"What is it, Professor?" Vale asked after seeing his professor nodding a couple of times.
Stella sighed once more as she answered.
"It's about the Spirit you summoned… It just mentioned that the gates of the spirit world opened for it to be summoned by you."
Vale was still honestly confused.
"Isn't that the same thing with all the other's summoned spirit? How would they get summoned if the gates don't open?"
At this question, Stella shook her head as she explained again.
"Normally, the summoned spirit should get to hear your summoning prayer. At that time, it gets to choose whether to allow the gates to be opened by the summoner and let itself be summoned. However, in the case of your Dark Spirit, it was the rulers of the Spirit World who had decided to send the Dark Spirit at your request through your prayer."
"W-what? There is something like that?" Vale asked in surprise.
Aside from Professor Stella's teachings about the Spirit World, Vale has no background in this subject since the books he read didn't tackle things related to the Spirit World. The books he read were mostly focused on the Darkness Arcane Path or the Dark Arts used by the Practitioners and several Dark Alchemy books.
"Yes… It happens in rare cases when the sacrifice to the rulers of the Spirit World was very attractive or if the one in the ritual is blessed by the Spirit World… Right, there are also cases that it would randomly happen for unknown reasons. However, the latter is extremely rare… There were only three instances recorded in our history."
Professor Stella paused for a moment as she stared at Vale's shadow…
She can't feel the presence of the Dark Spirit no matter how she tried. She can only give up as she shifted her gaze back to Vale.
"Why do you think she was sent to you by the rulers of the Spirit World?" Stella solemnly asked.
She knows that Vale didn't use a high-quality sacrificial ritual so the first reason can be eliminated. She can only think that Vale is blessed by the Spirit World or he was just lucky at the time he chanted his prayer.
Vale wryly smiled at this as he started scratching his head.
"Professor, I also wanted to know… I tried asking the Dark Spirit just now but it seems that it wasn't aware of the reason as well… It only knows that it had to follow the opened path."
Stella realized that Vale was indeed clueless about this so she can only try to investigate.
She continued asking him about the method of his ritual including the Oardic words he said.
"That worked?" Stella frowned after hearing Vale repeat the prayer he chanted.
"Yes… Professor. Is it odd? Was it not supposed to give a response with that prayer?"
Stella didn't immediately reply as she tried to make sense of Vale's ritual.
"I will repeat what you said to make it clear. After you made a Magic Circle that was passed down by your family, you started your chant… Glorius Gates of the Spirit World. Hallowed Maker of the Soul Society. The Nameless Guardian of the Harbingers. I, a devout follower of the Eternal Darkness, wish to open the gates of the World of Spirits… I wish to call for a living spirit residing in your world that wants to befriend me…"
"Yes." Vane gently nodded after confirming that she didn't make a mistake.
"Then that's weird. If you decide to call the three powerful beings of the Spirit World without a decent sacrifice like your blood or other materials, then it shouldn't work. You only used a bottle of human bone power… Although it was from an Arcane Arts Practitioner, it doesn't have much value from those beings except to the conscious Gates… Even if you use your blood, a low-level practitioner like you won't receive a response at all…"
"…"
"Was it because of the magic circle then?"
"Maybe… Unfortunately, I can't tell you much about it unless I ask my mother." Vale replied.
"I'm not interested in this circle. It's enough for me to understand the reason why your summoned spirit is special… Right, Dark Spirits are known as the Spirit World's soldiers. They are powerful beings so maybe you're one of the Blessed Ones of the Spirit World and they sent it to you to protect you." Stella added but her tone made Vale realize that she was just messing with him.
"I hope so…" Vale can only reply as Stella allowed him to leave the class since he's done. He can take his time outside while waiting for the next class.
Vale shook his head as he decided to just stay in the classroom to watch his classmates. He promised not to spread the prayer he used.
With that said, the two of them returned to the classroom as the assessment continued.
It didn't take long before the others managed to summon a spirit…
Unfortunately, only six more students aside from Vale managed to summon a docile or friendly Spirit.
It was Aubrey, Lisa, Warren, Dalton, Chad, and Leonore.
The previously proud Neil Sommerhalder can only get a passing grade after summoning a tiny willful spirit. It can't be considered as friendly but it also can't be considered as hostile… At most, the spirit he summoned likes to prank people…
It was the same for the others and a few of them even summoned a hostile one…
A battle almost occurred but Stacy and Cliff were vigilant and took care of it in time.
"I'm sorry…" Blair Etton, the guy who was interested in having a female Variant, felt disappointed at the result of his assessment. He was one of the students who summoned a spirit that wanted to possess their body!
Although their possession wouldn't last for long, it is still considered a hostile spirit.
"It's alright… You'll learn from your mistakes if you continue to study. In any case, this assessment won't heavily affect your grades for the rest of the year. This is just the beginning of your path. I'm even impressed that there were only a few who made a mistake."
Professor Stella said to try and console those who had failed.
***
The three next subjects also made their monthly assessments but unlike Professor Stella's style, they can only know whether they passed the exam or not at their next class.
This content is taken from (f)reewe(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