Chapter Nine: Infernal Deal

Chapter Nine

Natives ran around in blind panic as waves of mana crashed through the world. Icy white snow reflected a sudden aurora that lit across the night sky as mana interacted violently with the newly integrated world. Dane limped through the chaos, his prisoner status forgotten, desperate to get out of the enemy war camp and into the forest.

When the System had fully integrated his gaolers had forgotten him and it had been the work of a few minutes to free himself without their attention. His wounds had opened up in his struggle to free himself and now blood ran down his body as icy fire filled his lungs with every breath. He ran and blended in with the chaos of the event and thanked the Hidden Ancestors for this fortune.

The towering trees offered a refuge he was desperate for as he looked at the System screen and its unfathomable message. Every glance sent another spear of despair through him and weakened his legs to the point he was ready to collapse. It was only the strength of decades of training that kept him moving.

Welcoming shadows embraced him as he slammed into a tree, the pain of it jolting him as he clutched at his wounded ribs. Blood was still leaking from his eyes, remnants of the psionic interrogation he’d survived. Even hours later he hadn’t recovered from the brush of the Elder’s mind.

His legs churned and he went deeper into the trees.The world brightened again as another wave of mana cruised through the world. Screams echoed out behind him and the cries of animals echoed across the night sky. Mana warp was painful for those who couldn’t adapt to the sudden influx of an integration. Pressure was building in his chest as his mana core formed. He stopped and looked at the System message again.

System Integration

Skills: N/A

Class: N/A

Stats:N/A

System Failing to Connect. Please contact a System Administrator

It was impossible. The System didn’t fail. It always connected when the integration happened. This wasn’t possible. The pain of the last week, the hard work to try to acquire skills, all of it was a waste. Despair ate at him, chewing at his heart as he pushed deeper into the dark forest.

“Where are you running too?” a bored voice asked from behind him. Dane spun about, stumbling a bit as his wounded side flared in pain. He grasped at the trunk of a tree to steady himself as he looked at the figure who stood behind him.

Seven feet of lithe crimson skin. Black hair as dark as the void between stars was tightly braided with silver bands, arcane symbols etched into them. Emerald green eyes with snake-like pupils glowed in the dark. A tail lashed the air behind the figure, the subtle cut to the white suit offering a hint of a feminine shape. Fangs jutted from her mouth and a long forked tongue licked over a tooth.

“What are you?” Dane gasped as his leg folded and he rested against the tree trunk. He had never seen or heard of a creature like this across the Empire or any of the other territories.

“You don’t know what a demon is? What rock have you lived under?” she sounded incredulous as a delicate eyebrow rose up.

“Demons are supposed to be, you know,” Dane waved his hand in a general gesture of taller and wider.

“I’m a demon. And you are a demon. Or at least you have traces of our blood lines. I’m here to offer you a deal,” she waved her hand and there was a bright flash of red and a thick yellow smoke rose up from her hand. Gripped in her long fingers was a yellowing piece of parchment, dense with red ink.

“Deal?”

“Your system interface isn’t working. Correct?” she asked.

“How do you know that?”

“The Arch-Lords of the Infernal haven’t signed to the contract of the System. Our bloodlines sometimes have trouble connecting to the System. Unless you have help. This is your help.” she shook the paper to emphasize her point. He couldn’t take his eyes off of that paper even as a frigid wind ripped through his body and forced him into a series of brutal shivers.

“Sign the contract and you’ll have access to our adaptation of the System along with an immediate class.”

“An immediate class? No deeds to earn one?” Dane asked, trying to buy time to think. His mind was still in a fog, clouded by the psionic blast of power.

“A side effect of our System. There are only a few classes and you will only have one that you're qualified for. It does have interesting branches to explore though.”

“What’s the class?” Dane asked.

“Warlock,” she said and Dane tried to think if he’d ever heard of that class before. He had memorized hundreds of classes and the Abilities and the Skills associated with them. He couldn’t remember a warlock class.

“I’ve never heard of it,” Dane admitted.

“It’s a simple class. You will sign this contract and in exchange you will be granted powers in proportion to what you sacrifice with this dagger,” her other hand opened and there was a second flash of light and yellow sulfur smoke. A triangular blade sat in her hand, eighteen inches of obsidian with spiky runes across the entire thing. The pommel was made of dark metal with a straight crossguard capped with small rubies.

“What type of powers?”

