“I don’t actually know, but I guess I have a limit. That would certainly make sense. One sec, I’ll have a look.”

I brought up my primary cultivation system with a swipe of my hand and navigated to details on my own summoning limits. It seemed that I had a base resource of 10 Summoning Points, and the cost of summoning a creature was equivalent to the creature’s level. I had a Level 1 Dragonling currently working on the waterfall Magic Defense station, so I had 9 Summoning Points remaining. My Frostbreath Cougars were also Level 1, so I could summon another one of them, and the Magma Ape was a level 2 so…

Wait a minute, I thought, could I summon more than one of each creature at a time? Did having a monster in my database mean I could summon as many of them as my Summoning Limit would allow? If that were the case, I could have five Magma Apes on the go at once, or a mix of multiple Magma Apes, Flesh Munchers, and Dragonlings. Of course, as the creatures leveled up I would be able to summon less of them at a time—unless I increased the number of my Summoning Points…

My mind raced with questions; how did I level up my summoning ability? What was the absolute maximum amount of Summoning Points that could I have? Was there any data on high level Keepers and how far their abilities went?

With each new question, I felt as if a whole new set of possibilities opened up in front of me. My life seemed to be laid out before me, a massive collection of awesome and potentially infinite powers.

“Jeremy? Are you OK?” Astrid had stepped forward and put a hand on my arm.

I jolted from my thoughts, and realized I’d been standing staring at my hands, amazed by the sudden realization of just how big my power could get.

“Yeah,” I said, smiling, “I’m… great. Really, really great. Sorry—I was just thinking. Come on, let’s see what we can do.

She smiled knowingly and flexed her shoulders. “Ready when you are.”

I blew all the air out of my lungs and then drew in a deep breath. My focus slipped easily to my Summoning Sphere, then pulled mana through my Frostbreath Cougar strand. A portal, like a cloud of grayish white fog hanging in the air, opened to summon a creature. The cougar slipped from the portal like liquid death before it landed silently on the mat.

It was an incredibly beautiful creature, but I was glad it was on my side. Its white ice spines glittered as if with cold fire, and the creature’s jaws had teeth like railroad spikes. The cougar stood on the mat, tail swishing from side to side, awaiting an instruction from me.