"Are you the one who caused this ss?"
Seraphina’s cold voice cut through the night air. Cael t her gaze without flinching.
She already had her suspicions; Cael could see it in her eyes.
After all, alongside Cael, only Seraphina knew about his Mana Sovereignty.
Now, a mana disruption had happened in the city where Cael was conveniently staying.
Coincidence? Who would even believe that?
Strangely, the mont Seraphina learned of this incident, she was ninety percent sure that Cael was the one who did it.
The evidence was circumstantial, but it was enough.
And Cael had no reason to hide this from Seraphina. He needed answers, too, about the strange mana wave, about what exactly had happened.
Besides, even if he wanted to hide it, he simply could not. Seraphina’s Wrong Eye skill would see through any lie.
So, Cael simply nodded and said,
"It was ."
Seraphina’s heart sank. Even though she had suspected, hearing it directly from Cael left her speechless.
She had no words to say. All she could manage was a single question.
"Why?"
Cael smiled. He had been waiting for her to ask that.
He began explaining, starting with the strange wave of mana that had helped him complete his perfect mana vessel and pushed him to [Gold 3].
He spoke carefully, choosing each word with precision, maintaining his composure.
The night air was still around them; the sound barrier Seraphina had created was humming faintly in the background.
He did not ntion the dream. He did not ntion Temporal Reverie. He did not ntion the vision of the Wraith Princess.
If he needed to talk about that, he would have to reveal his Copy skill and his innate ability. Those were secrets he was not yet ready to share.
But he did not hide the strange mana wave. He needed answers, and Seraphina would be a huge help.
"...so, I used the built-up mana to release a wave of mana nullification. But I truly did not expect it to cause this much commotion."
True, Cael had not expected to cause a mana disruption for ten seconds across more than sixty miles.
He had underestimated his own power. The aftermath had been far larger than anything he had anticipated.
Thankfully, he had enough sense to nullify all the mana lines in the clock tower and surrounding buildings.
And he had used his illusion array skill to change his appearance.
No one had seen his real face. No one would trace the wave back to him, except Seraphina, who already knew.
After Cael finished explaining, Seraphina finally noticed his rank.
[Gold 3].
Due to the stress of the situation, she had not noticed it before. Even if she had seen it, she hadn’t registered it.
Even after hearing Cael’s explanation, Seraphina was not convinced. She crossed her arms and asked,
"Even so... why did you use mana nullification and wraith images?"
It did not make sense. If Cael wanted to release his built-up mana, he could have slowly released it through wind, moonlight, or any of his other elents.
He did not need to cause a city-wide panic.
Cael gave a wry smile. He knew he needed to provide a satisfactory answer. So he said,
"I had a strange dream. In that dream, I was on the last day of the selections, and wraiths attacked. That dream was on my mind the whole day. So, I thought..."
Seraphina cut him off.
"You thought of using mana nullification to cause chaos, which in turn would bring reinforcents."
Cael rely nodded and did not answer.
Silence pressed on for a while, the only sound the soft hum of the barrier around them.
Then Seraphina muttered,
"Dream? Heh. Dream, you say."
Her voice was cold, incredulous.
She did not believe it was all due to a dream he had.
She wasn’t stupid; she could clearly see Cael was hiding things.
Since Cael wasn’t willing, Seraphina could only follow his lead,
"You caused this much chaos just for a dream?"
Cael gave a helpless smile.
"As I already said, I truly did not expect to cause—"
Seraphina cut him off again.
"Alright, alright. Forget it."
She sighed and gave him a weird look. Her thoughts drifted.
’Was he a jinx or sothing? Wherever he goes, sothing always happens.’
Nonetheless, Seraphina pushed those thoughts aside as she pondered the strange mana wave Cael had ntioned.
She took his arm and began to check his body, her mana flowing gently through his channels.
Just as Cael had said, she learned that he had indeed completed the Mana Strengthening Body Technique and achieved a perfect mana vessel.
But she was not the least bit happy.
The fact that a strange mana wave had given Cael more than ten years’ worth of mana in a short burst of an hour was deeply unsettling.
Such a thing should not be possible.
Soon, her mana picked up a disturbance on the side of Cael’s neck.
Sothing was there, sothing that did not belong.
Seraphina opened her eyes and checked the spot. Her eyes widened.
