[Congratulations! You have completed the Lord path (100/100)! +5 Wisdom.

Congratulations! You have completed the Baron (250/250)! +10 Wisdom. You have earned the skill Regality (O) Lv 1.]

Things went swimmingly! None of the village chiefs were too dumb for their own good, so now he had four new villages under his command, having gained a ton of skill levels through all the chatting and posturing.

He'd even used the chance to put the fear of god and anime into Robert's heart, the man doing a great job in disarming the situation with cold business and benefits whenever a deal was sealed.

Luckily his own essence seemed to have seeped through their contract as instead of wallowing in what could have been, all villages started to think of a way to contribute so as to exchange for more resources.

"You know Robert, I think it's time you get your class. You have proven yourself resourceful and loyal, I have taken too long to grant you this trust." The young man smiled while warping an arm around the tanned older man, who also smiled with excitement.

"I also want to help the people around me, and even if I have these muscles they aren't much use nowadays." Admitted the former foreman.

"Yet you're the most dedicated and effective manager of this community." He smirked. "Let's go to your office in the lodge, we will make things official in a little ceremony, a party just for" His winking seemed to have worked, because the other man didn't ask questions.

Some things were only for those involved, but it wasn't like Aki had figured out proper telepathy yet. Despite the awkward gesture, they proceeded to the office without a problem.

"Well then, I guess it's all ready. Do you want a long ceremony or… yeah, ok. Just press the notification and it will be done." Aki smiled as the older man nodded after he mentally indicated him as the city lord, both their grins broadening as their eyes unfocused and he accepted the notification.

*Crack, thump*

[You have developed the skill Base system manipulation (Unique) Lv 21.

You have developed the skill Aether manipulation (C) Lv 6.

Psychopath (Y) is now level 152.

*Deal with the devil* Kakegurui (B) is now level 94.

The melting bog has reached level 49 due to a gigantic wave of experience.

Lord of death (B) is now level 169.

Resilient soul (Y) is now level 23.]

"I almost can't believe all this worked." Aki smiled still, but his whole face bled. He was trying really hard to heal himself with the least concentration possible, so he ended up taking one of the best potions he had and directly downed it.

Moderation was key though, so even though he took out the next one he made no move to actually drink it. If he was too forceful in regenerating right now then his soul might just up and crumble with the pressure he put it through, though he wasn't so sure he hadn't hurt his psyche with this stunt already.

"Wha wha what did you do?" Questioned Lala as she found herself lying on the office's floor and trying to squeeze her brain until it decided to stay inside her head again despite her previously ethereal spectating of the scene.

"I made sure you can't jump ship. Now if someone catches me then you will retroactively lose the same amount of skill points I have ever possessed plus leave your image with a gaping hole which will likely cause it to collapse." He explained in a raspy voice, his smile partially locked in his face due to how hard his jaw was clenching.

"Why?" Slowly whispered Robert as he lay slack on the ground, angry eyes staring at Aki.

"Don't think I don't know about you turning an eye for those unsatisfied with my presence or the fact you saw me as a crazy pawn to be reigned in or discarded. I never trusted you, and this is an incentive to keep you from stupidity. Read your notifications later, you will see the contract you signed. It's a shame that I can't just have everyone sign something similar and create an utopia, but I'd need to be all knowing for something like that at the very least." Shrugging, Aki sat against the wall, catching his breath as the wrongness of his state was ever so slightly regenerated, closing the wounds he'd inflicted upon himself with such use of his contracts.

The whole affair had been worth more than the skill levels however, as now he had two people to break into slaves of his will. Only when they finally forgot about their bindings would he have succeeded, and the contract he'd written was plenty good for that.

………….

[You are being offered the class 'Lord administrator (G) Lv 1'. +4 free physical stats. +4 free mental stats. You will earn the skill 'Territory management (G) Lv 1'. Skill slots will be set to eight (Class skills will not count towards this total. OBS: Class rarity may only be upgraded through milestones of outpost development! Do you wish to accept this class? """"Y/N""""]

[Warning, the skill “Deal with the Devil (B)” is being used on you. If you accept, this will create a permanent Aetheric bond between all concerned parties in a relation as stipulated in *. Should Lord Ocissus perish, all benefits gained from this bond will become demerits. Do you still wish to accept his deal? ' '

Warning, this bond is permanent. Are you sure you wish to proceed? ' '

Warning, this is your final warning. Your fate will irrevocably be linked with Lord Ocissus. Are you sure that you wish to accept this bond? ' ']

Roberto didn't understand how he had missed the weirdness in the accept button, but he was inclined to believe that much like the delayed and ignored notifications, Aki had been messing with his mind so he'd not perceive that.

