The Ascension of Contracted Spirits

Chapter 59 - 58: The Greedy Huazhu_1

Once back at his dwelling, Ye Hanjun prioritized taking a bath.

Eliminating bacteria and dirt, relieving the fatigue of the day, this habit had been with him since childhood.

After putting on clean clothes and sitting at the dining table, he spread out a tablecloth and fastened a bib around his neck.

With his left hand holding a bowl of vegetable soup and a pair of metal chopsticks in his right, he entered a mode of focused eating.

"Eat, is the food not to your taste?"

Ye Hanjun looked at the Desert Witch in bafflement:

"This is Flame Frog meat from the Rainbow Light Fetus, containing minute amounts of Fire Element."

"Though it doesn’t seem fresh and appears to be frozen meat, it should still suit your attribute."

"As for the black radish, it may smell awful, but it tastes crunchy and delicious."

"Consuming both items, you wouldn’t need to eat again for three days. Is there anything you’re confused about?"

"No..." Candle shook her head and hesitated before saying,

"Through our brief time together, I have noticed that you seem to have your rules and requirements for many details."

"For instance, I can tell that you value cleanliness greatly."

"Secondly, you seem quite passionate about eating."

"However, due to my past nomadic life, I have developed a habit of eating quickly. My eating manners are surely not pleasing to the eye."

"They are far from ’elegant’, as human standards would have."

"I am not sure if this would make you deem me... savage, rude, or unhygienic?"

"Is that it?"

Ye Hanjun palmed his forehead in exasperation and laughed, before rapping the Witch on the head,

"Do you know, in my family, I am the odd one."

"My slightly obsessive cleaning habits were formed because I used to interact with all sorts of weird Fond Spirits daily."

"Like exploding spiders, self-immolation demon mice, corpse burning ghosts, headless war donkeys, dream demons, evil tentacles, contagious books, mummy dolls, plague-old trees..."

"Even with layers of protective equipment, I still felt nauseous."

"Especially during dissection classes when I delved into the structures of Fond Spirits. Just a drop of blood could ruin my hands, and if I did not cleanse myself dozens of times, I would never be able to sleep."

Thinking back to these past experiences, Ye Hanjun was filled with vivid memories.

As a common man with memories of his previous life who suddenly found himself in such an absurd fantasy world, he found it incredibly hard to adapt at first.

All the other children were like blank slates, easily accepting the family’s knowledge and traditions without any burden.

But he had to keep pretending, perpetually brainwashing himself to accept the reality.

His obsession with cleanliness gradually formed this way.

Now it is really very mild. Sixteen years were long enough for him to alter his mindset and fully immerse himself in his new identity.

As for the ceremonial feeling of eating, it was purely because doing so gave him a sense of living purposefully.

Even if Candle, the Desert Witch, possessed a high intellect, Ye Hanjun would not impose his own standards on her, especially in nonessential areas.

"My expectations of you are simply to broaden your knowledge, transform your bloodline, and advance in combat strength. I won’t impose on you in any other aspect."

"Especially when it comes to eating. Be it your natural tendencies or habits, eat as you wish without worrying about my opinions."

"I understand." Candle breathed a sigh of relief and nodded solemnly.

If his lord was overly strict, it would indeed be troublesome.

Luckily, he prioritized bigger matters over smaller ones, and more important matters over trivial ones.

Such an approach to interacting... would make things more harmonious, right?

"Hiss!"

The black pincers lifted a bloody chunk of the Flame Frog meat.

The meat looked very tender.

But when she stuffed it into her mouth, there seemed to be a hidden switch turned on in the calm and gentle witch. She began tearing and chewing the meat ferociously, gobbling it down greedily, as if she were a starving ghost.

"Oh, do you want some soup? The rest is yours."

Ye Hanjun watched her with interest for a while before pushing the remaining vegetable soup towards her.

The Desert Witch could also consume this liquid that naturally seeped out.

With her mouth stained with blood, Candle nodded in response to his words.

She clasped the bowl with both her pincers, tilted her head back and gulped down the soup, finishing it in one go.

She resumed eating the meat afterward, consuming all of it before moving on to the black radish.

Within a minute, Candle finished her meal.

The somewhat wild aura emitted when she ate gradually dissipated.

"Once I finish eating, I will give you two hours of theory lessons. After that, you can return to the Contract Space, marking the end of the day."

"What should we start with? Let me think..."

"We should start with your race. After all, Desert Witches belong to the mid to low tier Witch Clan. I should be able to cover about 60 to 70% of the inherited knowledge your fellow clan members failed to pass on to you. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I will answer them systematically..."

"Oh, right."

As if remembering something important, Ye Hanjun shook the water bottle on the table, startling the little tadpole inside to poke its head out.

"GuaGua, you should also stay beside me and attend the class."

"Even if you don’t understand, you still have to listen. You’re intelligent; language shouldn’t be a barrier for you."

"The language of humans and the language of the Witch Clan. I will give you a month. You must at least reach the level of basic comprehension."

"Yiye?"

The little tadpole tilted its head, unaware of the storm it had unwittingly stepped into, bearing the academic pressure it shouldn’t have had to endure at such a young age.

