Gale was lying there unconscious in the cold floor meaning that I had won.

*Phew*

I let a breath I was holding. This battle was not a very hard one considering the types of creatures I fought in the forest, but was very useful in creating experience with fighting human opponents. The forest beasts were strong physically and had a high defence and attack, but their intelligence was not comparable to a person.

*Step* *Step* *Step*

I slowly approached the unconscious Gale. He was lying there with a clear fist mark on his chest and he was bleeding slightly from his mouth and nose. I think that the impact from the Water Javelin had damaged his internal organs slightly.

I gathered a ball of water and threw Gales face.

*splash~*

He opened his eyes and turned his head towards me.

"Ugh... what *cough* *cough* *cough* happened? Why am I lying on the floor and why do I feel like I collided with a wall at full speed?"

"Well, you sort of did. The impact of my last attack was strong enough to leave you unconscious."

"So that means that...

"Yes you lost the spar, but you fought hard and at one time you almost beat me.

Here let me help you get up."

I extended a hand towards him.

*Slap*

He slapped my hand away with an angry look on his face.

"You don't have to downplay your win. You beat me fair and square even if I was using my strongest person technique. 

Also I'm not that weak that I would need your help to get up."

I rolled my eyes.

"Okay then, do as you like."

He tried to get up, but he had still not recovered enough so every time he tried he fell back on his ass again and again.

*Clap* *Clap* *Clap*

As I was starting to get pissed because Gale still hadn't stood up even after he refused my help, clapping was heard from the side.

It was Faley with his female bodyguard and also Munnji.

“Bravo Mr Nicolas, your display of martial might was incredible. It definitely left me speechless. With this you have proven your capability of hunting 2nd grade beasts.”

“It was all my pleasure Mr Faley. This fight also helped me to stretch my bones a little after all that long journey that brought us here.

So, can we now close this deal or what?”

“Of course, just let me take care of my bodyguard first.

Zenara would you please help Gale!”

“Yes sir.”

Faley spoke to his female bodyguard and instructed her to take care of Gale.

She approached Gale and made him drink a yellow liquid from a small glass vile that she held in her hand. After Gale drank the liquid his face immediately regained some of its colour and in a minute he was almost as good as new.

After Gale recovered Faley then led us back into the room we were previously in.

“Then Mr Nicolas do we continue with as per our agreement!

I will by all your blood cores that you have in person and also provide with identification you, Mr Munnji, your wife and your infant son in exchange of three blood cores you gave me at the beginning.”

“Yes that’s right.

I would like to convert all my cores into money, if that’s possible.”

“Of course, of course how can I disappoint such a huge customer, but the value of these cores is so big that it will take me a while to gather all the money.

What would you like to do in this situation?”

“Hmm, I didn't think of that.

Well if you can’t pay me the full amount now I will just take a small amount for now as I don't have much money on me right now and the rest will be paid on a later date.

Is that a problem?”

“Not at all, he he. It’s definitely an excellent choice.

Now then, moving on to the contract.”

During the next half hour I and Faley wrote up the terms of my payment in a blank piece of parchment and finalized it with a blood contract.

.....

A blood contract is a form of primal and ancient magic that was created with the blood of two willing parties. The magic revolved around the restriction or fulfilment of a certain action that was agreed upon before by the willing parties and if one of them broke the rules of the contract was varied.

It started with loss of vitality in the less binding contracts and in the most binding ones the loss of your life and the eternal damnation of your soul were possible.

These contracts were overseen and enforced by the blood god, Jakaal. He was one of the gods that was worshiped in this planet, mostly by merchants.

....

After completing the contract I left the Trinity Merchant Groups branch with a heavy sack of coins tied to my hip and a big smile on my face and headed straight for the inn.

The 32 blood cores that Faley had bought from me had totalled to 354500 kils. This was a huge amount for any single person.

“What are we going to do now that we have all this money?”

“Well first I think we should by a house to live in and then we could live the best lives a monkey and a human could live. We will eat the most delicious meals every day, drink the most refreshing drinks there are and just splurge.

What do you think of that?”

“It does sound pretty good, but don't you forget our rule!”

“Of course, how could I forget?

Even if we don't have to fight for our lives every day like before we will continue to become stronger...*glance* especially in this situation.

Name

Nicolas Hunter

Age

21

Physique

34

Dexterity

29

Coordination

30

Sturdiness

27

Spirit

32

Affinity

Water (Increased control in the element of water, increased resistance towards cold temperatures)

Skills

13

Thrust lv8

Lunge forward with any type of pointed weapon to cause maximum damage.

Side Sweep lv7

Move your weapon in a large ark horizontally in front of you for maximum AOE damage.

Downwards Strike lv7

Move your weapon in a large ark vertically down in front of you for maximum damage.

Side Roll lv6

Roll in the ground to avoid any attack coming your way.

Throw lv8

Propel your weapon of choice in the air with a movement of the arm and hand to cause maximum pinpoint damage

Jump lv4

Push yourself off a surface and into the air by using the muscles in your legs and feet.

Parry lv2

Ward of a weapon or attack with a countermove.

Side Step lv7

Avoid an attack coming your way by stopping sideways.

Swimming lv6

Propel yourself through the water with the use of your limbs.

Running lv7

Move fast on land with the use of your legs.

Carving lv7

Cut a hard material in order to produce an object, design, or inscription.

Water Sword lv3

Create a waters word by gathering water and compress it in the form of a sword.

Slash and stab your opponent with extreme precision dealing maximum damage.

Fist Art: Vortex Punch lv2

Coat your fist with a layer of water before making it rotate to form a water vortex. Deals large pinpoint damage to your target but also has a slight knockback effect.