Chapter 6: You, Mortal Beings
"And those rules, do they affect us too?" Dean had asked, full of curiosity.
"Of course. Still, there are differences for you. Over the last two years, many people have started appearing everywhere in the Nether, from its innermost reaches to its outermost edges. They’ve been given tasks, and as long as they haven’t completed what needs to be done, they can never leave here. You could say this is the Nether Law at work on you."
When the woman behind the silhouette gave this answer, Dean could only shake his head.
There were still so many things he needed to learn, but he didn’t know if he’d have enough time to learn them all.
Still, he wanted to find out a few simple things.
"You said I didn’t even have a ghost. What did you mean by that?"
In response to Dean’s question, the owner of the silhouette began to speak again.
"You humans... you have far too many possibilities. It could be said that you are helped because you are weak."
"The fact that you can strengthen your bodies, that you aren’t affected by the air in Aether or Nether, which is poisonous to mortals, and that you can command everyone at your whim."
When the woman who was the owner of the silhouette finished speaking, Dean furrowed his brow. He’d learnt three things he didn’t know, one after the other.
"What do you mean?" the young man had asked, full of curiosity.
"You didn’t know? Humans break the laws of the Nether and the Aether, to a very great extent. They aren’t easily affected. If they want to, well, if both sides want to, humans can control them, within their souls, of course," the woman who owned the silhouette had replied.
"Tell me more," said Dean.
"It’s a contract. A supernatural agreement between a Ghost Controller, which is a human, and a ghost. You just need to have the contract document. It’s rare; I was lucky to get hold of some," replied the woman behind the silhouette.
"So what exactly does this do? How far can this contract go?" Dean had asked.
"It’s basic. The ghost lends its power to the human they’re contracted to. The human provides benefits such as energy, mostly powers within. Like yin and yang energy, or magic, or holy power, and sometimes, if they’re a good contractor, even Nether and Aether coins," the figure behind the curtain had replied.
"So it’s like a slave contract? The human gets incredible benefits and only gives so little in return?" Dean had asked.
"Of course, but no. After all, every owner is different. I care about my people. I let them do whatever they want, almost all the time. I help them to grow and, obviously, to live. In return, they work for me. At first, they owed me. Now, they beg to work here."
"What?" Dean had asked. This was practically a slave contract.
"Everyone likes to be under the command of a great person, be they divine, dead or alive," the woman behind the silhouette had replied.
Dean took a deep breath as he spoke these words.
Urdur, the female head chef working at the restaurant, and many others seemed to be under the thumb of the woman behind the curtain.
Still, it was understandable. Even just taking into account what Dean had seen the day before, there were simply too many customers in the restaurant.
There was a large inn in the village, and even a pub.
Whoever the woman behind the curtain was, she was most likely a successful businesswoman... or rather, a successful ghost businesswoman.
"I see. Thank you," said Dean with a smile.
"Still... I’m surprised. I thought humanity would have told the Earth Realm everything by now. I’m not sure why all these realms, and of course the main three, are still unknown," the woman, the owner of the silhouette, had asked.
"Well, let’s just say I was never one for learning," Dean had replied.
Although Dean couldn’t see her this time, the woman behind the curtain had smiled gently.
By now, nearly a minute had passed. The pair hadn’t spoken a word to one another during that time.
Dean, frankly, had preferred to do nothing whilst waiting for time to pass.
Nevertheless, this silence would come to an end after a minute.
"The Creator, or rather, the creators, work wonders," said the woman behind the curtain.
"Sorry?" asked Dean. He couldn’t understand why she had said such a thing.
"Three main realms, and only humans possess such powers," replied the woman.
"Still, I’m not sure if we’re liked that much. After all, there’s war and more. I’m sure the dead are coming here from Earth, aren’t they?" Dean had muttered.
"Of course. But that doesn’t mean you, I mean, humanity, aren’t loved," the woman had said.
She then took another puff from her pipe and exhaled the smoke.
Dean couldn’t say a word in response to these words.
The woman, however, was about to conclude her speech as follows.
"Apart from these three realms, there are many across eternity where we exist. Countless universes, countless galaxies, countless systems and worlds. That means there are countless races. But the Creator cares for you humans the most."
"And you, the mortal beings, are the instruments of this eternity."
Dean stood up after hearing these words.
He realised that nearly four hours had passed since they’d started talking.
Meanwhile, he’d taken a single banknote out of his wallet.
It bore the figure of ten million.
Dean placed the banknote on the chair he was sitting on and then said, "It was a great pleasure speaking with you, madam. Thank you for taking the time to keep me company," he said, and immediately afterwards left the room.
The young man had to do whatever it took to get his hands on one of those contracts.
He already had an incredible amount of money.
If what the woman who owned the silhouette had said was true, then the young man could command a powerful ghost simply with his money alone.
With the system glitching and failing to grant him his reward, meaning his growth had slowed, this was the only thing he could do.
He had to use his money to grow stronger.
As soon as this dungeon was over, he had to begin his research.
Comments