Volume I - Chapter 31: Spirit Contract

The spirit raised his eyebrows in surprise, then slowly furrowed after he looked at me for a while.

"Who the hell are you? And... what is this place?"

He had a childish voice, but he was authoritative as if he could put me in the ground whenever he wanted.

I let out a deep sigh, then spoke calmly.

"I am Aiden Tenebra and you are on Lunerra."

The spirit's eyes widened in surprise at my last word.

"Lunerra? Really? Then... did I get through?"

A momentary smile appeared on his face, but it didn't take long for me to break his joy.

"No, you didn't. On the contrary, I pulled you out of there."

The smile on the soul's face fell in an instant. Then his eyes widened as if he realized something. He looked into my eyes in surprise, then sharpened his gaze and raised his hand.

"Don't you know a little too much? Who the fuck are you?"

With his hand in the air, he looked like he was about to do something to me.

I just watched him without saying anything because he was actually cute with his small stature and boyish face. Then the spirit finally realized that something was wrong.

"Huh?"

He put his hand down and looked at his tiny palms. Then he raised them up again, but again, nothing happened.

"I... What's happening? Why can't I use my mana?"

"Because you are not here physically, but spiritually, as your species is called. You cannot do anything on your own, you need an intermediary."

The spirit frowned as if it understood what I meant.

"How do you know so much?"

"It doesn't matter, I don't know as much as you think I do."

Plain lie... but it doesn't really matter.

"I think you've already understood my purpose. I simply want to make a contract with you."

"I understand that... But I don't see any reason to sign a contract with you? At worst I'll go back to where I came from, why should I accept your offer?"

He had a point... but only if he could actually do what he said.

"You are wrong. You have to make a contract with me. Because without me you can't do anything in this world. I am the only one who can see you in your current state, who can communicate with you because you woke up with my blood and my mana."

I paused for a moment, smiled slightly, and then continued.

"Likewise, I am the only one you can make a contract with because you woke up with my blood and mana. Besides, you cannot leave this world. Because you have to pass through it again, and by the time you get there you will be destroyed by the lack of mana. Don't you realize that even now you are slowly disappearing?"

When I pointed at it, the spirit looked at its own body and then realized that it was slowly fading away.

His eyebrows suddenly furrowed. A sudden panic flashed across his face and he shook violently.

"Fuck... Aahh! Why is this happening to me?"

You get yourself in trouble and you complain about it yourself, huh? You're just like I remember...

"I want to start before you disappear... Believe me, you won't regret it, it's better than disappearing anyway."

I focused on the spirit's eyes with my words.

He was still not accepting the situation, but I ignored him and spoke the language I had just spoken.

My mana, of which I already had bits left, was depleted with this and I felt a pain in my heart, but I didn't stop.

Speaking this language is now eating up my life instead of my mana... But if I am not mistaken, a few weeks will be enough to complete the contract.

What is living a few weeks less than normal compared to making a contract with him?

As I continued to speak, the spirit's eyes fixed on me.

I think he wants to know how I know his language... Well, I don't need to answer. He won't believe me if I tell him anyway, and I'm not in the mood to think about making something up right now. So I'll take the silent option from the start, after all, he has secrets he's 'keeping' from me too.

I think we are equal, right?

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Spirit Contract

Contractor: Aiden Tenebra

Contracting Spirit: Sith

Traditional contract rules will apply.

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When I continued speaking, the system displayed this message in front of me. I smiled, then stopped speaking. When I imagined that I had accepted the contract, the body of the spirit named 'Sith' standing in front of me and mine suddenly glowed.

A white-colored chain formed between us, linking us together. Our bodies shimmered even more violently, and then an intense pain suddenly spread through my body with a force that shook my whole being.

For a moment I seemed to lose my balance, my vision blurred as the chain between Sith and me tightened, and a darkness fell over me.

I gritted my teeth, trying to ignore the pain as much as possible, trying my best not to faint as the process continued.

After a short time, the white chain slowly faded, the glow surrounding our bodies slowly faded.

A system notification appeared in front of me as the pain spreading through my body slowly disappeared with them.

<<------------------------------< p>

You have signed a spirit contract with the Wind Spirit Sith!

Congratulations! You have achieved [Spirit Magic: Wind Elementalist(F)] mastery!

Congratulations! Your Magic Power stat has increased to F+!

Congratulations! You've become the first spirit contractor in Lunerra, and as a reward you've received the [The One Who is Close to Spirits(A)] passive skill!

Your mana capacity has increased significantly due to your achievements!

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An involuntary grin quickly appeared on my face as I opened my stats window and read the description of the new skill I had acquired.

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[The One Who is Close to Spirits(A)]

The user can see spirits, communicate directly with them, and feel their presence to a certain degree. In addition, the user gains a number of buffs in the name of spirit spells:

The amount of mana spent on spirit spells decreases.

Spirit spells become more powerful and effective.

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This passive skill is something that will be really useful to me...

