Zhang Dong looked down at the golden-haired girl that looked to be in the middle of her teens. At this moment in time, she was clutching her ears. After his little outburst, her ears were probably ringing. He noticed that his increased size was causing the girl harm so he tried to lower his tone.

The need to lower the amount of energy he was giving out was also a must. He started glowing less but shrinking to her size was not an option apparently. If she was just someone from a tiny race was a possibility. Zhang Dong had a hard time believing that he had turned into a giant by coming to this other world.

“Sorry about that little girl, could you raise your head it’s hard to talk like that. What did you mean by a heroic spirit when you addressed me? What is this about a contract?”

She had clearly given him a title of some sort. This was probably a clue to this predicament, if not he would need to search for answers of his own accord.

“Great Spirit…?”

The girl looked up towards him, he had leaned closer slightly so his giant face along with his glowing eyes were now looking intently at the small girl. Surprisingly the girl didn’t flinch at his colossal sight again, was it bravery or resolve?

“I thank you for answering my call, If the great spirit is willing I would be honored to form a contract…”

He could see her fidget a bit after returning the question with a statement. From the short exchange, he could somehow figure out what this was. The problem was that it didn’t really make much sense, how was he a summoned being? He came from a fantasy-like world of cultivators, so summoners and wizards wouldn’t be really shocking to him.

“You would like to form a contract with me?”

He asked out of curiosity, maybe prooding with questions someone that thought that he was some kind of summoned spirit wasn’t the greatest idea.

“I would be honored, Great spirit!

The answer didn’t give him much, though he didn’t even know how to form this ‘contract’ even if he wanted to oblige. Also signing strange binding contracts with unknown people in an unknown location would probably not be the smartest option.

The space around him felt strange. He could somehow use his cultivation and powers but the energies were different than what he was used to. He could spread his spiritual sense in all directions but he couldn’t feel any other living being here. The girl and he himself were the only two people here. Even then, she felt more like an energy construct or a soul than a real living being.

He wanted to try some other options before asking the girl for further answers. This space felt like some kind of dead-end, the only thing he wanted to do is get back to his sect. After going through all the teleportation treasures and his system options, he still couldn’t find a way out, being stuck here was a very real possibility.

The girl down below remained silent while trying not to fidget while he continued to think.

“G-great spirit? C-could we form a contract? D-didn’t you summon me here to form one, great spirit?”

Zhang Dong looked down at her, one brow raised. The girl really wanted to get this contract deal going but there wasn’t really much in it for him. He would rather decline her request but a sudden new development threw a wrench into his plan.

“Warning… world link fading… need to establish a stronger tether… warning!”

‘What is it now?’

He groaned a bit while looking at his system window that started flickering with warning signs. He could see some kind of new counter that was going down.

World synchronization rate 89%.... 88%...87%...

It started going down and continued without stopping. He started getting some kind of strange feeling in his very soul. Zhang Dong could see that he was somehow getting rejected from this world by something, slowly fading away. He looked at his hands and after the rate dropped below 70% he could see them flickering in and out of existence.

“It is advised for the user to form a contract with the summoner named Beatrice Hohenberg.”

“What the?”

He heard a voice from the side, it sounded like an old text to speech module from an old operating system. He turned to the side to see a wisp of blue light hovering there, this was the thing that just talked.

“Who are you supposed to be?”

“I am the AI companion generated to aid the User number 80082. If the user fails to form a connection with someone from sector number 41067 he will be erased from existence.”

Apparently, the system had gained some kind of sentience or it was just a more elaborate AI program. It was advising him to form a contract with this girl. It sounded that if he didn’t go through with it, it would end in death.

“Is there another way?”

He asked.

“Analysing the question... The User could absorb the person called Beatrice Hohenberg and inhabit her body forcefully. The User would be then recognized as an inhabitant of this sector.”

He looked at the young girl that was still kneeling down. She was looking at him with those big blue eyes, taking over her body was out of the question. He wasn’t an evil spirit that possessed others and he would like to keep it like that.

‘I might not have a choice…’

The counter dropped below 50% and he started to fade away. There didn’t seem to be another option but to take this girl up on the offer and form that contract. He wasn’t sure what that foretold for his future but he had to live. His family was still out there, he needed more time to figure things out. Sticking around a teenage girl for some time didn’t seem like much of a problem.

“Uh… system? AI helper? How do I form a contract with the girl?”

“... sending information to the user… please wait for the data transfer…”

He felt a familiar pain run through his head. It was reminiscent of the jolt he always got when buying techniques from the old system store. In a matter of moments, he had the information in his brain.

