Lecture II

As Aiden entered the classroom with Mai behind him, he was greeted by the sight of a white-haired man staring straight at him.

Letting his eyes roam, Aiden discovered that everyone in the classroom was staring at him so he did so as well.

Amidst the sea of eyes, there was one that was strangely more intense, causing Aiden to focus on it for a bit, it was a silver-eyed girl in a black dress.

As Aiden surveyed the class one by one, he noticed a few very familiar faces, they were Serena, Ethan, and Felix.

"So these guys made it," Aiden thought to himself but just when he was about to redraw his gaze, he noticed another figure that seemed familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.

This figure sent waves of mixed feelings down Aiden's spine as he muttered, to himself, "Is that Bruce?"

"Both of you, find a place to sit, don't have all day," the teacher yelled at both Aiden and Mai.

Nodding at the teacher's statement, Mai quickly found somewhere to sit down prompting Aiden to follow suit as well.

Now that the both of them were seated, the white-haired teacher let out a breath as he continued speaking.

"Bruce, you asked a question, how do hell crystals affect our chances of breaking through to the next threat level?" The teacher asked as he looked at the classroom.

At the dawn of the teacher's words, Aiden glanced at the red-haired figure who was also staring straight at him, he no longer had any doubts.

Ignoring the strange atmosphere of the classroom, the white-haired man continued teaching. "The importance of hell crystals when breaking through to the next Threat level speaks for itself, at first we needed sacrifices, by killing a large number of animals or humans, we could sacrifice them to our demons through crudely made alters. But that changed when the Contractors, due to a conflict had a large war with the hunter's organization-"

"What is the Hunter organization?" Aiden voice suddenly sounded out drawing attention once again.

Hearing Aiden's question, the white-haired man responded, "The Hunter organization is the only organization that can punish Contractors of the Silence, other than the Silence."

"What!"

"You're joking!"

Surprised voices sounded out from all over the classroom, they couldn't believe what they had just heard.

Meanwhile, Aiden was calm, he didn't seem overly disturbed by this as he knew that the Hunter's organization was strong.

Seeing the surprise on everyone's faces, the white-haired teacher smiled as he continued, "You don't have to be surprised, although the Hunters organization is strong they don't have the power to threaten the Contractors as a whole, the reason they have the right to punish contractors is that the higher-ups of all ten families agreed to it, in the event that a Contractor gets involved with human affairs, they are to be punished, that's why you don't see Contractor running around stopping robberies and so on."

Upon hearing this, everyone nodded in understanding while Aiden narrowed his eyes as he thought to himself, "It can't possibly be as simple as that."

Bruce also seemed to think of something as he put his hand on his chin.

Meanwhile, Lila had once again resumed drawing in her notebook, but this time, she would constantly raise her head staring at Aiden's figure before continuing.

Felix, Ethan, and Serena would constantly sneak mixed glances at Aiden and Mai, the thoughts running through their head unknown.

In the midst of all this, the white-haired man was still busy explaining, "To understand why this war is important for the improvement of the way we advance, you first need to know how elusive to us the Hunter's Organization has been since their first appearance."

Glancing at Bruce the white-haired man continued, "They just appeared somewhere along the lines and seemed to adapt in countering our abilities. The war was long but was finally ended with both sides signing an agreement. After this war we learned about something called infected humans, and Detritus inscribers, that was how we began our research and started digging deep.

We discovered that some humans in the shelters had started adapting to hell energy, and some of these humans could even see hell energy."

"We quickly took in this untapped resource and after a few more years we bore the fruit of our labor in the form of diverse Detritus Marks," the teacher said before adding.

"Foremost among these marks stands the pinnacle achievement, the brainchild of Inscriber Villy Ran, head of the esteemed Infected Humans Department. Through his visionary leadership, we unlocked the secrets of the mind, crafting the most coveted Detritus Mark of all: the Advancement Mark, the mark responsible for the change in the way we advance."

Upon hearing what the teacher had said, understanding dawned on everyone, as they nodded in thought.

Meanwhile, in Aiden's head, Landon's voice sounded out, "The more I learn about these contractors the more flawed they seem to me, I mean, hell crystals, sacrifices, Detritus Mark's, the conditions for their advancements just seem too complicated."

"That may be the case, but they are the leading powers of the world, that title isn't just for show," Aiden responded.

After the teacher finished answering Bruce's question, he continued his lecture, turning to the screen he pressed a remote on hand and a few words appeared on it.

[THE REASON DEMON'S FORM CONTRACTS]

Upon seeing the topic on the screen everyone sat up, interest evident on their faces, everyone except Lila though who was still engrossed in her drawings.

Looking around the class the white-haired teacher said with a smile, "The reason demons form Contracts now this is one of the valuables you'll be learning today. The reason stronger demons make Contracts is well known and that is to escape Earth's resistance."

"Earth's resistance?" Aiden muttered to himself feeling confused, this was the first time he had heard such a statement.

