Fang released a deep sigh. "I'm going out to refuel." He took the remaining soul coins, opened the hatch and climbed out. He felt hot air, almost choking ; a volcanic fall was nearby. Molten rock was flowing through an intimidating cliff and falling down on a massive lake .

Fang found a large panel marked with the skull emblem similar to that of soul coin at the rear of the vehicle. He opened up the panel - the furnace was dead. After pondering sometimes about how to re-ignite the furnace, he threw a soul coin inside and waited to see what happen next.. 

The soul coin began to burn and the infernal machine's furnace ignited with hellish blaze. A long, anguished, piercing scream of a tortured soul was heard with the ignition.

Fang grimaced with realization that it was the captured soul of a once living person that fuels the machine.

He shut the panel to the furnace and jumped back into the machine . 

The pixie skeleton looked at his downtrodden face, "Avernus is a terrible place, it makes people do very bad things."

Fang steeled his mind, he must escape. He grabbed both wheels and sped away from the Volcanic Fall leaving the steaming lake of liquid rock behind.

In the passenger seat, Lily's soul was trying to adapt with new body. Within an hour, she sat up and started to give directions. She didn't speak about training anymore. Lily also noticed that she lost all the abilities like her spell casting, teleportation, the attacking skills etc. Those abilities and traits were specific to the Hollyphant race, so it was not unexpected.

She had a hunch that she would be able to use the skills of the woman as they are sharing the body. Also could easily learn the skills similar to her Hollyphant traits. 

The woman was a powerful being, she killed her enemies even when she was weakened due to poison. Now with Lily sharing the body, they would be able to mutually learn from each other and become an absurdly strong powerhouse .

But that would have to wait, yin qi in the body was still berserk, and the woman's soul was in slumber.

Fang drove for another four hours through winding black obsidian roads between bleak mountains following the direction of Lily.

He reached a fork - there were two paths ahead : the left, downward-sloping path and the right pass that climbed up to a higher plateau.

"We are almost through the mountains," an euphonious voice was heard . It was the woman's voice. 

"Lily ?" Fang asked in surprise .

"Yeah, the woman is still in slumber ." She said.

"It feels so odd," Fang muttered.

She laughed slightly, "But I'm happy that we are still together, I really thought I would die there."

Fang didn't speak for sometime, the memory of the helplessness resurfaced.

"Do you know her name ?"

"No, we couldn't speak for long, she fell into a slumber."

"OK, then. What path should we take ?"

"Hmm, I don't have any suggestions. Both directions are perilous. The left path goes through some really dark and creepy caves. It's like a maze. And full of all sorts of nasty critters.

The right path is sort of short cuts. It leads to the pass at the top of the mountain. But it's also dangerous. You see those fireballs in the sky. For some reason, those really like to land there. If you choose the right path, we need some real godspeed, otherwise we will be doomed."

Fang thought for sometimes. "Can you fight now ?" He asked Lily.

"No, I lost all my abilities . You know the traits and abilities I had were specific for Hollyphant race, though I have the soul, I don't have the body."

 He looked at the pixie skeleton and asked, "How about you, will you help me again ? By the way, I don't even know your name ."

"I'm Alice. I'll be in your care to escape from this hell, and will do my best to help." The pixie skeleton said.

"Oh, so you want to escape too ! But, you are , don't mind, a skeleton. An undead."

"So what, you think there are no undead in your place ?"

"There are ?" 

"Of Course there are. What do you think Necromancers are doing?"

"Ah, I didn't think that way ." Fang was embarrassed.

"Can you pass that barrier? You know what I'm talking about." Lily asked Alice .

"No, I can't. And I need to form contact with that boy like you did."

"What ?" Fang cried in surprise.

"Yeah, I told you I need your help. And as you have affinity to death energy now, you will have increased potential if you make a contract with me."

Fang stayed silent for some time. He had a suspicion, the pixie skeleton made him choose the Phantom archetype. She could interfere before in the battle and Lily wouldn't be in such a condition. It was very possible that she had hidden agenda.

Alice looked at him , "I can guess what you are thinking. And it's normal you don't trust me. But my strength is limited, I wouldn't be able to change anything if I was wide open to act earlier."

Fang said telepathically to Lily, "What do you think ?"

"Your decision, Fang. But I think your Beastmaster sub-class will change. You know, I'm kind of dead now. You still have the sub-class because my soul is still here, not in the underworld and still connected. Undeads will be summoned creatures. Unlike me, I could live in the soul space."

Fang thought for a few moments and looked at Alice "I agree. But it will be slave contract. I don't trust you."

"I understand, so be it. As far as I saw you, I won't suffer even if I become a slave of yours. Hope I can earn your trust like Lily.

