What Are You to Me?

"Star Swordsman..." Sonia chewed on the term. "The soldier transformed from the snake-scorpion dragon just now?" The Soul Summoning sorcery spirit wasn't hard to grasp, seeing as they had just violently run down its creations with their sports car. Put simply, this spirit accumulated soul power by slaying other soldiers, then used that soul power to bestow troop classes upon its user or their retainers. If one could hunt down other Heroic Spirits, one could seize their Soul Summoning spirits to absorb and upgrade it, unlocking even more troop classes. A complete system of "collection, exchange, and upgrade" contained within a single sorcery spirit—if word of it leaked to the outside, it would likely spark a technological revolution across the entire sorcerer world. Yet it could never leak out. First of all, it could not manifest in reality, meaning sorcerers could never bring it out into the real world to study. Second... "What does 'zero-winged sorcery spirit' mean?" Yaxiu asked, puzzled. "Can a sorcery spirit even have zero wings?" The only country girl present with a formal education shook her head. "It's impossible for a sorcery spirit to lack wings. Much like us sorcerers, a spirit's wings represent the volume of knowledge it holds—except its wings contain no sorcery power. A four-winged spirit symbolizes knowledge at the legendary tier, whereas a zero-winged spirit means..." "It has no knowledge at all," Diya blurted out. "It isn't made of knowledge." A sorcery spirit devoid of knowledge—even a mudblood sorcerer like Yaxiu found the idea absurd. Sorcery spirits were defined as Void Realm creatures condensed from knowledge; a spirit without knowledge was like meatless Lalafell, contradicting the very essence of its definition. "Did you know?" Sonia suddenly spoke up. "Some sorcery spirits have more than one evolutionary path. For instance, a two-winged 'Sword Qi' spirit can evolve into a three-winged 'Sword Qi' spirit, but through special training and feeding, it can also evolve into a three-winged 'Sword Light' spirit." "Many spirits undergo mutations during evolution, not infrequently transforming from ordinary spirits into far rarer and more powerful ones. Sorcerers recorded these phenomena, and later discovered that through certain methods, they could degenerate high-tier spirits into low-tier spirits. Because these lower-tier spirits retained 'experience,' they evolved into high-winged spirits far more easily." "Thus, a specialized branch of summoning studies was born: first degenerate readily available high-tier spirits into low-tier ones, then raise them with targeted methods to cultivate and mutate them into the high-tier spirits one desires." "I've heard some sorcerer nobles even degenerate exceptionally powerful spirits into one-winged forms specifically for their scions to use." "In other words, as long as a sorcerer is willing, degenerating a four-winged spirit down to a one-winged spirit isn't impossible." Sonia looked at the triangular dipyramid in Yaxiu's hand. "The Soul Summoning spirit might be a degenerated spirit. It's too complete. It certainly isn't lacking knowledge; rather, its knowledge is simply too vast. I doubt it's a native spirit of the Time Continent—I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if it were a four-winged spirit." "It's very likely a legendary spirit formed by fusing multiple spirits together, and zero-winged is a seal, suppressing it to a degree that Heroic Spirits can use." Yaxiu nodded in agreement. After all, the Heroic Spirits on the Time Continent were merely Two-Winged Sorcerers. Asking them to wield a four-winged spirit would be like stirring a vat with a toothpick or taking photos with a landline phone—entirely beyond their capabilities. However, Sonia had mentioned an unfamiliar term, so Yaxiu asked, "Fusion?" "Fusion is a special summoning method only advanced sorcerers can attempt," Sonia explained. "Put simply, it combines multiple spirits into a new one. For example, I could fuse Moon Silk, Torrent, and Wave into a new spirit called 'Water Moon Wave.' That way, I'd only need to activate a single spirit in the future to cast the Water Moon miracle." "But wouldn't your three spirits be gone?" "That's right, gone," Sonia nodded. "A fusion spirit is essentially a spirit tailor-made to execute a specific miracle, but executing miracles is all it can do, which makes it extremely limiting. Only sorcerers at the Sanctuary rank or above dabble in fusion spirits, because they encounter situations where they must cast multiple miracles at once. In those moments, fusion spirits drastically reduce the mental strain." "Soul Summoning is immensely powerful yet severely restricted, which makes it very likely a high-tier fusion spirit degenerated down to zero wings. Such a spirit might be meaningless in the higher tiers of the Void Realm—those soldiers we feared could probably be suppressed with a wave of a Legendary Sorcerer's hand. But placed here on the Time Continent, it becomes the cornerstone allowing a Heroic Spirit Legion to sweep through everything." Diya understood as well. "Sounds like a story about an imperial princess secretly fleeing to the frontier to start from scratch with a dimensional-reduction strike on the locals." Yaxiu glanced at the Witch—you described that in suspiciously specific detail. Though they had roughly deduced the origin of Soul Summoning, it was obviously far beyond what their current rank could study. Better to just remain honest consumers. So, who should bind this spirit? Since one of the troop classes was "Star Swordsman," theoretically, Sonia would be the most suitable user. But having just taken the Commander Manual, claiming Soul Summoning as well would make even a country girl feel slightly embarrassed. Yet Yaxiu had other thoughts. "Speaking of which, what are you two to