First Familiar

Darkness.

All I could see was darkness.

My mind felt hazy, and my body was immobile. I could not see my hands or anything around me. Only deep darkness that seemed to engulf everything.

In my hazy consciousness, I felt something touching me. The feeling was strange, as though it was reaching the deepest part of myself, but strangely, I did not feel disgusted, but instead, I felt a strange feeling of intimacy.

Then, I felt another being appear in the darkness.

I could not see him and I could not touch him, but I knew that he was there, and I could feel his friendly intentions.

Curious, I took the initiative to make contact with him, then, I realized that it was not a 'he', but a 'she'.

The feeling of intimacy became stronger. It was very strange, but I knew that I could trust her.

Then, her soft and slightly awkward voice sounded in my mind.

[Mas... ter...]

At that moment, I woke up.

I immediately felt something heavy lying on me. Looking down, I saw the lamia sleeping on my body with a peaceful expression.

The lamia felt my movements and woke up too. She looked at me with her sapphire-like blue eyes and squinted peacefully.

My first reaction was to grab my spear and attack her, but then, I felt a sense of intimacy coming from the lamia.

No matter how much I tried, I could not generate the slightest hostility towards her.

Moreover, I got the feeling that we were connected, as though she was a part of me.

"What is it...?" I asked myself with an expression of confusion.

The lamia tilted her head confused, but she then smiled softly and licked my cheek.

I was stunned, but the lamia seemed to like the feeling and continued licking me. Right now, she did not seem like a deadly monster, but a cute pet happy to be with her master.

"What in the hell is going here?" I was bewildered. What in the hell happened while I was sleeping.

I remember that I had killed the lamia, why is she alive then? Moreover, she does not seem hostile like before, and instead, she is very friendly.

For an instant, I did not know what to do.

At that moment, the demon spoke.

[Do you like my gift?]

I was dumbfounded.

"Is this your doing?"

The demon chuckled.

[Check your sea of consciousness.]

Still confused, I closed my eyes and looked inside my soul space. Immediately, I was surprised to find something floating in the center of my soul space that was not there before.

It was a strange tridimensional magic circle-like thing. It was hovering quietly inside my sea of consciousness while emitting a soft and calming glow.

Strangely, I felt an intimate feeling coming from this magic circle. Quickly, I realized that it was the same intimate feeling I felt from the lamia.

When I tried to examine the magic circle with my soul power, I felt a vague consciousness connecting with my soul. The consciousness seemed happy when it felt me, like a child seeing his mother for the first time.

"What is it?" I asked in a daze.

[I call it, [Soul Contract]. You can think of it as a new skill.]

"A new skill? Then, its function is..."

[Just like you guessed, it allows you to create a bond with other creatures, turning them into your familiars. The lamia is the first familiar contracted by this skill.]

I see...

So that is the reason why I feel a feeling of intimacy coming from the lamia.

"Does it mean that I don't need to worry about the lamia attacking me anymore?"

[You felt it, right? Even if you try, you can't generate hostile thoughts towards the lamia. It's the same for her, so you don't need to worry about her betraying you. Now, your lives are interconnected. By the way, this skill has other functions, but you need to explore them yourself. I'm not too sure about them.]

"Huh? You don't know your own skill?"

[Actually, this skill is not mine. It was created by another Immortal and I caught a glimpse of it when it was being created. Compared to the original skill, this one is far inferior, but I'm not sure of the details. As I told you, you need to explore them yourself.]

I nodded and looked at the lamia lying on my embrace.

The lamia was staring at me with a happy expression. The intimate feeling coming from her soul made me understand that she liked me very much, and her beautiful blue eyes were filled with closeness.

"I guess we are together from here onwards."

The lamia seemed to understand my words and put on a childlike smile. She started to lick my cheeks furiously as her tail waged gently.

I could not help but smile and rub her head, making the lamia squint happily and take the initiative to rub her head against my hands.

No matter how I looked at her, she did not seem like a dangerous monster but a very cute child.

"Mm, you need a name," I said while stroking the lamia's black hair and started to think about what name would be appropriate.

At that moment, I saw her beautiful blue eyes again, then, I looked at the blue scales covering her tail and a name appeared in my mind.

"Saphire, what do you think?"

The lamia tilted her head before smiling happily and rubbing her body against mine. I knew that she liked the name.

Then, I was startled.

Wait, how did I know that she liked the name?

I stared fixedly at the lamia, only to notice that I seemed to know what she was thinking.

Even though the feeling was vague, I was sure it was not an illusion. Moreover, Saphire also seemed to know what I was thinking. It was as though the connection between us made us able to convey our thoughts to each other.

"Is it one of the functions of the contract?" I pondered with a curious expression. It seems that I need to explore this skill carefully.

"By the way, how am I going to take you out of here?" I asked the lamia while stroking her head. I'm sure that if I dare to take Saphire out of the dungeon, the staff of the association will make a fuss.

"Do you have any idea, demon?"

[Just tell them that you awakened a new skill. Although it will be a bit troublesome, with your background, there should not be any trouble.]

Mm, yeah, that is true.

However, I want to avoid trouble. Plus, am I going to walk the streets with a monster following me? I don't want to cause chaos in the city.

Right, don't the summoners in novels have something like a subspace to store monsters? Perhaps this skill has something like that.

I decided to give it a try and focused on the lamia to see if I could store her inside the contract.

At the start, nothing happened. But after two minutes, I got a dizzy feeling and my vision became white for a couple of seconds followed by a soft headache. Then, when my vision returned, the lamia had disappeared.

However, I could feel that she was inside the soul contract. At the same time, I noticed that a lamia tattoo had appeared on my right arm.

... Fuck, my mother will kill me.

...

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