Some hours passed after Mira took off heading to Haxthausen. Garuda was carrying the wagon through the air, and she relaxed inside, languidly staring at the scenery through a window.
「This really is the best.」
Vast meadows spread far into the distance, with a blue sky on top. Seeing all of that reminded Mira of just how luxurious her position was.
The wagon was like a secret base, outfitted to be an extremely relaxing space. So Mira kept sipping on Yogurt au Lait and munching on some bread she bought before. It was basically her afternoon snack with a breathtaking sight, and a luxury few others could afford.
「I’ll be there tomorrow night…」
Once she was done snacking, Mira checked her current location on the map, and calculated the time remaining. The trip on land would take around a week, but just a bit more than a day when flying. At her current speed she could just lay back and relax, and arrive there the next day.
Everything was so tranquil that her time running around the Ancient Underground City felt like such an old event.
「It was all thanks to you, Garuda. You have my gratitude.」
Garuda had been the one carrying the wagon, even now. Mira thanked her summon for that, who replied with a soft grunt. Then the wind around the wagon became a gentle spring breeze, showing Garuda’s happy emotions. But that wind could not be felt inside the wagon, so Mira was oblivious to it.
「Hm…」
Some time after her snacks, Mira noticed an increasing urge to urinate. She had been so entranced by the scenery that she had drunk two bottles of Yogurt au Lait, which were the likely culprit.
Sadly she was still in the air, and could not use the spirit mansion’s toilet right away. But she was in the luxurious wagon, which was furnished for such situations as well. Mira opened the closet again and crawled onto the lowest level. There she opened a second door, which led to a rather simple toilet.
Since the wagon was designed to be compact, it was a rather small space so it was impossible for someone to stand up straight in it. But the designers had accounted for Mira’s dimensions as a young girl, so it was just the perfect size for her when squatting down. In a way, the tight space was almost comforting.
And while it was on the simple side, the craftsmanship of the best artisans in Arkite still showed. At the cost of Magic Stones, devices created through Magic Engineering would keep the toilet clean. Once the waste was processed, it would also be disposed of. Also, given the cramped space, it was shaped like a traditional Japanese toilet.
「Phew, that felt refreshing. I really could live comfortably in this wagon. It’s incredible.」
The wagon had been built as the perfect secret base, with the input of Solomon. Mira had praised the spirit mansion a lot in the Ancient Underground City, but the wagon was also a good place.
As Mira thought of that, she remembered she still had to check whether the spirit mansion had been able to grow after her stay in the dungeon.
Whenever a contract’s partner grew, or their bond grew stronger, the possibility to expand the summoning circle would appear. Doing so could grant various advantages.
(I guess I can check Sanctia and Worthramble while I’m at it too.)
Both of them had helped greatly during the fight with Machina Guardian. So Mira wanted to know if either of them had gotten stronger too. Once she got the idea, she decided to check it out immediately, focusing her attention into her inner mind.
(Hmm, I do see more things available here.)
She could feel a clear connection in her mind.
Doing this was something she was already used to. Now she just had to pay more attention to the connection with the spirits, which would deploy something resembling a Skill Tree from games in her mind. There she could choose which abilities to unlock on each of her contracts.
Mira tapped into it further, searching specifically for her contracts with the spirit mansion, Sanctia, and Worthramble.
(Ohh, this one has progressed a bit already. I can make Sanctia stronger! Though Worthramble’s hasn’t improved yet.)
Likely because she had summoned Sanctia a thousand times at the same time when equipping her Dark Knights with her, the contract’s bond had improved. But there was no change on Worthramble’s yet, either because he did not have such a big role, or because he was a higher level spirit, which made it harder to strengthen a contract.
Regardless, that should improve with time as well. She was the most interested in the spirit mansion anyway. As she looked for it, she realized that there were many other contracts with the possibility of expansion.
(Ohh?! Is this…did this also happen because this world became reality?)
In the game, all the spirits she had formed contracts with had already been maxed out to the limit. So she never bothered to check the entire contract tree.
After the contracts with Worthramble and Sanctia, she had checked their contracts individually a few times, but never checked anything else as she assumed they were still maxed out.
But at some point her Dark Knight and Holy Knight contracts had grown past their limits, allowing for further improvements. Shocked by that discovery, Mira quickly checked her other contracts with more care. As a result, she found out all her contracts had room to grow again.
(I made quite the blunder. I just assumed everything was still the same as back then… But there’s actually a lot more room to grow, and bonds to strengthen…)
Mira felt thankful to everyone she had formed a contract with, and decided she would have to go greet all of them soon.
But she basked in sentimentality for only a moment, as she quickly went to work growing all the summoning circles she could, beginning with the spirit mansion that led to her discovering that. Looking at it, there was a good upgrade available.
Expanding summoning circles like that could add various effects to a summon, which could vary from increasing their defenses, empowering their abilities, adding an additional elemental effect, and various others. Each contract was unique on that front.
In the case of the spirit mansion, it was a summon with no combat abilities, so all the upgrades offered no advantage for fights. So the upgrade Mira chose was to add a bathtub to the bathroom, which put her in a good mood knowing she would be able to take baths too now, and not just showers.
Once she was done with the spirit mansion, she moved on to the other contracts.
(I can’t believe this… The fight against Machina Guardian would’ve been much easier if only I had noticed earlier…)
Feeling the power of having expanded the abilities of her summons, Mira shifted her attention back to the outside world.
「Alright then…」
She stood up and summoned a Holy Knight as a test. But instead of summoning it to the side like usual, it seemed to appear in the same place Mira was standing, as if wrapping around her.
「Oh, this is amazing. And I don’t feel any weight at all!」
That was a new ability she had unlocked, called Equipped Armor Spirit. Its effect was self-explanatory, letting her wear the summon as armor. Mira was trying it out with a Holy Knight, which made her look like a princess knight in full armor. On top of that, the armor carried over all the defensive properties of a Holy Knight, making it a far better defensive item than any armor she could possibly obtain. The close helmet could be taken out and worn at will too.
The Holy Knight’s signature tower shield was gone though, or rather, Mira had gotten rid of the shield and sword as she summoned it. Having both hands free suited her fighting style a lot more.
It was obviously still possible to summon it as a regular Holy Knight if she chose to.
「I guess I can still keep on growing stronger.」
She had grown far past her previous limits. And she did not need to form new contracts to accomplish it. It was all thanks to all the power and bonds she had gathered in the past, and they could keep on getting stronger now, something Mira was really happy about.
She had maxed out all her summons when she obtained the title of the strongest summoner, which also meant she had reached her peak. Back then, it was slightly disappointing to realize that she would not be able to get any stronger.
