The Primal Hunter

Chapter 278

Jake had signed quite a few contracts during his life. It had been a staple of his pre-system work, and of course, when you made large and important purchases such as a car or a home, you had to sign. So he knew a bit about signing stuff, and there were a few things one had to always remember.

First and foremost was naturally to spend an unreasonable amount of time practicing your signature solely not to be embarrassed when you sign like a kid during an important business meeting or when the judgemental lady from the bank stares over your shoulder. All of this while being fully aware having a good-looking signature was just a stupid social construct created by archaic and unreasonable expectations in a world where digitalization had taken over, so why even bother improving your handwriting?

Anyway, the second thing one had to remember was always to read the contract closely. Jake’s mom always told a horror story of how her father’s brother’s best friend’s sister’s husband once signed without reading the contract, and he ended up buying the wrong car. In retrospect, it was a bad story, but she had told it to him so many times.

The rule of reading contracts had only become more important after the system came. At least in some ways. In others, not so much. Because each contract now gave one a sense of what they were about. You couldn’t sign it unless the system believed you understood it. But, of course, there were levels to understanding. For example, one could fail to consider the future properly but think the contract was worth it in the short term. So one had to always consider a contract properly before signing and take some time to go over it in one’s head. Possibly wait to sign till the next day if possible to sleep on it.

Now, this wasn’t a possibility when floating in some weird soul-space-thing with a half-elemental half-beast hawk and an ancient living natural disaster. But then again, the contract wasn’t exactly complicated. The massive tablet had only a few words on it, though they were quite open to interpretation.

Awesomest Uncle Jake Thayne and Bestest Bird Sylphie agree to be Forever-Friends.

“Is this seriously enough?” Jake asked, highly skeptical of the entire thing.

“Seems fine to me?” Stormild answered, looking at him like he was stupid.

“Ree!” Sylphie agreed. She had been the one behind the wording of the contract.

“Seriously?” Jake reiterated.

“Yep.”

“So, hypothetically speaking, what would breaking this contract look like? What if Sylphie and I have a disagreement? Or maybe we just don’t meet and talk for a while? Does that mean that one day it suddenly counts as us breaking it? Also, what if either of us dies? Doesn’t that automatically mean the other party broke the terms?” He asked. Every fiber of his being refused to believe this could count as a proper contract. Perhaps it was his years in the corporate world, but this couldn’t be okay, could it?

“Uhm, friends sometimes fight, so no problems there. I am still super good friends with big snake man, and we didn’t meet in super-duper long, so that’s fine too, I guess? Oh! And you can be friends with dead people too. My last best friend, er, Chosen, died because she couldn’t figure out how to become a god, but we’re still friends,” Stormild answered, completely dispelling all of Jake’s concerns.

“Ree! Ree!” Sylphie agreed, adding on something more.

“Right on, Sylphie! Dad is still dad if dad dies, and Uncle is still Uncle even if Uncle dies, so why is Forever-friend not still Forever-friend even after death? Friendships can have all shapes and sizes, so as long as you don’t outright say you aren’t Forever-Friends anymore, all is good. Oh! And you have to mean it. Sometimes people say stuff they don’t mean in anger, right?” Stormild said as she flew around them in a circle, clearly in a great mood.

“Ree?” Sylphie asked.

“Of course we’re friends!” Stormild agreed.

“Ree?” Sylphie then asked, looking at Jake.

all weird and beg me not to kill them and stuff. Some even do beg me to kill them, which is even weirder? Oh, do you know the Primordial Church? They

“Ree! Ree?”

sure! This one time

just stood there and zoned out as the Primordial began telling a story about this one time she was being chased by fanatics that tried to find the planets she would pass by next to

to enter things like the Treasure Hunt and to give her some valuable

would all end fine. He also knew that Villy had become aware of the tablet’s contents too and hadn’t commented

day!” Stormild finished, Sylphie flapping her wings in

the two distracted birds back to what was

about making the Union

imprints appeared on the tablet, with a larger imprint on top of it all, looking almost like a thundercloud ready to judge the ones making the

Then, the system will ask, and you just accept, and all is good, and you’ll be Forever-Friends!”

but flew over and touched the imprint with her wing. Jake followed suit soon after and placed his hand on it, and the moment he did so, he felt something. He felt like

other connections also extended – one towards Sylphie and the other towards Stormild. It was a contract with three parties, himself and Sylphie as the

so vague because it wasn’t actually the system itself that enforced it, but Stormild herself. He and Sylphie were equal in the contract… but Stormild above him. Able to judge him. Decide if he broke it. Hold power

THUMP!

pulse went through the connection. Jake realized this contract required him to acknowledge something he didn’t like to. Superiority. Not just in strength but status. Existence. For him to recognize Stormild as an entity that was like an unreachable heaven that could bring down a tribulation upon him if he went against her will. It required

THUMP!

He didn’t like that.

didn’t like that at

more than anything… his bloodline – his base of existence

THUMP!

He wasn’t particularly caring to take note either as he felt a sense of indignation boil up. Had he misunderstood the contract? Partly… but not really. At that final moment, he just realized that he couldn’t accept another entity to be recognized as a superior

is, he still wanted the contract. The

THUMP!

pulse was sent into the tablet. Jake’s symbol shook as a

THUMP!

to destroy it… but equalize it. The heaven above – the symbolization of Stormild –

THUMP!

rules right now, seeking to supersede the intended function of the contract. His will and bloodline managed to bend the contact as the

Jake felt an immense feeling of weakness, and his sense of danger exploded. He was trying to mess with levels of magic and power he couldn’t even begin to touch upon. While he had the qualitative ability to cause change… he didn’t have the quantity. He was simply too weak. Perhaps he would survive, but he would drain

simply wasn’t powerful enough to do it

knew someone

one could only send requests through and ask for power to then have it given with consent from the god. But Jake? Jake was a heretic.

his power simply didn’t need to ask, which was great because this was an instance where he couldn’t assist under normal circumstances. Jake had reached a stage where he didn’t need to ask, just take. Vilastromos knew it was due to the profession, which was very much based on his bloodline, that unreasonable thing. Did this mean the Viper couldn’t stop it?

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