By the time he was able to stand on his own, the only one in the room was Lala, and she was currently sitting behind the office desk while drinking directly from a crystal bottle containing a shimmering dark blue liquid that could only be alcohol.

"I take it he took you too?" He asked, sitting right in front of the elf-like woman while taking out a bottle he'd hid in a secret stash.

"He needed a weak link with which to start messing with me, so he used you and got a human challenger to manage the village for him while at it. A simple ass plan if not for the whole system fuckery he needed to establish to make you just accept this shit." She chuckled maniacally before taking a swig. "Now I won't be able to leave this planet behind even after the minimum stipulated time in my contract, and if you fail any of your calamities then I am fucked as well!"

He waited until her maniacal laughter ended, but the spirit, who he was pretty sure was nearing level 100, ended up collapsing on the table and snoring away. Roberto didn't exactly have any other lead to go on now, so he took a sip and called forth the notification mentioning a contract and pressed on the suspicious asterisk.

[Lord ocissus* agrees to bank all non-system regulated costs of Aether of both the system sanctioned manager* and the respective classer with the city lord archetype* related to 'Ashen barrow'* for the next five hundred years as of the signing of this contract or until said individual raises their class quality to the Purple grade or above while maintaining the original connection to the mentioned outpost and it's relevant allied territories* (Verify * for specifics on the determined terms.).

In exchange, both the Manager and the Classer involved will wholeheartedly follow the Lord's instructions to their own interpretation unless told otherwise or in case it violates previously existing bindings*.

As of the signing of this document, all parties agree to keep it in mind when making future soul altering and/or restricting deals and to not directly violate it.

The following will be considered as direct violations:

-Direct punishment between the involved parties dealt when not involving the resolution of partial violations.

-Death of Lord Ocissus.

-Completely ignoring an instruction from the Lord without due justification*.

The following will be exerted in case of direct violations by the Classer:

-Reductions of N (The amount of skill points used by the Lord as of the moment of the violation) + S (The amount of skill points gained between the signing and the violation) Skill points.

-The Aetheric bond will dissolve.

The following will be effective after in case the classer manages to raise their class to Purple grade or five hundred years from the signing pass:

-The Aetheric bond will weaken.

-A period of a thousand years of non-aggression between either parties will ensue so that they can either renew or terminate the contract fully.]

There was some more to the contract, detailing Lala's and Aki's parts and punishment in specific, and although he checked the addendums, he didn't really care about the parts not referring to him as he could barely even understand them.

For now though, he probably needed to figure out what the fuck Aether even was before he decided what to actually try and do about the situation, though figuring out why he was able to maintain such a cold calm would likely be up there in his priorities as well.

………..

After Aki made himself a simple alarm, he honestly expected to wake up to an angry faced Robert and/or Lala, but instead it'd been because of two women, a farvit and a human, who he didn't know at all.

They'd fallen through his door seemingly on accident if the way they were frozen was any indication, but after tawning them free and speaking for a bit, their intentions became clear.

The rabbit was a nympho who'd heard of his 'prowess' and the bitch was a social climber wanting to gain his favor after hearing many of the same rumors.

Perhaps some other eighteen year old would have felt like this was an opportunity to get laid or perhaps indignation at being treated like a stud.

Aki had long expected something similar because of his previously lacking methods however, and he didn't especially feel that the situation was more than bothersome.

He immediately threw away the gold digger, claiming her not to be beautiful enough, then closed the door and stopped the remaining woman from stripping and explained his situation. As they talked, he also asked why she came to him like this, which someway somehow ended with him embracing a crying woman as she dropped her whole life story onto him while hugging a tub of ice cream.

Septima did not have a happy life with many choices, and the way she explained it made even his dried up tear ducts allow for a couple of drops down his face as he calmly questioned her on the how's, why's and what made her go through with it at a specific point in time, though he didn't force it in some points as she was simply not ready.

By the time she leff they'd even promised to keep contact through messages, but she would try to not abuse monsters as punching bags from now on. Perhaps some more of his influence would even convince her to stop trying to deflect her problems with sex.

He was pretty sure she was an irredeemable pervert in a different way than himself, but he'd also magically monitored her body throughout their conversation to a point that he could tell she was honestly not getting the hots for him despite what she tried to convey when reluctant to answer one question or another.

After his power nap and those two hours of talking, snuggling and ice cream, Aki was now around 50% recovered from his plan, so he started laying out some training possibilities.

It was extremely hypocritical of him to do something to a similarly unhealthy degree as the woman he'd just given advice to, even more so considering the amount of direct self harm involved, but he had always been a hypocrite.

More importantly though, he both wanted to do it and needed it, because this was a literal apocalypse. The only thing he could do for his mental health was to enjoy the calm moments in between and try to recognise when it was time to stop.