"Not even a former god," A smile tugged on Ric’s lips. 'Do I have to break yet another threshold? Sounds fun.' Ravi caught Ric's deranged smile, but before he could ask, Ric presented a question of his own. "Tell me, old-timer. Did anyone get another contract after accepting the first?"
Ravi nodded. "Many shift contracts midway. I heard the backlash is heavy, but dire times call for crazy decisions. Remember the various Kagaz offered in the Arcane Sanctum?" Ric's heart sank understanding where the topic was headed, and Ravi's next words hammered it down even further. "You can claim another and shift your primary focus. They are part of you since the beginning, so it's not like one is approaching a new deity."
"No one tried?"
"Haha... good one, kid." Ravi dismissed the bizarre question. He would've believed Ric to have been the Demon King and had reincarnated into a new world before imagining someone approaching another contract holder for power.
"Great! This world is full of plot holes," Ric spat.
"Plot holes?"
"Rules you imbeciles haven't found a workaround for."
"It is what it is?" Ravi shrugged.
"Said every loser ever." Before the mood turned hostile, Ric presented a dilemma for Ravi to solve. "Say an almighty god created a story we are living in."
"Zone god. Continue," Ravi interrupted.
Ric clenched his fist but accepted the premise without retaliating. "Created—"
"—Zone..."
"Zone god created the world we are living in."
Ravi smiled wider than ever, now truly listening to Ric.
"He made the world while also creating many hidden nuggets for us to find and immerse ourselves in, but once we are unable to find one, we claim them to be plot holes. A story that makes no sense—to a mortal comprehension anyway. But once they do, then the real story makes sense, the author's true vision clicks into place."
"Why not give us the answers?"
"Why not live instead of you morons?"
"Do you have to be rude for every question?"
"Do you have to be a dunce about everything?" They both glared at each other before Ric broke the silence. "Now help me get an earth Kagaz."
"You have a weird way of asking for a favor."
"That's because it isn't one. I will owe you one for now, and a demon always keeps their end of the contract."
Contracts held greater significance to the people of Saint than even their faith in gods. Thus, convincing Ravi to make one required little effort after Ric broached the topic.
He did not expect to make one out of Arcane, though. A demon needed their wriggle room. Which in demon terms meant to breach a contract on a whim and face no consequences while being rewarded for being smart.
An impossible feat now that the Arcane is involved.
“Alright,” Ravi said, extending his hand. Ric sensed a unique aura swirling around it, far more potent than either of them should be able to handle or conjure.
“Not your first encounter?” Ravi remarked skeptically, raising a brow.
Until one has made a prior contract, and sensed it all the while making the contract to compare the unique energy signature, the energy remains undetectable, and this cannot be circumvented because one has signed a Kagaz. Those were separate, higher echelon contracts made entities beyond mortal comprehension, while these were mortal contracts.
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That did not make them any less potent, either. Containing the true source, they were equal to a ‘Kagaz’ made in the sanctum, and only a select few ever become eligible to wield this power. Yet this kid, no older than fourteen, not only sensed but peered at it as if the energy was visible.
“No. My first, all right.” Ric admitted. “What exactly is it?”
“Too many names and no definitive explanation,” Ravi replied. “But the prevailing theory is that it’s energy from the Arcane Sanctum, hence we named it Arcane energy.”
“Contract-based, conceptual energy?” Ric queried.
“Yes, you catch on quick.” Ravi’s heart lurched, but he got it back into control.
He already knew the kid held intellect beyond what appeared on the surface, and his days of probing other’s secrets were long gone. His body demanded rest, and he complied, slumping to the ground, his fatigue clear under the sun.
Ric boosted his stamina, concerned about losing information if Ravi succumbed to exhaustion. “You can do it,” he encouraged, rationing his energy for training and extracting information, at least to get back the lost energy worth of information.
“Arcane energy is mysterious,” Ravi yawned.
It wasn’t the arcane energy tiring him, but the long, or half-a-day of pure bliss he had since getting posted at Cathel.
‘Move those lips.’ Ric slips in a bit more energy before stopping, realizing this wasn’t the lack of stamina. The old-timer finally caught a break and his body demanded one too.
“Let’s seal the deal,” Ric shook Ravi’s extended hand, which remained elevated because of the arcane energy.
Once Ric accepted the contract, his hand would lower. If he declined, Ravi would have to cancel and create a new one, leaving his hand suspended until then.
The contract's three lines revealed the arcane power's essence to Ric. Like the realm, this was a contract where one party makes a deal with another, and like any other contract, both parties could create rules, clauses, sub-clauses, situations, chances, and also write the required benefits one has to reach to breach the contract.
In short, be creative and scribble away, because, in the end, a contract is a blank paper.
To Ric, it signified an opportunity for the cunning to exploit the naïve.
He accepts the deal, not for once considering Ravi to be devious enough to fool him, the three simple lines further proving his point.
!__Kagaz__!
The contract outlined: Here party A, “Ravi,” is the instigator, and party B, “Ric,” is the acceptor.
1. Party A undertakes to teach Party B zone knowledge and techniques.
2. In return, Party B pledges to repay the favor at his convenience.
3. Party A has waived any penalties for failure to uphold the promise. (Note: Party B can override this clause.)
With a mental nudge, Ric accepts the contract and lets the fool’s hand into a resting position.
Ravi drifted off while confirming what Ric had already deduced, along with a few more snippets about how tapping into the arcane sanctum is rare, reserved for seasoned individuals, elites, or old geezers. His guess on proving their devotion gave them this opportunity, and how the realm oversees every contract.
The last line rubbed Ric the wrong way, and to test it out, he strode toward Henzo, intending to strike a demonic deal. One in which Henzo vows to serve the demon king with undying loyalty, while he retains the option to stab the brat in the back over a crazy whim.
A pact only a demon king can conceive.
Ric skipped toward Henzo, his excitement pushing him off the ground. He never made a deal with Arcane before. If it was anything like the pacts he made as a demon, this was going to be a blast. In the five minutes he took to find Henzo, Ric had already thought of contracts for the entire town of Hope, with Henzo, the gullible guinea pig, his first patient.
A plan set in the demon king’s mind changed when he spotted Debbie with Henzo, giggling and touching his arm, disturbing his friend’s workout routine.
Henzo lacked the muscles to do any exercise, but with her breathing down his neck, Henzo struggled to do one proper sit-up.
“Where is Ravi?” Debbie peeks around Ric.
“Who?”
“That zone guy!”
“His name was Ravi? Huh! Never knew that.” Ric shrugs. “So, I need to try something on you, and just accept it at first, and we can make adjustments later.” He suppressed the urge to smile from ear to ear while twiddling with his fingers like a villain.
“Our prisoner.” Debbie reminded.
“Sleeping.” Ric rolled his eyes. “I’ll handle him if he tries to flee, though he’s not planning to; he wants to stay.”
They bickered like an old married couple for hours, revisiting the same topic in a never-ending cycle. The sun above wished to move ahead, a tad bit bored with their exchange, but the slight distance it managed to travel did no good, for the couple circled back to the initial point.
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