"So you click here to make it move around?", asked a girl with her brows furrowed. She really didn't get this. Why should she have to do some stupid presentation on animals in the Savanah desert. But at least she wasn't bored.
The girl was Fiona and she was currently sitting next to Leonidas who was helping her with her project. She looked at the boy's face awaiting an answer.
"Yeah that's right. And as you saw, you can control every aspect from how long they take to how exagarated the effect is. There are many options for animations and visual effects. When you add them, just make sure you add moderately. You don't want your whole PowerPoint bouncing around like a kangaroo", Leonidas said with boredom visible in his eyes.
He really didn't want to do this. He had better things to do. Like cultivation. But ever since coming back from Cape Town, seeing that Fiona and him were in the same grade and Leonidas was good in school, Ana had convinced Fiona's dad to let them be study buddies.
"Pfft hahaha haha. You're really funny" giggled Fiona sweetly. A faint blush was on her cheeks which made her look even cuter. Noticing the deep gaze Leonidas was giving her, she blushed and immediately went back to doing her presentation.
'Study buddies... Yeah right you dirty woman you just want a pretty daughter in law'
Leonidas inwardly shook his head. Being a filial son is much more difficult than he previously thought.
'And why does she keep blushing... Am I really that handsome?'
"How was Cape Town?" she asked while making sure to do her work.
"It was boring. Just a lame wedding. The food wasn't even that good. The next day we went to the beach but the weather was windy and the water was cold. Dissapointing as I expected."
Leonidas stood up and went to his bed and sat on it in the lotus position preparing to cultivate. He had basically helped her with everything she needed to know. Luckily Fiona was smart and caught everything quickly or Leonidas would have had a difficult time.
Fiona looked back and was surprised to see Leonidas in a meditative posture. She stopped typing and turned the chair to curiously ask "What are you doing?"
"This is top secret. If I told you I'd have to krrcckk" Leonidas kept his eyes closed while making a slashing gesture along his neck.
Fiona was not perturbed as she smiled at him instead.
"Oh come on. Tell me..." she stood up and went in front of him. Leonidas could smell a sweet scent of flowers and he couldn't focus anymore so he opened his eyes with an annoyed expression on his face.
"I'm serious, this is dangerous stuff. Go do your work."
"Teach me... Aren't you meditating? I can do it too!"
"I'm sure you can. You don't need me to teach you."
"No I do... Please. If you teach me I'll do anything" Fiona said desperately. She wanted to be closer to him and maybe be friends. This was the way she wanted to do it.
Leonidas couldnt help but tease this poor girl. She was too easy.
"Oh really... Like what?" Leonidas said with a smirk
"I'll g~~ k~~~" she said shyly.
"You'll what?" Leonidas' smile was practically demonic at this point.
"I'll ~~v ~s~ c~~" she muttered, the blush now clearly visible on her face
"Hey... I can't hear you" the demon spawn teased. But his face went blank after what the girl said back.
"I'll give you a kiss on the cheek!" shouted the girl
"..."
"..."
'What the fuck... Oh no I'm not gonna fall into that trashy reincarnation pedo trope'
Leonidas was panicking. All sorts of situations were spinning through his head.
He could already hear it... FBI, open up!! He could not allow that.
*cough cough cough*
"There's no need. I'll teach you just please don't ever say that again, okay?"
He was reminded of that saying again. 'Women will casually ruin your life'
"Really? Great!!" Fiona held Leonidas' hand and squeezed it while shaking it to the right and left. She was very happy right now. She thought she finally managed to win against Leonidas and she was very proud of herself.
Unknown to her, Leonidas was very rational right now. He needed a test subject for cultivation experiments. Someone close enough so that it wouldn't be problematic to spend time, but also smart event hough they were someone close to his age.
Before this moment, he still hadn't decided who the guinea pig would be. But Fiona had brought herself on a silver plater. It would be rude not to accept the gift.
Leonidas' face shifted into a serious one and looked at her in the eyes before saying "Okay, but you need to sign a Soul Contract with me"
Fiona was confused, "Soul Contract?"
Leonidas continued, "A soul contract is a contract that binds our souls together through some agreement. If anyone goes against the agreement, BAD THINGS HAPPEN."
Fiona was shocked and intrigued. She only nodded and allowed Leonidas to continue.
"You only have to sign a soul contract saying that you won't betray me and you won't tell anyone anything about the things that you and I do. So what do you think?"
Leonidas waited for her answer. He thought she would need some time to think it over, but she nodded almost immediately.
'Hey hey hey... Does this girl really understand?'
"Are you sure you understand? If you break the promise you might get injured. You might even die..." Leonidas cautioned. Although he was going this far he was not going to take advantage of this girl.
Soul contracts had been invented in the year 2147 by a piece of trash who called himself 'the Slaver'. He would lend people money and give them food. He seemed nice, but in the contrary he was perhaps the most evil.
If they couldn't repay him, he would make them sign a soul contract stipulating that those people would lose all free will and woul become his object.
He would then sell all these people to anyone who wanted them, his clients ranging from lunatics, to alien factory managers.
Soul contracts work by constantly checking the spiritual soul's condition for some activation condition. There are always two or more copies of the same contract inside the soul spaces of all individuals involved.
If the activation condition is achieved, the contract executes the punishment/reward sequence.
There were a few errors with 'the Slaver' version of the contract. If a person signed a contract which depended on having knowledge about something he did not have knowledge about at that time, then it would not activate.
For example, a man would sign a soul contract with a prostitute stipulating that none of them had STDs and if they had them, then they would become slaves to the other. If neither person knows that they have STDs, but they do, then the activation sequence will not be found even if the contract terms are true.
