I Reincarnated Into A Single-Celled Organism! - I Reincarnated into a Single-celled Organism! - Chapter 94

There was a moment of stunned silence. The woman in bone jewelry was still partially bent over, reaching out for it. In general, it should have been impossible for a mortal to break such an item. However, for someone with my stats, it would have been stranger if I couldn’t break it.

That said, I was a bit concerned about it exploding. That’s why I swapped out the box. I used Mimicry to create a copy of the box and then as my foot landed, I stored the real box and then dropped the fake, which shattered under my feet. I had done it seamlessly so unless someone recorded it in slow motion, they’d never be able to notice. That said, the real Schrödinger box was in my inventory, and I immediately began to use Lysis on it. It exploded inside of me.

-100,000,000 HP

Although I could handle those numbers, I couldn’t help but break a sweat. Had I just crushed the original box, the resulting explosion could have leveled this city. I began to realize that artifacts were no joke. Interestingly enough, the lysed box created several new items in my inventory.

Dark willow oak.

Crystallized Space.

The second one in particular caught my interest. It was essentially an explosion in a bottle. Inside me, all of that energy had been collected and then crystallized. If I threw it out, I’d be able to detonate the explosion. That was rather interesting.

“You-you…” The bone woman finally came to her senses as I tinkered in my inventory. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”

“Was that a Schrodinger’s box?” Tyler asked, his expression a bit dazed.

“That’s what I was trying to explain,” Erika spoke up. “It looks and acts like a Schrodinger’s box, but it was connected to the astral gate of an immortal’s palace!”

The bone woman looked down, and then her body shook for a moment before she glared at me. “You fool! That item was even more precious than a Schrodinger’s box! Who do you think you are? What family do you belong to?”

“He’s a nobody,” Tyler spoke up quickly. “He’s unaffiliated with any families.”

He was quick to speak, not wanting her to attach my actions to any of the other families.

“Tyler…” Erika looked at her brother angrily.

“A commoner? You brought me here to rescue a commoner?” She turned her glare to Tyler.

“It was my sister I wanted you to save. I was merely settling a debt with him.”

“Well, now you need to settle that debt with me!” she snarled, causing him to wince. “I want 150,000 kilojoules for my services now!”

“150,000?” He cried out. “You only wanted 80,000 kilojoules. I barely even managed to put together the 50,000 after calling in every favor in town before getting you to agree to take the box!”

“The box is far more valuable than I originally thought. So, I’m raising the price!” She shot me a look.

“Raising it!” His eyes looked like they’d pop out of their sockets. “That’s not fair!’

“You should have thought of that before putting your faith in some ruffian commoner. Unless you can give me 30,000 now, I can consider the contract broken. If don’t want me to summon Judgement, you’d do best to pay what I demand.”

His body shook as soon as she mentioned Judgement, although I didn’t understand what that was, it sounded like a thing rather than an act.

Tyler turned to me with flustered anger. “You had no right to destroy that box! Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

“I’ll pay for the damages,” I responded.

Everyone blinked like they were surprised by my response. I wasn’t sure why. This woman looked to be pretty unreasonable. Even though she hadn’t successfully gotten us out of the box, she had expended quite a bit of resources trying. She’d never admit to her failure, and she seemed like someone who would cause trouble if she wasn’t appeased. It was far less troublesome to just pay her back.

“Spirit, you don’t seem to realize how much 100,000 kilojoules is…” Erika spoke up first.

“He doesn’t know any better.” Tyler scoffed. “Farms usually trade in goods. He’s probably never seen currency before. Do you even know what a kilowatt is?”

“It’s a thousand joules? I responded nonchalantly.

In truth, I was sure 100,000 kilojoules was a lot, but if this guy could put together 50,000 kilojoules, they couldn’t be that hard to earn. At least, that was my best guess.

“Hmph.” The bone woman glared at me. “You are a country bumpkin.”

“Most villagers only make around 500 joules a week,” Erika spoke quietly.

