Tiffany was now back at the shooting range. She was standing if front the office, staring at the plaque with Rick’s name on it. She knew that she needed to be truthful with him and this was the reason for her hesitation.

If she had misjudged him she probably will have to go through the same thing as Jennifer. The only difference would be that she didn’t have the backing of a guild or clan.

She could already see herself being thrown naked into a cage and brought to an auction as a slave.

Withdrawing her hand that was about to reach for the door knob and did an about face. Just as she started to walk away, Rick met her from the other side and said.

“Sorry, I am late. I just finished talking to a customer. A man got to eat you know”. Explained Rick as he gently turn her around and brought her to his office.

By the time she finally reacted, she found herself sitting in a sofa while holding a cup of tea. There was no turning back now.

“Is it safe to speak here?” Ask Tiffany.

Seeing the seriousness on her face Rick paused for a bit and debated as to what to say. “Yes it is. I have sound proofed this office and there are jammers in all the corners of the room”.

Tiffany was getting slightly worried as the Rick in front of her was no longer the goofy good looking boss. He now had a cold air about him and he was giving the feeling of being on guard and ready to act at a moment notice.

“Do you know who am I?” Asked Tiffany as a test.

“You are the first dual SSS rank skill user to ever fail the awakening ceremony. You were best friend with the newly appointed princess of the Merelyth clan. You spent one week on vacation at the Gunnar Resorts. Do I pass you little test or do I also need to tell you that you registered for Origin Academy’s test?”

Tiffany detected an edge to his question and decided that she shouldn’t piss him off. “No, I am sorry. I am just nervous that’s all. Just one more question, is there a way to make a contract that will keep me safe from betrayal?”

Rick started to like this little girl more and more. She was clearly afraid but she knew what she wanted. His curiosity was picked. It seem this “failed” genius had her secret that were not found by his team. Impressive.

“We can make a system pledge an this will stop us from doing any actions that violate the pledge. You need to first write down you contract so that we can both agree to it and once we have an agreement we both mentally invoke for a pledge from the system and you then just follow the instructions.” Said Rick.

Tiffany didn’t wait to be ask for anything else and took the initiative to write a contract.

She suddenly thought of something. “What is your real name?” Tiffany trying to avoid showing any curiosity.

“Baltimore Arcturus Rickmana aka Rick.” Answered Rick with a smile.

Tiffany quickly went back to writing the contract while biting her lips in order to avoid laughing. She would have gone and find another truck right away if she had transmigrated into the body of such a weird name.

Rick could see her shoulder shaking and there was nothing he could do about it. The aesthetic of demon was quite different from the human one.

Tiffany finished writing the contract and looked at it once more to ensure she covered all her bases before passing it to Rick.

Rick look at the contract and he could see it was very well made with no loopholes. The gist of it would be that they both show their status windows without hiding any informations. Secondly, if they decide to cooperate together they would work without taking advantage of each other’s, this included by the via of third party. Third, they would not use skill to control or harm the other party. And finally, they would not cause harm or try to kill the other party by any possible means.

Rick chucked to himself. He was wondering if she was part demon as her contract Wes indeed foolproof.

Seeing that both of them were in agreement they invoked the pledge. The room was flooded with mana for a moment and fused into their bodies proof of the pledge being in effect.

Both of their status windows were now in full display. 

Name: Tiffany Meyers — Age: 18 years old

Race: Human (99.98%), Dragon (0.02%)

Stats:

Strength: 15

Agility: 18

Constitution: 16

Mind: 7

Mana: 70/70

Skill 1: Rank G - Mana Creation: you can create objects with your mana. Objects are restricted to 5x5x10 cm. Dissipate over time. (Hidden option: Permanent Creation: you creation will no longer dissipate with time.)

Skill 2: Rank G - Body Refining (Eyes): your eyes will never deteriorate by themselves. (Hidden option: Night Vision: you can see in the darkness as if you were in broad daylight.)

Talent: Rank Unique - Unlimited Growth: you have no limitations to how much you can grow. Only you efforts will be rewarded. Your stats do not have a level cap. Under specific circumstances, your original skills can evolve.

