To draw attention upon yourself when trying to be a dark lord is an act that should not be done before you absolutely made sure that everything would go to plan.

And even as Joelas made the last preperations, his hand was unsteady, his frills opening and closing to accommodate his building anxiety.

He had always loved the spotlight, and if there was anyone not noticing him today, he would have to personally kill them.

Then, he heard the twelth bell, and all hell broke loose. Creatures came from everywhere. Even some seashells seemed to become alive once more as they began to drive the people to the central square, the simple command of not entering that place, collecting others soon enough.

He sighed as he noticed Larv among his puppets, probably killed by them while they were too weak to run away. But when the horde approached the place he stood at, his newest spell was cast.

He emitted a grey light, and the contract went out to everyone in the square as the beasts that came too close melted as he commanded them to autocannibalize.

"I am here to greet all of you, and apologise for what my body did before. I broke free of the gods darkness, and hope for your help in freeing us of their might. My power is not unlimited, and I need your help to bri g down those beasts, dark spawn that feast on our souls, thinking they are better than us, deserving of high seats. But they do not create. We are free people, and as I was made from the first of us that died to these monstrosities, they still think me part of the group. I declare war on the divine, and hope for your help in defeating those that stole the sunlight from us!"

his speech was halted as one of the people in the crowd stormed at him with a spear, and if he had to guess, he was one of the gods champions if he had to guess, something he was so uninterested in, he simply overwhelmed his would be assassin with ground mana, petrifying him mid air.

"Why is it that some idiots keep trying to kill me? He was a chosen of those damned gods, I'm afraid. Don't worry, I'll make his body into something much more helpful for our purpose."

These beasts are the summons of the Void. I was once part of it, too, before I regained control of my body.

What I am offering you now is a cotract, the contract that requires you to support me on my sacred quest, and in exchange I can make it impossible for them to hurt you, so long as this contract remains in place. I do not know how to protect a specific group of people from them who are not connected to me.

If he was a human, he would have smiled.

Not a single lie in the whole thing, and their support in his quest to destroy the Chosen in exchange for not killing them was a great offer, and one the system would not consider unfair, given the systems rather positive disposition to being fully aware again.

It was one of his favourite things, as the quest was accepted by many, a proof of concept he would enjoy to test out soon.

The whole thing was considered a single contract, with multiple signatures. And as more and more people signed, he felt something connect him to them much more than before. He felt his Psyonic aura resonate with the peoples agreement, the contract and the perk resonating as their souls entwined with his. A web of bonds weavin in between every participant.

Some people took a while to answer, though as he slowly allowed the creatures to get closer and retreated the dome of light he produced earlier, many were overwhelmed by fear. Only a few of them declining the contract, waiting as the others began to deal with the undead. And as Joelas excluded them from the creatures senses, it became wuite a bit of manual work for everyone involved, the black goo drifting towards the black surface, him still waiting as the attention died down and everyone got to work cleaning up the mess his minions had made.

It was when a feeling of completion washed over him that he turned to the petrified guy, etching his intent into the figure and imbuing it with life, his fingers carving a rune into it that he knew to be the sigil of life, knowledge imparted by the previous owner of this body.

Now, he send the golem to take care of everything that the now a lot more determined people had.

Then he went to the inn he got his first contract at to rest until his comrades arrived from the bank. Closing his eyes as he sat on a chair.

"System, please tell me what I created back there."

He asked, the friendly purple Primordial helpful as always.

Congratulations! You have created your first golem, powered by the tortured souls of your enemy. Should he die, it might release or destroy the soul, depending on the quality of the magical structure implemented to animate the construct.

Unlocked Skills

Spoiler

Respawn (Skill) (Unique): When you die, your soul is pulled back to the character creation screen with half your levels. Once here, you can build a new character and try again.

Once you press the create button on the character creator, you will be spawned at a place appropriate for your character.

Grounding (skill)(ground): While cast, this skill infuses the targets body with geound mana and forces it to remain on a surface below it.

