I exited my room and found the house to be completely silent. Apparently, mom and bro had not come back. From where, I didn't know, as dad decided it wasn't important for me to know. However, it seemed that he also decided to disappear.

"Strange," I muttered to myself as I tossed the old chicken breast away.

"This most likely has to do with your brother awakening his powers," Syn said.

"No doubt about it. I just wished they clued me in more."

"Speaking of which, the incident was actually quite odd. I observed their expressions at the time, and in my opinion they appeared surprised but also had a tinge of annoyance behind that."

"I mean, if blueish crystals covered your entire kitchen, I would get annoyed too." I checked the icebox and grabbed a bowl of leftover stew. I cast [Legerdemain] to heat it up. "Honestly, for the first spell someone is meant to learn, this sets an incredibly top bar. Oh yeah, and I can even flavor food with it."

"It does have its uses. Also, the flavor part isn't perfect, and it annoyingly doesn't change the texture."

"So I can't make this taste venison taste like dragon?"

"If you knew what dragon tasted like, you could."

"I can't believe magic peaked in the first spell I learned."

In under a minute, I instantly devour the contents of the bowl, barely taking a single breath between bites.

"Don't forget that you can also clean or dirty objects with [Legerdemain] as well," Syn said as I put the bowl in the sink.

"Oh, yeah." I cast [Legerdemain] and all the smudges and left over oils vanished, leaving only a shiny white bowl. Upon witnessing this, an idea popped into my head. "Wait, can I use this spell on myself?"

"Seeing as you are a living creature, no."

"Damn."

"You can use it to clean your clothes though."

"Yeah, I figured. Just wanted to know if I could clean me, you know."

"Got it."

"Also, casting this spell over and over uses anima, correct?"

"Yes, and I know exactly where you're headed with this."

"I'm going to take that as, no, it doesn't work that way."

"Using anima increases the size of your soul, but only to a certain extent. You can't just use the same spells repeatedly and hope to see any gains or improvement. Instead, you might even find yourself get weaker because of stagnation. The proper method of expansion includes gaining more experiences and use it to its maximum potential. Only by testing its limits can you break through and grow."

"Alright, that's exactly what I wanted to know."

I returned to my room and place the book on my desk. "Does the book have a name attached to it? Or should I come up with one on my own?"

"I'm sure its creator gave it a name. As for what that could be, I'm not sure. However, I ended up calling it the Nomicron."

"Nomicron? That's good enough for me as well. Now, before I try to figure out the whole refine anima ordeal, how do I see all the pact stuff you keep on talking about?"

Syn placed her palm on the front of the book. No visible changes occurred, but the symbol on the back of my hand burned. After a few moments, she opened the book up. Runes, diagrams, and instructions covered the first few pages. In fact, they were the same ones I used to summon Syn in the first place. She continued to flip through the pages, but stopped as one caught her eye.

"Ending the contract, hm?" I said in a contemplative voice.

"I hoped that I could sever my existence away from yours, but it seems that I can't. How unfortunate."

The text on the page had several details regarding the pact, all stuff I already knew. It was only the information at the bottom of the page, which was new.

If I chose, I could end the pact in an act termed [Severance]. Upon doing so, I could terminate the summoned eidolon and released their spirit. "What is the purpose of this? Doing so provides no benefits. Instead, I'll end up losing no longer have any of the additional powers that come along with the pact along with an unspecified and unknown consequence."

"The only use case scenario I can think of is perhaps if the eidolon in in particular was annoying or antagonistic and was more detrimental than the benefits you gained provided," Syn suggested.

"So it's basically a check and balance to make sure the eidolon and the book owner work together."

"Seems that way."

"Alright, well, your existence has run its course. Goodbye."

Syn placed her hand against her face and sighed.

I ignored the negative reaction and moved on.

The next page described included more details that Syn had already informed me of. Eventually, I finally landed on an actually useful page.

Having been branded once per day, I could use its power and curse someone. Not having a dedicated name, I took it upon myself to stretch my creative brain muscles and give it a name, ending up with [Curse of the Pact].

Casting the curse was fairly simple, as it didn't require anything from me besides thinking about it and looking at the target. This curse only lasted for a minute, with a range of sixty feet, and would only end early if the target in question died, or if I died or was knocked unconscious. Benefits included my attacks against the target being more accurate and causing more damage than normal. Upon the target's death, the curse would syphon vital anima from them into me. All the effects were not bad, however, it was that last part that interested me the most.

"Vital anima?" I asked, looking over at Syn.

"Think about it as a being's life force."

"Wait, so does this mean I could extend my life if I absorb enough vital anima?"

