"Correct answer. The most important aspect is your position with respect to your opponent. Even a small angle can cause an attack to miss or get glanced by the armour. To get dominance in positioning one needs superior footwork and body control. We are going to drill these two areas exhaustively."

After saying her piece, Miriam began to demonstrate footwork techniques and movement drills. Max felt that they resembled his gymnast routines but were still more complex than them. After only one circuit of all the drill Max felt soreness in muscles he didn't think he had. The princess was not faring any better either. Miriam told them to take it easy and also recommended supplements that targeted joint integrity and ligament strength. Weeks passed in a similar manner and Max spent his time between his duties, drills and studies. The two squires were required to complete a number of topics like troop formations, ballistics, basic architecture and engineering, macroeconomics etc. While they did not have to attend classes, they did have to complete assignments which were sent to the academy for grading. Any doubts that arose were cleared by the professors through correspondence. Max and the princess sometimes helped each other while studying. This was the only time they interacted with each other as both of them were kept busy by their schedules.

The headmaster sometimes visited the mansion to conduct experiments on Max. So far none of the previous experiments had shown any visible results. Headmaster Marvin was getting frustrated. He thought that it would be a huge waste if a person with mana capacity 10 times normal was not able to become a mage just because of his affinities. As a last-ditch effort, he decided to do something drastic. Spirits and devils were creatures that resided in planes that were very close but parallel to the mortal plane. They were often attracted by the mana and life force in the mortal plane. Devils use seduction or manipulation to ensnare sentient beings and invade the mortal plane. Monsters and demons are the results of previous incursions which were only stopped by paying huge sacrifices. Spirits, on the other hand, prefer to cooperate and protect people. They have close relations to diving beings as devils have close relations to the netherworld. The previous hero had contracted a top-level spirit, rumoured to be the daughter of one of the Elemental Emperors. All spirits known to humans assume fairy-like appearances and generally have an affinity similar to mana affinities. There are various levels in spirits at the top of which are the 5 Elemental Emperors.

To contract a spirit one requires great aptitude in magic as well as lots of luck. Normal people generally went to the church for spirit-awakening ceremonies but high-level mages have their own methods. On successful bonding, one's affinity will rise tremendously but their mana reserves need to be shared with the spirit to manifest them in the mortal plane. Usually, the loss of mana capacity is more than made up for by the rise in affinity. One person can only go through one spirit awakening ceremony in their entire life.

Two months after Miriam showed Max and Reina the movement drills, Marvin summoned Max to the academy. He was ushered in through a secret entrance and led to the mage tower. The mage tower in the academy was very famous and trained almost 100 mages every year. The top floor was reserved for the tower master who was Marvin himself. When Max arrived, he found Marvin hunched over an extremely complex magic circle. He seemed to be doing some calculations so Max decided to wait for him to complete. Eventually, Marvin straightened himself and noticed Max. He beckoned Max. Pointing to the circle he said, "I am out of ideas. As much as it pains me, this is my final attempt. If you are able to contact a spirit, one of your affinities will rise and you can become a mage. If not then I guess you will have to continue on the path of the warrior". Max understood his implication and nodded. He also expressed his gratitude to the headmaster for doing so much for him. Marvin waved his hands saying that it was his duty as the headmaster. He then asked Max to step towards the centre of the circle and sit cross-legged. After that Max was asked to close his eyes and meditate. Marvin slowly started feeding mana to the circle while muttering some incantations. As time passed Max started to feel a slight itch at the back of his neck but chose to ignore it. What he didn't know that a spider tattoo was being etched on the nape of his neck. Once the tattoo was complete, it started to absorb mana from the magic circle. All the mana provided for the ceremony was being absorbed by the tattoo. Marvin felt something was wrong and tried to stop the ceremony but suddenly the mana stones he was using went berserk and a whirlpool of mana started coiling around Max. After that, a blinding light filled the room. Max only had time to feel a large pressure in his brain before he passed out.

Max's POV

I opened my eyes and found myself staring at the now-familiar ceiling of the servant quarters in Miriam's mansion. I wonder how I got here and what happened at the ceremony. I have very little expectations but I was not going to get any answers while lying in bed. I got out and moved sluggishly towards the washroom to freshen up. As soon as I reached the mirror, my heart stopped. Even though I did not have arachnophobia, seeing a spider with a 2-metre diameter behind you suddenly would startle most people. Forcefully suppressing the urge to squeal like a little girl, I turn my head but find the opposite wall empty. What? Did I hallucinate? I turned back to the mirror and found the spider in the same place unmoved. What the fuck? Am I going mad?

