Chapter 16: Contract (1)

***Third-person P.O.V.

Steve was lying unconscious unaware of the 3 meters leopard approaching him.

It had 3 tails and yellow eyes with a shiny black fur covering its body. It walked with grace toward him before stopping inches away from his face.

It tilted its head as it observed his face before touching his forehead with its own and closing its eyes.

*** The beast P.O.V.

I might not be capable of reading minds but I was still capable enough to feel his intentions as long as his mind was not guarded against intrusion.

I touched his head before using mana as a bridge to connect our minds.

Grief and uncertainties were the first things that I encountered as soon as I connected to his mind.

As I swam past that, I manipulated his defenseless mind to show me why he wanted to meet me.

I was instantly bombarded with a sense of loneliness, the hopelessness of being a tool of someone's whims.

His mind was a mess, something that I didn't was to be part of so I scattered it.

What remained was a sense of hope and desire. The desire of capable of free will.

He wanted to make me his partner as a supporting pillar, as well as proof himself that fate doesn't completely define his reality.

There was no deceit in his thoughts, he was not even aware of what I was capable of and just wanted a companion.

' A lost child, huh?' I smirked before I shook my head.

' If he wants a companion then I would allow him to form a contract with one of my servants. ' I decided as an act of repayment for presenting me the opportunity to see such a beautiful dimensional signature. That much should fulfill his requirements as what he wanted was a companion, it didn't necessarily mean that it should be me specifically.

As I was about to exit his mind, I felt a tremor from the depths of his soul. His mind space started shaking little by little.

I was intrigued by the change so I dwelled toward the depths. As I kept falling to the source, changes started to take place around my mind avatar.

His subconscious started to shift, new walls replaced the old ones. It was almost like his mind was transforming into someone else.

My eyes widened once I reached the source of all the change happening around me.

I observed the mind avatar of the owner of this mind space. He was floating in the space with his arms stretched wide, the unique dimensional signature was emitting from him and spreading around him like water.

It was fascinating to watch but what really surprised me was his state. As a dimensional wandering creature, it was not like I never encountered weird and new dimensional signatures. I had a fair share of encounters with them but I have never seen an evolving soul before.

His soul... It was evolving or metamorphosis would be the right term for it. Like how a butterfly emerges from a cacoon, he was currently transforming too but while cacoon has only one caterpillar inside it, it was not the same for this human.

I identified two different souls in front of me. One appeared to be just the carcass while the other appeared to be complete. They somehow were merging right before my own eyes and transforming into something entirely new.

*** Third-person P.O.V. An hour to the new year.

" *sniff* *sniff*" Steve wiped his tears as he rose from his slumber. He made himself into a ball as he lay on the floor constantly whimpering. He would shiver occasionally as he tried to let all his insecurities out by crying.

It felt like all of the tension that he was feeling once he reincarnated finally stuck him at once.

Who transmigrated him and why? Is he a pawn in some divine beings' control and must do his bidding? All the questions and hopelessness born from it that lay dormant inside him after he ended up in this world stuck him.

Minutes passed before he collected himself and rose to see a creature watching him from a distance of a meter.

***Steve P.O.V.

I wiped my tears with the sleeves of my shirt before I rose on my legs. My head hurts like someone inserted a needle inside it and now that needle was rattling inside of my head.

It took some time before I realized that someone was observing me. It appeared to be a kitten with yellow eyes and it surprisingly had three tails.

I slowly staggered toward it because I was in no form to walk properly and thankfully it stayed in its place.

Once it was a few steps away from me, I realized my mistake. It was some kind of feline but it's not a child. Just that the size was around a kitten.

I carefully sat down before it and it leaned backward for a second in shock before taking a step toward me. Its eyes showed curiosity and interest while its body language showed wariness.

It reminded me of Espeon, a pocket monster because it too had a slender body but in addition to that, it had 3 tails and it had rich black fur.

Back in my old world, there was a species of cats by the name of the rusty-spotted cats that were known for their small sizes. An adult rusty-spotted cat had the size of a kitten of any other domestic cat. I saw those cats in the documentary but they should look like this beast in front of me.

I opened my backpack and took out a slice of dried meat before slowly showing it to it.

It looked at the hand for a few seconds before approaching it. Its whiskers moved up and down as it sliced before biting at one end and shaking its head to break a bite-sized piece from the whole slice.

" Grrr meow " It - no she snarled as she chewed the meat while rolling around.

I subconsciously smirked as I observed her.

" You like it, huh? " I tilted my head as I picked her up and put her into the chest pocket of my raincoat before getting up from my position and walking toward the edge to observe the town glowing with lights.

We both observe it in silence except for some chewing noises before I checked the time on watch to realised that I somehow slept for hours and there was not much time before the new year.

" Are you the one I was looking for?" I looked at my pocket as I asked the tiny Miss but the only reply I received was an innocent meow before she once again focused on wrestling with her food.

" There is not much time before the new year now. Why don't we finish the contract before enjoying the fireworks?" I turned around as I opened my bag while walking in the middle of the roof and getting on my knees.

I unlocked my phone and opened the gallery to observe the rune that I needed to make.

' it was so much easier to have tech so you could just copy the rune without memorizing it. ' I thought as I carefully picked up little miss and put her opposite to me with around 2-foot distance from me.