*System!* Kat practically screamed in her mind as the chains shot towards her… which was on in and of itself, seeing as normally the chains bound both parties evenly.
User Kat what is your question
*You should damn well know… what is happening? I thought the chains were only for formal agreements and there is something clearly different about them.*
User Kat seems to have agreed to a Heartfelt Contract.
*And what pray tell would that be?* Thought Kat as she was wrapped in chains.
Analysing Contract
Confirming Contract status
Determining Contract nature
Contract True Form analysed
Clearance for Heartfelt Contract in cleared
A Heartfelt Contract, is one made by a secondary party for User Kat primarily with User Kat's best interest in mind. A Heartfelt Contract, must be made honestly, cannot be forced, cannot come from a Summoner, cannot come from an Accomplice, cannot come from an Entity without knowledge of User Kat's true nature as a demon.
*Right but that still doesn't really tell me anything. What does it actually mean to be a heartfelt contract?*
A Heartfelt Contract differs from a standard Contract in a few key ways. Primarily in that while User Kat will not receive Currency as compensation User Kat will experience a significant increase in power and ability by completing the Contract.
*Wait what? Why? And How? *
D.E.M.O.N.S does not know. Heartfelt Contract have been heavily scrutinised and examined but the triggers for such things elude D.E.M.O.N.S. Numerous attempts to replicate the phenomenon have been attempted but all have failed.
This is the main reason knowledge of Heartfelt Contract's is heavily restricted. Once known it is much harder to obtain one, and yet most demons who manage to obtain a Heartfelt Contract can obtain multiple. It is thus a shame that most demons never obtain even a single Heartfelt Contract.
*Right, but how does it increase my abilities if I'm not getting anything for it? Is it just because in this case I'd be better with weapons?*
No. User Kat will receive power as a separate reward. Where it comes from and how it is retained is unknown.
*Ok… is there anything else I need to know*
Heartfelt Contract are both loose and strict with the contents. Using User Kat's current Contract as an example. Entity Grace has requested User Kat 'learn' how to use a fan or a whip.
For a standard Contract just having some idea of how to use either would count as a completed Contract, however for a Heartfelt Contract the contents are skewed in the Contractors favour, in this case Entity Grace. So User Kat will need to be at the very least more proficient in whips, fans, or ribbons, then User Kat is with fists.
However Heartfelt Contract are less strict in other ways. User Kat will receive no punishment for putting off training with the weapons. However a Heartfelt Contract will only lose it's power when either User Kat or Entity Grace perish*
As such User Kat can take centuries to meet the requirements unlike other Contracts that may punish User Kat for ignoring them.
What's with the Asterix next to perish?
Meaning Perish, as subject to D.E.M.O.N.S reincarnation and resurrection policy previously mentioned to User Kat
*The uh… like 900,000 hours or whatever?*
Yes.
"Hey Kat?" asked Grace concerned "You there? Hey, Kat, what just happened?"
Kat shook her head and focused on Grace, who looked rather concerned at what just happened. "What do you mean Grace?"
"I thought you said the contracts were only for formal agreements… I mean not that I'm unhappy you've agreed so strongly… I'm just surprised and um…" Grace trailed off.
"Um… I don't really understand the full scope of it but you made what is called a heartfelt contract" said Kat "I honestly didn't know anything about them before today, and I can't really give specifics"
"Ok…?" said Grace still confused and somewhat subdued compared with before.
Seeing this Kat knew just the thing to turn the mood around "So where should I start? Fans or whips?"
Grace's mood recovered slightly hearing this. She still didn't quite have the same spark in her eyes, but she was already speaking with a cheerful tone "Right… so whips and fans… you said you wanted it to compliment your fire yes? Well whips and fans will go about it in different ways.
"Firstly though how coordinated are you? Fans as the name implies, is using two fans, where as you'd normally only use one whip. Some people to actually use two, but neve very well… it's just not worth it when your starting out, and once you get further in normally you've learnt everything wrong so I wouldn't bother"
"I don't really know? How can you tell if your coordinated? I think I'm pretty well off" said Kat thinking back on some of her minor fights she'd been in.
"Right…" said Grace not really believing Kat "Can you do these two things with your hands?"
Grace then proceeded to use one hand to draw a circle and have the other making a cross, then gesture for Kat to repeat the actions.
Kat shrugged and did as Grace asked perfectly replicating her movements… in fact Kat had even managed to copy Grace's minor mistakes which was immediately apparent to Grace's trained eyes.
"Oh, and one more thing can you jab with your tail as well?" asked Grace
"Sure?" said Kat not following why it mattered what she could do with her tail in terms of weapons but complied anyway.
The instant Grace saw this she knew Kat was beyond coordinated at this point. "Right... um well it seems that you are coordinated enough for fans. Most people can't hand duel weapons so the fact that you can means fans is probably the better option
"Of course, whip isn't bad either, just that if you have the talent for duel wielding I think it would be a shame to waste of whips, of course duel wielding whips is an option but I still don't recommend that… then again with your body I suppose it's possible… but no, it just doesn't make sense
"To fully utilise a whip along with your fire you can't be dual wielding so fans it is. Quick this way" said Grace heading back towards the entrance.
Kat wasn't quite sure where Grace was going but followed anyway. A short jog later and Grace was standing in front of a weapon stand containing a number of gauntlets, more swords and two sets of fans.
"Right, so this is the only shelf with fans, so you'll have to pick one of these two if you're taking them. I can't really feel much of a difference in power, but I'm also unclear about the enchantments… though wait… you use mana right?" asked Grace snapping out of her onslaught of words early.
"Nope" said Kat
"Ah, right in that case it's certainly this one" said Grace picking up a rather plain looking set of fans made out of a dark metal. "These might technically be the weaker of the two, just barely but that I think is due to the lacking enchantments and not the materials"
Kat reached out and grabbed the fans. Holding them in her hands she'd thought that after Grace's impassioned speech she'd feel some innate connection to them, or some more profound understanding of how she might wield them.
Contrary to these expectations the only impression Kat got was that they were shockingly heavy for such small weapons. Examining the weapons in her hand Kat could see the overlapping dark metal sheets that had been pressed together with a thicker dark red metal. The edges appeared sharp, and when Kat lightly ran her finger over them, she found that she'd cut herself, though only slightly.
Kat examined the cut on her hand as a moment later it healed over, with only a line of black blood remaining behind. "Well" said Kat "I guess these are mine now. What about you?"
Grace pulled out a dagger from behind her back "I picked this up on the way. This is the best dagger for me in the entire place. Has a few nice enchantments on it that suit my fighting style"
Kat let her mouth hang open *When did she pick that up? Actually when did she have time to find the best dagger in the whole place? There were hundreds of the things just in the entrance alone!*
"Are you sure that's the one you want?" asked Kat
"Well um, of course. I haven't missed any daggers, and while a bow would be nice, mine is custom made, and of high enough quality materials that other than the 'great sword'" Grace was sure to indicate her displeasure at the last two words "Nothing suits my nearly as well. Though of course, that is to be expected really"
Kat nodded towards Grace and gestured back towards the entrance "I guess it's time to head to the desert then.. Not sure if it's worth looking around, but I feel we stalled in the snow long enough. We don't want to fall too far behind after all"