4

[ Congratulations on promoting to Higher Demon - rolling ability wheel! ]

[ Ability drawn - Belial - Worthless ]

After receiving the knowledge of contracts I realize just how much I am going to need the magic circles' basic info. the contracts are pretty simple but also extremally important in that they can allow me to get rewarded for completing them. for example, if I were to offer a contract to a dying person to heal them for the price of half their remaining lifespan then that's something I could do. given that as a devil, I am or at least should be immortal but there are numerous things I can ask for in return for my services. and not too soon before I have a meeting with Shea this can help move things along quite smoothly, if I draw up a couple of good contracts one for the casino and also one for my future services then this could help me get the ball rolling.

But this opened my eyes to the potential of what I could gain from the magic circle's basics. if contracts can be this versatile then what is the knowledge of the circles like?

[Shop - Sin total = 18

Tier up - 1000 sin

Contracts advanced - 1000

Magic circles basic - 100

Inventory - 100

Garden - 1000

Temple of Sin - 1000]

Going to need at least another hundred sin but might as well aim to get inventory as well. focusing on the sin in the area my range of detection has increased once again but this area is still pretty sparse from walking around it the last few hours.

"Hey, Slee is this the area I was found in?"

"No you were found by the arena." hmm arena probably has a ton of sin to absorb.

"Can we go check it out to see if I recognize anything? might help me figure out some things." he turns and looks at me suspiciously. "if I wanted to run I could just fly away you know." he seems to accept that and leads me toward a more densely populated area that we have been staying away from. looking around at all the demons, it's obvious which species is which. succubus is the most obvious with all I have seen so far, some of the best-looking females I have ever seen, but I guess that's to be expected with how they prey on males.

Arriving at the arena Slee shows me the rough area I was found in since he wasn't present and has no clue where I fell at. I can't see anything so just going to assume it's the wrong spot or there is nothing to see. I know that Chen Rui fell from the human world or more aptly was pushed but I have zero clue about my origins. looking around though I can sense an abundance of sin so I focus on absorbing that while Slee goes on to tell me what he knows of the arena, so we're not just standing here like two idiots.

[Sin absorbed = 302]

Time to buy hopefully this is going to be as useful as I am hoping.

[ Confirm purchase - Magic circles basic - 100 sin ]

[ Confirm purchase - Inventory - 100 sin ]

[ Total = 200 sin ]

"Confirm."

As the information floods in I can instantly tell that this is why they always use magic circles in the show. without the circle, you are just pouring a liquid out and trying to mold it manually to do what you want but with the circle, it's like building with Legos to achieve what you want. there is a lot to play with here even a short-distance teleport and an energy absorption circle. lots of things to think about so it's probably best to go back to the lab and wait for pick up I still need to write up the contracts anyway.

"Hey Slee let's head back I should be there when they send someone to fetch me." Nodding at that he begins to lead the way.

---------

Looking over the contracts again and making sure for the third time they don't come off controlling or like a trap I smile. these should work the first stating that I will be a partner in the casino and bring in all my ideas to make it work and even supply the place with some anti-cheat measures. I have a few ideas on how to do that the main one being my new ability Worthless with it set on the boards and over the tables it should cancel out any cheating magic at least from low-tier sources. if some demon overlord wants to come in and cheat then it's just screwed. in the future it would probably be a good idea if I can ally Paglio to get him to be the head security for the place and with free alcohol and a lot of money rolling in I can't see why he would deny.

The second contract is going over how I won't sell info or work for anyone other than Shea without first consulting her. may seem like I am trapping myself but if it brings her peace of mind its good for me I never explicitly state I won't work with them if she says not to just I will consult her about it first. I don't plan on screwing with her any way she's going to be my ride to the top and will allow me to spread business all over the fall angel empire, I just have to put in a good deal of leg work to get her to the throne.

I also wrote up a third one for other business ventures such as aging wine with my magic and also growing crops. there are some other useful things but with this being a world with low entertainment everything boils down to fighting drinking and fucking so I plan on capitalizing on the first two. I don't need to worry about her selling me or my info because what I bring to her is too good for her to pass up and the contracts all have the equivalent of a Non-disclosure agreement. with this, I am as prepared for the meeting as I can be.

I wish there was a better way to tell time than just staring up at the two moons in the sky. probably could work on a clock of some sort but not anytime soon, I could also write out some theories of water and septic systems and pass them to some building company and see if it's viable or if we need to hire someone to figure it out, I remember that they had it working with magic. speaking of magic, one of the circles gives me an idea of a good supply of power to fuel the future business circles like the anti-cheat ones and the wine aging ones. the absorption circles could be set on prisoners and take some energy from them to fuel my projects. but the problem is how to transport it. it would roughly work like this the circle on the prisoner would leech small amounts and send it to the main circle in the prison, not enough to hurt just enough to make them a bit tired. then from the main circle, it could be a short distance warped to the circle that needs power. the only problem with this is whether it would be enough for them to work. and if Shea would see it as inhumane but I doubt it, they wouldn't die from it they would just sleep a bit more and they probably would like that so they're not so bored sitting in a cell.

