The elder begins to laugh heartily at what I just said. Like he can't believe what I just asked, so it sounded like a joke. He gets up and starts to walk over to the table where he had pulled a contract from. Nami yells at him.
“E-elder! You can't take him seriously, can you? I've never heard of a person every forming more than one contract before.”
The elder answers her. “That is what makes it so interesting. I've lived for hundreds of years and never once did I think about forming more than one contract. Yet someone who was just introduced to the idea of it has already thought of something new… I am excited to see how this plays out.”
I repeat the same steps as last time. I prick my finger with my knife and add my blood to the signature. The contract begins to glow as it has like last time. It expands, getting bigger and bigger. Unlike with the snake which made the contract shrink in size. The contract as more than doubled in size. An animal begins to form… It is a dragon. A small paper dragon. I look over at Nami and the shoguns faces. Her face shows terror while his shows excitement. I go to talk to the dragon but he cuts me off.
“WHAT THE DEATH GOD DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING HUMAN!? You waste my time by summoning me here, even though you've already formed a contract. Your reason better be a good one.”
“I thought it would be interesting to try and form a sec-.”
“Dragons don't make contracts with people! We never had! I doubt you'll convince me.”
“Well, I'm not a normal person. I doubt many people can summon you. Why do you think I'm different… Doesn't it bother you that you don't know?”
“...I suppose your right. You have five minutes to convince me this contract will be worth my time as a dragon. You have to be able to further the cause of our species which I doubt any human ever could.”
I start to explain my life from the beginning. After I notice he's getting bored I speed through it faster, going over the interesting parts of my life and leaving out the more boring parts. I get to the part where I bonded with a dragon and then formed a soul pact. He looked very interested when I was talking about Darkclaw. I explained how much stronger he's gotten from just being around me. The dragon finally spoke once I went over the new classes I taught Darkclaw.
“Listen, kid… You could have just told me you could make dragons stronger. That is one thing a dragon cares about more than anything else. Is strength… You know what kills dragons more than anything else? Other dragons, because we're always trying to be the number one dragon. If you keep getting stronger, and promise to kill, teach or tame every dragon you meet. If you ever lose a fight with your army… I'll break the contract with you.”
It must be because of the lack of forming contracts that he didn't know the finer details of making a contract. These contracts seem far easier to deal with than the snakes. Maybe because they are both extremely rare situations. I don't plan on losing a battle anyways… If I do… Chances are I'll be dead anyways. Teaching a dragon might be bad later on for the future of all humans... That just means I'll have to kill or tame them.
Ninjutsu skill learned Shadow wings- Form a pair of wings made out of shadows, wings last for thirty minutes (1 hour cooldown) wings can be used in attacks and can be shredded, removing them before their time is up
Taijutsu passive skill learned Dragons touch- Attacks have the chance of paralyzing and shutting down body parts of enemies struck
Dragon bloodline passive skill gained Claw production- fingernails are replaced with sharp, retractile claws
SHIT! OUCH! My fingers all feel as if needles are piercing through them. Which is fairly accurate as a claws grow passed my finger. I practice how sharp they are… Poking my skin, the claws are sharp enough to draw blood with a moderate amount of pressure. If I'm ever unarmed, these will be far better protection than being completely unarmed. As I think that, I retract the claws which stick out no more than a normal fingernail would.
I from my shadow wings next. Both of them look amazed at my new ability. It must be the first time either of them have ever seen shadow wings like these before. I try to fly up and after a few seconds of trying to work them I finally do. Just enough to raise myself off the ground but I feel these shadow wings could be as fast as my dragon form... I wonder if I can form them on other people... I won't know until they come off cool down in an hour. Nami finally speaks up.
“Are you done yet? Every second you waste here, you could be learning taijutsu from me.”
“...Can I try forming another contract...”
Nami looks at me. It is a look that shows annoyance as well as confusion. She speaks next.
“Elder! I can understand two contracts, it would be a complete waste of a contract if he attempts again. As there is no possible way for him to learn a third.”
The elder only smiles as he gets another contract. I think his curiosity has gotten the best of him. He is willing to see just how far I can go. I mimic the other steps. The contract begins to glow again. This time a rabbit is formed. The elder begins to laugh very loudly when it is made… The rabbit speaks inside my head.
“H-hello… I… I see that you've made a few contracts already… I… I don't mind forming another one with you...”
We go through the process again. For my pact with the rabbit I have to not die… That seems like a ridiculously easy contract to deal with. It would also not matter that I broke it. As I would be dead anyways. I doubt the rabbit wanted to put very hard stipulations on me. Seeing as I had already formed two other contracts. I hate to say it, but the rabbit seems like a pushover. The animal vanishes like the others.
Ninjutsu passive skill learned Shadow run- Increases movement speed while decreasing noise from running while in the cover of night
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Taijutsu skill upgraded Rabbit punch combination--> Goblin punch combination- Attack with a flurry of punches, more focused on speed than power
Druid skill learned Rabbit form- Able to transform into a rabbit (increase to dodge and movement speed) become more cowardly while transformed
Once the rabbit disappears the shogun can no longer hold in his laughter.
