The Ascension of Contracted Spirits

Chapter 33 - 32: Seal of the Witch_1

Ye Hanjun raised his eyebrows, visibly intrigued.

Seeing his fearlessness, the elder was used to it, and reminded him once more:

"Young man, I advise you to be realistic, staking your future on a gamble is rather pointless."

"The last time someone made a contract with a Fond Spirit here was probably eight years ago."

"But not long after, I heard that he met his end under the claws of the Fond Spirit, his body mutilated to the extent where it was impossible to piece back together."

The elder sighed heavily and took a step back, his expressions fading, gradually merging with shadows:

"Go ahead, take a tour and leave early."

"The Fond Spirits here need rest, do not disturb them, remember."

Ye Hanjun nodded, it was unclear if he was listening or not.

With a surging curiosity, he carried on.

To him, the dark and profound corridor was as bright as daylight, offering no concealment from his senses.

"Whoosh--"

A gust of cold wind passed by, a low-rank Fond Spirit barely holding onto life weakly gasped for breath.

Ye Hanjun looked closely at a skeletal four-legged creature in a cage about two hundred square feet large on his left side, its body constantly trembling. It looked truly terrifying.

" Neigh!"

It was a horse, spooked by the presence of a stranger, it abruptly lifted its head revealing deep-seated fear on its face.

It seemed as if, if Ye Hanjun were to let out even a little growl, it would drop dead on the spot, bidding goodbye to this world.

"An armored horse?" Ye Hanjun was slightly taken aback.

In his mind, an image of a majestic horse in formidable armor, charging through enemy lines unscathed arose.

What on earth is this in front of me? So weak and not a piece of armor in sight.

Its skin was utterly bare, like a plucked chicken, pitiable and defenseless.

"Has someone forcibly removed its armor?"

Ye Hanjun speculated randomly, "It doesn’t seem so, it seems more like a skin disease..."

"Either it has consumed a spiritual medicine incompatible with its constitution, or hit by some strange poisonous insect...the poison is bizarre and hard to cure..."

Ye Hanjun felt a twinge of sympathy and a twinge of regret.

Although the armored horse is not known for its long distance running abilities, it can’t run a thousand miles a day.

It is still considered a high-quality Fond Spirit mount, especially after activating its racial skill ’Iron Armor Charge’, it’s unstoppable.

Any novice knight of standard rank, upon forming a contract with an armored horse, will shine among their peers.

If we take Su Mei’s Pink Ostrich as a comparison, the armored horse may even fight a superior opponent, the difference quite stark.

"It might take some time, but maybe I could cure it..."

"But an armored horse is too bulky, it doesn’t really suit my needs, it’s worth 80 points of value to a ’Knight’, but to me it’s only worth 70 points, not quite tempting enough..."

Thinking thus, Ye Hanjun gradually retreated, no longer disturbing the frightened sick horse.

All life has its own fate, often times, letting nature take its course is the best outcome.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Far away, a terrifying aura stirred, and the killing intent skyrocketed.

A Fond Spirit, for some unknown reason, suddenly went berserk, attacking the prison’s seals.

Due to its massive presence, it instantly attracted Ye Hanjun’s attention.

He sauntered over and found a massive, grey centipede over five meters long.

Bloodied, its body covered in lacerations and countless battle scars, it was slamming its body into the thick bars of the cage with abandon, appearing both valiant and crazy.

"Half mad. Wonder what upset it so much..."

Ye Hanjun stood watching for nearly a minute, as the centipede known as the ’Rust Centipede’, one of the insect Fond Spirits, gradually calmed down.

But it had only temporarily given up on attacking the cage, instead pacing in circles in its trajectory.

Clockwise, counter-clockwise.....round and round.

In no time it started climbing the walls again, moving from the left to the right and back again....over and over again. Its countless feet moved blurly fast, truly dizzying.

This time, Ye Hanjun didn’t bother wondering about the cause of the Rust Centipede’s agitation.

The most noteworthy feature of this kind of Fond Spirit was the "Rust Poison".

Anyone poisoned would suffer from organ rot. If not promptly treated, they would die from organ failure.

Other than that, the Rust Centipede was not particularly outstanding. It was just relatively rare due to its long reproduction cycle.

Ye Hanjun wasn’t interested in its past, he didn’t want to waste time.

"Ribbit! Ribbit! -Hurrk!"

The third unfortunate beast was a frog.

When Ye Hanjun saw it, he couldn’t help but pinch his nose and quickly moved away with his eyes averted.

It was so disgusting, it was actually a vomiting frog!

How has this species not gone extinct? Why does it even exist?!

"Hurrk--"

The frog behind him was still vomiting, filling the spacious area with its vomitus.

Ye Hanjun moved a hundred meters away until he couldn’t smell the appalling stench anymore, and his nauseating discomfort gradually disappeared.

However, his eyebrows were still furrowed, wishing he could immediately fly back to his villa and wash everything from his hair to his toes.

"I don’t understand, aren’t vomit frogs one of the least popular species? Would the rescue center even be willing to breed such Fond Spirits?"

With disdain in his heart, Ye Hanjun vaguely remembered.

