Life Contract, Hero's Prison

"You mean you want to enter the Arena's contest trial, and become the King of Battle?" In the temple, a voice drifted faintly from the Wolf Knight statue. A face of stone could hold no expression, and the tone was as cold as ever, yet Bai Zhou somehow felt that the other was watching him with a strange emotion. "In the Troy of those years, the Arena's contest trial opened once every ten years, choosing from the whole civilization those Destined who had comprehended battle intent." "Taking part in the contest trial is divided into two steps. The first is to defeat every rival." "Those men were all favored sons who had comprehended battle intent. As a rule, each of them had a formidable background and uncommon birth. To stand out among them was exceedingly difficult." "The second step is to accept the trial of the stone platform, and there fight the heroic spirits of past Titled Kings of Battle and win their recognition." "Do that, and the stone platform will grant three years' right to use the saber and sword upon it, together with a matching Life Contract for cultivating saber and sword as one. That Life Contract is enough to set you far ahead of the vast majority of your peers on the path of the Fate-Forger." Fight heroic spirits? That could be done? And a Life Contract? Did it correspond to a Professional's secret technique? Did every existence above level 6 cultivate a Life Contract? Bai Zhou, already returned within the Sun Temple, felt his spirits lift. Faintly, a wholly new world seemed to open slowly before him. His heart thudded. The battle-intent sapling swayed within it, and formless battle intent quietly boiled through his whole body. "But—" The Wolf Knight statue seemed about to go on, then stopped. "Now, what rivals are left..." "All of Troy has died out. You are the only existence who possesses battle intent." The Wolf Knight looked at Bai Zhou and said, "So the first threshold, for you, does not actually exist." Bai Zhou: "..." True enough. Sometimes Bai Zhou felt that a near-synonym for picking up an unclaimed bargain was "who else but me." It sounded imposing, but the truth was simply that, apart from him, there was no one else who could be chosen. The Wolf Knight went on, "Even so, opening the Arena for even a short while already takes no small amount of spirituality, and the spirituality needed to open the contest trial is truly immense." "It requires offerings." "And if you wish to win the recognition of the heroic spirits of the Kings of Battle through the ages, you must at least advance to Professional level 6." "Otherwise... you would not even be able to bear the impact of the saber and sword being conferred upon you." Bai Zhou nodded, understanding. As expected, that mysterious saber and sword were secret treasures he could not yet touch. But they were not so far from his hand, either. And yet, once he advanced to a level-6 Adventurer, took a saber and a sword—two Spirit-Name Secret Treasures—in a single stroke, and gained the acknowledgment of the Spirit-Name Secret Treasures, what a sight would that be? Among level-6 Titled, Bai Zhou could probably walk all over them. Even those towering existences above level 6— one would have to fight before knowing who was stronger and who was weaker! In fact, from what Bai Zhou had observed, in Tinghai obtaining a Spirit-Name Secret Treasure was one difficult pass. Winning a Spirit-Name Secret Treasure's acknowledgment afterward was a far greater threshold. As for how deep that recognition went, the threshold rose yet another level. Yet by way of the contest trial, gaining the so-called title of "King of Battle" would clearly let Bai Zhou win at least a considerable degree of recognition from the secret treasures, and even obtain the matching Life Contract to cultivate. A shortcut beyond all doubt. "Offerings..." Bai Zhou abruptly raised his hand and looked at his wristwatch. The time it showed was 30:54. The Celestial Pivot's Seal Bestowal, his advancement at the Arena—after all that trouble, nearly seven hours had passed since Bai Zhou arrived. In five more hours, he would have to go back. He would return to Tinghai in an entirely new bearing, and at once face the storm over the whole city, and the Major, who would certainly go mad when the final moment came. And... Deputy Director Liu, above level 6. Perhaps still more. Bai Zhou knew he was no longer what he had been. But with his usual caution, he felt he could not waste the five hours left. "What else can I do?" Bai Zhou thought. "Do you need to rest now?" At this, the Wolf Knight statue asked. "What?" Bai Zhou looked up. "All is ready. You may set out at any time. Activate the altar's teleportation, and go to Rome." The Wolf Knight statue said: "No true king is raised upon ruins. The offerings to open the contest trial exist only in Rome." "Of course, you can activate the King-Chosen Mark at any time and teleport back." "To that place from last time?" Bai Zhou asked. He remembered the Senate that had descended from the sky, that Senate which forbade extraordinary gods from attaining godhood without a license, and could not help a shiver. They were most likely no longer where they had been, but there was no guarantee no one had been left to stand guard and clear up what followed. If he ran headlong into them... "No. Last time