CHAPTER 353 – CONTRACTING THE WADOR

Tom was torn about the logic of his actions.

He probably should have shut up and said nothing. His words would not change the giant’s mind, but his self-preservation instincts had taken over and then only after he had blurted the words out had he realised the danger they were putting him into. It was more than a little embarrassing. Hopefully, it would ignore them, and he could commiserate his stupidity with the others later.

The giant moved!

Toward him.

His heart jumped in his chest, and then its face loomed above him.

What had he done. He expected time to slow and his alarms to go off futilely. With his damaged body and exhausted cooldowns, there would be no way to save himself.

There was no swinging club. The giant hovered there for a moment and an all too human half smile quirked on its lips.

It winked.

Tom couldn’t have moved if his life depended on it. His heart almost stopped in shock. His clouded mind couldn’t help but remember Michael’s words summing up the latest interaction with the giant. ‘He is dangerously astute.’

Truer words had not been spoken. That wink was terrifying for what it truly signified. The giant had known exactly how he, as a human, would interpret that body language. The wador wouldn’t be able to recognise it, but Tom knew what it meant… and that put the actions on a different level.

The giant was playing the mythical four-dimensional chess while the rest of them were playing checkers. The wador, deliberately blinded from the hidden side, only saw a brute that was unable to control its temper. Tom’s own body insisted the same thing, but that wasn’t the true picture. It was consciously manipulating things on a deeper level below both logic and emotion. It understood more than it had previously let on. Its emotions were not controlling it rather it was using them with surgical precision to get what it wanted.

When hitting people, when threatening to turn them into a smear, when it screamed out in rage, it was actually in complete control of its actions.

It was horrifying.

Another longer step took it away from him to a point where it was actively menacing the remaining wador. “Tom wants me to wait. But his opinion is irrelevant. He is flawed and has a misplaced sense of his place in this world. Is that your excuse, too?”

There was a pause and while it occurred, he continued to use every point of mana regeneration to piece himself back together. The results Healing Tranquillity reported were not good at all. The burns would not heal naturally and were potentially beyond even Tom’s skills to fix. That would be a long and painful process which would leave him injured by the time the critical dragon fight rolled up. Possibly over weeks, he could cut slivers of flesh off until the burn energy was fully extracted. A more practical approach was that he was going to need Michael’s help to fix them.

“This was an interspecies dispute that we were asked to help with.” The wador leader said. “We deemed it to be beneath your notice or else we wouldn’t have participated.”

“I claimed him.”

“Forgive us for overstepping. Thankfully, there is no permanent damage.”

“You tried to kill something that was mine.”

“We never intended to kill.”

“You tried to kill something that was MINE!”

There was a thump and, as reported by his domain, the wador’s leader’s feet left the floor.

A body crashed down a moment later, almost five metres distant from where it had started. Unlike with Jenny, the giant, this time, had not struck hard enough to send its target flying to its death.

“And I will not tolerate lies.”

“We lost our temper. We never intended to kill anyone.”

There was another thud and this time a different wador went sliding first feet and then haunches pressed on the ground. It slid for almost ten metres.

“You lie, I hit.”

“We are sorry,” the wador leader said, hurriedly. “We didn’t realise we were crossing a line.”

Thud.

The giant’s club struck the ground and more than one of the wador jumped.

“Ignorance does not excuse a mis-swing. Honour demands I kill you, all.”

He sensed the giant looking back at him, and he remembered the wink. His throat was tight, but Social Silence was not restricting. “Wait, maybe they are better alive than dead.”

“What was that, Tom?”

His lungs were mostly repaired, and he had a working arm. He rolled to the side so he could look at them. He felt the scabs he had built around the burns break. Pain washed over him, but he pushed through it. He could see the wador. The two that the giant had struck may not have flown as far as Jenny, but that did not mean they were left undamaged. Two of the leader’s legs were broken and badly. It was not like a single clean bone that would only require a splint and time to heal. No, what the blow had done was more like a complete reorganisation of the leg bones. From what he knew of this team of wador’s healing capabilities, he was not sure those two legs would ever work the same again.

“They can work with us to help defeat the dragon.” He said with a voice that strengthened with every word he forced out.

“Attempting to murder what is mine is not helping to kill the dragon. Leaving them alive to do so in the future would be a mis-swing on my part.”

“I have a contract skill that can bind them.” The giant knew that already he realised to his horror, the entire performance had been leading to this. There had been multiple questions last night that had revealed that information.

Did the plot go even deeper?

Had the hours of questioning in the middle of the night been calculated to achieve this result? Had the giant known that its actions would expose him to this ambush. Was that why it had been ready to intercede to save them when it had?

He couldn’t answer those questions conclusively, and that was scary.

“My gut agrees. You…” the giant pointed at the wador leader. “Agree to the contract or I will kill all of you.”

Michael and Clare had both taken the opportunity to reach him and healing energy was patching his wounds. The pain reduced significantly, and he sagged a little in relief.

