The wall slid to one side as if it was an automatic door. Kadyn walked out and closed it behind him and stretched before heading out. The fog had already vanished, but the weather was still cloudy. Though from time to time, the sun would show itself, spreading its warm rays all around. The gate of the shop was closed. And Kadyn failed to find anyone around so he went to the house behind the shop.

Barret was sitting in the garden reading a book, not far away from him was Hot Rod and the cigar was in his mouth, sucking and puffing on it with a pleasant expression, producing ring after ring of smoke. At the side of the pond, in front of the house, two children were playing and giggling from time to time. Kadyn smiled as he saw everyone and turned his gaze towards the large tree — not exactly on the tree, but on the three people under the tree.

"Oh, you've found him," Kadyn said with a surprised and pleasant expression. The three people under the tree were Khrom, Dion, and Slyff. As Kadyn walked towards them the trio stood up. "Good job." Kadyn praised Khrom.

Khrom rubbed his hands in anticipation when he heard Kadyn's words. He glanced at Kadyn and said, "Uhh… 100 energy points." He showed his white teeth and continued. "I don't know why do you want this creep though, but whatever."

"Creep?" Kadyn eyed Slyff confusedly. " What do you mean?"

The boy glared at Khrom furiously and gritted his teeth. "I told you not to call me that. It was just a misunderstanding."

"But you are. Creep."

"You!"

"Alright, that's enough." Kadyn frowned when he saw the two of them, but he didn't feel annoyed; on the contrary, he felt happy, happy for Khrom. The man had gone through so much pain and misery. But now he was opening himself with others, laughing, teasing and taunting. It was for the best.

"I have sent you your hundred energy points." He said to Khrom. A window popped out in front of Khrom. He saw the name of the quest in surprise: Shape-shifter. He looked at Kadyn but he was already turned towards Slyff to talk.

"I want to recruit you," Kadyn said to Slyff.

The trio looked at Kadyn with jaws drooping down. Especially Khrom. He could not tell why Kadyn wanted to recruit this dolt. However, he knew that if Kadyn wanted to do this, there must be something special about Slyff that he couldn't see. Is it because of the Shape-shifting thing? He thought and his curiosity piqued.

Dion looked enviously at the boy. After spending some time with Kadyn and his people, he realised that the shop wasn't any ordinary place. There were lots of secrets hidden here, and only official employees could know about those secrets. Most of all there was that mysterious library. He also wanted to go inside, damn it. Then he sighed and shook his head.

"Wha-what do you mean you want to recruit me?" Slyff asked with his trembling voice. He had lived in a slum since he could remember. There was no memory of his parents inside his head. He struggled to survive, eating the leftovers of nobles outside the restaurants, on the roadside, and anywhere he could find. He even begged when he couldn't find anything to eat.

However, when he met Nefia, everything changed. He didn't want to show that ugly side of his to her; so he started to work, he tried to find a job, but only curses and humiliation received in return.

He struggled day by day, but to no avail. Who would have thought… he looked at Kadyn and nodded hurriedly. "I'll do anything. Please, tell me: Do I need to wash your utensils? Or do I need to clean your house? I-I can wash your clothes and do all kinds of chores." His eyes turned red and somewhat wet.

Kadyn looked at the boy and sighed. Slyff was just a single person and there were thousands, hundreds of thousands of people out there like him who couldn't even eat at a single time a day, struggling to even survive.

"No," Kadyn said. "I mean you don't need to do all those things."

"Then what do I need to do?" he asked, with a hopeful expression.

"We will decide after you have signed the contract." He took out the scroll and passed it to the boy. "Read it carefully before dropping the blood on it."

Slyff took the scroll, but then shook his head. "I don't know how to read."

"Oh," Kadyn turned towards Khrom and said. "Explain everything to him."

"Well," Khrom turned red in embarrassment.

"What?" Kadyn asked, seeing his awkward expression.

"Before signing the contract I didn't read it."

Kadyn was completely speechless. All kinds of clowns have stuck to me. He sighed and turned towards Slyff and explained everything from beginning to end. Khrom and Dion were listening from the side.

Though Kadyn knew about Dion's existence. He didn't send him away, as he wanted to sow the seed inside his heart, the seed of curiosity. And curiosity would drive people towards their doom or the greatest of fortunes. Kadyn wanted to know what he would choose when the time arrives. Doom or fortune. He hoped that it would be later.

"Does that mean I can do anything amd there is no restriction except being loyal to the shop?" Slyff asked, his eyes full of curiosity. He had never heard of such a weird contract before. Well, truthfully he had never heard about any kind of contract, actually.

"Yes," Kadyn said. "Remember, this contract is for the rest of your life. You won't be able to break it — and if you try to do that, you die. Do you accept it?"

Slyff clenched his teeth and nodded. "Yes."

"Good, drop the drop of your blood."

Slyff did as he was told.

[Employee Name: Slyff]

{Employee Rank: Iron]

[Magus Rank: 6-star elementary mage]

[Element: Shape-shifting]

[Energy Points: 0]

[Loyalty: 1]

[Evaluation: Extraordinary]

Kadyn gawked information in front of him. There was nothing special about the boy, except the Shape-shifting element. Well, the evaluation was also quite good. That is rare. He thought. I have never heard of the shape-shifting element before.

As he was lost in thinking, suddenly, hundreds of pictures started to flash inside his head. He saw a miserable and lonely boy, trying to survive in the world. He was humiliated time after time, to survive, he begged, and stole; he did all kinds of things to survive, to live for one day more.

Slowly he was going towards the darkness, and no one could blame him for being a criminal, he wanted to survive and live, just like everyone else. And he did what he needed to do to gain an extra day in his life. He even killed a drunk who wanted to rape him. Though that was just an accident, the guy died from the knife in his hand. Well, it was inside the slum, so no one cared about them. And no one came for him after that.

He might have succumbed into the darkness, but then came a girl in his life, gentle, caring and loving. She looked at him like a human, not like an animal as other peoples would look at the children like him — a boy without a father and mother — they would insult him for being a bastard, and find ways to humiliate him a little bit more, noble or common people, all of them were same. But she was different. She didn't push him away; on the contrary, she embraced him and the two fell in love with time.

Kadyn opened his eyes slowly and murmured. "That was interesting. I didn't think that girl was a princess with such a kind heart. That is hard to come by nowadays." He paused briefly and mused. "So as my strength increases I would be able to see through the memories of my employees, huh? But it seems it is only a one time privilege — only when a new employee would sign a contract."

He turned towards Slyff who freaked out as soon as the window appeared in front of him out of nowhere. Only after Khrom explained to him, did he calm down and then opened and closed the window a few times. "This is fun." He giggled. Then asked. "What is the Shape-shifting element?"

"Do you have any spell patterns?" Kadyn asked.

"I don't even know about this strange element. How would I have a spell pattern."

"Uhh, that is true." He paused and said. "Ok, come with me."

Kadyn led the boy towards the library. Dion stared at Kadyn's back and asked Khrom. "What kind of element is Shape-shifting?"

"Never heard of it," Khrom replied. "But it must be something like a changeling. After all, the meaning of shape-shifting is as clear as water."

"Why did boss bring Slyff into the library?" He again looked at the two fading silhouettes, eyes flickering with curiosity.

"Curious, huh?" Khrom chuckled and stared at him. "If you want to know then work hard and become an employee yourself, and you will know everything." He said and walked away, leaving confused Dion behind. Hot Rod was still puffing the rings of smoke out of his mouth and nose while Barret was busy reading his book. None of them seemed to care about anything, enjoying the warmth of the morning sun.

Dion sighed, and entered the house after Khrom.