The time to install the talent was halved which made Ast think that maybe he has grown a lot but many of his questions couldn't be answered as most of his abilities needed to be kept secret and up until now he couldn't find someone powerful and trustworthy who could guide him.
Before beginning the installation process Ast had made Chris unconscious, inside an empty cave and then asked the blood devil to keep a check on Chris.
Ast was also expectant for his tribe and also the new talent panel that he would receive. Similar to last time Ast was shrouded by strange energy, but this time the nature of energy was quite different, it was calming and nurturing, after some time Ast was shrouded in a white cocoon with golden runes all over it.
After 5 hours Ast woke up to see his new talent panel. But it came as a surprise to Ast that what greeted him was not a talent panel but a question instead.
[Choose:
1. Soul
2. Will
3. Charm]
Ast thought for a second and then chose Soul. It didn't take him much time to make this decision as the future of his whole tribe depended on this and he feared that choosing something else might change the nature of the talent.
Soon the question faded away and golden particles converged and a new panel was formed.
ðŸŽ
1. Contract creation
2. Contract modification
A stream of new information flowed into his head and a huge smile appeared on his face. Firstly he had again got an 'origin skill', the image of two faces on his talent panel. The skill was called 'Faceless'. It allowed him to modify his aura and presence and no one would be able to identify him from his aura or presence but this was only a level 1 skill, the possibilities of growth were endless for this skill. It was a perfect skill for disguise or stealth.
Secondly, he has got two skills even when his talent right now was only level one. And the second skill was overpowered. While Chris's skill 'Contract void' allowed one to completely erase an already signed contract, Ast's skill allowed him to not only erase but also change the terms of the contract. This meant that if someone was to sign any form of contract with him, they would be completely under his thumb forever eg. he could sign a cooperation contract with someone but later change its terms to slavery (it would take a lot of soul power to do so).
Ast was very impressed by his newly gained powers and now he could finally remove the curse of his tribe/clan.
Ast saw that Chris was still unconscious. He created a slave contract with stringent rules and special emphasis on secrecy and loyalty. Ast woke Chris and then forcibly made him sign the soul contract. The soul contract disintegrated and flew into Chris's body. Chris could feel the power of the contract over his soul and now he had no choice but to surrender to his fate.
Ast then created another slave contract and signed it himself. He could feel something restraining him as soon as he signed the contract, but he also felt another stronger restraint breaking. Ast knew that now he was free from the curse, the curse could be lifted by signing the slave contract and he had done just that. But the next instant he nullified the contract using his skill. Now he was a free man, ready to face the world.
Ast then thought about the pressing issue, Chris had been away from Karl for the whole night and he didn't know what Karl had done during this time.
Ast asked Chris to contact Karl and make some excuse and ask him if he contacted anyone or alerted anyone. Chris reassured Ast by telling him that Karl and his faction both have an artefact that would alert them in case of Chris's death. And Chris had already made a contingency plan with Karl that if for some reason they are unable to contact each other they would meet at the designated point in the morning.
It was still night and thus Ast wanted to take care of loose ends as soon as possible. So he made Chris call all the related parties in the forest asap.