A view of countless kilometres of forests, rivers and valleys entered his sight. He stood atop a cliff watching beasts of every size and shape go about their lives. The sky was completely clean and pure as if it had yet to be contaminated by the touch of mankind.
Looking closer, Delta could see the different beasts battling with each other, scattering whenever a stronger presence approached and hunting whatever weaker ones came near.
"Impressive, isn't it?" Pact said, his voice echoing in Delta's mind.
'Why does everyone like living in my head...'
"Are you not coming out, Pact?"
"Of course not. If I did, every beast within 10km would either run away or grovel at my feet. That would ruin the beauty of it all."
"I never took you for a poet."
"Nature has its own sense of beauty. We dragons are known for our wisdom."
"Comes with the age, huh."
"Why do you sound like such an old man when you're only 12?"
"I have a special background."
A peaceful silence descended on the duo as they stood there, watching the Spirit Realm thrive.
"Shall we get going then?" Delta asked.
"We have about 45 minutes left, so we'll go for a short tour. I want you to try to form a Supremacy Pact with one of the weaker beasts. Don't worry, I can step in whenever necessary to help you out."
Delta felt his heart rate increase as if his muscles were itching for a fight.
"Oh? Sounds interesting."
Delta walked over to the edge of the cliff, looking for a way down.
"You'll have to slide down, boy. There are no pathways because too few humans have taken residence in this world, and going back will mean you enter the territory of stronger beasts."
"There are other humans here?"
"The Spirit Realm is basically a hub of Pact Masters. Only the most talented and powerful ones can survive enough to live here. Other mages will collapse after a while and have their souls absorbed. Not a fun way to die, believe me."
Delta sighed before walking over to the edge of the cliff, looking down for any less steep areas.
After thinking to himself for a moment, Delta had an idea.
Focusing on his core, Delta began taking mana from his core and guiding it around his body, charging it through his blood until it reached his back before securing it there. Once he had shielded his back from any damage, he headed over to the gentlest part of the cliff and sat down by the edge, readying himself before lowering himself down to start sliding.
"How reckless…"
Delta chuckled, knowing fully well that Pact would step in to save him if things got too drastic.
After a rocky slide down, Delta finally reached the bottom. The mana shield he had put on his body was in tatters, and he was slightly bruised, but with his breathing technique and accelerated circulation, he felt completely fine.
Scanning the area for a beast he could take on, he finally narrowed his choice down to a boar with flaming tusks.
"What's that one?"
"The boar? It's a watered-down descendent of the Erymanthian Boar, a legendary beast. You shouldn't have too much trouble with it considering the skills you've shown so far. Go and beat it up a little."
"I wonder how the beasts would react to seeing their King ordering their deaths…" Delta chuckled as if playing at blackmail.
"This is nothing. You should've seen me back in the Golden Age."
"The Golden Age?"
"The Age of Kings. I'll tell you more about it later, boy. Now go do as I ordered or I'll have to whip you into shape again."
"..."
Approaching the beast slowly, Delta whispered, "Shouldn't I have a weapon or something?"
"I forgot how fragile you humans are... "
Suddenly, the earth beside Delta began to condense into a weapon, turning into a longsword that popped out of the ground and into Delta's hands.
"I thought you could only use Pact magic?"
"All the Spirits can perform the other types of magic to a certain degree. We simply prefer our own types because that's what we're naturally best at. The magic I just used comes from the fact that I'm a Dragon."
"What's the difference?"
"If I told you, you'd be an enemy to dragonkind and I'd have to kill you. Do you still want to know, human?"
"No no, that's alright."
Feeling the weapon in his hands, Delta realised the weapon was, although made of stone, incredibly well balanced.
Swinging the weapon a few times, Delta got a feel for its sturdiness, weight and balance, and after a bit of practice, it felt like an extension of his arm.
"Feels good to be back," he said, grinning as he approached the beast.
"Who goes there," it called out, jumping back as it flared the flames on its tusks, attempting to scare off the opposition.
"Nobody you need to worry about. It'll be over soon enough…"
The beast tensed up after feeling so much killing intent, and before it knew it, Delta was on top of it.