"Well then, let's make the contract."

Alice took out a scroll, there were lots of runes on that scroll. She gathered mana in her index finger of the right hand and edited some parts. Then gave the scroll to Lily, "Check it." She guessed correctly that Lily could read the scroll and understand the conditions of the contract, unlike a neophyte rogue, Fang.

Lily read the scroll carefully and nodded. Then she gave it to Fang and said, "It's fine, she will be a slave to you if you make the contract. Just smear a blood drop and it's done. By the way, she is not pure undead in a sense. She had another soul part , slumbering in another plain. This pixie skeleton can be considered a clone. And she will be able to enter the soul space . But no matter what, neither of them can hurt you. "

Fang looked at Alice, "Tell me about yourself after we reach a safe place." Then he took out a dagger and pierced his finger with the sharp tip. A drop of blood fell on the scroll. The scroll disappeared with a blinding light that connected both of them.

[ You have successfully made a master-slave contract with an eidolon of a powerful being , and you are in the upper hand of the contract. The contracted eidolon is permanently bonded with you and can stay with you till death ]

[ Charisma +2 ]

[ You got a second class - Summoner ]

[ You can now learn spells. Intelligence is your spell casting ability ]

[ Since you have chosen Phantom as your Archetype for primary class, thus gaining affinity to necrotic energy and the contracted Eidolon is also an undead creature, you can learn to master the school of necromancy spells as well as the spells for summoners ]

[ You gain proficiency in Arcana and Religion ]

[ Your Archetype abilities are locked. Your initial Rogue class level is 2 now to adjust with the new added class. You can unlock the Phantom Archetype features when you level up your Rogue class ]

[ Contract with the Hollyphant Lily is broken ]

[ Your special subclass Beast Master is removed ]

[ You lost proficiency in Animal Handling and nature ]

[ You lost the features beast taming and beast companionship ]

[Your soul hasn't suffered backlash as your soul companion is still connected to you ]

[ You can now choose the appearance of your contracted eidolon ]

"Eidolon? What's that ? And I can learn magic, wow. I think I don't need to search and owe favors to a necromancer anymore," Fang thought. And he felt a loss learning that the contract between him and Lily is broken. "At least we are still connected,"

Nevertheless, he chose the appearance of a human girl of similar age as his for Alice.

[ The physical appearance of the eidolon is adjusted ]

[ The level of the contracted Eidolon will start from level 1 ]

"Fuck," Fang cursed inwardly.

[You can learn 3 Cantrips and 4 first level spells. Choose from below…]

A long list of cantrips and first level spells with description appeared in the blue screen. He carefully scrolled through the list and chose to learn three cantrips: Mage Hand, Chill Touch and True Strike ; four first level spells : Mage Armor, Feather Fell, Ray of Sickness and Sleep

And thus the string of notifications ended. The light connecting him and Alice disappeared. He was surprised to see a little girl around 6 years old standing before him. Clothless, there was a tattoo on her chest, looked like a mystical rune. The girl pouted, noticing his gaze.

"Aye, Alice, you are not a pixie skeleton anymore. And you look so cute."

"You selected my physical appearance." Alice answered, the voice was fitting to a six year old girl too.

"Well, I wished for you to be of my age. Anyway, I'm sorry that you are now level 1. I guess this is the drawback of creating contact with a weak boy like me ." Fang sighed.

"I'm happy that it worked. We will be strong together "

"Of course. But you can't help much now like before, we should have made bond after passing the danger ahead. Though I got new skills and can cast spells." Fang muttered 

"We will be fine. But I would suggest taking a long rest before going further ." Alice said.

"Yeah Fang, we should take a rest. Also I think I can be of some help soon." Lily said.

"So be it, and I need to be familiar with my new class too." Fang sat down on a seat and closed eyes. He then looked up for his stats -

[ Fang Hao

Race : Human

Class : Rogue (Level 2) , Summoner (Level 1)

Level : 3

XP : 900/2700

DP : 3 / 5

HP : 23

Stats:

STR : 14

DEX : 17

CON : 15

INT : 16

WIS : 15

CHA : 12

Skill Proficiencies:

Acrobatics (lvl 5)

Arcana (lvl 5)

Athletics (lvl 4)

Deception (lvl 3)

Investigation (lvl 5)

Perception (lvl 4)

Religion (lvl 5)

Expertise:

Stealth (lvl 7)

Thieves Tool

Actions :

Thieves Can't

Sneak Attack (lvl 1)

Cunning Action

Two Weapon Fighting

Cantrips :

Mage Hand

Chill Touch

True Strike

Spellbook :

Spell Slot - 2

Mage Armor

Feather Fell

Ray of Sickness

Sleep]