Contract's disadvantage - saved by a hair's length

" *vhroom vhroom*... Let's go then"

Sitting behind Casper on his bike Vikram simply patted his friends to signal that he was respectfully seated and won't fall back despite having only one hand.

The reason for Vikram's confidence was Jane that had morphed herself into a barbie doll lookalike and was sitting on his shoulder.

*****

{ Last Night }

~Jane where are your marked territories?~

~Master, I don't remember things from before but I do know that this house is one. Also, I can feel a sense of belonging in that direction, but I don't know what lies there~

She said pointing towards the centre of Zone Y, a location only half an hour's distance from the slum if travelling by car.

Vikram instinctively understood that she was pointing in the direction of Bhendi Corp.

~Okay, try this. Does your body, or soul if you will, qualify as your territory?~

Jane who had changed from her earlier ghost-white appearance was now wearing a red dress embroiled with jewels like patterns.

On Vikram's question, she tried to channel her energy in her ethereal form. He was surprised by the feeling he got when she used her powers.

Her energy was similar to the Prana-like energy of the parasites when they attacked him during his awakening, it wasn't as chaotic and violent, but her energy felt a lot colder, like the breath of death.

As she used her power, her dress fluttered smoothly as if the winds were moving her dress. This not only extenuated her curves but also gave her dangerous Shinigami-vibes due to the nature of her energy.

'She only needs a scythe and she can start reaping people's souls'

Even if she wore a traditional desi attire with a red suit and lehenga and had an aura of death surrounding her. She felt more like a masochists' wet-dream than an exemplified beauty of tradition.

The dimly lit moon drowned in clouds behind her figure highlighted her godly charms.

~It... It is possible, but the range of my control is only about two feet around me.~

She replied feeling a little sad at her uselessness. She didn't know why she felt that way.

Being an Annapurna's descendant, it was already a miracle that Jane had reached Sky-level at all.

Most other descendants never even survived beyond two years after their awakening.

However, she didn't know about that. After all, the existence of "Descendants" was a well-guarded secret of the LOTUS.

Vikram wasn't completely depressed after learning her limits either.

Although he still wanted more so he asked Akashvani for answers instead.

'AV, can Jane use her powers to affect physical reality outside the scope of her territories?'

[ Contract powers are limited to the metaphysical realm and cannot be manifested outside except for her territories in the physical world. ]

'What if Jane never had a territory in this world?'

[ Without a channel and an anchor, the contacts cannot directly affect the physical reality ]

Vikram was flabbergasted. An absurd possibility appeared in his mind.

'doesn't it mean that if I had contracted a ghost without a simlar ability like [Atomic Authority], I would be totally doomed -!?''

[ Contracts only exist for the Host to borrow their power. It is upto the Host to tame and form the kind of contacts he needs. ]

"Oh, right-!! Hmm... that makes sense.", an answer flashed in his mind.

'... Otherwise, without that limitation, I could effectively have an army of brainwashed Shikas at my disposal. That is something too good to be true.'

Paranormal Species was a D rank mutation and it wasn't surprising to Vikram that it wasn't that powerful.

'Then can I borrow Jane's power and use it as mine'

[ Host hasn't fulfilled condition to borrow 'contract' power yet ]

'What kind of powers will I get when I fulfill the conditions?'

[ I don't understand ]

'Does my body qualify as her territory?'

[ Host is the conduit for a contract's existence that stops their soul from complete degradation. That is why contracts cannot assert their powers over the host without backlash. ]

'What is soul degradation?'

[ I don't understand ]

'Aaghh! Not this again'

'Do you know about Akashvani? I heard she is a total b*tch-!!', he asked sarcastically.

[ Akashvani is the Voice of the Universe that got separated from its body two eons ago ]

'Who created it?'

[ Akashvani existed since time immemorial ]

Vikram smirked at Akashvani talking of herself in the third person but wasn't surprised.

Even if Akashvani had been updated after coming in presence of VANI, the changes were only superficial in nature.

