Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Chapter 1290: Contract Offers



'VOW!' Skullius thought. This had caught him way off guard.

The Voice of Worlds was giving him counsel, again!

From his alter's memories, Skullius had learned that the Voice of Worlds had done this before, when Aurolio had given him the ancient page with the soul of the Corrupted Deity Nunax!

(A/N: Refer to Ch.684).

The guidance field had several useful functions that allowed users to essentially cheat through some of the universal norms; one of them was the <Counsel> function. It allowed one to ask for assistance from the Voice of Worlds by asking a question. On the flip side, it seemed the Voice of Worlds could use this <Counsel> themselves in order to give advice to the user without being prompted.

VOW's advice right now...

'TITEMIUS?' Skullius thought on it. Who was this Primeval Deity? Was he dangerous?

"You should listen. Wy- the Voice of Worlds does not speak lightly. You're being favoured," Serenity said, and it was true.

VOW had always favoured Skullius.

The Hybrid Warmoth nodded at Serenity words.

If anyone would know the Deities very well, it would be the Voice of Worlds. He would be a fool not to listen.

'Alright. I suppose it stands to reason that one of these contracts was sent by this TITEMIUS. Let's look through them.'

The guidance field responded to his intent immediately. The contracts were shown, presented in a grid form before Skullius.

[LIMITED CONTRACT OFFER]

+++Seal of Primeval Deity, JOISEN ANTERRAS+++

>ENTREATY:

Little anomaly, let's be friends. You have something I want, and I'm sure as a fresh little Divine yet to expand their Broader Existence, you will benefit from my terms. I have been rather liberal with what I'm offering, I think. For you, this should be plenty.

++Terms of Trade++

In exchange for (1) remote usage of your Exotic Parlous Nature, Second Divine Sinew, I am willing to grant you the following:

+Immortal Realm Physique of the Third Stratum, Expanded Shadow Fiend's Leather; +Realm rank Wicked Treasure, Malefic Gold Hand;

+(3) skins of Exora Mead

[LIMITED CONTRACT OFFER]

+++Seal of Primeval Deity, D'JORRO+++

>ENTREATY:

There is nothing to lose here, even for an anomaly like you. I know your benefactor has a terrible number of treasures that would serve better in this reality than in her little cosmos. I am willing to continue to make trades with you, if you are sensible. I offer plenty. You should be grateful. If you reject my goodwill, you can be sure you'll be making a formidable enemy this Constern!

++Terms of Trade++

In exchange for perpetual uses of your Exotic Parlous Nature, Second Divine Sinew, I am offering the following:

+Immortal Realm Physique of the First Stratum, Gallant Tempest's Embrace;

+(14) skins of Exora Mead;

+Realm rank Prime Treasure, Darkfire Bolt;n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

+D'JORRO's Tear.

[LIMITED CONTRACT OFFER]

+++Seal of Primeval Deity, TITEMIUS+++

>ENTREATY:

Welcome to the greater standard of life, young Divine.

It is only the yearning of ancients like me that younger and stronger powers be born and join us to expand reality. As I am sure you already know, it is impossible to grow alone in the wider reality. There are too many unknowns, too many enemies. It only does you good to earn the backing of someone higher on the ladder. I could be that someone for you. I am quite interested in the Parlous Nature you have just created, no doubt because of your anomalous powers. I believe your cooperation with me will benefit for us both for a long time, if you are so willing.

++Terms of Trade++

In exchange for perpetual uses of your Exotic Parlous Nature, Second Divine Sinew, I am gracefully offering the following:

+(9) skins of Exora Mead;

+Immortal Realm Physique of the Third Stratum (Evolvable), Value of the Sempiternal

Sentinel;

+Realm rank Prime Treasure, Bane of Little Lords;

+Corrupted Sun Deity, Everdread Unithra;

+Corrupted Moon Deity, Whiteskin Unethra;

+(2) TITEMIUS' Tears

Skullius found himself re-reading the contract offers again and again and again and again!

Exora Mead skins?

Deity Tears?

Realm rank treasures and Immortal Realm Physiques?

All this information staggered the Hybrid Warmoth!

He had paused for so long that Elita ended up poking him.

"What's wrong?" she asked with a concerned look. Her assumptions immediately landed her

to the bizarre way Skullius had zoned out back in the Honing Fortress, after he had healed Stylla. She thought it might have been the same thing.

Skullius turned to her. His phantoms were arguing and discussing so loudly that he could

hardly focus on Elita.

"Uh... give me a moment, will you?" he said and went back to considering the contracts.

'Of course, this TITEMIUS just had to have the best-looking offer out of all of them!' Skullius

thought, frustrated.

The other offers he had gotten proposed fewer and less tantalizing rewards than those TITEMIUS was willing to give.

While Skullius didn't know what the significance of Exora Mead was or even the Tears of Deities, he was sure being offered two Corrupted Deities was substantial! It had to be! There was no way sealing away Corrupted Deities was just a poor trend in the wider reality.

As the ancient page he possessed implied, Corrupted Deities were used as familiars or combat units. Their value seemed to lie in that alone, perhaps more, depending on what kind of Deity they were. Being offered two of these by TITEMIUS when the other Primeval Deities had

offered none said a lot about the value.

TITEMIUS was staking a lot in his interests.

However, what Skullius would need to give up in exchange was what made him uneasy. 'Perpetual uses of Second Divine Sinew?' he thought. He didn't like that.

This was what D'JORRO and TITEMIUS wanted. To Skullius, it meant they wanted the opportunity to use his Exotic Parlous Nature anytime they wanted, and this made him uncomfortable. Was this wise?

On top of this, D'JORRO seemed like the hostile sort. He had flat out spelled the fact that rejecting his offer meant making him an enemy, and Skullius wasn't sure he could handle that. Unlike Luserus, it seemed the Primeval Deities weren't scared of the Existential Parallels. Heck, even Boron wasn't.

With VOW telling him to not associate with TITEMIUS, Skullius automatically rid himself of

the possibility of accepting his offer. The Deity seemed nice and kind, but Skullius trusted

VOW more.

Besides, it was all but clear that Deities were the best at playing the long game; they were masters of pretense.