This is my first story ever so please have mercy.

I don't own Solo Leveling or any story mentioned in this fanfic.

(Location: slave traders tent)

"I've decided, she'll do, I'll take this one."

"Are you sure shield hero? The raccoon likely doesn't have much time till she keels over. We should find an option better worth your money."

"I won't change my mind, I want this one."

"Well if you're certain, it'll be 30 silver." The slave trader snaps his fingers and a slave came carrying ink, a small knife and a brush.

After taking the raccoon girl out of the cage he calls Naofumi over and asks him to cut his finger and deposit his blood into the ink. After he does the slave trader dips the brush into the ink and draws a cirle on some kind of mark on the slave girls chest.

"AAAAGHGH!!" The girl began screaming as the ink looked like it was burning away at her skin and releasing small crackles of electricity.

"Is it supposed to burn her?" Asked the mage hero with concern.

"Why, of course. It is needed to bind a slave to its owner. And he slave crest makes it impossible to defy her master..." When the ink finally burned away Naofumi gets an alert on his status.

CONTRACT:

Party members:

Demi-human (slave crest) lvl 1

"...and now that master is you, sir shield hero."

"You were right,Sung Jin-Woo. I've unlocked the party system now."

"Good, now it'll be easier for you to get stronger. But for now you should get her a weapon."

"You're right, we'll need to pay a visit to the blacksmith. Here's the 30 silvers you asked for." Naofumi gives the slave trader the amount they agreed upon, and a little extra l life

"There's an extra one in here."

"That's your commission. But you were gonna wrong it out of me anyway, weren't you?"

"You certainly know your stuff shield hero." Says the trader with a devilish smile.

"I suppose I should know your name,"

Cough. Cough.

The slave girl was still coughing from the pain earlier.

"What's your name."

"R-Raphtalia."

"She's sick right?" Asked the shadow sovereign. If she was sick it would make it hard for her to survive against monsters, so that problem needs to be tackled as soon as possible.

"Indeed she is, that's why I suggested another slave."

Sung Jin-Woo thought for a bit. While he was in the forest he's gotten quite a few useful abilities, 1 of which lets him craft different items. And after letting his weapon absorb a little of the liquid from the holy water of life the root unlocked a lot of different healing potions along with a few new roots.

As Jin-Woo looked at his recipes he saw a potion for healing diseases, and crafted it.

After it was finished he takes it out from his inventory and gives it to the slave "Take this, it should cure your illnesses."

"A-are you giving this to me?" She hesitantly asks. "I'm just a slave..."

"Just take it, you'll fell better."

After a few seconds Raphtalia took the medicine and drank it. It was bitter but she didn't want to be yelled at so she still drank it.

"Before you go, do you gentlemen need anything else? Maybe a slave for the mage hero?"

"I'm not interested in slaves."

"Well we're done here, let's go."

"You'll have to go without me, I need to discuss something with the slave trader."

"Well see you later then."

Jin-Woo waved to Naofumi and waited for him and Raphtalia to leave the tent.

"Now then..." Jin-Woo turns to the slave trader, menacingly, with glowing purple eyes

(Timeskip: next evening)

In a certain mansion lives a noble named Victor Mald. A tall old man with grey hair and a thick mustache, although he was old, he had the body of a warrior. Victor built his body throughout the war his country had with the Demi human nation, Siltvelt. And trained his son to be like him. After the first wave, he has risen the tax on his land quite a bit with the reason being to prepare for the future waves and to help repair the towns damaged by the first wave, of course, that was a lie.

A week ago his son was picked to join one of the parties following the heroes on their journey. He was somewhat disturbed from hearing the news of the shield and mage heroes summoning and worried his son would get stuck in one of their parties.

Thankfully, they had a choice in picking a hero. And he was happy to hear that the next day the shield hero was caught assaulting his own party member and swiftly punished. Off course he felt pity for the young woman unfortunate enough to not see through his facade. All though there wasn't much news about the mage hero.

