Chapter 3: Hidden
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Video Logbook of expedition 20, a new world
"Hello, I am Kieron Medici and yes I consider the leader of this expedition my father. You, if this ever reaches the union, were probably not expecting me to make this report, but the reports made by the former crewmembers already explain the reason. What I can see of the planet makes it highly dangerous, it scares me. "Sight" Yesterday I encountered a strange aggressive life form that looked strangely human. Although I managed to kill it, there are probably more and stronger monsters out there. I will put the main goal of analysing the local culture to a temporary halt and prioritise advancements in magic. Although I have no idea where to continue, the man I found yesterday could be an interesting case study of how magic develops."
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Only now was I able to asses my situation.
My now calm hand pointed the gun at the man.
Without allot of informations and references to asses the situation it was crucial to get it under control.
"Okay you know what this weapon can do and I only want to talk, so I suggest you hear me out before you do anything stupid."
As I slowly spoke I could see his face make a visible frown, obvious not pleased with the situation.
Luckily for both of us he sat down and raised his hands in defeat.
"so what do you need pal."
I hate slang.
Disregarding how I learned the conmen tongue by the few books we found in the cave and how hard it was to understand abbreviations it just wasn't precise.
"so I am not well versed in this world but I do believe that the weapon and the knowledge I have is useful to some people."
I exhaled what I was gonna say next may decide the outcome of this meeting.
"I am a rank one mage and I know a spell that allows me to enforce contracts,"
I pulled out a stock of documents I prepared for these kind situation back in the base,
"Just read it and make a print with your thumb and blood at the bottom next to mine, this will prevent you from ever talking about me to anyone as well as preventing us from harming each other."
His eyes widened in surprise.
Although I couldn't tell why, maybe because of the absurdity of me having such a seemingly useless spell when one could only have one per level,
or that I was currently suggesting something that could very well be a slave contract.
Okay that last term was an overstatement.
"you know magic, are you a hidden?"
Huh what.
"what are hidden and what is wrong with knowing magic?"
was magic not prevalent any more or what was going on.
"well I guess you wouldn't know if you really are a descendent of them, so let me explain."
He took a deep breath and began talking,
his voice containing the confidence that was conmen when you were overly familiar with a topic.
So he was interested in archaeology?
A perfect guide, lucky.
"well after the fall of the empire, almost all of the powerful humans fell with it, but some went into hiding, some even foresaw the eventual demise and ran away hundreds of years prior, the hidden"
He looked at me knowingly so I just stared back with the same gaze,
no need to estrange him even more.
"Allot of them lost touch with reality, so it is no wonder you know nothing of the ban of magic.
Probably to prevent another uprising any human mage was hunted down and the trading of magic with humans became forbidden."
Ah the situation was a bit more problematic than I previously anticipated.
"But I need it to accomplish my lifelong dream, no matter the cost."
So that was his motivation,
I can work with this.
"so basically you want me to teach you magic in exchange for the contract."
as I took the contract and wrote the additional clause with a pen I took out from my backpack.
His solemn and weathered face was displaying a hint of excitment, like a burned out fire being rekindled.
It was kind of funny how he tried to hide it.
Maybe this dark place did contain a hint of colour and I could find comrades to walk the way with me.
After a few hours I had redesigned the papers to bind me into giving him magic in exchange for him posing as my guide.
Then in what could be described as a dramatic silence or just the authors laziness to write any more dialogue we both signed the contract with our blood.
The moment the man's thumb left his print on the paper I could somehow feel the magic woven in the contract come into fruition.
I could feel a thin thread between me and the man across the bonfire connecting some kind of shackles that bound me to the contract connecting to what I could only assume did the same for him.
Honestly it was scary,
I always valued my thoughts as something sacrilegious, untouchable
One had to know that this was first time actually using the technique.
We found it in a collection of ancient tomes inside the bubble.
They did not only contain technical skills but also went into great details about the origin of that culture as well as their customs and traditions.
These books are also the origin of my speech skills.
As such it is understandable that I did not want to risk the life of the one person I truly cared about with some loosely translated magic.
"so lets talk about magic."
After giving of this statement he just sat there with the same silent, unaffected attitude as before.
How could he be so calm?
While the fire did give of a sense of warm, its flickering light could do little to pus away the thick darkness that permeated the forest around us.
And the dark cloudy sky could not even illuminate the world to a fraction of what the stars and moon I had seen in the simulations had, much less speaking of the sun.
"sorry but could we perhaps wait until tomorrow, it is late and I need to sleep."
His face still showed no reaction, had I not seen one before I would have thought he has an inability.
"do what you gotta do."
With a sight I took out my tent and sleeping bag.
Somehow these people from earth actually managed to compress both into the size of football while only weighting a kilo.
I was already filled with anticipation for the day I could replicate such things in this world.
I would like to say that I had some deep thoughts about life or that I at least installed the most basic alarm mechanism before going to sleep.
I was so spent I started sleeping the moment I laid down.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
I_refuse
I_refuse I just want to tell you that from this moment on, I will be adding small notes people took from theyr surroundings. They are optional, but will tell you a bit about the caracters thoughts and the worldbuilding. Comment on how you think of the idea.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone