For advance/early chapters : patreon.com/Ritesh_Jadhav0869
As Russell signed his name, a faint echo, like the tolling of a distant bell, sounded in the void as the contract was sealed. In that same moment, a low whisper, like a final breath carried on the wind, brushed past his ear. "This is my last ripple."
"What was that sound?" Russell muttered, stunned.
Five's voice brought him back to reality. "He who knows the times is a wise man. Congratulations, Mr. Russell," he said, a satisfied smile on his face as he watched Russell sign his name. "You've made the right choice."
At this moment, no matter how angry Russell was, the fact that he was now on their pirate ship was irrefutable. And yet… he didn't feel any different. Nothing had changed within him.
"The contract has already told you what you can and cannot say. You should think about its terms carefully," Five said, a strange, knowing smile on his face, as if he could see Russell's inner turmoil.
Russell searched his own mind, but it was empty. There were no new compulsions, no magical restrictions. What is going on? Is he bluffing me? He wracked his brain, trying to figure out what Five was talking about, and then he remembered the whisper he had thought was an auditory hallucination.
And then, it hit him. Like a memory from a dream, he found the contents of the contract... but they weren't in his memories. They were in the faint, residual memories of this body's original owner. The problem was, the original owner had never met the Spirit Begging Society. He'd never seen this contract before. This memory could only have appeared after Russell had signed his name.
Wait a minute. A wild possibility bloomed in his heart.
The official language of the Federation was traditional Language. Following the local customs, he had subconsciously signed his name in traditional Language as well. But the problem was, he had always been the transmigrator, the soul from another world. He wasn't the original Russell. The contract had judged that the original owner had made a deal with the Spirit Begging Society.
But the original owner was dead. How can a dead person fulfill a contract? He had, completely by accident, found a loophole. He had stuck them with a bug in their own system.
Is that you, Russell? he thought, a strange sense of connection to the boy whose body he now inhabited. No wonder my mental talent is so terrifying. Two souls are definitely stronger than one.
But with the signing of this contract, even if he didn't feel any decline in his own mental strength, he knew that the last ripple of the original Russell was gone. From now on, he was truly alone.
As if sensing his change in mood, Five smiled at him. "Of course, the Society has some welcoming gifts for you, Russell." Adhering to the classic principle of the carrot and the stick, it was time for the reward. Five took a piece of material from his coat.
Bronze-level [Individual Combat Armor] (Purple).
Russell reached out and took it, feeling no psychological burden whatsoever. The contract did state that the Society would provide him with financial support. As for whether it was a lot or a little, that depended on their mood. But he considered it taking advantage of the enemy. He wouldn't have minded even if they'd given him Black Iron materials. Still, a purple-quality bronze material was... disappointingly stingy.
Just as Russell was contemplating the material's use, Five shouted loudly towards the stairs. "The matter is resolved. You can come down now."
Tap, tap, tap.
The crisp sound of leather shoes on the stairs was heard. Russell turned his head, and the person who appeared made his pupils shrink instantly.
"President Marcus..." he uttered, the words feeling like dust in his mouth.
The person who came was none other than Marcus, the president of the Evergrove District Cardmakers Association. Russell knew there was a traitor in the Association; he had even made some guesses. But he had never imagined the mole's rank could be so high. Above a district president were the directors at the New Metro headquarters, and then the Association President himself, Lance Jennings.
At that moment, everything clicked into place. He finally understood how the Spirit Begging Society had been able to enter his home so easily. After his performance, there was no way Blake and Jennings wouldn't have assigned someone to secretly protect him. But they couldn't do it personally. In the end, sending a gold-level cardmaker was the best they could do. And that task would need to be arranged by someone. His new residence was in the Evergrove District. That task would have naturally fallen on Marcus's head.
Even if it wasn't Marcus himself assigned to protect him, with his position, he would know who was, and could easily arrange for them to be elsewhere. After all, Marcus was a high-ranking official. No one would have ever suspected him. No wonder the Society had found Darren so quickly after the incident in [The Thousand-Foot Woods]. The secret realm was within the Evergrove District. The first person to receive the report would have been Marcus. He would have known from the very beginning that the deaths of Darren and Gus were entirely Russell's doing, and had nothing to do with Jonathan Whitemore. The tampered resume meant nothing, because Marcus had been paying attention to him even before he had shown any remarkable talent!
Marcus had a strange smile on his face. "Nice to meet you again, Russell." "It was worth the effort to temporarily transfer Giles away," he added, referring to the guard who should have been watching Russell's house.
When he had first met Russell, Marcus had just thought he was a young man with some minor talent. But after Gus died at Russell's hands, combined with his performance in the joint examination, Marcus was sure that Russell was a rare genius. It was then that he began to observe him carefully, without any intention of immediate recruitment. No one else in the Society even knew a person like Russell existed.
Then, just before the Prodigy Cup, after Russell got the information from Brother Tiger, Marcus discovered that his resume had been tampered with. The very next day, New Metro First High had hurriedly registered for the tournament as a group. In addition, when Five had gone to clean up their street-level assets, he had observed Brother Tiger's abnormal behavior. It was then that the Society confirmed that the Association already knew about the Prodigy Cup conspiracy. So, they had taken advantage of the situation and launched their planned "stop-loss," creating chaos across the city.
Just as Russell now understood, the Society did not know that he was immune to the contract. This gave him an opportunity.
"President Marcus," Russell said, suppressing the turmoil in his heart and forcing a wry smile. "I didn't expect it to be you."
Just as Marcus was about to say something, Five's voice cut in. "Forget the small talk. Russell, Marcus will be your superior from now on. He will contact you if there's anything you need."
Marcus showed a noncommittal expression. "Please give me your guidance in the future, Russell."
Russell nodded helplessly, but his mind was racing. Should I find a chance to report this to Director Blake? No... if the truth comes out, and I can't explain why I'm not controlled by the contract, there will be no place for me in New Metro. Let's just play along for now and see if I can get some benefits during this period.
He had already made up his mind after the Prodigy Cup. After the Riverview Province unified examination, he would not be returning to New Metro. He was going to attend Northgate University. From what he had learned, the Spirit Begging Society's hands were not yet long enough to reach deep into the mainland.
But he had never expected Marcus to be the traitor. This rendered the protection the Association had arranged for him completely useless. As for self-defense... as a bronze-level cardmaker, he could only use bronze-level items. Even if the Association gave him a powerful defensive prop, it would be useless against a monster like Five, whose level he didn't even know. By the time a broken prop alerted the Association that something had happened, his body would probably already be cold.
(End of this chapter)