With Marcel wanting to know more about his summon element, Claude opted to tell him about the dimension where most summoned beasts live. After all, Marcel’s summon was likely to be a beast from the inscriptions they saw when he first awakened it. Located fairly close to Yggdrasil in a world where beasts of all kinds are sent to when their contracts are over or live because their master simply doesn't have the space element to house them, this world is one that welcomes only those with the summon element. Anyone without it is forever barred from accessing this world. 

Normally, what a summoner did was transcribe a contract spell where they’d use their souls to summon a creature who accepts their summons in the summoned creature’s world however, this method has been shown to be flawed as the contract spell can sometimes, bring over the first creature it comes into contact with, a creature who might not be willing to make that contract. If the summoned beast appears but rejects the contract, the summoner might suffer a heavy backlash from having theirs and the summoned beast’s soul suddenly severed, which could even lead to their soul being broken, a problem that causes permanent death to the summoner. 

Because of the rejection backlash, a couple thousand years ago or even a hundred depending on where you are in this vast world where a certain someone oversees, Vitalis, the Spirit of the World, decided to open the world of the beasts’ and other types of summons up to their future contractors, thus they could enter this world and interact with them. This way, if the summoner meets a beast, they like but is rejected by them, it just becomes awkward as one is left heartbroken and the other just doesn’t care, like in a one-sided romantic relationship. 

With Vitalis’ action, summoners can meet various beasts until they meet ‘the One’ and their lives are saved. The summoner, after establishing a contract with the beast, can summon the creature from its world into their world and if they have the space element, the beast can live with them almost full time. Nowadays, only a fool or an ignorant person would think of summoning their summons with a summon contract spell. Oh wait, the humans still do that because most summons don’t really tell them about that place. Humans, over centuries, have also modified summon contract spells to a stage where they can even contract with things in their own world. Humans are somehow amazing and dumb at the same time. 

As Marcel is looking for his fated summon, he also has to visit this world, and Claude, as always, takes him there, telling him to remember the clue as he walked around this strange world and to follow his heart while also behaving appropriately because if he doesn’t, he might die when he angers whatever this ‘beast’ the clue leads to. With that, he left, go figure. Man, is Claude sometimes a bad teacher or what? 

Once again left by his lonesome, he began wandering this strange and unfamiliar world. Spirits roamed everywhere in this world, indicating its richness in magic and natural energy. The entire world was filled with beasts that could be seen all around, some living in habitats that flew in the sky while others lived in evergreen lush forests, some in prairies, magma and volcanoes, canyons, rocky fields, etc. There was so much to see that Marcel was baffled with the thought of where to start his search. This time, some he has on his left arm’s got him covered. 

Via its directions, Marcel found himself moving across this world, the vine tattoo searching for which beast with the most compatibility with its owner. Yes, compatibility was one of the factors that decided which beast was the One. Not only did its demeanor and that of the summoner’s have to be in tune but also its abilities must be compatible with its contractor’s or else, the chances of them building a harmonious relationship after being contracted together is slim. 

The vine tattoo already knew where to find what they were looking for and thus, lead him there but on their way, they came across a big cave that Marcel just couldn’t resist entering. Who could blame him? The cave was giant, looked dark and imposing with an air of mystery and ‘death to anyone who came across it’ vibes all around. He just couldn’t resist going in there. 

Entering the cave, he found out that only the outside was dark. Inside it was luminous crystals that emitted faint rays of light. The entire cave was barren with no plant life in sight. Who was to blame the poor things for not showing their faces? The entire place oozed tremendous amounts of hostile aura that kept anything that wanted to get close to it at bay. Is it just me or is Mr. I-can't-feel-any-aura meant to enter this place? 

Marcel continued to walk into the cave and in the deepest part of the cave, he saw something. He found a giant beast, a wolf, to be exact, tied up with a lot of chains. The beast had large blue eyes and pure white fur with claws and fangs as imposing as its hostile and intimidating face. The beast looked so noble and beautiful that Marcel couldn’t keep his eyes off it. 