The vomit frog he saw just now seemed to be a bit bigger than the common variety, and there were extras growths on the skin.

Could it be that due to the mutation, it was judged to have research value, so it was kept here?

Ye Hanjun kept quiet. Mutation in Fond Spirits was also a major research field, involving vast knowledge as vast as an ocean.

From this perspective, he could barely understand.

However, vomit frogs are too repulsive.

Just like finding a dead fly in a delicious meal, it seriously ruins the mood and isn’t worth pondering about.

"No wonder no one contracts with them. If they are not severely tortured by illnesses and have limited time, they are either peculiar or have hidden drawbacks... Even if the new Patrons are naive, they can’t be that naive..."

Ye Hanjun skimmed through the seventh floor.

The ’Horned Ape’ with drastic changes in behavior, the ’Velvet Beetle’ that was listless, the ’Wolf Pig’ that had lost its intellect...

The most impressive was an ’Echoing Tail Vine’, as a demon plant Fond Spirit, it had superior bloodline.

Normally, it could lure prey with its tail and then use its winding-like skills to entrap and restrain.

However, the Echoing Tail Vine that Ye Hanjun saw had extreme mental disorders.

One moment it would treat itself as a snake, twisting and turning in the cage, and in the next moment, it would treat itself as a stone, remaining motionless.

If one is determined to contract with such a Fond Spirit, it’s not impossible.

However, it would require dozens or hundreds of times the effort to help correct its cognition.

And if it’s not acquired but an innate defect, one would need to prepare a series of extraordinary resources to variably assist it...

"Meng, since we’re here, let’s check out the seventh floor too."

"It’s a bit gloomy here, but situations like that of the Solitary Shadow Wolf definitely won’t happen here. The defensive measures here are of a completely different level, so you can rest assured..."

A familiar voice rang out, and Ye Hanjun frowned.

Originally on the seventh floor, there was only him as a visitor.

Now it suddenly became lively. In addition to Jiang Haowen and Jiang Meng, there seemed to be two other unfamiliar students.

The four formed a new team, crossing the Watcher’s boundary together, and shuttling through the aisles like tourists.

By pure coincidence, they didn’t tour from the beginning to the end, but from the end to the beginning.

Listening to the sound of footsteps, they were approaching his direction, getting closer and closer.

"I hope they won’t bring me any new troubles..."

Ye Hanjun muttered to himself, brushing off his distracting thoughts.

His expedition to the rescue center was probably going to be a disappointment.

There weren’t any Fond Spirits here that were high-quality and unique enough to catch his interest.

It seems he must consider other options.

"Meng, have you ever seen such a type of Fond Spirit before?" Jiang Haowen’s tone was slightly proud.

Jiang Meng complied: "Yeah, in the biosphere of the Giant Frog Marsh, even the Subhuman Race, which should be numerous as hairs on an ox, is quite rare and not often seen."

"This Fond Spirit bearing the seal of the ’Witch’ is a rare species anywhere. The fact that the rescue center has one... today is indeed an eye-opener..."

"A Witch?"

Ye Hanjun didn’t intend to eavesdrop, but he passively overheard, and a flash of lightning seemed to flash through his eyes.

He immediately released more perception, and the faint whisper he had picked up became clear:

"Senior, why would the rescue center have a witch? Isn’t it a wisdom type of Fond Spirit? Why would they want to imprison it here?"

"This, you guys don’t know?" Jiang Haowen showed off his knowledge and explained:

"As far as I know, this witch was sent by a senior student from the upper grades. It has been here for several months."

"When it first arrived, its hands and feet were shackled with iron cuffs, and a metal tag with the words ’Jin Kela’ was hanging around its neck... Do you guys know what this means?"

After a short pause, the scene turned awkward as Jiang Meng and two other unfamiliar students remained silent.

Jiang Haowen coughed to cover up the embarrassment and continued:

"This is a private mercenary group near the Giant Frog Marsh."

"They only take on clean jobs and only serve wealthy patrons, carrying out high-risk, high-return tasks."

"Obviously, the witch with the metal tag was once captured by Jin Kela, lost her freedom, and became a slave."

"...Later, a ’journalist’ revealed information, and the Jin Kela squad of more than a dozen people were completely wiped out. The auction items supplied to a certain underground black market also disappeared...Some people suspect that the senior student who brought the witch to the rescue center was the eradicator of the evil forces, indirectly changing the witch’s fate."

"Who is so powerful to wipe out a whole mercenary group, often hustling around dangerous jobs, single-handedly?"Jiang Meng was extremely curious.

"I don’t know, nobody disclosed the specific information."

"But it seems she didn’t care about the witch’s life or death, she simply left her here and never followed up."

"Why? Even Fond Spirits of witches are not good enough, are her requirements that lofty?" Another female student asked, puzzled.

"Who knows." Jiang Haowen murmured, "By the way, this witch is abnormal, there’s no doubt about that."

"She is not a standard Desert Witch, according to the term in the Circle of Patrons, labeling her as a ’Dirty Bone Spirit’ is more appropriate."

"Of course, there’s a more ancient and official term, you might have heard of it."

"Yep...That’s right, it’s ’Grey Flash’, a rarity among its kind, the ’Grey Flash’!"