Soren left the restaurant after paying his bills. He didn’t even finish his food. He directly went towards his hotel and closed his room.

He sat on the bed contemplating. He was trying to think of any way he could get out of this shithole situation.

But no matter how much he banged his head against the wall, he couldn’t find an answer. He could simply try to run but he was quite sure that that would only result in him dying or at least making the situation even worse.

He had started to feel a little paranoid right now. He felt like someone was watching every move of his. But thinking about it, the reason they didn’t make Soren sign the Blood Contract at that time and let him go, meant that they had full confidence that he couldn’t run.

As Soren thought of that, a cold shiver ran through his spine. He knew he had no choice left other than to sign it. He was still weak and nowhere near able to fight someone like that man named Faron.

He had no other choice for now so he, quite unwillingly, decided to accept the status quo.

I really need Isaac’s help right now. When will he wake up...?*Sigh*

Thinking it through, he decided to cultivate for now. He released his Stygian Grimoire and quickly started the ‘Devour’ process.

Time passed by as he held on against pain and fatigue. He kept using ‘Devour’ continuously without stop; He couldn’t care about pain right now.

……..

This continued until the sun went down. He only stopped when the moon was already out.

He went out onto the balcony to get some fresh air. He stood on the balcony, gazing at the full moon with the night wind caressing his face. Even though his situation was fucked up, he somehow felt at peace right now.

After resting for a while, he went back in and ordered some food from the hotel. He again started his cultivation after he finished eating.

His CP had reached 74% by now. Again, it started rising as he cultivated.

The Liston family knew about him being an Initiator but they didn’t know about his Bloodline Talent. They could have never imagined that he was already at Layer 6 of Rank 0.

This speed was not normal in their eyes, especially in Soren’s case as he didn’t have any high-grade cultivation technique.

This might be the only trump card he had against them. So, for now, he was going to work for them and bide his time.

While having these thoughts, he continued cultivating.

Time went by and soon it was morning. He hadn’t slept for even a minute last night. He had one other reason for his reckless cultivation besides getting stronger—

His ‘Intelligence’ stat represented the ability of his brain and according to the system’s description of his Primary Bloodline, ‘Second Intelligence’ would grow in sync with his brain.

So, as his ‘Intelligence’ increased and his brain evolved, Isaac would grow and evolve together with him.

He had already thought of all this back when he found out about Isaac’s hibernation. Back then, he was in no hurry so he planned to slowly increase his strength and wait for Isaac to recover.

But now the situation had changed.

……….

Soon his CP reached 78% and kept increasing.

He stopped for a while, freshened up and ate his breakfast. After finishing his meal, he again went back to his cultivation.

His physical injuries were almost all healed but his soul damage was taking longer to heal. One way to heal the soul faster was to increase his ‘Spirit’ stat which added another reason for his reckless cultivation.

CP – 83%

Soon the sun was at its peak.

CP – 85%

Soren continued using ‘Devour’.

CP – 88%

The black mist kept permeating into Soren after getting purified and modified by the Stygian Grimoire.

CP – 91%

His Mana Source kept becoming denser and denser.

CP – 94%......CP – 96%.......CP – 99%

As the sun went down and moon woke up to shine its cold and pleasant silver moonlight on the world—he broke through.

He quickly distributed the energy into his stats and opened his status screen.

Status: Moderately Wounded [Moderate Soul Damage]

Rank 0: Layer 7 [CP - 0%]

Name: Soren Farrow

Species: Human

Attribute: Darkness & Ice

Health: 65%

Stamina: 63%

Mana: 100%

Strength: 1.10

Agility: 1.51

Vitality: 3.80

Intelligence: 6.22

Spirit: 5.72

Resistance: 1.61

Spells:

Spell Vessels: 5/5

Innate Spells/Skills:

Ice Arrow [7/7] – Level 6/10. Mana Cost – Low.

------------

Cold Touch [4/4] – Level 4/10. Mana Cost – Average.

------------

Acid Splash [6/6] – Level 5/10. Mana Cost – Low.

------------

Shadow Chain [4/4] – Level 5/10. Mana Cost – Average.

------------

Create Undead – Low Tier [3/3] – Level 4/15. Mana Cost – High.

------------

Mana Manipulation – Level 2/15.

------------

Dark Bolt – Level 1/10. Mana Cost – Low.

------------

He had tried to focus mostly on his ‘Intelligence’ stat this time. He quickly closed the status screen and checked if it produced the result he wanted.