She was glad to see that her mind stat kept improving.

On the other hand, Rick was flabbergasted by the hidden options of her skills and her talent. The potential was literally infinite. He really found a gem. He was even more pleased that her contract had no time limit and would be in place till death do us part. Almost… like a marriage contract.

This was a strange idea, she was quite pretty and young. He had long stopped being obsess with beauty. Being a demon and over a couple of millenniums old, he was bored of the constant war over the various dungeons. He now wanted to be simply enjoy his life in peace.

He might see if he wanted a relationship with her. Time will tell.

Tiffany had no ideas that due to her contract a certain old devil was having varied thoughts about her.

If her status caused him to slightly shocked, his was like an atom bomb landing right on the top of her head. 

Name: Baltimore Arcturus Rickmana

Age: 2678 years old.

Race: Pure Demon (Incubus)

Level: 277

Titles: Descendant of Lucifer, Incubus of war, Slaughterer, King of Wrath…

Stats:

Strength: 569

Agility: 722

Constitution: 456

Mind: 999

Mana: 9990/9990

Skill 1: Rank SSS — Flame of the Abyss: You control one of the sacred flame of Hell. The flame of the Abyss will only stop burning once the target of the skill perishes. If additional mana is continuously supplied, the flame cannot be dispel by any means. The flame will not burn the skill holder.

Skill 2: Rank Unique — King of Wrath: holder of Wrath. One of the seven deadly sins. Quadruple your stats and fall under the status of “Blood madness”. (Blood madness: while under this states you recover health when in contact with your opponent’s blood. Judgement is hindered and the main priority will be to attack the enemy. There is a slight possibility of misjudgment and confusing allies ad enemies. Immune to any other debuff.) You can no longer use this skill if Owneship of Wrath is lost.

Skill 3: Rank Unique — Incubus of War: you will not be consumed by lust or fall into depravity if your carnal desire is unsatisfied. The title of same name is granted to the holder of this skill. This skill will disappear if you lose the title King of wrath.

Skill 4…

Talent 1: Rank SSS - Seduction: as an Incubus, the opposite sex are very susceptible to fall for you advances. This talent is Greatly finished by the title “Incubus of War”. Current Rank G.

Talent 2: Rank SSS - Glamour: you can change your appearance to someone based on your imagination. You can only create an appearance based on your body proportions. The glamour will not break upon contact.

Talent 3: Rank Unique - God of War: you have total control over your body. You can master all weapons. You are able to understand and imitate martial skills after observing them once. The skill will have an harsh penalty on mana consumption.

 

Tiffany sat back in the sofa lost in thoughts. Rick could hear her muttering. “Damn, I should have written that we needed to protect each other’s”.

Now, Rick was sure that despite her status denying it, she must have had a demon of greed as an ancestor.

Rick finally understood why she wanted to learn about firearms and weapons. Seeing the hidden option it now all made sense. She did a have a good head on her shoulder to be able to think about this. She now needed a “little” bit of educations about ammunitions and bullets.

Tiffany took about 25 minutes to read all the informations about Rick. He had so many title and skills that there was no comparison. She couldn’t even be jealous of him, the difference was just too great.

Rick was very accommodating and answered most of her questions about his life but refused too talk about his personal history. Knowing she was safe from him her courage soared and she was being a bit too bold. She only agreed to go back the original idea of learning more about bullets when he reminded her that he was an Incubus and hinted at her that war was not the thing he was best at.

Luckily there was the treaty in place. Otherwise, he would be a walking calamity.

There were still a lot of unanswered questions but this would have to wait. She still had a long way to go in this life. Trying to see if she still had a bit of protagonist’s luck she asked, “Do you have by any chance anything like a knowledge transfer tool or skill?”.

“Now that you reminded me of that, I do”.

Tiffany’s mood pick up hearing this but came crashing down when he placed the ‘tool’ on the table.

It was a book titled “Bullets for Dummies”.

“If you read this you can transfer the knowledge from the book to your head. Magical, isn’t it?”