With Marcel having entered the place, something mysterious happened the moment he came closer to the wolf. The chains that had held him in place for who knows how long, began disappearing, making the wolf even more hostile and intimidating. 

“Who are you?! What do you want here?! Leave!!!” The noble beast commanded. It spoke in a very deep and pompous voice that, when it entered Marcel’s ears, he immediately found it very annoying. This wolf’s voice had somehow managed to remind him of the pesky Demon Lord’s when he acts all superior and condescending. 

“HEY! STOP BEING ALL HIGH AND MIGHTY!!!” He shouted at the beast, shocking it immensely. Huh? Didn’t this little man in front of him feel his power and aura? How come he isn’t running away as most did upon hearing his voice? And wait, why does he feel like a child being scolded by their mother? 

No, it wasn’t going to listen to someone tell it what to do. He was a noble beast whose power was known all across the world. Why should he feel threatened by some strange guy who just walked into his cave? 

Noticing the beast’s unwillingness to have him around, he should probably turn his back and leave, so he did. 

“Hmph! You’re free... somehow, so I’ll be leaving.” He started leaving. 

“No! Wait!!” The beast called to him. Its voice was much softer now, less commanding and aggressive than it was before. He stopped leaving and listened to what it had to say. 

Seeing Marcel stop leaving, it spoke in a much softer voice now, 

“Sorry! And thank you for not leaving! I am not usually like this but after some humans killed my master, my mood changed drastically. I really want to kill all the humans.” The wolf spoke. 

“Huh? But I’m human, sort of... If you want to kill me, then I’ll be leaving now.” Marcel turned once again to leave. He wasn't messing with a death flag. 

“No-no-no! I won’t kill you. Don’t worry! I can’t do that right now. I haven’t recovered enough of my energy to do that. You see, I have my own story. Do you want to hear it?” The wolf wanted someone to vent to and Marcel, being himself, just loved stories no matter who it was coming from. 

“Sure!” He said, taking a seat on the cold hard floor and the wolf who stood up after he entered the cave sat back down to tell its story. Boy, is Marcel a story extruder or what? 

“Well, here it goes! I was sealed here by my master. It happened so long ago that I’ve forgotten almost everyone except her. My master was a witch, who ventured into the human world with a few others long ago. She was far too kind of a witch and sealed me here so that I wouldn’t seek revenge on her behalf for what they did. It’s been about over seven thousand years since that happened and I have been in this cave ever since.” The wolf looked very dejected as it spoke of its past history and Marcel just had to open his mouth. 

“What happened?” He made the wolf even sadder as the poor thing answered his question. 

“They killed her! It was the early age of magic in the human world. My master was one of the witches who introduced magic to humans. The greedy humans wanted more power and when she opted not to teach them any more about the ways of magic, she sent the rest of the witches away and they tried to kill her. Me, opting to protect my master and willing to kill those insolent humans who hurt her, was sealed in her with the last of my power, watching as my master was burned at the stake. She could have survived if she had my power with her but the woman was stubborn and sent me away so that I wouldn’t kill the humans that included her own in-law.” The wolf was so sad that Marcel wanted to comfort it so badly, so he did. 

He got up to walk to the wolf and when he tried to comfort it by stroking its back, a reaction occurred. He suddenly felt weak and he realized that his magic was being drained. Now that he looked at the wolf from up close, he could see that it wasn’t fully there. It was more like a spirit without a physical body and its spirit must be so strong that it confuses one to perceive it as a physical being. 

The wolf had a spirit body and a fairly powerful one at that, and as Marcel looked at the wolf as his magic was being drained, a name appeared in his line of vision. No matter where he looked, he couldn’t stop seeing it as his magic was leaving his body, as if carved into his eyes. The name he saw was ‘Ainsvergia’ and when he mentioned it; he felt the magic from inside from him drained even more rapidly than before and then he fainted. Looks like Marcel’s a beast summoner as the moment he mentioned Ainsvergia’s name, a contract was sealed between the two of them. 

