### Pact ###

Shadow people lived in depths of Himalayan mountains as a very secretive cult. They are said to be direct descendants of Attila the Hun and were world's foremost experts on camouflage, deception and bladed weapon mastery. Because their techniques mostly relied on stealth and speed they were called the living shadows or the Shadow people.

Silent Sword was one of the deadliest techniques taught by the Shadow people, it consists of 14 different forms each with their distinct strength and weaknesses. The last 4 techniques were considered to be forbidden and taught only to those considered to be the heirs of the Silent Sword techniques.

Each member of the Unit upon recruitment was directly sent the Shadow people for training, the requirement for passing being to master any 5 of the 14 techniques.

So far Zero was the only outsider to master all 14 technique. Silent sword First stance was a close combat, quick draw technique; which was accomplished by simultaneously drawing the sword from the sheath and using the momentum to strike at the opponent while putting the blade back. In the hands of an expert like Zero the black sword left no trail and it looked like he had not even unsheathed.

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Within a short period time 6 of the shadows were annihilated, rest of them seeing that this was more of an extermination than a hunt fled quickly. It helped Zero immensely that he was fighting in a narrow corridor where the enemy could approach only one at a time.

With a sigh of relief Zero realised that this was the end of his first ordeal, he bent in front of one of the shadows and examined the corpse minutely. The shadow had a helicopter like body almost as big as an Apache 2 wings and a long hard trunk pointed at the end. Zero could see the green venom at the end of the creature's trunk.

"Hey Ero fairy, come down would you.", he shouted.

The fairy came down; she had a sombre expression now, "I am not an ERO fairy. My name is Lina, better remember it you perverted pedo."

Zero gritted his teeth and said, "Let's make a deal, I call you by name and I swear to never ever, ever, ever kiss you or do anything sexual to you again and in return you help me with the game. What's say you?"

Lina thought for a while and said, "Deal but I have some conditions

First I and any other pets you have get to eat all the aura stone you gather.

Secondly 3 meals a day with nap time.

Thirdly you will not treat me as a servant.

and finally I get to decide when we end the contract.

Do you agree?"

"I agree to all the demands. However two things; firstly what's up with eating the aura stones? and secondly I get to keep at least one of the SSS level aura stones to unlock one of my inventory.", inwardly he was sighing now. Lina seems to have a soul of a sleazy accountant back on earth and he was reminded of his conversations with the Unit's internal funding department.

Now it was Lina's turn to grit her teeth and she whispered quietly, "It is one of the biggest secrets of the game that creatures marked as pets are evolvable. They evolve along with owners. However the evolution could be sped up if the pets were fed aura stones. Aura stones are extremely rare, with a drop of 1:1000; so they are extremely valuable tradable commodities so no one has ever tried to feed one of it to the pets."

Upon hearing this Zero felt elated. He never had an ambition to build a city or to make money out of the game so he was very happy trading any Aura stones for some peace, quite and cooperation, "Well girls everywhere, whether real or virtual are attracted to shiny objects. God save the men." he muttered shaking his head. He was also elated that he was at present the only person to know of this secret, which gave him an advantage over the others.

Both parties have agreed to the terms and conditions to the pact and dishonoring them would result in severe consequences.

Do you agree?

"Yes" or "No"

"Yes.", said the both of them at the same time.

"Now that we have that out of the way; Lina care to illuminate what sort of creature is this?", He asked the all knowing fairy.

"You fought it without knowing what it is??? Did you even check the stats?", Lina was amazed.

Zero was miffed, in real life he might have been closer to Naruto, but technically he was a game virgin. To make the matters worse he did not even know how to check the stats, he was hesitant to ask, as he knew Lina would get a huge ego boost realising that he was a noob, "How do I check the stttats?", he stuttered.

Lina looked blankly at him and said, "Did you read the game manual before coming to this hell hole? (sighs) Nevermind I already know the answer say 'Identify' for information on other creatures or items and to see your and your companion's stats say 'show stats'. Have you not been seeing the pop ups?"

Zero smiled shyly and said "Oh it was irritating seeing pop up in the middle of battles so I disabled them. He he."

Lina face palmed a couple of times and said, "Oh Mother why does my fate rest with this ignorant buffoon. Please give patience to your daughter so that she does not kill this mortal herself... 'Show logs'".

Companions share a soul bond with each other so the command could be invoked by the either of them.

You have successfully slain an Amazonian poison mosquito (x7).

for killing an opponent 20 levels above your you game +2 fame (x7)

You level up!!!

You level up!!!

You level up!!!

You level up!!!

You level up!!!

You level up!!!

You level up!!!

You level up!!!

You level up!!!

You level up!!!

She then shouted, "Show stats for Zero."

Name:ZeroLevel:10Psion Synchronization:Locked

Titles:NoneFame:14Infamy:0Experience Points87% to next level

Health:115Mana:115

Strength:10(+5)Dexterity:10(+5)Vitality:10(+5)Endurance:10(+5)Intelligence:10(+5)Resistance:10(5)

Unallocated points:50

Companions:Name:LinaLevel:???Rank:???

Zero had question marks floating over his head, he had so many questions and so little answers. He wanted to ask so many questions to Lina but realised he was now hungry and without a doubt Lina was too as he could hear her stomach rumble even 10 feet away.

Mosquito??? Zero thought to himself "This black helicopter was a mosquito?", He was amazed and awed by the difficulty of the game. He also realised that he had gained several levels in one go.

"Poison mosquito? What sort of poison?", he asked Lina since she knew just about anything about all creatures.

"Amazonian mosquito have powerful neuro-toxin under their trunks. They paralyse the victims and suck them off all of their blood.", replied a pale Lina.

Zero mused that the Mosquito seemed a connoisseur wanting to drink the blood before the body went cold. An evil smirk spread across his lips when he asked "How many seconds of paralysis and any other side effects of consuming the poison?".

"15 seconds at most but it depends on the mass of the creature affected by the poison."

Zero was now grinning widely, "HO HO HO it seems christmas came early this year. Lets discuss more over dinner.", he took out all the barley bread which came as part of beginner kit and gave half to Lina.

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As always Thank you for reading. Your comments,follows and favourites are highly appreciated.

Please do point out if you see any direct plot holes or errors. Since this is my first time writing a fanfic so reviews are always welcome.

Wanted to make the chapter longer but the damn stats took almost an hour to complete

PS: Dont drink and write ;)