Speed Is King

"Here! Let's make a contract!" Rak'Tharos slashed his paw open with his claws and drew blood. "I promise to make you as powerful as me, if not my blood will rot and I will die a horrible death!"

Jennifer looked at him in confusion.

"Give me your hand. You'll have a chance to accept or reject the contract later on." Rak'Tharos said impatiently.

Jennifer stretched out her little hand to him.

Rak'Tharos gently made a small cut on her delicate hand and pressed it to his paw. He was careful not to hurt it too much because her hands were extremely important to him. Afterall, they were the source of all the heavenly food which he would be eating for the whole of that year.

Immediately, the details of the contract appeared in their minds.

Jennifer frowned when she studied the contract and found that it was riddled with loopholes.

"I want to modify the contract." She demanded.

"Go ahead and make whatever changes you want to make!" Rak'Tharos said in exasperation.

For the first time that day, Jennifer smiled. She placed the meat carefully next to her, away from Rak'Tharos, and began to edit the contract.

"At least give me the meat first while you edit!" Rak'Tharos grumbled in strange, whiny voice which was extremely out of character and in deep contrast with his feral and fearsome look. "It will grow cold!"

"Wait. If it's cold, I'll make you another one." Jennifer shushed him as she scrunched up her eyes and tried to make the contract as beneficial as possible for herself.

"Within three months'¦ Full protection'¦ Top priority'¦ What level did you say you are right now" Jennifer looked up and asked Rak'Tharos while blinking innocently.

"I am level 401. And I am strong enough to fight with level 450 Emperors easily." Rak'Tharos said proudly, not knowing that he had just made his work harder.

"Power equivalent to a Level 450 Emperor'¦" Jennifer murmured.

"Yes, that's me!" Rak'Tharos said, feeling pleased with himself.

"Any powerful weapons or treasure?" Jennifer asked.

"I have one very powerful weapon. It's only a rare grade, but it is more powerful than many epic grade weapons! Look!" Rak'Tharos exaggerated and took out a fine sword to show off to Jennifer.

"An epic weapon'¦" Jennifer nodded in satisfaction.

"Hahaha! You don't have to make such an accurate description of me. It's just a simple contract afterall." Rak'Tharos said with a booming laugh.

"That's alright. The clearer the contract is, the more at ease I will be. And if I am at ease, I will be able to cook even more delicious food!" Jennifer replied sweetly.

"Hahahaha! Good! Good! Be more specific! Be very specific so you will be at ease!" Rak'Tharos nodded and agreed.

"Here, I am done. Agree to it and you can start digging in!" Jennifer shoved the plate of still-warm meat under Rak'Tharos' nose.

"I AGREE! SIGN IT! SIGN IT!" Rak'Tharos shouted and grabbed the plate from Jennifer.

Jennifer felt the contract bind itself in her soul, and smiled with great satisfaction.

Although she didn't dare to sabotage the contract outright, she did include several key clauses that in no uncertain terms, assured her safety and forced Rak'Tharos to follow a tight schedule for her power up sessions.

If all went well, she would be almost as powerful as Rak'Tharos in three months, and at the cost of Rak'Tharos' best efforts.

Jennifer smiled at Rak'Tharos sweetly and made more food for him.

She'll fatten him up, make him train her well, then slit his throat for the things that he did to her and her family.

She needed no contract for that.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

"Interesting! I never expected his sisters to be players that I would be keeping track of as well!" Void Walker commented happily. "This particular Game is turning out to be an extremely entertaining one! I'm glad I disobeyed my grandpa and secretly participated, hee hee!"

"The Phoenix System is truly an excellent system. It is one of the rare systems which could grant the player the power of flight. Although not much use in a land-based speed race, its value in aiding the player to survive is absolutely unsurpassed. With Elliot as her brother, I am predicting a top 100 placing for Jessica Musk." Monkey King analyzed.

"Top hundred? That's mighty high praise coming from you. Dare to put your money on it?" The Golden Dragon who was passing by near them remarked.

"A personal bet?" Monkey King asked in surprise.

"Yes! I will bet you 100 resource planets that Jessica Musk will not reach the top 100. What say you? The Golden Dragon asked Monkey King provocatively.

"You're on." Monkey King simply said with a smile.

He nicked his own palm and the both of them signed a betting contract on the spot.

"Thank you for the 100 resource planets. Let me tell you a secret, the Game Masters have increased the difficulty of the game!" Golden Dragon said.

"Any three year old could see that." Void Walker scoffed lazily.

"Of course. But no three year old except for dragons can know that Jessica Musk has just crossed into Mutated Razorback Wyvern territory'¦" The Golden Dragon looked at Monkey King's suddenly serious face and Void Walker's confused look, and he burst out laughing.

"HA HA HA! As I said before, thanks for the planets! HA HA HA!" The Golden Dragon laughed loudly and walked away.

"What is a Mutated Razorback Wyvern?" Void Walker demanded.

"The greatest nemesis for Phoenixes." Monkey King sighed and maintained his troubled expression. "It is immune to fire."

"Immune to fire? Wouldn't that be extremely troublesome for Jessica?" Void Walker frowned.

"Extremely. The only weakness those Mutated Razorback Wyverns have is that they are not very intelligent. They rely on their brute strength to dominate their area with an iron fist." Monkey King replied.

"Hahaha. Didn't Jessica raise her Intelligence stat to a full 3 points just now?" Void Walker said with a laugh. "Strength does not always win. You of all people should know that very well, Monkey.. Those Mutated Razorback Wyverns are walking dead meat. Dead meat!"