Not only does it reduce mana usage for spells, but it also makes them more powerful. In addition, these values increase as the skill improves, so it's something a spirit mage would treasure.

Normally, you have to be very familiar with spirits to get this skill, but I was the first spirit contractor in the world, so I got it for free.

In this world, the magical mastery and skills that people can acquire are directly dependent on the person themselves, and their power is based on runes.

But spirit magic differs from that in a big way. Because when using spirit magic, the contracted spirit is used as a catalyst, not the runes as usual.

Mana is again spent from the person himself. The person still thinks of the spell they want to cast, but instead of using the 'runes' needed to cast the spell, they use the 'spirit' as an intermediary.

This is spirit magic in a nutshell, and I must say that it is more efficient and has more powerful effects regardless of the skills provided by the system. So I can easily say that between two attribute mastery of the same grade, spirit magic will come out on top.

On top of that, I have the passive The One Who is Close to Spirits, which is an obvious cheat in a world that is not yet aware of the existence of spirits.

"Now tell me, how do you know our language? How did you get me over the border? Your soul is not bound to this world... Just who are you?"

Sith asked these questions while I was smiling excitedly.

When I heard what he said, my excitement gave way to curiosity and my eyebrows instantly furrowed.

I was already expecting him to ask me questions, but...

My soul is not attached to this world? I mean, is it so obvious that my soul doesn't belong in this body? Well, that's interesting...

"I have no idea how much you know about the state of Lunerra, or rather this side of the universe... If I'm not mistaken, you must have been asleep for the last hundred years."

Spirits are beings directly connected to mana and the universe itself. That's why they can be said to have a natural clock, that's how he will confirm what I said.

And that is why he can speak to me directly... He naturally understands me without the need for direct language.

So I might even use him as a translator in the future.

"Yes... I just have fallen asleep around that time, but how do you even know that? Start spilling."

I sighed slightly and then looked into Sith's eyes. It's cute and sweet that he's acting like this with his tiny body, but... It's getting a little annoying.

"First of all, we're contractors now. So stop giving me orders. Second, don't ask me what I know and why I know it, or believe me, it won't be pleasant. Third, in return for the second point, I won't ask you about your secrets, so we'll be equal. Fourth, I don't know exactly who you are, but one thing I do know is that you are strong and I am weak."

"Oh... I just realized... you really are garbage."

Sith said this with sincerity. So much so that despite my weakness, I couldn't deny it, even though I was tuned in.

"I know, but I don't intend to stay like this for long. That's exactly why I need your help."

Sith sighed deeply, then closed his eyes and thought for a while.

"Anyway... I had no intention of going back in the first place, and the fact that you helped me... And considering that you won't live long as a human, spending a century shouldn't be too much of a problem. Besides, I wanted to visit these places anyway... Yes... It certainly is good!"

He quickly started making excuses and accepting them himself. I sighed slightly at the sight.

"Then let's get along well. After all, a century is a long time for me."

So I laid myself down on the bed, decided to leave Sith alone for now, and thought.

Today has been a really long day... Considering that I have classes early tomorrow morning, I need to sleep.

"I just got here and you're already going to sleep? I wonder if I shouldn't have accepted the contract..."

Sith whined a little, then realized I wasn't going to answer him.

After waiting and looking around for a while, he suddenly glowed, transformed into a ball-like energy form, and then floated into my body.

So he's not going to walk around while I'm asleep... Even if no one but me can see or hear him, it would be boring to walk around idly. I guess it's normal that he chose to enter my soul and sleep.

He is quick to adapt, he is not lacking in the ability to think logically, even if he can be frustrating at times, and he is someone who will help me a lot in getting stronger... Sith is very important for my progress in this world.

Of course, there's also his original identity as 'Sith', but... It's not something I need to use unless it's an extreme emergency. So I hope I don't have to use it...

Before going to sleep, I took a deep breath and thought about everything I had done so far.

I became friends with Adrian, I made up with Clara, I became a student of Professor Calvin, and everything I had planned so far had worked out perfectly.

Just like I asked the producers, my boring life has become more exciting since I came to this world. I'd be lying heavily if I said that being here hasn't been good for me, even if I occasionally have dark thoughts.

But... I also know that I won't be comfortable here for a long time and that's why I need to get stronger. The biggest example of that is the assassination attempt in the cemetery...

I remembered my useless state at that moment and then frowned. I clenched my fist involuntarily because I was so pathetic at that moment that I had chosen to run away so as not to burden Celine.

I have to get stronger.

I really need to get stronger. Soon the first main mission of the second part of the story will start and I need to get as strong as I can before it starts.

It seems like I need to step up my training with Professor Calvin a bit more... I also need to start building up my body. Of course, I also need to practice wind magic with Sith.

I had so much to do, yet a smile appeared on my face. Because as much as I planned to do, there would be good things to experience and the idea excited me.

So much so that I got lost in these thoughts. And just like that, my eyes slowly closed as my tired body surrendered to sleep.