The Greedy Metal Spirit
[What’s that supposed to mean?]
[It means that for now, I can only manifest my powers using the ten materials I’ve absorbed: gold, silver, copper, iron, bronze, emerald, sapphire, ruby, pearl, and onyx.]
[……You were doing so well!]
[My abilities fundamentally require a framework. Like this body of mine! I told you, didn’t I? Creating something from nothing is difficult.]
So in short, I could only use powers based on what Rai had absorbed. Simple, yet infuriating. No wonder the snake drooled at the sight of metal. Wait—something felt off.
[You absorbed pearl even though I said it was fine, but pearl isn’t a metal. Amber isn’t either.]
[Exactly. That’s why I told you—human language can’t perfectly describe me.]
[Can you explain it so it actually makes sense?]
In response, the snake-shaped Rai shook its head and let out a dramatic sigh.
[Do you remember how I introduced myself as a mineral spirit before settling on metal?]
[Yeah, that was only a week ago.]
[Minerals are included in what I am. So are all metals. And gems as well. I chose “metal spirit” because it was the closest match. You know orichalcum, right? That rare metal extracted in tiny amounts from meteors that fall from the sky. It doesn’t come from the earth, yet it’s still called a metal—and it falls under my domain.]
[This is getting complicated.]
[Pearl and amber work the same way. They’re called gems, so they’re part of me. I considered calling myself a solid-element spirit, but too many things classified as solids—like wood or grains of sand—don’t fall under my influence. Even among stones, many are beyond my reach. Does that help?]
[So basically…… you just do whatever you want?]
[Perhaps? That’s simply how I was born. I didn’t decide what I could do.]
Of course Rai was a spirit. Its way of thinking was nothing like a human’s. Our conversations often missed the mark.
[Then who decides these things?]
[Nature. Or perhaps the gods of this world. What’s certain is that we’re closer to the divine than humans are. We live far longer, far grander lives.]
The snake’s eyes gleamed with an odd light as they met mine—eyes like polished onyx. Black stone that was also a gem, also a mineral. Rai really was an ambiguous existence. Hard to explain, just as it claimed.
[Anyway, I get one thing. The more different metals you eat, the more useful you become, right?]
[Yes. Once I’ve absorbed a material, I can multiply its quantity as long as I have mana.]
[So if you absorbed diamond, you could mass-produce it?]
[Of course.]
Yes! I clenched both fists without thinking.
“I was born to be rich!”
[Your mana is far too insufficient to handle diamond, though. At your current level…… copper is about the limit. A single fistful, perhaps?]
Why did that feel so insulting? This thing just looked me up and down, didn’t it?
“Your eyes are being rude.”
[Surely not. They’re filled with nothing but respect and loyalty.]
“Those eyes are literally made of stone.”
[Sparkling stone, to be precise.]
“You talk a good game. So mana’s the problem, huh?”
Mana training was tedious but not difficult. I’d just have to work harder—for the sake of my comfortable future. More money was always better. Life needed goals, after all.
I rubbed my chin and looked at my pet snake, whose diet consisted entirely of metal. Technically it was a spirit, which was the unusual part. I’d thought it was useless, but if things went well, it might become a snake that laid diamonds instead of gold.
Suddenly, the creature looked a little cute. I had to admit—I was a very mood-driven person.
“Right, since you’re a pet snake, you’ll need one of these.”
[What is it?]
“A ribbon.”
That way people wouldn’t be scared. A snake with a ribbon was cute. A big one, preferably. To show it had an owner.
[……Are you serious?]
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
[I meant, are you humanly serious?]
“You don’t like ribbons?”
[No!]
“Then how about a bell? A bell snake……”
[A ribbon is an excellent idea. I believe I mentioned once that I’ve always wanted to wear one.]
Oh, good—it liked the idea. Now, what color ribbon should I pick?
I was delighted. Even if I was the only one.
After that, I began collecting every metal and rare gem I could find. Unfortunately, students were only allowed outside the academy four times a year. The amount of metal and gems I could gather was severely limited.
“Haaah.”
“Jeanie, why the sigh? Something bothering you?”
Mia looked at me with concern. She always paid close attention to me.
“I want to go outside the academy. This place is so suffocating.”
“I see. I have a problem too.”
“……You do?”
Mia was a recognized genius in alchemy; her mind operated on a level I couldn’t even follow. The fact that she actually enjoyed studying already made her incomprehensible to me. And now she had worries?
“Yeah. It’s serious.”
“What kind of problem?”
“There’s a storage room in the alchemy department where we keep experimental metals.”
“There’s a place like that?”
Oh-ho. I’d have to let Rai know.
“But last night, a thief broke in!”
“Huh?”
“All the metal in the storage room disappeared overnight. Several tons of it—gone without a single speck left behind. Even the teachers are in an uproar. They say the alarm magic should’ve prevented anyone from entering……”
“O-oh my……”
“It’s not like the metal flew into the sky or sank into the ground. How could that much vanish in one night? Doesn’t it seem strange?”
