Yggdrasil territory.
It was a closed-off area surrounded by a forest with a World Tree the size of a tower, adjusted for elves to live in exclusively.
Reed rode a sky carriage and parked it at the top of the World Tree.
Parking there was a radical treatment that even the master of the Greenwood Tower couldn't do.
The elf elder representative, Yustina, was standing there.
Yustina greeted him by making a fist with her right hand and wrapping her left hand around it in a salute.
"It's an honor to see you again, Tower Master of Silence, Benefactor Rosaria."
"Hello!"
Rosaria bowed her head in greeting.
"Rosaria, that's not how you greet elves. You have to greet them like your father."
"Is that so?"
"It's fine. What can't you do for a benefactor?"
It was even to the point where she allowed them to touch her ears, which was the biggest offense to elves, so the greeting could pass as a cute gesture.
"Welcome to Yggdrasil territory, benefactor."
"Benefactor."
All the elves they encountered greeted Rosaria with clenched fists.
"What's a benefactor?"
"It means they're grateful to Rosaria."
"What did Rosaria do?"
"Remember when you made the trees grow rapidly?"
"I see!"
She still seemed unaware of how significant her actions were.
"I heard you want to make a contract with a spirit."
While walking through the World Tree, Yustina spoke.
Reed nodded his head.
"Yes."
"Spirits are playful. The way to keep them from being capricious is with a calm mind and purity. Only those who can maintain that are consistent. That's why our elves can handle spirits well."
"I'm not sure about the calm mind, but I think Rosaria is a perfect fit for purity."
Yustina smiled.
"As you said, the benefactor is more than qualified. That's why I brought you here."
At that, Reed looked at the place Yustina had guided them to.
Located roughly in the middle of the World Tree, there was an altar in the middle of an open space where rituals were performed.
"After discussing with the elders, we decided it's okay for you to make a contract with him."
"With him?"
He sensed that this person was not to be taken lightly since they used an honorific.
"The Water Spirit King, Orneptos."
"The Water Spirit King?"
Yustina placed her hand on the World Tree.
The green and brown stem of life gradually became transparent, revealing its interior.
It was a blue aquarium.
It was similar to the blue pillar that made up the Magic Tower, but it was on a different level.
While the Magic Tower had an imposing presence created by forcefully pulling it up, the mana pillar of the World Tree looked like a school of fish swimming up a passage.
'Naturalness.'
The elves, a symbol of harmony.
Their World Tree was so beautiful.
In the middle of the vast World Tree, there was a round sphere with a diameter of 2 meters.
"What you see in the middle is Orneptos."
"It feels more like an egg than a Spirit King."
"He's in hibernation. He's waiting for a contractor."
Yustina looked at Reed with her green eyes.
"There are six elements on the continent right now. And there are three who have contracted with their Spirit Kings."
"Fire, light, and darkness?"
"That's right. It seems humans know about it too."
Reed alone knew this fact.
He had learned it while playing “Disaster 7”.
Reed knew two of the three.
The Fire Spirit King belonged to the Tower Master of Vortex.
The Light Spirit King belonged to the current Pope.
Although Freesia was the most likely candidate for the Dark Spirit King, Reed had seen nothing when he used his "Talent Appraisal" and fell back into the mystery.
"Orneptos will remain here, asleep until a new contractor appears."
Yustina looked down at Rosaria.
"And we hope that our benefactor will become Orneptos' contractor."
Reed, who had only thought of a higher-ranking spirit, ended up making a contract with the Spirit King unexpectedly.
As he looked up at the sphere with a bewildered expression, Rosaria tugged at Reed's sleeve and asked.
"Dad, who is Orneptos?"
"He's the Spirit King. The king of the water spirits."
"So I'm going to make a contract with the king?"
Rosaria had an interested look on her face.
Unlike the excited Rosaria, Reed wasn't entirely happy with the contract.
'I had a teammate who made a contract with the Earth Spirit King.'
To make a contract with a Spirit King, one had to pass through seven gates.
Collecting five rare artifacts, catching a dragon, etc.…
It was like finding a pearl in a grain of sand or finding the Andromeda Galaxy in the Milky Way.
After going through all that hardship and successfully contracting with the Spirit King, Reed had never properly commanded that Spirit King.
'Crucially, during the final hidden boss battle, it refused to be summoned.'
Although it was called a king, it reached the peak of cowardice when faced with a stronger opponent.
So Reed didn't include spirit magicians in his party after going through the trouble of making a contract with the Spirit King.
'I wonder how the Water Spirit King is...'
