Gradually I awoke from my peaceful slumber, clinging onto the last fragments of scattered dreams as someone lovingly stroked my head. Sleepily I opened my eyes and was met with Regina smiling down at me. “Good Morning, Ijus.”
I didn’t know tiger’s could smile like that. “Good morning.” “Aha~ Her lap is so warm~” the phantom woman held herself and reveled in the soft fur pushing against the back of my head. Looking around I found myself in the same small alcove, the spirit altar sitting in the corner, many-colored spirits flying about with tinkling laughter.
Recalling what happened yesterday I yawned and sat up, then raised an eyebrow at Regina; who in turn happily smirked while trying to fix my bedhead with her claws. The girl in me- whom I have decided to name pride- nodded in satisfaction; “She’ll make a good servant.”
“So,” I organized my thoughts, “What can you tell me about my new class? And while were at it, what are spirits exactly?”
Regina chuckled, “Straight to the point aren’t we?” She cutely tilted her head and royally gathered herself. “Let’s start with spirits. A spirit is the embodiment of an element and personality, not to be confused with elementals which, in pure form, are mindless manifestations. There are several ranks of spirits, with each higher rank gaining more and more individuality. The bottom rank is ‘World’ spirits- which are generally hiveminds. They are located everywhere an element exists, even in sparse amounts. This is important as they are not located solely in the spirit plane-which we’ll get to later- and cannot be summoned, however,” She nods towards the altar, “Altars like this one allow people to communicate with them and generally are used to ease the connection to the spirit plane through them.” She ponders a bit, “They are the most numerous, and also the weakest when alone. However they are far from useless. For spiritmancer’s like you they can alter physical phenomena easily if you gather enough of them, and for a low cost at that. Since they are naturally in the world, you need not summon them. However you do need the corresponding skill; which if we’re lucky there should be one in this ruin.”
She took a breath as I gathered my thoughts then motioned her to continue. “The next rank is ‘Commoner’, they are world spirits who gained a semblance of individuality, and no longer are a sole hivemind. Occasionally some gain bodies in the material world naturally, but most of them stay in clusters inside the spirit world while waiting to be summoned.
The next rank above that is ‘Yeoman’, slightly stronger than Commoner spirits they mainly focus on support as their stats don’t allow them to fight enemies on par with their summoner. These, like all the ranks successively above it, is less common than the rank below them.
The next is ‘Soldier’, these spirits near the strength of their summoner in some stats, but still nowhere near as powerful. After that is ‘Knight’, which reach or slightly surpass their master in one stat and tend to have more powerful combat abilities, whether in magic or merely physical.”
She looked up at the roof, “The next rank is ‘Noble’, which are stronger than knights as they might reach their summoners level in two stats. After that is my rank; ‘Queen’.”
“Queen?” I raised an eyebrow, “No king rank?”
Regina smiled wryly, “All spirits are female.” She coughed slightly into her fist, “Moving on. Queen rank tend to meet their summoners power in three or more stats, and often surpass them in at least one. However spirits cannot become queen class normally, first they would have to gain a ‘Hero’ trait, which would specialize them and allow them to evolve. And above that…” She sighed with longing in her eyes, “...The rank Empress. Few spirits have ever reached this rank, and the ones who have have never made the requirements to get to the level known. And above even that is the rank of Sovereign, of which there is only one spirit, but not much is known about them.” Gathering herself she continued,
“Now onto the actual mechanics; Spirits higher than rank commoner cannot enter the material world by themselves. As such they require summoners to pull them through the veil and supply them mana to create their bodies. Each spirit above commoner is unique in their own way, often having very different skills, traits, and or perks. However it should be noted that summoning a spirit of a higher rank does not mean it will be massively more powerful than you, besides their skills, traits, and perks, a summoned spirit’s strength is in relation to their summoner, unlike fiends that are separate entities.
If you have weak strength, the spirit- even if it is a strength focused spirit- will have weak strength as well. This makes focusing on the spirit’s skills and such more important than their actual stats. Your needs will be met by the spirit you summon at the time, that or your desires.” My eyes had been following her tail for some time now, and I shook myself to pay attention as she lightly glared at me. “Anyway. The spiritmancer class focuses on invoking, summoning, and bonding with spirits of various types. Right now you only have the skills for summoning and bonding, so you’ll have to find others to actually get into the depths of what you can do with spirits. Oh and before I forget, your affinities also play a part in the strength of the spirits you summon. The higher your affinity the higher rank spirits you can summon of that type.”
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“Oh?” My eyes glittered curiously, “What level of affinities do the different ranks match?”
She smiled wryly, “You’re lucky in this case. I’ve never felt someone whose affinities were so potent, but generally to summon a commoner you’d need somewhere from 1 to 5%, yeoman would take six to twenty. Soldier takes 21 to 30, knight 31 to 45%, Noble 50 to 80%, and queen is above 81%. As for empress… you’d probably have to have over 100% affinity to a specific element, and that is next to impossible. For the sovereign herself...” She shook her head, “The minimum would probably be 100% in every element.”
Well guess I’m not summoning her anytime soon. “Hmph! She dare sit outside of our reach!” “Can we cut her?” “Anyway, what about you?” I recalled the percentages, “You surpass me in three stats and come close in one. And that is without analyzing your Charisma which seems to be separate.”
Regina smiled and puffed her chest out proudly, “I am one of the most powerful Queen rank spirits, and can proudly say my percentages are close to an empress.”
I smiled wryly, “And how did you end up as a corrupted spirit?”
Her smile disappeared and a weight seemed to settle on her furry shoulders. “To explain that… I guess I should first tell you what this ruin is, and its significance.”
Fuck. “This ruin was originally named the final sanctum of Hypolis, city of spiritmancers, located under the city itself. The country was highly prosperous, and was the pinnacle of all things related to spirits; as such it had… some vile researchers common everywhere.” A solemn expression flowed across her face. “A group of them used the massive amounts of mana to summon a fiend, then create a spirit using its body as a base. Successful in doing it they somehow managed to empower the spirit and cause it to mutate. After that… well I was cut off from my summoner at the time and the city core broke down with rampant spirit energy, mutating and weakening all spirits in the country while the mutated thing laid waste to the whole land. Only those who were in the protected ruin survived the initial attack, but their spirits were cut off from them and mutated, then turned on their former summoners in insanity and slaughtered them. Even I am no different, and only managed to escape the initial outburst of mutated energy while trying to flee back into the spirit world... However the result is as you see…”
“You only partially desummoned yourself before you were locked inplace by the energy.” I sighed and frowned, “Is this ruin still threatening to mutate you?”
She shook her head sadly, “All that remains of the initial energy has long since faded. Now only the corrupted spirits remain here. Maybe a few mutant ones deeper in the ruin.” Her face twisted in agony as she looked at me, “Ijus, no- master, I beg of you to free all the spirits you can in this dungeon. If you do, I will offer everything I have to you.” *ting~
New Quest!
Regina, your bound spirit, has begged you to help the corrupted and mutated spirits in the Fallen Underground Desert Sanctuary! In return Regina will teach you how to form a full bond contract, and offers you her soul to do what you will with it.
To complete:
* Kill or Purify all corrupted, mutated, and evil spirits inside Fallen Underground Desert Sanctuary.
To fail:
* Die before completing the task.
* Leave the ruin before completing the task.
Rewards if you succeed:
* Skills: Spirit Soul Bind Beginner Lv1
* Regina becomes your soul bound spirit.
Consequences if you fail:
* Intimacy with Regina becomes 0.
* ???
Do you accepet this quest?
Yes / No
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End of Arc 4