In the beginning, Ryker’s heart was practically beating out of his chest. But he was able to slowly calm down as time passed. The moment he thought of the worst case scenario and the best case, there was no longer anything to worry about.

In the worst case, he ended up with a useless Contract. That much was still fine.

If it was sub 4th Circle, then he wouldn’t have wasted much at all. He would still have another 60 Circles to work with. He was picky about the kind of beasts he Contracted anyway, so it wasn’t as though he would be falling over himself to select beasts. That number of Circles was still enough to contract six 9th Circle Beasts and still have some left over.

As for the best case, that didn’t even need to be considered. That was obviously if this unborn creature was of the 9th Circle. If this was the case, then nothing else needed to be considered.

‘6th Circle.’

Finally, the contract was completed and Ryker felt the number of Circles the unborn Elemental Spirit Beast occupied.

He nodded faintly.

All things considered, it wasn’t the worst. At least for this world, this level was exceptional. Under normal circumstances, Ryker wouldn’t even give a 6th Circle beast a second look, but he also knew that he was too aggressively picky sometimes.

Talent wasn’t everything. There were many stories of even 3rd Circle Talent becoming Gods in the past, establishing their own unique Spiritual Resonances and leaving lasting legacies.

The trouble was, of course, that this Spirit Beast born of a natural phenomena would never be able to enter the God Realm in its lifetime. When it reached the end of the Ascension Realms, it would meet an insurmountable bottleneck.

Ryker had known that this was a gamble, and he always knew that there was a chance of this happening, but he still couldn’t help but be slightly disappointed.

Even so, he was able to calm down quite swiftly. He found that he was becoming better at that these days.

Even if it never reached the God Realm, that didn’t mean that it couldn’t help Ryker.

Elemental Spirit Beasts had severe limitations, but they had their benefits at all. For one, they cultivated very fast. So long as Ryker had energy to give it, and he had the cultivation to suppress it, he could accelerate its growth quite well.

Plus, there was another important matter.

Just by virtue of having it as a Contracted Beast, he would be able to gain access to its special Spirit Energy when it matured.

This was a Spirit Energy Type not even known to the rest of the world, this alone was enough to be excited about.

‘I’ll have to be quick,’ Ryker thought.

The moment he pulled the egg into his dantian, the barrier of protection around here would crumble. Not only would the pressure in the region skyrocket, but the dense magma that was being blocked would collapse on him from above and below.

Ryker pulled with his intention and circulated the method for Inductive Touch at the same time. The egg was quickly pulled into his dantian.

As expected, the moment the egg disappeared, the magma rolled and rumbled. Ryker could only hope that the disturbance wasn’t enough to awaken those monsters above.

Luckily, the open space here was very small compared to the overall size of the volcano. To Ryker, the commotion seemed huge, but on the whole, it was nothing more than a small blip.

Ryker weathered the storm and used the downward force to surge deeper into the volcano and closer to where he was sure the Earth Flame resided.

As he moved, he listened to his body, feeling the changes within the egg. For him to be able to form a contract with it, it shouldn’t be far from hatching. Though, that wasn’t exactly what would happen in all likelihood. It was more likely that the so-called “egg” was actually part of its body.

At the moment, it looked like not much more than a ball of light. But when it was ready to be “born”, it would choose a shape.

Because it had contracted with Ryker first, he could choose the shape himself. He was still considering exactly what that shape should be, though.

Other than a flying beast, which Phoenix already was, he had never really had any other preferences for beasts. The advantage of flight was too obvious, but it was hard to decide if there was any other ability that was just as useful or not.

He didn’t really mind anything so long as it had power.

‘Hm, maybe I should let it stay formless? Is that possible?’

He had never researched this matter. It was rare for him to come across something he didn’t have enough information about, but it seemed that there was a first time for everything.

‘Maybe that prison has something—’

Ryker frowned, realizing something. It hadn’t been obvious in the beginning, but now he could sense it more clearly.

The “egg’s” progress had slowed to a crawl. In the beginning, Ryker sensed that it would be able to hatch soon, but now he could faintly feel that what had been quite a quick time table had become indefinite.

