After the principal finished a long string of brainwashing and sentimental speeches, the Contract Beast summoning began under the guidance of teachers from each class.
One student after another stepped forward excitedly.
All sorts of strange creatures appeared before Ling Yuan.
Solids, liquids, gases—there were all kinds of bizarre things.
Someone even summoned a yellow tornado-like gas called Stinky Fart.
The teacher immediately ordered them to take it back into their body.
As its name implied, it was a Contract Beast that could suck opponents into its body and use fart-like gas to stink them unconscious, forcibly ending the battle.
When paired with flames, it could also produce a Gas Explosion through elemental conversion.
It was practically the perfect little helper for sneak attacks and drugging people. Its power was decent too, though it smelled a little bad, making it hard for its owner to get a girlfriend.
After roughly ten minutes, it was Ling Yuan's class's turn.
Watching the students ahead of him obtain Contract Beasts one after another, Ling Yuan began to feel somewhat expectant as well.
"Ling Yuan, I'm going first!" Wang Ming, whose student number came before Ling Yuan's, said.
"Good luck." Ling Yuan patted him on the shoulder.
Before long, Wang Ming came back down with a creature resembling a red lizard.
Patting his Contract Beast, Wang Ming smiled. "Not bad. A Flame Lizard from Sequence 709."
The sequence numbers in this world were not ranked according to strength, but according to the time when the Contract Beasts appeared. Therefore, cases of Contract Beasts with later sequence numbers defeating those with earlier ones were everywhere.
Finally, it was Ling Yuan's turn.
Under the encouraging gaze of his best friend, Ling Yuan walked up.
"Relax. Place your hand on the crystal ball and try calling out to it." The instructor smiled faintly.
Ling Yuan nodded and took a deep breath.
He gently placed his hand on the crystal ball, then closed his eyes.
Hummm—
The complex, intricate magic circle began absorbing the surrounding spiritual energy. It then rose from the ground and floated into the air, enveloping Ling Yuan in its radiance.
As holy light lit up, a notification sounded beside Ling Yuan's ear.
"Ding! The Super Dimensional Sign-in System is beginning binding! Today's sign-in reward is now being issued!"
Ling Yuan: "..."
"Ding! Congratulations, Host. You have obtained Ophis's 'Snake'!"
Soon, a mass of chaotic-colored matter appeared in the void.
At that moment, the magic circle's light surged.
Endless spiritual energy gathered madly, as though it had found an outlet.
Crack!
A sudden sound of shattering rang out.
Everyone present changed expression.
"Whew—"
Immediately after that,
Terrifying void turbulence blew out from the crack, knocking all the faculty, security personnel, and students to the ground.
"That is!"
The principal in the distance suddenly changed expression.
The light faded.
A black-haired girl with exquisite, doll-like features appeared before Ling Yuan.
She wore a black Gothic Dress.
She was incredibly cute.
In an instant,
The entire gymnasium fell silent.
The girl slowly opened her chaotic-colored eyes and looked at Ling Yuan curiously.
"No way!"
"He actually summoned a girl?!"
"Can humans be summoned as Contract Beasts too?"
The students looked at one another as they spoke.
The boys in particular wore expressions of envy, jealousy, and resentment.
Wang Ming was utterly dumbfounded. How had Ling Yuan pulled that off?!
Could his mouth really be that blessed? One second ago, he had been discussing girlfriends with Ling Yuan, and the next, Ling Yuan's girlfriend had delivered herself right to his doorstep?!
Was that not too freakish?
"Could this... be a summoning error?" The instructor, who was also sprawled on the ground, was dumbfounded.
Ling Yuan, meanwhile, stared at the black-haired girl before him in disbelief.
Ophis!
The girl's name instantly appeared in Ling Yuan's mind.
But that was not the important part. The important part was that he had actually summoned Ophis?
That infinitely adorable dragon?!
"Today's summoning ceremony is over!"
