Soul pact

Rakahn explained to him that even if they had joined together to fight the creatures stronger, they still ended up failing because they were too weak individually to even manage to scratch some, and because of this rule which required them to to kill their own prey, their hunting methods had been greatly influenced.

They tried several strategies, one of which was to give everyone their turn to deal the finishing blow, so that everyone could follow a more balanced pace of evolution.

This strategy had worked for a while.

But... it was high risk, the gap in strength between the monsters and theirs was obvious, the monsters had abilities and skills just as vicious as the others, the teams couldn't keep up and ended up decimated, they abandoned these methods and made do with weaker animals, which guaranteed them a better chance of survival.

Faced with these explanations, Cliff remained morose trying to imagine the losses they must have suffered.

- "You just said there was a way, right? Can you tell me in more detail?" He asked them, trying to break the silence in the room.

"It's a kind of pact that the elven clans used on newborn monsters, while their essences had not yet developed to subdue them.

The method involved bonding through the weaker creature's mana and essence, they found they were able to absorb the essence stones killed by their contractors, but it cost a huge amount of mana, as it was a pale copy of the contract with a spirit." Dahlia explained, her voice echoing softly in the room.

"Mhh we don't know if it's going to work, as she just told you my lord, it's going to cost a lot of mana" said Rakahn trying to dissuade him.

"There's only one way to confirm it Rakahn" insisted Cliff his eyes shone with determination "if you're worried about mana, it's not a problem for me, I have a skill that allows me to absorb the manas stones, it was not without reason that I put some in your bag." Cliff replied.

His impassive face made Rakahn and Dahlia's face pale, this method was risky, several elven mages died in the process, even though he knew Cliff had a large amount of mana and a way to quickly restore them, it remained when even dangerous, and bonding with a person he barely knew seemed difficult to imagine.

As generous as he is.

***

A few minutes later, Cliff had left the room, leaving the others behind, he told himself that if they refused his proposal, he would have to hunt alone so he had to stock up on mana.

One by one the mana stones were absorbed, by activating the two skills "purification" and "drainage" simultaneously, the absorption process was done more efficiently.

Slowly, Cliff felt a rush of energy invade his body, all his fatigue seemed to disappear at once, his eyes were closed, he tried to conceive a mental image of his body while trying to redirect the energy scattered in his body.

"My lord ?"

-"Um... yes... Uhm what's your name actually?" Cliff asked the two soldiers who came knocking on his door.

"It bothers me to call them the dark-haired and the blond" he muttered under his breath.

-"Ah! my lord, our apologies for not having introduced ourselves sooner, I am Sokar and he is Geb" replied the young soldier with pale skin.

Leaving the house he saw that the whole village was already gathered around in front of him, Rahkan took a step towards him with determined eyes, they seemed to have something to tell him.

A cold sweat ran down his back, Cliff wanted to take a step back, but he held back, he swallowed, hoping that they had no intention of attacking him.

In front of him Rakahn had bowed, the others joined him, their eyes were focused on Cliff.

Embarrassed and curious at the same time, Cliff rushed to pick him up.

- "Guys what are you doing". Cliff asked in a panic. "You're kidding me, aren't you?"

"My lord, we of Clan Orleth swear loyalty to you, I hope you will take care of us." Rakahn said, his cobalt blue eyes reflected strong resolution.

It only took a few seconds for Cliff to notice, he had put his hand on her shoulder.

- "Why are you doing that?, I know that you respect strong people but I don't see you going so far as to swear loyalty to them?" asked Cliff exhausted.

"To tell you the truth my lord it's a bit because of the pact, the one with the lowest mana rate finds himself submitted, so we had a discussion on this subject and we decided if we should submit entirely to you officially, understand us my lord Brown we recognize you as our master" Cliff proclaimed aloud.

There were murmurs among the crowd, Cliff understood the crowd's surprise, he didn't understand what Rakahn was explaining to him - or at least he didn't want to admit it.

Cliff was so hung up on his quest for power that he forgot to take into account their feelings in return, he was not against the idea of ​​being considered an important person but becoming master of a hundred people was too much. .. cumbersome.

"And damn!!, responsibility." Cliff cursed in his mind.

After a few hours of talking, they explained the process, Cliff felt a little bit capable of doing it, especially since by doing this he could get a more in-depth look at mana,

Rakahn sat shirtless, desperately trying to hide the fact that he was tense, he swallowed.

- "I think I'm ready." He said, releasing a deep sigh.

"Well, I'll go first." Cliff replied, putting his hand on the young man's back.

What he had to do was infuse his mana into him, lead him and finally intertwine him with the essence of Rakahn, against all odds it was easier said than done.

Cliff had infused his mana but, once released, he lost control of directing them as he wished and the mana that escaped him at high speed made him feel uneasy.

"Dude, help me," Cliff was complaining.

After a few seconds, Cliff felt the feeling of control returning to him, he concentrated deeply as he conceived a picture of the path of the mana through the young man's cells to this strange organ that is the "essence stone".

Cliff was very careful, this organ was completely unknown to him, apparently it was also the place where the mana was stored, if a strong surge of mana saturated it, it risked breaking, he intertwined his mana in the essence of Rakahn gradually. and as he had control over the influx.

[You have achieved the "Soul Pact" with the individual Rakahn Orleth]

[Your sensitivity to mana has increased]

- "it was the voice of the announcement!!!" Rakahn exclaimed his eyes wide.

"Can you hear her too? What do you know about her?" Cliff asked confused.

"Yes, I don't know much about her, all I know is that the voice of the announcement can be heard by everyone who receives it," replied Rakahn, looking thoughtful.

"Ah, what did you get then?"  Cliff asked him as he got up.

"My mana has increased and my "muscle strengthening" ability has evolved" Rakahn replied as he got dressed.

"The surprise in all this is that I have never heard of the elves that they received any abilities or evolution of them in their pacts, perhaps it is because the monsters that 'They tamed and didn't have any yet?' Dahlia wondered as she took a seat in front of Cliff.

"I hope you wouldn't mind my lord" she said as she undressed, leaving her back bare.

"Bother me ? Dearest, what man wouldn't want to enjoy this view," Cliff said to himself, biting his lower lips.

He placed his hand on her back, Cliff was trying to ignore the gentle sensation of the touch, and began to infuse her with his mana.

"Mess !! Her skin is so soft, it's hard to concentrate."

This time the infusion was done more quickly and the announcement did not take long either, Cliff had better control over the release of his mana and he did not need help to guide him in She.

"Saying it like that, it sounds weird"

At the end, just like Rakahn, she saw her ability evolve and her mana rate, perhaps it was their race that had an affinity with this ability, unfortunately Cliff could not confirm it.

Half an hour later, Cliff was dry, he had finished with the other two soldiers, he was absorbing the remains of the mana stones he had to refuel.

When his "mana heart" was saturated, he stood up, Dahlia handed him her saber and a set of black leather armor; a pair of gauntlets and two shoulder pads, which would not hinder his movements.

Cliff told them he would rather fight without them but they insisted.

Cliff took his gun and headed towards the entrance, patting Rakahn on the shoulder.

"Come on, let's go hunting."