‘Did I take it away too soon? Does it still need the hot and cold environment?’

Ryker’s frown deepened. This was a problem.

Had he disrupted its growth? Would it be able to regain the balance that had allowed it to grow in the first place? If one of his contracts died, the backlash would be terrible.

‘Dammit—’

Ryker suddenly felt like he was falling through empty air again. It was just one thing after another, and just when he thought he had a good grasp of what was happening, he got screwed over again.

When he saw what it was, though, his eyes widened.

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‘Impossible…’

Ryker was thoroughly stunned.

It was yet another pocket of that mysterious purple energy, and at its center, there was yet another “egg”. This one, though, seemed even larger than the first and it even seemed like it might be in the process of being born right this moment.

Ryker couldn’t wrap his brain around what was happening. There was a reason he never considered the idea of there being another, that was because it was absolutely ridiculous to even think about it.

How could what was supposed to be a rare phenomena be recreated again and again?

Was this environment really so special?

‘Shit.’

Ryker realized that he had really slipped up this time. There was no undoing a Contract. If that was possible, then he wouldn’t have wasted 18 years of his life the way he had.

This was obviously the stronger creature, and yet he was stuck with the weaker one. There was no way he was going to waste several Contracts on the same exact type of beast, it was too limiting.

There was another problem as well, and that was danger.

He was still falling right this moment and the energy being emitted from this beast was even stronger than his contract. Every time he formed his Divined Chains, they would end up being crushed first.

Ryker took a breath and steadied his thoughts.

Since he had contracted it, it was his beast now. Only the worst of Mythical Masters abandoned their Spirit Beasts. It was one thing if he had known ahead of time, but after he had already made the mistake, trying to backtrack now would be the ultimate sign of cowardice.

It was his job as a Mythical Master to bring out the best in his Spirit Beast. Looking elsewhere and pining after others was the hallmark of a pathetic Mythical Master.

Determination flashed in his eyes and he sensed a pulse of something coming from his new contract. It wasn’t yet mature enough to be born, but it seemed capable of understanding his intentions.

It was odd because Spirit Beasts born from the natural elements like this were quite weak in terms of intelligence. But then again, it didn’t need to be intelligent to understand Ryker’s surges in emotions, and the feedback between their two thoughts solidified Ryker’s resolve even further.

Ryker’s gaze flashed.

In those moments, he changed the focus of his attention, shifting everything he had toward the egg in his dantian.

He shouldn’t be able to use its Spirit Energy Type until after it matured, but this was a unique situation. For one, Ryker didn’t need to use it, not really. And second, it was a beast quite literally made from its unique Spirit Energy Type, it was far different in this regard to other Spirit Beasts. Maybe…

‘Success.’

Ryker sensed a connection being formed as he continued to fall.

As expected, he couldn’t use the Spirit Energy, but what he could do was tap into some of his Contract’s understanding of it, and that was precisely what he needed to…

Ryker reached out a hand and his Divined Chains took form again. This time, they were the perfect counter to the Spirit Energy in the surroundings. Although they were still eroding, they did so at a far slower pace and he was finally able to catch himself.

He didn’t know what would happen if he actually crashed down below, but he didn’t intend on finding out.

‘Come on little guy, we’re going to make you a real beast.’

Ryker’s gaze flashed. He continued to quickly analyze the Spirit Energy. As he did so, his comprehension of it grew deeper and deeper and he felt like he had tapped into an extremely mysterious strength.

This perfect fusion of fire and ice was no longer either energy. Instead, it was a kernel of true chaos. Everything it came into contact with was shredded apart.

But what was magical was that Ryker felt that this was actually only a part of its potential… and what was sadder was the fact that this energy would likely never be able to reach the potential he saw for it.

‘Why is that my conclusion?’

Ryker wasn’t sure, it was just that this energy felt incomplete to him, as though Fire and Water alone couldn’t fill in the complete picture.

But that was a good thing for him, at least in this situation. If this energy was any more powerful, he would truly be finished.

He reached out a hand and a long line of chains rushed forward, wrapping out the ball of light.

Ultimately, the soon-to-hatch egg was just that. It wasn’t even an infant, it couldn’t resist against Ryker.

