Tale of Discovery

Chapter 345: Choice (2/2)

I suppose the reason I am not surprised by the 'kiss' being a necessity for the Blood Contract is due to the number of times something like this has occurred.

At this point, I am starting to think that for every process that requires a form of 'connection', kissing will definitely be a requirement.

[Father, there is a method of bypassing this.]

'Oh? What method?'

[The method requires Father to insert a hand into the torso of the entity that Father wills to form a contract with.]

'Insert my hand into their torso? You mean by injuring them and sinking my hand inside?'

[Affirmative.]

I see. This information might come in handy if I happen to need to form some sort of contract with a male

[Would Father like to proceed with signing the contract?]

'Well, yes, but before that Tell me exactly what this Blood Contract will do.'

[Yes. The Blood Contract is one of the Playground's three main Entity Contracts that is applicable to all stable Platforms and the Rift.]

'Three? What are the other two?'

[Beyond the Blood Contract is the Flesh Contract, which is comparatively more advanced.]

[After that is the Soul Contract. According to the data I possess, this contract has only been successfully formed by Codes with non-Codes.]

'Tell me everything you've got regarding these three contracts.'

[Understood. Would Father like to view the data directly through the Imperium System?]

'Yeah, show me.'

The moment I respond to her suggestion, three blue system windows appear in front of me, each describing one of the Entity Contracts.

{Blood Contract: Can only be performed with non-human entities. Shares a portion of the contractor's power with the contracted entity. Requires the target to be willing. Dissolved upon the destruction of the contractor's body. The contracted entity can only draw energy from the contractor. A mental connection will The contracted entity's death will be decided by the contractor. Risk Factor: Low}

{Flesh Contract: Shares a much better portion of the contractor's power with the contracted entity, compared to the Blood Contract. The contracted entity gains an indestructible physical body. All damage dealt to the contracted entity will be taken as mental damage by the contractor. Dissolved when both physical bodies of the contractor and the contracted are destroyed at the same time. The contracted entity will be unable to go against the contractor's will, and doing so by extreme means would result in a heavy backlash. Risk Factor: High.}

{Soul Contract: One for one, all for one. Conditions for forming are unclear. Shared power is estimated to be at the level of a Proxy. Risk Factor: Incalculable.}

Having read through all three windows, I begin to ponder over the details regarding each Entity Contract.

Out of the three, the Soul Contract is doubtlessly the most interesting one, which is mostly due to how mysterious it is. From its name, I can guess a few features that it might have, but in the end, that's just my own speculation and not what the contract actually is.

As for the other two, they're obviously still interesting regardless. Based on what's written, there is little to no demerit to forming a Blood Contract. One thing I am wondering about is how my power will be 'shared' as it states. Also, there is that line about only being able to draw energy from the contractor

Leaving that aside, there is the much more troublesome Flesh Contract. Its properties are rather interesting. Essentially, when such a contract is formed, the one contracted becomes semi-immortal. Though the part about receiving mental damage is worrying. What is mental damage exactly and how potent is it? To what extent would it affect the contractor? Perhaps, the reason its risk factor is determined to be high is just because of that.

Well, I will consider this stuff later, since the contract I am currently going to be forming is a Blood Contract.

'Nora, time for the contract.'

[Yes, Father. To proceed, place one hand on the contract.]

Doing as she said, I place my left palm against the two circles of energies as Aletia does the same.

Following this, the lass closes her eyes and leans forth a little.

'All I have to do now is to kiss her, right?'

[Affirmative.]

Alright, here goes nothing

I take a moment to appreciate Aletia's beauty before leaning my head toward her lips.

The next moment, I feel the soft sensation of Aletia's lips as her eyes shoot wide open with shock apparent in them.

Before I can wonder about the reason she is so surprised, a surge of energy originating from my own body surges all over my body before moving toward the hand that's pressed against the contract.

A few seconds later, everything appears to return to normal as the two circles of energy disappear and Aurora steps back.

My lips separate from Aletia's, following which she licks her lips with an odd look in her eyes.

{Successfully formed a High Tier Blood Contract with entity: Aletia Galdea Vesperitio Avatarl.}

Woah, that's one long name. Never mind that, what does this mean? High Tier? There were tiers to this sort of thing?

[According to how the methods to form the contract, the effects of the contract will vary.]

[Since Father kissed the target entity on the lips and the contract was reinforced by the Imperium System, the result was a High Tier Blood Contract.]

'Shouldn't you have explained this to me?'

[Forgive me for not doing so.]

Sensing the emotions contained within her response, I release a small sigh before mentally reprimanding her lightly.

'Next time, make sure to tell me everything down to the smallest detail.'

[I'm sorry Father, but that's impossible.]

'What do you mean?'

[I lack the authority to do so.]

'Lack the authority? I don't understand what you're getting at. What prevents you from doing that?'

[Father's orders from the past.]

'Huh? I ordered you to not go into too many details when explaining things?'

[Affirmative.]

'Then just revoke that order. It was my own order, no?'

[That's not possible as well, Father.]

'What now? Don't tell me that I ordered you to refuse such orders as well?'

[That's correct.]

Give me a break What's the point of doing so anyway? Slowing down the rate at which I gain information? If so, why?

