Attribute Farming System-Chapter 56: A Daughter of Duke Demi

"…My soul…?"

"Yes," Knox said. "In exchange for you regaining the ability to cultivate, I only want one thing. You."

The most uptodate nove𝙡s are published on frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓.

"Me…?" Rayzer muttered, his eyes falling on Knox's lower half. "Even if I'm never to experience the act of Cultivation again, I adamantly refuse to—"

"Hey, you f*cking old bastard," Knox shouted as he kicked Rayzer in the rear. "Stop thinking such defamatory nonsense! I only like older women! Older w-o-m-e-n! Are you a goddamn woman!?"

Silence…

"I could be for the Pill—"

*Wham!*

"Shut the f*ck up, dumbass!" Knox snapped as veins throbbed across his face. "I want you to be my subordinate, that's all! Stop making it seem like I want an old shit like yourself, tsk! Just say you'll do it and sign this blood contract. Speak another strange thing and I'll put my foot so far up your ass, you'll really begin believing that you're gay."

Rayzer helplessly rubbed his sore bottom before noticing the golden-red parchment paper undulating toward him. On it was Knox's signature, written in his blood. He just had to sign his name with his blood, and the contract would be deemed official.

Hesitation briefly flashed past his aged eyes. Promising servitude to another was not something he had ever wanted to do. However, what use was his freedom if he couldn't cultivate and was set to die to the Five Marks of Decay within the next few years?

It was these self-realizations that made Rayzer cut his thumb against a rock and sign his signature in blood. If his life was doomed to end anyway, then he might as well put his faith in the incomprehensible young man before him.

"Subordinate greets Master!" Rayzer shouted as he kneeled in reverence. "This one shall never betray the Master for as long as I live. And if Master is capable and benevolent enough to preserve my life and restore me to my peak, then I swear upon my Martial Spirit that I'll live, breathe, and die for you!"

Knox nodded in satisfaction. "Not bad, kiddo," he said while adapting the true pose of the timeless entity that he was. "Now then, why don't you do this Master of yours a favor and tell me which way the exit is? My Divine Sense is severely limited in this castle, you see. Also, the alarm has been sounded."

"!!!"

"The wh—"

WHIRRRR—!

"See," Knox pointed above. "The alarm has gone off. My guess is that they know we've escaped."

"Then we must go right now, Master!" Rayzer hollered, hurriedly dashing toward the hole Knox had made in the jail cell. "Huh!? Wh…What is happening…"

*Thud!*

Before Rayzer even made it ten whole steps, he stumbled and fell to the hard stone ground. Exhaustion had taken hold of him, his haggard breath indicating as much.

"How did you think that was going to work?" Knox asked laughingly as he tossed Rayzer over his shoulder. "You've been in captivity for centuries, with no access to Innate Energy, no food, no water, no exercise—no sustenance of any form. I'm surprised you didn't immediately go unconscious the moment you cut your thumb. Haha!"

"T-This is not a laughing matter, Master," Rayzer struggled to say while being lugged around like a sack of potatoes. "I… If I'm a burden, then you must abandon me, Master… I-I can take it—"

*Thwack!*

"Oww!"

"Take what, you idiot?" Knox asked, blowing the smoke off his hand. "You couldn't even handle a single slap of mine. The only thing you'll be taking if I leave you behind is a spear up the bum. So shut up and let me figure out how to best approach escaping this zoo I find myself in."

"…Master…"

Tears were nearly brought to Rayzer's dried-up eyes.

Though, they were quickly dissipated when Knox skidded around a corner, accidentally whacking Rayzer's head against a wall.

"That was my bad," Knox apologized as he ascended another gothic-style staircase.

"I-It's okay, Master," Rayzer replied. "I… I can take it."

Knox stuck his thumb up. "What a trooper! You'd make for a good meat shield!"

"A…what?"

Just then:

*Bang, Bang, Bang!*

Echoing out was the reverberating sound of heavy metal boots repeatedly hitting the cobblestone ground. Beast-kin guards were scouring the entire castle after learning that there were escaped prisoners. The light produced from their brightly lit torches created a harrowing scene behind the two of them.

"Stop right there, prisoners!"

"Yeah, I should stop right when you say I should," Knox snickered with a condescending smirk as he sped up. "That makes a lot of sense."

Within nanoseconds, he had zoomed through dozens of floors, encountering countless prisoners on his way to the castle's base floor. Many screamed out for help or assistance, but he didn't care. Even the beautiful women prisoners were completely ignored by him.

His degree of purposeful obliviousness knew not how to discriminate.

Upon stepping foot onto the castle's base floor, Knox was astonished to find a shifty-looking woman hiding behind a couple of booze barrels. She seemed to be staring at something in front of her, doing so with the intention of not getting caught.

He quietly snuck up behind her before placing his face next to hers.

"What are we looking at?"

"Ahh—"

Knox muffled her scream with his hand. "Hush now, pretty lass," he whispered, his smile anything but friendly. "You appear to have been imprisoned like me and my subordinate here, so who are you?"

Calming her nerves and stabilizing her shaky pupils, the raggedly dressed woman bit his hand.

"Damn, what was that for??" Knox asked as he pulled his hand back. "Are you half-rabid dog or something?"

"Grrr! Don't touch me!"

"I'll take that as a yes," Knox said. "So, who are you? Wait… Are the guards searching for you, not us??"

The woman coldly snorted. "I'm a daughter of Duke Demi; why should I answer a question voiced by the likes of you? You're scum, just like all the other men in this world!"

'Isn't your father—Duke Demi—a man as well?' was what Knox felt like saying, though he decided not to in the end. Instead, he asked, "So that means you're a Trial Contestant. You must be quite strong then, right?"