First Draft Picks

"Excuse me," I called out to Deanon after discussing my findings with Alex and getting her approval.

"Are you ready to pick out your slaves?" He smiled, giving out all types of bad vibes.

"I'd like to ask more about some of the people that caught my eye," I tried my hardest to keep a poker face. When he nodded along and asked me to point them out, I referenced their names from the scroll he had given me.

"The cursed one and the cripple?" Deanon asked. When I nodded, he looked at me strangely, "...You're not seriously considering them, right? You must understand that both of them are absolute slaves because they are practically useless given their conditions. One can barely use her Skills in Alchemy for more than half an hour each day before she starts to suffer Magic withdrawals and the other, who is only good in a combat setting, is missing an arm and an eye."

"Mhmm," I hummed along before asking, "Can you tell me more about the girl's curse?"

Deanon's eye twitched as I completely ignored his advice. But he remained professional despite the fact and said, "The girl, Ily, is one of the few rare demihumans born with an active Curse from a prestigious bloodline. Without it, I doubt even I could afford to buy her absolute slavery. But since she is Cursed, she has a limited lifespan of at most 50 years, and her ability to use Magic is heavily restrained."

"Her Creed and Skills more than makeup for those unfortunate shortcomings," I muttered before addressing Deanon directly. "I'll take those two as my slaves and Alex will take these two."

"I wouldn't recommend it, but… The choice is yours to make," Deanon shrugged. "It will be on you to explain to the Emperor why you picked these terribly unsuitable slaves when the time comes to turn in your monthly provisions and you come up short."

Yeah, whatever dude. The Emperor won't have anything to say when I met his expectations. With the way Alex and I were progressing with our work, we probably would have been able to manage even without the help of some more slaves.

Now, I was getting not one, but two completely loyal minions to expedite the process? So long as potion brewing wasn't harder than pill concocting — it was actually described to be the easiest of all the types of Alchemy — I could see myself singlehandedly completing my first month's provision stipulations by the end of my third week at the farmhouse.

"This is your last chance to reconsider," Deanon advised as he gathered all our slaves to-be and finished preparing the slave transfering process.

"I'm confident in my choices," I struggled to contain the urge to roll my eyes at him.

"It's your funeral," He sighed before picking up a needle, cleaning it with alcohol, and handing it to me. "Here, prick your thumb. I'm going to need a drop of your blood."

When I complied, I let my blood drop into something of a petri dish which he used to cast some sort of voodoo magic. An unreasonable amount of smoke started pouring off my blood which then flew to the two I'd chosen as my slaves. The smoke solidified into neck tattoos and as the process was finished…

[New Skill Alert!

Name: Slave Control

Grade: B

Description: Created from the [Slave Binding] of a Slaver with B Grade mastery of their Skill. This Skill facilitates your authority over the slaves bound to you. It automatically disincentivizes your slaves from even thinking of harming you by causing them pain should they ignore valid orders or scheme against you. Should you die, all absolute slaves linked to you will also die. This skill only affects slaves with B+ Vitality or below.

Current Slave Roster: Ily, Kombu]

After Alex got her slaves bound to her, we left the Deanon's Store.

"Alright team," I snorted. "I still have a bit of business to take care of here in the city before going back home. So, I want you guys to follow Alex back. I recommend you rest for as long as you can once you get there, as I'll be having you guys working as hard as possible when I get back… Within reason, of course" I smiled awkwardly at Ily.

She was an honest to god Cat Person — one of the dozens, if not hundreds, of different Demi-Humans — but her curse made her appear dangerously frail. Her eyes were sunken into her skull, her skin was concerningly pale, and her cat ears were white with blue to black tips. Really, she looked like she had Stage 5 Cancer.

Obviously, I wouldn't be working either of my slaves to death. I doubt I would ever need to ask them to work for more than a common forty-hour week. And, certainly, at the very start, I wouldn't push them into hurting themselves before I could come up with remedies to their afflictions. It would only be a matter of time before I could either buy or concoct my own healing solutions to their problems.

For now, though, I bade them goodbye and told them to take it easy. I had clothes to buy, pills to sell, and god-only-knows how much information to steal with my hilariously broken [Plant Identification] Skill.

But first…

[Title: Botany Incarnate effect triggered.]

[New Skill Alert!

Name: Plant Magic: Fabric Transformation

Grade: F

Description: So long as a targeted piece of fabric is made of 50%, or higher, plant-based material, this Skill allows you to modify its properties within the limits of the material in question. You may change the fabric's texture, color, and thickness.]

I walked into an isolated side alley and took off my navy-blue jacket before using my newly created Skill to turn my black tank top and jeans into a black cloak and trouser combo; a common attire, I'd seen from Kombu and many of the men in Deanon's Slave Trade.

Did I look like an edgy teenager in the middle of their rebellious phase? Probably. But, most of the people in this world looked just as ridiculous if not even more so. It was unfortunate, but I didn't care much for fashion, and this small precaution could make the difference in preventing the Emperor from learning of my true abilities.

So, I ignored my likely cringe-worthy appearance and moved further into the city.