"System, I’d like to offer a soul contract to the soul detected earlier." The words left her lips in a whisper.

A blue window appeared and a response came almost immediately.

「 Request Accepted. 」

「 Soul located. 」

「 Offering Contract... 」

「 The target soul is considering the offer. 」

Misha blinked a few times. Considering?

Her pace slowed slightly once more as she read through the notifications. For some reason, she had assumed the contract would happen automatically.

A strange feeling settled in her chest. The soul had a choice... What if it refused?

No matter how many times she recalled the compatibility percentage, her mind always drifted back to the same words: ’Not Suitable’. The words refused to leave her head.

Several seconds passed and the system remained silent. The waiting felt much longer than it actually was while she stared at Gerbaut’s back as she continued to follow him.

Come on... accept already...

She sighed inwardly. Why did this feel like waiting for exam results?

A few more seconds passed, and just when she started wondering if the soul had decided to reject her–

Another notification appeared.

「 Soul Contract Accepted 」

A wave of relief washed over her. This was her first contracted soul. Well... besides Leo, of course.

New messages appeared one after another.

「 Establishing Spiritual Link... 10% 」

「 Establishing Spiritual Link... 37% 」

「 Establishing Spiritual Link... 68% 」

「 Establishing Spiritual Link... 100% 」

「 Spiritual Link Established. 」

「 Soul Contract Successfully Formed. 」

Misha waited and waited a little longer for something to change in her body.

"..." Once again, nothing happened. There was no sudden surge of power or a voice suddenly speaking inside her head.

She stared at the empty air for several seconds, then she sighed in defeat. Of course. Misha, you should get used to this by now...

Every time she imagined something flashy happening, the Tower somehow found a way to disappoint her.

"We should rest here." Gerbaut suddenly came to a stop.

Misha nearly walked into his back. "Wah–"

She hurriedly caught herself before colliding with him.

The man didn’t even react, he simply scanned the surroundings in silence. Misha watched him first, then imitated his movements as if she was picking up a habit from someone more experienced.

The forest stretched endlessly in every direction. Tall trees blocked most of the sunlight, leaving patches of shade scattered across the ground. A small clearing sat ahead of them, sheltered by thick roots and large boulders.

It wasn’t much, but still, it looked safer than resting in the open.

"The tower is still an hour away." His eyes moved across the shadows between the trees. "We’ll continue after resting."

Misha immediately nodded in agreement. Honestly, her feet were starting to complain already.

Gerbaut planted his spear against a nearby tree before crouching near the clearing and inspecting the surrounding terrain for some hidden traps.

Misha watched him quietly. The man approached everything with the same level of seriousness. From fighting to resting, he was always careful with his surroundings. Another wave of admiration rose inside her.

Then she remembered he had once declared a goose as one of the most terrifying creatures he had ever encountered.

That admiration weakened slightly.

Sighing inwardly, she walked over and sat on a nearby rock, leaving the man alone. The moment she sat down, another window appeared.

「 〔 SOUL STATUS 〕

"Senior Intern"

Rank: ☆☆☆

Race: Human

Class: Executioner

Constellation Chamber: Capricorn

Potential Growth: ☆☆☆☆☆

—

<APTITUDE>

Combat ...... 78 (A+)

Support ...... 52 (B-)

Leadership ........ 40 (C)

Adaptability ....... 69 (A-)

Mental Strength .... 63 (B+)

—

<UNIQUE SKILL>

Death Dance

Effect: Each successful dodge grants 1 stack of Death Dance.

Per Stack:

Swordmanship +2%

Movement Speed +2%

Maximum Stacks: 10

All stacks expire when combat ends.

—

Possession Duration: 20 Minutes

Cooldown: 5 Hours 」

Misha’s eyes slowly widened.

"Wow..." she muttered under her breath. The soul’s stats looked actually amazing.

A skill that rewarded dodging... It was far more useful than she expected.