Ryker formed a staircase with his Divined Chains and rushed back up, adding more and more restrictions as he came to understand the energy on a deeper level.

‘I can’t fully counter this energy, I can only restrain it for a bit. It’s actually so unruly… Unless I keep pumping energy into my Divined Chains, it’ll always find a way out.

‘That’s fine, do your thing, little guy.’

Right then, Ryker actually brought out the egg from his dantian. If he restrained this creature and helped his Contract absorb its energy, it would be able to speed up its maturation process.

At this stage, these creatures were all just bundles of energy without even a form. Until now, they were all on their own, forming this energy from a balance of fire and ice all on their own. But if there was a perfect balance already prepared, what would happen?

As expected, the moment the egg appeared, it began to greedily absorb the energy around it. Soon, its stagnancy vanished and it quickly approached its hatching phase.

‘What?’

Ryker’s eyes widened.

It was subtle, but he had felt something shocking just now.

His Contract actually bumped up against the number of Circles it had used just now. But when it found that there was no more to use, it went back to using the energy to mature instead.

‘No, no, no, no, no!’

Ryker didn’t know how many times he had said it, but he forced his Contract to stop immediately, his heart practically beating out of his chest.

He stood in silence for a long while, seemingly forgetting the world around him. His thoughts formed a continuous stream, jumping from one deduction to the next until he felt that he had a full picture of what might be happening.

‘I see… so that’s how it is…’

Ryker only had superficial knowledge about this type of beast, but when he took a step back, it actually made sense.

What other phenomena did he know of that was similar to the birth of an Elemental Spirit Beast? Wasn’t his Silver Mirror a lot like it? Weren’t all such treasure Contracts like it? No, weren’t all Ancient Heirlooms like this?

Ancient Heirlooms were treasures that naturally awakened their own souls, allowing humans to Contract them. This was obviously a big deal.

But wasn’t the birth of an Elemental Spirit Beast born of natural phenomena a lot like this as well?

If you took this a step further, what was the unique quirk of Ancient Heirlooms and treasures in general? Wasn’t it that the choice of Circles to invest was up to the wielder? You could choose anywhere from one to nine, and that would decide the talent of your treasure rather than the other way around.

Of course, even treasures with nine Circles invested wouldn’t normally be as great as a true 9th Circle Talent, and how much of that talent it could display would certainly be dependent on the quality of the treasure as well. That was something Ryker knew intimately from how useless his Silver Mirror was even with nine Circles invested.

However, what happened when nine Circles met a proper investment as well? That was what he was going to find out with the Earth Flame, and when it came to his new Contract, it seemed to fall somewhere in the middle.

While he couldn’t directly choose the number of Circles to invest in this little guy, unlike other Spirit Beasts, its Circle amount didn’t seem set.

As for why Ryker had never read anything about this, that was all too obvious.

Obviously, absorbing just anything wouldn’t help the creature to improve its talent, it needed to absorb others of its kind. But with how rare Spirit Beasts born from natural phenomena were, you might not even find one in your life, let alone several of the same exact kind.

It could be said that Ryker had stumbled into something unprecedented and he planned to take advantage.

His thoughts didn’t stop there either.

What were the odds that in this enormous volcano there were only two such creatures? It felt like he was falling into a bit of a fallacy, but if there were two, he was almost certain that there were more. The odds that he would just happen to stumble into the only two seemed impossible.

‘I’m lucky for another reason too,’ Ryker looked toward the little ball of energy that seemed agitated. It wanted to absorb more, but it also didn’t dare to disobey Ryker’s commands. It was quite adorable.

The reason he was lucky was quite simple. If he was correct, then a lot of this was also related to the growth phase the egg was in. If it was too mature, it wouldn’t be able to change its talent anymore, and if it was too immature, it wouldn’t even understand what was going on and it would be hard for Ryker to direct its efforts.

But now…

Ryker opened up his Circles to the little creature. This time when it began its absorption, it no longer rushed toward maturity.

It greedily swallowed and soon, it had broken through the shackles of the 6th Circle, forming a 7th.

Ryker’s lip curled.