The pen flowed over the paper almost without making a sound. If Ashton couldn't see the mana of the ink, he would have been unsure if he was even drawing this summoning circle properly. But no, this pattern was coming along very well. The weather seemed stable for the time being, too, so Ashton should be alright to finish this.

  The large pattern was built up of seven cornerstones, a long, comprehensive contract, numerous spirit runes, and of course the name of the species that he was trying to contact. The pattern itself would change the frequency of the mana and break down the offerings to bring them to the spirits in question, until one of them accepted those offerings and decided to form a contract with him under the terms that Ashton had already defined.

  For lowest-grade contracts, there was usually never any back-and-forth for the contract, but sometimes beyond that, there were individuals that wanted to change the terms to be more in their favour. Though usually, that just happened if the summoner in question was trying to sneak in terms that allowed them to get the upper hand. Terms that made it hard for the summon to back out of the contract without serious repercussions, or ones that would allow the summoner to produce sub-par offerings for the same effect as normal.

  But Ashton's contract wasn't like that. He was trying to be fair, as fair as he could be to both parties. However, there were always times when Ashton could misunderstand the priorities of the other party, so they might still ask for slight changes to the terms. Though, at that point, Ashton wouldn't have to re-write the contract, and it would just be formed through the communication between the two parties and was supported by the magical link they had formed at that moment.

  Ashton continued drawing the summoning circle for a while longer, to the point where he was starting to get a little worried. It was harder to keep up his usual speed without being able to actually see with his own two eyes than he thought. He still had to take down a handful of Marked so that he could complete the quest given to him by the Executor of the End. The others all knew about it though, and said they were going to keep an eye out and keep looking through the community to figure out the location of more. The Executor wouldn't give Ashton a quest that he couldn't complete, so he wasn't too worried in general. As long as he knew where they were, Ashton should be able to get to them and take them down easily enough, but finding them was exactly the issue.

  But right this very moment, the thing that Ashton had to concentrate on was to actually finish this summoning circle. The Salesman wasn't a spirit that gave a instant payoff, so the sooner they were contracted, the better.

  But now, with just a few more strokes of the pen, Ashton was able to finish the pattern. Just in case, he went around it and made sure that every single stroke was alright, and that he wasn't missing anything.

  However, now that the summoning circle was complete, Ashton could see something that he had never seen before. While he had re-summoned the elementals throughout the day, he didn't exactly pay much attention to the summoning circles. Or maybe it was just this contract circle that was showing this change.

  This wasn't something normal. He could tell that this was a change he could only see because of his 'Veil Mastery' skill. The world above the contract circle was shifting and crackling, as if the veil was already preparing for what was about to happen.

  Ashton wasn't sure what to make of all of this. He could sense something beyond that crackling, but there was no way this was what he thought it was, right? Was he sensing the spirit realm right now?

  He was genuinely taken aback by this. Of course, he knew that being able to sense the veil directly was a powerful ability, and he wasn't even close to figuring out the limits of this skill, but this? If Ashton was able to connect to the spirit realm in a different way than he normally would, shouldn't it be possible to contact spirits more directly?

  And what if it weren't just the spirits? If he could view past the veil, then he should be able to see into the veil as well. The feywilds, the underworld, the heavens... Ashton could–

  He stopped himself and grabbed his chest. No, no, definitely not. He said he would leave them be. It was true that they all deserved a break, that all the others shouldn't have to live as summons again either, even if Ashton's contracts were fundamentally different than the ones they all suffered under.

  "But maybe... it would be fine to just say hello someday?" Ashton said to himself, smiling as he stared at the shifting veil above the contract circle.

  With an excited smile, he began to put down all the offerings onto their designated spot on the pattern.

  The books, the magic stones, and all of the other 'additional' offerings were put onto particular cornerstones, as the centre of it was reserved for something else; the coins.

  Technically, Ashton could put down just a single coin worth 10.000, but if he knew Salesman spirits well enough, then they would love it when things looked a little more impressive.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  And so, Ashton decided to take out all the coins one by one, carefully piling them up in the middle of the contract circle. It seemed a little annoying at first, but after a while, Ashton figured out some tricks that let him pour out a continuous stream of coins rather than having to do it all completely manually.

  [Coins - 13.473 -> 3473]

  It hurt a little to know he was down that much in an instant, but he also ended up having a lot more leftover than he thought, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

  But with that, Ashton was good to go. Frankly, he was a little bit nervous. With his first low-grade summon, he would officially graduate from being a novice summoner. It was quite exciting.

  With a slight smile on his face, Ashton grabbed the staff that the Backpacker was holding toward him, and pointed it at the crackles above the magical pattern.