was only a trial." The Wolf Knight statue shook its head. "Since you are to adventure in Rome from now on, you naturally need a suitable beginning... and a legal identity." "A legal identity?" Bai Zhou asked, puzzled. The Wolf Knight statue raised a great hand of stone and turned it in a sweep. "Hum!" A pitch-black, archaic token appeared in the palm of the Wolf Knight statue. Upon it was a scarlet image of a gaping, bloody maw. Look too long, and one would feel even one's own gaze being swallowed into that great mouth. "Use this token upon someone at the brink of death, or someone who has been dead no more than three hours." The Wolf Knight statue said: "His name, and his identity, will in the mystical sense be devoured and replaced by you." "However, to be sure the replacement goes smoothly and leaves no hidden peril, this identity can offer you a certain convenience in starting out in Rome, yet it is not noble, and can only be drawn at random from among Rome's wanderers." "Wanderers?" Bai Zhou did not understand. "In Rome, not just anyone can become a citizen. There are also great numbers of slaves and wanderers. They make up the vast majority of Rome's population." "Once someone becomes a citizen, they come under the empire's protection, and the token cannot readily replace them." The Wolf Knight explained, "So one can choose only from among non-citizens." "Among the wanderers, I will open a ritual, and through it select, as far as possible, certain persons of unusual aptitude, entangled in few social ties, who would draw no suspicion even if they came to prominence, for you to replace." The Wolf Knight statue said: "And your first task in Rome after that is to obtain an identity in Rome, and become a..." "Ninth-rank citizen!" "A n-ninth-rank citizen?" Bai Zhou blinked twice. A citizen was a citizen. Why a ninth-rank citizen? Seeing Bai Zhou's puzzlement, the Wolf Knight statue explained, "That was how Rome's system worked in those days." "It may have changed by now. But seeing that Rome's sergeant majors still keep the banners and ranks of those years, their institutions should not have changed too greatly..." "In Rome, citizens too are divided into every rank and grade. Wanderers and slaves may take up no profession. Only by becoming a ninth-rank citizen can one unlock a portion of professions to choose from." "And so it goes. Each time a citizen rises one rank, more professions may be taken up. Pay, social circle, and standing all change beyond recognition. Yet rising in citizen rank is, in every case, as hard as climbing to heaven." "Become a sixth-rank citizen, and one may already hold all manner of important posts in a city and take part in important elections—while the highest, the super-first-rank citizen, is the emperor of Rome himself." The Wolf Knight statue said, "I suggest you become a ninth-rank citizen as soon as you can. Only then will you have even the beginnings of human rights in Rome." "In theory, every citizen is nominally an heir of Rome. Even a ninth-rank citizen enjoys Rome's right of succession, though it may be a place tens of billions down the line..." "What matters, however, is that becoming a ninth-rank citizen unlocks seven or eight basic professions—a cart-driver, a baker, a bathhouse attendant, and so on..." "..." Bai Zhou listened, expressionless. He would not scorn any of it, nor did he think so very much of himself—but you, as Troy's artificial intelligence, enthusiastically advising Troy's only heir to go be a cart-driver or a baker... was that really all right? And a bathhouse attendant. Surely that did not mean scrubbing noblewomen's backs? "None of those professions matter. What matters is that, once you are a ninth-rank citizen, you may choose to join the Mercenary Guild and become a registered mercenary of the lowest grade." The Wolf Knight said, with emphasis: "Of course, in our time this guild had other names as well. The Rangers' Guild, for one. Or else..." "—the Adventurers' Guild!" The Adventurers' Guild? Bai Zhou blinked twice. As a level-5 Adventurer, he was plainly very interested. "Rome has guilds of every kind, but the Mercenary Guild is the one I most advise you to join. Not entirely because you are a true Adventurer." "In truth, this trade licks blood from the edge of a blade, and danger crowds it on every side. The registered adventurers at the bottom are of uneven quality, their reputation is wretched, and men and ghosts alike detest them." "Yet its very strength is freedom of movement. One has far more chances than in an ordinary profession to come upon rarities and secrets, a steady income, and, at the same time, as little restraint as can be." So the Wolf Knight said: "Any city ought to have such a guild. The moment you become a ninth-rank citizen, I suggest you go at once and register." "That way, you will have made a good beginning in Rome." "So you had already thought it all through." Bai Zhou said it with feeling. "Through the long, desolate waiting, this intelligent life never ceased to run." The Wolf Knight statue said, voice low. "I exhausted more than a hundred million schemes, supposing how an heir ought to be raised should the civilization gain one, and what the best opening would be." "All of it was for today." At those words, Bai Zhou fell quiet. A casual remark, and the silence that answered it left