Luminae

He waited a little to see if it would speak, but it didn’t. Instead, he took a better look as it curiously floated around, similarly checking him out in the process. It was humanoid, similar to Mello in appearance and size, only 20-30cm tall, like a fairy, but it carried a green halo speckled with gold.

Unlike the other spirits, this one had many vivid colours, not just a singular translucent shade of their element. Its clothes were woven from white vines, its wings a majestic blend of purple and white shaped like butterfly wings.

Its skin was pale, its hair golden—a strange mismatch of hues and elements seemingly all collected inside this one, peculiar spirit.

Joseph couldn’t help but cautiously eye his surroundings. ‘Is Han here? Did his protagonist luck finally start rubbing off?’

Still, the spirit didn’t speak, even as it looked directly at him with curious, blinking eyes.

“Umm, hello? Nice to meet you?” Joseph asked, hesitantly.

The spirit continued to stare, tilting its head curiously before fluttering around him in slow circles.

“Umm, hello? … you good, spirit? Is there an issue?”

It ignored him and continued flying until its curiosity was satisfied, then settled silently on his shoulder. Its gaze wandered, taking in the world with quiet curiosity, not dissimilar to a child.

Joseph frowned in confusion. Maybe it was a newly born spirit and hadn’t learned to speak yet? Or maybe it was incredibly powerful and simply playing with him. Either way, he was tempted.

From the moment it perched on his shoulder, his body cooled, his fatigue faded, and his small wounds eased. The green and gold aura suggested healing—nature and holy elements, at least based off presumptions.

“Umm, miss spirit… if you’re messing with me, it’s not appreciated. If you want me to use my contract skill on you, there are better ways to communicate…” He wanted to see if it would react.

But the spirit only looked at him curiously, like it didn’t even understand what he meant. Joseph’s Sixth Sense didn’t flare either, so it didn’t seem like a threat.

He sighed. “Fine. I needed to use the skill at least once to know its effects anyway.”

He activated Contract Spirit. Since they were in direct contact already, both he and the spirit began to glow as a link formed, no resistance whatsoever. The spirit turned its eyes to him and a voice whispered directly into his mind.

“Who… you?”

‘So it can speak… what an odd spirit.’ Going along with the simple speech, assuming it may be young, underdeveloped or its way of speaking he replied out loud. “Me… Joseph.”

“Family?” Its head tilted, curious with a sparkling in its eyes.

With a quick thought he nodded. “… Yes.”

The spirit smiled faintly, closed its eyes, and fell asleep on his shoulder.

Joseph let out another sigh and opened his status.

Tames: Juvenile Flamefury ×2, Juvenile Stonemaw ×1, Juvenile Whisperwind ×1

Contracted Spirits: (Unnamed) (Newly Born) Holy Wood Spirit

‘So I was right—newly born. And holy wood? That’s an insane combo for healing and support. At least in video games it would be, wood usually counts as healing… that or crowd control.

It also says “unnamed.” The other three all had names, I don’t remember any of them, they’re essentially scam artists, so after the first one I didn’t really listen very much.

Does this mean I literally summoned her the moment she was born, before a parent or king could give her one? Or maybe a person needs to give them one regardless…’

His thoughts wandered a bit before coming back around. ‘The system wouldn’t put newly born if it wasn’t accurate, as for the time frame, it’s hard to say… usually spirits are creatures of infinite life.

So maybe that’s a few days, or maybe it’s a few years… Ahh. Maybe Han will know, Thalia possibly as well since she’s an elf. Anyway, let’s try giving it a name.’

Turning to the spirit glued asleep on his shoulder he spoke in soft words. With an image conjured in his head and a will to instil the words with a part of himself, hoping for the best possible result. “Little spirit, your name is Luminae.”

The spirit smiled in its sleep and glowed brightly. Pain lanced through his chest in an instant, it felt as though a piece of his heart had been torn out—then soothed the next second, replaced by the presence of something warm.

When the light faded, the spirit was gone. Or rather, she slept inside him, nestled in his heart. Calming his frantic heartbeat, the surge of pain flooded his body with adrenaline. Once passed, he rechecked his status page:

Contracted Spirits: Luminae (Newly Born) Holy Wood Spirit +

Curious, Joseph clicked the “+.”

Name: Luminae

Race: Lesser Holy Wood Spirit

Stage: Newborn

Contracted To: Joseph

Level: 1

Vitality: 1 (10)
Strength: 1 (10)
Dexterity: 1 (10)
Agility: 1 (10)
Spirit: 1 (20)
Radiance: 1 (20)

Joseph’s eyes widened. ‘Wow… does that mean if I hadn’t named her I wouldn’t have had this extra status page? Does this mean I also choose her stats distribution? Does she even have a status distribution?...’

Thoughts flooded his head once again, curiously clicking around for further information. ‘Ah, I see. So the brackets are her actual stats, but presumably, because she’s ‘newly born’, she needs to grow a bit first.

Makes sense. The stats themselves look basic, although radiance is interesting. I can only assume its what magic is for spells, and spirit is for spirit skills. So radiance is for holy stuff, and the tree part… maybe uses spirit.’

Nodding to himself, satisfied with his logic he closed the page and looked into the distance. Despite it being the same as before he couldn’t help but think of it differently, he couldn’t tell what but something had changed in his view of the world, even if only slightly.

With a long blink, he headed off, back to hunting. After each fight, he checked inward using his mind, but nothing disturbed Luminae’s sleep as she remained tightly curled up as a part of his heart. Relieved, he carried on until exhaustion broke him down the following evening.

Before collapsing into bed, he checked her again.

Name: Luminae

Race: Lesser Holy Wood Spirit (+1 Vitality, +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 Agility, +5 Spirit, +5 Radiance)

Stage: Newborn

Contracted To: Joseph
Level: 1 → 8

Vitality: 1 → 3 (10 → 17)
Strength: 1 → 3 (10 → 17)
Dexterity: 1 → 3 (10 → 17)
Agility: 1 → 3 (10 → 17)
Spirit: 1 → 3 (20 → 55)
Radiance: 1 → 3 (20 → 55)

He smiled faintly. ‘It was weird the stat gains only appeared after getting her first level, but regardless she’s growing well… very well. Level 8 and already 2 stats at 50+, crazy.

Leveling is slow—maybe because she’s a spirit and they level slower? Or the natural inhabitant thing Han talked about, affects her, so this is a normal persons leveling speed. Maybe both.’

Shrugging his shoulders to himself, exhaustion stole him before he could think further, and he passed out in bed.