God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Chapter 244: Aether Beasts (1).

Cain focused on his status screen and pulled up the information about the new item and weapon he had just obtained.

***

{Eldritch Orb}: (Tool)

Description: The soul of a dead Realm Walker was captured and placed within a prison forged from the essence of the barrier that separated the realms by a mad god just for fun.

Skills: Dark Companion

{Dark Companion}: The soul of the Realm Walker will pledge allegiance to you upon forming a [Body and Soul] contract and will become a part of your very soul, providing you with invaluable help.

***

'Invaluable help?'

A grin made its way onto Cain's face...

He wasn't new to the concept of [Body and Soul] contracts. He had formed one with Ruby, and now, he was about to form another with the soul of an ancient Realm-Walker.

Cain lingered for a while before summoning the orb from his inventory. The orb appeared in his hand, and immediately, the surrounding atmosphere turned a bit darker. Sensing the ominous shift, Cain gulped and tightened his grip on the orb.

***

{Congratulations to the host... You have received the opportunity to create a Spectre contract}.

{Spectre Contract}: Form a [body and soul] contract with a deceased soul. This contract allows the target Realm Crawler and the host to forge a bond that is governed by the following set of rules;

{Condition 1}: The Spectre's and human's involvement in the [body and soul] contract shall be bound by the laws of magic as long as both parties may live.

{Condition 2}: This contract can be initiated by either one of the parties involved, but can only be concluded if and only if the other party fully agrees upon the conditions involved wholeheartedly.

{Condition 3}: The agreement is built upon the law of equivalent exchange. An exchange deemed to be of equal proportions by the system must be established befor the contract can be enabled.

{Condition 4}: This contract is based upon the universal laws of mana, and cannot be broken.

{Does the host agree to all these conditions?}

***

The familiar procedures were established...

'I agree...'

The orb of darkness exploded and wisps of darkness poured from the cracks.

{Processing response...}

{Response; Affirmative!}

The sound of flesh burning echoed in the silence, as the imprint of a dark eerie eye appeared on Cain's chest. Just like the faint imprint of a bear paw on his chest, It didn't bring him any pain, but he could feel a subtle coldness coming from the marking on his chest and into his soul...

The voice of the system broke him out of his reverie...

***

[Body and Soul Contract]

Type: Abyssal Creature.

Details: Eternal bindings, in exchange for the opportunity to grow stronger. The Dark Companion seeks strength. Feed it darkness elemental mana shards and cores to strengthen the bond between master and slave.

Darkness Shards: [0/1,000]

Note: This contract is eternal.

{Congratulations to the host... The contract has been completed}.

{Host has been granted a greater affinity for darkness... }

{The spell, Dark Cloak, has evolved...}

{Dark Emblem}(active): Darkness is not the mere absence of light, but its enemy. It devours all and leads everything to the final silence of the grave where all forms of sensation die. Reduces the perception of enemies by 80% when activated. Can be used on numerous individuals, but effects are reduced by 5% per individual.

Cost: 200MP per minute.

{+10,000 System points}.

The chilling sensation stopped for a while, indicating that the contract-making process had been concluded. Letting out a sigh, Cain glanced at the figure of darkness that was taking shape before him.

Susan stared at it for a while, before turning away with a look of disinterest on her face. Her eyes began to emit a dim radiance, showing that she had begun scouting their vicinity.

It looked very similar to the {Abyssal Realm-Walker} he had killed, only a bit smaller and less intimidating. However, its previously mad and dark eyes now emitted a ghostly blue radiance that was unfortunately not the slightest bit less intimidating.

It was a bit more ethereal. Its body was woven from countless strands of darkness. It also lacked any form of physical presence and seemed more like a ghost than any other thing. It also floated in the air, which Cain found to be more disturbing than he expected...

'Let's see what you can do...' Cain suppressed a grin and glanced at the details of the creature.

***

{Dark Soul}: Level 100 (Legendary).

Strength: 0.

Agility: 2,000.

Defense: 0.

HP: 0.

MP: 50,000/50,000.

Spirit: 5,000/5,000.