A few hours passed and after he woke up, in his line of sight was a wolf cub looking at him and speaking directly into his mind. 

“Oh, you’re awake!” It said, licking him in the face. 

“Just what was going on? Where’s Ainsvergia?” He asked, looking around the cave to see no sign of the giant wolf he was talking to before he closed his eyes and fainted. 

“I am Ainsvergia!” He heard the voice that spoke into his head again. Now that he looks around, the only thing remotely resembling a wolf or anything like an animal was this little white wolf cub in front of him. Wait, was this Ainsvergia?! 

“Yes, I am!” The wolf answered as if having heard his thought, “I’m sorry if I surprised you!” The little wolf said. 

“What happened?!” 

“Hehe, it looks like we established a contract when you touched me. You’re my master now!” It said excitedly. 

“No, not that! Why were you sort of invisible when I came closer to you?” 

“Oh, that! It’s nothing really! I’m just a special kind of wolf; an ever-evolving one. After meeting my master, I quickly evolved to have a spirit body that allowed me to exist even after my master was already gone. That’s why my master chained me here in the first place.” 

“Then why do you look like that?” Marcel pointed at the white wolf cub. 

“You see, when I established a new contract, I had to create a physical body all over again to suit master’s abilities. After all, my current master is very different from my former master. I needed master’s magic power to begin that process as I’m currently too weak to do that with my own power.” 

“Oh, I see!” “I should probably add that I will keep draining your magic, although at a much slower and steadier pace than I did earlier so that my physical body can mature faster. I see that my new master is a walking magic tap. I got a lot of magic from you earlier. If you provide me with enough magic every day, I’ll be able to grow back to my normal size very soon.” Ainsvergia said happily, excited that he’d be able to use the normal form he was proud of very soon. 

“That’s good to hear!” Marcel said, getting up from the ground. When he did, Ainsvergia jumped atop his head and sat on it. He looked so cute. 

After it relaxed, it spoke again, “You can call me Ains like my old master used to. It makes things go much faster.” 

“I see! Then nice to meet you, Ains.” Marcel laughed softly, exiting the cave with Ains. 

“Yes, I hope we get along from now on. I swear to protect you for as long as you and I shall live. Please don’t die on me like my old master did.” 

“I won’t! I promise!” Marcel said to the wolf and with that, the vine tattoo had completed its mission of finding its owner his fated beast companion. Huh, did you think it was leading him somewhere else other than that suspicious cave?  

In the end, the inscription became more like, ‘Take the angry beast down a peg. Calm its very disturbed heart. Listen to its problems and it’ll serve you well.’ 

With his mission in the beast summons’ world complete, he was obviously confused as he always is because now, he has to go home and doesn’t know how to. Once again, he had to get back home himself and so, he sighed and got on with it, this time, with Ains in tow. Besides, this wasn’t the first time so he isn’t as frustrated as he was two years ago when he was stranded in Boltz before meeting his three friends. He’s fine! 

Ains, albeit having not been outside for a while offered to give him some help from what he could still remember and Marcel thanked him with a cheerful and bright smile that warmed his very heart. 

In the little guy’s smile, Ains could see his former master for a moment and he remembered something that she sometimes said, 

“You’ll probably have to leave me one day but that won’t be the end since someone even more wonderful than myself will come along. When the time comes, cherish them as you do me!” He could remember his former master’s cheerful smile as she said those words. It was like she wasn’t as sad as he was to leave her. He could remember that woman’s face as she used the rest of her lifespan as a witch to seal him back in the place, she’d once created him. 

“Master, you were right! I really did find that person and I think we’ll get along just fine. I will protect him this time. I will make up for my failure to do so in the past from now on.” Ains promised his master who might be somewhere in the afterlife or the hell dimension getting ready to reincarnate as we speak. Spoiler alert: She’s very much alive although in a very different form. 

Speaking of Ains’ former master, what was her name again? Ah, Niobe Vigil! Sounds familiar from a certain werewolf’s story. Oh well~ Anyway, off to bonding now, Marcel and Ains.