Chapter 10
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Chapter 10: Character Card
The girl with animal ears slowly sat up, grabbed a pen, and signed her name.
She used the pen with force, carving a crooked pattern. Tasha almost thought the girl was venting before death, scribbling on the floating paper. But when the final stroke was done, the whole contract lit up, shimmering unrealistically in the air before turning into dust the next moment, simultaneously lighting up in the minds of both parties involved.
It was a strange transformation, where the tangible turned intangible, immortal in dispersal. If the mythical ghost money burnt for the dead could really reach the spirits, perhaps it would happen like this. At the moment the contract was sealed, Tasha’s mind exploded with fireworks. It felt like a valve in her soul was opened, unlocking countless dusty memories.
The complexity overwhelmed Tasha, realizing why she didn’t "remember" these right when she woke up; her unprepared soul would have been crushed. The current situation wasn’t much better. Tasha felt like she was trapped in a mad library, where books scattered like startled birds. Just dodging the sharp edges of the pages left her exhausted.
Tasha struggled to tame the information, seeking patterns, discerning trajectories. The biggest challenge was she didn’t want to avoid these dangerous truths; she wanted to understand them. She was calm and cautious, yet had a powerful curiosity that sometimes overshadowed wisdom. After all, the line between reckless fools and triumphant heroes was thin, wasn’t it?
It felt like translating documents between two utterly different civilizations, trying to grasp the unknown. If only she could categorize them like folders, Tasha thought. Images of Excel spreadsheets, file folders, and business card holders quietly seeped into the chaotic thoughts in her mind.
Under her will, the information started to change.
Piece by piece, the information was organized and summarized into frameworks she could comprehend. Some details might have been lost or altered, but it was enough. The door closed again, most of the "books" flying back to the other side, and the sudden surge came to a halt. Tasha joyfully realized she had retained some things.
No wonder dungeons are called the frontiers of the abyss.
In the regular dungeon, Abyssal Gaze can be gained by devouring creatures on the surface. The dungeon transfers energy from the Primary Material Plane to the Abyss, gaining magical power, and polluting the surface world through repeated exchanges of material energy. Just like how slime creates an environment suitable for Magic Stone growth, if dungeons are filled with Aryan, the environment they create may one day allow powerful demons to roam freely on the surface.
Tasha didn’t do this, but whether due to a contract with Victor or a compromise by the dungeon’s heart, making a deal with a creature from the Primary Material Plane was accepted.
The secrets within the dungeon’s heart unlocked a part for her. The knowledge and power from other realms adjusted and reorganized in a way understandable to Tasha, turning hidden information into clear words, visible like a table.
There were three "cards" on the table in front of her.
The first card showed a chubby head of Ahuang, a note below read, "Clever gnome Ahuang, even the strongest ant is still an ant, perhaps merely a waste of Core Strength."
When Tasha focused on it, a curious touch came through, revealing Ahuang’s emotions. Just like before, communicating with it was like playing fetch with a pet, not expecting a clear conversation. The information from its side was chaotic, probably only another gnome could understand. Apart from the card’s title and the short note, there was nothing else. Ahuang was always a product of the dungeon, not much changed now.
The second card had a vertical-eyed yellow eye, with a note, "Book of Dungeons Victor, a strange book claiming to be written by a great demon, now at least a decent reference book."
Tasha searched past it like she did with Ahuang, entering a dark alley hearing hissing whispers. Before she could go halfway, she was bounced out, "Hey! You aren’t trying to peek at me, are you?" Victor exclaimed, "Don’t be silly, the darkness in my soul will crush you, then I’ll be killed by your stupidity!"
Tasha felt a lot of it was just exaggeration in that statement, but she did sense a bone-chilling coldness, along with some broken images, those images like morning dreams, dispersing quickly. Even with the contractual relationship, it’s probably best not to pry into others recklessly. It’s dangerous, invades privacy, impolite, clearly not everyone’s soul can be seen through at a glance like Ahuang.
The card labeled [Book of Dungeons] comes with a special skill attached to it.
Suspicious Salesman: You can take out a contract anytime, but it will only be in a language you understand, and it won’t have the tempting power of a demonic pact. It’s okay! Because all achievements depend on the salesman himself!