“That’s up to you and how you choose to grow your strength. You could summon creatures, or have powerful boosting abilities, or casting abilities, or whatever,” she waved the hand holding the dagger about as her tone never changed from her indifference.

“You don’t sound like you care if I sign or not,” Dane stated.

“I don’t. Sign or die out here in the cold when the natives find you. I will say, part of the contract involves a one time, limited teleport to a safe space and a full healing. No more natives chasing you about to kill you.”

“Pass me the contract,” Dane said, extending a hand toward the demon. She offered a thin smile showcasing her long canines and walked closer to him. Her boots made no noise on the snow as she lowered the paper to his level. He grabbed it, the dry parchment warm under his fingertips and with a flick of her fingers a long quill with a ruby red feather.

“Sign on the dotted line, initials on the solid lines, and a bloodmark at the bottom.” Dane looked down at the contract and sighed as he saw the number of dotted and solid lines. There had to be dozens of them across the densely written contract. He signed and initialed quickly as he continued to shiver, body shaking so hard his fingers shook as he struggled to write. He stabbed a finger with the quill tip and pressed it to the bottom of the contract.

The paper flared white as the red script blazed bright against the dark night. The flare of the light continued to brighten and then with a pop of displaced air, Dane disappeared from the dark forest.

The world snapped back into being, the dark forest replaced with a cave bare of snow. Cold was replaced with warmth and his skin prickled as his flesh started to thaw. The demon who had just got him to sign the contract towered above him as she looked down at him.

“You are now in a temporarily safe space. Protected from the elements and from your enemies. There are no nearby mana warped animals or spawned monsters. The sub-clause has been honored.” She spun the dagger and offered it to him, hilt first. Dane grabbed it, the steel hilt felt like it had been molded for his hand.

“You don’t need to land a killing blow with the blade, but you’ll get better returns if you do so. Now, your System growth will be different from what you’ve studied. More streamlined, less options, but potential explosive growth.”

“What’s your name?” Dane croaked out. His mind was reeling under the recent changes, the assault to the reality he had been sure he’d be living in. Everything he had been so sure about had just changed and shifted away to an uncertain future.

“Names are fiercely protected by demons. You may call me Mel,” she said.

“Now, please activate your System so I can guide you through the changes to fulfill the contract.” Mel’s voice never gained an inflection, apathy ran rampant through her voice as if everything about this was beneath her. Her spade tipped tail lazily twitched behind her as she waited impatiently.

“Is it the same mental commands?” Dane asked.

“Yes. In reality it’s not a separate System, but rather an add-on to the System. One only demon blooded can use, those who have signed contracts through contractors like me. So, yes. All your basic commands are the same as well as the stats.”

“Warlock is a caster class?” Dane asked, procrastinating opening his newfound System. His entire life had just been upended and there was nothing he wanted to do more than to go back to just hours ago when he had been sure that the System’s arrival would arrive and he would be ready to take the class and skills he wanted.

“Just open the damned System,” Mel sighed as she rolled her eyes and tapped a cloven foot on the ground in impatience. Dane sighed and did as she ordered. It took only a second of mental concentration before the fabled System screen appeared before his eyes, the words blacker than night.

Dane Rawlings

Lvl. 1

Race: Human

Stats

Strength: 10

Dexterity: 10

Endurance: 10

Vitality:10

Intelligence: 8

Mana Core: F-Grade

Body: F-Grade

Bloodline: F-Grade

Class: Warlock

Warlock: You’ve made a deal with a demon for early access to a Class. This will limit the breadth of skills and future class evolutions.

Class Skills Available:2

Summon Fiend: As the skill is leveled the summoner is able to reach deeper into the circles and depths of Hell to pull forth more powerful minions. At this earliest level this will bring forth a Damned Spirit.

Hellfire: A bolt of flame that is only available to those who have either signed contracts with the demonic legions or originate from Hell. At this earliest level you can only summon from the First Circle. Hellfire has the ability to burn through magic.

Skill Abilities Available:5

Elemental Resistance

Mental Resistance

Sword Proficiency

Knife Proficiency

Bow Proficiency

Stealth Proficiency

Tracking Proficiency

Beast Hunting Proficiency

Survival Proficiency

Meditation

The list of skills went on; more and more mundane as he scrolled down the list. There were things like walking, climbing trees, running, and even purifying water. He could only take five of them though. That there were only two class abilities that he could take was irritating.