'Akashvani's sentience would not be complete until I go to the Root'

According to novel, Akashvani only gave information within the 'reasonable estimations' of the Shika's existent memory.

However, Vikram knew that there were instances when Akashvani would reveal information from a totally new perspective that even the host was unaware of.

That's why Vikram would ask seemingly naive questions to Akashvani from time to time.

Now that the updated Akashvani was able to extract more information from his memory, Vikram was betting on the slim chance when Akashvani would slip and reveal a hint about his weird mutations that were not even part of the original novels.

Although Vikram would have to do a lot of trial and error in asking the right kinds of questions, he too loved being challenged.

The mystery of machines and Akashvani was intriguing to his boomer mind. It was like playing chess with a robot.

*****

{ Icarus High | Zone Y }

"So when are you planning to completely consume the monster cores?"

Vikram asked an unsuspecting Casper who was parking his automobile onto the stands and checking in using his school Id.

He turned and looked at Vikram with wide eyes.

"How do you know about that?"

"What is there to know?"

"... Since I sabotaged every student's chances of being awakened using the AV stone, what other choice do they have?"

Vikram knew because he could sense that Casper's body already had a hint of gene power in it.

He guessed that another dozen of E-rank monster cores would be enough for him to cross the threshold between a human and a Shika.

*sigh*

Casper looked dejectedly at his friend. He didn't blame Vikram for what happened during the awakening ceremony, but not everyone thought like him.

"Ha Ha. I guess there are just no other options for people like us who can't awaken normally."

"... But I never thought that the price for even the trashiest of E-rank monster cores would run in hundred of thousands, let alone good D or C-rank ones."

"... To be honest, I am scared of ending up awakening a trash Resident after spending years of my parent's savings on monster cores. You know how difficult it is to gain a good mutation with monster cores."

Casper said in frustration but quickly realized his mistake.

"Uhm... I didn't mean-"

"It is fine. I have a trash resident mutation, there is no point being sensitive about it!", Vikram said before Casper got the chance to apologize.

"Anyway, if you need my help fetching a certain monster core, I would be glad to help", he followed.

Despite Vikram's uncaring attitude, there were actually two people that he would go out of the way to help, and one of them was Casper.

In his last life, Casper had paid with his life to make sure that Vikram had lived and even after decades Vikram hadn't forgotten that debt.

Vikram followed a simple principle in life: "return favour ten times, and return vengeance a hundred folds"

In that sense, helping current Casper was in a way his way of clearing a decade-old debt. Moreover, Vikram knew that Casper had an affinity for Mechs and Machinas. He believed that investing in Casper won't lead to a bad outcome.

"Hahaha! In that case why don't you get me a C-rank Wrenchman's core?", Casper laughed it off as a joke.

He knew that Vikram was only trying to be empathetic towards his situation. How could Vikram help him get any cores, it had only been a week since awakening and he was a Resident to boot.

Although the speed of his evolution was extraordinary, Casper didn't believe that Vikram had the means to conjure a C-rank core for him.

'AV, any information on Wrenchman?'

---

[ Wrenchman - Earth Rank ]

Affinity - Metal and Thunder

Weakness - Redflake emerald dosed in a low-grade carcinogenic solution

Summary - A humanoid-type monster that consumes metal and has a higher affinity with Electricity. A Wrenchman is attuned to both metal and thunder elements, making it one of the few dual-element monsters with great defence, speed, and offence.

---

"Oh! Wrenchman's mutation actually sounds very powerful!", Vikram was genuinely surprised as he had only come across normal mutated monsters so far.

Monsters with elemental powers were not only more powerful than their human counterpart, but they could also use the elemental gene with much more versatility than humans.

"But is it really good for your purpose? Didn't you say your lineage has always been mechanics? Wrenchman sounds more inclined towards fighting. What if there is incompatibility with your gene makeup?"