No one had moved and despite his insight into the giant’s personality he was not convinced that his initial impression was completely put on. This was not a companion that you wanted to become bored. “Quick. Get closer so I can do this. I need all four wador.” He glanced at the giant.

“I do not need to be in the contract to supervise.”

“Michael and Everlyn.” He finished. They gathered as he created the contract that he was after. There was no mercy in his heart.

This was an opportunity, and he planned to extract as much advantage as he could.

He wanted what Jenny had negotiated. If they had an auction house like humans, it was likely to have numerous weapons and items that would suit humans, but not one of the wador. They would be cheap, and he desired access to that, but not how Jenny had negotiated. He wanted those items at cost and not with a markup like he was sure the wador had been planning. The terms were included in the contract and he thought about what else was needed. Dedicated help to create the teleporters and any other required crafting needs that came up was an obvious inclusion.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Then inside, Tom smiled a little.

Physically, they were strong, so forcing them to do everything to make certain the chosen would meet the requirements to enter the final zone would remove one headache from him. Then there were safety considerations. There was no betrayal allowed while they were in the trial and they were to extend all of their efforts to defeat the dragon and while doing so they would value an individual human as much as an individual wador. Finally, they would not try to kill any humans while in the trial via by active action or passive inaction. The contract had to be balanced, or at least arguably fair to both sides, and here Tom went for the kill. As part of the binding magic, He would need to share all pertinent information from his powerful tier nine skill with them. The signees, in addition to being bound by the same mutual respect rules would do their best to ensure the wador survived, which included influencing other humans. The human signees would guarantee that they too would do everything they could to help the chosen and prioritise the crafting of artefacts needed to win the coming battle.

The construct appeared as a chain linking all of them. As far as the skill was concerned, the contract was fair, even if he had only promised them things he would have done otherwise. That sharing of True Dreaming knowledge acted as a significant counterweight to the rest of the terms. It was what let him place so many extra conditions and responsibilities onto them.

There was an immediate pushback from the wador. They had spotted a loophole. The contract only applied to those signing it. For them, if they were all bound, then all humans should be as well.

Tom more than understood the argument, but he shook his head to reject it and cleared his throat. Social Silence was not restricting him at all. “No, I can’t do that. My skill won’t allow it. Plus, you don’t have to worry about us betraying you. We’ve already ordered all the other humans not to plot against you.”

The wador leader, despite the pain it was in because of its crushed legs held Tom’s stare. Its eyes remained unblinking and only Touch Heal disabling the muscles stopped him from blinking and breaking the staring contest.

They locked eyes with each other. No words were being exchanged, and the contract hung between them all.

The giant shifted its weight and, as tempted as he was he kept looking into the wador’s eyes.

Abruptly, the contract snapped into place, and the leader glanced away.

Tom took the opportunity to shut his eyes and sag in relief. Tears were running down his face, and his eyes stung.

“It is done.” The giant declared. “And by proxy, you are now mine. That contract skill is not perfect. It can be broken at cost. It is not infallible, but if any of you circumvent it, then the rest will answer to me.” The giant glanced over to the bloody smear that started fifteen metres up the wall and ran down to Jenny’s body. “I will treat any break of this agreement like a personal betrayal of me.”

Then it strode away like nothing notable had occurred and it didn’t have a care in the world.

They waited in silence until the giant had vanished.

There was something about watching such a big creature move that made your heart beat faster. Every step seemed to shake the world, and it felt larger than it was. Yet, somehow, it had appeared amongst them before any of them noticed. Along with everything else, it apparently had some ridiculously high tiered stealth skill.

“Well, this is awkward.” Keikain said loudly to break the silence. “I guess we’re all allies now. Tom, you’re going to have to bind those four when your skill resets.” He nodded at Jenny’s companions. “Now, what are we going to get the pussies to do first?”

“Control your pack mates.” The wador leader growled.

“No,” Tom answered with a grim smile. “We are allies. You will meet us halfway culturally. We will not blindly conform to your desires.”

“I will, but…” the leader glared at Keikain. “But some small level of cordiality should be maintained.”

“That is fair enough.” Tom said carefully. He was too tired to be able to have this conversation. “It has been a long day. I would appreciate it if Michael can organise things with you.”

He wanted nothing more than to find somewhere to sleep, but the contract he had just created was already twisting within him and compelling him to act. “But first may I heal you. My skills are suited for fixing your type of shattered bone.”

The wador leader looked surprised but indicated agreement.

The others helped him get close enough to touch its side. It was a big animal with heavily corded muscles and made him feel small and weak. The instant he touched the fur, Healing Tranquillity kicked in and Tom took a moment to assess what was happening.

First, he checked the damaged area and extracting the most out of his limited mana he tugged bones around to where they were supposed to be. It was slow going as it required him to perfectly reassemble the equivalent of a five hundred piece three-dimensional jigsaw.