Isaac—Isaac—ISAAC!

“ISAAC!!!!”

He shouted in his mind at first but soon he started shouting out in reality. But he got no response in return. He gritted his teeth in frustration at first but soon, sighed in disappointment and sorrow.

He then laughed slightly with self-mockery. He was dead tired from all the cultivation. He just wanted to sleep for now.

He got up to drink some water and soon got ready to go to bed. He fell on the bed, thinking of what he should do about this Blood Contract stuff.

He had to use that ‘Memory Sphere’ first if he wanted to read the language written on the Blood Contract.

But he didn’t trust them, so he didn’t want to use it carelessly. This was one of the biggest reasons why he was rushing for Isaac’s recovery. Thinking all of that, he started dozing off to sleep….

Suddenly!

“Status Stabilized. Recovery in progress: Ending hibernation!”

“……….”

“Hello, Master.”

Isaac!! You woke up! About fucking time!!

Soren opened his eyes in delightful surprise. He shouted out in mind with excitement.

He didn’t want to waste any time so he quickly sat up on the bed and made Isaac sync with his memories.

Very soon, the process was done.

Isaac. Scan this ‘Memory Sphere’ and check for any irregular mana signature.

”Yes, Master! Starting scan…..”

“………..”

“No irregular mana signature found in the ‘Memory Sphere’.”

Ok! Let’s use it then.

He picked up the sphere and closed his eyes. He then used his mana to activate it. As soon as his mana entered it, it started giving off a dull light and not long after, some foreign data started flowing in Soren’s mind.

The amount of data was huge.

Isaac, sort everything and save it in the database.

With the help of Isaac, it took him about 20 min to completely absorb the data inside the ‘Memory Sphere’.

He then opened his eyes after checking everything once again and suddenly saw a bunch of messages.

“Spell Mastery increased. Ice Arrow – Level 9/10.”

“Spell Mastery increased. Cold Touch – Level 7/10.”

“Spell Mastery increased. Acid Splash – Level 8/10.”

“Spell Mastery increased. Shadow Chain – Level 8/10.”

“Spell Mastery increased. Create Undead - Low Tier – Level 7/15.”

“Spell Mastery increased. Dark Bolt – Level 4/10.”

The spell mastery had suddenly increased quite a bit after he learned the ‘Enfari’ language.

He knew the reason behind this was that this was the language which was used for the spells. Up till now, he was using the spells by his understanding of them. This was the piece of the puzzle that he was missing up till now.

He understood the spells, word for word, only now. This was a language used in many things and was very essential. This was one good thing that had come out of this fucked up situation.

He also understood the characters written on his Grimoire now. It was simply its name: Stygian.

He closed the messages and took out the Blood Contract. He started reading the contract thoroughly. He read it once, twice, thrice and kept reading it until he was sure he didn’t miss anything.

He also made Isaac check everything, trying to look for any hidden trap. He soon got affirmation from Isaac and finally put down the contract. The contract had very simple terms and conditions.

Soren was supposed to do any job that was given to him by the Liston family.

He could not reject any job and would be punished if he failed or refused; the jobs would not be impossible though.

He also had to come to the family’s aid when needed. He would be given resources and awards in return for his services.

He could also marry anyone from the family and become a family member if he contributed greatly. He also had the option to live in the Liston family’s mansion.

The most important part though, was that he had to fulfill any order given by the Liston family, or anyone related to the family by blood, and could not reject them.

Finally finished reading the contract, he sighed and stored it in his backpack and went to sleep; he was really tired now.

………..

He opened his eyes in the morning. He had one more day left till the people from the Liston family would contact him.

He didn’t want to go out so he just stayed in the room, cultivating and increasing his knowledge about the topics related to his spells. He also started expanding his knowledge to other subjects as he didn’t know when he might need them.

CP – 4%

He alternated between studying and cultivation. He continued it throughout the day. Soon, the next day came and it was time to meet the Liston family.

He unhurriedly packed his stuff and went out.

They had decided to meet in the same restaurant as the last time so he made his way in that direction. He went inside and booked a silent room on the second floor.

He sat in the room silently sipping his hot beverage that tasted a lot like coffee.

Knock! Knock!

Soon, a knock on the door broke the silent atmosphere of the room.

Faron entered the room with Kyle in tow. Faron again sat opposite to Soren and Kyle stood behind him.

