He pinged it through the Pen of Insight, and watched as the information he wanted was jotted down.
Rare-Grade Summoner's Item Chest
Grade - Rare
Capacity - 100 Litres
A storage item originally only meant to give out quest rewards has now been offered as an additional boon due to high accomplishment rate.
Ashton smiled. That was pretty large, all things considered. If he didn't have the Backpacker with him, this would be a ridiculously good item to get his hands on. But well, he did have the Backpacker around, so this wouldn't work well. Plus, usually, spatial magic didn't exactly 'mix' well. Meaning that he couldn't just keep the chest in the bag. Best case, it would just be fully rejected, but worst case, the space in the backpack would collapse in on itself and literally all of his items would be lost forever.
However, there was an easy solution to this issue. Ashton looked over at the spirit, "Hey, do you want this?"
The Backpacker looked up from their phone, and then stared at the chest. Without hesitation, they came closer to Ashton and took a look at the object. Ashton let them hold it for a moment, and they opened it up and stuck their hand inside.
They immediately nodded, and Ashton smiled. "How much would you give me for it?"
The spirit thought for a few moments, looking the object over again a few times. They knocked on the wood, and then held up two fingers.
"Two more weeks?" Ashton raised a brow. "That feels a little low. Storage items like this are hard to get your hand on, you know? Plus, this should be pretty damn rare, all things considered."
With hanging shoulders, the Backpacker tossed the chest back to Ashton before holding up three fingers.
"Another three weeks it is, added onto the already existing contract time, perfect. Let me draw it up right away," Ashton said with a bright smile. He grabbed his new pen, and as the spirit gave him some ink, they looked at the new tool.
Ashton raised a brow. "What?"
They pointed at the pen, and then held up two hands, one showing two, the other five fingers.
"Oh, do you mean the 25% duration increase?"
They nodded.
"It works for Backpacker contracts too, right?"
The spirit seemed hesitant and shrugged. Right, these contracts were a bit different, because Ashton directly discussed the summoning duration with the Backpacker, trading special objects in return.
"Hm, I guess we need to figure that out first," Ashton said, pulling up a chair for the spirit, who quickly sat down. Ashton started spinning his new pen in his hand. "So... additional contract terms. What about these kinds of effects? Are you up for taking them into consideration?"
The Backpacker stopped for a few moments. They seemed conflicted. Usually, Backpackers didn't take this sort of thing into account, or simply low-balled the time gained through the offered item to make up for these things. But this one clearly didn't want to do that.
They had been watching Ashton for a while. They had seen how he tried to help others, and how kindly he treated them and the other summons. Plus, he treated them like a true equal. He even helped the Backpacker get through some of the harder levels in the games they had been playing. And he gave them unlimited magic stones to use on charging the phone, completely free of charge.
"Hm... How about this? Let's just forget about these effects for now," Ashton said, seeing the Backpacker's demeanour. They were clearly a bit relieved.
They didn't know what the best decision here was. And of course, that made sense. Ashton had summoned an unexperienced 'Bagless Backpacker'. Usually, Backpackers will just go on their own journeys after they found their own personal bag, finding and collecting things that they found interesting and growing in strength through that.
If Ashton had started with a low-tier contract, he could have summoned a Backpacker that already had experience like this, and maybe knew the worth of their time and abilities a lot better. The space they could provide was much greater too, of course. But with the lowest-tier contract, Ashton summoned a Backpacker that didn't have a bag on their own yet. Summoners were pretty rare, all things considered, and usually they didn't start with a new Backpacker, as far as Ashton knew at least. So this was an opportunity for this particular fellow to gather some experience and get stronger even before they managed to get their own bag.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
The backpack, while being the first initial offering, was technically more of a 'loan'. Once the contract was ended, it would be returned to Ashton, altered slightly depending on how long it was in the Backpacker's possession. Sometimes it would become a mundane object again, and other times, it would retain some spatial qualities.
For Backpackers, having their own bag was a special thing. They had a different bond to it, and the bag in question could change and garner new qualities or abilities over time. That was another reason why higher tiered Backpackers were usually a good investment. Their bags weren't always just simple 'storage holes'.
Ashton wanted to wait and see how the Backpacker did. Permanently giving a bag to a Backpacker did hold some significance for those spirits, so it couldn't be taken lightly. But this fellow was trustworthy and kind, so Ashton didn't hesitate.
"The backpack is yours, with every tiny change and growth that occurs during our contracts. It will be fully given to you, no matter when the contract ends. Even if you one-sidedly decide to end the contract, even if you will lose other power you gained through this, but your bag will remain unchanged," Ashton said clearly, and the Backpacker couldn't contain themself.
They leaned forward, pulling the bag over to the front, holding it tightly to their chest.