“Hah, as if.” The bone woman laughed. “Your understanding of money is nearly as bad as his. Perhaps the accomplished tradesman can make this much, but a country bumpkin like him would only be able to make 1000 joules a month if he works hard and is lucky!”

Erika’s face turned red. I didn’t know if she was incorrect or if she had evaluated me as able to earn more, but she didn’t clarify.

“Either way, even if you spent the next ten years paying me back, you wouldn’t be able to pay it back.”

“One year,” I declared.

“Excuse me.”

“I’ll pay you back in one year, with interest,” I clarified.

“Spirit…” Erika shook her head slightly in warning, but I ignored her.

“Is it a deal?”

“And what happens if you don’t pay me back?” The bone woman asked, her finger fiddling with one of her bone bracelets.”

“Then, my life will be yours.”

“What good is a mortal human to me?” She snorted, but her eyes widened as if a thought had just come to her. “Wait, did you say the box leads to an immortal dwelling? Does that mean the pair of you were in an immortal’s palace?”

Her eyes seemed to light up at the thought.

“W-we did spend some time there,” Erika admitted reluctantly

“How did a mortal survive so long?” She asked suspiciously.

“It was luck,” I responded. “If you didn’t get us out just in time, we would have been dead.”

Erika had opened her mouth to speak, but then she closed it. Meanwhile, the bone lady’s eyes narrowed suspiciously.

“Look, I’m still young. One could say I have a potential. If I can’t pay you back in a year, then I’d spend the rest of my life working to pay you back.”

“Perhaps… there is more to you than meets the eyes.” Her smile grew as she seemed to come to a decision and looked me up and down thoughtfully. “If I come to own you, your labor would be far less valuable to me than… other parts.”

“You don’t need to worry about that,” I responded, not particularly liking her roaming eye.

I was never particularly fond of women who came on too strong. I preferred the shy and easily flustered girls. It was always more satisfying when I was able to seduce them. When she noticed my dismissal, she stiffened slightly, and she dropped her smile.

“In that case, I assume you’ll be fine making a contract?” she asked coldly.

“That’s fine with me.”

“You!” She turned away from me and looked at Erika. “You girl, you’re the student of the Leela, the formations master, correct?”

Erika jumped slightly. “Y-yes, I am.”

“Then, right up an oath contract, and be quick about it!”

“Oh, ye-yes…” She quickly started pulling stuff out of her bag.

Although I hadn’t noticed before, the bag seemed to contain more space than it appeared hanging at her side. Besides several books, she was able to pull out various papers. Eventually, she pulled out some parchment and a variety of ingredients. Then, directly in front of us, she started mixing the ingredients. She moved with a grace and precision that I had never seen from her before.

Soon, she had three vials filled with ink, and as soon as they were created, she poked a quill into one of them and began to draw. As she made lines on the paper, I could feel a tingling of magic, and I felt as if she was using it. The lines were both extremely simple but also extremely complex. I could see just by looking at them that they were special and had magic to them. She used all three inks, switching from one to another, creating a piece that seemed to exist within three dimensions.

It only took her fifteen minutes, but as soon as she finished the impatient bone woman grabbed it and ripped it from her. After staring at it for a few moments, she nodded her head.

“Yes, this will do.” She walked over to me and held out her hand while holding the parchment in the other. “Take my hand. It’s too late to back out now!”

“I never intended to,” I responded, taking her hand.

“Now, state your name.”

“Spirit.”

“Your full name!”

“That is my full name?” I blinked.

“Tch… commoners.” She muttered. “Fine, I, Mirage Sagebrush of the sentinels, make this contract. For the services I provided, this man, Spirit, will pay me back no less than 100,000 kilojoules in one year, or become my slave indefinitely!”

“She’s a sentinel!” Erika cried out, but Tyler hushed her.

Magic seemed to wrap around our arms. It was a visible rope seemingly made of magic, but it disappeared a moment later. The contract was set.