Chapter 34: How to Summon a Spirit

Living with Black Crow Koa wasn’t easy. If anything, it was an experience he never had since arriving at Elderwood. He had lived with people before but not like this.

The woman barely existed inside her own apartment. It almost felt like Rhos was living by himself with an occasional visitor.

She left for work before sunrise and returned long after sunset. The only tangible proof she actually lived there came from the shoes beside the entrance and the empty energy drink cans filling the kitchen bin each morning.

Their mornings had become strangely routine. Sometimes they shared meals together like breakfast while chatting about mundane stuff and her complaining about how terrible being a waitress is, other times they ate in silence and other times she was just gone.

When she returned late at night, she was usually exhausted beyond recognition. Every night without fail, Rhos would hear a click of the apartment’s door followed by a heavy thud.

This was a signal that she had returned and had collapsed somewhere near the entrance. Without complaining, he would just carry her to bed.

Koa suffered from a chronic sleeping disorder. She struggled to fall asleep, this was one of the reasons she overworked herself. When she did fall asleep, nothing short of physically moving her seemed capable of waking her.

Rhos also handled the chores around this place. He cleaned, cooked when necessary and occasionally repaired broken furniture he broke sometimes due to training. He felt like a house husband.

Sometimes she even bought him clothes to change into. This ensured he didn’t wear her clothes... that would have been weird.

The two lived like this for two months. But despite living together, he still knew almost nothing about her.

He didn’t know why she had saved him. Why she was sheltering him or why she trusted him enough to leave him alone inside her home every single day.

Whenever curiosity tempted him, he remembered the finger she had once pressed against his lips

’Don’t pry into my business’

That was excellent advice. He didn’t like getting himself involved in other people’s business.

So instead of wasting time trying to understand her, he focused on what was standing right in front of him.

....Or rather floating in place, its translucent wings vibrating rapidly with what almost resembled excitement.

[Human, preparations have concluded. Your Spirit is ready]

[It is now time for the two of you to meet]

Rhos frowned.

"What exactly are you talking about? I thought you said your soul merged with mine. So which Spirit am I meeting?"

[The Spirit I am referring to is a separate being from yourself yet still connected. Simply view it as a byproduct of the contract]

That explanation only confused him further, but he was not willing to question it since he himself didn’t know the kind of abilities he possessed now. The only one who knew was the tiny creature. So doing what it said was probably the fastest way to learning and mastering them.

"What exactly am I supposed to do?"

Neth circled him once before saying.

[Summon it]

[The summoning process itself is extremely simple. Merely call the Spirit by its name. Just as you summoned me by speaking mine]

He did that by accident, but if that was all to it, then it should be relatively simple.

"Alright then, what’s this Spirit’s name?"

When he popped that question, Neth suddenly froze. For several seconds Rhos looked at the tiny creature expecting some kind of response from it, but it never came.

He raised an eyebrow.

"Well?"

[... An oversight]

It tilted its little body as it said that in a low tone. Without giving Rhos the opportunity to question it, it quickly picked itself up, its enthusiastic tone returning.

[We shall employ a secondary summoning method]

"What happened to the name method?"

Ignoring his words, it hovered directly above his left shoulder.

[Extend your arm]

[Gather your spiritual energy at a single point beyond your body. Do not circulate it internally. Project it outward]

[Call upon the existence residing inside your soul]

Rhos followed the first instruction by extending his right arm but hesitated on the third one.

"That’s impossible"

[Oh?]

When he was about to say his reasons, he immediately bit his tongue. He kept forgetting but he was no longer an ordinary human. The rules Neth lived under were fundamentally different from what he was used to.

What was impossible for him before should be possible now, right?

"Never mind. Let me give it a try"

Besides, at this point, what could honestly surprise him?

He closed his eyes and took a slow breath. Crimson spiritual energy stirred within him. But unlike before, directing it no longer felt clumsy.

Months of intense training had taught him considerably finer control over its flow. He guided the current through his body before forcing it toward his palm.

He had never attempted summoning before, so this was new to him. So far, he seemed to be doing well.

A meter away from him the air distorted as particles of red energy emerged one after another before spiraling together into a fast-rotating sphere no larger than a barrel.

Waves of spiritual energy rolled through the living room, they resembled a whirlpool suspended above the apartment.

Then suddenly, the sphere burst apart like flower petals scattering in the wind. Something dropped softly onto the wooden floor.

"What the..."

Rhos lowered his hand as his eyes widened. There was someone lying motionless before him. It looked like a child.... No, a little girl.

She didn’t seem to be older than ten years old. Her figure was small enough that the oversized white cloth wrapped around her body nearly swallowed her whole.

She looked almost human, though her skin was unnaturally pale, almost porcelain in appearance. She had long snow-white hair that spilled across the floor beneath her, though every strand gradually darkened into thick red near its ends as though they had been dipped into fresh blood.

If it had not been for the two crimson horns protruding from her head, Rhos would have mistaken her for an ordinary child.

His eyes lingered on her unconscious body before he questioned;

"A mutant?"