At that moment, the principal suddenly appeared beside Ling Yuan. After making the announcement to the surrounding crowd, he grabbed Ling Yuan and Ophis with one hand.
He intended to use his spatial ability to leave.
But the next second—
Bang!
A powerful impact sent the principal flying backward, smashing heavily into the sports equipment nearby.
Looking over, Ophis had somehow appeared in front of Ling Yuan. Her cute little hand was stretched out as she protectively shielded Ling Yuan behind her.
That scene gave everyone a huge fright.
A student who had just summoned a Contract Beast had sent the principal flying?
He had done what every student wanted to do but did not dare to!
"My poor old back!"
The principal crawled out of the sports equipment with tears in his eyes. Looking bitterly at Ophis and Ling Yuan, he said, "Student, I have something I'd like to discuss with you. Could you have your contractor calm down?"
"System, explain this to me."
Ling Yuan was equally dumbfounded. He kept questioning the system in his mind.
"Ding! In reply to Master, Ophis has already formed a contract with you. According to the system's display, Ophis's favorability toward you is one hundred percent. In other words, you can have Ophis do anything for you."
"This..."
After hearing the system's words, Ling Yuan hesitated briefly before cautiously reaching out and placing his hand on Ophis's head.
Ophis rubbed against his hand enjoyably.
"!"
At that moment, Ling Yuan became excited.
Where the hell was the Master Ball?
I want to capture my infinitely adorable pet!
Ever Since I Was Young, I Had a Dream
While stroking Ophis, Ling Yuan questioned the system.
"System, what exactly is going on? Could this Ophis have been summoned directly from the world of High School DxD?"
"Ding! In reply to Host, yes. However, there is a slight deviation in the summoning timeline."
Ling Yuan asked curiously, "What do you mean?"
"The Ophis summoned by the Host is Ophis from the Dimensional Rift, the Ophis who had slept in the Dimensional Rift from the moment she was born."
That made Ling Yuan understand.
The original Ophis, who had not been driven away by Great Red and had not become the mascot of the Chaos Brigade!
So this really was a blank slate!
Ling Yuan looked into Ophis's curious, wide eyes.
One thing was already certain.
In the days ahead, he would have to raise a daughter.
Still, being able to contract Ophis was indeed an unexpected delight.
However...
Ling Yuan raised his head and frowned at the doubtful, curious gazes around him.
"System, is there any way to erase all memories related to Ophis from their minds?"
Ophis could be considered his trump card now, and he did not want to expose her yet.
More importantly, Ling Yuan did not want too much trouble coming his way.
Once news got out that a human had summoned a "human," countries or other people would definitely come looking for him.
That would be extremely bad for his student life.
He did not have any grand ambitions. Traveling to other worlds and living an ordinary daily life would be nice enough.
He had originally thought he would summon an ordinary Contract Beast, yet he had suddenly gotten Ophis instead.
If he did not handle this properly, it would become a headache later.
"Ding! No problem!"
The system did not disappoint Ling Yuan.
"Videos, photos—anyway, everything related to Ophis must be completely wiped clean. To the outside world, I'm just an ordinary person who summoned an ordinary Contract Beast," Ling Yuan reminded it.
"Ding! Understood!"
The moment the system's voice fell,
Everyone in the gymnasium shuddered.
The security personnel watching through surveillance cameras and the others all became blank-eyed as well.
"Ophis, can you enter my body?"
Ling Yuan crouched down and looked at the exquisite Ophis before him, unable to suppress his excitement.
After all, yesterday he had merely been someone who watched anime and fantasized. Today, he had met an anime character he had dreamed of seeing. It would be a lie to say he was not excited.
Ophis tilted her head in confusion, then grabbed Ling Yuan's arm.
The next second,
She transformed into a beam of light and entered Ling Yuan's arm, leaving behind an Ouroboros pattern on the back of his hand.
Before you continue