Darrick entered an extravagant hall through its massive front door which was wide open. Many more people were entering with him and a lot of people had already arrived there way before him, they were chatting with each other anticipating what was to come.

Like the auditorium from the entrance ceremony, this hall was also massive but not as massive. This spirit hall couldn't accommodate more than a few hundred people at once like an auditorium but that was enough to serve its purpose. The audience seating style was the same, the rows of seats were in a semicircle manner but the main stage was different.

It was a bit elevated above the audience level and at the front the stage was curved. The two stairs to the stage were on the edges of both ends of the curved stage where it met the wall. The stairs were faced front towards the audience and two paths protruded straight from them making three parts in the audience section.

On the stage, there was a big glass orb floating just half a meter above the ground. Inside the glass bubble, there was a large butterfly-like being with shiny blue translucent wings. It flapped its wings every other second and shiny dust fell from its wings and scattered throughout the orb before disappearing.

Darrick chose a random corner and sat comfortably thinking about everything that caught his attention here in this spirit hall. He was also looking for anyone he knew but his luck was not that good and almost all of the seats were occupied so hoping to see some familiar after this was just wishful thinking. He would have gone by just without anybody when he noticed someone.

He spotted a certain green-haired boy at the entrance glancing around for the seats, there were mostly no seats left except where Darrick was. Darrick had a mischievous smile on his face. The boy looked towards him and he saw the empty seats but when he saw Darrick's face there, he hesitated a bit.

This guy is the best entertainment I could hope for now, hehe. Should I tease him about that? Eh, maybe he doesn't even know what's going on with him. If that's the case it won't be as fun anymore. Should I play Cupid for these idiots? I'll decide after I talk to the guy.

Darrick waved his hands towards the boy and gestured for him to come towards him. The boy caught on to Darrick's intentions somewhat but still walked towards Darrick very reluctantly with the snail's pace, but came nonetheless.

"Hello there! I remember seeing you in spell craft class yesterday. Come take a seat with me here. We can introduce ourselves and talk with each other. You got this amazing opportunity to make a great friend I say." Darrick said in a joky manner with a hidden tone in it.

"Uh... Yes, of course! I'm Quadath Nesphelimernetes. I would be honoured to have you as my company sir. May I ask to sit down?"

"Mhmm!" Darrick mumbled as he nodded in agreement but inside he was severely confused about the way he was addressed.

What the... Oh! They think I'm a big shot. Is this how they greet someone who has a higher standing than them? If I found out to be just a guy from the outskirts then that's going to be wild. I will go with that identity for now.

"That's too long. I'll call you just Quadath and also don't worry too much about the formalities, I don't really care." Darrick said hoping to sound as dismissive as possible about the whole thing.

"Yes!" Quadath replied with a short answer. Then Darrick continued asking him different questions, "I remember you having a good spell sigil so why are you here? Is there something I'm missing?"

"No, my ratios are around the same level so I took both Spell craft and Spirit arts but unfortunately I can't excel in either of them so I try to do everything I can. This Academy has given me something to look up to and maybe a personal goal. I'll see where this all goes." Quadath said as he had already resigned to his fate.

Should I say I didn't ask about all that? Nah, that sounds so rude to ask out of nowhere. Just a bit of trauma dumping out nowhere to a stranger for nothing is a good deal for sure. I'll just comfort him or something. Poor guy must have been ridiculed for being good in neither.

"Are you-" When Darrick was about to ask whether he was good or not he was interrupted. Not by someone intentionally targeting him but by an announcement from the stage. There was an elf on the stage, her features were mostly hidden by the robe she was wearing, but still, her glowing red eyes, the shiny silver hair peeking through the gaps and pointy ears like the twins were evident enough to guess some things. Then guessed her to be female through her voice.

"Good morning students, I hope I have all of your attention now." The hall was quiet now since someone was speaking on the stage. The elf's soft and alluring voice certainly held everyone's attention.

"I hope all who were meant to arrive for the ceremony have come. This ceremony is going to take a while so we have arranged the call order according to the classes you are going to attend next period, whoever has ME class next period is going first and of course, there aren't many of them so we can move onto Alchemy students quickly next." She said as she scanned the hall with red eyes.

"Before the ceremony starts I'll give you guys a quick lesson on this. Then I'll start by explaining what you are seeing right now in front of you. You may think it's inhumane to lock up a being in a magical orb and showcase it, but you are right it's inhumane if we did it without the consent of our fairy spirit friend, Akly'sgyd." She showcased the glass orb on the stage. When that name was called the being inside the orb fluttered its wings a few more times than usual to acknowledge the call.

I... Can't even pronounce it. That being is a fairy spirit then why is it inside the orb? How did they even manage to convince it to do that?

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"Our friend here is one of the co-founders of the Caladric Academy and one who will open the spirit channel for you to get you some contracts. She is the one who opens the spirit channel in our academy and has been doing it for hundreds of years now without missing a single year."

"I'm also a professor of spirit arts for first-year students so I'll just brief about the spirits and what you should expect from today's ceremony. I won't take any questions now but you can clear your doubts with me personally after the ceremony so let's begin."

Students were very attentively anticipating listening to whatever the professor was about to say and absorbing it, more so with the students who were not meant for the spirit arts but still wanted to try their luck at getting a spirit.

