Chapter 15 Spiritual Contract
Technically, there were many types of spiritual contracts.
As far as Lu Yang knew, there was the Divine Soul Contract, the Soul Contract, the Partnership Contract, the Subordination Contract, the Enslavement Contract, and the Beast Contract.
Divine Soul Contract was the type of contract that related most intimately between both parties. It allowed them to communicate with one another at the level of soul link.
Legend has it that this contract transcended space and time. It allowed both parties to sense and communicate with each other, regardless of time and space.
Of course, Lu Yang had some reservations and doubts about the description 'beyond time and space' told in the legend.
Amongst them, the subjects of 'distance' and 'duration' were debatable.
What if one party separated as far as several star fields? Would they still be able to relate at such a distance?
What if one party is in a higher-dimension space? Or worse, trapped in the Abyss's space chasm? Would they still be able to relate?
Would they be able to communicate seamlessly, or would there be a delay in transmission, given the distance between the two parties?
It was said that to establish the Divine Soul Contract, both parties needed to make an oath. It was not called divine because of any relation with Godhood or Divinity. It was called that because it was a sacred bond built on the premise of 'Absolute Trust' as its foundation.
Everyone can claim that they have absolute trust in each other. They could even entrust their back during battle. Or sacrifice their lives for them. But all these trusts exist only under the given context and circumstances.
'Absolute Trust' refers to the level of trust bordering on foolishness and absurdity. For example, even if the other party had blatantly betrayed you or the tips of their knife already severed your heart, you would readily accept it and continue to trust them.
And the oath bounded this trust, enshrining it in a Divine Soul Contract.
At least, that's what the legend says.
Lu Yang had never established a Divine Soul Contract nor seen anyone with one. Thus, it remained as illusionary as myth and legend.
On the other hand, Lu Yang was familiar with the Soul Contract.
Similar to the Divine Soul Contract, this contract also established a soul link that connects the consciousness of both parties at the level of the soul. Through this link, they could communicate without barriers and mediums and be able to sense the emotional and mental state of the other party.
Of course, one could still put a mental barrier to isolate these senses to ensure privacy. Nonetheless, this link exists.
While it may not be as exaggerated, Soul Contract enables the two to relate as far as the combination of the two parties' mental power could extend.
For example, if a party's mental power was large enough to extend to a hundred kilometers, while the other could expand to two hundred meters, the farthest distance they could communicate with one another was three hundred meters.
Of course, this was just an ideal condition.
If there was obstruction like barriers, formations isolation, space prisons, or any other obstacles, the effective range would be shorter.
Partnership Contract was the most popular and most common contract in the universe.
The convenience of having a partnership contract makes it a popular choice when having a marriage or establishing a guild, chamber of commerce, or partnership.
Unlike in the novel, which popularized the concept of heavenly dao and etcetera, there was no such binding force in reality. Such power that enforced the rules and law by nature did not exist.
There was no lighting strike if a promise was broken. Nor was there heaven punishment if blasphemy were done against the heaven.
For cosmic civilization, to achieve a trustworthy binding force between species, they established contracts, particularly a Partnership Contract.
By using the Soul Contract as a basis and after discovering and understanding the use of the soul link, various types of contract were created to allow a bond to be established between partners.
By establishing a link similar to a soul link, two parties could sense each other's emotional and mental state.
By extension, through it, participating in negotiations and creating treaties became smoother as they had a high level of trust. On the other hand, it could also be used to detect whether the other party had betrayed or meant harm to them.
For example,...
The contract does not force the partners to remain loyal. But should they betray or have ill intentions, the other party could sense it. During questioning and interrogation, based on the feedback and the responses from mental and emotional states, they could judge whether the news and information were genuine or fake.
Despite the disadvantage of not having the ability to communicate through soul link from a distance, as shown, there were many advantages of establishing an inferior soul link, depending on its application.
In practice, when establishing a contract, there was no mention anywhere about the type of contract. It is not like there were titles or remarks similar to written agreements that differentiate between the contracts' types.
For those unfamiliar with cosmic civilization, they would not notice any difference. Besides the implementation of the soul link for the contract, many of the terms and conditions for each contract were similar to Earth's modern world contract.
Because of this, they didn't notice it.
The types of contracts in cosmic civilization were based on this defining feature that differentiated them. Regardless of the terms being agreed upon, the defining factor was the form of the soul link when the contact was established.
This particularity was considered a norm and common knowledge among a cosmic civilization that even children would know.
A Soul Contract allows both parties to understand and communicate with each other. The soul link became a bridge that connects their soul.
A Partnership Contract uses an inferior soul link to establish the contract. At the same time, it allows the soul link to be isolated, protecting the rights of the partners. This way, they could guard themselves and their privacy and confidentiality between them.
That is, of course, not without loopholes. If they were closely examined at a short distance or met an opponent with an overwhelming mental power, they would fail to isolate the link.
The absence of this feature allowed for the creation of a Subordinate Contract.
The worst contract, on the other hand, was the Enslavement Contract and Beast Contract. These two contracts gave the rights for one party to one-sidedly use the soul link to launch a mental strike whenever they wanted.
But for humans who unscrupulously absorb the cosmic civilization's technologies and knowledge without fully understanding it, they do not notice it.
A mistake that became a catalyst for the downfall of Earth's civilization.