“So, Mr. Farrow. Have you made your decision?”

“I have. I will accept the conditions and join your Liston family.”

Faron smiled and nodded with a pleased expression. He had orders to kill Soren on the spot if he rejected the contract. If they couldn’t have him, they could try to just take his Bloodline.

“You made the right choice. You definitely won’t regret it.”

“Yeah, sure,” Soren said in an uninterested voice. He had no choice here. He was forced to accept the circumstances but it didn’t mean that he would be happy about it.

He then took out the Blood Contract and spread it on the table. He took out his knife and cut his right index finger, drawing blood.

He used that finger to write his name on the contract in blood using the ‘Enfari’ language. As soon as he finished the last stroke, the contract started burning and soon only ashes remained there.

The wind from the slightly open window blew those ashes off the table.

After signing his name, Soren suddenly felt like there was some kind of restriction on his soul. Like, it would eat his soul if Soren went against it.

“This was a Rank 0 Blood Contract. It would destroy your soul if you go against the terms in the contract. Even Initiators at the ‘Hydrous Conversion’ stage would be severely injured by it.”

Soren clenched his fist under the table in frustration but soon he calmed himself down. He looked at Faron with dark and cold eyes and said, “So? What now?”

“Now, I will explain some stuff to you.” Faron continued.

He explained some common stuff about the Initiators to Soren. But, some of the stuff was still new to him.

“Right now, you are a Rank 0 Initiator. There is another name for this rank—‘Mist Condensation’. After you break through, you will reach Rank 1—‘Hydrous Conversion’. You don’t need to know what comes after that for now.”

He then went on to explain about Spell Vessels and Innate Spells and skills. Soren already knew about this stuff but he still maintained a diligent expression so as not to expose his Primary Bloodline.

Finished with the explanation, Faron said, “Your arrangement with the Liston family would be like employee and employer. You would be given jobs: Finish them and receive your reward; Fail and receive punishment. There are a few rules you would have to follow but they are nothing major so you can learn them later. Once you have proven yourselves, you would be given choices for your jobs and if you want to do it solo or with a team.”

Faron took a sip from the cup of ‘coffee’ that was brought by the waiter earlier and again continued, “If you want accommodation, you can live at our manor like the others. The resources you would receive will be directly related to your job. For now, you will get some basic resources to start off.”

He then took out another ‘Memory Sphere’ and put it in front of Soren. He also took out a money bag containing mana crystals and a wooden box.

“This ‘Memory Sphere’ contains a basic cultivation technique. It should be enough for you to start your cultivation. This bag contains about 40 mana crystals which should be enough for you now.”

He then pointed at the wooden box and said, “This is the Spell Vessel that I talked about before. This one is of ‘Fireball’ spell. It’s a very simple spell that every beginner learns as its mana cost is quite low.”

Again taking a sip from his drink and exhaling, he continued, “Wait for us to contact you. Till then, cultivate and try to increase your strength.”

Soren wasn’t sure if it was his imagination or not but since the moment he had signed the Blood Contract, the attitude of the two men in front of him had become a lot friendly.

Faron was explaining stuff to him enthusiastically and Kyle also smiled at him from time to time. It was the complete opposite of the cold killing intent he had felt last time.

Soren also didn’t try to use the scan function on them to check their cultivation level. He already knew about Faron’s level so he was afraid he would expose Isaac if he used the scan.

“Can I ask you something?” Soren asked Faron.

“Go ahead.”

“How did you know that I became an Initiator?”

Faron smiled mysteriously at the question and looked at Soren deeply.

“Next time, remember to clean up everything properly if you don’t want others to know about your secret, okay. Even if the dead bodies are burnt badly, they speak a lot.”

Soren was stunned upon hearing the answer and then came to a sudden realization. He gritted his teeth hard, cursing loudly in his mind.

FUCK!!!!!

If he had cleared them up properly, he wouldn’t have been in this shitty situation. But getting angry right now was useless, so the only thing he could do was to let it go. He took a deep breath to calm down.

Finishing the conversation, he picked all the stuff from the table and packed it in his backpack.

“I’ll be staying in my hotel.” He simply stated.

“Ok. Someone would contact you with the details of the job when needed.” Faron stood up from his chair.

“See you again, Soren.” Faron and Kyle both shook Soren’s hand and went out of the room together.

Once again Soren was left in silence.

He silently sat in his chair and slowly drank his already cold coffee.