/
Was that supposed to be a leveled-up version of “Winners in life should go explode?”
Just like the last time, Seiji didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He wanted to say something, but Hana abruptly cut off the stream.
‘Well, we can take things slowly,’ he thought as he went back to his study. He then stopped the stream and started cleaning up the equipment.
Later that afternoon, Seiji arrived at the president’s residence. Natsuya was waiting for him. She even put on the shrine maiden outfit beforehand.
The two of them went to the room at the end of the second floor.
Seiji acted according to the instructions he received last time. He stood in the center of the Yin-Yang diagram inscribed on the floor, closed his eyes, relaxed his body, and calmed his mind…
After Seiji said his name and agreed to be bound by the contract just like the previous time, Natsuya began muttering her incantation. Seiji’s head was gradually filled with strange voices.
He concentrated and focused his mind, trying to listen to the voices. However, the voices gradually quieted down, and after a while, he was unable to hear anything.
This differed from his previous experience, and Seiji was left somewhat confused.
“So warm… looks like a nice bed,” a lazy-sounding female voice said, breaking the mental silence. “This one would like to sleep here. I’ll pay an appropriate rental fee, so is it acceptable if I do so?”
Seiji felt that this spirit was different from Light-chan. She seemed somewhat inscrutable, but he also sensed that she was an equally strong existence, so he agreed.
“Spirit, descend! I summon thee as a Spirit-Branded Retainer!! I decree it so!!!”
As Natsuya’s mutters turned into shouts, a strong power entered his head and filled his body.
“So comfortable~ I’m going to sleep, so good night.”
Eh? She wasn’t even going to say her name first?
“It doesn’t matter what my name is. Anyway, when you need to use my power, just go ahead and use it.”
Then, the spirit yawned. Seiji was rendered speechless.
She didn’t ask his name, nor did she introduce herself. She only cared about sleeping… what exactly was all this?
Seiji opened his eyes, a confused expression painted on his face.
“What’s the matter?” Natsuya asked.
Seiji explained the situation.
The president revealed an equally confused expression. “A female spirit that loves to sleep and is too lazy to even introduce herself…”
“Do you know who this is?”
“I… don’t know. She’s probably a major demon… yet she faintly feels like a heroic spirit. I can’t figure out what she is.”
Both of them fell silent.
“There are many demonic spirits related to slumber, but I’ve never heard of a powerful, sleep-loving one who also seems slightly like a heroic spirit. At the very least, I’m currently unable to discern her identity.” Natsuya sighed.
Seiji tried mentally asking the spirit within him, but there was no response.
“I tried asking her, but she didn’t respond. I think she’s asleep already.”
“Can you try using her power in such a condition?”
Seiji tried using his powers.
“I can… but not any new spells. I can only use her power to strengthen… no, ‘evolve’ the current spells I know.”
Having a bonded spirit with him and turning into a Spirit-Branded Retainer would greatly increase his stats in all areas, which also included the strength of the spells he could use.
And if the spells that the spirit knew were the same or similar to the ones that the Spiritual Ability user knew, then the spells could be combined into a stronger version of the original spell—this was known as “spell evolution!”
“Spell evolution… unless you have a very high synchronization ratio, it’s usually impossible to do this without extensive practice. Are you really capable of immediate spell evolution already?”
“I feel like that’s the case, yes.” Seiji nodded. “However, that’s all I can do. I’m unable to use any of her spells that she knows.”
“If you can immediately use spell evolution without any practice at all beforehand, that means that this female spirit has an incredibly high synchronization ratio with you. However, logically speaking, if you can use spell evolution, you should be able to use the spirit’s other spells as well, but you can’t. How strange.” Natsuya had a confused expression. “What exactly could that ‘sleep’ status of hers be?”
Spirits needed to rest as well.
Even so, that would typically be a status that they would only enter after using up too much energy. Sleeping would help a spirit to recover their energy, but while they were sleeping, the human host would be unable to use any of the spirit’s spells, including spell evolution.
This basically meant that the normal scenario was that, while the spirit was sleeping, a person could either use all of the spirit’s powers and spells or none at all. Only being able to use spell evolution but not other spells was quite an abnormal scenario.
A freshly summoned spirit shouldn’t have needed to rest at all. “Sleeping” was typically a silent period of rest for a spirit, but this “sleep” was clearly different from the norm, and neither Seiji nor Natsuya knew what was going on.
A moment of silence fell between them.
“Let’s not dwell on this subject too long. We’ll simply test your spell evolution in the practice field.” Natsuya stopped thinking about this because it would be pointless.
Seiji nodded in agreement.
The two of them went to the underground practice field together.
“How many spells have you learned?” Natsuya asked.
“Including the [Body-strengthening Technique], five,” Seiji answered.
Ever since the battle with Okubo Yoshiaki, he had learned four new spells in less than a month.
This was doubtlessly an astonishing rate! Anyone else that heard this would surely have been astonished, but Natsuya was unruffled, because she had already finished being astonished.
Seiji Haruta’s speedy rate of growth was within her expectations.
They entered the practice field.
“Let’s test [Mana Bullet] first,” Seiji said as he walked to the practice target area.
Natsuya turned on the computer and brought out a circular target.
Seiji gathered Mana in his hand and combined his bonded spirit’s power with his own as he aimed towards the target.
The white ball of Mana transformed into a golden color, with specks of light around it. Then, it glowed as Seiji shot out his attack!
*Boom!!*
This Mana Bullet left a golden trail in the air as it hit the target and exploded in a bright flash.
The target appeared to have been corroded. Meanwhile, there was a faint glow in the air from the Mana Bullet’s fading trail.
This visual effects under [Astral Vision] were quite extravagant.
As Seiji and Natsuya observed the target, the corroded hole on the target continually expanded. A large piece was missing from its center, and the outer portion of the target was fractured.
By the time that the corrosion effect finally stopped, the originally brand-new target appeared like a target that had gone through a war.
Seiji walked up to the target and tapped it gently with his little finger. His finger easily poked a hole through the target.
Then, he tried to break a piece off from the target. A piece came off in his hands as easily as if it had hollowed out by white ants. He applied only a little pressure and succeeded in crushing the wood in his hand to sawdust.
“What effect is this?” Seiji asked.
“…I don’t know. The computer was unable to assess it,” Natsuya looked at her computer’s screen with furrowed brows. “That Mana Bullet’s power was within its calculatable range, but that corrosion-like side effect was something it was unable to analyze.”
“If we try again, will that help with the analysis?”
“No… if it can’t analyze it, it can’t analyze it. It’ll be the same no matter how many times you try.”
It was yet another mystery.
‘Now my [Mana Bullet] has a mysterious corrosive effect and is golden. If I cast the [Body-strengthening Technique], will I become golden and shiny?’ Seiji wondered.
In the end, he decided to not try the [Body-strengthening Technique] for the time being and went with [Mana Shield] next instead.
“Next up, I’m going to try casting a personal barrier,” Seiji told Natsuya as he began casting [Mana Shield].
Just like when he cast [Mana Bullet], he infused his spirit’s power into the spell.
A golden glow instantly enveloped him. This glow seemed gentle yet solid, almost as if it were floating water. It orbited him in a strange pattern, ts shape constantly changing.
‘It’s so beautiful.’ Seiji was slightly stunned at the sight.
He reached out with his hand and tried to touch the “water” around him, but the moment he moved, the golden “water” moved with him. No matter what, it kept a certain distance from him.
Seiji lightly waved his hands, and the “water” was infused with a golden glow. It seemed beautiful and almost dreamlike.