Chapter 21: A Small Experiment

In this world of Magic and Spiritual Qi, there were actually communication methods akin to instant messaging. However, it required the use of Array Demon Transmissions, which were exorbitantly expensive. Moreover, most of the Demon Transmission Arrays that did not require temporary setup time were controlled by the Holy Protection Palace.

It was highly unlikely that a mere servant of the Li Family could bypass the Lord or the Housekeeper to borrow the arrays in the hands of the Holy Protection Palace just to send a direct message to Beinam in the Northern Realm.

Therefore, under normal circumstances, Beinam shouldn't have received the news of Kaios's coma within a single day, let alone immediately hand over his duties and set off to return to Yulang North Mountain Manor.

According to Pete's recollection, when he first saw Beinam, both of them had appeared very surprised.

Pete's surprise was naturally because they had only just sent the letter not long ago; Beinam shouldn't have arrived so quickly.

But Beinam's surprise was rather intriguing. After hearing Pete's question, "How did you get here so fast?", he had waited two or three seconds before replying with a question of his own, "How is the Master doing?"

Upon learning that Kaios was in the study, he had simply shoved the handover documents for the Fengyuan No. 7 territory in the Northern Realm into Pete's hands and rushed straight over.

Previously, Pete hadn't thought much of it. But now, after Kaios's hint, he suddenly realized what all of Beinam's unusual behaviors meant.

"Obviously, this was a spur-of-the-moment excuse he came up with after seeing me," Kaios said. "Because he didn't think it through, he left such a massive loophole. This also proves that he never expected to run into me in the first place."

"Beinam received such great kindness from the Old Baron and the Master, yet to think he would... I really don't know who can be trusted anymore..." Pete seemed to still be reeling from the shock.

"Didn't we already know there must be a heavyweight figure behind this? Besides, Beinam is definitely not the end of the line; we have to continue playing the long game. As for this loophole, once he thinks about it a little, he'll realize it too. Whether he comes up with a reason to cover it up or not, we shouldn't bring it up. Let's just pretend we didn't notice a thing."

"Yes." Pete hesitated for a moment before asking, "Then what should we do next? Given Beinam's Cultivation as a Top Tier Spiritual Energy Warrior, I'm afraid it won't be easy to plant someone by his side to keep an eye on him. And if even he is involved... then the others..."

"For now, we just wait and see. He's out in the open, while we're in the dark. You don't need to be too pessimistic; most of the Contracted Servants are definitely loyal," Kaios said. "Who does Beinam have the best relationship with? Who does he stay closest to on a daily basis?"

"Beinam's family became Contracted Servants of the Li Family starting from his father's generation. However, their family isn't very large, and Beinam is the only one in his generation. As for his daily life, as far as this old servant knows..."

Kaios and Pete chatted for over an hour, going over the various details of Beinam's situation.

Kaios appeared rather relaxed in front of Pete. After all, according to Pete's understanding, no matter how strong Beinam was, Kaios could always control his life through the Soul Subordination Contract. The current difficulty mainly lay in investigating the other personnel involved behind the scenes, especially those not associated with the Li Family.

Of course, in Pete's view, if even the Contracted Servants had so many issues, finding people they could trust to use would also be a massive headache.

After Pete left, Kaios frowned in thought in the study for a few more minutes before calling Sharvella in.

"Go find me a small animal. A chicken, duck, goose, or something like that will do. Try not to make a fuss or draw any attention," Kaios instructed.

"Right away, Master!"

Soon, Sharvella returned carrying a food box.

When Kaios saw the food box, he was startled. He thought that because he hadn't specified that the animal needed to be "alive," Sharvella had assumed he wanted to eat a "small animal" and brought it over cooked.

Fortunately, upon opening the food box, Sharvella pulled out a pure white, very much alive little rabbit.

"Master said not to draw attention, so I went to the kitchen and got a food box to put it in!" Sharvella said proudly.

"Mm, good job. Go wait outside and stand guard for now. I won't be seeing anyone for the time being," Kaios ordered.

"Yes." Although she was a bit curious, Sharvella didn't ask anything and obediently stood guard at the door.

Kaios took out a scroll of a Magic Contract, less than five centimeters tall and made of special paper, from a drawer and slowly unrolled it.

After laying out the materials he had prepared in advance one by one, Kaios looked at the shivering little rabbit, whose limbs had been bound by Sharvella. He whispered, "Don't be afraid. I won't hurt you, and I won't eat you either. I'm just doing a little experiment..."

Kaios pricked the rabbit's foot with a prepared small needle, extracted a few drops of blood, and dripped them onto the scroll of the Magic Contract. He then began the process of establishing the contract according to the procedure.

Yes, Kaios was establishing a Soul Contract, only the subject was a rabbit.

In the very beginning, Soul Contracts were actually used to bind humans and animals together. At that time, some Magical Beasts and Spirit Beasts were incredibly powerful; subduing them as contracted Magical Beasts could provide significant assistance.

However, with the rapid increase in human strength, the invention of Soul Subordination Contracts, and the massive decline in the number of Magical Beasts, Soul Contracts between humans and beasts had become somewhat obsolete.

When Kaios was looking through documents earlier, he happened to find a few scrolls of Magic Contracts meant for wild beasts and Spirit Beasts left in the study by the original owner's great-grandfather. Therefore, he thought of using them to run an experiment first to see if he had any way of establishing a Soul Contract with a beast.

Establishing a contract with a beast required the beast's "submission" alongside a small amount of blood. This "submission" involved a form of continuous pressure. Generally, any beast captured for the establishment of a Magic Contract would naturally "submit" during the process, requiring no communication whatsoever.

In contrast, establishing a contract with a human didn't require blood, but it did require the servant to willingly agree to the establishment of the contract.

A dozen minutes later, after repeatedly confirming that there were no issues with his operational procedures, and that the prepared materials and the Magic Contract were most likely fine as well, Kaios was fairly certain that the problem lay with him.

The Magic Contract simply couldn't be established. Forget about establishing it; it couldn't even be initiated. He didn't feel a single thing during the very first step.

He conducted this experiment to avoid encountering certain situations in the future. For example, if a child with exceptional Cultivation Talent in the territory was selected and brought over to establish a Soul Subordination Contract. Or in other circumstances, if someone wanted to gift him a Contracted Servant, he would need to accept and establish a new Soul Subordination Contract.

If he was completely unprepared and an anomaly occurred then, making it impossible to establish the contract, he could end up in massive trouble.

Now that he knew in advance that his soul might be "incompatible" with the Soul Contract rules of this world, he was prepared and could think of countermeasures beforehand.

Looking at the little white rabbit in front of him, Kaios reached out a finger and gently rubbed its head. "Thanks for your hard work."

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.

The sudden sound of someone knocking on the door startled Kaios, and he quickly pulled his finger back.

"Master, Young Master Xiao Zhuo'an from the Xiao Family is here to see you. Should I have him wait, or ask him to head back?" Harvey's voice rang out from the doorway.

Seemingly remembering Kaios's amnesia, Harvey added another sentence. "Master, Young Master Xiao Zhuo'an used to be your best friend."