Chapter 23: Contract and Level 1

Tormund whirled around to face Rosario and uncharacteristically shouted.

"WHAT!?"

Flinching at his own volume and the annoyance he could see in Rosarios eyes Tormund continued in just above a whisper as he rushed back over to Rosarios side.

"What do you mean you can change others. Is it something you can do because you're a Primordial? No that shouldn't be it or else you would care about the cave. It's got to be something in the cave right, what is it, is it an evolutionary material? How many are there? What are its exact properties?"

Rosario let Tormund ramble for a minute till he interrupted him.

"Go get Andromina, once she makes the contracts you will find out."

Tormund stared into Rosarios eyes for a few seconds before jumping up and running back towards the fire while calling for Andromina.

While Tormund was gone Rosario sorted out the summoning vellums he received. There was a total of 49 of them and he received 19 white, 12 brown, 10 black, and 8 green. Unfortunately, of the 10 rarities of vellums he had only gotten the bottom 4 rarities. However, he was satisfied as his Laborers had come from black scrolls and even his Blacksmith was from a white scroll. Currently he could use as many workers as possible.

Tormund and Andromina had come over while he was sorting the vellums and had sat on the blanket across from him. Tormund was fidgeting in anticipation while Andromina was wringing her hands nervously.

"Do you need me to engrave some enchantments onto your mask my lord?"

Putting away the sorted vellums Rosario smiled under the mask as he made eye contact with the Asuran woman.

"Thank you Andromina, I appreciate the offer and I plan to take you up on it however I would waste your talents on this mask. I do plan on having our blacksmith make me a better one once we get the smithy up and running."

"Oh, enough with this, who cares about your mask get to the part where you ask her about the contracts." Tormund couldn't tamp down his excitement and burst out.

Rosario thoroughly enjoyed seeing Tormund squirm, he slowly looked over at him. Andromina was frozen as she was scared their lord might be furious with getting cut off.

Instead of getting mad as Andromina expected she heard a chuckle come from Rosario. He flipped his palm facing up and a Summoning Gate Crystal appeared in is hand.

"Tormund, please go over to the summoning gate and install this new crystal."

Watching as Tormund let out a sigh and grabbed the crystal, Rosaro waited till he was out of ear shot till he began his conversation with Andromina.

"Andromina, I have a few secrets, secrets that allow me to be as powerful as I am. However, I cannot tell you or the others these secrets in case you were ever captured for the information. That being said, Tormund tells me it's possible to create contracts that would state that no matter what happens to you, you cannot reveal the secrets I tell you. Is this true?"

"That is true my lord, however its not as simple as don't reveal my secrets as in reality we might not realize something is a secret and then receive the punishment for revealing it."

"That's good to know, also I would need you to not even be able to get as far as revealing the secret. I would need the person to be stopped even before revealing anything. Also, currently there is one very specific secret I would like to share with you all, for all of your benefit. However, I cannot share this unless you have signed a contract."

At this point Tormund had come back over and sat next to Andromina. Rosario could see that 2 of the crystals in the summoning gate were now flowing with a milky white color.

"I can draft a contract that would not allow anyone to even speak about a specified secret, that should be no problem."

"What about mind reading."

"I could put a clause that says if anyone ever where to enter one of our minds the contract will trigger, and that portion of memories will be destroyed immediately."

"Good." Taking out some parchment paper and a pencil, Rosario requested. "Please use these to write up the contracts, make it so anything to do with the cave right there will be kept a secret."

Nodding Andromina took the paper. "I don't need the pen I just need essence to write the contracts."

"How much essence?"

"About 5 each."

Nodding Rosario took out 2 level 3 essence, and 1 level 4 essence. It left him with 4 level 4 essence and 9 level 3 essence, not counting what he set aside to use already.

"Please make them as soon as possible, it would be better if we get this matter solved before any of you level up."

Standing up and gesturing at Tormund Rosario let her know. "You can make them here we will move; I need to let the others know our plans and if there are any dissenting opinions."

Moving back to the others Rosario looked at each one as they watched him walk towards them. Some seemed nervous, others were curious, while Bolog just ate his food not caring at all.

Rosario sat back with them and explained the situation.

"I apologize for asking that you hold off leveling up. I know it's a great way to gain strength, but I promise it is not solely for selfish reasons I am asking you to do this. I possibly have a way to help you become more powerful than if you were to level up now. I am asking you to give me an hour to complete my level up so I can confirm something and then I will explain more. For now, know this, Andromina is working on a secrecy contract that you will all need to sign before I tell you anything more. Once signed I can reveal some things to you that I think might be beneficial to your growth. Until then I am going to absorb the last 25 essence I need to level."

Walking over to the tent and sitting in front of it, Rosario gave Tormund a glance.

Nodding Tormund reassured him. "I will keep an eye out, but I don't think you have anything to worry about with them."

Taking out the Evo 0, level 5 essence crystal Rosario saw the normal prompt as he held it in his hand.

[Evo 0, level 5 Essence Crystal, would you like to absorb this essence?]

[YES/NO]

Choosing yes Rosario watched as the essence turned into a gaseous form and entered his body, the partially full feeling he had noticed before became a completely full feeling.

[You have gathered enough essence to reach the next level, would you like to level up?]

[YES/NO]

Selecting yes again Rosario saw as another screen appeared.

[Please choose where you would like to place your stats, level up will occur after you have confirmed your selection:

Constitution: 2

Strength: 2

Agility: 2

Dexterity: 2

Mind Capacity: 1

Mind Processing: 1]

Not seeing a need for too much with his mind, as his Mana still said 0 for some reason Rosario chose how to spread the 10 stats and confirmed it. He closed his eyes to feel what would happen next as best as possible and he was able to feel the full feeling melt away while the essence traveled through his body and mind strengthening them.

After about 5 minutes Rosario opened his eyes and stood up. Smiling at Tormund he patted his shoulder as he walked by.

"Tormund this is definitely going to benefit you all very, very much."