…Tasha began to suspect that the power making up the card was not entirely from this world, and the words of the salesman seemed to come from her own world. With this in mind, the pattern on the back of the card also looked a bit like cheap poker cards near the train station.
She quickly glanced over the first two cards and focused on the third one, showing a girl with bloodstained animal ears.
"Marion, who has lost too much blood, has a mixed and impure bloodline, mostly from humans and Worgen. Provide a temporary shelter for her, and soon you will gain her soul. Note: it will take about ten minutes for her to become ‘dead Marion’. But it’s okay, a weak-blooded little dog like her doesn’t have much fighting power; her soul and body may be more useful."
This tone was very much like Victor’s.
Tasha shot Victor a glance through their connection, but Victor’s large yellow eyes stared back unknowingly, oblivious to everything in her mind.
When Tasha conjured the contract earlier, she didn’t bother to adjust it since the other party couldn’t understand it anyway. So, she used the default version highly praised by demons for the contract terms. She granted the signer’s wishes, and from then on, everything belonging to the signer belonged to her.
The tyrannical clauses with a touch of abyss style were probably only deemed fair by beings like Victor.
Underneath the card of the beast-eared girl named Marion, the skill section is greyed out and needs to wait for the contract to be completed in order to unlock. Tasha frowned at the word "dying" next to the name, suddenly shivering, and then she disappeared from the space with the card and the desk.
There were no cards or desks, they were just manifestations of something in her soul. Whether the chaos just now or the subsequent cleanup, both happened in Tasha’s mental palace and only took a few minutes in reality. Dying Marion looked up at her imploringly from the ground, with people around her just as scared as before. Tasha saw the light of torches not far away, approaching towards them.
"Hide everyone!" – now she understood the meaning of the words that were just spoken.
This wasn’t difficult.
The ground cracked open a long fissure, swallowing up all the people, weapons, and corpses on the ground dug by the gnomes. People screamed in panic, "Don’t be afraid!" Marion shouted, coughing up some blood, "It’s me… follow me!"
She supported her body and walked towards the depths of the tunnel, the pitch-black underground making people uneasy, but compared to the nearby army, how bad could the unknown space be? With Marion as an example, the refugees began to move their feet one after another.
The remaining people were less than a hundred, and soon they all entered the dungeon. The entrance sealed shut like flowing earth and water, in terms of manipulating the dungeon’s terrain, gnomes had a masterful level of skill. Tasha didn’t know they could do it so well. In just a moment, the ground was as smooth as if it hadn’t been disturbed.
"Alright!" Victor said, "The contract is complete, throw them out."
He was right, Tasha could feel that. "Hide everyone," without mentioning how long to hide, or who to avoid. If you are desperate enough to make a deal with a demon, always remember to cover all the loopholes you can think of, as demon contracts are meant to benefit the house the most. Marion had fallen into a coma, unaware of this terrifying thing.
"What are you waiting for?" urged Victor, "No lord would allow a dungeon to appear in their land. Do you want to be attacked by a group of Holy Light knights?"
"All traces have been turned underground," Tasha pointed to the soldiers’ bodies, "They won’t find anything."
"A large group of people disappearing on flat ground? Even fools know something is wrong!" Victor disagreed.
But no matter what, it was already too late. The footsteps of the army could be heard from above, only a layer of soil separating them. The survivors huddled together underground, holding their breath.
Barking dogs, footsteps, shouting voices, they were getting closer… and then further away.
Phew! The collective sigh of relief turned into a small gust of wind, echoing through the dark mine tunnel, frightening many who covered their mouths and noses. They stood still like statues for a moment, many of them panicking and looking towards the only source of light in the tunnel, Tasha, whose ghostly figure was no longer hidden.
Is there enough air in the tunnel? Tasha suddenly lost focus. There was no one underground who needed air, just like no one needed light, food, or healing…
She paused, realizing that new information had been unlocked in her mind.
"Healing spell: A creature in your covenanter is experiencing a sharp decline in life force, the healing spell has been unlocked."
"Kitchen: In your covenant, there are creatures that need to eat to survive, the kitchen has been unlocked."
…
Not only that, but also "Abode: In your covenant, there are creatures that cannot recover energy in the basic underground passage, the abode has been unlocked," and so on, but the most crucial is undoubtedly the top one. At the moment the beast-eared girl became the dungeon’s property, Tasha found a way to restore her.