I felt nothing.
Killing gave me the same satisfaction as washing the dishes after I ate or wiping after I took a dump.
It all felt so mundane.
I thought demons would enjoy killing, not feel indifferent to it.
This was good, at least. I never intended to become a psycho driven by blood or an overcompassionate demon. The only thing that brought me a sliver of satisfaction was the system message that appeared during my fight with the demon.
[Sin Points +5 = 6/40]
[Sin Points +15 = 21/40]
[Sin Points +9 = 30/40]
[Sin Points +10 = 0/50]
[Demonic skill proficiency now at 0.5]
It looks like I had managed to increase my demonic skill proficiency from 0.4 to 0.5.
Killing was a sin, after all. The reason why it had increased so much was because of the brutality I showed to the goblin.
If I had simply killed it with one blow, then my proficiency wouldn't have increased this much. But since I allowed it to suffer, I was able to get more sin points out of it. Gaining sin points and increasing my proficiency was good and all, but something else caught my attention.
There was another message:
[Congratulations, a Leviathan wants to form a contract with you. Do you wish to initiate contact?][Y/N]
This was a pleasant surprise. I didn't think I would attract a leviathan. When a human increases the proficiency of their special skill, sometimes they gain basic skills. But not all special skills offer this feature. My transmutation ability, for instance, didn't grant me any skills, only an increase in what I was able to do.
This is also true for all demonic skills but demonic skills were much more complicated than human skills. Demonic skills gave you certain functions. For example, the functions of my adaptation skill were mimic, analyze, mutation, and skill adaptation. Those were the abilities granted to me by my demonic skills. All of these functions could be used in different ways.
But if we wanted more power, we had to form contracts with creatures known as leviathans.
It is said that the leviathan's world is a thin veil that hangs across time. Through this veil, they watch the demons they are interested in.
The leviathans choose the demons they want to contract with. The power the leviathans give the demons are called curses. But these curses always came with a cost. You'll always need to sacrifice something whenever you want to use these curses.
Whether it be an arm, your leg, or even your lifespan. There was always a cost.
I wasn't nearly powerful enough to attract any powerful leviathans, so it's most likely a small fish trying to take advantage of a low-level demon that they happened upon.
"Yes."
Immediately as I uttered those words, I felt something wrap around my legs tying my two feet together. I glanced down to see the thick serpentine body of a snake wrapping around me, covering my arms, legs until it finally reached my head where we were staring at each other face to face.
The moment I saw its face, I felt satisfied.
I was right. It was a small fish.
"Do you know who I am, boy?" she asked.
"You're the serpent of hate," I responded.
The serpent of hate held contracts with many low-level demons. Her curse was simple. I didn't know the exact details, but if placed on someone, her curse caused them to be more irritable and more likely to lash out, especially if they are under a lot of stress.
Still, no matter how weak this leviathan was, it was still a leviathan, nonetheless.
They were tricky bastards.
If you weren't careful and said the wrong thing, then they could force you into contracts that could be crippling for a demon. Some of their contracts were nothing short of slavery.
Some leviathans lie about who they were and what their ability could do for you. Which was why her first question was, 'Do you know who I am?'.
If I didn't know who she was, then she could've told me all sorts of lies and filled my head with garbage. She would likely tell me that she was a powerful leviathan and that she saw potential in me and that I could rule the world if I had her by my side.
And the only cost would be the half my lifespan and half the lifespan of any sons and daughters for the next 10 generations of my lineage.
She would find out whatever sinful desire I had, whether it was greed, lust, envy, whatever it was, she would use it against me to form a contract that worked in her favor. By telling her that I knew who she was, I saved myself from whatever story she was about to come up with.
Still, there was a limit to what she could say. A leviathan could only tell a lie after telling 2 truths. This limitation was put in place to safeguard demons from their predatory practices.
"I'll explain who I am anyway in case you don't know." She chuckled, her voice carrying like a melody. "I am the serpent of hatred, and my favorite color is black,"
Two truths.
"So you're a leviathan. I heard leviathans are predatory and always try to take advantage of low-level demons like me. Are you planning on taking advantage of me?"
Since she could tell a lie after telling 2 truths, I asked a question that would force the lie out of her. She wouldn't dear answer 'yes' to that question.
For a moment she was silent. Her slitted tongue gracefully licked the air as her body tightened around me.
"No, we simply try to help demons as much as we can," she finally answered.
Lie.
"In that case, I would like to form a contract." I said and quickly continued before she could speak. "I'll give you a finger for every time you allow me to use your curse. That's the final deal, take it or leave it. If you say anything other than 'I accept,' I'll consider it a denial of my terms, at which point I would no longer wish to form a contract."
The leviathan looked at me, speechless, before its eyes turned sharp. It understood the predicament it was in. For a moment, she only stared at me while hissing softly. It was only after 1 full minute that she finally gave her answer.
"I accept."
Immediately as those words left her mouth, a red glowing magical symbol appeared on her forehead, and a similar symbol appeared on my wrist before disappearing.
It was a sign that the contract was formed. Demons and leviathans adhere to a verbal contract.
"I know your curse causes someone to be angry and irritable the more stressful the situation they are in. Is there anything else I need to know about your curse? If yes, then tell me exactly what it is."
She had told a lie before, which meant she had to tell two truths. Of course, she didn't have to tell me the truth of what I wanted to know; she could tell me any truths. It was up to her.
She could easily ask for another contract, one with the stipulation that she would always tell the truth whenever I asked something, but this would require me to sacrifice more than just a finger.
The ball was in her court, so to speak.
She stared at me intently once again before licking her scaly lips.
"To activate my curse on someone, you need the person to say: 'I trust you'. That is all."
Two truths.
Seems that is everything I needed to know.
"You are more cunning than I first thought. I look forward to seeing where you go or how you'll use my curse."
With those final words, she left. It was like a crack had appeared in reality, and she simply slithered through it.
With the leviathan gone, I turned my attention to the thing that started all of this; the red crystal embedded in the wall.