If Leon thought that the Mana Crystals he had seen on the way here were abundant, then surely, he felt stupid after setting his sights on the scene before him. The walls of the cavern were not covered in Mana Crystals, but were completely made from them! Even the ceiling was not spared!
In the center of the cavern, several giant Mana Crystal pillars reached high up to the ceiling that was at least fifteen meters high. The giant Mana Crystals numbered up to seven as they circled a complex, glowing diagram that had been drawn in their center.
“What is all this?” Leon asked as he dismounted Mornica and walked toward the arrangement in the middle of the cavern.
‘This is a High Grade Summoning Formation. Most low level Necromancers used Summoning Formations to call forth souls from beyond the nether. As this is your first time doing this, it will be best if we rely on the formation.’
Leon carefully stepped around the circular formation in the center of the room, inspecting it from all angles. At one side of the crystal pillars, a space was left open where they could go inside. Mornica led Leon into the formation before laying in the middle of the intricate carving.
Symbols and lines had been carved into the ground, and bright blue light glowed from within the carvings, giving the sight an eerie look. On the inner part of the Mana Crystal pillars, some strange words were carved into them.
‘I am not an expert at Magic, but I am decently knowledgeable for a monster of my caliber. Focus on the intention of making me your Spirit Companion. I will handle the rest.’ Mornica told Leon as she laid down over the runic carvings on the ground. Leon nodded and knelt down beside her, before placing his hands on her head. He focused his thoughts only on the intention of making her his Spirit Companion. He thought back to her explanation of what a Spirit Companion was. He would share a part of her soul and be connected to her on a spiritual level.
Before long, Leon could feel, and see the fluctuations in the Mana around them. A wispy, light blue fog drifted through the air and circled their bodies. Leon felt like he was wrapped around and infused with a warm, but at the same time, cool, aura that invigorated and refreshed his body.
At the same time, Leon’s mind began to drift into a state of half awareness where an ethereal whisper rang through his mind, saying things that he did not understand.
“Harak… muzuir… ramir…” There was a pause between each otherworldly word as the Mana in the air was stirred into a frenzy around them. A strong wind of unknown origins whipped between the Mana Crystal pillars and through the cavern, nearly blowing Leon away, but he managed to hold firm in his position.
A brilliant purple light enveloped Leon’s body, and a green dark green flame erupted from within his eye sockets as the highly concentrated Mana around him flowed into his body and empowered his Mana weaving abilities that he had only just awakened.
Leon was clueless to most of what had happened during the process of tying Mornica’s soul to his own, but when he came to, the bright blue fog had mostly dissipated, and the overwhelming light had died down.
At the center of the formation, Mornica was nowhere to be found. The only thing left of her was her gleaming, white chitin. There was nothing under it. However, Leon did not panic.
“Status.”
[Status]
Name: Leon Cromwell
Race: Obsidian Magic Warrior (Versatile)
Level: 1
Health Points: 3000
Mana: 1000
<Strength: 80>
<Agility: 70>
<Durability: 100>
<Intelligence: 80>
<Dexterity: 70>
Skills:
<Beginner Weapon Mastery level 65>, <Spell Weaver level 1>, <Spirit Summoning level 10>, <Spirit Storage Level 1>
Titles:
p <Slayer of Ghosts>
Title Perks:
<Slayer of Ghosts>: You have stood tall against adversities, both living, dead, and those in between! This title is your reward!
+10% Intelligence.
—
He had gained two new Skills, and the <Single Summoning> that he had conducted on Mornica had been enough to raise it to level 10. Leon guessed that the large increase in level was thanks to the summoning being successful. If he had failed, he might have only gotten a single level.
The second Skill he had gained from the stint was the <Spirit Storage> Skill, which most probably acted as it sounded. It stored the spirits of the creatures that he had under his direct service. It was a bit complicated, as it involved higher applications of Magic that Leon simply did not understand at this point, but he was sure that he would be able to crack the puzzle with time.
He willed the activation of his <Spirit Storage> Skill, and imagined the container that contained Mornica’s spirit to be pried open, allowing her soul to leave the container and manifest in the material plane. All of this was done on his base instincts, and he had no way of explaining how he knew what to do.
Green light flowed out from beneath his feet and formed a pool of light a couple of feet away from him. From within the green light, a three foot long and one foot wide white millipede crawled out. Two half foot long antennae with purple tips danced atop the millipede’s head as it turned to face Leon with a tilted head.
Leon felt a flutter within his mind as a mental connection was established between himself and the newly birthed Mornica.
‘Master?’
The small queen millipede walked forward and circled Leon a couple of times as she got used to her new body. Everything was strange, as she was only just getting to experience things from this perspective after a long time. It had been over two decades since she was last this small, so it was quite strange for her to be this small again.
Leon bent down and picked her up in his arms with a sense of satisfaction in his heart. He had gained his first companion in this new and unfamiliar world.