Chapter 473: Contractee State
Despite the physical exhaustion, there was a profound internal drive. An intrinsic resource was being utilized to sustain the power coursing through him, yet it remained within controllable limits.
He looked down at Stormfang, the wyvern still sleeping soundly despite the electrical discharge filling the area.
’I’m leaving Stormfang with you,’ Jack projected. ’When he wakes, tell him to co to .’
’Understood,’ Tharaxis replied. ’Be careful with that power, little Soul Warden. The Contractee State is addictive. Many contractors burn through decades of life because using divine power feels too good to resist.’
Jack didn’t respond. He crouched slightly, then pushed off from the plateau with force that cracked stone beneath his boots.
Jack started to go airborne. The system was propelled by electrical thrust, resulting in a gradual descent as its power diminished.
Golden lightning erupted from Jack’s hands and feet, creating jets that carried him upward at speeds that would have been impossible without the Contractee State.
He rose above the plateau, above the rock formations where Stormfang was resting, until the entire expanse of Floor Fifty-Two stretched out beneath him.
The storm clouds parted around his form, electricity recognizing sothing of its own nature and moving aside.
Jack spotted the portal leading to Floor Fifty-One. A shimring gateway at the far edge of the floor, ten miles distant.
At his current speed, he’d reach it in minutes.
But Jack had almost forgotten his own skill. He opened a portal directly to Floor Twenty-Three. His skill had grown with continued use, and now, in any place he had visited before, he could make a portal to that destination.
By the ti he erged onto Floor Twenty-Three’s wasteland, the golden lightning had faded, and his body had returned to its normal state.
His demon army waited exactly where he’d left them, their formations perfect despite a week without direct supervision.
But now massive bonfires burned across the wasteland, flas reaching twenty feet into the air, consuming trees that the demons had felled and stacked with military precision.
Kaedor and Loryn approached imdiately, both demons bowing respectfully.
"Master," Kaedor rumbled, his crimson eyes studying Jack with obvious curiosity. "You seem... different. The power you radiate has changed."
"Contracted with a Demi-God," Jack replied casually, already moving toward the nearest bonfire. "Tharaxis the Stormbreaker. It’s complicated."
He could feel both demons’ shock through the Soul Link, but neither voiced their surprise.
"What are the fires for, Master?" Loryn asked, falling into step beside Jack.
"Food," Jack said, reaching into his system storage.
Demon hearts materialized in his hands. Crystallized organs that glowed with dark energy, each one roughly the size of a human fist.
Jack had accumulated hundreds of them over his ti in the tower, storing them for the demonic essence they provided.
Now they’d serve a more imdiate purpose.
He tossed three hearts near the edge of the bonfire, close enough that the flas would cook them but not so close they’d burn.
The organs began to sizzle imdiately, their dark surfaces turning slightly red as heat penetrated the crystallized flesh.
Tharaxis’s presence stirred in Jack’s consciousness. ’Are you certain you want to consu demon hearts? You’re aware what that will do to your humanity?’
Jack’s laugh was genuine as he pulled more hearts from storage, arranging them around the fire in groups of five. "It doesn’t matter. I’m already part demon. Have been since I started integrating demonic essence."
There was a pause, then Tharaxis’s laugh joined his, resonating through their ntal connection with genuine delight.
’That’s why you didn’t care about the lifespan cost! You clever little Soul Warden. You’ve been transforming yourself into sothing that doesn’t die from old age.’
"Demons live for thousands of years," Jack confird, flipping the first three hearts with a stick. The organs were reaching dium-rare.
Still red in the center, but cooked enough that he could enjoy the at’s quality. "They only die when they’re killed. No demon has ever died from natural aging."
’Which ans the forty-two years you traded to
beco irrelevant once your transformation completes,’ Tharaxis observed. ’If you live for millennia, what difference do a few decades make?’
"Exactly," Jack replied, pulling the first cooked heart from the fire.
It was hot enough that normal human hands would have been burned, but Jack’s Dragon’s Scales made his skin resistant enough that the heat barely registered.
He bit into the organ, tearing through crystallized flesh that tasted like copper and ash and sothing that might have been cinnamon.
The demonic essence hit his system imdiately.
[Demon Heart Consud]
[ 1 Demonic Essence]
[Current: 104/1,000]
Jack continued eating, consuming heart after heart in a process that beca almost chanical.
The essence was built into his system with each organ, adding to the foundation he’d already established.
His body processed the corrupted mana effortlessly, the Dragon’s Flesh passive making digestion trivial even though it would poison normal humans.
The demons watched in silence, their expressions unreadable as their master consud enough demonic essence to kill a dozen mages.
Kaedor and Loryn exchanged glances, clearly processing the implications of what they were witnessing.
One hundred hearts were eaten in a row.
Jack swallowed the last one, the crystallized organ settling in his stomach alongside ninety-nine others.
The demonic essence in his system had doubled, the corruption spreading through cells that were already more dragon than human after the contract integration.
[100 Demon Hearts Consud]
[Demonic Essence: 201/1,000]
[Stat Increases Awarded]
[ 19 Strength]
[ 15 Stamina]
[ 30 Agility]
[ 10 Vitality]
[ 20 Endurance]
[Feat Achieved: Contract with a Legendary Entity]
[ 10,000,000 Reputation Points]
[New Total: 10,116,121 Reputation Points]
He called up his full status, reviewing what the transformation and consumption had accomplished:
[Na: Jack Kaiser]
[Level: 20]
[Title: Soul Warden, Dreknar’s Champion, Contractor of Tharaxis the Stormbreaker]
[Stats:]
[Strength: 224 ( 100)]
[Stamina: 220 ( 45)]
[Agility: 235 ( 45)]
[Vitality: 215 ( 25)]
[Endurance: 225 ( 30)]
[Magic: 250 ( 90)]
[HP: 12,000]
[Mana: 2,762]
[Skill Points: 1,650]
[Stat Points: 41]
[Reputation Points: 10,116,121]
[Death Tokens: 44,842,250]
[Magic Talent Rank: SS]
[Martial Talent Rank: SS]
[Affinity: Lightning]
[Demonic Essence: 201/1,000]
[Contracted Beasts: Tharaxis the Stormbreaker (Demi-God Lightning Dragon)]
[Blessings: Draven’s Pendant (Level 2), Soul Warden (Level 1)]
The numbers were staggering.
But none of that mattered as much as the simple fact that he was no longer purely human.
Dragon contract. Demonic essence. Both transformations work together to create sothing that transcends normal limitations. Sothing that could survive what hunted Soul Wardens.
"Master," Kaedor ventured carefully. "What are your orders?"
Jack dismissed the status screen and turned toward his demon army. Three hundred sixty-four bound souls, all waiting for commands. All ready to follow him through whatever ca next.
"I’m going to Floor Four," Jack said, his voice carrying across the wasteland despite the constant thunder overhead. "Rhys cleared Floor Four. That ans we have a floor to seal before moving forward."
He paused, then added, "The rest of you can return to floor Twenty-Five and go back to normal business."
The demons acknowledged the orders without question, their formations already shifting in preparation for the move.
Jack looked up at the storm clouds overhead, his golden eyes tracking electrical currents that danced between the water vapor.
Jack opened a large number of portals, and his army began to leave.
Right as Jack was about to leave, he felt a presence on his back.
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