Fishing in troubled Waters (Part 2)

These prompt sounds rang in Alvin's ears as the blood spotted reticulated python died. Because of the long battle with the mutated white tiger, its HP had dropped to a critical point. Adding to the fact that Alvin's strike came when it was also the most vulnerable, it was inevitable that this beast will be killed.

Before Alvin could take any further action another prompt rang in his ears!

[Ding! Congratulations, you have leveled up! Present level is 5! All attributes upgraded by 1. You have received 4 free attribute points!]

He leveled up once again. Within an hour, he had leveled up twice. This had gone way beyond his expectations. Warm strength spread all over his body raising all his attributes by 1. Even though he had experienced this feeling several times, he still couldn't get used to it. It was very intoxicating! His stamina was now almost fully restored.

After the Strengthening ended he once again assigned 1 attribute point to strength, 2 to agility and 1 to Vitality. This was a distribution ratio that he had decided upon earlier. the reason he wasn't adding any points to soul for now is that he believed his soul attribute was high enough for now.

After checking his attribute panel he realized that his exp bar was now 180/600! He still had a distance to go before Level 6! After that he looked at the scene in front of him. The white tiger was still lying weakly on the floor. Alvin activated his [investigate] skill, and noticed the tiger's HP flashing with a red 20/850 and still dropping at 1 point every second. If he didn't do anything, this beast would be dead in 20 seconds!

When he confirmed that the white tiger could not pose any threat to him at this time, Alvin calmly walked out of the cave. Then he came to the front of the white tiger.

"I know that you can understand me. If you want to stay alive, surrender to me!" Alvin said in a low voice. The white tiger lay there motionless, as if not having heard what Alvin had said but Alvin knew that this beast understood him. From what he knew, these mutated beasts are very intelligent and even understood the language of humans.

Looking coldly at the beast, Alvin once again said, ," don't think wasting time will help you. Do you think that snake's poison is so easy to solve. If you waste more time, in less than 20 seconds, you will be dead!"

When it heard this, a hint of fear now flashed within the white tiger's eyes. After experiencing a tough battle and being poisoned, its health has now dropped to below 50 points and still dropping fast. Even though the effect of the poison has begun to gradually fade, but according to what this human said, it will be dead before it is able to dispel the poison.

It was still a young white tiger being less than three years old. The strength it has now is because of its mutation and it was due to this inexperience that caused it to suffer such injuries despite being Stronger than the python.

"I'll give you 10 seconds. If you refuse, I will kill you. I know that the entire body of an mutated beast like you is a treasure. Your blood is also said to be a necessary ingredient to refine certain type of special potions." Alvin scared the beast as he looked ups and downs the white tiger's body. It was as if he was staring at a corpse and was considering which body parts to cut out first. The white tiger's entire body trembled, while its heart began to violently pound faster.

"One …" Alvin ignored the white tiger's feelings and began the countdown.

"Two …" The white tiger remained unmoved

"Three…"

But when Alvin counted to five, the white tiger suddenly quickly bowed its head for fear that if waited to nine, it would be too slow and be killed by Alvin. Alvin revealed a trace of a meaningful smile. When he saw the white tiger had used its final skill, he had already predicted that this would be the end result.

From what he knew, mutated beasts were much smarter than ferocious beasts of the same order, and because of this wisdom of their, they were more fearful of death. However, it was also this same reasoning that most mutated beasts would not shed tears before sighting the coffin. This means that they would not easily compromise unless they were at the end of the road.

Since this white tiger was willing to surrender, it could be imagined how happy Alvin was inside. He placed his right hand on the tigers head and true to his expectations, a notification sprang up in front of him.

[Ding! Would player 'Monkey D. Arnold' like to start a contracting ceremony between you and this Mutated White Tiger?]

Alvin immediately answered 'Yes'!

[Ding! Since this Mutated White Tiger's level is higher, two conditions have to be met!

1. Player would have to pay extra experience points penalty as a result of beasts higher level. Penalty for starting this beast contact is [4*30]=120!]

2. The mutated beast must not resist the binding of player to it. During the binding process, if the beast resists, it might cause a backlash to player!]

[Ding! Does player still wish to proceed?]

When he saw the conditions needed to start the demonic beast contract, Alvin was shocked. Because he currently had 180 experience points, he could afford the first condition, but it was the second condition that left him with a headache.

If this beast resisted during the process of the formation of the contract, there could be a backlash that would cause him great injury. He once again looked at the beast and warned, "I am now going to start the contract process. If you resist, you can be sure that I will have a very sumptuous White Tiger meat for breakfast tomorrow morning!"

When it heard this, the white tiger shuddered and nodded its head in agreement. Alvin smiled and answered 'YES' to the system's enquiry.

[Ding! To start the Contracting Ceremony, a drop of blood from player is needed!]

When he heard that, Alvin immediately bit his left hand and a drop of blood emerged. Suddenly, Alvin noticed that his experience points rapidly reduced by 120 points and immediately after that, dense golden light began to flow out of his body. Two drops of blood flew out, one from the beast and the other from Alvin. When these two came together, under the guidance of the golden light, they began to form into s astringe golden rune. As the rune was being shaped, back in reality, something strange was also happening.

….

In Alvin's room, the fate stone which was fused with his hand slowly emerged again. it began to release a blue glow which also formed into a glowing runic symbol. This symbol was similar to the one which was being formed in the One Piece world but this one had more complicated runes and was bigger.

After about six seconds, the formation of this rune was completed and it flew into Alvin's forehead. The Fate stone once again slowly went back into Alvin's body.

….

Back in the One Piece world, Alvin was currently watching the scene of the formation of the contract beast contract. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his mind and a blue rune flew out of his forehead and fused with the golden rune that was forming.

A warning immediately sounded in Alvin's ears.

[Ding! Warning, warning! An unidentified energy interrupting with Contract rules. Attempting to expel it!]

[Ding! Expulsion failed! Player his advised to terminate the contract ceremony immediately!]

[Does player wish to terminate the ceremony?]

When Alvin first saw the blue glow, he first thought of the Fate Stone. Every time that the Fate Stone reacted to something, it would bring him unimaginable benefits. So he was confident this wasn't going to bring any harm to him. So he resolutely answered, 'NO!'

It took only a few seconds for the new dazzling blue rune to form. It split into two with one entering Alvin's forehead while the other entered the White Tiger's forehead.

Even though it had agreed to resist during the ceremony, this white tiger had other ideas. It still had a secret weapon that it hadn't used. It had a special healing skill that could dispel all negative effects and let it restore to its full health at the expense of dropping a level. Because of the cost involved, it originally hadn't wanted to use this skill but this damnable low level human was trying to enslave it, so how could it not resist.

The white tiger had planned to resist during the final fusion process and cause a backlash to Alvin. It would then use that skill to restore its full health. Even though its level would drop to Level 7, its strength would still be enough to tear this hateful human to shreds!