"So two sigil studies class has already passed and all of you here must have known the difference between a Spirit artist and a Spell crafter by now, if you have paid attention to the classes that is. That's beside the point." She shifted in her place to stand with a bit more comfort and continued.

"The academy has provided basic spell sigils for everyone so we are also providing you with a basic spirit contract. They are called hollow spirits. They do not have any unique property and can evolve at Tier 2. But unlike 'imaginary' some may not gain a contract here so don't be disheartened."

"When the ceremony starts you just have to come up on the stage and place your hand on the orb then you will experience a phenomenon unique to each individual before signing a contract. The contract means a mark on your soul like a sigil but a smaller one. This particular spirit resides with you in your soul until Tier 2."

"So then I will start the ceremony now. I will call names one after another and you have to come up here so let's start with Aliya Nela. Please come up."

A girl was called to the stage. She walked up confidently and stood in front of the orb. She was given some instructions by the professor from what seemed to be the case and proceeded to place her hands on the orb. The time ticked slowly, it was almost ten seconds and there was no reaction from the stage.

Is it working or did she fail? I don't know how to determine what is happening. I should try identifying that orb when my turn comes. I can only hope my turn comes quickly.

A second later the girl fell to her knees. Professor caught before she could fall any lower then she was back to normal in a second and blinked her eyes to see her surroundings. They talked about something and the girl left the stage.

"Our first test taker has succeeded in her attempt at contract. Like her most of you may face the same fate of falling or losing your balance for a second but don't worry I'll catch you and now we can continue." She called for more people one after another. Some failed and some passed but now it was Darrick's turn to go.

Darrick slowly walked up to the stage, he was a bit nervous but he had also steeled his resolve if he didn't get one. It could be helpful to him in his arsenal for the versatility but it was just extra help not completely necessary. His path was already chosen.

"Hmm, Darrick." She flipped some pages of the notebook in her hand and looked through it. "With your perfect ratio for ME, I didn't expect you here but you can try your luck. If you evolve the spirit to fire affinity it may help you with your crafting," she said and closed the notebook.

"That aside, you just have to place your hands on the orb. Very simple. Your consciousness will move to a different space. When something tries to talk to you there you just have to reply to only parts you can understand and don't agree with every sound you hear. If you understood what I instructed then you may proceed."

Darrick nodded. It sounded very simple and he didn't want to complicate it for himself by overthinking so he just placed his hands on the orb and tried identifying the artifact the academy was using to open this spirit channel thing.

Unidentifiable!

The screen closed with a single message of failure to do a simple identification. Darrick was a bit surprised but nothing was on his face, he just played it all cool.

I really forgot that the Identify function may fail sometimes. If that failed, then something very interesting must be going on with this. I should-

Darrick's thoughts were interrupted by the sudden pull at his consciousness. He was no more in the Caladric but an empty white void. He was a bit afraid to think about what was going on right now. He was there in a similar space before with a dark colour theme. Now he was praying it was not the same kind of place.

"Who are you, child? I don't think I have an appointment with anyone so how are you here?"

Darrick heard a voice reverberating throughout the void, the voice alone shook the whole place and him. He looked around but there was no one in the vicinity, only a voice that carried purity that felt like it was cleansing his body, his soul and his whole being.

"I don't know. I was supposed to make a contract with a hollow spirit but here I am."

"That's interesting. Here, make a contract with this spirit."

The voice didn't ask anything more, it just said whatever it wanted and a white transparent orb-ish-shaped being suddenly appeared in front of Darrick. It made the sound of bells ringing as it moved towards Darrick. It was very incomprehensibly shaped the more he looked at it even though it was just an orb.

What is happening right now? I should be with a hollow spirit making contract but this place... I don't think this is what the professor told me when she said we will face unique situations. But...

Darrick didn't know what was happening but to be honest he didn't really care. There were no emotional spikes, so his sense of survival was dormant currently, and the situation's strangeness didn't help.

"Don't need to think too hard about this. Just go with it, I as a Protector can guarantee the credibility of it."

Of course, it can read my mind. No big deal. I just have to make the contract and leave.

Darrick extended his hands towards the small spirit. That just felt like the right thing to do in that situation. The spirit just touched Darrick's hand with the ring of a calming bell. Before Darrick could savor the calm a notification appeared from the system.

Do you want to absorb the spirit?

"Absorb? Not contract?" Darrick asked raising his brows at the notification.

Do you want to absorb the spirit?

Do you want to absorb the spirit?

Do you want to absorb the spirit?

"Uhh... What's happening? System!?" He was very confused about how the system was repeating the same message again and again. He didn't know if absorbing was a good thing so he wanted to think about it a bit but the system was forcing his hands.

"No, don't absorb it."

Permission granted. Absorbing the spirit.

"No! That's not what I said. Hey system, Are you there?"

Darrick was calling for the system when he noticed the spirit in his hands. It had lost all its glow and was already about the size of a pea when earlier it was the size of a football.

What's happening? Why am I always in this kind of fucked up situation? I just want to-

A wave of energy passed the place he was standing. The white void was cracking with pressure and cracks were slowly spreading towards Darrick to swallow him. All this just because of a voice but it was different. This time it had emotions in it, too many of them to pinpoint only one or two. The voice was tangible and what it shrieked was something a bit unexpected.

Emissary!

That word reverberated throughout the void till Darrick was swallowed by the void as his mind went blank.