"Yes, you can, but that doesn't solve your issues," Syn corrected. "In my opinion, healing your heart, while a bit troublesome, isn't the actual issue you're going to face. Instead, it's the matter of your soul decaying. Once it burns out, it won't matter how much vital anima you have, you'll cease to exist."

"Unfortunate, but what I expected." I wasn't really disappointed at the answer, mainly due to expecting it. As knowledgeable as she was, Syn would have already told him how to revert or stall his soul decay if she knew how.

Alongside the curse, there were a few more benefits. And oddly enough, I actually had multiple choices. There were sixteen level zero hexes and twelve level one hexes. From what I could tell, the difference between a hex and a spell was—nothing, but I found it odd that there was such a distinction. There was a problem, however. I could only choose two hexes from each list. Each selection stated the name of the hex, along with a brief description of what it did. Luckily, [Legerdemain] was actually on the level zero list. Since I already learned it, that removed one of the options, leaving me with only a measly fifteen to choose from.

"Oh no," I muttered out loud, exhaling sharply. My fingers tapped my forehead rapidly as I slowly read through every option. All of this information at once was turning my brain into mush.

"Do you want my input?" Syn asked after several minutes of watching me struggle. "Don't worry, I won't force any option on you. Just recommend the ones I believe are the most useful."

"Well, maybe you should choose, because technically, aren't you the one casting them?"

"No, it you who casts them, it's just me who supplies the anima."

"Same thing really."

"It's not."

"Ok, fine it's not."

After correcting me yet again, Syn moved on. "Let's see, from the level zero hexes, I would recommend... [Spectral Snap], [Spectral Hand], [Noxious Puff], [Parasitic Cloud], or [Necrotic Hand]."

The [Spectral Snap] hex condensed anima into my hand. Upon release, I would unleash a beam of force from my hand. A rather straight forward spell.

[Spectral Hand] allowed me to create a, well, spectral hand, which was detached from my body. It was basically an external third hand that lasted for a minute and could travel thirty feet away from my body.

With [Noxious Puff], I could breathe a poisonous gas from my mouth.

[Parasitic Cloud] was an interesting one. It would summon a cloud of ticks, fleas, lice, and other parasites around the target of my choosing. It would linger for several seconds before moving in a random direction, ending after a minute. I crossed this one of the list instantly. Just the idea of having a cloud of disgusting creatures floating around sent shivers down my spine.

[Necrotic Hand] was similar to [Spectral Hand] in name only. Instead of having a third hand, I instead would conjure a skeletal hand which would latch onto its target, passively attacking it with necrotic anima.

After several minutes of thought, I concluded on the second spell I would choose. [Spectral Hand] is the obvious one as it actually provides utility, unlike the other spells which are focused on attack. And of those, I ended up on [Spectral Snap] because I might as well get both of the spells with spectral in their name.

"That's quite the arbitrary reason to pick a hex."

I shrugged.

"Then, of the level one hexes—"

"No need, I've already chosen."

"One of them is [Spectral Armor] isn't it?"

"I mean, obviously."

"Hm." Syn stared at the page, deducing, or trying to, the other spell I would pick. "[Phase Eidolon]?"

"Until you can get more than five feet away from me, I have absolutely zero reason to ever transform you into a corporeal version." I shut down that idea straight away. "Although, it does make me wonder, what would happen if I used that spell and you died or something."

"I cannot die unless you die due to the whole linking of the souls. Which is why I was rather sad when I found out about your soul decay problem."

"Don't worry, I'll find a way to live. More for my sake that yours, but the end result will still be the same."

"Truly, your sentiment is appreciated."

"Your welcome. As for the second level one hex, I decided upon [Debilitation Ray]. Temporarily draining a target's physical strength is pretty useful. And, I'll have to test it out, but the way I understand it, is that it can go through targets? So the chance to hit multiple if they line up is just an added bonus."

"Smart choice, but I'm surprised you chose another utility hex. I expected you to choose a damaging one to balance it out."

"That's because I'm hoping that the spells in the Nomicron that aren't a part of the pact contain damaging spells. And in the case it doesn't, I don't see any of the utility spells I picked ever not having its use, while on the other hand, I might learn stronger damage spells at some point making the weaker ones less useful."

"If that's what you decided upon, then go for it."

"Do you want me to change it?"

"No."

"Oh, ok. I don't know why but I thought you actually didn't approve of my choice there."

"If I disapproved, I wouldn't have called it a smart choice."

"True."

I turned my attention back to the book before enacting the process in which to actually select the spells. Using one of my teeth, I bit into my thumb and struck through the selected spells with some of my blood. The white runes and text vanished soon after, and revealed full pages of information of the hexes, including the most important part—how to cast them.