Obligation is similar to Contract, but unlike Contract, which is only available thanks to Establishments, Obligation is a class-based ability. As an ability, I can level it up through repeated usages.
And just like every new ability, Obligation is currently F-rank.
It used to be SS-Rank, which gives an indication of how useful it is to me. It is far better than Contract, as it can imprint itself upon the Soul – something that Contracts cannot. Likewise, if I kill my slaves for whatever reasons, I will not gain their Soul.
With Obligation, I can literally own their Soul, thus making me some sort of devil. Well, Merchants are the devil, considering that we only see everything as profits.
Some Merchant would gladly sell their own mother for a price. Hopefully, not me. But who knows…
Anyway, getting to E-rank does not really take that long. About a minute or so. Levelling it from E-rank to D-rank takes a lot longer. Just a little bit over three hours, and I rather not waste more time getting it up to C-rank.
I think that will take at least a couple of months, and Alex would be long pissed off before then.
Actually, he is already pissed off, as it is incredibly boring sitting right there, pressing his hand against the System Window and saying his name. He had read the first few Agreements, just in case I am being shifty, but I create an Agreement, stating that I will not try to enslave him, so it does help a lot. Like a lot!
When using Obligation to create Contract, the Contract itself is called an Agreement between me and whoever is signing it. And I can create all sort of Agreements, including mutual destruction. That is one way to commit suicide, so I would never create such an Obligation.
"Fuck! I just remember how fucking shitty grinding is," Alex curses and flexes his arm in an attempt to remove the stiffness. He has hold it in the same place for more than a couple of hours after all. "Okay, now what?"
I summon another Agreement for Alex to sign. "Last one. The real one. This will prevent anyone from disabling or severing our connections, so I can get to you afterwards."
Alex sighs and reads through the Agreement carefully before bitting down his thumb, making it bleeds a little. He then presses that bloodied thumb against the Agreement before saying his name out loud, effectively signing it.
I do not need to tell him to do that, as Alex should already know. And by signing it that way, he would create a Blood Contract with me. Or in this case, it is called a Blood Obligation. For simplicity, I always refer to it as Blood Contract.
And Blood Contracts are unbreakable, at least from experience. Even Rulers cannot break them. They can, of course, ignore the terms of the contract completely and tank the backlashes. That is where the ranking comes in, as the backlash from an SS-rank Blood Contract can put them out of commission for a while. That is one way to hurt them, but it is pretty hard, considering they aren't exactly stupid.
For deity-class beings, such as Gods and Goddesses, D-rank is enough. C-rank would be better, as it is much stronger, but they would notice the significant backlash, thus alerting them to me.
Better to be inconspicuous, as I am using their Divine Powers to get a free pass out of the Zone.