Chapter 104: Contract Summoning
Magic Tower, first floor.
Since there were no scheduled classes today, Janna came straight to the magic crystal wall on the first floor of the Magic Tower after collecting her wages at the Bauhinia Bank.
"This is the one."
She flipped through the magic crystal wall, and finally, at the end of the third page, Janna found the course she had prepared to redeem.
"[Introductory Medical Studies]: Limited to Second Tier Wizard Apprentices and above. No restriction on magical attributes."
Gazing at the course before her—one of only two she wished to redeem aside from [Transfiguration]—Janna didn’t hesitate. She took out ninety-two Gold Surrel, matching the ninety academic credits required, and placed them on the magic crystal wall.
"Senior Gawen, why are you on duty here today?"
"No choice. Miss Bell is away on business, so I’ve been temporarily transferred from the library to help out..."
Gawen-Tull was the Third Tier Wizard Apprentice whom Janna had previously met while borrowing books at the library.
Thick glasses, slightly protruding teeth—though rather plain in appearance, Gawen-Tull’s B-level [Curse] talent had left a deep impression on Janna.
"Let me see, you're redeeming [Introductory Medical Studies]? Congratulations! I didn’t expect you to break through so soon—"
Seeing the course Janna had selected, Gawen-Tull naturally realized that she had successfully advanced to a Second Tier Wizard Apprentice.
If she remembered correctly, Janna had only enrolled as a new apprentice about half a year ago.
To have achieved such a breakthrough in such a short time—her talent and dedication were undoubtedly among the best in her cohort.
"However, I should remind you: [Introductory Medical Studies] is personally taught by the Headmaster, so the schedule can be quite erratic."
"Thanks for the heads-up, senpai. I’ve already prepared myself for that."
Just as Gawen-Tull said, any course taught directly by the Headmaster would have an uncertain schedule, entirely depending on his availability.
Janna had already experienced this during her [Contract Studies] class.
Still, in order to fully develop her Plant Affinity talent, [Introductory Medical Studies] was essentially a required course for Janna.
Of course, once she advanced to a Third Tier Apprentice, both [Pharmacology] and [Mutation Studies] were also in her planned curriculum.
These two, while perhaps not as dazzling in the later stages, still required heavy investment upfront.
"I’ve registered you for the class. Thankfully, it hasn’t officially started yet, so you won’t have to worry about falling behind."
"Got it."
With Gawen-Tull’s enthusiastic assistance, Janna successfully registered for [Introductory Medical Studies].
After leaving the Magic Tower, she wasted no time and headed straight back to her dormitory.
“Return to place.”
After closing the dormitory door, Janna immediately cast a Cleaning Spell, tidying up the clutter on her lab table.
She then took out the spiritual materials she had long prepared and carefully arranged them on the desk.
"A 20-centimeter laurel-scented candle, a Silver-Faced Round Mirror, a vial of Spiritual Blood, 15 grams of ground Skeletal Powder, a Mithril Short Knife, twelve Magic Stone Fragments with opposing attributes, and a Sea Serpent’s Shed Skin—"
While carefully checking the ritual materials, Janna noticed that the materials used in the Contract Summoning Ritual for Second Tier Apprentices were quite similar to those used in Spirit Summoning—mostly differing only in scale. Many components were interchangeable.
“Rip—”
Raising the mithril short blade, Janna swiftly cut the Sea Serpent’s Shed Skin into a regular hexagon roughly one square meter in area. Then, under the guidance of externalized Spirit Power, her pupils quickly turned a silvery white, like flowing mercury.
Tendrils of silver spirit energy entwined around the blade, tracing the Contract Array patterns in her mind onto the serpent skin—one precise stroke at a time.
“Whew—”
Letting out a breath, Janna’s tense body gradually relaxed.
Even though she had practiced this over a hundred times, the moment the array was complete still brought her relief.
“Fwoom—”
With the array completed, Janna set down the blade and quickly assumed a casting stance.
As fire-elemental particles rapidly gathered, a flame ignited on the laurel-scented candle.
“Elemental transmutation casting really is a pain.”
As a plant-affinity apprentice, Janna had to perform an additional elemental conversion to cast spells of other elements.
Not only was this inconvenient, but the spell’s effectiveness was also markedly inferior—far less fluid than plant-based spells.
The room filled with fragrant smoke from the burning laurel. Janna poured the sealed Spiritual Blood into the test tube containing Skeletal Powder, stirred it evenly with a mixing rod, and then dipped a small amount with the blade, carefully applying it along the outer contours of the array.
"Now for the final step."
She picked up the Silver-Faced Round Mirror, which held a special meaning in mysticism, and placed it at the center of the array. Then, she arranged the twelve oppositional Magic Stone Fragments counterclockwise atop the mirror.
Finally, she cleaned the blade of the Spiritual Blood, raised her left wrist, and without so much as blinking, drew a roughly three-centimeter-long cut with the sharp blade.
“Drip—drip—”
Beads of red blood slowly trickled down her pale wrist. Under her careful control, each drop fell precisely onto the center of the mirror—without error.
“O mighty Lord of the Spirit Realm, ruler of the Astral Realm and overseer of beings across countless dimensions, heed my will and bestow your boundless might—Soul Echo!”
The Contract Summoning Ritual shared a similar structure to Spirit Summoning, with slight variations in the Ritual Chants due to differing focal points.
Spirit Summoning involved the summoner actively entering the Spirit Realm with their soul consciousness, while Contract Summoning leveraged the Lord of the Spirit Realm's authority to connect to myriad worlds and summon a visitor to this plane, initiating a mutual Contract.
If dimensional coordinates could be locked in, the Contract Arena could even be established on a Designated Plane, allowing direct summoning at the target location.
The former was risky and relied entirely on the summoner’s skill.
The latter, however, was a test of resolve—success depended on whether the summoner could attract a suitable Magical Creature from Another World seeking a contract.
In short, it was all down to luck.