* Knock knock * "Sir nova, princess Alice has come to pick you up." huh odd that Shea would send her sister, but maybe it's because she doesn't want anyone to know of the meeting. anyway walking down the hall and turning toward the entrance I see three people. Athena seems to have come which makes sense since she already knows of it, but the third doesn't make sense. Kia or at least who I am assuming is Kia, she's wearing a tight dress with small wings on her back and curved horns on her head if I had to relate her to someone it would be albedo. now that I think about it albedo was also a Succubus or at least part one. but back to why this is a surprise is because I know for a fact Shea does not trust Kia, odd but not important I coat myself in a tiny bit of Worthless just in case she tries to shit test me and charm me like she did Chen Rui.

"Hello, Alice and Athena." I smile and wave at them

"Hey Nova, let's go we don't want to make my sister wait." she sets off and we all follow, I notice Kia takes a glance at me and I feel a drain on my Energy but to that, I just turn and smile at her. she seems a bit surprised but then smiles back.

"Hello Nova, My name is Kia and I am princess Alice's helper." she says and holds out her hand which I'm not sure what to do with since she probably wants to test her devour on me so I just shake it. and I am proven right when I feel a small pull on my energy again and then let go, she looks really surprised now then returns to a smile and continues walking. as where talking Athena watches from the side while Alice just acts like nothing is going on.

"Nice to meet you Kia." not sure how to act around her knowing she is working for blood fall even though I know it's against her will. I wonder if I had enough power to use Worthless to break the soul shackles that are on her, she would probably deny though in fear they would kill her mom when they learned she wasn't chained. I wonder how I could best utilize Kia being a spy to make gains from blood fall, probably get into crystal valley to take it down but that would be pointless without some demon overlord helpers. I wonder if I should reenact the original meeting with Catherine, without that interaction Chen Rui would have never gotten her to fall in love with him and he would have had to kill her at some point due to her attacking the fallen angel empire. letting down my worthless barrier so it's not draining anymore we continue walking as I absorb more sin, I can't waste time when it comes to gathering this stuff.

[Sin absorbed = 80]

Arriving at the palace there's a lot less Sin around but I can already sense a huge amount of purple sin in the direction we are walking. as we approached the door the guards open it and we enter what seems to be a meeting room with a long table with chairs on both sides and at the end is an elevated platform with a throne. on the left side of the throne is an old man with three horns, sitting on the throne is Shea herself. to be honest I can see why Chen Rui was so shocked during their first meeting she is stunning especially with those bright purple eyes that almost seem to glow. if I had to relate her to someone it would be lancer Artoria with that similar cold aloof vibe she has, other than the eyes there pretty similar. I have no clue about proper etiquette so I'm just following Alice like a lost puppy and she stops Infront of the last seat closest to her sister. I quickly turn and see Athena and Kia just standing to the side and begin to sweat not knowing where to go so I just stand next to the seat beside Alice. Alice looks at me with what I would assume is pity, then cracks a smile her sister can't see and sits down. I follow her example and then look back up to see Shea is just watching us with an unreadable expression but not seeing any red sin leavening her I at least know she isn't pissed.

* Cough * "Care to introduce yourself?" old Gauss breaks the awkward silence.

"Uhhh yea I'm Nova and I suppose I am here to discuss a business venture or a few of them."

"The casino? Alice told me of it and it does sound like something that could do well, but with so little information I can't possibly invest in it, it is too much of a risk to put resources into an unknown person's idea that could fail miserably." Shea speaks for the first time and her voice seems to carry a kind of superior aura while also being entirely emotionless. she is wanting me to go into great detail explaining the inner workings maybe even so she doesn't have to include me. but I can work with this without my Worthless trait cheating would be much easier and I can use that to keep myself as a partner by supplying something they can't make without me.

"Agreed, it is a big investment, and that is why I came up with some other money-making ideas that can be used to gather the funds for the casino and continued long after that." pausing to let that sink in I then take out the third contract which includes the crop growing and wine aging and the Non-disclosure agreement, this way if she signs this she can't share info on my ability's and I can go more in-depth on my worthless traits role in the casino's security. passing it toward the end of the table it floats up and Gauss grabs it and checks it over for some kind of danger then hands it over to Shea who begins reading it. after reading it over a noticeable shine momentarily passes through her eyes and she looks up at me, to my surprise she dismisses everyone except me and Gauss.

"You are saying you can speed up crop harvest? put aside the " wine aging " can you increase the rate at which the food is grown?" Seems the food situation is just as bad as the novel said.

"If you have a plant I can demonstrate but I will withhold any more information till you sign at least that contract." She sends Gauss to grab a plant and then looks at the contract again.

"What's the difference between telling me before or after I sign? I could just burn it after you tell me."

"It's a magic contract that will prevent the spread of information as stated in the contract. it's not perfect but it will stop any big leaks." after saying that I feel a cold wind and pressure pushing down on me. I guess this is the legendary killing intent.

"you're saying this contract will bind me to you? your very presumptuous I could kill you for attempting such a thing."

"No, it doesn't bind you to me it's more of a magical agreement to not give out my secrets and put a target on my back." at that the pressure disappears.

"If you can do as this says I will put the utmost priority on your safety and secrets. it's no secret the dark moon relies on outside sources to feed its people if you can fix that then your safety would be of the utmost importance." Gauss sets a cup with some dirt in it Infront of me as Shea is talking then they both watch as I make the seed sprout into a full-grown plant and the cup falls over from the weight. they both look at it in surprise at how fast it was.

"So, about that contract." I smirk.