"What do you know? If one can get Wrenchman's mutation, he can be the best mecha-fighter in the whole Continent"

"Oh-? Okay, let me check then. I don't think it should be that hard to catch this monster-!"

Vikram said without a change of tone which Casper thought was that now Vikram was also participating in the joke.

"Sure. Try your best. hahaha"

Both of them walked into the Icarus High building. As they walked through long corridors towards the auditorium, many students who had recognized Vikram gave him an angry look.

Vikram who didn't care about the children's antics simply walked with his best friend while messaging someone on his Dais watch.

As they reached the gates of the auditorium, a large dome-shaped ceiling appeared in their views.

"Who are you typing? Did you already get a girlfriend?", Casper teased Vikram as he elbowed his stomach.

"What-? Oh-! Nothing, just arranging for a couple Wrenchman's core for you", he replied with a straight face as a matter of fact.

"Hehehe!! For sure you are! Tell me more about the wrench in your heart later, let's find our seat first"

"huh-?"

Vikram felt that there was a misunderstanding but didn't feel like clarifying.

On Vikram's watch the unread conversation went like this:

---

[ You ]

Hey! Can you find me two C-rank Monster cores? It is urgent.

[ Judy ]

Sure. A common C-rank isn't a problem at all, but it will take time to deliver. We will have to import it from other Zones.

[ You ]

Have you heard of "Wrenchman"? It's a common mecha-type monster with metal merging abilities.

[ Judy ]

WHAT-?

WRENCHMAN? TWO-??

COMMON TYPE-???

DO YOU EVEN KNOW THAT MOST PEOPLE WOULD KILL THEIR FAMILIES FOR A COUPLE OF WRENCHMAN CORES-!!??

THE CHANCES OF KILLING A WRENCHMAN WITHOUT DESTROYING ITS CORE IS PRACTICALLY ZERO-!!

EVEN SKY RANKS CAN'T DEAL WITH THAT MONSTER-!

Oye!

WHERE DID YOU GO!!!

REPLY TO ME!!

??

(-_-)/

[ You ]

Oh-? Really?

What if I give you a method to kill those Wrenchman without destroying their cores and not having to wait for them to die naturally?

[ Judy ]

(⊙_⊙)?

[You]

??

[ Judy ]

*cough*

Okay, If it works, I'll even get you the cores for free.

If it doesn't you won't only not get a single penny for our other contract, you will still have to enter ROOT as an association member?

What say?

*smirk emoji*

[You]

Do you want a bet-?

Okay. *shrug*

Use redflake emerald to create a weapon and douse it in any low-grade carcinogenic solution, that will work against Wrenchman's metal defence.

[Judy]

Redflake-? The one used for jewellery and stuff-???

Even a gram of redflake emerald is already a couple of hundred thousand in price.

Who in their right mind would create a weapon out of that soft stone-!!!

It would break in an instant.

[You]

Try it.

It will work-!

Our bet is on btw.

*shaking hand emoji*

----- unread -----

[Judy]

WTF-! GIVE ME MORE DETAILS!!

OYE-!!

WHERE DID YOU FIND THIS INFORMATION-!!??

*knock knock*

WHERE DID YOU GO!!!

REPLY TO ME!!

??

(-_-)/

---

Vikram made a note to not message Judy in the future because of her incessant usage of emojis and stickers.

'I didn't know that behind that rough exterior, she was such a talkative woman'

Vikram pondered for a while.

'Technology really does change people's behaviour. No wonder those random anonymous users on the forum were being abusive and talking sh*t. People do really become their worst when behind a mask'

**

Vikram and Casper followed through the crowd of students and their parents seated on the rows of chairs on a slanted slope facing the stage.

As they reached two empty chairs in one distant corner of the uppermost rows, Casper waved his hands towards the two middle-aged looking couples.

"Oh! You are here. Come quick. The convocation is about to start"

Two of them walked with pace and reached Casper's parents.

'They look nothing like Casper's parents from my past life. How does that work?'

Vikram was surprised but kept his thought to himself and took a seat beside Casper's father.