“What should I do to get out of this situation?” Tuskless muttered in his heart, his face looking at the ground. He refused to show his fear to the unknown creature because he knew people would take advantage of someone’s weakness. That was why he needed to stay strong while maintaining his respectful attitude toward a stronger being.
After making sure he was calm, Tuskless slowly looked up. His eyes darted around, observing the surrounding. The deceased Artist’s belongings were scattered on the ground, and one of them might be the tool to summon the creature.
It didn’t take him a long time to find the suspected tool. In front of him, a grey lantern stood on the ground, black flame dancing inside it. Black smoke came out of the lantern, attaching itself to the creature’s waist.
Tuskless suspected the lantern had summoned the creature, but finding it didn’t solve his problem. He still needed to get out of this situation.
“What’s your answer? If a contractor doesn’t pay their debt on time, the contracted fiend can take their soul,” the fiend said, seeming impatient.
From the creature’s confession, Tuskless found out he was a fiend. His eyes widened in horror when he heard the name. The fiend was a famous evil race. They came in various forms, were evil in nature, and had terrifying bloodline powers. Tuskless naturally knew about this race from a folktale. He didn’t expect the tale came out to be true. Fiends actually existed in real life! He muttered in his mind.
Then a realization hit him. Fiends might be wicked and cunning creatures for sure, but they had a fatal flaw once they materialized their bodies in the living world through contract. They were bound by equivalent exchange rules, meaning they could only say the truth to the contractors.
This was a common tale told to children. Tuskless didn’t know if it was true, but he’d rather believe the story in this situation. He had a piece of evidence proving the story was true as well, and he found out about it through the fiend’s conversations.
The fiend never mentioned Tuskless when he talked about the consequence of not finishing the contract. He always mentioned ‘the contractor’. The fiend might not tell a lie, but he was a cunning creature, so he could beat around the bush.
From the way the creature had talked to him, Tuskless guessed the fiend was hiding many things in his words. Based on his guess, he wanted to test first if the fiend hid things from him.
“Contractors must finish their contract. I know it. However, I am not a contractor, and you aren’t my contracted fiend,” Tuskless said, his eyes staring into the fiend’s face, not showing any fear. He needed to look convincing if he wanted to argue.
“Based on what?” the fiend asked while staring back at Tuskless.
Looking at the fiend’s blazing eyes, Tuskless shivered uncontrollably. However, he knew this was a natural reaction when facing a stronger, unknown being, not his actual fear. He confidently replied, “The first time I woke up, you said ‘the conditions aren’t met. You don’t have the qualification to contract with me’. Based on your own words, I am not a contractor, so I don’t owe you anything.”
The fiend was quiet for a while as he stared into the lowly troll before he burst out laughing. “That’s not true. You owe me. Indeed, you aren’t my contractor, but I saved your life, hence is why you owe me. So, tell me, lowly creature, what can you do to pay me?”
“How did you save my life?” Tuskless asked, feeling conflicted.
“How did a mere mortal survive from that height?” the fiend asked back while pointing at the cliff several kilometers above the ground. “Besides, you know I am telling the truth.”
Tuskless’ heart pounded. He knew fiends couldn’t tell a lie in this world, so he really owed the fiend. He racked his brain, thinking about his payment.
In the end, Tuskless didn’t find any idea. He was just a poor troll. However, the deceased Artist might have something that could catch the fiend’s interest. He walked toward the Artist’s corpse.
Looking at Tuskless, the fiend ignored him. He said while laughing, “Take your time. It has been a decade since I breathe the fresh air of the living world. I can wait all day.”
Fiends didn’t tell a lie, but Tuskless didn’t take what he said at face value. If Tuskless really made him wait, the fiend would sure feel dissatisfied.
Tuskless looked at the scattered items on the ground. There was a crystal ball, three books, a staff, a few resources, and a bag. These items weren’t his belongings, but he would present them to the fiend.
That was his plan before the fiend suddenly laughed in mockery and said, “There are only a few mundane items I take an interest in, but those items are not. I don’t need them. You need to think of something else.”
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Listening to the fiend’s confession, Tuskless gritted his teeth in anger, but he didn’t show it to the fiend. He calmed himself and faced the creature. “What is the thing I can pay for you, my lord? I am sure you still need something from me since you are expecting something from me. Please enlighten me,” he said respectfully.
The fiend’s lips curved into an evil smile. “Indeed. There is one thing even you can do for me, and you can present it as my payment. I love to eat souls.”
“But I don’t know how to present souls to you.”
After hearing the troll, the fiend nodded in approval. “I like obedient mortals like you. You don’t need to worry about how to harvest the souls. As long as you throw a maximum seven-day-old corpse into this magic circle, I can directly harvest its soul. Then, tell me, lowly troll, how much is your life worth?”