Some people said he was killed by bandits in the forest near the capital, but there's a rumor that he appeared at the shield hero's trial and defended him. If the rumors are true, that means the mage hero is gonna be a major nuisance.

'He will be troublesome indeed.'

The mage heroes were known for meddling in matters they didn't belong in. The roots past users were the heroes that most commonly stepped out of their jurisdiction and out of the five the heroes , the mage was the smartest and most cunning. And the mage heroes never hid their actions behind a banner of justice, they just did what they wanted.

Another thing that sets the mage hero apart from the rest is the weapon he wields, unlike the other 4, the roots don't have any corresponding weapon type. Some say it's like a mages staff, or like the crystal balls people use to learn new magic, or like any other magic tools. The roots are like all the magic tools rolled into 1 weapon, and is superior to any and all other magic tools. So the world has taken to calling the heroes wielding the weapon the mage heroes.

And because of the uniqueness of the weapon and the users most common traits, some of the higher class dislikes the mage. With how things are going, there's no doubt the mage hero will be put in his place just like the shield hero was.

"What should we do with the last slave, my lord?" The servant beside him said. "There's a monster cage fight tomorrow, would you like to see what the boy can do?"

Ending the previous thought. Victor trailed of to something else. When Seatto, a noble governing a Demi-human village, was killed during the first wave, Victor converged his troops on the village of demi-humans to capture as many of them as they could. And sold most of the ones who were caught to a slave trader named Beloukas.

The ones he didn't sell, he tortured. But he's went through all of the slaves and has grown bored of them. So he got rid of the slaves by pitting them against each other to fight to the death or making them fight captured monsters to be eaten alive or survive. He did this and offered the last slave alive the chance at freedom.

'But all the demi-human will find is lost hope when he enters the monster arena tomorrow.' Victor thought. "Good idea, it'll be a good test run for the brat. If he's any good I'll use him in future matches."

Right now he was in the library at his desk looking through letters and contracts, counting his profits, and wondering if he should get more slaves for torture.

"How do you think he'll do, Roy?" He asked his butler.

Dead silence

"Roy?" Victor looked behind him, and he saw his butler hit the ground and laid there, unmoving. "Strange..."

"Isn't it?" Victor heard a second voice he didn't recognize and spotted a man in black leaning against a bookshelf. "What are you doing here, and who are you? What have you done to my butler?" Even after seeing the intruder he spoke in a calm, but aggressive tone.

"I just knocked him out. But that's not important, what is, is that before the sun rises,

Victor didn't like what he heard, and instantly took action. He grabbed a letter opener that was on his desk and hurled it at the intruder.

But the invader blocked the knife using a book from the shelf. Victor dashed at him and threw a kick to his side, but the intruder easily grabbed his leg and slashed it with the knife then threw Victor across the room.

Victor was now bleeding out and realized he was at a disadvantage. "Guards!!" He yelled, trying to attract the attention of the soldiers stationed in his mansion, but he heard no reaction to his cry for help.

"It's pointless to yell, no one to hear you but me."

Victor got up and ran as fast as he could for the door with his injured leg and got outside, there were no guards in sight. The intruder was following close behind, so Victor ran across the hallway still limping in hopes of finding his guards. But his legs came to a halt. When he looked down he saw his legs and the floor were stuck in pitch black liquid.

as he looked around he'd seen that everything around him was being covered in the black liquid. And the world around him grew darker and darker. With the only thing visible being the intruder.

"What the hell is this!? Where the he'll are my guards!!?" He screamed questioning his situation.

"Right now you're in my world, a world of nothingness." The intruder said in an ominous tone. "There's no way out unless I create one, it's just you and me. But not for long."

The words sank deep into the nobles mind. Realizing he can't run away he did the only thing he could think of. "What do you want, money, power, women? I can get you anything as long as you let me free!"

