Chapter 12: First Spirit Pet

Although Sage was a little surprised at Ain's quick decision, he attributed it to Ain's innate talent, Deep Insight, which provided him with cognitive boosts.

"Which attribute did you choose?" Sage asked Ain.

"The ghost attribute," Ain replied.

It was true that Ain's innate talent played a role in his quick decision. But there was another reason why he chose the ghost attribute.

Ever since he used Scan on the cat, the time attribute had been engraved in his mind.

So when he skimmed through the document, he first searched for the time attribute. Unfortunately, Ain didn't find it amongst the listed attributes.

For the rest, he didn't need to think too much. He glanced past the other attributes like fire, wind, earth, and even blood before settling on the ghost attribute.

His reason was simple. From what he had seen over the years, his mentor possessed at least two ghost-attribute spirit pets.

It was likely that his mentor walked the ghost path, which was a common way to refer to a spirit tamer's attribute preference. Therefore, it was also likely for a ghost-attribute spirit beast from his mentor to be better than spirit beasts with other attributes.

Even if that wasn't the case, Ain had been interested in ghost-attribute spirit pets since childhood due to his mentor's spirit pets. Since he didn't have any innate requirements for attributes, he promptly made his decision.

"Good choice," Sage smiled again. It was nice for him to see his student follow his footsteps.

Sage moved back a little and waved his hand forward. With a bright flash of light, a boulder suddenly appeared on the floor.

The boulder seemed to be darker than black, as if it was a void in space. It was so dark that Ain even had difficulty making out the contours of the boulder. Not only that, as soon as the boulder appeared, a nauseating and uncomfortable feeling overcame Ain's heart.

Sensing Ain's discomfort, Sage waved his hand towards Ain and spoke gently, "Don't worry, this is a special resource that I'm using as a carrier for the ghost-attribute spirit beast. The resource's rank is a little high, and it can affect your mind. It's harmless with the seals I've placed on it."

Ain immediately felt better with his mentor's help, although the discomfort didn't completely fade away.

Sage brought his hand forward and lightly knocked on the boulder as he said, "Come out, little one, I've found a spirit tamer for you."

Whoosh!

As soon as his voice fell, a foggy white substance dashed out of the boulder and began to fly around the room with manic energy.

Ain stared at his soon-to-be spirit pet with surprise. He couldn't help but ask, "Mentor, is it okay?" He tried to point at the constantly moving spirit beast.

Sage understood what Ain meant and replied, "It's just a little excited at finally being free. It is a young spirit beast, after all. It'll calm down soon."

While the spirit beast was flying around, a foggy and ethereal hand extended out from Sage's body again and quickly grabbed hold of the spirit beast. Then the hand brought it towards Ain and stopped near his chest.

"Here you go, Ain!" A voice that was neither male nor female suddenly sounded in Ain's ears. Ain wasn't surprised at hearing this voice. This voice belonged to Flo, one of his mentor's spirit pets. The hand extending out from his mentor's body was also the same spirit pet.

"Thank you, Flo," Ain thanked the voice but was also at a loss. He didn't know how to "accept" the delivery.

"Flo, you can let it go. Ain can't touch it yet." Sage's voice sounded in a timely fashion.

"Oh…" Flo's voice appeared again as it gently released the captive spirit beast. The spirit beast didn't run around this time and quietly floated in front of Ain, where it had been dropped off.

Ain observed the spirit beast attentively. It looked like a white cloud with two black swirls representing its eyes. Ain stared at it, and it also stared back at Ain. There was a slight chill in the air, which Ain attributed to its ghostly nature. The spirit beast seemed to know that Ain would be its spirit tamer and thus kept staring at him.

"Mentor, how do I form the contract?" Ain asked as he still hadn't learned how to form contracts yet.

Sage didn't find it unusual and replied, "It's very simple. First, you need to come into contact with the spirit beast. Then focus on your spirit ring and think of forming a contract. If the spirit beast agrees, the contract will be successful. You can even think of it as an innate ability of all spirit tamers."

Ain was enlightened after the explanation.

"Go ahead, you can form the contract." With his mentor's encouragement, Ain brought his hand towards the spirit beast. As soon as he "touched" it, he felt a chilling sensation in his hand. The spirit beast didn't dodge and stood in place, still curiously staring at Ain.