“Only two class abilities? How am I supposed to accomplish deeds and grow to unlock my next class if I only have the two options?” Dane asked.

“How you decide to fight. What skills you use. How much you donate to your patron and how you negotiate with them,” Mel said.

“Negotiating for a better class? Bribing them? Who is my patron?” Dane asked in a stream of consciousness.

“Yes, yes, and they’ll contact you when they feel like it. Probably through me,” Mel said.

“Do I have to do anything else?”

“Do what you normally would have done as a Shadow. You have training to be an elite scout or skirmisher for your empire. Your physical stats are excellent and your natural talent and training is exemplary. It also doesn’t suit your class abilities. That’ll be a fight for you. It’ll be amusing to watch,” Mel said. Finally a small smile crossed her face at that, cracking her apathetic mask.

“What is a damned spirit?” Dane asked.

“A sold soul to Hell. They're weak and easily dispelled if they’re not in the flesh of something,” Mel explained.

“They can possess things?”

“Only if the spirit is stronger than what they are possessing,” Mel explained.Her smile widened and filled with malice.

“At the level you’ll gain the skill, everything will be stronger than it. Except corpses.” She shrugged a shoulder at that. Dane grunted in annoyance and looked back at the System screen.

Warlock: A basic class for denizens and contractors of Hell. Versatile in its many forms, this is the baseblock for all caster style demonic contractors.

1. 1 Strength
2. 1 Intelligence
3. 1 Vitality

Must upgrade mana core, bloodline, and body before Profession selection at level 25.

“I have to upgrade all three before I can pick my next class?” Dane asked, outraged at that. Most didn’t evolve all three before level fifty class evolution.

“I did tell you there were drawbacks. You have more power in the early levels than anyone you’ll meet. But you’ll have to pass some more stringent class barriers. You also won’t have the power boost at level ten. Skill selection will be every five levels and you won’t get your level ten bonus either.”

“Class sounds like there’s more downside than upside,” Dane cursed.

“Balance. In these early levels while others struggle to reach level ten and unlock their class and abilities, you’ll already have them. In addition to the mastery you’ll have over said class abilities. It only makes sense there will be a struggle later on to balance your early lead,” Mel explained slowly as if he were a child.

“I understand. It’s just hard to wrap my mind around everything that’s happened here. My entire life was just upended, everything I thought I could do changed.”

“Yes. At least you’re not a native. Or a divine. Their classes aren’t nearly as fun as ours,” Mel said. She looked around the dark cave and her smile faded away as her blank expression recovered.

“My job is done. It's up to you to survive now. I’ll be seeing you if you survive to reach level twenty-five,” Mel said. She twitched a long finger in good-bye and then vanished without a trace. He was left staring at the blank wall for a moment before standing up and looking around his cave.

There was nothing in the immediate vicinity to harm him and he could relax a bit as he settled down and looked through the skills being offered. His class looked to be all attack, with little to no defense. A powerful attack spell and a summon spell that would be nearly useless. Unless he found a corpse.

Casters need a powerful mana core to be powerful. Meditation will give me the ability to recover mana faster. If I can’t immediately improve my mana abilities, I need to improve my survivability. Dane looked over the skills and picked the ones he thought would best keep him alive and cover the weakness of his caster class.

Elemental Resistance

F-1

Your body is more resistant to natural fluctuations in temperature

Meditation

F-1

You can sink into mediation and gather mana slightly faster. Must be seated and safe to do so

Stealth Proficiency

F-1

You’re guided to the path of least noise

Mental Resistance

F-1

Your mind has the beginnings of a defense around it.

Tracking Proficiency

F-1

Your eye knows the signs of animals and can help interpret the signs

It was a good mixture of skills he thought. He would have preferred some of the weapons proficiency, but they didn’t currently align with his class. Years of training had been flushed down the drain when the System refused to properly fuse with him.

The Empire has to know about this. Plenty have demon brands, so what was the point of training all of us if no one can use the System?

He didn’t have time to think about the question that had popped into his mind. He wasn’t far from the Aji-Abami incursion, nor from the basecamp of native survivors. Mel had said he’d have an early lead on them in terms of power and he couldn’t allow that edge to go to waste. Even now they were likely already out and scouring the forests and mountains for levels. Spawned monsters, dungeons, mana warped beasts, and each other. Each kill would further their levels, gaining them titles that would boost their strength.

He had hunting to do.