  "*Hear my honest voice as I call on you, peddler of pasts long gone, seller of secrets that have never been spoken, trader of the terrible and the great alike. Whether the winds settle or the leaves fall to the ground, whether the grounds turn to ash or the mountains split in half, the spirits of the realms...*"

  Ashton started, but he didn't stop for a good bit. A minute or two were spent on just this chant as he concentrated his magic on the staff to channel it into the contract circle. While the chant for a lowest-grade contract was just a few sentences at best, the chant for a low-grade contract already got pretty long. Starting at mid-grade, Ashton would have to chant for maybe ten to twenty minutes and perform some precise movements as well, depending on the being he was trying to contract.

  It made him feel a little silly, especially since he was being watched by not just the watchman but also the constellations, but it was a necessary step. Chants like this imbued with specific meanings changed the frequency of the summoner's mana, which would then be fed into the contract circle itself to be processed.

  "*... I pledge that my word is as true as the coin I offer.*"

  As Ashton finished the chant, he pushed his staff onto the ground, and a wave of magic flowed into the contract circle. All the offerings as well as the drawn circle itself fell apart and were pulled into that shifting part of the veil. It took a few moments for something else to happen, but before long, something appeared.

  It fell from the sky, just out of view of Ashton's current channelling range. It was a rolled-up carpet, though it quickly unrolled. And then, a hand crept out from underneath the carpet. Like there was suddenly a hole hidden below it, something crawled out, pulling itself up.

  Before long, the spirit sat down on top of the carpet. They looked like a humanoid bat, just that they didn't have wings. Then again, almost their entire body was hidden with a loose cloak. The only parts of a Salesman that were revealed were their head and sometimes their hands.

  [You have formed a contract with a [Salesman]!]

  [[Salesman] is being registered in the [Spirit Summoning] Category]

  [Skill | Summoning - Level 10 -> Summoning - Level 11]

  [Skill | Veil Mastery - Level 2 -> Veil Mastery - Level 3]

  Ashton let out a relieved sigh that everything worked out without a hitch. "Glad to have you."

  The Salesman briefly nodded, stretching out a hand toward Ashton. He quickly did the same and shook the spirit's hand. It was pretty large and rough, and their claws dug into Ashton's skin. They were grasping his hand pretty tightly, actually, but they let go soon enough. It felt a little like the Salesman was trying to figure out how strong Ashton was or something. Or what some dumb bastards did when shaking your hand to try and mess with you.

  Afterward, the spirit looked over at the Backpacker that was standing next to Ashton, and from what he could tell, the two of them were speaking about something. He had no idea what they were talking about, though. Ashton could just tell that the mana in the air was shifting and that the veil was shaking like the strings of a guitar were being strum.

  The Salesman was listening intently for a while, as the Backpacker was seemingly eagerly explaining something, even using their hands to accentuate whatever it was they were saying.

  But after a few moments of that, maybe around a minute at best, the Backpacker stopped and the Salesman slowly turned back to Ashton. He didn't know why, but they were clearly trying to figure out what kind of person Ashton was before doing anything else. Usually, they should have presented some basic wares already, but they didn't. Instead, the Salesman pulled a pipe out of their cloak and placed it into their mouth.

  The smell of the first puff of smoke was the first thing that Ashton really noticed, as he leaned forward a bit with an excited grin on his face.

  "Hold on, is that Asterian tobacco? Do you have more of that?" Ashton asked, and the Salesman looked back at him, clearly a bit surprised. With an awkward laugh, Ashton pulled back a little. "Sorry, it's just... all of the tobacco I can find in this town is absolute garbage... they put in all those shitty preservatives and stuff into it that just make it taste like trash. It's been a second since I've had some good Asterian stuff..."

  Ashton let out a loud sigh. He'd been making do with his own mixtures that were vaguely improving the tobacco that he was dealing with right now, but it still wasn't anything like what he was used to. Especially Asterian tobacco, he only had a few opportunities to try it. Asteria was the name of a region in the spirit realm, and though there were some other products from the area that were well-known, Ashton only ever had the opportunity to try the tobacco.

  It was stock-full of mana, boosted the magical qualities of anything else mixed in, and genuinely had a great taste to Ashton. Just smelling the smoke made Ashton jealous.

  "... I'll pay, obviously," he said with an eager grin, and then, a bright smile appeared on the Salesman's face. They showed their sharp teeth, though not in a hostile way at all. Like an air of subtle distrust was washed away that Ashton barely even noticed, the new spirit loosened up and eagerly began to look Ashton up and down, finally putting some products onto their carpet.