Chapter 575 Sudden Switch
The rest of the process was pretty simple.
Rey and the Symbiote Slime entered a binding vow, each delivering their own conditions for the relationship to be established.
On Rey's end, he gave three conditions:
"One, never betray me."
"Two, always obey my commands."
"Three, do not obey any other person's commands unless I give you permission to."
They seemed incredibly extreme, but when considering the actions or inactions of a Familiar, they all tallied.
Even Ater followed these three to the latter, yet he was still able to express himself and take the initiative in a lot of instances. As such, Rey didn't feel negatively about his conditions.
Instead, he focused on the ones that came from the Slime.
As though keeping things fair, it also had three conditions:
"Do not accept any other Familiar."
"Do not break our bond for whatever reason."
"Do not starve me."
They all seemed reasonable enough, and Rey could see himself following all of them without any need for infringement.
'What are the chances that I'll get the Beast Summon Skill again? I don't think I'll ever get another one…'
Still, even if he did meet a creature and desired to make them his Familiar, he didn't have a Taming Skill or Class, he would have to go through this whole 'Binding Vow' thing again.
'Well, I could always try to use Magic to make a creature from this world my Familiar, so that could work…'
The temptation could come, but Rey didn't feel the need to break any of the conditions that were set for him by his Symbiote Slime.
'Ater told me to break one of the rules and reveal that I am immune to the curse, which will in turn cause the Slime to try the same, but it will find itself punished.'
This was meant to display the power hierarchy between them. By following Ater's methods, Rey could be viewed as cruel, but he would also be feared by the Slime.
'I don't think I want to take that approach…'
So far, he had managed to establish a base relationship with the Symbiote Slime. It wasn't like he couldn't resort to force or a show of strength if necessary, but he didn't think that he needed it at the moment.
'It's in the Slime's best interest to cooperate, and I have nothing to lose if I do the same.' Staring at Ater for a brief moment, he noticed him nodding with a smile.
'Seems he understands my intentions.'
Rey's current thoughts were at a deeper level of consciousness, so the Slime couldn't read them. Plus, with Rey's access to his mind and body, he could always restrict some of his thoughts from being breached by the Slime, which meant he didn't have to worry about the creature constantly prying into his thoughts.
'There's no real need to be so cautious about it, but… well, I can't be too careful.'
Even with Ater, despite having Bonded with him from the start, he found it very difficult to trust him for the longest time.
It wasn't until recently that this changed.
'I guess it just takes me time to warm up to new people.' He smiled at the blob that now began to climb his body.
They were done with the Binding Vow, and the consequence for breaking one of the conditions was severe pain and weakness—one that could only be turned off if the culprit changed his ways, or if the other side forgave them. Breaking two conditions meant instant paralysis, weakness, and constant pain of an even higher degree than the first.
Breaking three conditions meant death.
Rey would never be affected by them, so he didn't really care about how severe they were. The Slime also seemed pretty carefree about the conditions, so they both didn't have a problem with things.
Thus—
~GLOP!~
—The ooze fused with Rey's body, becoming one with him in every sense of the word. It almost felt like diffusion, watching the slime permeate throughout Rey's body until they spread to every nook and cranny.
The power that Rey felt from his fingertips now became evenly distributed to his body, and it felt like he was living and breathing it.
"Haaa…"
The feeling was ethereal—almost as if he had expanded his consciousness. He felt a bubbling power inside him, feeling almost without limits.
Then, he heard a voice inside him.
~Your body is amazing! I love you so much, Master!~
'E-eh? What's with this sudden attitude change?' Rey wondered as he felt the excitement of the Slime inside his body.
Before he could properly process things, a System Panel popped up in front of him.
[System Notice]
[Congratulations! You have acquired a Familiar, and a secure 'Bond' has been established between the two of you.]
~Please Name Your Familiar~
'I see. So even without the Bonding Skill, we can still create a bond recognized by the System if we use Items like the Dyubbuk.' Rey found himself smiling.
As for the name to give the Familiar, he already had a name for it.
"Emil. That's your name."
~Kyaaah! That's such a lovely name, Master! Ahh… this body is so nice. Tastes so good, smells so immaculate. I don't think any other body can satisfy me now. You're the best, Master! I love you! I love you so much!~
Rey felt very weirded out, hearing all of this in his head.
Beasts were without gender, and considering this one was a Slime, that went double for it. Yet, the voice and personality made Rey consider the thing incredibly similar to a girl.
… A very disturbed and weird girl.
"Congratulations, Master. You were able to subjugate it." Ater's voice echoed in the air as he approached Rey.
~Who the hell is this? You have another Familiar? But you promised—!~
'I promised I wouldn't acquire another Familiar. I didn't say anything about the one I had before our arrangement.' Rey found himself holding his head, almost as if he had a headache.
~You cheat! Liar! Pervert! How many more do you have, huh? How many more do you have ensnared in your trap? Did you deceive them the way you deceived me?~
Rey sighed heavily.
~You said you wanted something special with me. I gave my first time to you, you know? I thought you were the only one for me! Yet… yet…!~
"So do you want us to dissolve our agreement now? If that's what you desire, then…"
~C-come on, don't overreact. I'm only being like this because I love you so much, Master. I don't want you to… well, you know.~
"I only have Ater as my Familiar, so there's no need for you to worry." Somehow Rey felt like he had gotten into something impossible to maintain.
Regret lingered in his heart as he wondered why he was stuck with a clingy symbiote and not someone as understanding as Ater.
'Well, now that I think about it… Ater gets jealous too.' He laughed to himself.
~Master… can I ask you for a small favor?~
Rey could already feel a wave of exhaustion coming upon him. Whatever this favor would be, he already knew it would be incredibly problematic.
'Yes, what is it?' He grumbled as he replied through his thoughts.
~Can I call you Rey?~
The instant he heard this, Rey rolled his eyes and sighed. He looked at Ater, and saw the Familiar shake his head.
'Yeah, I thought so…'
It seemed Emil wanted their relationship to get a lot deeper than Rey wanted. Sure, he started this whole thing, but there were limits for him.
~So do I take that as a—?~
"No!"