"I'm not interested in that, and there's nothing you can give me that I can't get myself." Slowly getting closer and closer to the noble. His target sank into despair even further.

But he needed to try anything that might save his life. "Whatever your employer is paying you I can give you more! Double, triple, I can even quadruple it!" He saw the intruder stop his advancement towards him, maybe he could get out of this. "The only thing you need to do is set me fr-"

Abruptly the world started spinning and a second later he fell into the black liquid, then he saw a black monster land some distance in front of him, looking at its back as it turned around. He was confused, he couldn't feel anything. But it all became clear when he saw what also fell in front of him.

His mind slowly drifted into nothingness and into the land of eternal rest.

He heard a voice, that sounded familiar. It was calling him back to the world of the living,

He then opened his eyes and realized he was back in his head, looking at his own beheaded body. His head slowly started to regenerate and from it a new body was made.

He looked at his new, naked body, it was pale. He looked up and saw the man who originally killed him, talking to 2 other beings entirely cloaked in black, except for the red mane coming from the helmet of the black knight, and some purple light glowing from the bodies of the black beings.

But he felt no animosity towards the man. The only thing he felt was joy, at meeting his new master. No,

"Beru, you didn't have to cut his head off."

"I'm truly sorry my liege, I just couldn't stand the bugs begging."

"You need to control your temper, Beru."

Beru looked back at the other martial, Igrit. Sparks of lightning flying from their stare down.

Victor knelt down. "Please, give me a name, my liege."

His master was thinking to himself. "Your original name was Victor Mald. Just stick with it."

"As you wish"

"Can you please just put on the clothes you wore?"

"What shall I do with the body?"

"Eat it, that will be part of you punishment."

Of course, who could the mysterious intruder be other than the shadow sovereign himself, Sung Jin-Woo.

Jin-Woo chose to revive the man as a vampire, the vampire is weak to sunlight and must sustain itself with the blood of living beings. But Jin-Woo set a rule, the only blood he can drink is the blood of who Jin-Woo deems a sinner. If not that, then he'd be left to starve until his body lost all its given energy and crumbled.

"If you need us, my liege, we'll come immediately." Said Igrit as he and Beru sank into the dark.

After the vampire ate his own body and put on his clothes, with blood still on them. Jin-Woo transported himself and his servant to the real world.

The first people they meet are guards of the mansion.

"My lord, are you bleeding!?" The leading guard asked concerned, and then he saw Jin-Woo. "Men, we have an intruder!" He yelled, and the guards pointed their weapons in Jin-Woos direction.

"Sease your foolishness! This is my guest. Guards, go back to your posts."

"But my lord, you're wounded."

"Tis just a flesh wound, now go, you're not needed. And go help Roy, he's not been feeling well and fell unconscious." The guards left to help the knocked out butler.

"So..." Jin-Woo turns to the vampire. "...where is the slave?"

"Follow me."

Jin-Woo followed his vampire to an underground dungeon. There were cells with skeletons and decomposing bodies. If he had did this earlier, maybe he could've saved some of them.

"He's here." The vampire stopped in front of a cell.

Jin-Woo stepped in and there was a male wolf demi-human in the cell. His hair was almost completely black, except for the ends of his hair and the tips of his ears and tale, which were white. There were a lot of bruises and scratches all around his body and he was really skinny, probably due to malnutrition. He didn't appear sick, which was good.

"Who are you, did you come to set me free?" The young wolf asked, with a little aggression.

"Don't worry, I'm here to help you. Your owner was planning on sending you to a cage fight, but I'm here to kill him, and by extension, helping you. But I wish I could've come sooner." He said with some sorrow in his voice.

"Then set me free." He said coldly.

He stepped down and reached for the chains around the kids legs as broke them, the boy looked dumbfounded, but Jin-Woo found a slave crest on the boys chest. Jin-Woo looked back and called for the vampire. "Hey, how do you remove slave crests?"