...

The busy night always passed quickly.

After finishing his classes, Ye Hanjun slept for a full eight hours.

With low rank, a Patron must restore energy through sleep.

Only with growth to a higher rank, or mastery of more powerful abilities, will it be possible to possess more vigorous life vitality, thriving without eating, drinking, or sleeping all year round.

"Ooosh--"

When the morning sun rose, a beam of bright sunlight penetrated through the window lattice, illuminating Ye Hanjun’s face.

He opened his eyes, his pitch-black pupils seemed to mirror a chaotic and unclear world, only really awakening when a spark of light shone.

"Morning, GuaGua."

Ye Hanjun sat up and put on his clothes, then greeted the water jug on his bedside table.

"Yiye!"

Upon hearing the sound, the tadpole that had turned to stone overnight instantly woke up.

Now it was no longer satisfied with staying in the washroom, nor did it want to frolic with uninteresting little fishes and shrimps.

Though the water jug was a bit small with poorer lighting.

It was alright, the portability it offered allowed it to stay on the bedside table of the larger tadpole.

It could then go out and play with the bigger tadpole when the latter woke up.

"biubiubiu~~~"

The peeking tadpole began to spit out water.

The golden glow reflected in its eye the size of a grain of rice showed its radiant mood, cheerful and lively.

"You could go out with me later."

"But I’m going to a crowded place today, if you don’t want to be detected for your extraordinary spiritual nature and be taken away, you better behave and stay in the water jug, don’t just run around casually."

"Yiye! Yiye!"

The small tadpole didn’t understand.

But that didn’t interfere with its enthusiastic response.

Ye Hanjun poked the tadpole’s head with his finger, then turned to the mirror, meticulously wearing his armor and the Bloodsucking Dagger.

Personal Badge, Grass Rabbit Paste, and his only Medium Quality Spirit Stone, of course, must also be carried with him.

There were also clean handkerchiefs, which were almost his biggest consumable goods, he worried that the remaining stock in hiscloset won’t last the week.

He left home.

Walked to the post station to take a vehicle.

At 7:50, Ye Hanjun arrived at the number seven smithy of Heaven District on time.

Today was his fifth day at Canghai Pavilion, and also the day Master Tu Long would give lectures.

As his assistant, they had agreed to attend such occasions together in order to integrate into the role and gain relevant growth experience.

"Morning."

Da Mu’er and Sikong Wei lifted their heads at the same time, their gazes immediately fell on Ye Hanjun.

They lived in the smithy all year round and rarely returned to their own homes.

Basically, they woke up, ate something, and walked out the door, there was no need to rush around.

"Morning." Ye Hanjun smiled, "Where’s Master Tu, still not up?"

"Master Tu is running around outside recently and doesn’t stay at the smithy."

Da Mu’er took out the half-finished cigarette from his mouth, rubbed his fingers, a cluster of flame sprouted, and the remaining cigarette butt began to burn.

"Only when it comes to smithing, he gets relatively active."

"Aside from maintaining his tutor status and preventing the academy from deducting research resources."

"He wouldn’t even think about teaching a bunch of annoying and stupid students in his eyes..."

Watching the cigarette in his hand burnt out, Da Mu’er exhaled, letting the ash after the burn drift away with the wind.

He glanced at Ye Hanjun again, a trace of suspicion in his deep eyes, he was not quite certain and said:

"Did you sign a contract? Your whole aura seems different from a few days ago."

The aura of a Patron without a Contracted Spirit Fond Spirits, and a Patron with Contracted Spirit Fond Spirits, is indeed different.

This fact doesn’t require strong perceptual power, as long as one is well-informed and attentive, they can observe easily.

"Yeah, without contracting a Fond Spirit, I wouldn’t be able to hang onto this assistant position."

Ye Hanjun responded lightly, his gaze flickered across the two of them.

Noticing their eyes brightening with evident interest, seeming eager to know the type, rank, attribute of his contracted spirit.

Ye Hanjun thought to himself, based on this he could infer that the news regarding the Disabled Fond Spirits Assistance Center, the mysterious assistant’s contract with Grey Flash, probably hasn’t spread widely yet.

This was good news, the less people who knew about it each night, he could avoid a fair amount of trouble.

"I haven’t asked yet, what kind of class is Master Tu planning to teach today?"

To introduce Candle proactively, he wouldn’t do such thing to set a trap for himself.

Ye Hanjun changed the subject, simultaneously inquiring about official matters.

"Today’s class is ’Metal Identification’."

Sikong Wei hesitated and took over the conversation, he answered truthfully.

With his status set in the 3rd rank, and armed with a D-class authority as a Weapon Master, Tu Long seemed to be only competent at smithing, but he could teach a lot more to students.

In cognition, he could talk about the evolution and upgrade of smithing technology concerning the Giant Frog Marsh and the surrounding area...

And he could also talk about the melting point, hardness, collection, rarity, trade value of smithing materials...

Beyond theory, in practice, he could guide novice Patrons who have smithing abilities to attempt simple weapon forging or refining armaments...

As for ’Metal Identification’.

It sounded like an introductory course to metal materials...

Ye Hanjun thought to himself.