The Slaver was finally stopped and killed. When the protectors took his documents,they realized how powerful the soul contract array was.
It was a tier 3 array, but with Leonidas' tweaks it was able to become tier 4, with more binding consequences and much higher resistance against anyone looking for it or trying to break it.
It was then used to control criminals and alien spies, which gave humanity an upper hand in the war for a few years.
Tier 4 Soul Contracts are true across time and independent of memory or events. Which makes them more complicated to create, but safer to depend on.
Fiona was adamant.
She didn't know what the big deal was. She thought that Leonidas was being mysterious for no reason.
"Just give me the pen, where do I sign?" she said with a playful expression.
Leonidas merely looked at her before saying "A pen? We don't need a pen. Give me your hand."
Fiona had no idea what was happening, but she gave Leonidas her hand anyway. When she felt leonidas' hands touch hers, she saw indigo and blue lights everywhere around her. She was scared but more than anything she felt that this was the most beautiful sight she had seen in a while.
"Wow... What is this? "
"I'm not telling until you sign the contract" leonidas teased. He was sure her curiosity would make her sign it no matter what. As long as she signed it, Leonidas would have a ginuea pig for all his cultivation experiments...
Fiona was still dazed but she finally regained her composure.
"Where is the contract?", she demanded impatiently.
"Pfft... Hahaha." Leonidas laughed. Fiona could only grit her teeth. She tried to grab those blue lights but they would pass through her. Whenever they passed through her, she'd feel goosebumps.
Leonidas continued, "Okay just wait. You have no idea how difficult it is weaving an array while entertaining a teenage girl"
Fiona had no idea what he meant but she waited as patiently as she could. After 15 seconds Leonidas raised his right hand, which was currently unoccupied and opened his palm facing Fiona.
Immediately when he did that a sphere expanded into the shape of a white page littered in black writing that floated in mid air. Fiona's jaw dropped.
What?!
When she looked closely at the white page, she saw that it was made up of numerous squiggly lines that were squashed together. The black lines were also in a language that she did not understand.
Until suddenly the black lines twisted, split apart and came back together. Within a few more seconds, the words were in English.
**********
Soul Contract Agreement
It is with my full authority and rights that I, Fiona Hendrix, hereby agree to the following statements:
1) I agree to never betray Leonidas Mira
2) I agree to never share what Leonidas Mira teaches me with regard to Cutlivation and Practice
3) If I fail to adhere to this agreement, the punishment I will face will be:
BRAIN DEATH - ETERNAL SLUMBER
(could only be deactivated by Leonidas Mira)
4) I am signing this by my own free will. I am not being forced whatsoever.
Soul Signature .......
***********
Fiona was shocked. She was about to ask if she was seeing things, but Leonidas merely smiled at her smugly.
She realized that this was actually very serious. She stopped being so impatient and stopped to think. When she thought about brain death, fear gripped her heart.
She bit her lip and asked tentatively, "what does 'betray' mean?"
Leonidas explained patiently, "It means using what I taught you to benefit other people. If you do that, then it has to be with my permission. You understand why this has to be a secret right?"
Fiona was way too excited as she rambled, "Yeah of course I understand. How did you do this? Does your mom know. Who else knows? What do-"
"Uh-uh-uh... If you want answers, sign the contract. It's that simple." Leonidas interrupted.
Fiona waited thoughtfully, then continued, "Can the contract be changed in the future?"
Leonidas' eyes brightened with surprise.
'Wow, I like this girl'
"Yes, the contract can be changed anytime with the consent of the parties involved."
"..."
"..."
After what seemed like hours of silence, but was merely minutes Fiona sighed audibly and said "Okay, how do I sign?"
She had made her decision. Magic? Science? Whatever this new world was, she wanted to be a part of it. And she understood why Leonidas wouldn't trust her for now. She just had to prove herself to him in the future.
Leonidas nodded his head in satisfaction. "All you have to do is touch it with your palm"
Fiona didn't hesitate. She raised her palm and placed it above the Soul Signature section. She immediately saw some black squiggly lines write themselves on the page and with that the contract glowed with a purple light.
Then, the contract Condensed into a ball and then miraculously separated into two balls of purple light which went into the heads of both Leonidas and Fiona.
Fiona was so startled that she let go of Leonidas and stumbled backwards, falling flat on her backside.
Leonidas smiled and reached out his right hand to help her up. She blushed as she took it and then looked at him with eyes that had millions of questions withing them.
Leonidas breathed in. Then breathed out. The easy part is over. Now comes the hard part.
"Let me reintroduce myself..."
Leonidas had already weaved some runes into a tier 2 *Vibration Cancelation* array and sent them towards the walls and the floors 20 minutes ago. They were to keep the sounds in the room, so that nobody would hear them speak about contracts and souls.
But now he added a second layer of caution. He weaved a tier 2 *Mental Communication - Telepathy* array and put one end to him and the other to the girl currently staring at him with a burning gaze.
'Don't be alarmed'
"What?!"
"Shhhh... Telepathy" Leonidas said while pointing to his mind to which Fiona nodded.
'Okay are you ready?'
'Hello?!'
'Okay good I can hear you!'
'Oh my God!! How is this happening. That's so cool you have to teach me how y-'
'Sit down first...' Leonidas looked at her seriously.
She immediately sat on the same bed as him, somehow it occurred to her that she's currently in a boy's room on a boy's bed.
'Wow, so you're a pervert... Eww... Keep that stuff to yourself', Leonidas teased.
'I'm not a pervert', Fiona glared angrily while playfully punching him in the chest.
'Okay, Okay, fine... Let me reintroduce myself.'
An audible gulp escaped Fiona's mouth.
'My name is Leonidas Mira, and I am a Cultivator.'
'...'
'Cultivator?!'