him feeling as if he could not breathe. Behind the data the Wolf Knight spoke so coldly lay loneliness and longing, and that weight was set, solid, before Bai Zhou. To become Troy's heir was nothing to be smug about, for this was only a beginning. What lay before him was not a role-playing game. It was the only hope of a desolate civilization across countless years, gathered onto a single person. "Then there's no need to rest." Bai Zhou said, "Time is precious. Let us begin at once." His eyes were bright. "I really am a little curious what sort of identity you'll choose for me, as my beginning in Rome." "It is the ritual's choice." The Wolf Knight statue corrected him. "Though the ritual will do its utmost to choose a dying person suited to your needs, you had best pray it is not some worthless, doddering old man." Bai Zhou shivered at once. "Then I hope this person has no family, and isn't some troublesome soul burdened with a bitter blood feud and a shocking gambling debt." Not long after his voice fell, the bricks of the ground began to glow. Complex veins of pattern emerged upon the floor tiles. A translucent, milky-white light gradually shrouded Bai Zhou's figure. The rune-veins beneath his feet ran all the way to the altar nearby. "It seems this ritual, too, was something you prepared long ago." Bai Zhou looked at the Wolf Knight statue before him. "Of course." The stone face held no expression. The Wolf Knight statue's voice was as cold as ever. He said, "Everything here is." "Hum, hum, hum..." The ritual ran where it stood for three minutes, as if lagging, and as if it were searching Rome's information all the while. From the words spoken when the Senate descended, that vast and ancient empire must have been even broader than Bai Zhou imagined, its population surely beyond counting. Though the conditions the ritual required were harsh, among so many people someone was bound to meet them. The ritual might simply need to search a little longer... "Hum!" Another ten minutes passed, and the white light underfoot suddenly blazed. "Now." The emerald eyes of the Wolf Knight statue flared green as well. "Remember: anything of value from Rome, even a dead Roman life, may be an offering to Troy!" "As the Executor of Troy's history, range unchecked across Rome." "I wish you every success!" The scene before Bai Zhou's eyes blurred. Everything became flowing lines. Hearing, sight, and senses beyond them all fell into disorder. In the daze he could not even tell up from down, or left from right. The dizziness made Bai Zhou shut his eyes in pain. He did not know how long had passed. Consciousness slowly surfaced from bottomless dark. What Bai Zhou recovered first was his sense of smell. A complex reek, fierce enough to sicken, drove roughly into his nostrils. The stench of fermenting excrement, the smell of metal rust, and damp mildew mingled, and Bai Zhou nearly thought he had been teleported into a septic tank. Faintly, there was also a barely-there, cloying odor of rot, as if a great quantity of heavily spiced meat were slowly decaying in a sealed space. Bai Zhou opened his eyes at once. His swiftly focusing gaze looked left and right. Underfoot lay a layer of sticky, filthy straw. All around were black walls, their surfaces crowded with dense marks of erosion no one could comprehend, as if some soft-bodied creature had writhed there for a long time. Dark-green, ill-omened slime seeped from the joints of the stone. Classical braziers were set into the walls, swaying with a dim, deep-blue light. And at the far end of that gloom stood thick bars mottled with rust, upon which the residue of some red liquid could faintly be made out— All of it told Bai Zhou, fully and clearly, the situation he was in. The ritual the Wolf Knight statue had laid for untold years, which had run for more than ten minutes before it activated, had indeed sent him successfully to Rome. He had come to this wholly new world, this vast and glorious ancient civilization. —And yet, by way of a prison cell. "Hum!" The token in his palm had already begun to work. Following what the token sensed, Bai Zhou saw the corpse lying in a corner not far off. A young man. By build and looks, he was about Bai Zhou's age. He wore a brocade robe of excellent material and elaborate craft, purple and edged in gold. Even in the dim light, one could tell it was worth a great deal. Gold thread embroidered the robe with a complex family crest and exquisite patterns of grapevine. Even in this filth, the surface of the clothing remained strangely clean. Beside the corpse's hand, the place was covered in frantic carvings and blasphemous scrawls, chilling to look at. It seemed that, while alive, he had performed some rite both abnormal and ill-omened. The corpse was still warm. The hand still clutched something tight. Bai Zhou looked closely, and found it was a crest that seemed condensed from blood—a blasphemous crest. He was wary at first. However one thought of it, the thing was nothing good. It might well be the very cause of this corpse's death. But then his pupils shrank. For in the instant he saw the blasphemous crest... The ring Bai Zhou had worn on a finger of his left hand for who knew how long—that Crown of Thorns, identical to the crown upon the statue of the emperor at the center of the Senate—suddenly turned scalding hot!