Damn Reincarnation

lained.
She scanned Eugene up and down. “Do you want to take off your clothes?”

“Do I have to take off my clothes while I contract spirits?” Eugene asked reluctantly.  

“I prefer that method. When I approach them in a primal state, without any unnecessary decorations, my connection with the spirits strengthens.”

“Tempest told me that’s a superstition.”

“…Every spirit has different preferences.
Anyhow, my advice is to take off your clothes.
I recommend at least taking off your top.
It might burn away during the signing of the contract.”

Eugene frowned, but he didn’t ignore her advice.

“That’s a fine body you got there, little brother.” Melkith whistled as she looked at Eugene, who came back after taking off his top.

He looked at her with disgusted eyes before plopping down onto the ground in front of her.

“Just open up the box.
I’m really curious if it’s worth all the fuss.”

“Hehehe!” With a wicked smile , Melkith flicked her finger toward the box, which opened.
Eugene opened his eyes wide as he looked inside the box.
Something that was crouching inside jumped up with a flash.

“What’s this?”

Pzzzz! Inside the barrier made by Melkith, lightning went on a rampage.
It was so fast that Eugene had a hard time following its movement, even leaving afterimages as it bumped against the barrier and flew erratically.
Every time the lightning sparked, Eugene’s naked upper body stung.

“A lightning flame.” Melkith adoringly watched the lightning flame running wild. “There is a magic material called ‘lightning ore,’ which holds lightning.
It’s a very valuable gemstone that is normally used to make artifacts.
However, a high-level spirit summoner can process the lightning ore to hold a lightning spirit.”

Melkith’s snapped her fingers.
The rampaging lightning flame flinched, then dropped to the floor of the box.

“This lightning ore has been processed using alchemy.
It was a piece of ore, but it has been refined into a flame, not a refined ore.”

“…is that supposed to mean something?”

“The gemstone is a stone, after all.
No matter how it’s refined, the stone can never become bigger than its original size.
We carve and crush a stone, making it smaller in the end.
But how about a flame?” 

Grinning, Melkith continued to explain as she pushed her head in Eugene’s direction.

“Flame can change in any way really, depending on how it’s controlled.
Water requires a bowl to be held, but flame doesn’t even need a bowl. It grows bigger, it shrinks…and it’s violent at the same time.
In other words, a flame is a very belligerent and also a very convenient material.”

“Aha…” Eugene quietly chimed in.

“Of course, this is not an ordinary flame.
It burns like a flame, but the ore is actually hosting a primal spirit of lightning.
Therefore, it doesn’t have any ego, just aggressiveness.
What do you think? Isn’t this material charming?”

“It is, but…”

“Your reaction is so boring! Do you know what I went through to make this? Tons of lightning ore were used to make this flame.
I changed that ore into flames and personally summoned the Lightning King to literally pour high-power lightning into these pieces!”

Eugene stared at the lightning flame with narrowed eyes.
The lightning flame curled up on the bottom of the box was only as big as a bonfire, but he felt the immense mana concentrated inside.

“Don’t worry about compatibility,” Melkith spoke as she shook her head. “There is a reason why I made it to look like a flame.
It’s because your mana looks like a flame while you use the Lionheart’s White Flame Formula.
It might seem like it doesn’t mean much, but it’s actually pretty important.
It’s like adding color to the clothes you are wearing.
In a nutshell, I’m making it appear more familiar, since you lack spirit affinity.”

“…How do I proceed with the contract?”

“Hold the lightning flame.” In front of Eugene, Melkith opened her hands, then clenched them into fists.

“Make it answer to your mana, using the White Flame Formula.
The trick is… hmm, make it answer to your mana, your power, and your existence.
Change the shape of the lightning flame like that. Then, the lightning flame will naturally resist the outside mana.”

“Are you telling me to make it surrender?”

“As a summoner, I think it’s better to call it ‘harmonize’ rather than surrender.
But that’s up to you.
Wouldn’t it be better for you to try it yourself?”

Melkith had a point.
Eugene nodded and reached out for the lightning flame.

‘Huh? Look at this bastard,’ Eugene thought.

When his hand got closer, the lightning flame flinched and then increased its size as if it was going to swallow Eugene’s hand whole.

He smirked and used the White Flame Formula.

Woosh! The white flame twirled around Eugene’s body.
Soon, the flame was dyed a cerulean hue. Eugene grabbed the lightning flame with a flame-wrapped hand.

Pzzz!

The lightning sparked.
Eugene’s arms ached and his teeth chattered.
In spite of Eugene’s will, his two arms trembled like aspen leaves, and they became hot as if they were burning.
However, Eugene didn’t let the lightning flame go.
He tightened the grip around the flame instead, as he brought it closer to his body.

“Umm… Wouldn’t it be better if you treat it more gently?”

“You said it’s up to me whether I make it surrender or harmonize.” Eugene smiled as his cheeks twitched.
It resisted harder than he had thought.
It was pretty interesting.

Pzz..!  As Eugene pressured it, the lightning flame began to shrink.

