William stood silently beside the table, well aware of the immense temptation that these items held for Soulmancers, even those of Lesser Deity strength. The pills in the glass bottles were even more precious than the magical herbs.
After all, they were personally refined by William himself.
“I…” Oxys was so excited he could barely speak, “My lord, can I really choose anything?”
William nodded: “You can choose only one.”
It was like opening a mystery box – the thrill of it!
Oxys, sweating with nervousness, fixated on the two magical herbs on the table, unable to decide which to choose.
He ignored the rest, not recognizing them and wary of choosing blindly.
And those items in the glass bottles – who knew what they were?
Oxys, originally the Cretan Bull, a legendary beast of immense size, had been witnessed by William in the age of the gods.
This bull, with its massive frame and strong muscles, shone with a silvery light as if forged by moonlight. Its eyes blazed like fire, full of power and majesty, and its hooves thundered on the ground like rolling thunder.
Although a renowned beast, compared to Luna and Erebus, its lineage was somewhat inferior.
“I… I’ll take the Flameheart Vine,” Oxys finally decided. He was adept with fire, thrived in heat, and the Flameheart Vine, nurtured by dragon’s blood and emanating intense fiery heat, was fire-attuned. Consuming it would benefit him greatly.
As for the Winter’s Breath Fern, despite being a rare herb of legend, its properties were contrary to his, and eating it might well lead to instant death.
William, without a word, gathered up all the other items, leaving only the Flameheart Vine on the table.
“Once you’ve chosen, that’s it.” William could sense the mysterious power imbued in Oxys by the entity he had expelled from his body.
This power seemed present in the other Shapeshifters leaders as well, and they appeared to be constrained by the power of some contractual laws.
“I have a question for you.” Having granted Oxys such a substantial favor, William was also curious, “Have you signed a contract with someone?”
Oxys’s face changed dramatically upon hearing this, looking at William in terror.
The matter of the contract was something he had never disclosed to anyone, as doing so would lead to instant death.
William, seeing him so frightened, looked up at the more than 9 feet tall muscular man and frowned, “Squat down!”
Oxys immediately knelt before William.
William then casually reached out his hand and seemed to pluck something from above Oxys’s head.
Oxys clearly felt something disconnecting from him.
“Hisss—” Oxys was so scared he almost collapsed on the ground, “My lord… you… you destroyed my contract?”
William, with a faint smile on his face, looked at the mysterious power in his hand, “Now, tell me about your contract.”
Oxys shivered, feeling neither weakened by the contract’s destruction nor less fearful of William. He said, “My lord, I do not know who the entity that made the contract with me is.”
William motioned for him to continue.
Oxys explained, “Before I transformed into a human form, a voice suddenly appeared in my subconscious mind. The person claimed to be the Almighty God. He said if I was willing to serve him, he could unlock all my potential and give me unparalleled power. However, if I died at the hands of someone who hadn’t made a pact with that Almighty God, both my soul and power would belong to him.”
William nodded in understanding.
This was the style of that entity, indeed.
In his quest for power, he spared no means, not even exploiting these Shapeshifters leaders.
“I can see others who have also signed the contract. If I kill them, I gain half their power, while the other half goes to the Almighty God. However, if killed by someone who also signed the contract, the Almighty God will help them resurrect,” explained Oxys. “As far as I know, about half of the Shapeshifters leaders in the Void of the Netherworld have signed this contract.”
William understood that once a certain level of strength is achieved, the oaths and contracts made are bound by an invisible law.
That entity’s involvement in such schemes was not surprising to him.
Just for the sake of gaining power?
William wasn’t sure how he himself could become stronger, as he felt he was already as powerful as one could be.
“Alright, that’s enough. You can go now, continue with your classes,” William said as he walked out, with Oxys following behind.
Holding the Flameheart Vine, Oxys entered the reception room where all the other Shapeshifters leaders stared at him intently.
No way!
Oxys actually survived!
And he even brought something back with him!
Some of the Shapeshifters leaders recognized what was in Oxys’s hand.
“Flameheart Vine?!”
“Hisss—such a miraculous herb still exists in the world?”
“No! That’s not right!”
“Oxys! What happened to you? Your contract is gone?”
Some leaders noticed something even more terrifying.
Could contracts like theirs actually be destroyed?
At their level of power, such contracts were meant to last a lifetime unless death intervened.
The contract indeed unleashed their potential and made them stronger, but it also plunged their entire Shapeshifter race into endless infighting.
Those who had signed the contract could recognize each other with just one glance.
Killing another contract signer would grant them greater power.
This was why the Shapeshifters leaders in the Void of the Netherworld had been slaughtering each other for countless years, only calming down slightly in the last few centuries.
More and more Shapeshifters leaders wanted to break free from the contract, but they knew it was impossible.
They had long since given up hope.
Oxys sighed deeply, finally showing a relaxed smile on his face, saying, “This Flameheart Vine was a reward from Mr. Johnson, and the contract? He helped me break it.”
“How is that possible?”
“How could the contract be broken?”
The staff of the 13th Bureau looked utterly bewildered. Steven, sensing the situation, smartly waved his hand to dismiss the other employees.
The Shapeshifters leaders, one more excited than the next, stared intently at Oxys. .
“I don’t know how it happened either,” said Oxys. “All I saw was Mr. Johnson grabbing something above my head, and then the contract was gone.”
“This…”
All the Shapeshifters leaders found it hard to believe.
As far as they knew, even the real Grand Lord of the Shapeshifters, once bound by this contract, was tied to it for life, unable to escape.
And yet, William simply grabbed something above Oxys’s head and destroyed the contract?
That was terrifying! .
Their eyes shone with awe.
Another Shapeshifters leader asked, “And what about this Flameheart Vine?”
Oxys chuckled naively, “Mr. Johnson asked me to fight a corpse. I smashed the corpse with a punch, and he gave this to me.”
“…”
All the Shapeshifters leaders looked at Oxys with envy and amazement.
“My goodness, isn’t that incredibly lucky?” they thought.
When Oxys went out, they were convinced that he was doomed to die!
But he returned with such immense rewards!
This wasn’t just incredible luck.
It was as if he had fallen into a mine of fortune!
This content is taken from 𝘳𝑎.𝗇t