The Ascension of Contracted Spirits

Chapter 67 - 66: The First Disciple_1

"Passive Ability, Reversed Nourishment." "All positive growth related to oneself or one’s Fond Spirits will be converted into the form of experience, pouring into the body of the master..."

"Passive Ability, Respecting Teacher’s Ring."

"Upon receiving the blessing from the master, the disciple’s main responsibilities remain unchanged and their abilities forcefully increase..."

"Active Ability, Death Challenge."

"The Holder of the Grey Moon Key obtains the master’s authorization, and therefore has the right to enter. Every 24 hours, they can engage in battle with their Contracted Spirit Fond Spirits..."

The shock on Su Mei’s face as these four pieces of information spilled from her lips was probably the most dramatic thing anyone had seen in her life up to this point.

"Master Han, this..."

"I’ve gained new abilities?!"

Though this information was clearly reflected from her soul, appearing more genuine than gold, Su Mei was first stunned by the immense surprise, leaving her in a daze.

After a moment, she focused on Ye Hanjun, the source of all this, looking both shocked and horrified.

"That’s right. You’ve gained a new ability, and currently, you’re the only one to have received it."

Ye Hanjun adjusts more readily, and the so-called excitement and encouragement only flicker momentarily on his face.

In this world, to set foot on The Path of Controlling Spirits, one must awaken their abilities.

Whether active or passive, you must first possess abilities before having Contract Imprints, and then can seek Fond Spirits to sign contracts with.

Abilities are divided by ’orders’ and ’grades’.

The higher the grade of the ability, the higher the overall capability value will be, not necessarily representing a strong fighting capacity, at the same order.

Ye Hanjun knew well that 99.99999% of people in the market possess their own grades of abilities, which can be identified in specific ways.

But there’s a rare kind of ability that narrowly escapes this system.

These are referred to as ’special abilities’.

This is no secret, even Su Mei knew that there existed a ’Scholar’, a well-known special ability.

In the beginning, this ability could not define quality.

It too is an ’undefined ability’, fitting or not fitting with any Fond Spirit, thus offering an enormous range for choice.

But its growth is highly singular. Those who awaken this ability start in places such as libraries or laboratories, tirelessly learning day by day.

In general, as long as they are willing to endure hardship and go mad.

Fast for fifty years, slow for over a hundred years, from a dashing young man to a mature middle-aged man, to an old man with white hair and beard.

A ’Scholar’ will inevitably grow to the peak of the 3rd Order, then bathe in the sacred light of knowledge and ascend to the 4th Order.

Upon ascending to the 4th Order, the Scholar will return to the norm. Like all abilities, it will trigger the first job transfer.

Insect scholars, nutritionists, archaeologists, relic scholars, natural scholars, element scholars, supernatural scholars...

The old men and women with white hair and a long life will long live again, to have a second youth.

They will unlock areas that are suitable for their deep ploughing, and then have new abilities, with the worst ranking no lower than D-grade.

This is the publicly known special ability.

Of course, there are others.

But with Ye Hanjun’s knowledge, he could not confirm whether the few he had heard of were fictitious legends or real history.

Disciple - arguably the undoubtedly second kind.

This is not awakened at random and can only be assigned by the instructor himself.

Just for this reason, it would be unquestionable to label it as "special".

"However, this ability does not seem to give me additional Contract Imprints...."

After exploring for a while, Su Mei murmured:

"But the passive ability of the ’Respecting Teacher’s Ring’ is too powerful, isn’t it?"

"My physical strength did not enhance arbitrarily, but is based on the forced upgrading of the ’Knight’ ability..."

"Master Han, how did you manage to do it, sweeping away my 20 years of cognition overnight..."

"There are some things I cannot elaborate too much on."

Ye Hanjun shook his head, "Even if ’The Secret Agreement’ exists, I must avoid potential risks as much as possible. I hope you understand."

"Master Han, I was too forward."

Su Mei bowed her head in apology. When she raised her head again, she could not help clenching her fists, with light shining in her eyes.

"Master Han, I am so thrilled right now!"

"Ah... forgive me for not being able to calm down! I find it hard to accept reality with such a significant change all of a sudden!"

"It’s fine." Ye Hanjun revealed a slight smile, speaking in a relaxed tone:

"Tell me, what changes have occurred to your abilities after the upgrade?"

An upgrade means an upward shift in the grade of abilities.

This generally happens during job transfers, but if one has particular means or experiences special opportunities, it can be triggered at any Order.

The upgrade forced by Respecting Teacher’s Ring, of course, differs in nature from a regular upgrade after a job transfer.

In theory, abilities with the same name exist in three grades.

Inferior, Standard, and Superior Level.

The same ’Knight’, if is F-grade after awakening, it means "standard", which is normal.

But "Inferior" and "Superior Level" are rare.

Generally, one Patron out of ten thousand Knights would become G-grade or E-grade.