“Uh…hmm… You are…right.
So, if you continue… you will be able to feel the spirit attracted by the lightning flame.
There is no way it’s a low-class spirit.
You should be able to contract with an intermediate-class spirit, at the very least,” Melkith explained. 

‘Though I think he won’t be able to contract a high-class spirit,’ she thought.

Actually, the class of spirit didn’t matter.
When a summoner contracted any spirit, their spirit affinity increased afterward depending on how they treated the spirit.
Even if Eugene only contracted a low-class lightning spirit right now, he could always get a higher-class lightning spirit afterward.

‘Or, Levin.
How about if you help him out a little? You can call a high-class spirit from the start…’

[A contract should be fair.]

The Lightning Spirit King, Levin, answered in Melkith’s head.

[I didn’t like that lightning flame thing in the first place.
I only conceded because you stubbornly insisted on it, Melkith.
Since you’ve been accommodating him this much, he should at least proceed with the contract on his own.]

‘You are cheap…’ Melkith grumbled.

[If you wanted him to get a high-class spirit, why didn’t you just make an artifact that could hold a spirit?]

‘That’s not a contract, that would be using the spirit in the weapon.’

That was why Wynnyd was a ridiculous treasure.
The sword didn’t just ‘host’ spirits, it enabled the owner to make a contract with the Wind Spirit King himself.

“…Hmm…” The look on Eugene’s face changed as he controlled the lightning flame.
It was because Eugene felt a disparate ‘presence’ within the lightning spewed by the lightning flame.

There was no way that Melkith, who had an overwhelmingly sensitive lightning affinity, could have missed the presence.
Melkith beamed and said, “A spirit is answering.”

“…Low class?”

“No, it’s an intermediate class.
I knew it.
Okay, now.
Concentrate on the spirit to start the con…”

“That’s too weak, isn’t it?” Eugene answered as he frowned.
The power of the spirit he could feel right now was weaker than the lightning flame, and it was incomparable to the bolts of lightning he could shoot using the Thunderbolt bow.

“Don’t be too greedy now.
Let’s first begin with the con…” 

“Let’s go on with this a little bit more,” Eugene interrupted.
He wasn’t fully controlling it yet, but his confidence wasn’t groundless.
Eugene’s mana control was so exceptionally good that even Sienna admitted it.
The lightning spirit that answered him from inside the lightning flame was a primal spirit.
And a primal spirit was another form of mana.

Eugene couldn’t sense primal spirits normally, but this time, a primal spirit was captured using this processed ore.
It was more than possible for him to sense and control it as he did with mana.

As the White Flame Formula circulated, his Cores spun faster.
Explosions blasted the inside of Eugene’s body, amplifying his mana.
The flame wrapped around his body turned a perfect cerulean.

Pzzz, pzzzz!

As Eugene proceeded with controlling the flame, the blue flame and the lightning mixed up.
The flame sparked up and the mana scattered away.
Using the White Flame Formula, Eugene drew both of them inside his body, letting them flow inside his core with no waste of energy.

“Er… Ummm…” Melkith was unable to say anything, so she just watched the scene unfolding before her eyes.

‘Is it even okay to do that? … I don’t know.’ 

Let alone trying to do something like that herself, Melkith had never even thought that it was possible.
Besides, that wasn’t why she had created the lightning flame in the first place.

“Hey… are you alright? Doesn’t it hurt?”

Eugene didn’t answer.
Gritting his teeth, he just glared at the lightning flame.
The light blocked his view.
As he proceeded to suppress it, the lightning flame became smaller and smaller.
Conversely, every time the White Flame Formula made his mana explode, the lightning flame swelled up.

[Melkith?]

Levin watched Eugene through Melkith’s eyes.

[Who is that guy?]

‘…I don’t know.’

[How is it possible to control primal spirits like that…?]

Levin’s shock was understandable.
A primal spirit was pure essence.
It was weaker than low-class spirits, but it didn’t lose itself even before high-class spirits’ power.
Every spirit in this world had once been a primal spirit, and that also applied to the Spirit Kings.

[Melkith.]

‘I don’t know, so stop calling me!’

[No… I’m not trying to ask you anything, we just got sidetracked.]

‘What?’

[The barrier is collapsing.]

Surprised, Melkith raised her head up.
It was just like Levin said; the barrier which she had cast to prevent the lightning flame from running wild was now cracking because it wasn’t able to withstand the power moving around this place.

‘I thought it was something serious… I just have to make another one, don’t I?’

[No, let it be for a moment.]

The moment Melkith tried to recast the magic, Levin stopped her.

‘Why?’

[Look at the cracks.]

Levin’s voice shook.
Unable to understand his trembling voice, Melkith stared at the cracks.
It didn’t take long for her eyes to open wide in shock.

[The World Tree’s spirits are responding to the lightning.]

Lightning seeped in through the cracks.
It merged of its own volition into the lightning flame and was driven inside Eugene’s body by the White Flame Formula.

“…What the…” Melkith stutteringly spoke.

Rumble!

The lightning exploded.