Balthus came to the Beaten hare and met Cless in the taproom. She was eager to start her training but Balthus needed to know Cless' status. She told him her level, stats, class, and professions. Balthus was not amused.

"What you are doing is something that can be useful in the long run, but will be a hard path. You could start over by training in a class you were comfortable and have a better life overall while going on slowly."

Cless was set on her path. Become a proficient fighter and commander and then develop her own path. One fact stood, even with all her notes, she had no idea what path to take. She was basically avoiding a bad choice by not choosing at all.

"I can't, master. I will have my guild work for me to raise my levels but I need the proficiencies."

"That is even more dangerous. Some guild masters do leech their guilds, but the members usually all quit eventually."

Cless was not worried. She just wanted to start training and getting those juicy proficiencies. She decided to refute all of Balthus' arguments. "Well, mine won't quit for over a decade."

It got the veteran delver to raise an eyebrow, "How so?"

She realized her mistake. Cless froze on the spot while she was scanned by Balthus' experient eye.

"It has something to do with your Skill, doesn't it? Well, my apprentice, I must know your Skill as well. Don't worry, you can trust me."

Cless looked around. Only Josefine was in the room with them and the barmaid was reading some book. Cless was still uncomfortable with saying it there.

"Can we go somewhere else? Somewhere far away from any prying ears and eyes?"

Balthus went from suspicious to amused. "Of course. Maybe your first day of training will be in the woods. Follow me."

They left the town behind and went into the woods. Balthus started to talk about animal trails, forestry, herbalism. Cless realized her first mistake. In her narrow view of what it takes to thrive, she forgot about all the general proficiencies she could earn. Maybe she should've taken a more generalist profession.

"Balthus, I did screw up with my professions, didn't I?" She finally summoned the courage to ask.

He stopped and found a fallen log they could sit on. Balthus led Cless there and after scouting around, he called for a pause.

"What do you really want, Cless? What are your goals? Where do you see yourself in twenty, thirty years?"

She just stared at him doe-eyed. "I don't know." She honestly answered.

A girl raised in a sheltered and sterile environment, shunned by all society. Cless opened up since her rite of passage, but she was still somewhat socially inept. Balthus pondered over what he knew of her and changed his approach.

"Tell me about your Skill."

"It is called [Absolute Contract]..." Cless trailed off, scared witless. She was trembling and breathing irregularly.

"The name is a curious one," Balthus remarked. "I heard about some contract Skills, most successful merchants are those who have one. But [Absolute]? What rank is it?"

Cless' eyes darted around. She knew she was at Balthus mercy. "Rank S." She started to chuckle nervously, "I think it is really absolute. People died for disobeying it. Breaking contracts."

Balthus did his best to hide his surprise. That rank of Skill was the stuff of legends. "Cless, that can be either very good or the mother of all troubles. If certain people find out that you have such a Skill, they will either try to control you or kill you."

She slumped. Cless raised her head and looked at Balthus with teary eyes. "Are you one of them?"

"No. I'm not. Nevertheless, I need to mentor you until your training is complete. And now I know it will take a lot of time. You have a great burden but also a great chance, Cless. Make the best out of it."

It didn't dispel her uneasiness. "Should I change my professions?"

"I think so. The guys at the association are good at keeping their mouths shut, but only so good. If you keep going there and changing your professions, things will get really bad when one of them run their mouths."

"I am guessing only weapons won't really help my case, are they?"

"No. They will help, but a fighter can only go so far. There is a saying that a soldier doesn't win a war. An army does."

Cless thought of her guild. If she used her assets right, she could get levels and money. Getting rich and powerful. "I have the boys contracted for thirteen years. They can be an army."

"No. What good are nineteen men if they will resent you when their term is over and all someone needs in order to defeat you and your men is to bring more people than you do?"

She sobbed once. "I don't know what to do, master. I want to live my life without fear, I want to have friends."

Balthus hugged her. "Cless, I'll help you. But first I need to hear your story. Tell me everything."

