Chapter 35: Historical Echo, Activate!
The soft light of the magic lamp illuminated Shaya’s eyes.
He sat at his desk, calmly writing something with a pen.
“…In the Ash Cult’s fire sacrifice incident, I broke through the Third Ring bottleneck and opened my third Soul Pact.”
“Simultaneously, by chance, Yin turned a pollutant from the Ash Cult to her own use and mastered the ability to control the Lord of Ashes’ Blackflame.”
“This incident occurred within Saint Roland Academy and caused a great stir, perhaps it will be noticed by some with ulterior motives, my connection with the Black Tower and with you.”
“However, I believe that given the Black Tower’s status, and your position within it, even if people intend to make a fuss, they likely won’t openly act.”
Shaya paused, refilled his pen with ink, and then continued writing.
“Shanshan and Yin’s attributes are both relatively special. Although their shortcomings can be compensated for in various ways, in direct combat, especially in terms of taking damage, it’s not their forte.”
“Therefore, for my third Soul Pact, I intend to choose a familiar that excels in frontal combat, particularly in the Physical Class.”
“Currently, my familiars’ ability system leans more towards law-based abilities, which presents a weakness in situations requiring pure power.”
“Of course, when Little Ai is present, this weakness instantly becomes our greatest strength, but as you said… no one can defeat a Black Tower wizard armed to the teeth, and a qualified Beast Tamer should not over-rely on the help of others.”
“My current top choice for my third Soul Pact is the Hill Giant race… I heard that one of your colleagues, one of the Black Tower’s Eight Pages, the Dwarf legend known as the Lightning, has a Storm Giant Emperor, a second evolution of a Hill Giant, as one of his main combat familiars.”
“However, the Hill Giant race has intact tribes, and their young are closely protected, often only choosing to form contracts with Beast Tamers after reaching adulthood… This conflicts with my philosophy of nurturing familiars.”
Shaya stopped writing, hesitated for a moment, and then added a few more lines.
“Additionally, I recently discovered some clues about the Azure Court Duchy during an archaeological dig.”
“This was an ancient kingdom that was destroyed hundreds of years ago. According to the clues I obtained, its destruction should be related to an Evil God known as Twilight.”
“This event occurred during the Land of Calamity, and it should also be linked to the establishment of the Cretaceous Tower.”
“As far as I know, the Black Tower also underwent significant changes during the Land of Calamity, with more than one Eight Page falling… Therefore, I believe you might be interested in this information and that lost history.”
“Your student, Shaya Egut.”
After signing, Shaya checked it once more before folding the paper.
He took three Rhine gold coins from a drawer beneath the desk and placed them on top of the paper.
Then, Shaya spoke in a calm voice.
“Heiser.”
“Heiser.”
Shaya paused slightly and repeated the name a third time.
“Heiser.”
After the space of a breath.
Ripples stirred in the windless room.
Within Shaya’s spiritual perception, a strange sense of being peered at suddenly arose.
It did not originate from the Material Plane. That gaze was higher and further, as if it could ignore spatial coordinates, the barriers of planes and dimensions, and directly project onto Shaya.
The next moment, that sense of being peered at slowly faded.
And the folded paper before Shaya, along with the three Rhine gold coins on it—
Disappeared in the blink of an eye, without warning, as if they had never existed in this world.
Such a scene, if witnessed by the vast majority of commoners, or even low-level Beast Tamers, would be regarded as an incomprehensible miracle.
However, Shaya, who knew the inside story, was unfazed.
This was the ability possessed by a familiar of his master, the Golden Elf legend from the Black Tower, who was of the Space Class.
As for the three Rhine gold coins, they could be roughly understood as the summoning fee.
It was precisely because he had witnessed the prestige of high-level Space Class familiars that Shaya had painstakingly tried to develop Shanshan in the direction of the Space Class.
There was no other way. Although the initial investment was high and the results were slow to come—once cultivated, the upper limit of the Space Class was truly high. Purely conceptual gods, on a completely different level from those who breathed fire and water.
Of course, although the letter had been sent, Shaya did not expect a reply in a short time.
His own master was notoriously laid-back and prone to wandering, often so much so that even her own familiars couldn’t find her.
Furthermore, the lifespan of High Elves was extremely long, and their concept of time differed from that of ordinary humans, with dimensional travel lasting for over a decade being a common occurrence.
Since Shaya left the Arcane City of Lokiia, he had not seen his master again. He supposed she was still wandering in some dimensional rift or the void.
Therefore, to Shaya, these letters were less about communication and more like a habit, or perhaps a diary.
Boom—
From the familiar training room not far away, a moderate explosion could be heard.
Immediately afterward, Shaya sensed Shanshan’s barely concealed joy transmitted through their Soul Pact.
The next moment, a dusty golden-haired monkey blinked onto Shaya’s shoulder, its entire body covered in dirt.
Little Golden Monkey was immediately picked up by Shaya in disgust and tossed into the water basin.
However, even while being held under the water and washed by Shaya, the excitement on Shanshan’s face was undeniable.
“Chirp chirp chirp (Master! Master!)”
“Chirp chirp chirp (I’ve mastered it! I’ve mastered it!)”
“I know you’ve mastered it, good job.”
Shaya nodded.
In his mind, lines of azure text slowly appeared.
[Shanshan’s low-level passive skill “Explosion Resistance” has reached proficiency “Perfect.”]
[Shanshan’s low-level skill “Throwing” has reached proficiency “Perfect.”]
[Current Free Experience Points remaining: 10340]
A familiar’s skills were divided into innate racial skills and acquired learning skills.
As for high-level skills like “Tsukuyomi” and “Amaterasu,” which had no prototype in reality, learning them required the consumption of Skill Seeds and the completion of tedious procedures like perfecting the skill’s nascent form.
But for ordinary common mid-to-low-level skills, as long as the familiar’s affinity wasn’t too poor, such as forcing a fire mouse to learn “Surf,” most could be acquired through training.
For instance, to learn “Explosion Resistance” and “Throwing,” Shanshan had endured hundreds of explosions and thrown thousands of stones at targets before mastering them.
Theoretically, investing too much experience into these two unremarkable, common low-level skills seemed like a waste… After all, Shaya hadn’t even invested points into Yin’s less frequently used skills like “Rending Claw” and “Ice Blade.”
However, at this very moment, Shanshan was brimming with confidence in their newly controlled abilities.
“Chirp chirp chirp! (Big sis, if there’s a fight this time, please let me be the first opponent!)”
Hearing Shanshan’s confident chirp from his shoulder, the little mink couldn’t help but flick its tail in exasperation.
“Eee~ (As if I’d snatch your kill.)”
“How about it, do you want to rest for a bit?”
Shaya scooped Shanshan out of the basin, dried it with a towel, and asked.
“Chirp chirp, chirp! (No need, Master! I’m in great shape right now!)”
The little golden monkey’s chirps were still full of vigor, clearly eager to try out its new abilities.
“Then that’s good.”
Shaya placed the little golden monkey back on his shoulder.
He looked at the still quiet meditation room in the distance, pondered for a moment, and walked into the second-floor washroom.
Then, he locked the brass door of the washroom from the inside.
As Shaya’s spirit touched the twisted spatial-temporal imprint deep within his soul, everything around him froze in an instant.
He had once again entered “Historical Echo.”
