Elara nodded gently. "For Contractors, the first four realms are Awakening, Ascension, Transcendence, and Rebirth.
Their own realm advancement is driven by the breakthroughs of their contracted creatures.
After reaching the Rebirth Realm, humans will form a complete magic circuit and awaken their own primordial power."
"Realm represents life energy, while spiritual power symbolizes soul energy; they complement each other.
To contract more creatures, one must break through the limits of spiritual power. But spiritual power itself is extremely difficult to cultivate.
The only known methods are to hunt the special 'Spirit Tribe' in abyssal rifts to obtain their spiritual cores, or to stimulate spiritual potential at the juncture of life and death."
"In addition, the Abyssal Rift Simulation Fields of major Contract Academies can upgrade spiritual power from the Astral Spark Realm to the Astral Flow Realm. It is said that this is a special technology learned from the abyssal demons in the rifts."
The students nodded in understanding. Their understanding of spiritual power and realms was still relatively superficial.
Elara's solid theoretical foundation and approachable sharing earned her a lot of favor.
Seraphina smiled approvingly. "An excellent explanation."
"In summary, besides the common methods of blood feeding and combat training, contracted creatures can also improve through special talent abilities."
"For Contractors who want to become stronger in the early stages, in addition to improving their own realm, it is more important to contract powerful creatures!"
"Every time spiritual power advances to a new realm, one can contract an additional creature."
"The currently known spiritual power realms include Astral Spark, Astral Flow, Astral Lake, Astral Sea, Astral Abyss, and Astral Domain.
Students can improve their spiritual power through the Simulation Field in the early stages, but the subsequent path depends on what you gain in the abyssal rifts."
When the topic turned to something Kylen was interested in, he immediately raised his hand to ask, "Teacher, if I want to contract a second creature, do you have any suggestions?"
Everyone couldn't help but gasp.
That's right, Kylen's spiritual power had been upgraded to the Astral Flow Realm by the Simulation Field yesterday!
Although completing an S-rank mission wasn't the only way to get the spiritual power infusion reward, taking the lead was indeed enviable.
Seraphina replied, "That's a good question."
"We Contractors mainly rely on the combat power of our contracted creatures."
"Currently, powerful Contractors usually follow several principles, the most important of which is the sequence number!"
"Students, the sequence number is an iron rule in abyssal rifts! But this does not mean that a creature with a higher sequence number will definitely defeat one with a lower number.
The sequence number reflects the strength of the magic circuit from strongest to weakest."
"Generally speaking, the higher the sequence, the more powerful the magic circuit, and the easier it is to possess powerful talent abilities."
"If you encounter a high-tier sequence creature within the top 100, try not to miss it. If you are lucky enough to meet a legendary Origin Sequence creature, you don't need to consider compatibility at all; do your best to contract it!"
"Origin Sequence creatures are extremely rare, even in the entire Arcana Empire. Only the principal of our academy has an Origin Sequence contracted creature."
Kylen deeply agreed. He had personally experienced the power of the Origin Sequence every night. He just didn't expect Origin Sequence creatures to be so rare.
But it made sense. Avelia's strongest talent is the power of Eternal Symbiosis. No matter how severe the injury, as long as the life essence is sufficient, she can recover. She can never be completely eliminated.
Even if her life essence is exhausted, she will only fall into a deep sleep. This itself stood at a height that ordinary contracted creatures could never reach.
Seraphina continued to explain, "The second point is to match the Contractor's own talent. This is easy to understand.
For example, Student Liam's A-rank talent · Swift Blessing can greatly enhance the speed of contracted creatures. So he is more suitable for choosing flying or speed-type creatures."
"The third point is a choice for a few people—Homologous Resonance.
Research from the Milliken Empire shows that if contracted creatures belong to the same origin system, they often produce excellent synergy effects.
For example, Kylen, besides the Vampiric Slime, Sequence No. 58 Moon Shadow Attendant, and No. 372 Blood Descendant Servant, are all creatures of the same origin system."
"But I want to remind everyone that since the improvement of spiritual power is extremely difficult, it is often better to have quality over quantity! Of course, this is for our elite class. Ordinary Contractors should find a second contracted creature as soon as possible."
Subsequently, Seraphina continued to answer the students' questions. Kylen also fell into deep thought.
Avelia was indeed very strong. It was really better to have quality over quantity.
Otherwise, in battle, not only would the second creature not be able to help Avelia, but it might also become a burden to her.
He should definitely ask Avelia's opinion on this matter. What if she got jealous?
"Avelia?"
Avelia understood what Kylen wanted to say. She gently lifted his chin with her tentacles and whispered in his ear, "This Queen has no objection to you finding a second contracted creature.
But weak creatures are not worthy of sharing a Contractor with this Queen～ At the very least, it has to be an Origin Sequence creature."
Kylen was shocked. Origin Sequence? Darling, it was already incredible luck to meet you!
"Don't make that face, little one.
I know there is a place in the abyssal rift where descendants of the Origin Sequence exist. I will help you catch one then. Tsk tsk, I heard that after that clan transforms into human form, they are quite..."
Kylen's eyes lit up. He hugged Avelia and kissed her several times.
You are really my treasure! I have a bad appetite, and I was born to be spoiled!
When Seraphina saw this scene, her expression stiffened.
"Cough cough! Kylen, cultivating a relationship with your contracted creature is indeed important, but this is in class. Can you restrain yourself a little!"
Kylen came to his senses and found countless envious and jealous eyes staring at him. He quickly apologized. But the classroom had already exploded into chaos.
"Damn it! Are all Vampiric Slimes this beautiful? I'm jealous. My second contracted creature must be a Vampiric Slime!"
"Stop dreaming. I've seen Vampiric Slimes before. There's only one as beautiful as Avelia!"
"Damn it! Kylen, you're so enviable!"
In the end, the class ended in a commotion. Seraphina shook her head helplessly. Kylen had excellent talent, but he was really a handful.
After the lecture, Seraphina kept seven students behind. Among them were Kylen and Elara.
"Let's get to know each other. From now on, I will be your mentor. At the same time, I want to tell you that as my students, all of you must participate in the preliminary round of the Nine-Academy Alliance Exchange Tournament!"
The exchange tournament that would be held in half a month. Kylen didn't really understand why the time was so tight.
Liam asked in confusion, "Mentor, why is the exchange tournament held as soon as we start school? I remember it was two months after the start of school last year."
Seraphina's brows furrowed. "Now I can tell you that the time of the exchange tournament is not fixed.
The academy is responsible for suppressing the abyssal rifts, and the time must be arranged according to the frontline battle situation. You may not be aware of the importance of the exchange tournament."
"To put it simply, in addition to the Arcana Empire allocating resources based on the competition results, it also determines the order in which the nine academies form elite troops to suppress the rifts."
"We humans... are not at an advantage in the abyssal rifts."
"Last year, the Imperial Contract Academy won the championship, which delayed the time for us to take charge of suppressing the Wailing Rift by one day.
This resulted in the deaths of 1,385 Contractors in Redrock City and 427 missing, including my... daughter."