[I believe Father aimed to provide better conditions for independent thinking.]

Oh. Well, that does sound plausible, since if I could find everything out by asking, then I would become heavily dependent on it, which would go against the past me's objective.

"Victor..." Aletia suddenly mutters, causing my eyes to widen for a moment before I realize something.

"Yes, that's my name," I say in a casual tone while gazing at her face.

"Blood?"

Hm? Does she want to feed on my blood? Well, since we have formed a Blood Contract now, there is no point in not doing so.

"Sure," I say as I lift my hands to unbutton my shirt, but surprisingly, Aletia hurriedly moves closer and stops me.

Confused over her actions, I let my hands drop to the bed as Aletia begins to unbutton the shirt herself.

A few seconds later, Aletia's eyes appear to shine as she keenly observes my body.

"Looked enough yet?" I tease her with a smile, to which she responds by shaking her head.

Hey

Fortunately, she soon breaks her gaze away and starts to take my shirt off, with her petite body pressing against mine as she does so due to the difference in our heights.

And so, here I am now, sitting on a bed half-naked with a petite vampire sitting on my lap whose fangs have sunk into my shoulder.

Expectedly, I feel no pain whatsoever as she sucks the blood out, not even exhaustion.

After two minutes, she finally stops sucking and moves her head away from my shoulder with a surprised look on her face.

Before that, I should note that her complexion looks much healthier now. Her pale white skin now has a very slight ruddy hue to it and her body seems to be much more energetic.

Still, I wonder why she is so surprised. Did she find something out?

Curious about this, I smile and ask, "Why do you look so surprised?"

"Your blood... You... Are you a High Human?"

"What's that, and what makes you think I am one?"

"High Humans are the off-springs of humans and certain non-humans whom inherit more traits from their human parent. I had never encountered one before, but High Humans are said to have a tremendous amount of mana."

Mana. A familiar term. Basically fuel for magicians and others who can utilize it to various kinds of spells.

In my Overlord profile, I didn't pay much attention to it even when casting the spells since I did not feel any exhaustion or decrease in energy. There are two possible reasons for that. First one, I am not experienced enough to sense my magic or something like that, but I doubt this would be the case. The second reason is that I might have a ridiculous amount of mana in my body.

"If so, did you sense such mana from my body or something?" I ask.

"No, it was the opposite - I sensed no mana at all."

What? Well, that would make sense since I am in my Origo profile, but then why did she assume I am a High Human?

As if reading my mind, Aletia explains, "From what I heard, aside from dragons, High Humans were the only creatures that could fully satiate a vampire's hunger in a relatively short period."

"Is that so?" I respond.

"Say... What if I wasn't human, to begin with?" I then ask with a playful smile.

Hearing this, Aletia frowns as she seems to ponder over my words.

After a short while, she looks me straight in the eyes before asking me bluntly, "Then what are you?"

"Would you believe me if I said I am a god that came here from another world?" I ask while still smiling.

"No," she responds while slowly shaking her head, "A powerful god capable of crossing worlds wouldn't be fooling around like this."

Well, what do you know

"If you say so," I respond with a shrug, which causes Aletia's brows to furrow even further.

"Are you being serious?" she asks after a brief moment of hesitation.

"I am always serious, even if it may not seem like it," I respond casually while slowly lifting her and placing her on the bed.

"Anyway, I must get going. Don't fret, I will be back soon."

"Take care," she says.

"You too," I respond before turning my head to face Aurora, only to be stunned by the look on her face.

Aurora is... pouting? Yeah, that's exactly it. The little snake that's currently in her humanoid form is pouting cutely while looking in our direction.

Could it be that she is feeling jealous? But isn't she just a kid? Actually, that shouldn't be the case... First, Aurora is not a human, and her appearance is merely a transformation. For all I know, her actual age may differ from her appearance by hundreds if not thousands of years.

Aside from that, her actions from earlier show that her intelligence far surpasses that of a child, so even if her physical age is young, her mental age definitely isn't.

Of course, there is a good chance that I am overthinking this, and she simply wants attention.

So, the most appropriate way to deal with this issue right now is to

A small yelp escapes from Aurora's lips as her feet leave the ground, but her surprise only lasts for one second before a bright smile covers her lips as she wraps her arms around my neck.

Her actions are cute and all, but I sure am not used to feeling the tips of two horns pressing against my neck.

Nevertheless, I don't show any discomfort as I hold Aurora by one arm while using the other one to pat her back.

"Bye," I say before entering the state of Enhanced Cerebration and making use of my enhanced speed to quickly exit the house.

While doing so, I notice that my speed was a little too much for the items in the house as some of them 'twitched' in my eyes, but surely, once my focus is back to normal, these things would be all messed up.

Alas, what's done is done, right now, I should focus on catching up with Gazef and his soldiers, who have already had quite a long head start.

Or, at least that's what would've been the case if I was a little more normal - In a split second, I find myself having arrived somewhere with no one nearby, though I can hear an annoying noise that I am unable to make out.

Oddly, the noise is constant but appears to be changing in tone.

Then I realized: Since everything is slowed down in my eyes, wouldn't that also be the case for what I hear?

And so, I take a second to arrive at where the noise is coming from, only for my eyes to widen at the sight in front of me