Chapter 44 – The Goddess as a Spirit Channeler

The moment the name “Katanaphia” was uttered, the Book of Contracts in Lin Wei’s eyes suddenly took on an air of profound mystery.

In the pantheon of gods, the two goddesses held the highest status—after all, while the nature-based magic had several deities, the light and dark systems each revered only their respective goddesses.

It was said that the dark mages—devotees of Katanaphia—had erected statues and built temples for her in the Death Swamp. Their mantras often included phrases like “My beloved Katanaphia” or “I swear by the goddess,” showcasing the immense reverence they held for the Dark Goddess—a devotion that rivaled the light mages’ faith in the Goddess of Light, something unimaginable to modern mages.

Realizing that this book likely dated back over a thousand years, Lin Wei turned the pages with utmost care, fearing the ancient parchment might crumble at any moment.

The text on the next page was more extensive than the first, though it still lacked the dense, intricate writing found in the magic tomes of the library. Instead, it was divided into many short paragraphs, each consisting of just a line or two—reminiscent of ancient poetry.

Lin Wei meticulously traced the symbols from the book onto Duan Yu’s palm. The mage’s spiritual power allowed him to accurately decipher the text, and after each paragraph was completed, Duan Yu would explain its meaning.

The first sentence read: “The bones of Elvis have turned to ash, yet I still cannot take a step out of the swamp.”

“Elvis…” Lin Wei repeated the name. “I’ve never heard of this name.”

This sentence mentioned a person named “Elvis” and the “swamp.”

While the unfamiliar name remained a mystery, the “swamp” was undoubtedly the Death Swamp where they now stood—further increasing the likelihood that the book’s author was the legendary Dark Goddess.

“I long for the dew and sunlight of my homeland, but the oath binds me to this place—even though one party has vanished, it remains etched into my soul.

It was on the day Elvis died that I came to realize this truth: some things are eternal, transcending both time and death.”

Jerald lay on the unicorn’s head, hugging its glowing horn, casting shadows across the room. It tilted its head, curiously watching Lin Wei and Duan Yu.

Lin Wei extended his soul tendrils to connect with Jerald’s soul—the bond was solid and unbreakable, impervious to any external force.

“Transcending time and death—is she referring to the contract? But contracts don’t seem that miraculous. If either Jerald or I were to die, the contract would naturally dissolve.”

“If you commanded Jerald to perform a task,” Duan Yu said, “and you died in the process, would it continue?”

“This is the first time this question has been raised,” Lin Wei rubbed his nose. “I haven’t tested it, and I don’t plan to… But there’s a similar precedent. When a summoner dies, the soul passageway disappears, and their summoned beast is forever lost, unable to return to its origin.”

“Is the soul passageway sustained by the contract or spiritual power?” Duan Yu asked.

Lin Wei thought carefully but found himself unable to answer.

The summoning magic he knew relied entirely on incantations—chanting them consumed spiritual energy, and the strength of the incantation depended on the summoner’s soul power. Once the incantation was complete, the Gate of Contracts would open, and the summoned beast would emerge…

“I don’t know,” he shook his head. “Let’s continue. Maybe we’ll find the answer.”

Lin Wei continued tracing the characters from the book—the beginning was interspersed with fragmented narratives closely tied to the person named “Elvis.” The relationship between the author and Elvis was ambiguous; Elvis seemed to play the role of a guide or mentor, yet the book never used any honorifics, and the tone was often distant. After Elvis’s name disappeared from the text, the following pages became increasingly obscure, with frequent mentions of “soul,” “oath,” and “rules.”

“We can only speculate that the agreements between souls are witnessed by the will of the rules, which presupposes the existence of a willful rule, acknowledging creation…” Lin Wei repeated the sentence dazedly, muttering, “This is terrifying. It’s more incomprehensible than the words of the Empire’s most learned scholars—I need to hear it again, starting from three paragraphs earlier…”

In truth, these cryptic statements did nothing to enhance Lin Wei’s ability to chant incantations or forge contracts. The only notable outcome was that he memorized the spellings of words like “soul” and “oath.”

After listening to the passage again, Lin Wei gave up and flipped further ahead, only to find that he was still a long way from the first suspected contract seal in the book.

