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.

so we’re also friends. Oh hey! It’s not often I’m hanging out with two friends like this! People normally act 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 are super weird

“Ree! Ree?”

This one

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 hopefully be consumed by her. To her credit, she

Jake knew it was pretty much just an excuse to allow Sylphie to enter things like the Treasure Hunt and to give her some valuable Records. It was one-sided for sure, but Jake was okay with that. It didn’t seem like this would impede him in any

then he reckoned it would all end fine. He also knew that

snapped the bad guy’s neck, and saved the day!” Stormild finished, Sylphie flapping her wings in excitement, wanting the Primordial to tell

party-pooper and brought the two distracted birds back to

Union

get that done!” Stormild agreed as the tablet began lighting up. The words on the tablet began glowing with different colors as two imprints appeared on the tablet, with a larger imprint on top of

the Oath! Then, the system will ask, and you just accept, and all is good,

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

into the innermost layer as a connection was established. He intimately felt that two other connections also extended – one towards Sylphie and the other towards Stormild. It was a contract with three parties, himself and Sylphie as the subjects and

unto his mind… and it truly was a vague contract. It could only be so vague because it wasn’t actually

THUMP!

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

THUMP!

He didn’t like that.

didn’t like that at

anything… his bloodline – his base of existence –

THUMP!

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

is, he still wanted the contract. The Union Oath hadn’t

THUMP!

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

THUMP!

crack expanded across the tablet, not seeking to destroy it… but equalize

THUMP!

function of the contract. His will and bloodline managed to bend the contact as the tablet responded and everything but

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 his own soul of energy, possibly causing harm to anything but the

powerful enough to do it with his own

he knew someone

connection one could only send

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.

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