He had never dealt with water spirits, so he didn't know their temperament, but because of the Earth Spirit King's temperament, Reed didn't have a good image of the Spirit Kings.
'Spirit Kings are a bit troublesome.'
If a snobbish Spirit King stands on equal footing with Rosaria and tries to shake her, it would be a headache.
It would be a big problem if a bad child influenced Rosaria, who had made good friends so far.
It would be better to summon a stable, high-ranking spirit.
Reed organized his thoughts and spoke to Yustina.
"I think it would be better to make a contract with a high-ranking spirit."
Yustina's lips twitched.
"You can make a contract with a Spirit King, but you insist on making a contract with a lower-ranking one?"
"It's for the child's safety."
"Basically, once the contract is completed, they can't harm the magician... I understand."
Yustina nodded, thinking there must be a reason.
"If it's a high-ranking spirit, you should call Aurel."
Judging by the fact that they didn't use the honorific 'nim' for high-ranking spirits, it meant they could be controlled.
'It was the right choice to come to the elves.'
He breathed a sigh of relief at his decision.
While the elf elders were drawing a high-ranking spirit summoning circle, Rosaria was looking inside the World Tree shown by Yustina.
She enjoyed it as if she had come to an aquarium.
"Wow…"
Something tiny like a speck approached Rosaria, wriggling its way to her.
When she looked closely at the jellyfish-like object, its tiny white eyes blinked and looked down at Rosaria.
They were water spirits, the lowest-ranking life forms that didn't even have names.
They fed on mana within Yggdrasil and managed the interior of Yggdrasil.
As Rosaria approached, the spirits gathered like silk carp waiting for food to be thrown.
Yustina released her hand, and everything returned to normal.
"Ah, I wanted to see more…!"
"I can't show you more because the spirits seem excited. Please forgive me."
She spoke calmly, but internally she felt a great sense of alienation.
'It's too powerful.'
In terms of mana quantity, the World Tree was superior.
Thus, it was normal for the spirits living symbiotically within the World Tree to have no interest in any other place.
However, Rosaria's presence was judged to be more important than the World Tree by the spirits, so they flocked to her.
'She has a frightening talent.'
A talent so valuable that it surpasses any other.
One that couldn't be caught up with even after living for hundreds of years.
It was a fearsome talent that could turn the world upside down before adulthood.
Finally, after the wait, the summoning circle for Aurel was completed.
A summoning circle meticulously drawn with blue mana.
It took less than an hour to create a summoning circle that would take at least a day for a human to make.
It was like the magicians who had honed their skills for hundreds of years in the connected minds.
"Come this way."
Yustina led the way, bringing Rosaria to the front of the summoning circle.
"Here, you need to let your mana flow. Can you do it?"
"I can do it!"
Rosaria placed her hand on Aurel's summoning circle.
Already adept at letting her mana flow, Rosaria instinctively released her mana.
Her mana flowed through the drawn magic circle.
As the mana that had spread evenly from the edge finally reached the center, the dimly glowing magic circle gradually brightened.
It was responding to Rosaria's mana in the summoning circle.
The elf elders stepped back, and Reed followed suit.
'Summoning.'
Although he was counting down in his mind, even when it reached zero, the spirit did not appear.
"What's going on?"
Not only Reed, but the elders also sensed something strange.
Grrrr!
The inside of the World Tree vibrated strongly.
There was no doubt that something had been tampered with.
The summoning magic had to be terminated, and they had to wait for it to stabilize again.
However, despite the strong vibrations, Rosaria did not stop concentrating.
Her ruby eyes were focused on the magic circle as if entranced by something.
'I must not disturb her.'
Reed moved behind her to be prepared for any falling debris.
He protected Rosaria from behind so that she could continue until the end.
Rosaria, who had been concentrating with her eyes closed, suddenly opened them wide.
At the same time, the light rising from her summoning circle was covered in bright red flames.
'Flames?'
It was strange.
The magic circle used by the elf elders was for the high-ranking water spirit, Aurel, and Reed had confirmed it.
If it had responded to the summon, the light should have turned into a stream of water, gushing out.
Swish!
Yes, just like that.
"What's going on?"
A stream of water rose as if gushing from a place without a summoning circle.
As the stream rose to a height of about 2 meters, the stem spread out, and began to take shape.
Aurel, a high-ranking spirit with a form close to a human.
However, unlike Aurel, the shape became increasingly translucent, and colors began to appear.
Among them, a spirit so elegant that it could undoubtedly be called the king, clearly revealed its form.
It couldn't have been Aurel.
"Awaken from your long slumber, for I have returned."
It was the Water Spirit King, Orneptos.