She did. From her earlier days at the church to her ceremony to everything that happened during the last month.

"I got it now. Cless, those boys, and girls are trouble. You should get rid of them before they betray you, because they will betray you eventually. They will curry favor, try to get everything out of you but they won't accept their servitude."

"Should I release them from the contract then? I think I can."

"No. They wronged you and they have to pay for it. Thirteen years of their lives is quite a long term, but thirteen years of some random peasants in the middle of nowhere is worth shit."

"What should I do then?"

"Offer them to reduce their terms by trading away some freedom. For example, make them never try to hurt you for their entire lives for five years off."

"Okay. I'll offer all my contracted boys a five-year reduction on their terms if they agree to never try to cause me harm, physical or otherwise, either by direct action, indirect action or negligence."

Offer made to Joe, Lyle Serrano, Edward Hensley, Andre, Jerry Fuller, Alan Dunn, Arnold, Jimmy Carter, Don, Lance Benson, Martin, Alan Wood, Collin York, Herbert Kramer, Lawrence Paul, Brett Randall, Brendan Hunt, Shane Scott, Kevin Sanford, and Hector Simmons. Five years reduction of all terms for the agreement to never cause Cless harm, physical or otherwise, either by direct action, indirect action or negligence.

Cless was startled by the sound notification. "Master Balthus, my Skill triggered."

"It is fine. Let's see if they accept it."

Offer accepted by Joe, Lyle Serrano, Edward Hensley, Andre, Jerry Fuller, Alan Dunn, Arnold, Jimmy Carter, Don, Lance Benson, Martin, Alan Wood, Collin York, Herbert Kramer, Lawrence Paul, Brett Randall, Brendan Hunt, Shane Scott, Kevin Sanford, and Hector Simmons.

Cless counted the names, but it seemed to be all of them. Twenty of them. She thought of something. "Offer once again to Hector Simmons to take two years off his term for the secrecy." The notifications sounded. The offer went through and was almost immediately accepted. It seems Hector was not that happy with his new career.

"And now your thirteen years are only eight," Balthus pointed out. "That is fine. Besides money or services, what else can your Skill trade?"

"I don't know. Should I test it?"

"Yes, why not. It is an S-rank Skill! It should do legendary things, not just turn rapists into whores. You can change people's Classes and professions, what about Experience Points or Stat Points?"

"Maybe offer them four years off for one unassigned Stat point?"

"Stat points are too precious, Cless. They would be hurting themselves forever. Try with Experience Points. They can always earn more later. Do two thousand Experience Points for a year."

"I really don't care about them that much. They are pretty stupid if you ask me. I'll offer four years of reduction in their terms for each unassigned Stat point they give me. Skill?"

Offer made to Joe, Lyle Serrano, Edward Hensley, Andre, Jerry Fuller, Alan Dunn, Arnold, Jimmy Carter, Don, Lance Benson, Martin, Alan Wood, Collin York, Herbert Kramer, Lawrence Paul, Brett Randall, Brendan Hunt, Shane Scott, Kevin Sanford, and Hector Simmons. Four years of reduction in the servitude term for one Stat point, or get free of the servitude for two stat points.

"It seemed to work. Maybe the boys will take some time to think." Cless mused. But she didn't have to wait for too long.

Joe, Edward Hensley, Andre, Jerry Fuller, Alan Dunn, Jimmy Carter, Don, Lance Benson, Alan Wood, Herbert Kramer, Brett Randall, Brendan Hunt, Kevin Sanford, and Hector Simmons agreed to trade 2 unassigned Stat points for release from servitude. 28 unassigned Stat Points received.

Lyle Serrano, Arnold, Collin York, Martin, Lawrence Paul, Shane Scott, agreed to trade 1 unassigned stat point for a 4-year reduction in their term of servitude. 6 unassigned stat points received.

Cless got very excited. "It worked, master Balthus. Almost all the boys traded off two points."