While half of his mind focused on that, the rest used the time Healing Tranquillity created to carry out the second reason he had wanted to help. His mind explored the entirety of the beast, learning all that he could about its anatomy. The creature’s legs were structured much like a humans. Muscles and tendons drove it, with the majority of the power originating from the larger muscles closer to the torso.

The claws in the feet were interesting. They were retractable and created with a material that looked tailor made for channelling mana. The joint closest to the main body was surprisingly the weakest part of the animal. That was opposite to humans and most monsters, where you were better going for a knee rather than the hip.

He kept exploring.

His magic measured the thickness of defensive hair, then skin, then the skeletal make up. Humans had ribs that circled key organs the wador instead had floating plates of bones. They had joints between them, but they did not provide perfect coverage. There were significant gaps, though the location would change as the creature’s position altered. Tom mentally created a model of how they shifted and slid and where the gaps would be during different offensive movements. Factoring their hair, skin and bone, Tom was confident that a Rahmat empowered Power Strike would let him do significant internal damage with every thrust. It probably wouldn’t be sufficient to kill them with a single hit, but given they lacked specialised healers a mortal wound would defeat them given enough time even if it wasn’t instant.

Next, he checked the organs. They had three hearts. One pushed blood exclusively through the lungs and all the hearts, another supplied blood to all the critical organs, including the brain and the last for the peripheral muscles. Each of the inner hearts could compensate for an outer one. Only killing the heart pumping blood to the lungs would be immediately fatal. He tracked and monitored how the blood flowed throughout it and identified multiple essential arteries. Most were protected by the floating bone shields, but he added additional spots on his model that he could target to open up those particular veins. Yes, he would have to time the strikes for when it was leaping or stretching out with a claw strike to avoid the bone defences. However, being aware of additional weaknesses to exploit was always useful.

Then, because he was aware of human’s flaw with their backbones, he examined the nerve clusters. Their nervous system was more spread out than humans. A weakness in each hip was marked. If he struck there, it would paralyse the leg, but the option felt weaker than the other opportunities he had already discovered. His mana ran out and he couldn’t continue to heal the leg and his examination of their anatomy was completed, so he dropped his hand from the surprisingly soft fur. “I’ve relieved the most immediate issues. But I’ll need three minutes of regeneration to reset all of your bones to the correct spots. Then you’ll be able to heal yourself in the normal manner.” He told the leader, internally congratulating him on the sleuthing he had completed at the same time.

Ten minutes later having healed most of their injuries Tom was escorted back to his room by the two healthy wador and the rest of his team excluding Michael and Everlyn. They were going to continue planning for the next couple of weeks. He collapsed into a deep sleep and the static dreams consumed him.

The next day, everyone was smiling.

Bao fed him food to starve off his exhaustion. A new expedition was planned, and a wador joined his group. Everlyn was excited by all that they had agreed.

“And the personal teleporter prototype worked. The inventor is making the slingshot. It’s all coming together.”

Tom smiled at her enthusiasm and listened politely as she delved into more detail.

He slipped into the routine of killing and completing their objectives. There was no need to worry about anything. The contracts in place meant all sapients were on the same team and the extra power the wador added meant collectively they had out levelled the zone, which turned most fights trivial. A lot of the danger of the zone had vanished. All they needed to do was tick the boxes to complete the quests and prepare for the dragon fight.

They were settling down on the island that Tom had claimed for himself. Compared to the giants fortress it was embarrassingly simple, just a couple of rooms and no magical room amenities to get excited about, but now that it was his extra functions were enabled. With a mental click, he locked the platform to stop outside forces from connecting to it. Now nothing could drag them into an unwanted connection. They were safe for the night. They could only be reached by a monster with the capability to fly. For some reason despite the layout of the zone, none of the monsters had that ability. That lack was probably something enforced by the trial spirit for balancing reasons. The lock he had placed stopped what the wador had done to ambush them the first time, which was a capability the local monsters definitely possessed. When you owned your island, not only did you have the ability to remotely select your destination, your lock on other islands was stronger as well. It was nifty and would let a platform you controlled go faster than neutral ones and also override the actions of anything on an unclaimed island. In that first ambush, despite their belief the wador could have seized control of their platform and have dragged them back at any time.

When you owned your island, not only did you have the remote control, your lock onto other islands was stronger as a result.

Bao brought him his food and then he lay down to sleep.

The static nothingness greeted him.

Tom deflated and mentally sat down with his incorporeal body. For the last couple of nights, these had been coming three times each day and always with the same result. Two hundred and forty seconds of boredom.

His count was at two hundred, and the static shattered.

What? He thought in shock.

He opened his senses to find out what had happened and then he quailed like a plate of mini sausage rolls in an under catered weight loss convention event.

Trembled like a dandelion puff in a cyclone.

Shutting down like a mere human in the presence of the GODs.

He shivered uncontrollably, and all words and thoughts were driven from his mind.