Arcane Academy: The Divine Extraction Legacy
chapter-189

Vale felt a bit intimated after seeing the floating Spiritual Being looking down on him. It appears similar to a human being having a head and limbs on its body.

However, it has a couple of horns on each side of its head similar to a goat, and three pair of wings on its back. One pair of wings were huge and seemingly made of silver. The two other pairs were smaller and seem like they were batwings…

What was even scarier was the Spiritual Being's eyes… There were four of them and Vale almost wanted to say that he made a mistake and that he wasn't planning to call for the Ruler of Darkness at all!

Vale held his breath as he looked at the being… Then, his eyes lit up as he recalled something…

"Are you a Messenger? Sir? Ma'am?" Vale wasn't sure what to call the mysterious being but anyway, he recalled the Fallen Messenger theory of Professor Lucius.

If there is a "Fallen" one, perhaps there are also those normal Messengers… If that's the case, Vale can imagine that this being could pass as one of the messengers.

The Spiritual Being noticed Vale's reaction… It observed the room for a couple of seconds before it spoke without opening its mouth.

"So you know about our existence. Then, you know that I'll be taking some of your life force for calling me, a Messenger, right?" The Being has a deep voice and Vale wasn't even sure whether it is speaking through his mind or not.

"Wait, the blood I offered just now isn't enough?" Vale asked after processing Messenger's words. He thought that the blood that was poured into that circle was already enough. After all, he felt his life force being taken away during that time.

"…"

The messenger didn't seem to understand what he was saying as it looked at the magic circle for a moment.

"The blood you offered is only to call for my presence… It seems that you didn't know how the ritual works before attempting to do it. At any rate, I can see that you have plenty of life force so it's not a problem… Now, tell me why you let your first Dark Spirit die… Not even a century had passed and the Dark Spirit died already! Dark Spirits can live for tens of thousands of years but you let one of them die! Do you think a Spirit would still answer your prayer?!"

"…"

Vale almost choked after hearing its words… To be fair, what he said was correct. If they learned how Lotus died so early, who would befriend him?

However, can he be fully blamed for it?

It was Lotus' own decision for blocking that Zombie's detonation. Everything happened too quickly at that time and he was only able to use his Darkness Manipulation and Spell Dispersion to protect himself from harm. Even if he wants to stop her, he just didn't have the capacity to do so.

Well, a part of it must be blamed on him and he knows that he still made a mistake. At the moment, he really wanted to get together with Lotus once again and this time, he won't let her sacrifice her life.

"So you want to appease the guilt you're feeling?" The messenger suddenly said as if it could read his mind.

Currently, Vale couldn't even be bothered asking the Messenger why he came here in the first place… The ritual he made isn't for summoning a messenger at all… Anyway, he decided not to point this out and simply asked…

"What can I do? Did Lotus really die? Did she not return to the Spirit World? Can I no longer summon a Dark Spirit because of this?" Vale asked.

He can feel that this mysterious messenger can't stay here forever… He has to make use of his presence while he's still here.

"The Dark Spirit has already returned to the Spirit World… However, you can no longer meet with the same Spirit again… So you have to forget about that Spirit already." The messenger then paused for a moment and looked at Vale with a hint of gentleness before speaking again.

"Since you're willing to use your life force to ask for another Dark Spirit, then I will send you a different one…" The messenger said which garnered Vale's curiosity.

'Hmm?'

He thought that this Messenger is mad at him but it is still being kind to him even after what happened to Lotus. Is it really because he's willing to spend his Vitality in exchange for a Dark Spirit?

Although he doesn't really want other Dark Spirits besides Lotus, he still decided to accept it to satisfy his curiosity.

"I understand… Thank you, Messenger. Can I always summon a Dark Spirit from now on using the same ritual and sacrifice?" Vale asked.

"Perhaps… I don't know. Maybe until His curiosity was filled."

"His curiosity? Who is it?" Vale asked in a confused tone.

"The Gates of the Spirit World seem to be interested in your body and I think I know the reason… There is a familiar scent in your body it feels as if---"

Before the Messenger could finish his words, he suddenly started turning illusory as if his time has run out…

The Messenger can no longer speak but it waved its hand to take Vale's life force and at the same time, summon a Dark Spirit to Vale's side.

"Can I call you once again?" Vale asked again as he felt that the Messenger was about to say something very important.

Unfortunately, the Messenger could only display a stiff smile after hearing his question before vanishing into thin air.

Vale could only sigh at this as he looked at the Dark Spirit beside him…

This time, the Dark Spirit wasn't hiding using a cloak of shadow and he could see her face clearly… She was wearing a gown made of dark matter and her hair was waving behind her like they were alive.

Although she has the same black hair and black eyes, the Dark Spirit is certainly different from Lotus. She looks like an elegant witch in Vale's opinion.

"Can you also speak to my mind and enter my shadow?" Vale asked after a while.

Instead of answering, the Dark Spirit simply looked at Vale before nodding her head.

Vale wasn't in the mood to try and persuade this Spirit to speak as he requested her to enter his shadow. Then, he opened his Attribute Panel to see the amount of Vitality taken away from him.