Contract

"Having some trouble?"

Freya looked up from her palm to see Mila looking down at her with a warm smile on her face, "I'm just frustrated. No matter what I do, I can't get the spell to duplicate."

Mila fell silent as she thought and stared at Freya with a curious eye, "That's strange you've gotten everything else rather quickly. If you don't mind me asking what affinities do you have?"

"Um, just nature, I think," Freya said hesitantly.

Mila's face split open into a smile, "That's a rather rare affinity to have."

Freya huffed, "Yea, a lot of good it does. All I've managed to do so far is make a bunch of plants grow during my awakening ritual."

Mila seemed to freeze at Freya's statement, and her dark brown eyes gained a hungry gleam, "You have an awakened affinity?"

"I think so. That's what Mordecai called it when I asked him. Now that I think about it, he said it was kinda rare. Is that why I can't duplicate the spell?" Freya asked, and Mila responded with a nod.

"You most likely have a very high nature affinity which is the case for most people that have some of the rarer ones like shadow, light, and time. It makes you really good at casting spells that match your affinity, but even lower-tier spells are hard to get a handhold on." Mila explained helpfully, making Freya sigh.

"Great, so won't be of any use until I get a nature spell. There's no chance that scrolls for nature spells are super cheap." Freya asked with false hope.

"Nope, it's actually the opposite. Even the most basic spell for a rare affinity can cost more than a midtier spell for a fire or water affinity." Mila's answer seemed to drain the life out of Freya, "I could always buy a spell for you until you can pay me back."

Freya's head shot up as she stared at Mila with wide eyes, "Why would you do that?"

Mila smiled, "Call it an investment. If we enter into a contract, you'll be obligated to pay me back, and there won't be any hidden interest fee, so I can't lock you into so bullshit infinite debt."

Freya bit her lip as she thought it over for a second, "Alright, you have a deal."

Mila grinned, and a second later, a window blocked Freya's view.

[Contract]

Party A: Mila Far

Party B: Freya McAlister

Agreement: Party A will give Party B [Scroll of Wild Growth]. In return, Party B will be obligated to pay Party A six installments of one thousand contribution points every month. If Party B defaults on one monthly payment, the credits will be forcefully taken from their account to pay the debt. If there is any outstanding debt, it will be added to the total amount of next month's payment. If the full debt is not paid within six months, Party B will have their entire inventory liquidated in order to reimburse Party A.

Do you agree to this Contract? Y/N

After another moment of thought, Freya selected yes, and the window disappeared. Mila held out her hand as a tightly bound scroll appeared in her palm.

"Here you go."

Taking the offered scroll, Freya smiled as she analyzed the magical item.

[Consumable: Spell of Wild Growth I]

Effect: When used, this scroll teaches the spell Wild Growth.

[Spell: Wild Growth I]

Cost: Low Mana

Range: Sight

Duration: 3 minutes

Effect: Shoot a bolt of nature magic onto the ground or wall, causing roots to emerge and grasp any hostile entity within a five-meter radius.

Unfurling the scroll, Freya felt a jolt of energy shoot through her, locking her in place as the paper fell apart into ash, leaving behind a slew of glowing green symbols.

The symbols then floated up before sinking into Freya's forehead. Grunting in pain, Freya massaged her temples as her head pounded.

[You have learned the spell: Wild Growth I]

"You alright?" Mila asked as Freya's migraine passed.

"Yeah, now I am. Will it suck this much in the future?" Freya asked with a sigh.

"Unless you can create your own spells, I'm afraid the pain only gets worse. I think I passed out when I learned my first tier V spell." Mila said with a shiver, "If you think a hangover is bad, just wait until you start learning spells."

Freya blinked as her image of Mila being a respectable upperclassman slowly crumbled apart, "I don't drink."

Mila grinned as she laughed to herself, "Trust me when I say that won't last long."

Freya had a bright smile on her face as she sat down at the table where Luci, the twins, and Hunter were sitting. They were in the dining hall, an absolutely massive room able to fit over two thousand students at a time and boasted an impressive array of meal options with ingredients from around the Empire.

Freya's friends were all eagerly devouring their meals, but they paused to smile in greeting as Freya sat down, "It's nice to see everybody, especially you, Luci."

The quiet blond girl dipped her head in thanks, "Hunter has already caught me up on everything. I can't believe you guys actually bought me a healing spell."

"Unless we want to spend all our free contribution points buying health potions, it was the most logical choice," Hunter said as he speared a chunk of potato with his fork.

Before anyone could speak further, the table shook as a heavy platter piled high with every kind of cooked meat the dining hall had to offer. Fenrir sat behind the plate before grabbing a roasted chicken leg and taking a large bite from the thigh.

Fenrir glanced around the table, swallowing loudly, "What, the food's free."

"We're not talking about the food, you brute," Freya hissed as she glared at Fenrir, "What the hell happened to you? It looks like you got trapped into a burlap sack with a rabid cat and a snake."

Fenrir's clothes were torn to shreds, and his visible skin was covered in freshly healed cuts and dark bruises, "The Domain was a bit more difficult than I anticipated. It turns out they put it on easy mode for our orientation."

