After numerous rounds of offers and counter offers, we finally settled on an agreement. Ether seemed rather civil when negotiating… or maybe it's just that my negotiation skills which I have refined since my childhood improved beyond the human limits and now allow me to bargain against even the gods!
Mhm, in that sense I already am a super human.
Anyways here are the details of the agreement:
- Ether gets 10 minutes if my day, everyday, till I die.
- Ether can choose whether to use the 10 minutes everyday or stockpile them and use it all at once.
- In return I recieve will the 4th ability after I clear the 15th wave.
- And I can use the 4th ability prematurely thrice before the 15th wave.
Honestly the agreement is a little too fair for my liking but that was simply because I was caught off guard meeting a god for the first time, the next time I see that slimy reality bender, I will be sure to scam him of all his abilities!
After we both signed the agreement, Ether just disappeared into the background and left me here in this strange time-frozen world.
I think it will return to normal after I select my initial allies?
I sifted through the system windows until I found one to select my initial allies. It was as I expected, if I didn't pick the second ability my two initial allies would have been randomised.
Well, I knew what to do. For my first ally, I thought of Anna.
I thought of her devious work ethic, her unwavering loyalty to me, he cute smile, her supple curves and her b-
Those descriptions were apparently enough for the system to recreate her from my memory. Now that her appearance and behaviours match the Anna I knew all I had to choose was her ability.
The system offered a set of premade abilities and also the option to create a new ability which the system would then adjust and balance to fit.
But there was no need for it, I found a perfect premade ability for Anna.
[ Ally Ability: Soulbound ]
[ Ability Description: As the master grows stronger so does their closest servant. Adjusts Ally stats to fit and at a bare minimum be at 90% of the user irregardless of their growth rates.]
Now that I selected Anna as my first ally, who do I want as my second ally? I closed my eyes and thought, the memory of the wait before the 9th wave projected in my mind. For those two hours before our guarenteed deaths, alongside me sat Anna and … Marcus.
Yes, Marcus is a great candidate for a second ally. Albeit he's young and ugly, he was also brave and pretty herioc that day. We didn't have to convince him to help us that day, as soon as he learnt a 9th wave was approaching with more than 10 times the monsters of the previous wave he already knew what to do.
And even after seeing the monsterous rats of that wave, he still chose to fearlessly jump and sacrifice himself.
If not for him, I wouldn't have cleared the 9th wave let alone bargain with a god.
All heros are beautiful.
As I thought of Marcus, the system read my memories and recreated him as my second ally.
Unlike how I left Anna unchanged, I altered Marcus's description. I wrote out his traumatic past, after all I promised him a better world. I also changed him to look his part as a hero; absolutely beautiful. And lastly, I changed his ability, to be something more befitting of a child, 'Sacrificial Supernova' will absolutely not do!
Once I confirmed my two initial allies, the world around me shone impossibly bright and then time resumed.
Everything was normal, except now it was back at the day I confronted Charles.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Day 6? Day 18?
I found myself back in the past, rather than waking Mr Plates up, this time I sprinted to the maid's mansion. I ran and ran like I never did before and by the time I reached in front of the maid's quarters although I was panting there was no signs of exhaustion on my face for the widest smile ever had taken up all the space.
I rushed into the building, doing my best to avoid crashing into any of the maids in the hallways until I reached the big room I was searching for.
'Head Maid's Office' these words etched onto a golden plate informed me that I had indeed arrived where I wanted to.
I pushed the carved wooden double doors open and jumped over the piles of papers and folders and over the wooden desk onto Anna.
Crash!
We both fell to the ground.
Laying on the ground, I tossed my arms around Anna and pulled her in for a tight hug.
I didn't let go until I felt satisfied.
At some point, tears just automatically started flowing.
"I'm so so so so so so glad you are alright Anna, I really —sniffle— I really didn't want to lose you wahhhhh."
I was a slobbering mess while I said that.
"Yes, I too am glad you survived Lady Jean."
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Turns out Anna did really remember what happened during the future we both experienced. It makes sense why she would remember, I didn't change her description or behaviour at all so she still is the same Anna I knew from the future as such she also has the memories of the future.
Marcus however or wait, should I now call him: Mark D. Choppafeller?
Yep I rewrote Marcus's past to let him have a childhood of the luxury and the greatest extravagance. So Markus is now the younger brother of the current heir to Choppafeller commercial empire, me!
And just as I wrote in this description, Marcus looks incredibly cute. Oh he really does deserve everything in the world, no he deserves everything from all the worlds I will conquer!
Due to the immense changes I made to Marcus' past he doesn't seem to remember his old life… likely for the best. He deserves to have a fresh start unburdened by all that he had faced before.
I didn't change his behaviour at all, so he still is that shy and cautious young boy but unlike before where those traits made him unapproachable and unsocial now it only serves to further amplify his cuteness. He looks like a kitten trying to figure out the new world around him!