“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!” Bret let out an ear piercing scream as the pain began to overwhelm his body. “Holy mother of Jesus. Shit. Fuck. Damn it all!”

“Anyone else finding this rather funny?” Joey asked as he chuckled at his friend’s torment.

“Joey, shut the hell up.” Mike shot Joey a stern look, causing Joey to raise his hand and mouth: “Okay. Okay.”

Joey then looked at the two girls who were watching the show and nodded his head in appreciation. “So…. How did you all meet?”

“Can you not speak to me? Your breath stinks.” Lillia was the first to speak up as she gave Joey a disgusted look. “And you stink.”

“Pfft!” Tina turned and began laughing. She had expected as much. After all, Lillia only cared about Blake and only Blake. She was lucky and had a contract with them, so she was part of their team, meaning Lillia would try to protect her as well. But this guy….

“What the hell is this!? One tells me I stink, and the other laughs. This is why I hate pretty boys! I should go over and give him a peace….. Why do I feel like the air temperature in here just dropped?” Joey began to shiver as Mike slowly began to back up, not wanting to get involved. Joey had not seen it, so he did not know these people’s strengths. But from what Bret had whispered to him earlier, the blonde headed chick with the rack was Blake’s girlfriend, the other girl might be in the mix as well, but he was told one thing. Not to anger the blonde headed girl as she seemed to be even more dangerous than Blake. Mike did not see it until now, but he was glad he had taken his friend’s advice. The girl was exuding a killing intent that could slice a man in half. It was a good thing that Joey was slow on the uptake.

“Hot damn! Why does it hurt so much!?” Bret yelled out, causing the chill in the air to die down. Lillia turned to see Bret’s body glowing slightly.

“He is almost done. He is evolving quite quickly.” Lillia’s words made everyone turn and look at Bret. His body was still slightly glowing, but it was obvious that his screams had grown quieter.

Two more hours passed, and Bret sat there with sweat dripping from his brow. He was trying to understand this new feeling that was swirling around inside him. “This is?”

“You are now able to move mana around your body. For now, just sit there and take in the mana from the crystal. You need to build up your mana pool before you can even think of casting any spells.” Blake replied as he stood up. Although secretly, he was breathing out a sigh of relief. If Bret had turned into a monster or had died, he would not have been able to pull this faction to his side. And that would not be good since these people were all elites. He really needed talent like this on his side.

“Blake!” Lillia ran over to Blake and hugged him. She then whispered into his ear: “That ugly man tried to hit on me.”

“Hey! I did not!” Joey yelled out. “Wait, you just called me ugly!”

Mike sighed and patted Joey’s shoulder. “Well, she is not wrong. Now then, go and get your punishment. But be warned, that kid’s finger flick can leave a crater in the wall in my office. If it hits your head.”

Joey’s face paled. He walked forward and got down on his knees, and pressed his head against the ground. “I am deeply sorry. Please forgive me.”

“Hahaha!” Blake let out a laugh. These are the kinds of people he wished to associate with. People who had close bonds and were truthful to themselves in a good way, not a bad way. While one man sulked, one dragon girl hugged her mate, and everyone else laughed, the mood in the room was quite harmonious.

Mike gave the three a room to share for the night while he tried to figure out how to explain things to his men. Bret was told to stay in the training area and continue to take in the mana from the mana crystal.

In the room, there were two cots. Tina had already stripped down to her underwear and was lying on one of them. She had not slept on a bed like piece of furniture for a few days, so this was quite to her liking, even though the cot was stiff.

Lillia had put a barrier around the room so no one could even listen into their conversation, nor could they open the door. Blake was leaning against the wall of the room on the bed with Lillia between his legs, leaning the back of her head against his chest. She was fiddling with his fingers as she let Blake figure things out in his head.

She found that Blake’s ideas always seemed to pull through one way or another and felt that maybe after his rebirth, he was graced by the gods with the power of luck. “Do you guys always have to be so touchy feely?” Tina asked as she looked at the two from her cot.

“Tina, you can massage Lillia’s feet if you are jealous,” Blake said jokingly. Tina rolled her eyes and turned onto her back, and looked up at the ceiling ignoring him. This caused Blake to laugh out loud before asking: “Lillia, how do you think we should do the contract tomorrow?”

“You just tell me what you want to stick into it, and I will set it up,” Lillia replied. Her only concern was making sure no one betrayed Blake. As long as no one was able to betray him she did not care what the contract had in it.

“Alright I have a few things I would like to add. Do you think you can slip them in without others noticing?” Blake asked.

“Easy enough.” Lillia answered as she adjusted herself so she was able to rest her cheek on Blake’s chest. She enjoyed listening to his heart beat.

“Then if that is the case….” Blake went on and began telling Lillia the things he wanted the contract to be on. The things that could be said out loud and those that could not be said out loud in order to make sure no traitors were in the group.