I had a pretty good idea who the culprit was. And we were quite close. I quietly closed my mouth.
“Haaah, so all practical lessons are suspended until the metals are restocked. I’m so depressed! No experiments, no classes—it’s awful!”
“Awful…… indeed. That’s too bad. Cheer up, Mia.”
Most people would be thrilled about canceled classes. Mia really was something else.
Still, Rai sure worked fast.
The snake was rarely by my side during the day. It went off hunting alone and returned at night, looking increasingly sleek and well-fed with each passing day. The way it was getting plump wasn’t just my imagination.
“I’m so depressed. So, Jeanie……”
Mia had that look on her face—the one that meant she wanted something.
“To cheer me up, could you summon Undine?”
“You again…… Undine isn’t a toy, you know.”
“But it’s so fascinating, and cute, and adorable. Just looking at it makes me happy…… Undine’s like a fairy.”
“Hmph, well, that’s true. Our Undine is pretty cute. Fine! Consider it a favor.”
I didn’t usually summon Undine for trivial reasons, but I felt a little guilty at the moment, so I obliged.
“Undine.”
Perhaps because of our soul contract, the voice I used to call spirits felt different from my normal speaking voice. The words were the same, yet the path they traveled seemed entirely different—as if my voice were reaching into another world entirely.
Whenever I summoned Undine, I felt, just for a moment, as though I weren’t quite human.
Pop.
Water gathered in the air, and Undine appeared. It spun around me once before darting between Mia and me like a bird.
Undine seemed to understand what I wanted without being told—whether I needed training or simply wanted to play.
“It’s beautiful. Is it because Undine’s made of water? It sparkles in the sunlight. I never knew spirits could be like this. I want a spirit of my own!”
“Then get one.”
“But I have zero affinity. I can’t become a spirit master. I can’t even gather mana……”
“You have talent in other areas, don’t you? That’s a wonderful gift too.”
Two months had already passed since I contracted with Undine. Now that I was actually handling spirits, I finally understood why Teacher Iel had stressed certain things so much.
Mental strength. Affinity. Mana.
None of them could be lacking. Yet I was still young and inexperienced in every way. Mana shortage was obvious, but the mental strain was the worst.
After summoning a spirit, my head felt heavy and my whole body tired. Even a little overexertion made me dizzy and gave me nosebleeds. Training mental strength was proving far more difficult than I’d expected.
At my current level, I could only keep Undine summoned for about twenty minutes—and that was without giving it any commands. The moment I asked it to do something, mana consumption multiplied several times over. Using spirit magic reduced my limit to two or three minutes.
In that regard, Rai was impressive. I hated to admit it, but the fact that it consumed no mana while summoned was an enormous advantage.
According to Rai, it wasn’t being “summoned” so much as “waiting” of its own will. To remain in the middle realm by its own power required certain conditions—first and foremost, a contractor. Only beings on the level of Spirit Kings or those born in the spirit realm could manage it. In other words, it was bragging again.
‘Even its personality is weird.’
Still, I was learning more about spirits in many ways. I still hated studying, but practical experience helped me absorb knowledge far better than theory ever could.
“Jeanie! Lower water spirits are called Undine, right? What about the others?”
“Intermediate ones are called Undain. I looked it up—they look like fish.”
“Wow, when can you summon that one?”
“Who knows? Usually it takes around twenty years after summoning a lower spirit to successfully call an intermediate one…… and that’s only if you have the talent.”
“You’re a genius, so you’ll do it faster, won’t you?”
“My goal is an upper spirit. It’s called Endairon—the highest rank a human can summon. Of course, there are supreme spirits like Elestra…… and the Spirit King Elaim, but those are beyond human reach. So my target is, well, upper rank.”
Mia muttered that there was nothing “light” about that goal.
“Did you know? The mana difference between summoning a lower spirit and an intermediate one is more than five times. Upper spirits require another ten times that. I don’t even know about supreme spirits, but if the pattern holds, it’d be twenty times more…… I can’t even imagine it right now. Can a human really handle something like that?”
“Even so, if you’re setting a goal, why not aim for the supreme spirit Elestra? What do you think? You can do it, Jeanie! I just feel like you can!”
“If I were going that far, I’d aim for the Spirit King. But I’m not some ancient human. It’s impossible. I prefer realistic goals.”
Ancient humans had been fundamentally different from those of the present age. They could wield both magic and swordsmanship simultaneously, kept spirits as household servants, and possessed power rivaling even the celestial and demon races. It was easy to see how strong they must have been.
They were said to be the race most beloved by the Creator…… though one theory claimed their current weakness came from disappointing that Creator. During the Celestial-Demon War, humans made some terrible choice and lost all divine protection.
Well, none of that had anything to do with me.
I rolled across the grass as I spoke. The scent of earth and sunlight was perfect for a nap.
“Forget all that. I’m going to become rich instead!”