Chapter 7: Spirit Summoning
Concentrating her mind, Janna turned her gaze inward.
As her spiritual power gradually coalesced, a verdant green seed suddenly appeared within her soul's vision.
"Why does the system manifest as a seed? Why does it reside within my soul? Where do these daily quests originate?"
A series of questions lodged in Janna's throat, yet she couldn't voice them aloud.
...
Before her rebirth, the original Janna possessed a naturally heightened soul perception, which led to the emergence of the Soul Projection talent.
Later, due to being "scared to death," the original's soul will dissipated.
The reborn Janna, who took over her body, fused with fragments of the original's soul, inheriting the Soul Projection talent.
Furthermore, due to the soul devouring process, Janna's soul strength increased significantly.
The Soul Projection talent, initially assessed as Grade C, directly upgraded to Grade B.
This change once left the old wizard who first evaluated Janna's talents bewildered.
What troubled the old wizard the most was not only his initial misjudgment of the talent's grade but also his oversight of Janna's second talent—Grade B Plant Affinity.
The academy explained this by stating that the magical energy concentration in the Level 3 wizard gathering area far exceeded that of the lower city.
When Janna came into contact with the dense magical particles, her previously dormant talent was reactivated, revealing its true state.
Such cases had occurred in the history of wizardry, so the matter of Janna's "talent mutation" was quickly forgotten by everyone.
However, as the person involved, a reborn individual who inherited fragments of the original's memory and the Soul Projection talent, Janna clearly understood the full picture.
Aside from the fortunate upgrade to a Grade B Soul Projection talent, the Grade B Plant Affinity talent only truly manifested after Janna's rebirth.
The reason behind this could be entirely attributed to the verdant green seed that suddenly appeared within Janna's soul—the Daily Quest System.
Compared to the rarity of the Soul Projection talent, the Plant Affinity talent was much more common.
Moreover, such talents were mostly at Grade D, with even Grade C being rare, let alone Grade B.
What amazed Janna the most was that whenever she entered meditation to communicate with magical energy using her spiritual power, she often experienced the illusion of becoming a mysterious giant tree.
Its canopy reached the sky, roots spreading across the earth, like a martyr sowing life, extending branches to nurture the ecosystem.
Whenever she had this illusion, Janna would resonate with all surrounding plants, achieving a wondrous synchronization.
Because of this, when the Mist Tower's "Guardian," the black cat Bell, found Janna's plant-based talent peculiar, Janna felt a tense sense of her secret being glimpsed.
Fortunately, although the black cat showed doubt, she didn't delve deeper.
"Hu—"
Exhaling gently, Janna watched as the magical plant anomalies around her disappeared, refocusing her attention on meditation.
"Although meditating in areas rich with magical plants inevitably leads to anomalies, the more magical plants there are, the faster I can enter deep meditation, which in turn allows me to absorb magical energy at an exaggerated rate..."
Inhale—exhale—inhale—exhale—
As her consciousness gradually calmed, with Janna's breathing slowing, verdant green light dots once again surrounded her...
...
"A 15-centimeter-long spiritual candle, a silver-faced round mirror, a bottle of spiritual blood, ten grams of laurel flower powder, a soul crystal, a mithril short knife, a piece of sea beast hide..."
Looking at the array of materials before her, Janna's purse of Gold Surrel coins rapidly deflated, causing her to grimace in pain.
"I hope this spirit summoning ritual is worth my investment..."
Even with the advantage of dual talents, Janna currently lacked particularly powerful combat methods.
As a support creature, the Celestial Finch, and her plant-based talent, which at the apprentice level didn't offer many powerful spells, prevented Janna from choosing tasks with high academic credit rewards but also certain risks.
For example, "Hunting Gold-Eating Ants" was a high-risk, high-reward task.
Gold-Eating Ants, being swift, small, and possessing incredible biting force, were group-dwelling magical beasts that weren't affected by Janna's most proficient Vine Bind spell.
However, their fear of fire and cold made this task tailor-made for wizard apprentices with Fire Affinity or Frost Affinity.
"Of course, all difficulties are only temporary."
Recalling some unpleasant memories, Janna shrugged nonchalantly, but when she looked at the spiritual candle before her, her eyes were filled with unwavering determination.
"Hu—"
Taking a deep breath, Janna, having rested for the night, gradually cleared her mind, focusing all her attention on the mithril carving knife in her hand.
"Rip—"
As the knife moved with her intent, Janna swiftly cut the human-sized sea beast hide into a neat 60-centimeter square.
Next, the mithril carving knife emitted a faint white glow, and under Janna's deliberate control, a large amount of spiritual power quickly spread across the blade.
At this moment, Janna's eyes were also covered with a layer of white light.
She dipped the knife tip into the spiritual blood and, following the array design from the "Low-Rank Spirit Summoning Ritual," meticulously drew on the sea beast hide.
As if practiced countless times, each stroke was smooth and graceful.
"Done."
With the final stroke, a complex array pattern, connected by countless spiritual threads, appeared on the sea beast hide. Seeing this, Janna, who had been highly focused, couldn't help but smile.
"Spiritual pathways are stable, the array is completed in one go, the momentum looks good."
Gently placing the mithril carving knife aside, Janna picked up the glass bottle containing laurel flower powder.
Tilting her right hand, the moon-white powder, with a faint laurel fragrance, was evenly sprinkled onto the silver-faced round mirror.
"Drip, drip—"
Picking up the carving knife again, she lightly cut her left palm.
Crimson blood droplets fell from Janna's overly fair hand onto the mirror's surface.
As the blood gradually merged with the laurel flower powder, the already lit spiritual candle was placed by Janna at the center of the round mirror. Her blood-stained right hand held the transparent soul crystal, slowly absorbing the abundant soul power within.
"Great Lord of the Spirit Realm, you are the ruler of the vast star realm. Please hear my will and bestow your boundless power—Spirit Realm's Gate, open!"