‘So that’s how it is… it’s not as bad as I thought it would be…’

The contract wasn’t binding him for life. Thanks to his level of power being far superior to the summoner he was the one with all the decision-making power. He would be able to break it off by his own will if he ever wanted to. If the summoner wasn’t strong enough to keep the summoned spirit at bay in some way, the spirit could leave at any moment. He could even switch hosts if he wanted to.

“Girl...Beatrice was it, I will form a contract with you.”

The girl looked up, her blue eyes went wide with surprise. He wasn’t sure what she was thinking but she looked equally confused and ecstatic. Zhang Dong had gotten the instructions on how to perform this ‘contract’ through this strange ball of light AI. He still wasn’t sure if he could trust that thing and how it even came out.

He had a suspicion that it had something to do with that other cube, he had absorbed it and might have unlocked some new functions. The contract was similar to binding two souls together. They would be connected by a sort of chain and both of them could gain benefits.

The summoned creature would be given energy from the Summoner and fed off of them. The one using the spirit would gain its aid in return, it was mostly a symbiotic relationship. Both of the parties were getting something for it.

After the contract was broken the spirit would return to the so-called spirit realm. It would get to keep any strength that it was given and with time could even evolve into a being of higher power.

Zhang Dong moved his finger out towards Beatrice. It was as large as her whole head but he needed physical contact with his summoner to perform the soul binding procedure.

“Accept it”

The girl shivered slightly while closing her eyes. He gently bumped his finger against her forehead to begin the procedure. A small fraction of his soul transformed into a golden shackle, it flew out towards the girl’s own soul and the two were connected with each other. This process was only possible if both of the parties were willing, if not the weaker one would be quite dead.

He could feel the young girl’s soul getting connected with his own. His soul arts were still lacking but with the system’s help, he was able to perform this strange ritual. The magic this world used was similar to the one of his world but the ‘wavelength’ of mana was slightly different than of Qi that he was used to.

‘That should do it…’

World synchronization rate 43%.... 44%...47%...

The synchronization rate started going up the moment the connection was finalized. Before he could ask the girl more questions he saw her vanish. She just popped like a soap bubble and only faint energy particles remained.

‘Damn, what now… and how should I call you?’

Zhang Dong frowned while looking at the small glowing blue light that was hovering over his shoulder. This thing reminded him of an annoying game element from one of the old games that he played. It was as noisy though and only spoke up when asked a question by him directly.

“This unit’s designation number is 000451200-B08…”

“... B08?... Okay, I’ll just call you Bob. So tell me, Bob, where am I and how do I get out of here?”

He took a seat on the platform the girl appeared on. It was the only thing besides the sea of stars above. While looking around he spread his senses far and wide again, this place was kind of weird. With a bit of prodding he figured something out, this place wasn’t as big as it seemed. The sky above was only an illusion, the wide dark space spread a few kilometers in each direction.

“So Bob, can you explain where I am and how do I get home? Also, what are you and this system…”

The glowing light moved towards him while changing colors. It looked like it was thinking, after a few moments its robotic voice sounded out.

“Insufficient data… must gather more nuclei”

“Nuclei?”

“A nucleus is a concentrated hub of information about a given sector….”

The machine started a long-winded explanation that pointed him back to the cubes as always.

“Wait… if I get more of those cubes, could I get back to my old world? I mean, to my previous sector?”

“Calculating…”

“With an additional nucleus, the probability of establishing a tether to users' original sector is 37%...”

“Oh? How probable is it without one?”

“0,00145%”

“Great…”

Zhang Dong looked around this closed space and was already feeling homesick. The only thing on his mind were his wife and kids. There was the problem with the crazy sect of swordmasters still to be resolved. He was worried that with him not there a war between sects could happen.

“How do I even find one of those cubes if I’m trapped in here?... huh?”

He felt something tugging at him from the inside. He focused on this strange feeling and in a moment could see something strange. He could see a strange ritual chamber through the eyes of someone else. This was clearly the girl that he made the contract with, he was now connected with her. It was a strange sensation of being in two places at once.

“I guess I will have to use this child to help me out… I need to gather more information about this world.”

He rubbed his chin while looking at the girl through her eyes. The blond was looking at a glowing mark on her right hand. He could feel his own energy signature coming off it and it was the sign of a successful summoner contract. He could feel the girl’s joy when she looked at this strange runic symbol.

‘I did it grandfather, I’m a summoner maybe with this…’

He jerked a bit after hearing the girl's voice in his head. Somehow he was able to hear her thoughts but it didn’t seem like she could hear his.

“This will take some time to get used to… think I’ll just observe her for now…”

“Bob can you tell me more about this world…”

He sat down cross-legged in this empty space, he wasn’t sure how long he would be stuck here but he would do anything in his power to return to his family and friends.