, reaching high-Tier 1, on par with Red-Crested Beetles. But its speed was terrifyingly fast. In terms of actual killing power, the Scythe Beetle King was much stronger than a Red-Crested Beetle!
(How could this happen... encountering a Scythe Beetle King at this time is too dangerous. My odds of winning against it are less than thirty percent. Time, oh time, why couldn't you give me just two more seconds...)
"Swish!"
Without a word, the Scythe Beetle King charged straight over. Its speed was truly too fast for anyone to react. Li Jiayu's scalp tingled, but relying on his keen combat instincts, he rolled on the ground. Whoosh! He felt the Scythe Beetle King fly right over him!
He was truly fortunate that the Scythe Beetle King's charge hadn't injured him. However, like a meteoric blade, it crashed into a male student standing not far behind Li Jiayu!
Without any suspense, the male student's chest cavity was instantly sliced in two by the Scythe Beetle King's mandibles, splitting from the nipple line upwards. His head, along with half his chest, flew off amidst a fountain of blood!
"Ah!"
Only then did the classmates react. Due to extreme shock, they let out terrified screams. No matter how scared they had been before, the insects hadn't truly harmed them. But... this time it was real, bloody dismemberment! The one dismembered was their classmate, someone they had known for over a year, a friend like a brother! In the blink of an eye, he had turned into two mangled pieces of flesh!
What petrified them even more was the dead classmate's blood splashing onto their faces. They were utterly terrified, their legs turned to jelly, completely unable to dodge!
The Scythe Beetle King showed no mercy to these frightened students. It turned its head, opened its mandibles like the Grim Reaper's scythe, and clamped down again on the nearest student. Like chopping vegetables, it instantly severed both of the student's legs at the roots. Then, amidst his screams, it crawled onto his upper body, which was still struggling on the ground, and, as if demonstrating its power, pierced his heart with its sharp front legs!
The poor student whose legs were cut off spat out a large mouthful of blood, convulsed once, and stopped breathing.
It all happened faster than words could describe; the Scythe Beetle King had slaughtered two students in less than two seconds. By this time, Li Jiayu was thoroughly enraged. Propping himself up, he finally finished reciting the summoning incantation with a ferocious, furious expression:
"Please heed my call, become my partner, fight alongside me! I offer my sacrifice, I reserve my utmost respect for you... Come forth, my new partner!"
As soon as Li Jiayu's incantation finished, the surrounding air became thick and viscous like paste, as oppressive and suffocating as the moments before a downpour.
Beneath Li Jiayu's feet, a patch of light appeared, faintly showing strange patterns, like a magic circle!
At this moment, the Scythe Beetle King turned its compound eyes towards Li Jiayu, the source of the strange phenomenon. Its scythe-like mandibles opened and closed, letting out a sharp screech, preparing to charge him!
"Thwack!"
A hammer flew through the air, striking the Scythe Beetle King squarely on the head with a dull thud.
The thrower was actually Sun Weiwei!
Seeing Li Jiayu in danger, she actually intended to use herself to attract the Beetle King's attention, buying time for Li Jiayu!
This foolish woman! Does she not want her life? Although your spirit is commendable, I, Li Jiayu, don't need pity from a woman like you...
Seeing the Scythe Beetle King turn towards Sun Weiwei, Li Jiayu felt both angry and anxious. He fiercely threw the fire axe in his hand. The axe flew incredibly fast, unerringly striking one of the Scythe Beetle King's compound eyes, bursting out a large blob of red fluid! The fire axe became embedded in the muscle of the eye!
"Wheeeeee!"
The Scythe Beetle King shrieked in pain. Enraged, its wings beat as fast as a fan, buzzing loudly as it flew back into the air, gathering momentum, clearly intending to launch another fatal aerial charge at Li Jiayu!
Just then, Li Jiayu felt a connection form in his mind, a bridge of communication established!
(It's coming! It's coming! My summoned partner is finally coming!)
Li Jiayu roared inwardly like a blazing fire, extremely excited. But at the same moment, the wound on his wrist spurted out a large amount of blood!
(Why did it draw so much blood... But, the more blood drawn, the stronger it signifies... Please don't let me down!)
The Scythe Beetle King had already launched its charge towards Li Jiayu. It was only three or four meters away. In less than 0.1 seconds, Li Jiayu could very likely be decapitated!
One meter...
Two meters...
The Scythe Beetle King only managed to charge two meters when suddenly, a mass of black shadow appeared above its head, carrying a thick, rank wind, pressing down with immense force!
"BOOM!"
The Scythe Beetle was actually pressed down so hard by this black shadow that it could no longer fly and plummeted downwards!