After a whole week of grueling training, Aki had achieved jack shit. With his abilities capped, the only way to earn XP was from quests and spars, because getting your shit beaten out of you apparently counted as combat enough that even though he had yet to win more than a couple of times, he had received a few thousand from the veritably unending tide of knights happy to get a new punch bag.
Not the best return for all the bruising and tearing, but it did hint at the fact he could get some good XP from killing even if it took some grinding, since the troops around here were all between level 15 to 30, with plenty of knights going till level 40, with level 35+ being a rather big difference from his point of view and experience.
The observations on the strength of the common troops was from only one sample though, since after he won that one with magic easily enough the knights got interested and his 'hazing' began.
Still, he was thankful.
This was experience he desperately needed if he was to survive, and going against multiple veterans holding their raw power back while displaying their skills was a great way to train his new close combat Skills. While he had no intention of becoming a juggernaut out of nowhere, the path of a mage needed a lot of affinity, which directly translated to a need for resistances and a not so useless fleshy body. Starting all of that with the basic training routine of the local army and some survival training was for the best.
Especially because he was trying to not become reliant on the system and kept trying to improve his basic abilities despite them being capped at level 10. Rather, he currently sat at a not so respectable character level 5, with his free points unspent and 1.1M XP in the bank.
This would have likely continued were the Knight commander to not have come around and personally assigned him to a task squad meant to go on a mission almost immediately. Had been a quick affair too, she just showed up to the training grounds, yelled, then he was following Bob to get a debrief.
In the debrief room, they gave him a pack to carry, called the contract magician, who then explained nothing in specific needed to be done to give his commanding officer control over him but a direct order from the Knight commander, and then they were walking out into a forest.
Honestly, it was the first time in a while that they were treating him like a pet outsider, but it wasn't like he cared much about it.
After all, if they didn't share info then he didn't know when to tell them about the small, obvious things, nor if he should. He wasn't trained for acting in a group and knew how dangerous gloating your advantages was.
More importantly, these were all sacrifices so he could be used as bait. Or at least he thought so since he knew that none of these men or women were more than slightly above the average knight. It'd make more sense to him if they had been sent with him a day or at max two after the fiasco at the infirmary, but now…
Well, he was actually pretty sure that this would be little more than some dick measuring by the conflicting parts. Even if they had gotten a willing traitor on their side, it wasn't like his jailer's enemies could just up and teleport an army or two through enemy territory, and moving a deterrent unit at or above the Knight commander's level would also result in all kinds of troubles.
Rather, it was a hare-brained move that could be summed up to 'a decoy walking into a trap so as to gain information for the main force', with some added shenanigans in the background that he was sure were not going to be getting anywhere near his sight.
If possible this was where he defected to the other side. He wasn't counting on it though.
Which is exactly why he was so surprised when a prick of pain hit his neck and he stumbled, losing consciousness as he fell from his standing position.
………………
Waking up to a gray stone ceiling had kind of become his new normal, so he wasn't too surprised that it was the first thing he saw. The chains and metal slate were not so normal though, and the familiar nausea…
[HP: 14/14
SP: 5/16
EP: 0/100]
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'Shit.' It was his only thought before he heard the clicking of heels.
"You are awake." It was a statement in a rather authoritative voice. "0$°%∆¶¶¶[¥ £&&@#* (+6*'!" He had no idea what she had just said, and he let it show it in his face.
*It appears he is indeed not one of ours, my lady. His aura shows only confusion, fear and anger.* Said a figure he couldn't see in a language he couldn't understand.
*I had little hope, but it pays to be cautious. I will begin now.* Responded the demoness stepping out of the shadows of the entrance and into the barely there torchlight. "We will make a contract now." She ordered, this time in common, as her purple eyes glowed. He nodded.
He didn't feel more inclined to agree, but it could very well be a small build up effect based on social dominance if the forward facing, crowning horns hugging her scalp like a tiara were any indication of her position and prowess.
*Something changed.* The shadow whispered, but he tried to pretend to not have heard it.
"You will swear your fealty to the Demonic Empire of Lasti and comply with the remodeling of previous contracts made in this realm independent of the sacrifice needed." Even now her tone was of finality, as if arguing would be detrimental and foolish.
"Your, sariphice, too." His words were clipped and in fataram, but his tone was uninterested. He wasn't a leader, but he had years working the apathy game, and he let that take over.
*He is losing emotion.* The shadow whispered again even as the blonde woman began speaking anew.
"You don't have a choice."
"You, no time."
"You don't know how far away we are."
Instead of attempting to explain his comeback, he pointed at himself, then drew his growing pointer's nail at the metal slab he was stuck to, making a circular motion while clicking his tongue, and a childish but emotionless imitation of an explosion when the circle closed. There was no need to guess wether they knew what a bomb was. There was silence for a moment, a cold in his back, and then the shadow spoke again.
*He is not rigged with any exploding enchantments or spells, nor is his contract flaring to kill him. I believe he knows himself to be a trap.*
"So be it. You shall help bring the humans to their end then." He hadn't asked, but apparently those guys were indeed a breed of human. What a not so small universe.
He shrugged. Standing up, he noted his chains were not too small, perhaps this was their resting state when deployed. Either way, he lifted five fingers in one hand and pointed to himself.
"I will pay a third of it."
She tried to negotiate, but he shook his head, tapping his manacles and wobbling in place. He was actually getting hungry now that he had been awake for long enough.
"Your energy recovery is unusually high. I could just wait until you are near full."
He shook his head again, pointing at his stomach and then open mouth, before shrugging and raising three fingers. While he had no idea what this ritual price would be, he knew for a fact it'd be a better idea to have his own mana on him so as to try and avoid permanent or long lasting damage.
If the drain was too much he'd use his points first and then try to run. Whatever ritual they intended to use to modify his existing contract would likely move a ton of energy or even just significance itself, so he wasn't going in unarmed.
……………
The demons had a lot more meat in their cooking, and he had a feeling it wasn’t because they were especially carnivorous, what with vegetables and fruits they readily brought him being partly conserved products.
Rather, perhaps they could better extract essentials from meat, but considering the tropes he was used to seeing… well, he was either going to be getting a great grinding ground or his ass handed to him as basically everything could swat him around like a fly.
That meant he should probably start looking into a longer range style of fighting. When he would be able to start doing so was a mystery though, as his every moment had him pretty much surrounded by fighters that could move faster than he could react or even aim a spell.
Like right now, with a giant ass blood circle being wrought around him and the demoness wearing heeled boots. The small room he had woken up was filled with a dozen armored figures he was sure could handle any knight in the human fort.
More importantly, their food was also much more delicious. Whether it was the actual cooking or ingredient quality he couldn’t tell, but they kept a minuscule amount of mana in their rations that made a world of difference. The simple ass rations were on the level of burgers or maybe a simple restaurant’s menu!
Even this much made all his previous rapport with the human army seem completely irrelevant. After he’d began eating so much more than normal, meal time had become torturous for him due to the dullness of the meat and the taste of bean soup, but if it were like this then he had no complaints. After a mere week of bad meals, he too was ready to reject his humanity!
“It is time. We will begin the ritual in a few moments.” Suddenly noted the demoness as he went through his second helpings. He didn’t really mind starting now since his mana was at 96/100, but he did tip the rest of the meat and potatoes down from his plate and into his mouth after standing up and handing his utensils and plate back to the person that’d handed it to him. “Prepare yourself.” She said in a serious tone as her eyes closed and she started chanting something.
And he really did prepare himself, in this case by opening his status page and holding his mental feelers over the XP distribution.