The day after Rio and Latifa settled into the village...
Rio was receiving a lesson on spirit arts from Ursula and Orphia in a
courtyard near their house.
"Lord Rio, you mentioned you used spirit arts by imitating sorcery, but
that isn't the real way to use spirit arts. Let's start by explaining what spirit
arts actually are."
"Please do."
"Hm... The concept of spirit arts can be very abstract and difficult to
understand, but you've already acquired all the technical skill required to use
them. Not to mention the fact that you've formed a contract with an upper
ranked spirit. You'll be a top-notch spirit arts user in no time," Ursula said
with a merry smile, before continuing.
"Let me start from the beginning. Spirit arts are techniques that
manipulate ode to impart your will into mana, causing phenomena that alter
the world around us. Ode is life energy... or what the humans refer to as
magic essence, while mana is the energy of nature itself. Since you can use
spirit arts, you must be able to detect and visibly see ode, as well as detect the
presence of mana. Would that be correct, Lord Rio?"
"That's right. I can see and detect ode. With regards to mana, I can't see
it with my eyes, but I have been able to feel a strange power in the air at
times. I wasn't entirely certain about it until now, though."
Ever since the first time he used spirit arts in this world — no, since he
was taught how to use spirit arts by that mysterious girl — a sixth sense had
awakened within Rio. His senses had become sharper, allowing him to feel
things far beyond his former abilities.
Looking back now, that girl must have been my contract spirit.
She had appeared in his vision like an illusion, leaving him with the bare
minimum of advice before disappearing once more. Rio recalled how, back
then, the girl had appeared extremely exhausted, and Dryas' comment about
how she had fallen into a deep sleep certainly seemed correct.
"I see. Normally, it would take a great amount of training to reach that level of mastery, but it seems like Lord Rio is an exception due to the
contract with a spirit of at least a high rank."
"Does the ability to use spirit arts enhance when a contract with a spirit is
formed?"
"You may think of it in that way. A spirit arts user and a contract spirit
are deeply linked together. Spirits are manifestations of mana that have their
own, clear consciousness. They have an extraordinary affinity towards spirit
arts, which is the act of manipulating mana itself."
"...Spirits are manifestations of mana with their own clear consciousness,
you say?"
Rio wondered what it meant for mana — the energy of nature itself — to
obtain its own consciousness and become a spirit.
"Hm. It's like I said earlier — Spirit arts are techniques that manipulate
ode to impart your will unto mana, causing phenomena that alter the world
around us. The reason why this happens is because mana itself has a vague
sense of consciousness. Spirits are beings of mana that, under some
miraculous alignment of circumstances, come to form their own clear sense
of self."
"I see... That's why they can create their own form and communicate.
What kind of forms can spirits take outside of humanoid ones?"
"It would be faster if you saw it for yourself. Orphia..."
"Yes, Head Elder. Ariel."
Prompted by Ursula, Orphia nodded and called out the name of her own
contract spirit. Particles flowed together and gathered beside her to form a
four-meter-long eagle-like creature. Rio swallowed back a gasp at the
phenomenon that had just occurred before his eyes.
"Spirits normally reside within the user's body in their spirit form, but
they can take on a physical form like this when summoned. To a spirit, the
arts user's body is a source of ode supply. It's comfortable for them to stay
there."
"Can it speak like Dryas can?" Rio asked as he watched Ariel fool
around with Orphia.
"It cannot. It can understand our words, and has a simple telepathic
connection to its arts user, but only humanoid spirits can hold conversations.
Once your spirit awakens, Lord Rio, you should be able to converse with it
all you like."
"Yes... There's a lot I'd like to ask once it wakes up."
"Hm. If there's anything you don't know at this point, we can try to
answer you to the best of our ability."
"Thank you very much. Then, to start... I've always wondered why I
couldn't obtain any magic through spell contracts before. Up until now, I
assumed it was because I had a peculiar physical make-up... but could this
also be caused by my contract with a spirit?"
Spell contracts were one type of sorcery: a ritual that absorbed formulas
into the body through sorcery, allowing magic to be obtained. However, all of
Rio's attempts to make a contract until now had always failed at the stage
where he had to take the formula into his body, forcing the ritual to come to
an abrupt halt. He had never once succeeded at the ritual.
"Exactly. Taking a spell formula into the body is essentially like turning
the human body into an artifact. In other words, it turns a natural being into
an unnatural one. And spirits are natural existences — they wouldn't want
their contracted body to become unnatural."
"Thank you. My longstanding question has finally been answered. This
means that if I hadn't formed a contract with a spirit, I would have been able
to acquire magic through formula contracts, right?"
"That would be the case, yes. But in return, you would no longer be able
to use spirit arts. Magic is similar to spirit arts in that it manipulates ode to
make mana alter reality. However, in the case of magic, the mana is being put
to work by the formula instead of the user. When the formula is within the
body, mana becomes unable to accurately perceive the will of the user."
"So it's either one or the other when it comes to spirit arts and magic.
Once you learn one, you can no longer learn the other... I can understand that
much, but is there a particular reason why spirit arts haven't spread at all in
the Strahl region?"
"You may not have noticed it yourself, Lord Rio, but spirit arts are much
more difficult to learn than magic. I touched upon this in the beginning, but
to use spirit arts, you must be able to detect ode, visibly perceive ode, and
detect mana. However, the only requirement magic needs is the ability to
detect ode. Out of all the intelligent beings out there, humans have especially
low affinity towards spirit arts. Since magic is easier to acquire, it is
emphasized as the foundation for humans to learn. And in the case of the
Strahl region, the Seven Wise Gods were also deeply involved in bestowing
magic upon the humans living there."
"The... Seven Wise Gods? Not the Six Wise Gods?"