Both are one-in-ten-thousand probability; the former is a definite weakness, and the latter is a clear enhancement.

The effect Su Mei is currently triggering, leverages her role as a ’Disciple’ to further enhance her core role as a ’Knight’.

She is no longer a standard Knight, but a scarcely seen Superior Knight!

Therefore, her passive ability or active ability will inevitably either...

Be strengthened on the base level, or spawn a new ability, to reach the defining strength of the E-level authority.

"Let me try..."

Still excited, Su Mei hopped onto the back of the pink ostrich in a flash.

She held the large ostrich’s neck, allowing it to carry her around the spacious training room in a wild sprint.

At first, nothing seemed different, the ostrich, having recently urinated all over the place, appeared somewhat listless.

However, by the fourth round, it gradually found its form and began to unleash its true potential.

An entirely focused Ye Hanjun immediately noticed,

The maximum speed of this duo certainly surpassed that of their past reckless run at the street, where they had ingested something wrong.

"I feel like the resistance in front of us has lessened, the wind around us seems to be making way for us, even pushing us forward..."

No matter if it’s superior or inferior, as long as it deviates from the standard.

The weakened or strengthened parts, just can’t be summed up the same way.

With Ye Hanjun’s help, Su Mei eventually classified this effect as a new passive ability she called ’Riding the Wind’.

"Eh, there’s also an active ability!"

As the pink ostrich slowed down, following a period of exploration,

Su Mei, looking at the silver guard on her left hand that she had just summoned, showed surprise.

The guard only covered the palm and wrist area with a very limited area.

Moreover, its color was faint, and a close observation revealed shimmering ripples. It was clearly not actual metal, but rather temporarily condensed energy.

"This ability... consumes a lot of physical strength!"

"It doesn’t weigh much and has a hardness similar to body armor, but I can sense that its true purpose isn’t like this..."

"Huazhu, it’s your turn now. "

In a flash of light, the Desert Witch emerged in the super spacious training room.

One second ago, she was curled up sleeping, the next, her owl-like eyes, with dark yellow vertical pupils, snapped open at Ye Hanjun’s call.

"Buzzzz--"

Not knowing the situation, Huazhu instinctively summoned sand.

Upon seeing that there were only a girl and an ostrich other than her master,

And that ostrich, with a physique far more robust than a human’s,

Just those two legs, thick and long, were two meters tall.

Instinctively, the swirling sand became more violent. Huazhu lowered her body slightly, like a poised leopardess, ready to slide at any moment.

"A...A Witch?!"

Alerted by the arrival of a foreign creature, they both turned their attention toward it.

Su Mei was too curious, she knew next to nothing about Master Han, and her curiosity multiplied hundreds of times after being granted the role of a disciple.

She didn’t expect that the first thing she saw was almost like a signature wizard’s hat.

Su Mei’s heart jolted alert, and her gaze froze instantly.

Further down, the small body, arms with claws, a scorpion tail growing from the spine...

There were lots of scars on the exposed skin, as if she had undergone non-human torture...

Su Mei couldn’t help but exclaim: "Desert Witch?"

"The Desert Witch from the Disabled Fond Spirits Assistance Centre? The Dirty Bone Spirit?!"

"You’ve heard of her?" Ye Hanjun lifted his right eyebrow.

"Ah, I have a senior nurse whom I’m quite close with, she often goes there for volunteer work..."

Su Mei’s voice became more and more indistinct, staring blankly as if trapped in her own world of thoughts.

She couldn’t be wrong.

This must be the Desert Witch from the seventh floor of the Assistance Centre.

Although she looks much cleaner now, and her spirit is totally different.

But the piercing wound on her chest that had not completely healed yet, such a distinctive feature probably wouldn’t duplicate.

"Master Han... How come your Contracted Spirit Fond Spirit... is her?" Su Mei was very confused.

She had also heard various rumors about the Grey Flash.

Although this witch was rare and precious in terms of lineage, her potential was too pitiful, there was no room for improvement.

Of course, before probing into this problem, what puzzled Su Mei even more was... what exactly was Master Han’s level?

Aren’t all the assistants in the academy starting from the 2nd Order? Shouldn’t they already have their Contracted Spirit Fond Spirits?

Could it be that he had suffered a heavy blow before, and the very first Contracted Fond Spirit died accidentally?

If that was the case, it seemed to make sense.

Master Han was still recovering, and the Fond Spirit for the new contract he chose was the Desert Witch...

Lost in her wild thoughts, Su Mei suddenly heard Master Han speak:

"Forgot to tell you, I’m actually only 20 years old."

"This is Huazhu, the spirit partner I signed my first contract imprint with."

"Her existence, just like your current expression, can easily cause controversy."

"To avoid unnecessary trouble, I don’t summon her during classes."

"Huh?" Su Mei’s eyes widened as if she had been hit with a paralysis spell.