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[Translator - Pot ]
[Proofreader - Kawaii ]
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Chapter 17: The Navigator and the Peculiar Spirit (6)
At present, Yeonwoo had neither a house nor a single coin left.
But luckily, through a fortunate entanglement, he’d ended up saving Jihee and received various things from her as a token of gratitude.
So surprisingly, his financial situation was stable enough to survive for a few more days.
Though getting help from a girl over a decade younger than him scratched his pride pretty deeply, he had to admit it was far more comfortable to sleep on a soft bed than on the street while clinging to pride.
After a short bicker with Mulhoe, he quickly bought a few things and rented a motel room with ample space before stepping inside.
He’d even bought a cap to cover his striking looks that tended to draw too much attention wherever he went, but apparently, it didn’t work that well because people still stared.
“Nice. So this is how they’ve been using the cores. No wonder Hunters have been making so much money.”
Only now understanding why Jihee had said she had a lot of money, Yeonwoo was glad he hadn’t run his mouth earlier.
Having gathered the necessary information through the computer, he was finally starting to grasp the general structure of the current Hunter system.
“That’s enough information. My stomach’s feeling a bit off, but let’s go ahead and try summoning a spirit.”
Turning off the computer with a calm mind, Yeonwoo picked up the board marker he had bought, signaling that his search for information was complete.
Then, he lightly drew a small formation on the floor of the room.
Watching him, Mulhoe materialized and sat on the bed placed to the side.
Because of her small frame, the bed looked almost ridiculously large.
-Yeonwoo? May I ask what you’re doing?
“Spirit contract.”
-But existing Hunters are known to perform spirit contracts by reciting chants verbally.
Tilting her head as if she couldn’t understand, Mulhoe gave off such fatal cuteness that Yeonwoo almost laughed like a fool, but he endured with superhuman willpower.
“Ahem... There are Spirit Masters among the current Hunters, right? There were some even in the past.”
-Yes. Although they are few, there are certainly Hunters who have formed contracts with spirits and act as dealers. The records note that while their firepower is good, their sustainability is lacking.
“What those guys did was just an empty shell. If you want true efficiency, this is how it’s done.”
Even before finishing his sentence, Yeonwoo nodded with satisfaction while looking at the magic circle that filled the wide floor.
Then, he took out the Spirit Stone Artenis had given him as a gift and placed it in the center.
He had a few more, both stronger and weaker ones, but most had lost their functions after being directly exposed to the power of dimensional travel.
It was a pity, but one spirit contract would have to suffice.
Chiiing...
The room turned into a mess with the board marker’s doodles, but Yeonwoo didn’t care.
He’d rented the room specifically to gather information via the computer and to summon the spirit.
Once summoned, the drawn magic circle would disappear on its own, so there would be no evidence left behind.
While general summoning methods didn’t matter much, this particular contract style was literally his own secret technique.
Since it required caution even in private, being indoors was the most appropriate setting.
As a faint resonant sound accompanied the magic circle’s glow into white light, Yeonwoo muttered quietly.
“‘Ji.”
That voice didn’t sound like Yeonwoo’s.
It resembled the voice of another being.
At the end of the small resonance, the magic circle instantly began turning brown and its shape changed in accordance with his will.
The brown undulations slowly rose from the bottom of the magic circle, creating a rather intriguing scene that caught Mulhoe’s curious gaze.
“Don’t tell anyone about this.”
-I am a humanoid. I do not speak.
“It might be good to know that nonsense jokes like that can sometimes provoke anger.”
As Yeonwoo’s eyes turned cold, she awkwardly looked away.
-I exist solely for you. I will never cross any line that could harm you. Not even if it’s the system itself.
At her response, Yeonwoo nodded.
Then, he turned his gaze back to the drawing and closed his mouth.
‘As the contractor, I call across dimensions. Whoever will answer my invitation, Gnome.’
No lengthy incantations were necessary for spirit summoning.
What mattered was the strength of one’s will.
By linking to the Spirit Realm through the magic circle, he could summon the spirit he desired.
Spirits active in the Spirit Realm and those found in nature had clear class differences.
It was the difference between nobility and commoners.
Even if one asked why the disparity was so drastic, considering the potential for growth, power efficiency, and variety of abilities, the gap made sense.
Unlike nature spirits born from the will of high-ranking spirits or Spirit Kings, spirits born from the will of the Spirit Realm itself were fundamentally different.
Moreover, their systems were different.
Nature spirits, birthed by the hands of already complete Spirit Kings or High Spirits, had defined limits.
On the other hand, though spirits from the Spirit Realm might appear similar, they possessed growth potential.
They could grow alongside the Spirit Master’s spirit power, evolving from low-rank to mid-rank, high-rank, top-tier, and eventually becoming new Spirit Kings themselves.
Yeonwoo had heard that the number of Spirit Kings with the same elemental attribute in the Spirit Realm exceeded ten, so the title of Spirit King clearly wasn’t a unique one.
‘King’ was just a rank; perhaps the only truly unique being was the deity of the Spirit Realm, assuming such a god even existed.
Tteudeuk!! Tteudeudeuk!!
Watching the pile of stones forming from the ground, Yeonwoo silently celebrated.
He’d been worried that summoning might fail, but just as the status window had said, the summoning connection had only been severed before, there was no issue with forming a new contract.
The spirit he had once contracted with, Noas, also known by another name, the dwarf, wasn’t summoned, but what was coming now was the same kind of spirit.
Watching Yeonwoo with interest, even Mulhoe held her breath and observed the spirit’s formation.
The mound of gathered earth now began taking the form of a spirit, transforming completely...
Kwa-deuk!!
Then it happened.
The gathered mound of earth suddenly crumbled.
“Hm?”
Yeonwoo narrowed his eyes at the unexpected turn.
At the same time, a small hand began to slowly emerge from the broken heap of dirt.
The spirit summoning itself had succeeded, but something seriously unusual had appeared.
***
It was a tiny, delicate hand.
‘Spirits aren’t supposed to appear like that, are they?’
Though Yeonwoo wasn’t on the best of terms with Earth Spirits, he could clearly tell that the summoning scene was odd.
Yeonwoo quietly waited for the owner of the hand to emerge.
“Ung-cha.”
A cute child’s voice rang out as the hand’s owner began to slowly rise from the broken pile of stones.
Dirty and scruffy, yet radiating a pure and adorable impression, the girl now appearing was roughly comparable in size to Mulhoe, perhaps slightly taller.
With long, wild brown hair, innocent brown eyes, and a small frame that still held baby fat, she gave off a strong image of a mischievous little troublemaker who’d just returned from playing outside.
“Kkakku-ung~”
This wasn’t just a weird vibe, this was undeniably a strange one.
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[Translator - Pot ]
[Proofreader - Kawaii ]
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