Hand it over to the paper figure?
Hearing this, Ye Bai's thoughts shifted, and she imdiately grasped his aning. She lowered her gaze to the magic scroll in her hand, which housed the paper figure—
The essence of a devil's contract lies not in its form but in the powerful binding force generated by the devil's true na within the contract itself. Once the contract is signed, a connection is forged with the devil. Unless the terms are fulfilled, it becos a permanent buff, persisting even after the player's death and rebirth.
When luring surface-dwelling creatures, devils often disguise their contracts in various forms. As long as the content is correct, the contract could even appear on a leaf without issue.
Since its last upgrade via the To of Death, the paper figure had gained the ability to tamper with information. If it could also disguise this magic scroll as a soul contract without detection… then the paper figure truly was a genius!
Seeing Ye Bai turn back, the devil heaved a sigh of relief and hurriedly said, "I can first reveal the secret about the Deep Sea Clan, but you must sign a soul contract—you must save !"
"That depends on what exactly this secret is and whether it's worth signing a contract for," Ye Bai bargained.
The devil knew Ye Bai wouldn’t agree without so disclosure, so he softened his voice and said, "Listen carefully—this secret is absolutely valuable. The Deep Sea is hidden within the crevices of the Infernal Realm's spatial fabric. Through certain special rifts, one can enter it."
The Deep Sea… hidden within the spatial crevices of the Infernal Realm?!
Even though Ye Bai had braced herself, hearing the devil's secret sent shockwaves through her mind, though her expression remained composed.
Ye Bai felt like she understood every word individually, but the sentence as a whole was nearly incomprehensible.
Was the "Deep Sea" the devil spoke of the sa one she knew—the vast ocean surrounding the entire Divine Continent, forming the borders of the world's map?
The Divine Realm's map resembled an enlarged version of a real-world map, with various races inhabiting the land. The Deep Sea lay at the edges of the flat map, a spatial maze triggering random teleportation. If one ventured further into the Deep Sea from the border, they would randomly reappear at any edge of the map.
Of course, that was assuming they survived the environntal hazards and creatures lurking in the waters.
Regardless, the Deep Sea was part of the surface world's territory, ho to the Deep Sea Clan, one of the Divine Realm's six major races. It made sense if spatial rifts in the Infernal Realm led to the Deep Sea, but how could the Deep Sea itself be "hidden" within the Infernal Realm?
Uncertain about the current state of the surface world's borders, Ye Bai vaguely replied, "How is that possible…"
This could be interpreted as skepticism about the Deep Sea's concealnt or doubt about the existence of such rifts.
The devil, seemingly expecting this reaction, smugly said, "I only recently uncovered this secret. The Deep Sea didn’t vanish—it was sohow relocated to the spatial crevices of the Infernal Realm. I know of a rift leading to a safe island…"
As Ye Bai listened, she analyzed the implications of the devil's words. It seed the original Deep Sea had disappeared from the Divine Realm's perspective, and the devil had only just discovered its presence in the Infernal Realm. Given the earlier appearance of seafood, Iris, the Infernal Lord of this layer, must also know about and exploit these rifts.
After finishing, the devil said, "My bargaining chip is the coordinates of that spatial rift."
Ye Bai raised an eyebrow. "There must be guards near that rift, right?"
"No, even Iris doesn’t know about it…" The devil paused, then added, "At least, she definitely didn’t before I was imprisoned. We can include that in the contract. What do you say?"
Ye Bai fell silent, as if carefully considering, then nodded. "Then let’s sign the soul contract."
With that, she leisurely picked up the magic scroll in her hands.
After stalling the devil for so long, the paper figure should have finished "forging" the contract by now.
"Of course."
Under the devil’s eager gaze, Ye Bai nervously unrolled the scroll.
Normally, unfurling a magic scroll would activate its spell. But as Ye Bai opened it, the high-level counter-spell scroll remained inert. Instead, strange, esoteric script appeared on its surface.
Seeing these Infernal words, Ye Bai’s Historian subclass triggered, and a system prompt echoed in her ears:
[You have discovered ‘Infernal Contract Script.’ Gained 5 History EXP and 10,000 EXP.]
[You have gained 1 point of ‘Infernal Language’ proficiency.]
