"Mr. Alex you have a visitor." Comes a feminine voice from the outside of Alex's room, and what he assumes to be a maid that is on the other side of the door.
In the end, he just goes towards the door and opens it. Though he is still unconsciously on guard even against the maid. He just knows too much about how cunning the people in this world are.
In the end, he just shrugs and opens the door with one of his hands behind his back. Just in case, he is preparing a spell. He sees that it is just the maid who has red hair and a curvy body. She moves to the side and shows him the person behind her, it is a black-haired and dark-eyed girl, who is wearing black pants and a brown shirt. She looked like a feminine boy when she wore that. But I just smile at the maid and say. "Thanks for showing my friend the way to my room."
The maid smiles at me slightly, I immediately recognize it as a fake smile by comparing it to the countless smiles that I have seen in both of my lives. "No problem Alex."
I then grab Lily's hand and pull her inside as I look at the maid's back as she walks away. Yep… she is definitely reporting this to someone… now if it was the Headmistress then it wouldn't be that bad as we are technically joining her organization. But if it is someone else... someone like Camilla, if she gets a whisper of Lily's talent she will want to turn her into one of her pet vampires.
Currently, all of the discovered Heroes are affiliated with the Magic Academy in different degrees. Pretty much meaning that if somehow the Heroes become Legend Rank… well Camilla definitely doesn't want that to happen. Because then the Headmistress of the Magic Academy will be turning her greedy eye towards the Land of Shadows, which is Camilla's territory, that place has ancient treasures that naturally originate into it. The place has also never been excavated or its resources plundered by humans due to its dangerous habitat. Camilla is the absolute undisputed ruler in the Land Of Shadows. There have been many who have tried but none could outsmart the thousand-year-old vampire.
All of this information is filtered by Alex's brain in a split second, his brain analyzing the current geopolitical situation around the Headmistress and Camilla based on the future events in The Game. With his knowledge of the future and his Intelligence, he has a low level of logical future sight. Of course, he also knows that future events will definitely change as he changes the present.
..
Alex then closes the door as the maid walks away. He turns and looks at Lily who is just looking at him with a calm look on her face.
"So have you made your decision?" Asks Alex, as he looks at Lily with a strange look in his eyes.
Lily simply nods and puts her hand forward. Alex sighs and takes out a pouch with two hundred gold in it, dangling it in front of her. He then takes out a piece of paper and there are some writings on it. "This is a Devil's Eye contract, if you sign it with it means that you wouldn't be able to betray me for the duration of a certain time. A spiritual blood chain will surround your heart and will kill you if you ever decide to attack me or go back on your word."
Lily frowns at this. "What!? That wasn't what you said when we met."
Alex frowns at this a little.
"Well, this is just in case you betray me too. It was conjured by a Warlock so it can't be broken by either side." Explains Alex, though in reality, he is lying. Because he, as a Blood Mage can break the contract and he will soon reach Rank 3 so it doesn't matter even if he wasn't a Blood Mage he could still break it at that Rank.
Though Lily looks reluctant, her gaze wanders towards the sack of gold. In the end, she sighs and says. "Okay… I will do it…"
She then looks at Alex as her eyes turn cold and dark KI starts leaking out of her. "If you ever break your side of the deal I will kill you even at the price of my own life."
Alex only shrugs at this. "Well, it doesn't matter anyway."
He then takes the paper and rips it apart in front of Lily. He smirks at the surprised look on her face. "What? You thought that I would care about something like a contract like this? I am not some control freak. I believe that we will have to build up our trust…"
'Also I would never put a restriction on you and have you know about it. I would rather do it when she sleeps or somehow suddenly gets a sickness that dulls the senses.' Thinks Alex, contemplating different options about how he should put her in a restriction spell. He knows how Heroes work, they have the ideology of: What is mine, is mine… but what is yours is also mine.
Heroes are notorious for their lucky encounters and stealing resources from their enemies… also they have monstrous talent that at the later stages allows them to truly shine. Easily fighting with people above their level and having countless finishing moves. Now every Hero has its own amazing back story… Lily was in the middle of her own tragic backstory when Alex appeared and took her. Well, she would have the whole usual tragic background and then a lucky encounter… one that Alex plans to accelerate so she can grow stronger so she can actually be useful to him.
'I wonder if her luck glow will rub off on me?' Wonders Alex. In the end, he just gives Lily the money and she walks away.
"Thanks, I will be back." Says Lily with a soft tone to her voice. Alex of course doesn't trust her words at all. But he will just have to wait and see, it's better to decide by facts than by what someone says.
Still, even if she runs away with the money, in his eyes a gamble between having a Hero on his side for a measly two hundred gold is definitely worth the risk.
Alex just goes back to laying on his bed. He opens his status page and puts Exp into his life class. Leveling it up to the level max for a Beginner Life Class, which is level 5. As soon as he does so a Quest appears in front of him.
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You have triggered Advancement Mission
[Better Than A Beginner]
Mission Introduction: You have already become as good as a Beginner can be, so you are ready to climb higher now.
Mission Requirements: Pay 100 Exp, craft a Novice Tier Equipment.
Rewards: Novice Magic Item Maker, Novice Magic Item Crafting Affinity, +1 Intelligence, 2 Potential Points.
_____________________
Alex smiles at this, the mission requirement would take a player weeks to complete as he found the blueprints and he either had to steal them which has the possibility of getting caught, or he just has to work his way up the Crafting Guild and get access to the blueprints. Of course, there is the chance of lucky encounters but those are extremely rare… except for the Heroes that is.
Anyway, he gets up from his bed and takes out a small knife. He makes a wound on his finger on the ground, he starts gathering a miniature blood circle with different writings along the circle's outskirts.
Slowly the blood circle disappears and…
Poof!
In a poof of smoke a small red imp with complete dark eyes and small horns on his head. His head is also too big for his body and he has a harpoon-like tail. The imp is also carrying a small red sack of items on his tiny thin arms. His whole body only came up to Alex's knee and he is only a six-year-old.
Baam!
It just drops it on the ground. This is a famous spell amongst rogue mages. With just a simple Blood Offering, you can gain some basic materials. Though overusing it isn't good because it has adverse side effects.
Poof!
The imp disappears in a poof of smile just like he came. Then Alex smiles a little at this, he knows the origin of the imps and to him, it is in a way, an inside joke.
But when he opens the sack, the smirk disappears from his face as he looks inside the sack.
'How is this possible!?!' Contemplates Alex, while looking inside the red sack.
…..