Return of the Woodcutter

It hadn't impressed him much when Ogoro had dealt with the level 1 Sam during their many duels since the assassin was already skilled on Earth.

Like others, Kai had sent him and his sister to do his dirty work quite a few times. Although it hadn't necessarily been for assassination purposes.

The shrewd man could have used Ogoro as a manager, but the assassin wasn't allowed to ascend past the third floor. Kai had expected him to run out of money soon, but the assassin had been smart enough to come up with a way to earn TPs.

Duels involving warrior classes—not mages and archers—were held every so often early in the morning or later after CDs. If the one who challenged Ogoro won, he/she would be rewarded with the memory bead. But Ogoro has always won and took the soul cores from the losers.

He had hoped it would serve as training for Sam and invested quite a bit of soul cores in those duels.

Kai had been especially looking for the difference in power when Sam reached level 2. But the talkative baldy made the black challenger his target before that could happen. No matter, it served his purpose anyway.

The black challenger had picked his interest after defeating Sam, despite being just level 1.

He had hope for the black challenger, but he needed to test him more. One interaction—the one with the moderator interfering, not counting—was not enough to judge the man. Not yet, at least. Kai planned to continue his little test, pushing the man to reveal his mettle.

If he ever managed to come out alive after a few more times, no matter what means the black challenger used, he'd be deemed worthy of leading his troops. Or at least worthy of a trial test.

Convincing him shouldn't be too hard. Every human had a weak point. Usually, promising means to satisfy his desires, be it power, money, sex or others, was enough.

If that didn't work, Kai had a few cards up his sleeve the black challenger shouldn't be able to resist.

Feeling satisfied, and unable to stare at his earthly bank account, he opened his status window to stare at it instead. It made for a surprisingly suitable temporary replacement to contemplate his achievement—even more after he had accepted the unique non-combatant class from the god of wisdom.

___________

[Kai Tsubame]

[I. General Info]

Death: March 15th, 2030

Species: Human

Sex: Male

Age: 40

Height: 170cm

Weight: 90kgs

Emotional state: Satisfied

Class: Lv2 Diplomate

Titles: White Challenger, Sect Leader

[II. Attributes]

1. Gift:

- Destiny Blessed (Permanently increases Destiny by one level)

- Charismatic (The host emanates a charismatic aura, moderately increasing his chances of being trusted.)

2. Skills:

Passive:

- Diplomacy Mastery Lv3

Active:

- Durability Lv1

- Incitement Lv2 (A lesser hypnotism skill allowing the host to influence a target's opinion on all kinds of topics.)

3. System Right:

- Summon Contract Lv1 (Allow the host to call upon the System to summon a contract involving two parties for all kind of purposes.) {Contract signed: 0/3}

[III. Basic stats]

- Strength: Lv1

- Body: Lv1

- Stamina: Lv1

- Agility: Lv1

- Mana: Lv3

- Destiny: Lv3 (cannot level up with Glory Points)

___________

Compared to the other challengers, or even most non-combatant classes, Kai had been offered a unique class as well as a blue mark in the shape of a book, despite not being a combatant class.

The content of the oath pact had been the same as the others "answer when called upon." Though, most people translated it to "fight when called upon," which wasn't wrong in any way.

Truth be told, he disliked being ordered around by someone else. In what he assumed was a world of magic where only the strong survived, there was little to no choice but to sign that accursed oath pact.

He had to admit, it was quite a practical way to make mortals do the gods' bidding. Leaving them no choice whatsoever.

His System Right "Summon Contract Lv1" was but a pale copy of an oath pact, but a copy nonetheless. If people signed it, more accurately took an oath, it worked like an oath pact in the way both parties could lose something that had been previously agreed upon, but not the soul.

Apparently, it was a system right granted to most non-combatant classes working in the administration or commerce fields, for example, merchants.

But, according to the informations Kai had gathered, it was only used for substantial transactions and only for transactions such as 40000 - 50000 TPs or so, in the Tower—outside he didn't know.

In that case, if a party failed to uphold its close, the party would be deducted from the sum previously agreed upon or be indebted if the sum wasn't available.

His system right was special in the way he could apply it to literally anything, in whatever way he wanted. But of course, it had its drawback.

He had to uphold his end of the bargain. A contract worked both ways, after all. Even the oath pact worked that way. Kai just had to make sure he didn't take any risks by promising what he couldn't give.

But he didn't really worry about it since he had amassed quite the wealth through his employees. TPs, soul cores, women, food, magical items, the fog, etc.

He had a lot of ways to satisfy the black challenger's needs. In return, using his skill set, he would persuade him to join his sect.

Find his weak point and use it to manipulate him. Though, it shouldn't be complicated. Most humans wanted the same thing; to satisfy their desires. With the challengers, it was what they had lacked in their first life.

In most cases, it was power.

But he couldn't be 100% certain. To increase his chances of doing so, however, he needed more personal informations on the black challenger. More exactly who he was during his first life.

Fortunately, there was a report of the black challenger visiting a few shops with his guide. And the shop owners could easily be bribed with TPs or soul cores. Although, they weren't necessarily reliable since most of them weren't information brokers.

It was his best bet since Ogoro, who had been seen talking to him more than two times, wasn't willing to say anything. Also, the black challenger's guide couldn't be found anywhere, as if he had disappeared.

"Worker Roisin," Kai said, turning towards the room's entrance where a ginger woman with delicate features stood guard, more to satisfy his needs than for security.

"Yes, sect leader," she said, seemingly happy to be of help.

"Would you please 'visit' these locations," he said, handing a piece of paper with notes on it. "Have a few available employees posing as beggars help you."

"What will be the purpose of my 'visit', sect leader?" Roisin asked, examining the note.

"The black challenger."

At those words, Roisin bowed respectfully, revealing her full cleavage, which Kai eyed like there was no tomorrow.

Before she could leave, he added, "Then come back to visit me."

Roisin blushed, displayed a sweet smile of one who has been indoctrinated, lifted her hand to her chest. A fist closed and thumbs out, she pointed to herself; the sect's salute. Then she exited the room.

Kai smiled, thinking about how effective such a small gesture showing one's affiliation to the sect could be to influence people's desire to belong somewhere.

That kind of manipulation technique has been proved again and again. A perfect example was a certain tyrant with a weird mustache who invented a salute during World War II to incite patriotism.