Ain followed his mentor's words and initiated a contract. The spirit beast's swirly eyes suddenly moved as it responded to the contract. Immediately after, he felt a slight tremor in his mind, followed by a link to another lifeform. It was an intuitive feeling.

After the tremors faded, he sensed an obvious change in his spirit ring. He also felt a close connection to the spirit beast floating across him. No, it was his spirit pet now.

Similarly, sensing the changes, the spirit pet was once again excited and started flying circles around Ain while also occasionally passing through him.

Ain felt an unknown happiness bubble up inside him due to the feeling of kinship with his new spirit pet.

"Mentor, what species is my spirit pet?" Containing his excitement, Ain asked his mentor. He still didn't know this.

"It's an Ink Revenant," Sage started with a smile, but then it suddenly faded as he added, "Ain, it's best if you don't reveal this information to anyone. Just know that Ink Revenants are almost identical to Dark Specters."

Hearing his mentor's grave warning, Ain's eyes also turned serious. He waited for any further information, but seeing his mentor's silence, he didn't urge him.

"Ain, I'm also an Ink Revenant!" Flo's voice suddenly cut through the tension.

Knowing that made Ain slightly relieved. If his mentor contracted an Ink Revenant, he would feel better about whatever mystery was behind them. He decided to use Scan on it as soon as he returned to see if he could find anything.

At this moment, his mentor's voice sounded again. "Ain, aren't you going to name it?"

Hearing this, Ain looked at his mentor and noticed that the smile had returned to his face. Indeed, he needed to come up with a name. Ain glanced at his spirit pet, which had finally settled near his head. As he stared at its pure black eyes, a name appeared in Ain's mind. "Nox, I'll call it Nox."

Nox, who had just calmed down, started flying circles around Ain again and started making some noise, "Wooo…"

"Nox! Good name!" Flo's joyous voice sounded out, clearly happy for its brethren.

Sage nodded his head in agreement as well.

Watching Nox fly around him, and then looking at Flo's arm sticking out of his mentor's body, Ain asked another important question. "Mentor, where do spirit pets reside?"

Ain knew that they resided within the spirit tamer's body. But the exact details were a mystery to him.

"They reside within the spirit ring. They can also absorb spirit energy through their spirit tamers, allowing them to rest and instinctively train. Just focus on your spirit ring and think about recalling your spirit pet," Sage explained patiently.

Ain quickly did so. Nox, who was flying around Ain, suddenly flashed with light and disappeared into Ain's body. He could sense Nox's existence, as well as its thoughts and status.

While Ain was sensing the changes, Sage picked up the book he previously retrieved and handed it to Ain.

"Ain, I have another gift for you. This is a Rank-1 core spell, Introspect. It was very helpful to me in my early years. It can allow you to inspect your body and sea of consciousness. This is an innate ability at Rank-2, but it will be a huge boost to your training if you can master this ability early."

Ain received the book and replied, "Thank you."

Sage continued after handing Ain the spell book, "I'm sure you're eager to ask me about how to nurture Nox, but I will not guide you in that regard. I want you to discover your own path and learn things as you go. You've started attending the spirit academy. So, you will learn most of what you need there."

Ain was quiet for a second before he nodded. "I understand."

Just as he finished, the office door opened, and Livia, who had left earlier, walked in.

She looked at Ain before walking up to him with a smile, "Ain, congratulations!"

Sensing that Ain had already contracted a spirit pet, Livia realized that there were too many things to congratulate him for, thus she decided to settle it all with one word.

"Thank you, Ms. Livia." Ain was a little restrained with his mentor, but he was a little more casual with Livia. Although it was his mentor who taught him, Ms. Livia had also played the role of an assistant teacher.

Livia brought forward a small box in her hand and said, "Here, I have a gift for you too."

Ain received the box before observing it.

Seeing Ain's curiosity, Livia explained, "It's a new hololink. It's one of the latest models not available in our city."

Ain was happy with the thoughtful gift. His current hololink was indeed getting old.

"Also, your Cyberspace access has been upgraded to 3-star. It can be very useful to you at this stage."

Hearing this, Ain was even happier. Cyberspace transmission was available at 3-stars. He could finally try to put one of his money-making plans into motion.

Seeing Ain's elation, Livia felt satisfied and proud. The rushed effort was worth it.