Signing the Contract

Unlike his respect for the Tarot Club's Fool, Aster had only known then that the Fool held an extremely high status and immense power. He had never experienced that kind of oppressive pressure firsthand, and had maintained respect only out of caution.

But the strange bird before him was different. Without understanding the full details of the relevant events, Aster had rashly used an incantation he had heard from other players, only to summon such a living nightmare.

That terrifying pressure and the feeling that he was almost losing control of his body... You were telling him this was a "desperate one on the verge of dissipating"?

Although the pressure on him had eased considerably, Aster still maintained a respectful attitude and did not dare act presumptuously.

"Yes." Though the strange bird's wings were spread, they did not flap. "I require spirituality as payment."

Spirituality? How was that any different from having no conditions at all? After being thoroughly intimidated by this big shot's aura, Aster had become somewhat paranoid for the moment.

Whether one used ritual magic or summoned a Spirit World creature, spirituality had to be expended. If the ritual magic involved praying to the Seven Gods, some materials without spirituality, such as Deep Sleep Flower and Finger Orange, would also be needed. These materials and the expended spirituality did not go to the Spirit World, but were sacrificed to the gods as payment. As for the herbs, incense, and such that contained no spirituality, they had nothing to do with the ritual's symbolic meaning; they were simply things the corresponding deity liked.

Some players had once made an analogy: ritual magic of the orthodox gods was like paying for a service. The user gave spirituality and materials to the deity, and the deity bestowed power in return.

Summoning Spirit World creatures worked on the same principle. There were many cases of ordinary people accidentally summoning Spirit World creatures, but most of them did not end in death—if the summoner did not make a contract with the creature or try to command it, the creature would not demand payment, because the spirituality the summoner expended during the ritual was already payment for calling it forth.

Yet this high-ranking undead creature only demanded spirituality from him... To use an inappropriate comparison, it was like a mailman charging only for gas... This did not match the price Aster had imagined he would have to pay at all.

In fact, if he had not been worried about angering this undead creature, he would have ended the ritual and sent this great being back immediately.

"...Praise your mercy." After several seconds of silence, Aster bowed to the strange bird and beckoned toward his suitcase. A sheet of parchment floated over, drawn by spirituality.

Recalling the Spirit Contracts he had seen in his previous life and the contracts he had encountered while surfing the internet, Aster raised a finger and used spirituality to brand one twisted character after another onto the parchment.

This was Language of the Dead, an ability contained within [Necromantic Lore]. This language belonged to the dead and the Underworld. Every sentence written in it held special meaning for the deceased. At Aster's current level as a Spirit Medium, he could only read and write it. Language of the Dead could not be spoken by the living; only after his throat had been altered by the Spirit Guide potion would Aster be able to speak this language.

Overall, the contract was not much different from what he remembered, except it emphasized clauses such as "the messenger must not harm the contractor," "the messenger must not peek at the contents of correspondence," and "the messenger must protect letters as much as possible and deliver them to the designated target without endangering its own existence."

At the end of the contract, Aster wrote his name in Language of the Dead: Aster Crowley.

"Please take a look. If there is anything you are dissatisfied with, be sure to tell me." He displayed the same respectful attitude he had once used toward his homeroom teacher in school.

The strange bird did not seem to care much about the contract's contents and merely nodded.

Having received the strange bird's agreement, Aster could not help wiping the cold sweat from his forehead. Once more, he branded a section of honorific name with spirituality:

"Final destination of all death, hell hidden deep within the Spirit World, witness to the inevitable decay of all things, realm belonging solely to the Death God."

Since the Death God had already fallen, Aster used the Underworld's honorific name as the witness.

The strange bird likewise stared at the parchment. Under its gaze, another name written in Language of the Dead slowly appeared beside Aster's: Alidibus.

"Thank you for being willing to help me." The contract ignited with pale green flames, and the parchment quickly vanished within them. Aster bowed to Alidibus and swiftly ended the summoning.

The moment the summoning ended, Aster collapsed to his knees. Violent headaches and dizziness gnawed at his mind, and faint white feathers even sprouted across the surface of his body. Only after rolling on the ground for a long while did he feel the pain begin to ease. Watching the white feathers on his skin slowly retract into his body, he could not help giving a bitter laugh.

"So when Alidibus said it would draw spirituality as payment... I really was too inexperienced. It actually drained all my spirituality directly..."

"If it drains all my spirituality every time I send a letter, that would be far too dangerous. I might lose control outright..."