The two of them seemed to have returned to their days in the academy library, except now it was Duan Yu who did the reading aloud, and the content was so abstruse that they often had to pause and discuss to unravel the meaning of a single sentence.

“That’s enough for today,” Lin Wei closed the book expressionlessly. “She wrote a lot, and through our discussions, the main point is that contracts directly affect the rules.”

Duan Yu reminded him, “First, the rules must exist.”

“Exactly, the rules… We must acknowledge the existence of a supreme entity called ‘rules,’ around which everything revolves, including the flow of magic elements, space, and time…” Lin Wei grumbled as he returned the book to his space ring. “So if I just make a contract with the great rules saying ‘I want to live forever,’ I can live eternally! When Master Sylvester is pulling out his hair trying to grasp the shadow of spatial rules, I can simply tell the rules ‘I want to appear somewhere else,’ and achieve a safe spatial transfer!”

This made Lin Wei deeply uncomfortable.

The first few pages of the book indeed discussed “contracts,” but not the kind summoners referred to!

The term used wasn’t “summoner” but “spirit channeler”!

Spirit channelers forged contracts with the rules, manipulating or even controlling them.

This was somewhat similar to the realm of Archmages, who also perceived “rules” and used them to cast magic, exploring the secrets of space and time.

The difference was that elemental mages generally believed rules were the laws governing the birth and death of elements, living beings, and everything on the continent—eternal and unchanging, like the Iron Law of mages, without life or consciousness. But in this Book of Contracts, all arguments were based on the assumption that rules had will!

Spirit channelers resonated with the rules, forged contracts with them, and thus achieved their desires!

—This was the root of Lin Wei’s discomfort. Acknowledging that rules had will meant admitting that everything on this continent, no matter how powerful, was under the control of something even more supreme.

This “will,” Katanaphia speculated, was the “will of creation,” implying the existence of an omnipotent “Creator,” regardless of its form. Though ultimately, this remained just a speculation—she never fully understood what the rules were or whether her guess was correct. But over her long years of exploration, this legendary goddess indeed mastered some methods to utilize the rules and forge contracts!

These methods formed the core of the Book of Contracts.

In essence, this wasn’t a manual for summoners but an entirely independent system of magical theory, detached from all known magics.

“I don’t want to agree with her views,” Lin Wei sighed. “But I’m very interested in learning the contents of this book.”

Only the ancient spirit channelers—now known as summoners—possessed the soul power required to forge contracts. Undoubtedly, Lin Wei was qualified to study this book.

“But there’s another issue,” Lin Wei looked at Duan Yu. “As we believe, gods are actually exceptional beings with abilities beyond ordinary comprehension—they weren’t born as gods but originated from various races. So the Dark Goddess Katanaphia should have been a powerful dark mage, but in this book, she’s described as a spirit channeler with soul power.”

“Soul power and elemental magic might not be mutually exclusive,” Duan Yu mused.

“So, this goddess might have been both a brilliant elemental mage and a summoner?” Lin Wei said. “That’s enviable… But according to records, she was still defeated by the Goddess of Light—the light faction triumphed during the Dark Age.”

“The goddess of the dark faction died in the war or was sealed—perhaps we’ll find her remains in the swamp.”

“I can now consider myself a disciple of the goddess!” Lin Wei’s expression was smug. “If the goddess left behind any relics, the treasures within should rightfully belong to me…”

The possibility of treasures hidden in the goddess’s ruins—like the treasures of the Goddess of Light preserved by the Magic Association—greatly lifted Lin Wei’s spirits, which had been dampened earlier. He enthusiastically engaged in another round of sparring with Duan Yu.

When they first entered the Withered Wood Forest and Duan Yu fought the elemental spirits, they were unaware of the situation in the swamp. Since most of the battles occurred underground, the elemental fluctuations were blocked, preventing other lurking magical beasts from detecting them and inadvertently sparing them from danger.

Thus, their sparring also took place in a space Jerald had carved out underground. The unicorn’s companion, which had been recalled earlier, was summoned again, using light magic to illuminate the area—Duan Yu didn’t need the light, so it was solely for Lin Wei’s benefit.

However… Lin Wei thought to himself, in a few days, Duan Yu might be able to see everything—he’d have to decorate this underground palace more beautifully.