Chapter 323 : Contract Summoning Ritual
Chapter 323: Contract Summoning Ritual
「How strange. This witch robe is clearly also a『Witch Robe for Transfiguration Use』, so why did it get pierced by a branch?」
After changing into a new witch robe, Janna looked at the green robe in her hand, now essentially ruined, with a trace of confusion in her eyes.
This ruined robe was the latest summer model of the Vine Witch Robe, gifted by the Necromancy Group at the start of summer this year. By all rights, its quality shouldn’t be this poor.
「Unless, the branch that sprouted from my back at that time wasn’t caused by transfiguration, but—was actually a part of my body.」
At that thought, Janna turned around and stood at the center of the Closed Cultivation Chamber once more, transforming again into the "Tree Person" form. She allowed branches to crazily grow from every part of her body. But only a moment later, she returned to her human form.
「So strange.」
Looking at the still perfectly intact witch robe on her body, the confusion in Janna’s eyes hadn’t faded.
「Could it really be a problem with the robe’s quality?」
After pondering for a while, Janna stopped dwelling on this minor issue. She stored the damaged robe into the Thorn Bracelet, then pushed open the door and left the Closed Cultivation Chamber, walking toward the elevator at the end of the corridor.
「Ding—」As the mechanical elevator doors slowly opened, Janna, who had boarded the elevator, returned from the ninth floor of the Magic Tower to the first floor.
She walked straight toward the location of the Magic Crystal Wall.
「Good evening, Miss Bell.」
「Good evening—... Hmm? You’ve advanced again?」
The black cat Bell, who had been dozing atop the Magic Crystal Wall, immediately perked up when she saw it was Janna, whom she hadn’t seen for a while. Stretching out of habit to greet her, Bell suddenly froze, staring at Janna in astonishment.
「Yes.」
Hearing Janna’s affirmation, the black cat Bell was extremely surprised that she had advanced to a third-tier witch apprentice in such a short time, yet this was not beyond her expectations.
After all, this was someone who not only possessed double-A grade 【Witch Talents】, but also controlled several 【Law Fragments】—a monster-level genius.
「What are you here to exchange for this time? Still witchcraft? But I don’t think I have any more witchcraft you can study here, do I?」
「I want to exchange for some materials for the 【Contract Summoning】 ritual.」
Just as Bell had said, among the 【Witchcraft】 stock at White Coral Academy, anything even remotely related to plants or spirit types had long been exchanged by Janna when she was just promoted to a second-tier witch apprentice.
Among the witchcrafts remaining on the Magic Crystal Wall now, even if there were some suitable for a third-tier witch apprentice, they were mostly of dark attribute, or the elemental types of water, fire, wind, and earth—none of which suited Janna, who belonged to both the summoning and plant categories.
The reason for this situation, apart from White Coral Academy's limited resources, was also due to the rarity of pure white witch apprentices in the academy who cultivated positive magic particles, like Janna.
「Ritual materials, huh?」
Sensing the strong plant aura from Janna, the black cat Bell would sometimes unconsciously overlook her identity as a summoning-type apprentice.
「Are you paying with credits or Gold Surels?」
「Credits.」
「Alright, go ahead.」
As the materials for the 【Contract Summoning】 ritual flew out from Bell’s dimensional pouch, Janna pressed her index finger against the fingerprint scanner on the Magic Crystal Wall and completed the credit transaction.
「Miss Bell, I’ll be off now.」
After storing all the ritual materials into her Thorn Bracelet, Janna bid farewell to Bell.
「Little apprentice—」
Just as Janna had turned to leave, Bell’s voice suddenly called out from behind her.
「Good luck.」
Though momentarily surprised by the sudden blessing, Janna’s face still lit up with a sincere smile.
「Thank you for your blessing, Miss Bell.」
The sound of footsteps gradually faded away. As the slender figure completely disappeared from view, a conflicted expression flickered across Bell’s cat face.
She sighed softly and silently lay back atop the Magic Crystal Wall.
「I hope you don’t repeat the same mistake, little apprentice.」
「Zhe zhe li li—」
The night was dim. Only after stepping out of the Magic Tower did Janna realize that a light, cooling rain was falling outside.
Seeing this, a green light faintly flickered from Janna’s hand, and a giant morning glory, large enough to match half of Janna’s body, suddenly grew out from beside her feet.
「This kind of weather is actually quite suitable for traveling, at least for water-elemental apprentices.」
After advancing to a third-tier witch apprentice, water-elemental apprentices naturally gained the ability to partially transfigure into elemental form.
In water-elemental form, the body of a water-elemental apprentice became indistinguishable from ordinary water flow—not only capable of free transformation, but also able to perform elemental jumping through various liquids... and rainwater was one such natural medium for jumping.
Of course, as a plant-elemental apprentice, Janna could also perform elemental jumping. However, her prerequisite for doing so was the presence of plants in the surroundings.
「Splash, splash—」
As the rain grew heavier, Janna plucked the morning glory using a vine and held the stem like a makeshift umbrella. With the sound of rain in her ears and enjoying the rare coolness in the heat of summer, she walked unhurriedly toward the dormitory building.
「Ding—」
As the elevator doors slowly opened, Janna, still holding the morning glory, lightly shook off the raindrops from its petals, then used a vine to gather the petals and placed it by the dormitory entrance.
「Miss Janna, you’re finally back!」
Since Janna had been staying in the Closed Cultivation Chamber for the past few days, the dormitory Door Spirit, who hadn’t seen her for a while, spoke with a voice that trembled slightly from excitement.
「I’m back, Door Spirit—this flower is for you.」
After tidying her hair behind her back, Janna took out a few small yellow-and-white flowers she had just picked at the dormitory entrance and handed them to the Door Spirit.
「Ah! Thank you, Miss Janna. These flowers are really beautiful.」
「As long as you like them.」
Having known the Door Spirit for nearly two years, Janna naturally understood its preferences. Aside from fragrances, the Door Spirit’s favorite things were flowers full of vitality.
「Good night! Miss Janna!」
Seeing Janna enter the room, the Door Spirit, holding the fresh flowers, hastily and cheerfully bid her good night.
「Good night, Door Spirit.」
Bang—As the dormitory door closed, Janna noticed the thin layer of dust on the floor and immediately cast two 【Cleaning Spells】—one on the dormitory and one on herself. She swept all the dust into the trash can beside the workbench.
「Since there’s still some time left tonight, I might as well sort out the【Contract Summoning】ritual materials in advance—」