Hajin stared at the single comment for a moment, not sure what to do with it.
'Can they hear me if I talk?' he thought, eyes still on the panel. 'I mean, if they are really watching from Earth then it should work, right?'
It felt stupid, but at this point his whole day had been stupid in ways that stopped surprising him hours ago, so he looked at the floating screen and gave it a try.
"Hello," he said, feeling a little awkward. "My name is Hajin. Are you from Earth?"
For a second nothing happened, then the comment section jumped.
[ CringeSlayer91: ??? ]
[ CringeSlayer91: AI is getting out of hand lately lol ]
He frowned a little and leaned closer, 'AI?' he thought. 'What is that supposed to mean?'
Another comment popped up before he could say anything else.
[ CringeSlayer91: nah but even for AI this is a bit... ]
The line hung there unfinished for a second while Hajin waited.
"A bit what?" he asked out loud, then immediately felt ridiculous for arguing with a floating comment box.
CringeSlayer91 kept typing anyway, but Hajin's attention shifted when another part of the system started flashing softly at the edge of his vision.
[ New Function Unlocked ]
[ Veil Connection ]
He tapped it right away.
The stream comments slid to the side and a darker panel opened in front of him, the gold lines on it looking dimmer than the rest of the system for some reason.
[ The Veil is the space between life and death. ]
[ It contains souls that could not complete the cycle of reincarnation. ]
His expression changed a little when he read that, 'so that part wasn't metaphorical,' he thought. 'Good to know I guess.'
More lines appeared under the first ones.
[ After the fall of the Goddess of Reincarnation, the cycle was broken. ]
[ The standard cycle still processes most souls. ]
[ The deeper cycle tied to the Goddess remains severed. ]
He read that twice, already feeling a headache forming.
'Of course there are layers to reincarnation,' he thought. 'Why wouldn't there be layers to reincarnation?'
The panel kept going.
[ Souls trapped in the severed deep cycle gather in the Veil. ]
[ Those souls are female. ]
[ Male souls continue through the remaining standard cycle. ]
He went still for a second, "female?" he said, staring at the line. "Only female souls?"
The answer came immediately.
[ Your summoning authority connects to the Veil. ]
[ You may summon only from the souls trapped there. ]
[ This is why your summoning path can retrieve only female souls. ]
'That is such a specific problem to suddenly have,' he thought, rubbing his face once. 'Actually no, forget that, why is this even a problem at all?'
The panel gave him no room to complain.
[ Souls within the Veil vary in memory, temperament, and stability. ]
[ Some remember their lives clearly. ]
[ Some have drifted for so long that parts of them have worn away. ]
Something about that made him pause.
He thought about the word souls, then about the word trapped, and the mood in his chest changed a little before the system hit him with the next thing.
[ Connection to the Veil has been made. ]
[ Summon your first soul. ]
He stared at the prompt in silence.
'Right,' he thought after a few seconds, looking at the dark panel and then back at the stream comments still blinking at the side, 'because clearly this day needed one more insane thing.'
He let out a breath and accepted the prompt anyway.
[ First Summon Initialization ]
[ Follow guidance to establish connection ]
More lines appeared under it right away.
[ Step 1: Open your palm ]
[ Step 2: Channel mana into the Veil connection ]
[ Step 3: Fix your intent on summoning a soul ]
[ Step 4: Complete manifestation ]
He held his hand out and did exactly that, mostly because he had no better plan. Mana moved easier than before, which was still weird enough to throw him off a little, and the moment he pushed it toward the panel, the dark gold lines widened into a circle in front of him.
'So I can only summon from the Veil now?' he thought, keeping his eyes on the forming light. 'Then no monster summoning at all?'
That question immediately ran into the other one.
'And why only females?' he thought, already feeling tired just thinking about it. 'This is about to get so awkward.'
The circle brightened, then a shape began to rise out of it. At first it was only light, a loose outline of a body suspended just above the ground, but the more mana he fed into it, the clearer it became.
He saw long ears first, then long flowing hair, followed by the shape of a girl with wolf features coming together inside the glow.
Light rushed inward, skin and fur took shape at the same time, then a wolf beastkin girl dropped out of the glow and hit the ground on her knees before tipping to one side.
She was completely naked, which made his brain stall for a moment, "what the fuck."
Another panel popped up right after.
[ Summon manifested ]
[ Designation required ]
[ Name your summon to establish insignia and stabilize form ]
The stream comments exploded right after.
[ CringeSlayer91: AYO???? ]
[ CringeSlayer91: WAIT WAIT WAIT ]
[ CringeSlayer91: WHAT IS HAPPENING ]
[ CringeSlayer91: NAKED WOLF GIRL???? ]
He looked from the comments to the girl on the ground and immediately looked away again.
'Nope,' he thought, face heating a little despite everything else that had happened today, 'yeah, this is exactly the kind of awkward I was talking about.'
The system did not care about his suffering.
[ Name required ]
[ Warning: unbound summons are unstable ]
"Right, okay," he muttered, still looking anywhere except directly at her. "A name."
He hesitated there longer than he wanted to admit.
'I can't just call her wolf girl,' he thought, rubbing his forehead once, 'and I definitely can't stand here forever while chat loses its mind.'
For some reason the name came easily after that.
"Juna," he said, the word leaving his mouth before he could second guess it. "Your name is Juna."
The moment he said it, the panel flashed gold.
[ Designation accepted ]
[ True Name established: Juna ]
[ Insignia forming ]
A sharp golden mark bloomed on the center of her chest, and the loose mana around her body that had been drifting strangely a second ago suddenly pulled inward and settled.
He noticed that right away, 'so that is what stabilize form meant,' he thought, watching the mana stop wavering around her.
The comments jumped again.
[ CringeSlayer91: BRO NAMED HER INSTANTLY ]
[ CringeSlayer91: JUNA?? ]
[ CringeSlayer91: nah this stream is insane ]
He ignored that and looked back at the girl, or tried to anyway before immediately dragging his eyes up toward her face again.
"Uh," he said, still awkward as hell, "Juna? Can you hear me?"
Her eyes opened, going bright gold for one second, then they sharpened as they locked onto him.
She stared at his face, at his sword, then at the dead camp fire around them, and something like pure alarm flashed through her expression before she scrambled to her feet.
"Wait-"
She bolted, happening so fast that Hajin only got half a step forward before she was already tearing through the trees, barefoot and completely naked, moving with a speed that left him standing there like an idiot.
He stared after her for a second, still holding the sword in one hand.
"What?"
The comment section jumped again almost immediately.
[ CringeSlayer91: Lol, valid reaction ]