The forgery was so convincing even the system acknowledged it—and she even gained so EXP and proficiency out of it. The paper figure really was sothing!
Heartened, Ye Bai felt much more confident.
Sure enough, the devil didn’t notice anything amiss with the "soul contract" in her hands and even praised, "A soul contract disguised as a magic scroll? Clever idea."
"Haha," Ye Bai forced a laugh.
—Actually, it’s a magic scroll disguised as a soul contract.
Unaware of the terms the paper figure had fabricated, the devil examined it through the bars, nodded, then extended a finger and inscribed his na in the air at the contract’s signature line.
"Then, the contract is sealed."
As the devil wrote his na on the magic scroll, Ye Bai watched the eerie script materialize. Though she didn’t understand Infernal, her mind automatically translated it, morizing both the na’s spelling and pronunciation.
‘Alicio Bar Croni…’
A series of system notifications followed:
[You have learned a devil’s true na.]
[You have gained 10 points of ‘Infernal Language’ proficiency.]
Simultaneously, the promised coordinates appeared in Ye Bai’s inventory. A single click would reveal their location.
With the deal sealed, the devil shed his earlier submissive deanor and laughed triumphantly. "Ah, young devil, vague terms are your downfall. I’ve upheld my end—kekeke… But I forgot to ntion: ‘safe’ is relative—for , not necessarily for you."
Devils are a wicked and malevolent race, taking pleasure in the suffering of those they deceive—even if Ye Bai was currently seen as a 'fellow devil' in his eyes.
Unfortunately, Ye Bai’s goal from the start had never been the bait the devil dangled before her.
"Now hurry and get out! Just use your power to attack this cage... Wait, what are you doing?"
Before he could finish, Ye Bai turned and walked away.
"You dare break the contract?! Autofis, I still know your true na! Aren’t you afraid of the soul contract’s punishnt?!"
Hearing the devil’s furious shouts, Ye Bai paused mid-step, barely holding back a laugh—damn, that paper character really was being put to full use.
Ignoring the devil, Ye Bai swiftly left the fortress area, just as she had arrived.
Soon, she stopped in a secluded spot and began chanting the imprisoned devil’s true na.
"Alicio Bar Croni..."
The next mont, the space before her twisted, and a wisp of black mist erged. As the mist dissipated, the unprepared devil Alicio suddenly materialized before her.
Unlike before, Alicio now wore a translucent red soul chain around his neck.
[Devil Alicio] (Summoned)
Level: 55
HP: ?????/?????
Traits: Incorporeal
Skills: ????
Weakness: True Na
Just as the weakness stated, devils—being unique incorporeal beings—had only one vulnerability: their true na. By unilaterally knowing it, Ye Bai could temporarily summon and bind the devil, even coercing him to so extent through threats.
True Na Summoning was a special state with the highest priority. If Ye Bai canceled the summoning, Alicio would return to his original prison.
"What did you do?! How do you know my true na?! What about the soul contract?! The contract—" Halfway through his outburst, the devil finally realized the problem. "The contract was fake?! Impossible! How did you pull this off?!"
"You can thank him for that." Ye Bai held up the magic scroll.
The paper character, the true hero of the hour, materialized on the scroll and greeted the devil. "First, I admit you are indeed cunning. But if the contract itself was fake from the start, how exactly do you plan to counter that?"
The devil stared at the paper character in disbelief. "You?! What the hell are you?!"
"Now, that’s just rude," the paper character chided, shaking its head.
"How did you do it?! Where’s the contract?! It’s gone—you left your true na behind!"
"Fake. All of it was fake," the paper character replied.
Nearby, Autofis gave the devil a pitying look and shook his head.
"I... I got tricked?!" Only then did the devil notice the inexplicable donkey beside Ye Bai—one he had sohow overlooked the entire ti.
At the sa mont, ding ding ding—three system notifications chid in Ye Bai’s ears:
[You successfully deceived a devil! You have earned the achievent: Astonishing Feat of Deception.]
[You have gained 100 proficiency in Deception.]
[You have learned the active skill Deception I.]
By outwitting a creature renowned as an expert liar, Ye Bai’s deception proficiency skyrocketed, instantly maxing out the skill bar and granting her the active skill Deception I.
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