Chapter 8: Spirit Realm Plane
"Whoosh—"
The flames surged high, casting flickering shadows from the candles.
As Janna chanted the awkward and lengthy Mykethan incantation, the spiritual candle standing at the center of the round mirror suddenly burst into an enormous flame.
The soaring temperature quickly melted the candle, wax dripping onto the mirror surface drop by drop, until it completely vanished.
"Crack—"
When the final drop of wax fell onto the mirror, a web of spider-silk-like cracks spread across its entire surface.
"Did it work?"
Having finished the chant, Janna stared nervously at the scene before her, which didn’t entirely match the description on the scroll.
"Buzz—"
Just as Janna was wondering, a gentle ripple of light like flowing water suddenly rose from the mirror’s surface.
As the light grew stronger, the round mirror that had been placed in the center of the array began to float mid-air.
"It worked!"
Sensing the aura of the Spirit Realm emanating from the mirror, Janna, knowing the spirit-connecting ritual had succeeded, suppressed her excitement.
She brought her palms together, fingers interlaced, and felt the soul power inside the Soul Crystal held between her hands. Suddenly, her originally pitch-black pupils flared with silver-white light.
"Soul Projection—"
The light in her eyes intensified.
As Janna formally activated her talent, chaotic whispers buzzed in her ears.
Countless multicolored threads swept past her, accompanied by a weightless sensation. Her soul projection followed the mirror's surface and entered the Spirit Realm dimension.
"The nearest coordinates are—there!"
Countless starlights dotted the boundless darkness.
Streams of magic refracted into myriad prismatic dimensional projections.
Now fully focused on executing her soul projection, Janna had no time to take in the surroundings.
She quickly locked onto a dimensional coordinate that appeared to share the same magical origin as her own.
After a brief moment of thought, she turned into starlight and slipped into the dimensional rift.
"So it’s a Spirit Realm plane dominated by thorny vines... no wonder it feels so familiar in terms of magical affinity."
Upon entering the dimensional rift, Janna began cautiously observing the entire plane’s ecology with her soul’s awareness.
Surrounded by an endless forest of thorns, she quickly arrived at a conclusion in her soul-projected form.
"The soul power inside the Soul Crystal can sustain the projection for another half an hour... which means there’s less than an hour left before the ritual ends."
Time was extremely tight, but Janna knew that she could not afford to panic at such a moment.
"According to the scroll, low-rank spirits generally possess low intelligence. Even though they’re adept at using elemental magic, they can hardly defend against soul-type spells... so a surprise attack is actually the most efficient approach."
Feeling the moments slip away, Janna, having finalized her battle strategy, borrowed the power of the ritual to rapidly scan every corner of the thorny forest from the perspective of the plane’s will.
Aside from a few overwhelmingly powerful creatures she had no hope of subduing, and excluding several extremely weak ones, Janna’s soul-sight finally locked onto three suitable planar creatures.
The first, the Marsh Arrow Frog—a dual-element earth and water spirit, living in corrosive swamps within the thorn forest.
It possessed excellent stealth abilities, but its weaknesses were fear of light and inability to stay long away from water.
The second, the Rotleaf Butterfly—a dual-element plant and poison spirit, usually solitary and living on rotting wood.
It too had excellent stealth skills, but feared light and fire.
The third, the Thornflower Sprite—a dual-element plant and poison spirit, solitary, often disguising itself as a bright flower to ambush prey.
Its weakness was fire.
Through the information shared by the plane’s will, Janna easily grasped the nature of these three native species.
After careful consideration, she decided to make the Thornflower Sprite her contract target.
"The Marsh Arrow Frog and Rotleaf Butterfly are decent options too, but their aversion to light limits their combat potential to dark environments, which clashes with my plant-based attributes… whereas the Thornflower Sprite’s weakness is a common issue among all plant spirits."
Decision made, Janna didn’t hesitate.
With the plane’s will concealing her presence, she quickly infiltrated near a Thornflower Sprite.
"Soul Chain—"
In her soul projection form, Janna could instantly cast any soul-type spell.
In a flash, over a dozen shadowy chains—hovering between reality and illusion—firmly bound the Thornflower Sprite.
Before it could react, a complex Contract Array rapidly etched itself beneath it.
"By my will, I command you: Obey my contract, and submit to me—"
Unexpectedly, the Thornflower Sprite offered no resistance to Janna’s soul aura invasion—not even token resistance.
It was easily subdued and bound by Janna through the spirit contract.
"That’s it? That was... too easy?"
Feeling the new contract node appear on her Wizard Tree, Janna couldn’t help but feel that everything had gone a little too smoothly.
"If every future contract could go this smoothly, that’d be perfect."
Not lingering in the mini-plane, Janna immediately severed her soul projection to avoid any unexpected events.
The moment the sensation of weightlessness returned, her consciousness crossed through layered dimensional barriers and finally returned to the main material plane.
"Bang—"
As the ritual concluded prematurely, the floating mirror above the array completed its task and fell to the ground with a crisp sound.
The Sea Beast Hide beneath it, engraved with ritual runes, cracked apart in sheets, utterly ruined along with the shattered mirror.
"Back where you belong—"
Seeing the mess on the floor, Janna casually cast a Cleaning Spell and dumped all the ritual waste into the trash bin beside her lab table. Then she turned and entered the washroom, turning on the faucet to rinse the blood off her hands.
Her left palm, once cut open by the Mithril Short Knife, now showed not even the slightest scar. Her fair hand was as pristine as before.
"Thanks be to the great Lord of the Spirit Realm—for not only allowing me to complete the spirit summoning contract smoothly, but even healing the wound on my hand in the process."
Janna’s Spirit Realm expedition had been exceptionally smooth.
Not only had she easily found a coordinate in a dimension rich in magical resources, but even the plane’s will had actively cooperated, providing her with tremendous convenience.
By the end of the ritual, the great and benevolent Lord of the Spirit Realm had even restored her injured palm, leaving Janna—currently only at Level 8—feeling a bit overwhelmed.
"O great Master of the Astral Realm, your most loyal servant once again offers you her most heartfelt blessings..."