Skills: Dark Spirit Bond, Darkness Elemental, Dark Diving, Spirit State.

{Dark Spirit Bond}(passive): Born from Darkness, this creature thrives within Darkness. Hence, it does not rely on light to perceive the world and can share these traits with its master.

{Darkness Elemental}(passive): A being of darkness does not fear the darkness and possesses near-complete resistance and affinity to it.

{Darkness Diving}(passive): Can travel through darkness unnoticed without being affected by material objects.

{Spirit State}(passive): This creature is a living soul, and as such, can not be harmed through physical means.

***

Cain stared at the stats, then the skills of the creature for a while...

'Huh?'

He had never seen a creature with zero points in HP before.

'Well, I guess it is a spirit. Since spirits exist outside of a physical body, ignoring the limitations of a fleshy body is also plausible.'

Shaking his head, he glanced at its skills...

None of them would be able to cause damage, but each of them was incredibly valuable to him. To him, the utility of a skill was also as important as the amount of damage the skill could cause.

The world around him immediately became brighter. The influence of the dim illumination from the pillar of light wasn't felt greatly from the edges of the fragmented land, so this boon allowed him to see the world around him in much greater detail.

He could also see things he previously could not, small changes in the topography, and how different the atmosphere of the world he was currently in was from Urbus.

He commanded the creature to move, and it did. However, the way it moved completely caught Cain off guard. It simply dove into the surrounding darkness and disappeared.

Well, it didn't disappear but merely blended into the darkness. Darkness was merely a concept born from a lack of light, so where light failed to reach, darkness was merely a few steps away...

'Neat...'

The creature needed only simple mental commands and could operate within a one-kilometer radius of him. However, the further it got, the weaker the spiritual connection between them.

He also noticed that he was able to see what his dark companion could see, making the creature a perfect scouting and spying tool. Satisfied with his new companion, he turned his attention to his newly evolved skill.

The {Dark Emblem} skill was merely a better version of the {Dark Cloak} skill and simply boosted his stealthiness, although Cain had never considered himself the stealthy type.

Still, many things have changed...

The [Body and Soul] he had formed this time was similar to the one he formed with Ruby but was a bit different.

Because Ruby could fend for herself and grow stronger, the conditions attached to the contract were fairly simple. All he had to do was provide her with mana shares every few months to keep his end of the bargain. She would also grow stronger with time, so he wasn't worried.

The {Dark Soul} on the other hand, had no way to grow stronger on its own, and their bond was eternal, so in a sense, he was its benefactor. He would have to provide it with darkness attribute mana shards. Apart from buying them from the system, Cain had other ways to procure them, so he wasn't too worried.

However, getting mana shards the normal way was hard, as the probability of mana shards forming increased with the grade and level of the mutant beast or devil. So he would only be able to get more mana shards by fighting stronger enemies.

'Things never get better, do they...'

For now, he would have to find a thousand darkness elemental mana shares, which was by no means a small number.

He already had one with him, and he would be able to buy some from the system shop...

Taking the mana shard from his inventory, he called the {Dark Soul} and ordered it to step out of the darkness. Not knowing how to give the creature the mana shard as it didn't have a physical body, he was a bit shocked to see it pick the mana shard from his hand and swallow it.

He quickly brought up his status page and opened the segment with the Dark Soul's information.

Darkness Shards: [2/1,000]

'What?! The shard of a half-god gives only two points?!'

Cain was beyond shocked...

It was important to know that the half-god grade was the sixth-most powerful grade, and while grade didn't directly translate to power, it did translate to potential, which meant that the creature was most definitely going to be stronger than most creatures at its level...

'This... This is going to take a while.'

Letting out a sigh, Cain closed his status screen. He had a lot of things to handle, so he couldn't afford to stay idle.

As soon as he closed it and opened his eyes, he was greeted by the eyes of two pairs of worry-filled eyes.

With a grim look on her face, Jenny spoke in a grave tone,

"I have bad news..."

As if that wasn't enough, Susan had a similar look as well,

"I have even worse news..."

Gazing at the two girls silently for a while, Cain could feel a headache slowly building up,

'Hehehe... And so, the adventure begins. How exciting...'