“HAHAHA! I can't believe this! Three contracts formed! This is beyond normal. Not only did you make a contract with a common animal. You made one with the strongest animal. One I've never seen any other person ever form a contract with. After that you make one with the weakest animal! He isn't even from the same zodiac! If you had summoned a hare it would have been more normal. HAHAHA! You are beyond normal my friend. Everything about you is a contradiction.”
He strokes his beard and switches from being amazed to explaining the animals more.
“Some animals form friendships and get along better with other animals of the zodiac. Like minded animals that is. Nami has formed a contract with a tiger. Tigers are more likely to befriend other members that are also tiger ninjas. But also dog ninjas and horse ninjas. None of your animals are part of the same group in that sense. Dragon is separated from all other groups and are only related to the snake family... For you to form a contract with three different groups...”
“...Can I try forming another contract?”
He doesn't say anything, just pulling out another contract. I try this one, same as the rest. Nothing happens this time… Just a smear of blood is covering the signature of a contract scroll. It seems to have been a waste of a scroll… Nami begins to get angry.
“You fool! You wasted a contract that takes an entire year to make! All this work was just thrown away because of you.”
“...Why don't you try to form a contract while it is still wet. You're blood should still work if my blood hasn't dried yet.”
She looks confused. As if she hadn't even thought she could form a second contract. She just looks confused at me, then at the shogun.
“S-should I try?”
“I don't see why not. Either you succeed and form another contract or the contract goes to waste.”
She bites her finger… I wince as I think of how easily that will get infected. I know that bites have a high chance of causing infections. The scroll begins to glow as her blood covers and mixes with mine. A dog appears this time. From what the shogun has just said, it seems that her two contract animals are from the same family. Hmm, it seems that I am strange in that sense. A few moments of hammering out the contract and she is finally finished. Nami begins to speak.
“...I can't believe… Never in a thousand years would I have thought… I could ever form a second contract. I feel so… Stupid.”
She falls to her knees. Tears begin to form in the corners of her eyes.
“I can't believe myself!… My weakness was brought on by myself. All those years of practice... Of thinking of getting stronger. And I haven't thought of easy ways to become stronger. Something so simple as this… I feel so foolish.”
She continues to sit there. Stationary for a few moments. I can't imagine what she is thinking. I only tried it because I hadn't grown up in the village. If you only see people using a single contract their entire lives, almost everyone would assume that was the limit you could try. Something that seems so obvious can be buried by what seems to be common sense and tradition. I try to cheer her up.
“How is it your fault? You're putting the entire blame of your people on your shoulders. Dozens of other people were also put in the same situation. Your entire culture is set up for only trying it once. It seems that even if you can learn more than one, it would be very rare. So perhaps you all lost the process of trying multiple times because it is too expensive to do?… Why aren't you happy? You've done something no other murine folk has done in hundreds of years.”
This seems to not cheer her up at all. I sit and wait for her to finish crying… It might seem rude but she did promise to teach me taijutsu. It takes… Longer than expected for her to stop crying. Like she has been holding back frustration for years and her tears are a mixture of happiness and sadness. So much time wasted getting stronger when there were easier solutions.
She finally regains her composure. We walk to the training area and she begins to teach me some taijutsu skills.
Taijutsu skill gained Body strengthening- strengthen the muscles of certain parts of the body to either increase the power of attacks or defense
Taijutsu skill gained Burst of power- Able to sacrifice fatigue points for a boost in power to an attack
Only two… I'm fine with that, with the amount of contracts I've just formed I'm happy with anything extra. It does seem like not as big of an upgrade as ninjutsu was. Maybe Nami just isn't good with taijutsu? Nami begins to speak.
“When we were sparring a few days ago… I noticed your attacks were very sloppy. I doubt you do but… Do you have any martial arts knowledge?”
“What's a martial arts?”
“… I figured as much. With how you and your men were fighting, it was a easy to make assumption.”
“Why is that?”
“Well you're attacks were very predictable.”
“My attacks are anything but predictable. That honestly makes me somewhat irritated that you would say so.”
“Come at me without a weapon. No special attacks or anything. Just attack me with this wooden sword.”
She throws me a training sword and steps into the training circle… Unarmed. I warn her.
“You should also get a weapon. I wouldn't want to hurt you by accident.”
“Do not worry. I have no intention of letting you strike me.”
She seems very confident that she can stop my attack. I enter the training circle as well. She stands with her arms down at her side. She begins to speak as her stance changes. Her hands are both open and in front of her. She bends her legs down dropping her stance a few inches. One leg out in front while the other is behind her body.
“…Begin.”
I sit for a few seconds. Waiting to see what she is going to do… She just stands still… Waiting for me to attack. I want to attack her… Something feels wrong though, like the second I do attack her. I'm going to regret it. I slowly walk towards her. Inching closer and closer. Being overly cautious for what the situation is. I am armed and she isn't, the fight is clearly my win.
I'm within striking distance of her. Out of the reach of her attacks but mine will connect. I go to move forward to attack and raise my sword above my head. The moment I do this she moves towards me and grabs my raised arm. She slams her hip into my stomach, knocking me off balance right has she wrenches my arm downwards. Using one of her legs she sweeps my feet out from underneath me. It happened so fast I couldn't even respond to it. I instinctively yell out.
“What the hell was that?”