Evidently, Aiden wasn't the only one confused, as the other students looked puzzled as well, they had never heard of anything like Earth's resistance.

Seeing the confusion on everyone's faces, the white-haired man continued speaking, "Don't ask me what earth resistance is as I'm not allowed to delve too deeply into the topic. As of now forget everything you've ever known about Contractors and rediscover them, most of what you see on the internet are nothing more than conspiracy theories."

Saying this the white-haired man put his hands behind his back and began speaking, "You might be confused as to how the earth is powerful enough to threaten demons, who can move mountains and split the skies. What you don't know is that Earth is part of a much larger system, a system that governs the entirety of the universe. The

System of laws."

Hearing the word laws Mai suddenly raised her hand and asked, "During the tournament, Mr. Gold mentioned something about the laws of equivalent exchange, is this related to that?"

Mai's question, steered Aiden's memory, as he too remembered that as well, looking at the white-haired man, Aiden watched as he answered Mai, "Don't worry Mai, I'll get back to that later."

Saying this he continued, "We don't know why low-level demons make Contracts

actually, any demon below threat level fifty is allowed to roam freely around the earth, we speculate that the demons get some kind of benefit related to increasing their strength and potential from us, another speculation is

they do this in wait for their strength to surpass level fifty which is highly unlikely. It is said that this information is available to higher ranking contractors, no it is confirmed, so if you are that interested just rank up and you'll find out."

Speaking to this point, the white-haired man paused strangely for a while, before pushing another button on his remote, changing the contents on the screen once again.

[PURE BLOODED DEMON'S]

"What are pure-blooded demons?" The white-haired man asked before darting in, "These demons are totally unwelcome on earth, no matter the level. And if they were to set foot on earth they would not just face earth's resistance weakening them drastically, they would also face earth's punishment anytime they used their powers."

"Such demon would make a contract with humans to escape this, but even then anytime the contractor used its powers he too would face earth's punishment, a good example of this would be Ethan, as you all know anytime he uses his powers, he faces the hash punishment of being impaled by floating spikes, that is a form of Earthly punishment."

Upon hearing this, Aiden was a bit confused, "how can you tell Earth's punishment, and normal prices apart?" He asked, earning him a nod from the white-haired man who spoke.

"This brings us to the next part of our discussion, prices, a price is decided by the demon you make a contract with, this means the demon decides the price you

will have to pay."

Saying this the teacher paused for a dramatic effect before saying. "All demons have this privilege except pure-blooded demons as the price for using their powers is always earth's punishment. After long hard years of research, we know that they get some kind of benefit from us, but that benefit is officiated by the fact that the demons are basically our slaves."

"So in return for the benefit they get from us, we have the deciding power. Do you know that If a human who knows what he or she is doing offers a demon a contract the demon cannot refuse directly, instead if they don't want you, they will offer you an unfavorable price in return for using their powers."

"A demon could say that in return for using their powers once, you would die immediately and it would be so, unfair right." The white-haired man said before darting in.

"But there is a way around this, which is the law of equivalent exchange."

Upon hearing the teacher reach this point, everyone listened in, not willing to miss a single sentence.

The teacher on the other hand was pleased by the attitude of the class and continued speaking. "Say you accepted the contract that if you used the demon's power you would die, but you didn't use it and instead rushed to the Silence to learn the laws of equivalent exchange, what do you think will happen?"

"Again let's say the demon's strength is only at threat level ten, dyeing immediately when

using a threat level ten's demon power seems unfair right?" The teacher asked before continuing.

"Well, that is exactly what the laws of equivalent exchange works on, fairness. If you are able to comprehend the laws of equivalent exchange

to ten percent, It could change the condition of dyeing immediately to just losing ninety years of your lifespan. Comprehend it to fifty percent and it could change it to losing ten years and If you're somehow able to comprehend it to a hundred percent you could be losing a second of your likespan with each use."

"Of course, this isn't the only use of laws but you'll have to figure the rest out by yourself," the white teacher said, as he stopped talking altogether.

Just when everyone thought that he had finished speaking, he suddenly said something, a look of melancholy in his eyes.

"You might think that since your demon accepted you then it likes you, and puts a fair condition on your Contract, but that is far from true, the demon only made a contract with you because it could benefit from you

and increase its strength, but serving a human is the ultimate disgrace for a demon."

"Demons innately disdain humans and want from to suffer, take Felix for example, he possesses the ability to cut through anything without hell energy with those blades of his, but it's harder to cut through things with hell energy, do you think his abilities are worth the pain he has to endure?"

Turning to Bruce, the white-haired man continued.

"As far as I know the only type of Contractor that doesn't have to pay a price when using their Contracts are Bloodline Contractors, but with such a powerful Contract they are always left with something that could prove even more difficult, and that is the demon's last wish."

Saying this, the white-haired man let out a breath and said, "That is all I have to teach you, my time is up so that means it's class dismissed for now."