"Greetings Contractor!" A mechanical female voice replied. It sounded like SIRI but I had no idea who SIRI was.

"Good morning? Who are you? What are you?"

"I am Nyx and I am your contracted spirit."

"According to records, all spirits are humanoid with elemental affinities. You are neither. Are you a devil?"

"That information is incorrect. And no, you cannot contact a demon through spirit awakening ritual. Different planes."

"UH... you are challenging my world view here. Could you please elaborate?"

"Sure. But it will take some time."

As I continued through my morning routine, Nyx explained to me about the ins and outs of the Spirit Realm. Turns out, the spirit realm is not as homogeneous as humans think it to be. It is made up of different tribes of spirits, the elementals being one of them. What the elementals did do was finding the gate to mortal realm first. In the beginning, they kept it a secret from others but eventually, word got out. This resulted in some political sword-crossing and negotiations after which they gained the exclusive rights to the mortal realm in exchange for massive payments in mana and soul power harvested from here. Some tribes like Nyx's were not happy with this result but were outvoted by the other tribes. So they secretly made an alliance. Nyx was acting as a scout for checking out stuff before others made further plans. Nyx also told me that she was a high-level spirit at par with the Elemental Emperors. She was the former Matriach of Arachne tribe where they change matriarchs in a thousand-year cycle. Her term ended recently and she really wanted to see the Mortal plane. For a high-level spirit like her, it was apparently quite simple to pass through the blockade put up by Elementals unnoticed. She also told me that Arachne tribe members have no attributes to their mana, so when she first sensed my unique pure mana, she immediately latched on to me, making the ceremony go crazy as the manifestation of an Emperor level spirit could be very straining for the ceremony. Luckily I was not injured by it.

"Well, I get your story. Although most of it is unbelievable for me now, like you being at the same level as Elemental Emperors. Like, even the hero only contracted only the rumoured daughter of one. But that can wait for now. First, can you tell what does contracting with you mean for me?"

Before Nyx could reply to that question, someone entered my room. When he saw me awake, he was surprised for a bit but quickly regained his composure. I recognized him as one of the servants living on the same floor, his name is Raj. I sometimes chatted with him when I first started to live in the mansion.

"Congratulations on your recovery milord, you have been unconscious for an entire day. I suggest getting some breakfast. Lady Miriam sent me to check up on you but it seems I don't have to report myself."

As if on cue, my stomach gave a loud grumble. Embarrassed, I followed Raj to the dining table.

"I have a request contractor. Please don't reveal my existence to your fellow humans as it will be detrimental to my mission."

I gave Nyx a mental nod through our telepathic bond. I never planned to drop such a bomb on them in the first place. As I reached the table, I surprisingly found Marvin and Miriam already there. When they saw me, they immediately bombarded me with questions about my body and if I felt any changes. I told them that I was fine but felt no changes. Marvin did some test for my affinity but found it unchanged. Depressed, he left the room with Miriam who was consoling him.

As I dug into the bacon and bread that was served for breakfast, I continued the questionnaire session with Nyx.

"Contractor, I..."

"Call me Max."

"Change acknowledged. Max, by assessing your memories, I found...."

"Wait,wait...time out...you can see my memories?"

"Arachne specialize in mind magic. Don't worry Max, I will teach you how to guard yourself properly against such probes in the near future."

"I don't know how I should react to that.... but mind magic?"

"Yes, continuing my previous statement. I find the magic currently used by humans to be very limited. Why do you limit yourselves to origin magic when it is the most difficult to learn?"

"There are others?"

"Yes, magic can be broadly classified into three types - Origin magic: One where caster use their mana to create another object/energy form, Domain magic: Magic used to control the surroundings of the caster. This includes empathy, hypnosis, telemetry, telekinesis etc. Lastly, there is augmentation magic where the caster manipulates the soul and astral body to augment the physical body in order to perform supernatural feats."

"Hang on, you are saying that hypnosis and telekinesis are real? Most mages scorn them as parlour tricks with no real basis."

"Yes, this is what surprises me. Humans in this plane are surprisingly unguarded against any mind magic. Their thoughts are so loud that I have to subconsciously suppress my sensitivity or else I would go crazy."

"That's....a lot to take in... So....what can you teach me?"

"Me? I have lived long enough to have knowledge about all kinds of magic though as an Arachne, I specialise in Domain magic. Let's start by getting you decent control over your consciousness. It won't do good for me if my peers find my contractor to be so laughably vulnerable..."