After catching his breath for a while, Aster, having learned his lesson, began pondering the summoning incantation he had obtained in his previous life from that Death Pathway player. "This incantation is strange... It's very different from the normal incantations for summoning Spirit World creatures. It doesn't even define a summoning range or impose any restrictions..."

Normal experimental summoning incantations would not contain so many precise and highly targeted descriptions. Generally speaking, the first line defined a range, such as "spirit beings that wander the higher realms." The second line narrowed that range further, like "strange creatures friendly toward humans." Only the final line provided a precise description, such as "vengeful one in pain" or "weeping one in sorrow." Yet all three lines of this incantation were precise descriptions!

"This was probably an incantation that guy redefined after making a contract with Alidibus..." Aster rubbed his chin and pondered silently.

Looking at it now, he had still been too careless. He had only seen the other party command a high-ranking undead creature and climb into the top twenty of the Death Pathway in the arena, without considering the price he had paid. Thinking back now, that Death Pathway player had lived in considerable poverty throughout the first few major versions, even having to borrow money for teleportation fees...

After taking a few breaths, Aster stripped off his sweat-soaked shirt and tossed it aside, then fell onto the bed to continue resting.

In the game, as long as more than a quarter of the mana bar remained, it would recover at its normal speed. If it fell below a quarter, one would gain a debuff called "Spiritual Depletion." The natural recovery speed of health and mana would decrease by 90%, and one would become more likely to lose control.

In reality, this meant that once too much spirituality had been drained, it became difficult to remain conscious, and one had to rely on sleep to recover strength.

Aster opened his personal panel and, as expected, found the Spiritual Depletion debuff in the status section. However, he noticed that there seemed to be an extra, strange status there. Enduring the headache caused by Spiritual Depletion, he quickly checked the name of every buff.

[Necromantic Body], [Crowley's Blood], [Astral Blessing], [Spiritual Depletion]...

[Crowley's Blood] was a buff he had gained only after transmigrating. Its effect was to increase the efficiency of gaining acting points on the Death Pathway by 3%. [Astral Blessing], meanwhile, was a buff all players possessed. Its meaning was unclear, and the buff panel offered no explanation, only a simple note: You are being watched by the King of the Astral World.

At last, Aster found that strange buff.

"[Phoenix's Gaze]...? What is this?" While casually browsing his panel, Aster finally discovered the newly appeared buff.

Opening the buff interface, Aster was surprised to find that it seemed to be a beneficial buff.

[Phoenix's Gaze]

[Rank]: ?

[Effect]: Priority +1 when intimidating undead creatures, priority +0.5 for all necromancy spells, with a certain chance of being hated by Feathered Serpents.

[Note]: Fate cannot be escaped.

This was actually a rare buff that increased priority. Priority +1 meant that when Aster intimidated undead creatures, he was effectively a Beyonder one rank higher. It was quite a useful buff. As for being hated by Feathered Serpents, that was hardly a major problem. In fact, Aster had only ever seen two Feathered Serpents in the entire game, and both had been the sort that utterly loathed the living.

Judging by its name, if Aster was not mistaken, this should have been a benefit brought by Alidibus signing a contract with him. Phoenixes were likewise high-ranking creatures of the Death Pathway, but by the current Fifth Epoch, they were already on the verge of extinction.

Only, that note was a little strange... Fate could not be escaped? What fate?

Carrying his doubts about this buff, Aster soon fell into a deep sleep.

"Th-that was..." Klein jolted awake from his dream and uneasily recalled what he had just seen.

A black notebook with an image of the Fool card on it—what did that mean?

After thinking carefully, he remembered what he had forgotten today!

When he had rescued Little Elliot today, there had been strange spiritual fluctuations in the room opposite the kidnappers' room, making his scalp tingle!

"It was the Antigonus Family's Notebook!" He quickly rolled out of bed, found some clothes, and put them on, preparing to inform Dunn Smith, the captain of the Nighthawks.

Klein hurried to Blackthorn Security Company on Zouteland Street and reported the revelation from his dream to Dunn. Dunn made an immediate decision and rushed over with several Nighthawk members.

Inside the carriage, as Klein recounted how he had remembered the notebook, Townsend Neil could not help teasing him. "You and that Antigonus Family's Notebook seem to share some kind of fated bond. You can even run into it like this."

A fated bond? It sounded cool, but if he had a choice, he would not want anything to do with that notebook at all... Klein rubbed his forehead and sighed, also feeling that the whole matter was a little too coincidental.