"YOU!!--"
Not a moment after Skadi spoke, she fell gasping for air.
"What did you-- do?!"
Noah could only breathe a sigh of relief after watching the Skadi fall in front of him.
'Would this have happened to me if I had failed to Distort the contract?'
Pushing his thoughts away, Noah put out an arrogant expression as if to tease.
"Shouldn't you know, the servant is supposed to speak with respect towards the master."
"You!!--"
Each time Skadi spoke, Noah could see an invisible energy forcing her to submit before him leaving her gasping for air.
"Release me," Noah commanded.
Facing another bout of energy against her from the effects of the contract, Skadi finally released him, allowing him to finally move around.
"Well, I'll see you soon," closing his eyes Noah bid farewell.
=====
Noah opened his eyes to see himself back in the bathhouse, only to find the previous steaming hot bath to be frozen.
After getting out of the bath, Noah started faking the crime scene by opening all the windows in a rush before leaving.
By the time the priests entered the bathhouse in the evening, Noah had long escaped to his room.
Shutting himself in his room, Noah started to inspect himself. For some reason, his body was still cold.
Noah opened his status window to quickly check for ailments.
[Name: Noah
Level: 37 (2,050,000/2,500,000)
Class: None
Title: None
Grade: F
State: Normal
Affinity:
Fire: 10% Water: 5%
Wind: 7% Ice: 7%
Psychic: 3% Divinity: 1%
Health: 14,000/14,000 Mana: 10,000/10,000
Strength:51 Stamina: 56
Agility:46 Intelligence: 51
Dexterity:40 Charm: 25
Luck: 30
Stat Points: 36]
Expanding the skill tree, Noah could now see his contract with Skadi.
— Goddess Aditi's Blessing
— Inspect
— Distort
— Distort Spell
— Heads Up Display
— {2}
— Ice Temple Self Defense Sword Style (F Rank)
— {5}
— Skadi Ice Spirit
— {0}
Unable to find any abnormalities, Noah started reading about spirits from his memory.
After going through the books, Noah was finally able to find a possible reason.
… in rare cases, if the contractor experiences physical abnormalities after creating a contract this could be because of having low affinity towards the element or having contracted with a spirit with large difference in strength. Although the abnormality can be overcome with increasing affinity and training, it is recommended to release the contract and renew the contract at a later time…
'Hmm… this doesn't look good…'
After thinking about it for some time, Noah closed his eyes and called out for Skadi.
"You--ugh"
Greeted by the pleasant welcome, Noah opened his eyes to find himself back in the snowing forest with Skadi in front of him. Unlike the previous time, he was now able to freely move in the domain.
"Release the contract you -- ugh"
Noah kept ignoring Skadi's cursing and gasping and continued to look around the domain before asking her.
"What are you going to do once you are free?"
"Why should I-- ugh"
"I thought you were familiar with the contract, you need to be respectful."
Controlling her seething anger," I… I had some plans for visiting a few spirits and contractors."
"What kind of plans?"
"... Revenge."
Sigh. "You knew that my body was weak before forming the contract, so why did you?"
"We can only make contracts, when the contractor initiates. But there is another way to go around this, I just have to get the current contractor to force the new contractor to open a contract, then I can dissolve the old one and take the new one."
"Hmm… What's the condition to create a contract with you?"
"Call my name."
"Huh"
"We spirits can choose and change the conditions whenever we want."
"So it didn't have anything to do with the book?"
"What book?"
"The book in the forbidden ice spirits room?"
"Flashy title… huh forbidden? Is that why I haven't had a single contract in eons… Those bastards."
"Any reason why they would've put your name there?"
"No...ugh"
"The contract acts when you are lying to your master."
"What mast--uggh"
"Try again?"
"I may have acted a part of my revenge with my previous contractor."
After thinking about all the positives and negatives, Noah finally came to a decision.
"I will not be releasing the contract anytime soon, probably never as of now. But, I'll help you get your revenge if they are truly in the wrong. You can teach me your skills in return."
"And why should I--uggh listen to you. You'll die before you are able to wield my power anyway. I can just wait for the next contractor then."
"Hmm… I read that spirits are immortal, but each time the contractor dies, the contracted spirit gets weaker. I wonder if that applies to the contracted spirit as well. In that case, I could just ask you to kill yourself over and over again until you are STRONG as I am. What do you think?"
Skadi couldn't help but panic at my hypothesis.
"You wouldn't?!!"
"Noah?!," Melissa's voice interrupted with a knock on the door.
"Well I got to go. I'll give you some time to think about it."
Noah closed his eyes once again, exiting the domain.
Now back in his room, Noah hid under the blanket.
"I am coming in," Mellissa announced as she entered.
"Ugh… I am not feeling well. Is it important?"
"Take your blanket off, let me see."
With the side effects from the contract still in, Noah's skin was deathly pale and cold. Just one look was enough for anyone to guess that it wasn't a simple case of staying indoors all day.
'Ah, how do I get out of this.'
'If I increase my stamina, no, that would do nothing for my current appearance…'
"Come on, get up," Melissa continued while patting on the curled up blanket ball.
Making a quick decision, Noah assigned all his free stat points to charm, before getting up.
'Hope this works.'
Looking at the 10-year-old in front of her, Melissa could imagine flowers blooming all around him.
'Was he always this cute? Why do I feel like he is getter cuter each time I see him'
'I guess it's working?,' noticing the subtle change in her expression, Noah continued to act defenseless.
"What's wrong?," placing her hand on Noah's forehead, "why are you so cold? Did you leave the windows open in the bath house?"
"I uggh"
Sigh. "Go tell Reynard what you did. He'll probably give you a punishment."
'I can't waste any more time on random chores. It'll be impossible to escape then. Come on, how do I convince her to let me off easy? Wait, she is weak to kids.. I hope this works.'
Dropping his head down further, Noah tightly held his shirt, mustering up all 61 points of charm."I am sorry…"
Heart shattering, "Well I, ugh," Sigh. "I'll talk to Reynard that it was an accident. Clean the bath house and take 10 duck walks around the temple. That will be your punishment. If it was Reynard, trust me, it would be a lot worse. And don't think you can get away with this next time."
"You are the best, sister Melissa," Noah hugged her tightly.
Heart mending.