Chapter 13: About Time (1)

The world inside the Mystical Treasure Box was far larger than the outward appearance would imply. The material used to forge it was a special pearl produced by a Spirit Beast known as the Dream Cloud Clam. It was a creature of extreme rarity, with the highest bloodline of its lineage producing 7th Circle Talents and even the worst being 5th Circle. They were most definitely a high class of beast.

When crafted by the hands of an expert Mystery Craftsman, a great treasure would be created from its pearl. Depending on the size of the space within and the caliber of egg it could sustain, nurture and incubate, it could even be considered a 9th Circle Treasure.

This particular Dream Cloud Pearl Box was considered to be of the highest quality and was unsurprisingly of the 9th Circle Treasure level. Thanks to this, it could incubate up to one 9th Circle Talent egg. For every step down in talent, there was a tenfold increase in the number of eggs it could sustain at once.

Upon opening the lid, Ryker could see a swirl of rainbow fog within, enveloping what must have been an egg within. Though there was just a single egg, Ryker knew that this was only an 8th Circle Talent species.

To say 'only' didn't put things into proper perspective. Ryker was one of the few with the right to say such a thing. The truth of the matter was that being a 6th Circle Talent was already enough to mark you as a generational genius. In fact, Ryker's own grandfather, the current Head of the prestigious Valorian Clan, was exactly this level of Talent.

Due to this, even on Ryker's home world, most would contract a 3rd Circle Spirit Beast as their first. Only geniuses would be able to contract a 4th or 5th Circle Spirit Beast. And, this was the case even if they were a higher order talent.

The level of Spirit Beast you could contract was capped by your own talent. A youth who had just entered the 1st Enlightenment Stage would be given access to what were called 'Circles'. These Circles were analogous to one's capacity to form a Spirit Connection. So, a 1st Circle Talent would be given one Circle upon reaching this stage.

With a single Circle, the highest grade Spirit Beast you could contract was a 1st Circle Talent. Upon breaking into the 2nd Enlightenment Stage, you would gain another Circle. However, since the first was already consumed by a 1st Circle Talent Spirit Beast, you would only be able to contract yet another 1st Circle Talent, unless you were willing to wait to reach the 3rd Enlightenment Stage, where upon you could combine the Circle you saved with the new Circle you gained to contract a 2nd Circle Talent Spirit Beast.

Ryker's advantage was clear. With every advancement, he would gain nine Circles worth and could thus, theoretically, contract a new 9th Circle Beast with every step forward he took. But, for most people, things weren't so easy.

Contracting a Spirit Beast wasn't a done deal. Even if it was a recently hatched Infant, it could still resist and cause damage to your Spirit. As such, it was common practice to take one or two steps down for your first Spirit Contract and make up the difference later.

This, then, left the question of the small mirror? How many of Ryker's Circles had it taken up?

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The answer to that was unique because Mystical Treasures—if the small mirror could really be considered one—varied on a case by case basis. When a Mystical Treasure was contracted to a human, its limits were decided by the materials it was formed of and how much investment the human placed into it.

A Mystical Treasure forged of poor materials would remain poor even if nine Circles of Spirit were invested into it. A Mystical Treasure with nine Circles of Spirit invested into it wouldn't display 9th Circle Talent no matter how good the materials it was made of were.

As one might expect, in his childhood, Ryker invested all nine of his Circles into the small mirror, leaving him unable to sign any other Spirit Contracts to boost his cultivation speed. But those moments were already behind him. Now, having invested so much, Ryker would only benefit from his past struggles.

Once the small mirror finished absorbing the materials he had given it, it would display an all new level of strength. Right now, though, Ryker was focused on the egg before him. He had always ignored his father and mother's attempts at telling him about it, but now that he saw it, he recognized it immediately from all his studies.

"Twin Headed Serpent Phoenix."

The moment Ryker had seen the scale and feather patterns etched onto the eggs surface, he knew. Any Mythical Master worth their salt had studied all sorts of beast compendiums. No one knew when they might run into the Spirit Beast of their dreams, only to miss out on it because of ignorance.

Ryker, who had been dreaming of signing his second Spirit Contract for a lifetime, had studied more species than he cared to remember. The fact he could look at such a creature now and be an arm's reach from it welled him up with emotion that threatened to bubble forth once again.

Legendary creatures like the Phoenixes and Dragons told of in fairy tales didn't exist. This wasn't because they were too fantastical, in fact Ryker could name dozens of creatures that were far more powerful, mystical and enchanting. It was instead a matter of the fact creatures like that, or rather creatures that had been similar enough in the past to go by such names, had long since interbred and formed new powerful creatures. Simply put, you wouldn't find Dragons and Phoenixes because their bloodlines had either thinned out, or evolved into something entirely new.

That said, this didn't stop those who pioneered research into new Spirit Beast species from using these culturally significant monikers to pique the interest of many. Unfortunately, that also led to many Spirit Beasts of poor talent having mighty names that didn't suit them, just because some researcher wanted to become famous.

The Twin Headed Serpent Phoenix was not among these creatures, though. The simple, straight forward name without flowery pomp and circumstance made this clear. It was Ryker's dream starting Spirit Beast.

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