Foster sat there, practically frozen up, as he locked eyes with the Nature Spirit currently sitting on top of its head.

“Erm, hello there?” He said with a wry smile, as he looked at Lynol and Octer, “Could you two maybe help me out for a second?”

“…Right.” Octer stood up with a loud groan and walked up to Foster, trying to grab the Nature Spirit that was sitting on his head with a light grin. He still thought that these guys were incredibly cute, after all, and it would be a good distraction from his wounds after that battle just now.

However, the moment that Octer tried to grab the spirit, it turned into mist and his hands went right through it. When he then pulled his hands away, the mist gathered back on Foster’s head and turned back into the nature spirit, sitting in the same position as just before, “Eh?” Octer let out. He tried to grab it once more, but the same thing happened.

With a deep glare, Octer took up a combat stance. Foster looked up at the already huge man, and slightly backed away, “Dude, what’re you doing? Just grab it…”

“I’m trying… so sit still already!” Octer exclaimed, as he swung his arm forward to try and catch the nature spirit. Again and again, he tried to grab it from Foster’s head.

“Aaargh, just stay still you fuckin’-” He yelled out angrily, before a loud smacking sound could be heard, while Octer finally felt some resistance in his attempts. And then, he felt a kick in his stomach and fell back onto his behind. Foster really didn’t like being hit on the side of the head by a massive man like that, after all.

“Fucking dickhead…” Foster groaned as he rubbed the side of his head annoyed, “I think you should have noticed after the tenth time that it wouldn’t fucking work out!” He pointed out angrily, before he felt something lightly rubbing the side of his head where Octer just hit him. Once again, it was the nature spirit that was trying to help Foster get better.

Somehow, it really seemed quite cute. Foster held his hand toward his head and spoke, “Hey there, buddy. Could you come down there for a second?” He asked. After a moment or two, the answer came in the form of the nature spirit climbing down his arm. It climbed all the way down to his lap, where it then sat almost smugly.

Octer’s hand turned into a fist as he turned his head away, “How unfair…”

“Well, I guess it’s because you have such a scary face.” Foster replied with a smirk, as he noticed the nature spirit grab his finger with its tiny hand. At this point, Foster looked back down at this spirit, noticing that he had interacted with this specific one before. He noticed those tiny white spots appearing and disappearing within its fur.

“Looks kinda like stars.” He smiled, rubbing his hand through the spirit’s fur. It was just incredibly soft, so much so that Foster thought he could become addicted to feeling something like this. But then, Lynol said something that distracted him from this wonderful moment, “This is absolutely abnormal.”

“Eh?” Foster let out surprised, “What do you mean, ‘abnormal’? Then why is it doing this?” He asked, and Lynol placed one of his hands into his other and thought about it.

“The spirits that I happen to know of are reclusive from society. It makes sense, since us people are the ones with the ability to defy nature by constructing cities, which means we are defying the spirits of nature themselves. Most aren’t bitter, but that doesn’t mean that they would end up sitting on a person’s lap like a pet.” Lynol explained with a squint, but surprisingly, Octer immediately shook his head.

“I mean, it ain’t totally abnormal. It just wants to form a contract with ya, or at least that’s what I’d guess… You lucky bastard…” He groaned loudly. Foster looked down at the spirit, which turned its head toward him as well. He looked through the eye-holes of the mask with a smile on his face, and rubbed the spirit’s head.

“That so? You want to form a contract with me?” Foster asked with a light smile, before raising his head after the spirit nodded its own. He looked at his friends for a moment, before asking, “The fuck’s that supposed to mean, though? Like, what kinda contract does it want to form? Does it want to sell me something?”

Octer rolled his eyes as he squatted down annoyed, “I can’t believe it… it wants to form a contract with someone that doesn’t even know what it is..? Fuckin’ hell…” He grumbled to himself, “Listen, with ‘contract’ I mean somethin’ like a familiar contract. You will be turning it into your familiar, your companion.”

“…And why should I do that?” Foster asked with a wry smile, and Octer swiftly explained, “Well, you know, there are some benefits to it. Like, you can always summon your familiar, no matter where you or it is. There are spells that you can only cast with the help of a familiar that are pretty useful, and then there are of course the unique abilities that a familiar has that you’re gonna have access to, y’know?”

Foster looked down at the nature spirit with a light frown, “Well, I guess that’s pretty neat? Then how do I do that contract thing?”

The moment that he asked Octer this question, the nature spirit reacted, realizing that Foster seemed to want to form a contract as well. It turned around and climbed up Foster’s chest. It pressed its own forehead against his, before a message window appeared in front of him. And sure, while he wasn’t able to see it, he still got all the information of what was written on it within his mind instantly.

—

[A {Familiar Contract} has been initiated. Do you wish to continue?]

—

Foster thought about how he wanted to proceed with this, and the message was replaced with something else just a moment later.

—

[To begin the formation of the {Familiar Contract}, it is required to name the to-be familiar]

—

“Ah…” Foster let out, and immediately started thinking about what he could name this nature spirit. It had those star-like white dots in its black fur, so to him it seemed like just a mass of space. A cluster of stars.

“…Aster. That’s your name, bud.” He said with a smile on his face. Immediately, the message window disappeared, and Foster could feel something flow in through his forehead. It was a warm sort of energy, but at the same time it made his whole body feel kind of… weird. Like having one of your limbs fall asleep, just in your whole body. And then, a moment later… the nature spirit disappeared. Mostly, at least.

Its body was simply gone from one moment to another, but the small mask that made up its body before was still there, and fell down onto Foster’s lap.

—

[You have successfully formed a {Familiar Contract} with the Nature Spirit {Aster}!]

—

“…What just happened?” Foster asked with a wry smile, “D-Did it die or something?”

“Oh, no, no!” Octer exclaimed, “Don’t worry, it’s nothing like that. It just went back into its ‘neutral’ state… I didn’t expect ya to do it right fucking now, so I didn’t explain it yet, but a spirit practically ‘resets’ when they form a contract… It’s being reborn at level 1, or something.”

“Octer, how do you know this much about such things?” Lynol asked, something that Foster also wanted to know about. Octer turned his head away with a wry smile and scratched his cheek, “Erm… Growin’ up, I wanted to be a… a mage… and every good mage needs a familiar, right? So I did a little research on this stuff…”

Foster and Lynol looked at each other for a moment, before both smiling. Foster grinned a bit as he stood up with the small mask clutched in his hand, “Well, I guess that’s a good enough secret in exchange for ours, don’t you think?”

Octer turned back around with a deep glare, “Fuck off, mate….”