Chapter 163: Breaking a contract

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Sora watched as Sarsha fumed in anger. He kept silent, observing the changes in her expression as she seemed to adapt to the situation.

When she seemed calm enough, she said, "I take back what I said earlier. I have no more admiration for you." Turning her head to Alius, she added, "And you. This is what you meant when you told me you would have the last laugh when I made fun of you? I thought you were better than Ralph, but it seems I was mistaken."

She sighed, and continued her rant, "I don't know why you did this, but you've tried to scam me. I'm not interested in spending the remaining month frozen in time, especially after the stunt you just pulled on me. I might as well keep on training. But if you want me to trust you again, you'll need to show me some good will."

Sora was surprised and thought, 'I didn't expect her to calm down so quickly'.

He said, "You can train for as long as you want." Getting a message from Kara, he added, "We will help you..."

Sarsha's expression changed as the gloominess on her face disappeared, as if she was hoping for this answer. She had trouble admitting that she loved this training environment and these three players' help in growing.

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After that day, the [Time Space] became much more lively.

At Sora's request, Kara 'unfroze' Karim Baya from the [ASS] guild. The teenager was almost scared to death when he saw the players around him.

"Calm down, please. We're not planning on harming you." Sora tried to help the young man relax.

Sarsha who was tempering her body with her body forging technique coughed a mouthful of blood when she heard Sora's words.

She remembered having heard similar words before getting scammed.

Sora observed Karim. The young man was looking at his group and scanning his surroundings.

He said, "I know who you are, and who's being [ASS]. And in this space, there's no way for her to reach you. I have captured you and your guildmates who surrounded my friend over here."

"Are you going to interrogate me ? I'm bound by a contract, and can't say anything..." Karim said, with fear written all over his face.

Sora shook his head and explained, "I don't need information. I want just want to know something. Do you want your freedom back?"

Karim's face froze for a moment before his eyes darted downward, his expression unreadable. He opened his mouth, then hesitated, as though even the thought of responding was dangerous.

Sarsha, who just wiped the blood from her lips, couldn't help but chuckle. "Kid, if you don't say something soon, you're going to make him think you enjoy being stuck here."

Karim’s eyes flickered toward her briefly, then back to Sora. “Why is there a dark elf here? And what's the catch? ” he asked cautiously. It was clear he was trying to measure Sora’s intentions, his mistrust almost palpable.

Sora crossed his arms and tilted his head. “The catch? There’s no catch. We're currently going after Hannah. If you want your freedom, I can help you. I want to help you break the contract binding you to her.”

Karim visibly flinched at the mention of her name, his breathing growing heavier. He bit his lip, his hands clenching into fists at his sides.

Sora raised a hand, his tone kinder. “You don’t have to say anything. I know what she did to you. I just need to hear if you want out.”

Karim’s lip trembled, but he didn’t look away this time. His voice cracked as he finally spoke, “I’ve dreamed of being free… for so long. But… it’s impossible. to break a contract”

“It’s not,” Kara interjected, stepping closer. Her presence radiated calm, a sharp contrast to Sora’s commanding aura. “Nothing’s impossible. Contracts can be broken. Our friends here want to achieve it.”

“You… you don’t understand,” Karim shook his head, his voice growing impatient. “Even mentioning it makes my chest feel like it’s being crushed. I don't know for how long I was passed out, but I'll be noticed and punished as soon as -” He suddenly stopped talking, as if the next words he was about to say would put him in danger.

“She can’t reach you here,” Sora assured him, his voice steady. “This is a safe place. It’s completely isolated from the outside world. She has no idea where you are.”

Karim hesitated, his body trembling as if the weight of his decision might crush him. Then, slowly, he lifted his gaze to meet Sora’s. “How do I know that you're any better than her?"

A small smile tugged at Sora’s lips. “Can we be worse? I have no way of proving we're any better, so it will be up to you to decide if it is worth taking the risk of trusting someone again.”

He turned to Kara. “We can always wake up one of his friends and give them the same offer, can't we?”