If every successful dodge made the soul stronger, if 10 stacks accumulated... It was a 20 percent increase in swordsmanship and movement speed. That sounded scary.

Another notification appeared.

Ding!

「 〔CONTRACTOR AUTHORITY〕

New Function Unlocked:

"Soul Possession"

Description: Grant permission to a Contracted Soul and allow temporary control of the Contractor’s body. 」

Misha stared at it with her mouth slightly open. Contractor Authority?

「 〔WARNING〕

Contractor’s access to Contracted Soul Information has been denied.

Restricted Information:

• Soul Form

• Soul Memories

Restriction will remain in effect until the contract is terminated. 」

「 System Notice

Possession cannot be initiated without authorization.

To activate Soul Possession:

Unlock the appropriate Constellation Chamber. Grant possession permission. 」

Misha reread the instructions twice, mentally taking a note of them so that she could use them if ever she got into a dangerous situation.

As the windows finally disappeared, her attention shifted toward Gerbaut. He had already taken out a meatbun from his subspace and was eating it without much thought.

He noticed her looking. "Do you want one?"

She gave a small nod, swallowing. "Yes please..."

Gerbaut pulled out another meatbun, still wrapped in paper, and handed it to her.

Misha accepted it with a small smile. "Thank you."

In the middle of eating, she couldn’t help but think about what Gerbaut’s awakening skill was. Was he 4 stars like her too?

Taking advantage of the opportunity, she paused and called out, "Gerbaut..."

"Hm?"

Misha shifted slightly as curiosity won against her hesitation. "What kind of awakening do you have?"

The large man faced her, his brows slightly raised. "Why?"

She lightly scratched her cheek with a finger, a small smile plastered on her lips. "I’m just curious."

Gerbaut didn’t immediately answer. Instead, he reached into his subspace, pulled out a bottle of drink, and tossed it toward her. Misha barely caught it in time.

"Spear Domain."

Her eyes instantly lit up. She had seen him fight enough times. The spear didn’t look like a weapon in his hands; it looked more like an extension of him. With an awakening like that, no wonder he was so deadly with a spear.

"That sounds so cool!"

"Hn. It just lets me fight better with a spear," he said before he took another bite.

"It’s still cool though."

The conversation died as Gerbaut focused on eating slowly.

As the silence stretched, she glanced at him once more after she finished eating the bun. Surely he would ask her next, right?

Misha waited for a few more seconds, but there was nothing. Not a single question came from Gerbaut.

She was now blatantly staring at him, but he was unbothered by it. The silence somehow became even louder until...

"Well, I have a Soul Inventory."

Gerbaut paused and finally gave her the attention she had been wanting.

"Necromancy?"

Misha blinked a few times. "Huh?"

"If you have a soul inventory, then you store souls."

"... Yeah?"

"That’s Necromancy."

As realization settled in, she drew her hand to her chin, thinking it through. "When you say it like that, it does sound like it. But my class is Soulbinder, not Necromancer..."

"Hm." He also gave it a thought.

"I haven’t raised an army of skeletons yet."

Meeting his gaze, she froze. "..."

Gerbaut kept staring cautiously at her, his gaze fixed and unblinking, until silence started to feel too heavy to sit still in.

Her cheeks warmed at once, heat rushing up so fast she felt it in her ears. Why did she say that?

She pressed her lips together and shifted her weight, suddenly realizing that the joke landed badly. She let out a small, strained breath. Now she wanted to throw herself off a cliff.

In the end, she waved her hands frantically. "I was just joking! I don’t have skeletons and I can’t summon them!"

"But you can put souls into them."

"..."

His words struck her mid-thought, and something inside her clicked into place.

If souls could possess her then...

"... I can?"

Ding!

「 〔SYSTEM NOTICE〕

Function Locked.

"Soul Implantation" is unavailable.

Required Contractor Authority: Rank 3

Current Contractor Authority: Rank 1

Increase Contractor Authority to unlock this function. 」

"..."

Misha stared harder at the window floating in front of her.

She could... She actually could!