"Yes, I'm serious. Hell, I'll even enchant it for you sometime."
The Backpacker was obviously excited, but they were also hesitant. That kind of gift had meaning. If the Backpacker accepted, the connection between them and Ashton would just grow stronger.
These contracts, especially to spirits, weren't just simple agreements like they were for people. They were a matter of deep honour. Usually, a spirit wouldn't be blamed if they abandoned their summoner when times got harsh or they were in danger, but when something as special as a Backpack was given, they had to stick with their summoner. Of course, they could still leave when mistreated, but in any other situation, the expectation was that they didn't leave and became a true 'partner'.
Essentially, the relationship between Ashton and the Backpacker would change considerably if they accepted. Hell, it might even require a complete revamp of the contract they had formed until now.
But in the end... the Backpacker shook their head. And it surprised Ashton.
"Really? Are you sure?"
The spirit nodded, holding the bag tightly. They clearly liked it a lot. This was the first time they had a Backpack on their own, even if it was just a loan. They held their hand out, trying to grab Ashton's pen. He gave it to them, and they slowly dunked it into ink and started writing.
It was... something. Their handwriting was pretty abysmal. Large, crooked letters, wrong sentence structure... like a child was writing this.
Later. When me get stronger. Did not earn. Want be betterer
Ashton smiled. He put his hand on the top of their head and pet them briefly. "Alright. When you're ready, just let me know. Until then, how do you want to deal with the effects of ink and the pens?"
The Backpacker thought for a moment, and then wrote down again.
Better energy -> stronger
He thought about it for a moment. That might be true. At the end of the day, it didn't really matter too much for Ashton. He just wanted to stockpile some extra contract time in case he wasn't able to get any good enough items later on. This kind of thing was relative. If he offered this chest in a couple of months, he might not even get a couple days out of it, so he wanted to use these special items early.
"Does that mean yes?"
The Backpacker quickly nodded, so Ashton smiled and took the pen again. He quickly took out some paper and started writing the summoning circle to update the contract a bit, specifying that the effects of items could modify the agreed-upon time, and then placed the chest on top of it. He activated the circle, and the chest disappeared into wisps of light that were quickly brought over, just a few steps, to the Backpacker.
They excitedly held onto the item and looked it over again. There was a reason why this was such a good item for this spirit, even though it should be incompatible. The Backpacker pushed the chest into their hood, and with a loud crunch bit into it.
The wood was loudly crushed as the spirit devoured the item and its magic was absorbed into the Backpacker.
[Contract | Backpacker has absorbed the [Rare-Grade Summoner's Item Chest]]
[Contract | Backpacker - Level 7 -> Backpacker - Level 8]
[Contract | Backpacker storage capacity has increased by 100 Litres]
Since the space in the Backpacker's bag increased by around a cubic foot every time they levelled up, at least in the first ten levels, this was around three to four levels worth of space added on. Though, this kind of thing could also change how fast the bag's space grew through each level up, speeding things up a bit. Of course, they only really absorbed the spatial magic of the item. This didn't work on anything else, really.
Either way, Ashton was more than excited. Though a fourth, unexpected message popped up.
[Contract | Backpacker has learned the ability [Item Chest]]
Confused, Ashton looked at the message. They got a new ability by absorbing that item?
He looked over at the Backpacker, and watched as something appeared on the side of the bag. It was a bunch of small charms, almost like keychains, in the shape of one of those wooden chests. Ashton took a closer look, though he wasn't able to open any of them. The spirit seemed just as confused for a few moments, though a certain clarity came over them a moment later.
"... Backpacker, can you try out that new ability?"
Without hesitation, the spirit nodded and happily pulled off their bag, seemingly knowing what to do right away. They pulled one of the charms off the bag and held it in their hand, looking at Ashton.
"Hm? Oh, right, do you need me to..?" he asked, quickly channelling the spirit. Things were a bit different all of a sudden. The sensation of channelling the Backpacker changed the moment Ashton learned his new skill anyway, but it was still familiar. Now, at the side of his consciousness, he noticed four of those small chests. Each one had a capacity of around ten litres, so less than half a cubic foot, but worked under the same rules as the backpack. Though, they seemed to have an extra capacity beyond the bag's base.
Ashton tagged a few random items. Things that he didn't necessarily need that much, or that he had randomly picked up in case it came in useful later.
The backpacker quickly started pulling the items out of the bag and pushed it into the item chest. Soon, they closed the chest, and it locked with a click.
[The Backpacker has created a [Junk Chest]]
They gave the chest to him, and Ashton looked at it. He tried to push it open, and instantly, the chest fell apart and all the items that Ashton had the spirit put inside were now sitting on the table.
At first, Ashton was confused about the purpose of this ability. But a moment later, an initial use-case became immediately apparent.
This was a great way to make a bomb.