Chapter 106: The Third Contract Summoned Creature
"Buzz—"
With the incantation completed, the light of the Contract Array swiftly enveloped the two figures.
As the contract was sealed, Janna's soul power began to deplete rapidly.
"Pop—"
The light faded, and the scenery changed.
As if space itself had shattered, Janna, who had been ejected from the Contract Array at the same time her consciousness plummeted, exited the Mirror Layer Domain in her soul form and returned to her physical body in the material world.
"Tick—Tock—Tick—Tock—"
Due to the effects of the Contract Summoning, Janna, having consumed a large amount of soul power, felt a wave of intense exhaustion sweep over her.
Lifting her head to glance at the mechanical clock on the wall, she felt her eyelids battling to stay open.
"This time, the Contract Summoning took ten hours in total, faster than I expected. But—"
Suppressing the overwhelming urge to sleep, Janna first extinguished the Spiritual Fire that was still burning on the aromatherapy candle.
"But the soul power expended for contracting the second summoned creature far exceeded my initial expectations—this mirror creature is far too demanding."
Every time a Contract Summoning was completed, Janna, as the contracting party, had to contribute a significant portion of her soul power to nurture the Contract Summoned Creature.
Although soul power was a recoverable resource, with the heavy consumption this time, it would take at least one or two weeks for Janna to fully recover.
"Spirit Summoning is much better in this aspect. After the forced contract, it barely consumes any soul power, just a token gesture is enough—hah~"
Yawning deeply, Janna, whose eyelids felt as heavy as lead, glanced at the fully healed wound on her wrist.
Without even having time to thank the Lord of the Spirit Realm for the thoughtful restoration, she dragged herself back to bed and fell asleep instantly.
"I command you by my will—summon the Hundred-Eyed Mirror Fiend."
By the time she awoke, the sky was already bright. Having slept for a full fourteen hours, Janna opened her eyes to the new day—6:30 in the morning.
Although the emptiness in her soul lingered, the night's rest had been enough for Janna to return to her normal state.
"Whirr—"
With a flash of silver-white light from the Contract Array, a finely crafted round mirror, roughly half the height of a person and entirely silver-white, appeared before Janna.
[Hundred-Eyed Mirror Fiend: A Spirit Realm Creature with no distinct life signs, feeds on energy entities. Skilled in constructing Mirror Illusions, stealth, sealing, and short-range teleportation.]
After swiftly scanning the newly condensed contract medium information on her Wizard Tree from the perspective of her consciousness, Janna gained a general understanding of her third Contract Summoned Creature.
As Janna expected, the Hundred-Eyed Mirror Fiend, originating from the Mirror Layer Domain, possessed abilities closely aligned with the laws of this dimension. It fit perfectly with Janna’s vision for a third summoned creature adept at concealment.
What surprised and pleased Janna most was that the Hundred-Eyed Mirror Fiend had indeed mastered short-range teleportation—an ability typically exclusive to Spatial-affinity apprentices.
Yesterday in the Mirror Layer Domain, Janna had seen the Hundred-Eyed Mirror Fiend use "short-range teleportation," but due to uncertainty about whether it was illusion or spatial witchcraft, she remained skeptical.
Now, she could confirm with certainty that her summoned creature truly had mastered an extremely rare branch of spatial witchcraft.
"Silver Mirror, what is the distance of your teleportation?"
Silver Mirror was the contract name of the Hundred-Eyed Mirror Fiend.
Like the Celestial Finch, it was an intelligent creature with near-human intellect. Its flaw, however, was that unlike the Celestial Finch, it could not speak.
Its everyday communication involved writing its intended messages on its mirror surface, though nothing too complex, as it was still unfamiliar with the written form of the common wizard tongue.
Of course, thanks to Contract Summoning, Janna could issue commands via telepathic communication, though the creature could only receive and not reply through the same method.
"Five meters~"
The words appeared in grotesquely styled red lettering, like something written in blood.
Though tempted to criticize, Janna’s eyes lit up slightly at seeing the words "five meters" on the mirror’s surface.
"From here to there—demonstrate."
As soon as Janna issued the command, the Hundred-Eyed Mirror Fiend instantly teleported from beside the bed to the designated experiment table.
"Good concealment—barely any magic fluctuation."
Nodding in satisfaction, she repeated the test several more times. Sensing the creature's fatigue, Janna had a good grasp of the spell’s limits.
"Looks like the maximum is around ten uses. Much better than I imagined."
She nodded again with approval, turning her attention to the Mirror Fiend’s other abilities.
"I’ve seen illusion, stealth, and short-range teleportation. That leaves sealing—"
Sealing Spell was a branch of occult studies with difficulty on par with Transfiguration, and highly dependent on Wizard Talents—such as spatial, astrological, cryogenic, curse, and even certain bloodline talents.
In Janna’s case, neither Plant Affinity nor Spirit Phase Travel met the learning prerequisites for Sealing Spell, meaning she had no fate with this domain.
Yet to her surprise, her third Contract Summoned Creature actually had a sealing trait. Judging by its current performance, its future potential was promising.
"Swish—"
Sensing Janna’s thoughts, the Mirror Fiend teleported directly before her.
"From now on, do not use teleportation without my command."
Looking at the creature so heedless of its magic reserves, Janna gently stroked the filigree patterns on the mirror’s edge and began setting ground rules.
"And this—this is what I promised you during the contract."
Sensing the minimal magic left in the Mirror Fiend’s body, Janna took one of the ten remaining Source Energy Fragments and handed it to the creature.
"You really are someone who keeps her promises (smiley face)~"
Seeing that the text on the mirror was no longer the usual blood-red, but standard black characters, and spotting the simple doodle of a smiling face at the end, Janna could tell the Mirror Fiend was in a very good mood.
"This is part of the contract terms—I never break contracts."
"Whirr—"
With silver lines rippling and a flash of silver-white light across the mirror surface, a short, mercury-like tentacle slowly extended from within the mirror and carefully received the Source Energy Fragment from Janna’s hand, then quickly retracted into the mirror.