'Did Serena get it wrong?'
But looking at Gabriel and Serena, neither of them seemed to feel anything unusual.
This array was similar to the one carved into the final victim they rescued, but at that time Kain hadn't felt anything unusual.
Kain didn't know enough about sigils and chose to ask Serena about the differences.
"That one was targeted," She replied, "If you'll remember, it emanated a red and creepy aura. That array had sigils that pointed to the underworld realm, likely in an attempt to direct the possible awakening of an affinity to infernal creatures—but clearly it didn't work. Since I didn't make this one targeted at anything, it should just be focused on communicating with Heaven's Will."
Kain was still confused. How could it be confusing him with Heaven's Will? But upon thinking of the planet currently home to numerous creatures in him star space, perhaps…
Kain's heart raced as he mulled over the implications.
'If my star space is a planet, does that make me its will?' he thought, his heart pounding. It wasn't an idea he had considered before. He had always viewed the star space within him as a unique phenomenon—an isolated area, that honestly still wasn't sure how to fully use since he couldn't yet figure out how to take out or bring in living things. The creatures born within that world, the environment he had played a role nurturing—it was more than just a collection of lifeforms. It was an entire system governed by his energy and his influence.
The thought was staggering. To the creatures of this space, he supposed he was like a god... everything about their lives was completely subject to his will.
He recalled the creatures in his star space, from the simplest beings to the most complex. They moved, lived, and interacted without direct interference from him, yet they were all connected to his energy. He had given them life— and he could also take it away.
The pull from the array began to make sense. It wasn't confusing him with Heaven's Will. It was recognizing a force similar to it—a will that governed another world.
'If Heaven's Will dictates the rules for forming a spiritual contract in the outside world, then... can I do the same for the creatures in my star space?'
The idea was both thrilling and daunting. If the creatures in his star space could establish contracts to those in this world without being limited by the Heaven's Will here, it could completely revolutionize the current cultivation methods used.
Those without an affinity would be able to form a contract… as long as he allowed it.
"Kain," Serena's voice broke through his thoughts, bringing him back to the present. She was staring at him, her brow furrowed. "You've been quiet for a while. Something on your mind?"
Kain forced a neutral expression. "Just thinking about this array compared to the other one. How was the sigils targeted at the underworld even determined. Moreover, even if they developed an affinity to infernal creatures, how would they even get a spiritual creature from there? The entrance to the infernal realm had been closed by the Blackheart founder long ago."
Serena answered him. "It's not impossible to form a contract with a spiritual creature across realms. Rare, but not impossible. There have been several instances in legends, where someone managed to summon a suitable contract for themselves from another lesser realm—such as the elemental realm—but the means of doing so have been largely lost. However, in the Western Continent, their resources and variety of wild spiritual creatures is poor, so they pretty much all form contracts with suitable creatures summoned from the 'Holy Realm' as they call it. Maybe they adapted the method used by them?"
Kain raised an eyebrow. This was the first he'd heard about such a method. When at a 1-star level, most required the exchange of bodily fluids with the spiritual creature to establish a contract—like he did with Bea.
For Even and Aegis, a blood exchange was no longer required, but he had to at least make physical contact.
Now as a 4-star beast-tamer, he could probably form a contract without touching the target directly, but he was pretty sure that he had to at least be in close proximity—much less able to form a contract across separate realms.
Serena turned her attention back to the notes, rifling through the stack until she pulled out a particularly worn page. The faint traces of a crude array were scrawled across it, with hastily written annotations in the margins.
"This," she said, tapping the page, "is a prototype array I found among the notes. It's incomplete and poorly designed, but the theory is intriguing. It's intended to form a spiritual contract across realms—not the way we normally do through proximity or mutual acceptance, but through what those in the West called a 'destined connection.' Really, it's leaving the object of your contract completely up to luck or, according to some people, 'Heaven's Will'— similar to when awakening an affinity. The beast-tamer will have no control over the contract, and the contract is automatic, so even if they do not like the spiritual creature chosen for them, they are helpless to refuse."
"Destined connection?" Kain repeated, practically leaning on her in his eagerness to more closely examine the page.
Serena's face shifted slightly, but ultimately decided not to shove him away. After a moment's hesitation she nodded. "Supposedly, it means that the spiritual creature and the person forming the contract are already compatible on some fundamental level. The array facilitates the bond, allowing the spiritual creature to cross realms to join the contractor."
Kain's mind buzzed. Could this be the solution he was looking for?
"But how would the creature physically cross realms? Many realms, like the underworld have been sealed, and so people can't enter them, and nor can anything in them leave."
That was also the issue Kain was currently facing with the creatures in his own star space. He had no way of getting them to leave his space.
"That's the beauty of the spiritual contract," Serena replied. "Once the contract is established, it's not about physically crossing realms. The creature is drawn directly into the contractor's star space, since spiritual contracts are bonds of the soul. Once in the star space, of course, the contractor can naturally release them in our world."