Kara nodded.

Karim shook his head and interrupted her. “There's no need. Those guys are even more desperate than me. If this is a trap, they'll surely fall for it. I believe you! Start with me. If someone needs to be the first guinea pig, let it be me.”

“Good, Let's get to work.” Sora said, and turned to Alius. “Alius, let's start our experiments."

Alius, who was helping his familiars evolve, stood up and got closer to the group.

"Show me your contract." He spoke bluntly to Karim.

The young man was surprised by the man's temper, and looked at Sora, trying to understand what was happening.

"Listen to him. He's the expert that'll help you the most. Show him your contract." Sora said.

Alius observed Karim's contract with an intense gaze, his expression unreadable. "Show me your contract," he repeated.

Karim hesitated but then summoned the contract that bound him to Hannah. A parchment materialized in front of him, its edges glowing faintly. The text on the document was obscured, invisible to everyone but Karim.

Alius extended his hand toward the contract, a faint thread of mana leaving his palm. The energy flowed outward, but collided with the something surrounding the contract.

"There's a barrier," Alius muttered, narrowing his eyes. "It’s protecting the contract—it’s designed to repel any external energy."

Switching tactics, Alius gathered mental power, shaping it into thin, needle-like threads. These threads approached the barrier carefully, probing its structure. Each thread dissipated the moment it touched the barrier, leaving no trace of progress. The faint glow around the contract didn’t even waver.

‘So mental energy can’t breach it either,’ Alius thought, his curiosity growing.

Facing Karim, Alius spoke. "This barrier blocks external interference. Let’s try something else. Stay still."

Alius then shifted his focus to soul power. His eyes glowed faintly as he summoned the dense energy within him, letting it form a small drop.

As the soul power approached the barrier, the glow around the contract trembled slightly, almost as though acknowledging the new energy. But just as Alius thought he was making progress, the barrier flared, violently consuming his soul power. The feedback jolted him violently, and he grabbed his chest in pain.

"Soul Power is the answer, but from the notification I just got, we can't touch other player's contracts. The portion of soul power I just used was lost permanently...." Alius said grimly. "I need to rest for a while to recover."

After Alius recovered from the soul damage caused by the recoil, he chose to continue the experiment and turned to Karim. "We’ll try a different approach. I’ll guide your energy through you—your connection to the contract might give us an opening. Stay calm."

Karim disliked the idea of giving the control over his body, but he knew he had to comply and follow the man's words.

Alius extended his hand again, this time directing his energy through Karim’s body. He took control of Karim's mana, directing it toward the contract. However, as soon as the energy neared the contract, the barrier reacted the same way it did earlier.

Switching to mental power, Alius had the same results.

Finally, Alius used his Soul Power, to look for Karim's soul power reserves. He was disappointed to find out the man had almost no Soul Power. Stopping the experiment, he gave him a few [Soul Pearls], leaving Sarsha who was watching from a distance, flabbergasted.

Resuming his earlier task, he started channeling the young man's soul power. This time, the barrier trembled faintly, allowing a sliver of energy to interact with the contract’s structure. The barrier and Karim's Soul Power, guided by Alius, clashed. Karim's Soul Power was repulsed and surprisingly, Karim felt no recoil in this attempt to weaken the contract.

Alius took back his energy. He spoke slowly. "I can't break it from the outside. And I'm not sure anyone can break someone else's contract alone. However, what we just did might be the answer"

He turned to Sora, his expression serious. "He needs to become stronger. To be more accurate, he needs to develop his soul level. Once he has enough soul power, I’ll be able to guide him to destroy the contract from within."

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To save some time, I'm thinking of releasing chapters with less editing. Editing takes too much time because I do it 3-4 times (I write the first draft, I edit it, then I write a few more chapters, and before releasing on Patreon I edit the draft. And upon releasing it on RR and SH, I edit once more.)

Would you mind having versions of chapters like this ? With less editing. If there are too many mistakes, I'll go back to better versions on Patreon.

Please consider giving your opnion on the matter in the comment section.

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