Tuskless looked directly into the fiend’s face as he racked his brain. If he could be honest, he wasn’t sure about it. However, he immediately found a counter reply. “I am just a lowly troll. I am sure my lord knows well about the price of my life. Please enlighten me.” Since the fiend couldn’t tell a lie, he would just let him decide it.
“Six souls! In six days! Beyond that….” The fiend pointed at his chest, and Tuskless suddenly felt hot. “I have branded you with a mark, so I can directly harvest your soul everywhere. This is our contract. What say you?”
Tuskless knelt and probed his hot chest, but he still looked at the fiend and replied, “I agree.”
The fiend grinned. “It is not like you can refuse anyway. Then, lowly troll, I await your tribute.” With that, the fiend turned into smoke and entered the lantern. At the same time, a purple ball came out of the Artist’s corpse and followed the fiend into the lantern. After that, the corpse was burnt into a cinder.
Tuskless heaved a sigh of relief as the pressure disappeared. However, the magic circle was still on the ground, meaning the contract was real. He needed to create a plan for gathering souls, but he wanted to retrieve the Artist’s belongings too. Luckily, the fiend hadn’t taken them, so these items belonged to him.
As he excitedly retrieved the items, Tuskless looked around, fearing dangers would approach him. After he was done, he immediately went away.
After a few minutes, Tuskless stopped under a tree. He was sure no one had followed him, so he took a rest and checked his new belongings. First, he opened a book. The book was called the Diary of the Prodigious Warlock. He read it.
After thirty minutes, Tuskless closed the book. He hadn’t finished reading it yet, but he benefited a lot from the knowledge. For example, he found out Ariel—the deceased Artist—was a deserter from D’zal Academy of Elementalist.
Ariel had stolen the fiendish lantern and left the academy. A student organization in the academy had been chasing after him; those people wanted to retrieve the item back. As for the fiendish lantern, it was currently in Tuskless’ possession, meaning he was the target.
They wouldn’t give up on the lantern easily because this item was a magic artifact that could summon fiends from the netherworld. If this thing fell into the wrong hand, it would bring disaster to Noland Island.
Even though he was in danger because of the fiendish lantern, Tuskless didn’t want to give this item to them. Even if he gave it to humans, they wouldn’t spare his life, so he would just hold it with him. Furthermore, Ariel had ways of getting stronger by using this lantern.
At the mention of ‘getting stronger’, Tuskless was filled with anticipation. He never had thought he could have time to become an Artist. He had been living a worse life than a rat, so he felt grateful for this chance.
Feeling touched, Tuskless wiped his watery eyes. “I will become stronger so I can depend on myself. This is the last time I depend on my luck.” He knew his luck was below average, so this chance wouldn’t come to him anymore. He was a fool if he didn’t grasp this chance.
Tuskless determined himself to be the master of his own destiny, but he needed to get stronger first. In order to do that, he needed to check his own aptitude to become an Artist first.
Tuskless grabbed the crystal ball in his hand. According to the diary, this thing could check someone’s aptitude and stats. To do that, he bit his thumb and smeared his blood on it.
After a while, the crystal absorbed his blood, glowed, and sent out a voice transmission. “New owner is detected. Please input the name of the owner.”
Tuskless was about to say something, but he closed his mouth again. He remembered ‘Tuskless’ wasn’t his real name. It was just a nickname other trolls had given to him just to shame his weird appearance. In fact, ordinary members of many races didn’t have names. For them, one could have a name when they became an Artist. It was a title of honor.
Personally speaking, Tuskless despised this tradition. He thought everyone could have a name, and having a name was convenient. “Very well. Since you have given me a nickname, I will hold it as my family name. As for my name, I am Tusk. That will be my name. I have a tusk, and that is in my heart.”
“Tusk Tuskless. Do you want to input this name into the data?” the crystal ball asked.
“Yes.”
After confirming his name, a blue tablet appeared in front of his face, containing data about him. Tusk read it.
Name: Tusk Tuskless
Race: Noland Troll
Rank: Mortal
Bloodline Talent: Test the aptitude first
Affinity: Test the aptitude first
Strength: 0.3
Vitality: 0.4
Agility: 0.3
Magic Force: 0
Astral Force: 0
Tusk looked at his stats and felt confused. He didn’t know the standard of the stats, but he was weaker compared to normal trolls, and his strength was on par with a normal adult human. He knew about this a long time ago.
Tusk felt dispirited about his weak stats, but they were irrelevant, except for the magic force. When he had the magic force, he would make up for his weak stats, and increasing it to 5 was the requirement to become an Artist.
Tusk didn’t grow impatient to increase his magic force because increasing it to 5 would take a long time. First, he wanted to test his aptitude. He looked at the text below the stats and saw the text: aptitude test. He clicked it. In an instant, the tablet in front of him changed into another tablet.