A contract scroll was different from a binding; it was an agreement between two individuals. Anyone who could inscribe scrolls could create these contract scrolls; even a Warrior could, due to their simplicity. After signing, the participants had to go along with the agreed-upon content, or else they could suffer various consequences. As these were signed with Mana, the entire Mana Body would be affected, so they would either lose their ability to use their Mana, get stuck at their Rank forever without being able to progress, or, in extreme cases, even die for breaking the agreement.
Though this method looked simple, it could also be used with extreme deviousness in secret. The most popular way to fool others into signing more agreements without them noticing was to write extra clauses in an unknown language; people who were ignorant would sign and suffer April Fools' jokes throughout the year.
The good thing was that there was a limit to fooling others. Any contract signer must have some awareness of what it was about; otherwise, it wouldn't work. In other words, this method could only extend an already existing topic; it couldn't go in random directions. Despite this, those who were experts on this had their means to make the best out of such deals, so it was still dangerous for ignorant fools.
Another excellent thing about all of this was that the participant must sign by themselves for any type of contract or such things to work. No one could use someone else's Mana to sign, no matter which method was used, as the Mana Body wouldn't recognize that it had signed such a thing; even if somehow the memories of the victim were altered, it still wouldn't work.
In short, any type of contract or anything related to 'promises' with Mana or a Mana Signature wouldn't work unless the participants signed it with full awareness. No wickedness would work on this; however, fooling the other party with more obligations was possible.
The sad thing about this was that the participants couldn't fool the contract while signing. In other words, even if they wrote a random name with their Mana, the contract would still become valid and active. This was a very important find.
Eric could now understand why Bella Noll suggested not signing any scrolls unless it was from someone whom they could completely trust. Looking at the various ways of deviousness that were possible, Eric felt it was better to never sign one, even from a trustworthy source—well, unless he was the maker of the contract scroll himself.
Binding Scrolls were usually forced upon others. After all, who would want their self-opinion taken away? Though this method didn't have much of a future, as it worked only up to the Apprentice Rank and on mortals, provided the creator had such talent.
Contract Scrolls were done through one's free choice; one could refuse to sign it, or sign it if they felt it was needed.
Except for these two ways, there was also a reverse way, and that was for a person who wanted to willingly serve another. These were known as Oaths, or more specifically, Spiritual Oaths.
Spiritual Oaths were very different from Contracts. Spiritual Oaths came from one's Spiritual Base—the thing that connected the Physical, Mana, and Soul Body together. It couldn't be forced upon others by any means; of course, emotional manipulation might still work, but otherwise, no threat or force would make it function.
Breaking these Oaths had far more severe consequences than any Contract Scroll. No heaven would punish them, but they themselves would, without being able to stop it by any means. Rescuing them was also almost out of the question, even if they were put to sleep, into a frozen state, and so on.
Other than Spiritual Oaths, there was another minor version of them, which was to just swear upon one's spiritual base. Normally, this had no visible negative effect even if they lied, but people still avoided swearing, as there were instances where it was seen that those who broke this oath suffered from various small to big ailments in the future. For example, they weren't able to use their full strength properly in critical situations, or their mana control went wild, alongside various other light to heavy conditions. No one could say for certain that those had arrived due to them breaking this 'spiritual base oath'. So, as a precaution, most Mana Wielders who swore would avoid lying.
Leaving aside the minor versions, Spiritual Oaths were categorized into three: Natural Oaths, Great Oaths, and Ultimate Oaths.
All of them were promises of some sort, and one didn't need to articulate which oath they were swearing, as it was not even up to them to choose which category their oath would fall under. They did not even need to know these classifications for the specific oath to take place. It entirely depended upon their own commitment and deeper intentions toward their promise.
A Natural Oath had the least impact upon being broken; meanwhile, both Great and Ultimate Oaths had far more severe impacts and could go beyond life, death, and everything else.
However, the thing was, even if Mana Wielders were extremely willing, they might still not be able to take Natural Oaths, much less the other two. These oaths required extremely sincere hearts; by sincere, it meant everything fell into place—Physical, Mana, and mostly Soul. It was easier said than done; even mothers would fail to cast Natural Oaths toward their own children, no matter how deep their emotion or commitment was; after all, their love was only drawn through the physical connection they held for the other.
Natural Oaths were seen here and there. Breaking them might lead to never again progressing in Rank or something of a similar effect.
Great Oaths were rare among the rare—so rare that maybe even in a billion people, there might not be one who could successfully swear it. When a person successfully cast it toward 'another person', the other person would 'feel' that someone had connected themselves to them with some promise or vow; the person attached wouldn't suffer from any negative impact.
In short, they spiritually received the update in real time. Quite advanced! Eric was impressed.
Normally, some extreme lovers might cast Great Oaths, and even if they failed and died, their oaths would carry on to the next life, until their soul completely dissolved and no longer had any existence. Thus, Great Oaths carried on beyond life and death.
Even Eric had to exclaim "WOW" again upon reading that.
The Ultimate Oath was a myth. For whatever small or big reasons—it didn't matter—it might end up being sworn by someone who was casting it with the necessary intention and determination.
If one half-heartedly promised someone something, then no spiritual oath would take place. People, while taking any Spiritual Oath, knew by themselves what they were doing through some inner sensation or spiritually, and if they had any hesitation on any level, then it would fail in the process, without a doubt.