Armed with such a well-made sword, along with his improved strength and dexterity, the beast was made short work of, its screams barely echoing out before it was beaten to the ground.
"I'm pretty impressed, even if that was only a Rank 1 beast."
"Rank 1?"
"Do they teach you anything in that academy?"
"Well, I've only been there a few days…"
"Ranks are the same as how they are with humans, but instead of being called Initiate to Archmage, they're simply numbered 1 to 15. A beast level 1 to 5 is called Town Level, 6 to 10 is City Level, 10 to 13 is Kingdom Level, and anything higher than that is called Calamity Level. As you could probably guess, they're rated based on the general amount of damage they can do if left unchecked, with Calamity levels being just that, calamities capable of destroying nations at the very least. There has only been a single Calamity Level Beast in recorded History, and that was the Demon Chief that attacked during the Golden Age, but it was taken down by Arceus, so humanity survived."
"So that boar was the same as an Initiate I rank practitioner."
"Exactly."
"What now?"
"Having forced the beats into submission, now you form a Supremacy Pact. First, focus your Pact Energy into the finger, Once the Energy is fully saturated, drop some blood onto the beast's head. After that, say the following incantation."
He took a short pause, then said, "I, the Contractor Delta, call upon the power of Pact and initiate this Beast under my power and reign. Through my blood, an unbreakable bond between Master and Servant shall be formed."
After pausing and repeating a few times for Delta to fully memorise it, Pact said, "You won't have to do this once you've mastered it but until then, you'll have to use the incantations."
Suddenly, a chime from the system came in.
[Congratulation on discovering how to form Supremacy Pacts]
[Intelligence + 1]
'Wait… Can Pact see these?'
[Pact System Unlocked]
[Suitable Beast Located]
[Would you like to form a 'Supremacy Pact' with 'Fiery Tusked Boar']
[Y/N]
'Apparently not then.' Grinning slightly, Delta walked over to the beast and pricked his finger, focussing his Pact Energy into it before dropping it onto the head of the beast.
"I, the Contractor, Delta, call upon the power of Pact and initiate this Beast to be under my power and reign. Through my blood, an unbreakable bond between Master and Servant shall be formed."
As he said this, Delta mentally pressed the 'Y' button, and the beast began glowing slightly.
['Fiery Tusked Beast' has been added to Contracted Beasts]
[Would you like to name the 'Fiery Tusked Boar'?]
"On your first time?! I- I mean, I expected nothing less, human. Now order the beast to follow you back."
"One moment."
"Are you asking me to wait for you, human? How dare you? Are you trying to stand up to me now that you've had a single success? You-"
Delta mentally blocked him out, his mind thinking of names for the boar.
"I'll call it… Major…"
"Seriously?! You're ignoring me to name the damn thing? And Major? Are you that bad at naming things?"
Looking at his System Screen again, Delta saw that a new menu called 'Contracted Beasts' had opened up.
Tapping on the icon with the beast's face on it, Delta opened up a menu with the information of the beast on it.
[Major]
['Fiery Tusked Boar']
[Supremacy Pact]
[2% Bloodline of Erymanthian Boar (Legendary)]
[Bloodline can be improved later on]
'Oh? I'll have to look into improving your bloodline later, Major.'
Groggily, the beast awoke, its eyes starting cloudy before clearing slightly.
"Human, who are you? What have you done to me?"
"Get up, Major. We don't accept slacking off here."
"What? Why would I- Hold on a minute! How am I walking? What did you do to me?!"
"Stop talking, Major. I said we're walking."
Major tried to speak, but its voice was muffled and it was unable to open its mouth.
"HUMAN STOP IGNORING ME OR I'LL BURN YOUR HOUSE DOWN."
"Right right. I'm listening, Pact. You can stop yelling now."
"HOW DARE YOU!"
Delta dusted his clothes as he walked, chuckling as he walked.
"DAMN IT HUMAN, YOU'RE TESTING MY PATIENCE."
"I said I'm listening, Pact. Calm down, will you?"
Trailing at the back, Major thought to himself, 'Why is this crazy human talking to himself… how unlucky am I to have him as a master…'