me?" Sonia and Diya blinked, traded a look, and then looked back at Yaxiu. "Family?" Diya asked. "Though that sounds pretty weird. Why would you look for strangers to be your family... Could it be, Watcher, that you have no family?" "Retainers!" Seeing how hopelessly dense they were, Yaxiu announced loudly, "I formed the party for Void Realm Exploration. You're my team members, which theoretically makes you my retainers." Sonia caught on. "You mean, if you take Soul Summoning, you might be able to bestow troop classes upon us?" "It's a possibility." Yaxiu held the Soul Summoning spirit. "So, I'm taking it?" "I kind of want it..." Seeing the new spirit, Diya felt an itch in her heart. "You can have it this time, but if something fun drops next time, you have to let me have it!" Sonia agreed as well. "Go ahead and take it. Even if you can't bestow it on us, the troop armor will at least improve your safety. Just as you said, you're the leader, the most important person in this party. Without you, we wouldn't be driving a sports car and checking a map to explore the Void Realm... You need to take better care of yourself." "Yet without you two, I couldn't explore the Void Realm this easily either." Yaxiu tightened his grip on Soul Summoning. "If I can't bestow them on you, we'll just get one each down the line as a team perk—" The moment he fully bound the Soul Summoning spirit, clouds of misty energy suddenly rose around the cavern, surging toward Yaxiu like young swallows returning to their nest. Caught completely off guard, Sonia asked anxiously, "Watcher, what's wrong?" "I'm fine. Put the sword down first—you're scaring me." "But that just looked like an evil spirit devouring your soul! I need to verify that you're really you: 'My whole body feels light as a balloon, tethered to the ground by only a single thin thread'..." Yaxiu lunged forward, pinning Sonia to the ground and straddling her waist in an attempt to cover her mouth. Prying his hands away with all her might, Sonia said with utter solemnity, "See, you're possessed by an evil spirit! I must keep reciting your famous words to awaken your memory. 'Sword Princess, to me, you...' Don't you dare spit! If you spit on me, I'm never letting this go!" Yaxiu had just pursed his lips to spit (physically) when Sonia surrendered on the spot. Diya squatted beside them inquisitively. "Why is Watcher getting so worked up? Is that some kind of incantation?" "I'll tell you in private when we have time," Sonia said cheerfully. "Then you're doomed. You'll never have free time again—not for the rest of your life," Yaxiu said coldly. "That was just the first effect of the Soul Summoning spirit: Soul Summoning. The residual soul power from the Star Swordsmen we killed was automatically absorbed into the spirit. Right now I have 3 points of soul power, which happens to be enough to test whether I can bestow troop classes on you." Without waiting for Sonia to object, Yaxiu pointed at Diya and declared, "Witch Evolution—Star Sword Witch!" Deep blue flames instantly erupted over Diya, sweeping across her body to form a delicate, form-fitting suit of armor. She held a slender thrusting sword in each hand and wore a full-face helmet; through its ventilation slits, Yaxiu and Sonia could only see Diya's eyes. "How does it feel?" "My body feels a little lighter." The Star Witch brandished the thrusting swords. "The armor and weapons have no weight at all. Moving around feels so comfortable. Wait..." She dropped the thrusting swords, struck her fists together, and pulled them apart, drawing out three Water-Born Lines. "Sorcery spirits can be used normally! That means treating troop classes as extra defensive armor works completely fine." "Good," Yaxiu said. "Test complete. If we get the chance tomorrow night, we'll test it out in actual combat." Sonia poked Yaxiu's waist, then pointed at herself. "What?" "What about me?" "What about you?" "Why didn't you let me test it? Star Swordsman clearly suits me much better." "Anyone could test it. Plus, testing with the Witch lets us see whether she can use Water-Born Lines and other fist-and-claw attacks while in troop mode." "Mhm, great reason. Any others?" "And you made me angry just now, so I wanted to get back at you." Yaxiu poked Sonia's forehead. "Otherwise, I'd have stopped being mad in a few moments." "I was just joking around..." Sonia rubbed her forehead and mumbled. "Witch, over here!" Yaxiu called out to Diya, who was currently doing somersaults. "No other issues?" "Nope!" Diya gave a thumbs-up. "The experience is fantastic! Let's fight wearing this from now on!" "I'd love to." Yaxiu shrugged, trading a look with Sonia. "Right now the sports car is on the verge of blowing up, and everyone is exhausted. Let's call it a night for Void Realm Exploration." "Mhm." "Okey-dokey!" Diya nodded cheerfully, preparing to exit the Void Realm. But looking down, she saw her left hand held by the Watcher and her right hand held by the Sword Princess. "Void Realm Exploration is over, but there should still be half an hour before the Domain of Stillness arrives, which gives us half an hour for tea time." The two of them pulled Diya over to sit down. "Witch, during the battle earlier, your hair turned into a jumble of colors, and your voice became an eerie polyphony," Sonia said. "Even though you've calmed down, we can't just pretend nothing happened." "Even though we've only known each other for a few days, and offering things like 'concern' or 'help' might seem presumptuous, turning a blind eye to this is just too much to ask." Yaxiu tilted his head. "Actually, we were waiting for you to bring it up first. But since you didn't, we had to raise it ourselves." "Of course, if you don't want to talk about it, I completely understand. It's not like we're guaranteed to be able to help anyway." "But if you're willing to talk, we will listen."