Not much was written about the Ultimate Oath, except for a few points. The person declaring it and also the receiver of the promise seemed to understand clearly what it was without even understanding it logically, just like other spiritual oaths. After all, words and logic were only invented after the experience.
Anyway, Ultimate Oaths were just a myth due to how rare they were—almost never seen in the world—and so very little was known and written. But there was one sentence that was very weird:
Only those who have 'Will in their hearts' or have awakened 'Will' could swear the Ultimate Oath.
Again, this 'Will in heart' popped up...
By 'Will', Eric could guess it meant an individual's willpower, spirit, or self-determination.
He didn't think he was so great as to have such grand things inside his new heart. He was just a humble final boss.
At least now he could understand why it was so rare, to the point of being just a rumored myth. After all, if he ever personally gave anyone his sincere promise without taking any 'Spiritual Oath', he would still try his best to fulfill it—not because of the promise itself, but because of his own attitude and character. He believed most people possessed such integrity. And people with such badass 'will in their hearts' should have much more integrity than him, so there was never a need to cast such an oath if it could be done with just simple promises and sincerity.
Eric wasn't too interested in oaths, but it was still a very important find; otherwise, he might end up taking one without properly understanding anything about it.
Later, he would also inform Lyria and Livy about everything he had learned from the library, excluding the uncensored parts. Otherwise, they might think he was giving them the green light, and then those lionesses might tie him up and do 'this' and 'that' to his helpless self.
Eric trembled, imagining that.
While thinking of his lioness gang members, he suddenly recalled his cute, long-eared hidden mistress—Elara—and wondered which category that 'High Elf pure love' fell into. Although it was not an oath, it sounded quite close to one...
Suddenly, Eric paused, and sweat started pouring from his entire body.
'Is Elara still alive?' he wondered with a grimace.
After all, his old heart had already blown to oblivion, and he had been dead for quite a few days, or at least for a few moments. So, if Lysandra wasn't trying to make an April Fool's joke out of him, then Elara too had perished...
Pitiful girl...
Eric quietly wiped his drenched forehead.
This was why he preferred to remain single, so he wouldn't fool others into his life and then kick them away just because he somehow ended up dying.
He was now genuinely worried for Elara. After all, even if they were not lovers, she was still his friend and his lifesaver; he hoped she hadn't died, especially not due to him. Was Lysandra probably already cursing him and putting a bounty on his head in case he was still alive?
Leaving that aside, there was a high chance Lysandra had saved Elara somehow; after all, she was a very knowledgeable, wealthy, and powerful person.
This was also a great opportunity to check if Lysandra was actually telling the truth about that 'High Elf pure love' issue or not. Perhaps nothing had happened, and Elara was still doing fine. So, he had nothing to worry about.
Eric nodded to himself and stopped thinking about it.
Following that, Eric looked around and searched for the next thing he wanted to learn about—Necromancers.
Just what were they? What element was this? What was the difference between normal Mages, Warriors, and them?
Everything was quite confusing. He only knew a few things about necromancers from Bella Noll, but she had never delved deeper into the topic.
Soon, he found a book related to necromancers. After glossing through it, he was quite amazed.
Necromancers were actually much stronger than he had previously thought.
The Mages were amazing, experts at summoning skeletons and controlling the corpses of both Mana Beasts and Mana Wielders, and there were other unique spells that they could use. Overall, they were very powerful. How powerful compared to a normal Apprentice Rank Mage? Not much was written on that.
Leaving Mages aside, the Necromancer Warriors were shocking!
It seemed he and the Necromancer Warriors had been siblings all along!
Eric used Potions and Pills to increase his stats, but Necromancer Warriors used other Mana Wielders' corpses to increase theirs!
Eric wouldn't discriminate. After all, he was much more evil than just a cannibal; he preferred children over adults! Fruits were essentially the cute children of plants and trees.
Ahem.
Anyway, he wouldn't judge the Necromancer Warriors for their taste and passion.
But even though the Necromancer Warriors were using a much more advanced technique than him, it seemed it wasn't as effective as his alchemy method.
Eric had glossed over the book and understood that Necromancer Warriors had a hard time increasing their stats through cannibalism and carnivorous methods, as the demands kept increasing for further growth. There were other setbacks, like how their bodies might deform or change slightly over time; they also had a harder time raising their Ranks later on. Nonetheless, a Necromancer Warrior was usually far stronger than a normal Warrior of the same Rank due to their higher physical stats.
Other than that, he didn't find all his answers, but he understood that necromancers had the same Mana and Elements as others but were 'corrupted' somehow, and thanks to that, they could use their own necromancer spells and so on.
Eric closed the book and glanced toward the final book that he was interested in.
After flipping through the pages, he found the section he was searching for—'Crimson Tide Spider Rank 3.'
After thoroughly reading it, Eric was both shocked and amazed.
He also now understood how such a creepy-looking spider had suddenly turned so pretty after applying some "cosmetics."
It was its trump card!
That beautiful white spider was actually how it would look after it reached Rank 4 Beast status! And that white shell was actually Tier 4 material!
The more Eric read, the more shocked he became. Leaving aside the other features, just the fact that this armor could block all Spiritual Sense was mind-blowing! Not only did it block spiritual senses, but it also repelled them! Even other types of observation skills or anything of that sort would be repelled as long as one wore just a few pieces of that armor on the body.
Eric was amazed. He read all of it in detail, and by the time he left the guild library, it was already night.
He wondered if Lyria and Livy had managed to obtain the bird or not.
He thought for a bit and decided to finish his final task for the day and then return.