Chapter 55: Formalizing the Pact

The masked man gently opened the book. His lips moved rapidly, producing no audible sound, but there was a strange, rhythmic quality to his movements. Daina felt dizzy, nauseous, and weak in her limbs.

Seeing Daina grow utterly weak, the masked man closed the book and threw it directly onto her body. He drew a short sword and held it at the center of his body. The short sword suddenly burst into gold-orange flames.

A wave of heat washed over Daina. She found it difficult to breathe. She tried to cry out for help, but her body had lost all sensation; she couldn’t even move her lips. Despair filled her, and two streams of clear tears flowed from the corners of her eyes.

I might have gone too far. Ace watched Daina cry and felt a little regretful.

But the arrow was on the string; it had to be shot.

He pointed the burning short sword at Daina and declared: “Today, the pioneer of the path of Magic shall formalize a pact with the person before him!”

The surroundings suddenly darkened. Daina watched as mysterious, unfamiliar patterns appeared on the floor, infused with a blood-red color that intertwined around her and the masked man, forming two blood-colored thrones.

After the two sat down facing each other, a golden light burst forth from the two blood-colored thrones, and a scale made of pure gold appeared between them.

“I will forge a covenant with Daina, with both parties’ mental power and blood as the fundamental objects of reliance.”

Daina suddenly felt as if she had been struck by a heavy blow. A splitting headache hit her. A sharp gust of wind sliced her wrist, and her blood splattered. The wind carried her blood, not a single drop wasted, into the plate of the scale closest to her.

Daina endured the pain, looking at the plate. Besides her fresh blood, she sensed that something invisible was also present in the plate.

Ace looked at her pained expression and, unable to bear it, activated the Life Restoration Spell Model he had just obtained from Athena. A soft white light enveloped Daina.

Daina watched the gentle white light approach, feeling momentarily as if she was back in her mother’s warm embrace.

The white light gradually merged into her body. She felt that her head no longer hurt, and her spirit felt invigorated. She raised her wrist and found that the wound had already healed, leaving only a faint mark.

I can move! Daina suddenly realized. She did not immediately move randomly. The bizarre scene had severely impacted her worldview. She planned to wait for the critical moment before attempting to escape.

“I forgot that this spell also has the effect of removing anomalies.” Ace said with a soft chuckle. “I will have to weaken you once more.”

In Daina’s eyes, the masked man’s lips moved again. She once again felt nauseous and dizzy, losing control of her body.

“The objects of reliance are present. I shall formalize the pact with Daina!”

As Ace spoke, the mysterious book on Daina’s body floated into the air above the scale. Its pages rapidly flipped open. Daina vaguely saw that the entire final page was covered in dense writing.

The scale trembled violently. As the page flipped to the final page, the scale finally stopped trembling.

Golden light burst forth again. The scale transformed into two chains, one end connected to Daina, and the other connected to Ace. Then they vanished.

A portion of Daina’s mental power also integrated into the second page of the Grimoire. From this moment on, she was the owner of this Grimoire.

“From this day forward, the pioneer of the path of Magic, the Torch-Bearer, has formalized a pact with you! I am the torch, you are the tinder. We will walk the future path of Magic together.”

“Keep Secrets, Stand Guard Together, Equivalent Exchange, Respect Knowledge, Seek True Knowledge.”

This phrase continuously echoed in Daina’s ears. Accompanied by the voice, the masked man gradually merged with the darkness and disappeared.

“Hoo, hoo!”

Daina bolted upright in bed, panting heavily. She raised her wrist toward the moonlight and saw that her skin was smooth, with not a single mark.

What was that? It was just a nightmare. That scared me so much.

She patted her chest, exhaling a long breath. As she leaned over to continue sleeping, she suddenly saw a strange book lying there, inscribed with dense straight lines forming a complex, dizzying, unknown pattern.

She rubbed her eyes again and found that the dense straight lines were gone. Only a hexagram pattern remained on the Grimoire, and beneath it was the phrase that kept ringing in her ears: “Keep Secrets, Stand Guard Together, Equivalent Exchange, Respect Knowledge, Seek True Knowledge.”

Her expression suddenly froze. The pre-set Illusion Spell activated. Daina was suggested to uncontrollably move closer to the strange book.

Her hand trembled as she reached out to touch the strange book. It was cold to the touch, and the paper surface was smooth; the strange lines had not created any unusual texture.

A voice seemed to whisper to her, deep and rich.

“Daina, between the first and second pages of the Grimoire, there is a card inscribed with the Lesser Permanent Mental Blessing. Take out the card, turn to the first page, place your hand on the first page, and activate the Equivalent Exchange Ritual on the first page.”

Daina uncontrollably picked up the card of unknown material inscribed with the mysterious pattern. She placed her hand on the first page of the Grimoire. Buzz!

Daina felt utterly weak, as if she had suddenly contracted a severe illness.

As her hand weakly released its grip, a parchment pouch appeared on the first page of the Grimoire.

Time rewinds a few minutes. Ace, in the basement of the estate residence, opened a hidden door.

This was a large hidden room he had secretly created using strong acid. The walls were covered with reinforced rune arrays. On the left side of the room were rows of bookshelves, sparsely filled with a few books on the Magic system.

One of them shone with light. The light carried magical information and flew to the altar in the center of the hidden room. The altar was covered with dense rune arrays, and a large transparent glass sphere, covered in runes, stood in the center of the altar.

This was a glass sphere produced by the glass workshop. Ace infused it with Mana, turning it into a magical material, and then inscribed it with rune structures.

The light flew into the center of the glass sphere. The sphere showed images of Daina and her surroundings, clearly visible.

Subsequently, a gigantic Grimoire beneath the glass sphere flipped open. On the right side of the hidden room were rows of shelves with different labels, holding various Casting Materials.

As the gigantic Grimoire flipped, a parchment pouch on one of the Casting Material shelves flew up and landed on the rune array in front of the sphere of light. After a moment of distortion, the Equivalent Exchange Rune flashed. The parchment pouch vanished.

In its place, a surge of vibrant life force, following the rune array, transformed into Mana and entered the black foundation beneath the glass sphere. The foundation material was the same as the Grimoire’s spine, and the Spirit of the Book was sleeping on top of it.

This was the cost of the ritual. The entire ritual requires a cost. Since the item exchanged was small, the cost was also low. If the item exchanged was more precious or larger, it might not be enough even to drain Daina’s life force.

“This is your first lesson, Daina. To gain anything, you must pay an equivalent price.”

Ace shook his head and murmured to himself.

“According to the covenant, when the Grimoire’s contractor enters meditation, one-fifth of the Mana and mental power gained will be deducted and stored in the Grimoire’s spine to nourish the mental imprint. Periodically, half of this Mana and mental power will be transmitted through a ritual to maintain the normal operation of the signal. I hope Daina grows quickly and becomes self-sufficient.”

“Anyway, she will just spend one-quarter more time meditating than normal. She shouldn’t blame me. After all, if you want to gain something, you must first pay the price.”

Daina lay still for a long time, feeling her body recover slightly. She opened the pouch. Inside was a powder that shimmered with starlight.

Under the suggestion of the pre-set spell, she picked up the card of unknown material inscribed with the mysterious pattern—the Lesser Permanent Mental Blessing.

As her hand made contact with the card, the spell successfully activated. Magical energy pulsed. The powder inside the parchment pouch lifted without any wind, forming a complex and mysterious pattern in front of her.

The pattern hovered in the air for a moment, suddenly shrank, and flew toward Daina’s brow.