Balthus clicked his tongue. "Those idiots, wasting their future like that. Well, there is nothing you can do about." Cless nodded at his words. "But some of them stayed behind, right?"

"Yes. Six of them decided to trade only four years. I got... Status... Thirty-four stat points."

That was an awful amount of Stat points. It was the equivalent of thirty levels in a class and eight main levels. It drew a whistle from Balthus. He thought for a while and decided. He undid his pack and took off the bedroll.

"Lie down here. Now listen. I want you to set your Health Stat to twenty right away. We'll see about the rest afterward."

Cless allocated her points. She felt her whole body burn as her whole being shifted to better reflect her new condition. After a few minutes, it was over.

"That was unpleasant, to say the least. It didn't hurt much when I upgraded my Intellect, and I did more than just this amount."

"We should do this in moderation then. Your upgraded Health should help, but you need to get used to your new abilities. Allocate two points each on Strength and Agility. Starting tomorrow, you will put two points each on Strength and Agility until they are both sixteen. Put the points before going to sleep."

"Okay. This will leave me with eight unassigned points. I could put all my stats to twenty."

"No. That is not wise. Save those points for when you know what you really want to do. Or better, when you unlock the Magic stat, you can dump those points there. This way it will never be locked again and you will be able to use magic to a lesser degree even with a non-magical class."

"Magic sounds nice. Maybe I'll do that."

Cless was pretty happy with her improved physical Stats now. She no longer felt as tired and her movements felt more fluid. Her joy was short-lived as a new notification popped out.

Hector Simmons broke the agreement and suffered the consequences. Cless earned 400 Experience Points. Cless earned 40 Profession Experience.

"Shit!" Cless cursed. It seems Hector either revealed some information, which was very unlikely, or he broke the 'no harm to Cless' article. Cless thought and found out that even with swearing one could break the contract.

"What happened? Are you cramping?"

"No! One of the boys, the one that actually assaulted me broke the contract and died. I got four hundred Experience Points."

"You are level ten, right?" Balthus waited for Cless to confirm before going on, "This means the boy was level four."

"How does Experience works?"

"For people, someone of your own level will give you one thousand Experience Points flat. Someone half your level gives only five hundred Experience Points. Someone double your level will give you two thousand, and so on. That merchant, he was very high level for his class. But he died when you were level one, so that is where you got thirty-seven thousand Experience Points at once."

"I think I got it. You said for people. What about monsters?"

"Monsters work a little different. Monsters have a rating, that goes from E to A and probably S-rank too. An F-rank monster gives Experience Points as a human of its level. An E-rank gives twice as much of that and a D-rank twice as much as the E-rank but is also harder to defeat. The A-rank monsters, they are worth sixty-four times the normal. I can think that the S-rank monster would be worth a hundred and twenty-eight times the Experience Points of a person with the same level. They would be impossible to kill anyway."

"Nice to know."

Balthus took a pair of wooden swords from his pack. He gave one to Cless and she tried the sword. She was almost as smooth as a bear trying to dance ballet. Balthus sheathed his real blade and started to spar with Cless, correcting her every single movement.

By the end of the day, Cless returned to the inn drenched in sweat. She trained the sword and the dagger that day. She took a bath and changed into her pajamas. Cless was almost collapsing when she remembered. Two points on each stat to make it sure. After that she stumbled on the bed and dropped asleep, her muscles aching.

Name: Cless (no surname)

Race: Human.

Level: 10 ( 49,833 / 55,000 Exp)

Class: Warrior 1

Profession: Warmaster 1, Weaponmaster 1

Base Stats: Strength: 11 — Agility: 10 — Health: 20 — Intellect: 20

Available Status Points: 20

Skills: [Absolute Contract (S)]

Proficiencies: Prayer: 3 — Scribe: 2 — Houseworking: 2 — Math: 2 — Reading: 4 — Leadership: 4 — Intimidation: 2 — Negotiation: 3 — Sword: 4 (+4) — Dagger 2 (+2) — Forestry: 1 (+1)