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After settling his thoughts, Vaan glanced out the window and saw the beautiful night sky with cascading moonlight to estimate the time.

The night was not young, but there were still several hours before the first ray of sunrise arrived.

‘I’ve finished collecting all the information from Lady Solana’s research papers and books, but I still have this much spare time, huh? Seems like my ability improved again,’ Vaan mused.

Although staying at the Golden Peacock Inn guaranteed protection, Vaan didn’t intend to sleep.

Given his mental level, he could stay awake for a whole week without an issue. Of course, this excludes factors brought by mental workload.

If Vaan overworked his mind, he would require rest much sooner due to the built-up mental fatigue.

‘With Lady Solana’s protection, there’s no need to worry about Lady Linetta and Lady Lillias,’ Vaan thought.

Although the internal conflict within Delarosa Household was a nuisance, building a connection with the Delarosa Household through Linetta and Lillias shouldn’t be a mistake.

After all, the Delarosa Marquisate occupied a vast amount of land in the south. A mere Redpine City is insignificant compared to it.

Furthermore, it was closer to the southern borders.

‘There must be more powers than just the seven witch kingdoms on this continent. Unfortunately, all information on existing powers outside the seven witch kingdoms is not readily available—No, should I say they were restricted from public access instead?’ Vaan mused.

He could understand why, though.

Nevertheless, Vaan quickly shelved aside the thought and scanned his surroundings with Magic Vision.

The material buildings seemingly fell into the background as the clusters of mana belonging to people, the environment, and even the minuscule spores of the Plant-type Abomination all entered his sight.

Interestingly enough, the spores had a tendency to absorb nearby mana.

‘Despite the city being full of mana, none of it can be used. The spores are responsible for this. If too many spores entered the body, they would attach to the mana veins and magic circles like leeches and interfere with the activation of magic…’

Vaan understood the secret behind the Curse of the Purple Umbala, but his expression remained calm like the lake of still water, serene and without ripples.

‘Fortunately, these spores cannot affect me,’ Vaan slightly smiled with amusement.

He was aware of it the moment he entered the vicinity of Sunpeak Town due to the string of silent notifications in his mind back then.

…

=====

Ding!

<Parasitic substances have invaded your body>

<The Earth Spirit has been forcefully awakened from her peaceful slumber>

<The Earth Spirit has expressed discontent for her interrupted slumber>

<The Earth Spirit is displeased by the parasitic substances intruding on her personal space>

<The Earth Spirit has removed the parasitic substances from your body>

<The Earth Spirit has resumed her slumber>

…

Ding!

<The Earth Spirit has been forcefully awakened from her slumber again>

<The Earth Spirit has become unhappy>

…

<The Earth Spirit is enraged>

<Parasitic substances have been destroyed>

<Traces of unrefined mana has been discovered roaming inside of your body>

<Compiling list of options for the unrefined mana>

…

Ding!

<[Error]: the traces of unrefined mana has disappeared>

<The Earth Spirit has licked her lips in satisfaction>

<The Earth Spirit has gone back to slumber>

…

Ding!

<The Earth Spirit’s information has been updated>

–

–

–

[Spirit Contract]: Unnamed Fairy (Low-rank Earth Spirit)

Unnamed Fairy’s Mana Capacity: 120/100 (Excess mana)

–

–

–

<The Plant-Type Abomination has become aware of your existence>

=====

After Vaan received the last notification, he had not received any more news of the parasitic substances invading his body.

Vaan smiled wryly as he recalled the system log.

After Vaan confirmed no one was spying on his room, he retrieved a few materials varying from Rank 1 to Rank 2 from his Heaven-Swallowing Space.

‘Now that I’ve gained Earth Manipulation through my contract with the Earth Spirit, I no longer require blacksmithing tools to forge a weapon,’ Vaan mused.

Ideally, a weapon with close combat and range capability like a gunblade would give him more versatility in battle.

However, the twin fang daggers had already been seen by others. Altering their appearances with the additions of gun barrels would invite questions from others.

‘I need to forge a gunblade from scratch and keep it secret as one of my trump cards,’ Vaan determined.

Earth Manipulation!

A lump of Rank 1 Obsidian Iron was lifted, deformed, and reshaped according to Vaan’s will.

After the Rank 1 Obsidian Iron changed, the Rank 1 Meteorite Iron, Rank 1 Blackstar Iron, Rank 0 Carbon, and Rank 2 Tungsten followed.

They fused and formed a stronger alloy under the right proportion before undergoing further reshaping and refinement.

Sometime later, a black blade was created.

The black blade lacked the suppressive aura of a powerful Crimson Direwolf against Dark Hellhounds, but it was sharper, sturdier, and more durable than the twin fang daggers.

Nevertheless, it was just a blade without a handle.

Vaan proceeded to forge the individual parts required to form the gunblade envisioned in his mind—one that had spiral grooves within its barrels to make projectible objects rotate.

Time slowly passed, and the Earth Spirit’s mana reserve decreased. But despite the complexity of Vaan’s work, the mana consumption was surprisingly low.

Unknowingly, the Unnamed Fairy had awakened from her slumber. She materialized outside of Vaan’s body and flapped her tiny wings around him, inspecting his work curiosity.

‘Looks like I’ve caught your interest. You’re not going back to sleep after, right?’ Vaan slightly smiled as he commuted with the telepathic ability shared between them.

‘Kyuu!’ The Unnamed Fairy nodded vigorously at first, then shook her head to his following question.

Nevertheless, Vaan divided some attention from his work to focus on Unnamed Fairy.

Now that they could hold a conversation, Vaan could learn of her name—and if she didn’t have one, he could also give her one.

However, that being said, it was clear that the Unnamed Fairy didn’t speak the human language.

‘Fortunately, I can still understand you through telepathy,’ Vaan thought.