Freya let out a long, frustrated sigh as Luci reached over and held out her hand as a golden glow enveloped it, "Healing Touch."

As Luci's hand touched Fenrir's arm, his wounds began to heal at a visible rate. But the golden light flickered before dying out in only a few seconds, still leaving Fenrir relatively battered and bruised, "Sorry, but that's all I can manage right now with the mana I have."

Luci frowned as she clenched her fist, clearly battling with a slew of emotions, "I couldn't do anything when those bullies attacked us. What if that had been a monster in the wild? We would all be dead right now."

The entire table fell silent as they stared at Luci, no one quite sure what to say. As Luci began to sob silently, a leg bone flew across the table and hit Luci on the forehead with a dull thud.

Luci's head shot up to stare at Fenrir as everyone turned to look at him, "W-why?"

Freya felt her face turn red with anger as she saw Luci's tears begin to spill down her cheeks, 'That asshole, I knew he could be a bit arrogant, but I didn't think-'

"Because nothing will change if you curl up into a ball and cry every time you face adversity." Fenrir's steely grey eyes seemed as sharp as a freshly honed blade as he turned from Luci to everyone else around the table, "And the rest of you shouldn't enable her with a pity party."

"Enable her?!" Freya nearly shouted back, "It's called compassion, you insensitive, cold-hearted bastard."

Fenrir leaned forward as he stared Freya down, "I am compassionate. You don't think I didn't feel helpless when I lost to those guys? Or today, when I limped out of the Domain after being overconfident in my abilities?"

Freya scowled but couldn't come up with a comeback and could only watch as Fenrir turned back to Luci, who had stopped crying, "Now isn't the time to cry. Right now, we have nothing to lose, and there is no setback that will decide our fate. Every loss will only improve our skills and firm our resolve and resilience. So that when the day comes when there is no safety net and your healing magic is the difference between life and death, there will be no tears clouding your vision."

Luci held Fenrir's gaze with watery eyes before she inhaled through her nose and nodded, "Y-your right, there's no point in crying. But h-how do I get stronger? All I can do is heal."

"And is that what you want to do?" Fenrir asked, his gaze not leaving Luci's, "Imagine all of us, Me, Freya, Al, Alan, and Hunter, we're all on death's doorstep with a horde of goblins charging at us. You're the only one left. What do you do?"

Luci stammered, "I-I d-don't know...I would heal you guys."

Fenrir shook his head, "Not good enough, be more specific. The air is thick with copper, and you can see your friends screaming in agony, all while the goblins' footsteps get louder and louder."

Luci's eyes dulled, "T-there's nothing I can do."

"Why?" Fenrir asked, and Freya felt an invisible wave pass over her, "Why is there nothing you can do? In that situation, what would you want?"

Luci frowned, "To heal your wounds, to close each one with stitches so that they never open again."

Fenrir grinned, "And there we have it, your core."

Luci blinked, "My core? What's that?"

"As you level up, your abilities, skills, spells, and classes all have the chance to evolve. You can influence this change if you establish a core or a central idea of how your power will manifest." Fenrir explained as he sat back in his chair, "You said stitches. Do you have training in first aid?"

Luci shook her head, "No, I'm a seamstress I was going to take over my parents' tailor shop before I came to the academy."

"Well, you know there's a skill for sewing. Get a few levels in that, then try to imbue your mana or healing magic into the threads." Fenrir suggested with a shrug.

"I can do that?" Luci asked with a hopeful gleam in her eyes.

Fenrir shrugged again, "Why not? If someone can throw fire from their hand, why can't you make healing threads?"

"That's the worst logic I've ever heard. How are those two even closely related?" Freya asked with a snort.

Fenrir opened his mouth to respond, but Hunter spoke up first, "Look, there's no reason to bicker. We're all on the same team here, and there are more pressing matters to discuss."

Freya sucked her teeth as she sat back in her chair, "Fine, it was pointless arguing anyways."

Hunter smiled as he looked back to Fenrir to find he had already gone back to eating his body weight in meat, "Well, alright then, first things first, the twins and mine instructor let it slip that apparently there's a tournament in about three months for all the First Years. Apparently, it's held by all of the Cohorts to scout out talent."

"If it's like Orientation, then it's just going to be a bunch of nobles using their daddy's wallet to buy the best gear," Freya said with a scowl.

"Maybe, but there's still a chance. Even if we don't get into a cohort, it's still a good experience fighting as a team." Hunter said, his smile never faltering, "Also, it's mandatory, so we don't really have a choice."

Al looked up from his plate, "Alright then, how do we prepare?"

"By doing what we've been doing, training and saving up Contribution Points. This ties us to my next point. Fenrir, how did you do in the Grotto."

Taking a bit out of a large flank steak, Fenrir chewed as he talked, "Poorly, with every single first year running Goblins Grotto, the market is flooded with Goblin Ears, Fangs, and Mushrooms. I only made five hundred contribution points after killing more than fifty goblins."

"What about Jobs? Those can give out Contribution points, right?" Luci asked softly as her face scrunched up in thought.

Fenrir shook his head, "I checked the Job board. Anything worthwhile has been taken already. If we don't figure out a way to make some points, we won't stand a chance in the tournament."