A husky voice called out, "Hello, Mary," beckoning the orange-haired halfling from behind. The other person was about the same size as her.

"Oh! Kaiser. I thought you had already returned to the Plane of Tellus," Mary exclaimed. "Aren't Silver Moon mercenaries planning to use the contracted human to hold an expedition of Tellus' plane?"

The dwarf, Kaiser, sighed and shook his head. "It's not as simple as it appeared. We can't possibly use everyone who has a contract with Silver Moon. We must exclude the descendants of the first generation."

“Descendent of the first generation?” It pleasantly surprised Mary. “How much power can a descendent hold after so many generations?”

“I meet one girl. An early double-digit. Blind. Yet, even at this level and with experience of 100 years, I don’t think I can escape her arrow.”

“Those who hold the blood of first-generation are on a different level. Do you really think if the Silver Moon chief didn’t hold the blood of the first dwarf, Dwargon, he would have the capability to unite all the dwarves?”

“So you have met one of them?” Mary couldn’t help but feel excited. Soon it turned into unhappiness. “the best I have met is #00000473. Probably a branch of the third or fourth generation. Those arrogant bastards…”

“It’s quite natural. Being the direct descendant of the third or fourth generation of your race is worth being proud of…”

“But these arrogant one is the first to die.” Mary smiled and added, “I am rooting for a four-digit.”

"Don't give them too much." Kaiser made sure to remind her. "This is your first time participating in a war of dimensional evolution. Unless they sign a contract with you, you shouldn't help them. If your superior finds out, they may severely punish you."

Mary showed him the tip of her tongue and laughed it off. However, soon her face turned serious. “But I was wondering, what is the reason to sign a contract withholding the name as collateral? Isn’t it just a name?”

“Name binds the soul to the plane. If they don’t discard their name, it would be hard for them to enter the shard of the Lunar plane.”

Mary nodded as if she had understood everything. She asked, “but that has nothing to do with the contract.”

Kaiser smirked, saying, “Signing with the soul identity as collateral, if they fail to meet the contract criteria, they have to give up on their soul vassal for the said amount of time.”

“And we can use those bodies to enter the plane!” Mary ended the sentence for him.

Kaiser nodded with a smile. He added, “Using a body bound to the plane means the constraint will be weaker. That is better than entering the plane forcefully.”

Mary nodded as if she had learned a trade secret. “But I was wondering, can’t I directly make a contract with the three digiters?”

Kaiser shook his head. “Those numbers are like a ranking system that would rank the quality of Soul Vessels and the strength of the soul.”

Kaiser looked around to check no one close to them, then grabbed Mary to the side. “It’s better not to think about the single and double-digit one. They are direct descent of the first generation of the human race or have a fragment of the souls of those being that humans denote as God. They might be the one with whom we had signed a contract to guide their descendent.”

“If they find out that we are trying to get our hand on the soul’s vessel…” Kaiser shook his head, continuing, “Those who are strong enough to be awarded a three-digit rank must be strong enough to carry some blood of an older generation.”

“It’s best to go for who ranked in four and five digits. Their soul vessel will be strong enough. And with enough nurturing, they might become as strong as three digits or even two-digit.”

Mary remembered every word she was told. She had already eyes on the #00008850. She was trying to let him join the Arkid mercenary. 

Even if all seven mercenary groups were trying to show that they were respecting the contract their predecessor signed 3000-4000 years ago, they were still looking for a way to increase their profit.

“But you have to be patient.” Kaiser reminded her, “Unlike the higher ranker, the four and five have almost no knowledge of the history of their race. So they are easy to manipulate.”

Mary, like an obedient student, swallowed every piece of advice. If she was lucky, she might be able to obtain a soul's vessel and trade it for something valuable from her mercenary group.

"However, be cautious. Gaining too much power too quickly may negatively affect the vessel."

Mary nodded. She was well aware of the need for systemic growth.

She was a direct descendant of the second-generation branch of her race. She wasn’t strong from birth. She didn’t participate in her plane’s evolution war, but there was no lack of conflict in her plane. She had to work hard to gain power. 

After joining dimensional mercenary, she moved one dimension from another to make a name for ‘Bloody Mary.’ Hence, becoming one of the executives of her group.

She was well aware of the trouble and dangers of a damaged soul. So she was well aware of what Kaiser was talking about.

As a dependable senior, Kaiser explained, “Try to let them earn as much experience as possible. Their plane will be entering a full-blown war with a magic dimension. It won’t be easy, but as long as they survive, they would be able to pay back all the investment.”

He lowered his voice, whispering in her ears, “The natives of the shards of Luna will soon come into contact with them. They won’t be mindless like the monsters we have put on the Dimension of Acclimatization to train them. Those B grades or C grade beasts can be…”

“Huh!” Mary exclaimed.

“What happened?”

“I receive an invitation.”

“Invitation?”

“Yes!” Mary had no idea how to explain it, but she tried, “Someone is trying to contact the plane of Tellus.”

**************

Sleagh dragged the second body away from the tower and hung it by the legs while cutting open the belly to drain all of its guts.

He'd spent his childhood at a countryside orphanage. He'd caught rabbits in the mountain forest behind the town. Cutting and cleaning rabbits and chickens was common among the orphanage's older children.

He once had to assist in the cutting and cleaning of a deer caught on the mountain by the town's hunter.

However, butchering a so-called monster was a novel experience. 

Expectedly, he had never butchered a human. As a result, he was unaware of the similarities in the anatomy of the monster and humans.

Nonetheless, the others stood back, with no intention of assisting him. Sleagh carefully dragged the drained carcass towards the tower.

*Crreee*

Sleagh's feet came to a halt. He turned around to see small creatures emerging from the forest.

‘There should be some time before the next wave arrives.’ His internal clock was always perfect. He released the skinned leg of the kobold and pulled out the spear.

The creatures that came out of the forest weren’t too fearsome. They were of the height of small dogs, with their bodies covered in fur. Yet their head looked closer to a bird than any other mammal.

*Creeee*

They opened their not-so-long black beaks, revealing terrifying rows of sharp teeth and slithering tongues as they howled. 

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