Dash (skill)(air): Your movement speed increases by (move*skill level).

Tag stomp (skill)(Gravity): Target a creature and accelerate towards it at (lvl) times your normal speed. Cannot be used for the amount of time needed to accelerate before impact.

Restfull petrification. (ground): Your body is petrified for the duration you sleep. While you are petrified in this way, you are considered hidden.

You will restore (lvl) times the energy you would by sleeping the same amount of time.

Jet legs [1] (air) (skill): Air mana will concentrate in your entire body and focus on your legs. Once you activate this skill, you can gather ambient air mana for up to (lvl) seconds and release it at a later time explosively. One second worth of air mana can move you (lvl) meters in any direction and push everything else away.

Groundbound [1] (ground) (skill): an area of (lvl) meters around you is flooded by ground Mana, making everything within heavier.

Blizzard aura (ice) (skill): Raise your surrounding ice and turn it into a shield of projectiles. Born from memories of a fallen goblin, this skill has been optimized to spare the user any colloteral.

Second skin (Steel) (Skill): Coats the user in a secondary skin of Mana, reducing the damage received by [lvl].

Elemental aura [0] (mod) (skill): every living being in an area of (lvl) meters around you is flooded by Mana of your choosing, affecting the target as if it stood in an environment typical for that element.

Regulate temperature (Ice/Fire) (skill): allows the user to adjust his body temperature.

Soul Contract (skill) (Meta): To log an agreement into the system is the ultimate form of contract. Unfair contracts might lower your system access.

Amount of contracts allowed at a time:

system access * skill level.

Unlocked perks

Spoiler

Fairy wings (Perk) Reduces weight by 1 kg and gives the user a magical flying speed of 10km/h.

-10 token

Magical body (perk): Your body is held together by magic. Your body can not be dispersed by non magical means, and everything you do counts as magical. Dispersing magic will deactivate this perk for the duration. Your natural lifespan will now be extended by 10% for every point you have in Willpower.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

-5 token

Magus ¤ : This Perk allows a person to interact directly with mana

Thick bones (Perk): Your bones are two times denser than is normal for your race, making it harder for your body to be moved in any direction.

-5 Token

Thick skin (perk): Your skin is thicker than that of most members of your species.

-5 Token

Blubber (Perk): You hold a layer of fad under your skin. Increases your weight by 5kg for every meter of height you have, but allows you to thrive in much colder climates.

-5

Muscles of steel (Perk): Your muscles are naturally harder and more effective at movement. Your muscles are much more resilient than they would normally be.

-10

Aquatic essence (perk): so long as a part of you is in contact with you, your body can reform from it.

Cost: 20 Token.

Psyonic aura (Perk): Your words draw the attention of everyone that can hear them, forcing a contest of willpower upon everyone involved.

Cost: 20 Token

Shed skin (Perk): You can shed your skin and choose how the layer beneath it will look. The skin will look like you and proceed to act as yours would.

Cost: 15 Token

Animating dust (perk): Anyone that dies after inhaling the dust will be reanimated as a Vito-Necromantic shambler.

Cost: 40 Token

Unlocked Handycaps

Spoiler

Slim: Reduce the amount a creature weighs by 5% per level of this handycap chosen, which can be stacked up to three times.

+1 Token

Small: Reduces the height of a creatur by 20%.

+5 Token

Heavenbound (handycap): Should you ever disconnect from the ground, gravitation will reverse for you. Any kinetic force excerted on you will be 100% more effective at moving you.

+8 Token

One armed (handycap): You only have one useable arm.

+30 Token

Bulky tendencies (Handycap): Your weight can not be reduced by more than 10% increases to your weight that hold for more than a day are permanent.

+15 Token.

Large (Handycap): Increases the height of a creatur by 20%.

+5 Token

Overweight (handycap): You weigh 10% more than your race normally does. (Can be equipped up to three times)

+5 Token

Body of stone (Handycap): your body is petrified, heavily limiting your mobility.

+30 Token

Shadowless (handycap): You do not have a shadow.

+20 Token