The vampire stepped in and the kid went into a defensive state. Jin-Woo raised his arms trying to assure the boy. "Calm down, he won't hurt you, in fact, he's been turned into my servant now."

The boy looked confused, but when he looked at the noble who tortured him and saw blood on his clothes. And he was really pale, so the boy chose to not ask more questions. Jin-Woo looked back waiting for the answer.

"A slave trader can remove it, go to one named Beloukas."

"Oh, I know him." Jin-Woo got back up and waved for the kid to follow. "If you want to be free you need to follow me."

The boy was still dumbfounded by how easily the man broke the metal chains like it was made out of nothing. And even the noble who tortured him was helping the man. He didn't trust the man, but if he can break metal like clay then he didn't want to make him mad, so he got up and followed him.

(Timeskip: 12 hours later, morning)

(Slave traders tent)

"Oh if it isn't the infamous mage hero, I see you've got a demi-human there. Come to sell some merchandise?"

The wolf boy got scared and his behind Jin-Woo.

"Very funny Beloukas." He said with sarcasm. "And what do you mean by 'infamous'."

"Oh, you don't know? His majesty has finally spoken up about what happened in the throne room, during the trial. Seems like the mage hero has scared the king so much with a simple threat that it took his majesty days to finally even speak about it. Stranger even, that he hasn't taken any actions against you."

"What can I say, I'm not someone to be messed with. But enough of that, I came here to remove his slave crest."

"And what of the master?" Beloukas asked curiosity.

"He won't be a problem ."

"So you really did it."

(Flashback to yesterday's conversation between the 2)

"What's on your mind, mage hero?" He asked nervously beneath Jin-Woo's ominous gaze.

"I'll cut straight to the chase. I want the names and locations of your clients and suppliers. Not without payment, of course."

"Sir mage hero... I'm sure you understand, I can't just sell out my clients and suppliers just like that."

"Im sorry to break it to you, but in a way, you don't have a choice."

The slave trader flinched. "What do you mean by that?"

"If you're not aware of my skill set, let me indulge you. I have the power to control the dead, and as such, I only need to kill you to get what I want."

The slave traders expression changed from a poker face to a face of anger. "So you intend to threaten me to get what you want?"

"No, I'm just giving up an option, either choose to help me willingly for a price, or become an undead servant."

"And what do you get out of all of this?"

"Does that really concern you? All you have to do is give me the info you have and I'll pay you accordingly."

"Then, what is your proposal?" He lightened up a bit.

"I want info on 3 or more different nobles who've you done business with, with the higher position of authority they have, the more you will be given for that info. And information on a few demi-human hunters, with the more demi-humans they've caught and the number of the hunters themselves, the the higher your payment will be." The reason Jin-Woo knows of these people is because while he and Naofumi were in the slave traders tent, when he heard about slavery in this world he sent his shadows to search for any info on people buying and selling slaves.

He confirmed the existence of the people dealing in the business. But no specific information, although he could wait for his shadows to find more info, that would waste too much time he could use to save the

demi-humans in question.

So he settled on getting the information directly from the source.

"I'll take the deal, but you do realize you'll have to pay for that information in gold?"

"Well for the first information exchange I want it to be a noble and for you to give me info up front. After that, I'll have more than enough to pay for that info and any future info."

The slave trader then adopted a devilish smile. "Well you've got yourself a deal, sir mage hero."

"You too, mr slave trader."

"Call me Beloukas."

(End of flashback)

"I'm looking forward to future business with you, but for now let's take care of this."

Beloukas snapped his fingers and the slave from yesterday came running with a bottle of unknown liquid. He ushered the boy to come and he hesitantly did. Beloukas pored the contend of the bottle on the kids slave crest and it slowly dissolved. At least there was no pain this time.

"That'll be 5 silver."

"Yea, yea. " Jin-Woo dropped a small stack of five silvers. And another bigger pouch full of gold coins. "And that's for the info." He turns back to the kid. "Well you're free now, what do you plan to do with that freedom?"