[Mini Event] Always another storm

No one seemed to know whether other sources of magical light would work, which was worrisome to say the least. Loren somehow had avoided encountering these monsters, but even the people who had and who were much more familiar with the Hollowed Grounds than he seemed to have more questions than answers. As someone who had been a scholar in another life that bothered the Launceleyn more than he could say, but he’d work with what he had. This whole situation was made much more difficult because he still couldn’t look at Remi, not even when the alchemist addressed the summoner directly. Then Loren had more to worry about than Remi, if such a thing were possible, at least in the immediate future. Jigano had shown up, and the Launceleyn’s eyes widened, his careful control slipping for just a moment. And that was before the white-haired man began to speak. Well, crap. Jigano—the man that Loren had insulted in the woods without much cause—turned out to not only be someone quite knowledgeable, but also an ally in the fight against these monsters. Thankfully he spent some time talking about the fairies, which allowed Loren to regain his composure. There was nothing the librarian could contribute there. The conversation about the creatures getting into people’s heads and warping their thoughts and feelings was achingly familiar to the Launceleyn; that had been a favorite trick of his family, using illusions to twist the world around him until he didn’t know what was real and what was fake. Indeed, he had quite a bit of experience being the victim of such attacks. And he also knew a little bit about how fight them off. So Loren interjected, his voice still cold and emotionless, head held high. “It sounds like illusion magic, or at least something related to it. I have enchanted glasses that allow me to see through visual illusions. Perhaps we could craft something similar to protect our minds along with our senses.” The mention of Edy almost broke Loren’s mask, but it held. “It would help if we could study how the antlers resisted dark magic. If we knew that, we could try to duplicate the effect.” The theory was sound, but the Launceleyn was way out of his depth here, and he knew it. Then Jigano turned to Loren directly. The Launceleyn braced himself for another confrontation (which the librarian would definitely have deserved), but while the white-haired man’s tone was far from friendly, at least it was civil. That was more than Loren could’ve asked for. Unfortunately, the questions Jigano raised were tough enough on their own, even without any added hostility. “I don’t know if I can summon a Spark Bird, but I’ve summoned a phoenix and a thunderbird before, so it’s certainly a possibility.” He paused, then admitted, “However, while I’ve summoned real animals and mythical animals, I’ve never attempted to conjure a real animal with magical abilities. So I won’t know until I try.” That troubled him, though he couldn’t say why; perhaps it was because it would indicate a severe gap in what his summoning magic could do, one that might prove a liability moving forward. That wasn’t the only potential problem in his plan. According to Jigano, they needed a full week’s worth of protection. “I don’t know how long it will last, nor do I know how far I can get from my summons without it disappearing. However, I will need to be in the same general area, and unfortunately it won’t last forever. I can test both of those limits though, and get back to you all. It will definitely disappear if I’m not consciously maintaining it.” That meant there was absolutely no way Loren could keep it going for a week. He might not even be able to keep it up for more than a few hours. If he wasn’t fighting, just keeping it in the real world—every other time he’d summoned something it had been for a battle or for training—then it might last longer. The truth was, there was a lot he didn’t know about himself or his abilities. It was past time he found out, though, and this seemed quite pressing. If he was willing to ask for help, he could probably get it, but he wasn't sure he was up for that quite yet. Then the conversation swung back to all this being hypothetical. That was the root of the problem: they had all these proposals, and no idea if any of them would work. Then an idea of his own struck him, and Loren bit his lip. Surely it had occurred to someone else among this group. But as he looked around, he realized that no, they weren’t used to considering what skills he could bring to the table, for obvious reasons. Still, he was reluctant to even bring up the possibility, especially because it was just that, a possibility. Unfortunately it had to be said, and no one else seemed to be suggesting or even thinking of it. “I could try summoning one of the monsters. No guarantee that it will work, though.” It sounded like they needed a test subject, and he couldn’t think of any other way to secure one. LOREN Brought back by satisfaction more times than the cat