'What an obvious lie like anyone would fall for' Cael thought but it is proved wrong the next second.
"That is so like you Efreet"
'She's Marid for sure'
"I see, I won't get the truth out of you. Then, I don't want a contract with you"
Listening to Cael's words, Efreet tensed up "Hey, don't come to conclusions quickly. Okay, I want to roam outside but I can't without human support. Also, the shamans I met are pathetic, people like you are rare to find"
Cael asked remembering something "Nixie, Even if the first contract is a hoax, what about the second contract?"
"It's a true pact, I used Life contract with my true name" Nixie replied quickly.
Efreet hearing the words, exclaimed in a serious tone, unlike her initial childish tone.
"Marid, are you crazy? Did you enact a Life contract with him? Are you crazy?!!"
"He saved me, Efreet," Nixie said weekly.
"Saved? Still, that doesn't make sense, Connect with me and show me your past"
Efreet still mad at Nixie decided to look at Nixie's memories. After seeing them and Cael's abilities, she calmed down and warned Cael.
"I would have cursed you if I found that you tricked her"
" Whatever"
"Still, this only reinforced my decision to make a pact with you. You are not bad, After seeing her memories, I can make a Life contract with you, how about it?"
Cael is not surprised but still has some doubts so, he asked " I would die after some centuries, what do you do then, isn't it your death sentence?"
"I can sense others life-span and you do not have one"
"Didn't you say you can't sense anything about me?"
"This is different, As a High fire spirit I am the embodiment of consumption, You are not consuming your lifespan and can potentially live forever"
'Not bad' Cael thought and asked the next important question.
"What benefits do I get?"
"You can use all my heat and fire spells, be immune to fire and heat of all kinds, you will be immune to possession, you can cause Heat disasters like drought and hail storms, you can share my senses too. I can increase your lifespan by consuming your magical energy but you are already immortal in a sense. So, it's of no use to you"
'The benefits are disappointing but still, having a High-level spirit as a familiar is not bad and the offensive might of Efreet is not bad '
"Alright, let us enter the contract"
"However, there is a condition. Only I and Marid can be your spirits. You shall not make contracts with any more spirits like us"
"And why is that?"
"You have an inherent hate towards summoning and contracts. It's passively affecting Marid and I will be affected too, the more contracts you have the greater the weakening our spirits will suffer"
'Is this the effect of daemons? It makes sense then'
Cael loathed the concept of summoning. So, he can understand the subconscious thought affecting the spirits.
"Is this why you mentioned that I can't enter any more contracts? " He asked Nixie.
"Yes" Nixie answered.
"Very well, I accept your condition"
With the true names of Efreet and Cael, they successfully formed a contract.
Efreet returned to her cheerful self and vanished. Cael can still feel the connection with her.
Nixie stayed behind and said "Cael, I'm sorry I lied to you, I feared you would trick me after knowing my true name "
Cael didn't mind the lie as he still got the benefits regardless of the null conditions "I don't mind Nixie, you are just being cautious"
"Thanks for understanding me Cael"
"So, should I address you Marid from now on?"
"No, I like the name given by you. I may not be able to change my true name but I treasure the name given by you"
After establishing a successful connection with two elements. Cael returned to continue his experiments with Magecraft he found.
He found one interesting detail regarding the ritual magecraft.
"The Ancestor of the Valueletta initially wanted to enact a ritual with element stones but he must have found that he couldn't complete it or something must have happened to abandon it changing his goal to mutating the Mystic code"
He studied the rituals he memorized and found a ritual involving the stones, It is too much of a coincidence that there is an elemental stone in the Tomb.
Also, who would leave mystic codes like that, The mystic code is easily a supreme-level mystic code, only in possession of Lords of the Clock-tower.
It doesn't make sense.
"The success of this ritual will make one's emotions controllable and enact the Emotion magecraft with ease, this is just the side effect. The main effect of this ritual is a chance to reach the root by sending the spirit into a path but the chance is closer to zero with the presence of Counterforce"
Emotion magecraft deals with controlling phenomena and people through various emotions.
It's more of an Empathic casting.
"It's not a bad idea to try it. I already have the path to Root. So, If I modify this ritual I can theoretically get the 'key' with this ritual"
He started modifying the Emotion Magecraft so, that he could cast it and get the hang of it.
"Enchant: skip, Happy kitty"
Combining the Origin Magecraft with Emotion Magecraft, he's able to skip the part where he has to feel the emotions and used the Aria to use happy emotions.
All his homunculus in his cottage began to crawl on four legs and meow like cats.
Cael laughed hysterically at that and stopped the spell.
"Okay, that's hilarious and cute but seriously, this Magecraft is not bad. Manipulating Masses with this magecraft is as easy as breathing. Let's try another spell"
"Enchant: Skip, Melancholy"
After he completed the incantation, the surroundings changed into a beautiful grassland with a beach on its shore.
"That's a powerful illusion. Now then on to next course of action, Since I need to construct the Holy Grail anyway, I could complete the ritual simultaneously"
He modified the Ritual and left his cottage to search for a Leyline.
If the earth is a life form, Leylines are like its heartbeat of it. Powerful Magical energy flows through the Leylines.
A Holy Grail is just a mass of pure
Magical energy. Its wish-granting concept is given to it with the concept of the Holy Grail that is drenched in Christ's blood.
But since this grail is not a divine artifact, it's not a true divine item and is limited in many ways. Like its Omnipotent wish granting is false.
It cannot grant wishes without Outside intervention.
Still, this useless item has a defensive mechanism where it can summon servants to protect itself.
Cael decided to use the leyline to create it with the shards he have and also perform the Elemental ritual on the same leyline.
"But where do I find one? Most of them are already occupied. I could only patiently find them, meanwhile, I should collect the Earth and Wind element stones"
After his research, Cael returned to Clock Tower and applied to change in departments.
He applied for the Department of Archeology as a freelancer.
Of course, this caused a stir in the Clocktower as the Revolutionary of Department of Creation leaving it is a big issue.
This caused the two lords of the creation department and the Archeology Department to act quickly.
To make sure things don't go out of hand, the Vice-Director and Queen of clock tower Barthomeloi Lorelei intervened and act as a mediator.