Seeing her reaction, Cael asked,
"What’s wrong?"
Seraphina locked her eyes with his.
"Did you make a contract with any spirit?"
Cael was confused, but he shook his head.
"No. I did not."
Seraphina muttered,
"Could it be..."
Then she said slowly,
"Check your status."
Cael nodded. It had only been a few hours since he last checked his status, but since Seraphina asked, he obliged.
"Status."
-----
[Status]
[Na: Caelir Vayne]
[Class: Iridescent Monarch (SSS)]
[Rank: Gold 3]
Elents:
• Wind (79% Mastery)
• Water (58% Mastery)
• Earth (49% Mastery)
Unique Elents:
• Moonlight (33% Mastery)
• Frostfla (49% Mastery)
• Black Lightning (55% Mastery)
• Space (20% Mastery)
• Death (Locked)
• Ti (Locked)
Spirit Contract:
• Grade: Mythical
• Rank: ---
• Affinity: ---
• Type: Yet to be born
• Sigil: Leaf
Skills:
• Copy (SS)
• Cloning (SSS)
• Fusion (SS)
• Teleportation (S)
• Wrong Eye (S)
• Faceless Mask Construct (A)
• Mana Sovereignty (SS)
• Ti Deceleration (SS)
• Death Reaper’s Requiem (SS)
• Temporal Reverie (SS) [Locked]
• 150 skills
Weapon Mastery:
• Sword (63% Mastery)
Techniques:
• Gale Weave Swordsmanship
• Mana Strengthening Body Technique
• Unification Art
-----
"Spirit contract? What is going on?"
Cael could only wonder how he had contracted with a spirit.
Not to ntion, it was not a normal spirit; it was a Mythical-grade spirit, a classification he had never even heard of.
Spirits.
The mysterious entities that are born in nature, due to mana or miasma, changes in weather or climate, and so on.
So spirits take human form if they are born around humans, wraith form if they are born around wraiths, or beast form if they are born in the wild.
There was no concrete evidence on how spirits were born, only various speculations. But one thing was certain: spirits were superior in terms of power and growth speed.
Spirits had their own ranks as well.
Grade: Great
- Young Spirit = rivaling Low-stage rankers
Grade: Master
- Teen Spirit = rivaling Mid-stage rankers
Grade: Ascendant
- Adult Spirit = rivaling High-stage rankers
Grade: Supre
- King Spirit = rivaling [Origin] rankers
As for the Mythical grade, Cael had never even heard of it. It was beyond Supre, perhaps beyond anything ever recorded.
Each spirit rank further had three stages.
Young Spirit 1st step: [Iron 3] Ranker
Young Spirit 2nd step: [Bronze 3] Ranker
Young Spirit 3rd step: [Silver 3] Ranker
Teen Spirit 1st step: [Gold 3] Ranker, and so on.
Even so, spirits only followed one source of power. Either mana or miasma. They could not wield both.
Humans, vampires, and wraiths could form contracts with them, with mutual conditions, of course.
After forming a contract, the contractor received a tattoo-like sigil on their body, a mark of the bond between them.
Spirits were extrely rare. Spirit contractors were even rarer, even rarer than people who had achieved the State of Resonant.
In the last six months, Cael had yet to see a single spirit. He had only seen one person in the State of Resonant.
But now...
He had contracted with a spirit?
And he had a sigil?
And the most important part... his contracted spirit was not yet born?
The words on his status screen resurfaced in his mind.
"Type: Yet to be born."
What did that an? How could he contract with sothing that did not exist?
Cael stared at the interface, his thoughts spiraling.
"What is going on?"
Seeing Cael’s bewildered reaction, Seraphina understood that he truly had no idea.
She could only attribute the strange mana wave to the contract itself.
Even if Cael did not rember making a contract, or even if he never made a contract, it was not a terrifying issue.
Spirits were extrely mysterious; no one knew fully about their origins or births.
But one thing is certain, they were extrely loyal to their contractors.
She began explaining what she knew about spirits, how contracts ford, how sigils appeared, how spirits grew alongside their contractors.
Cael only absentmindedly nodded, his mind still racing.
After talking for a few brief minutes, the tension between Seraphina and Cael cooled down.
She glanced at her watch, read a ssage, and said,
"There will be no changes to the selections. They will continue as scheduled."
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