Thirteen and the Black Snake looked at each other for nearly five minutes before the boy started to stir.
It was as if he just woke up from a trance. But the first thing he did was to place his right hand over his chest as if he was in pain.
The snake tilted its head to the side as if wondering what was happening to the Human in front of it.
The Slave Master, Norris, walked up to the younger boy from behind with a business-like smile.
"Beautiful isn't she?" Norris asked. "Do you know what she is?"
"Domini Mortis," Thirteen replied in a heartbeat. "The most poisonous snake in Solterra despite only being a Rank 1 Monster from birth to death."
"As I thought," Norris replied. "You are very knowledgeable. Are you really seven?"
Thirteen didn't reply, nor turned his head to look at the Slave Master behind him. He just continued to stare at the Black Snake in front of him as if trying to understand why he was feeling a sense of familiarity that he couldn't describe.
Two minutes later, Thirteen reluctantly tore his gaze away from the snake and looked at the Slave Master behind him.
"How much?" Thirteen asked.
He didn't need to specify what he intended to buy because it was already very obvious.
"5,000 Silver Coins," Norris answered. "Although it is a Rank 1 Monster, it is extremely rare. I just happened to get this one from an acquaintance, so its price is more expensive than most. I already gave you a friend discount with that price."
"Deal," Thirteen said. "You can take the money from my Master, Jubei."
Norris smiled after hearing the boy's words. He was a Slave Trader, and he was very good at reading people. It was very obvious from the start that the one calling the shots was the seven-year-old boy instead of the High Orc that was accompanying him.
In fact, Norris wouldn't be surprised if the real slave was the Orc, and not the boy, who was standing before him.
But, he kept his thoughts to himself and simply nodded his head.
"Handling it is very dangerous, so let's perform the Master and Slave contract first," Norris stated.
Raising his hand, the tattoo on the Black Snake's head glowed faintly, putting the snake into a trance.
Handling a very poisonous snake like the Domini Mortis was not an easy task. It was fast, and its venom was more potent than the venom of the Yellow Striped Dusk Brute.
In fact, if it was able to bite a Rank 4 or Rank 5 Monster several times, those monsters would die, despite the fact that they were three to four ranks higher than the Domini Mortis.
The Masters of Death, this is what these Black Snakes were called. It doesn't matter who they bit. The moment their fangs sank into their victims' bodies, it was all over for that creature.
Their poison was also the greatest anti-venom of all once it was purified, or used as an ingredient for alchemy.
"Drop your blood on its forehead, but be careful," Norris said. "Don't press your thumb on its head like what you did with the Tigerkin. Just drop the blood on top of its head, and pull your hand back as soon as possible."
The Slave Master was putting all of his concentration into keeping the Black Snake in place, so that it wouldn't accidentally attack the boy.
Nodding his head, Thirteen did as he was told and dropped a blood on top of the head of the Black Snake, before pulling his hand away.
Suddenly, something unexpected happened,
Unlike what happened with the Tigerkin earlier, Thirteen felt a very strong connection to the snake as if it had become part of his body.
As if to confirm his suspicion, a few rows of text appeared in front of him, asking for his input.
< Would you like to give the Domini Mortis a name? >
"Tiona," Thirteen replied before he could even think of a name.
The boy's eyes widened in shock because he only realized what had happened, after it already happened.
The Black Snake, who was now named Tiona, nodded its head as if recognizing the name that its Master had given it.
Through their connection, the boy felt something akin to happiness coming from the Domini Mortis that had now become his slave.
Thirteen then opened his Status Page to check his Status Page just to be sure that he wasn't imagining things.
Name: Zion Leventis
Age: 7 Years Old
Race: Human
Skills: None
Items: None
Avatars: None
< Permanent Debuff >
— Rank Ban
— Skill Ban
— Item Ban
— Avatar Ban
Unique Abilities: Universal Language Proficiency, Destiny Bond, Rune Magic (Intermediate).
Beast Companion: Tiona.
'It's there,' Thirteen mused. 'But, why?'
When he had enslaved the Tigerkin earlier, there were no notifications that appeared, and no changes happened on his Status Screen.
In fact, there wasn't supposed to be any notifications because having a slave was not part of the "program" that the Laplace Demon, and The One, had made for Wanderers.
This was why even if they had 100 slaves, there would be no notifications, and the names of the slaves wouldn't appear in their Status Page.
Only the names of Avatars would register because they were the only type of Monsters that the Law of Wanderers recognized.
In short, there was not supposed to be a Beast Companion category appearing on his Status Page because it was only exclusive to those who had the Hidden Class of Beast Tamer.
Thirteen was definitely not one, so he didn't understand why this was happening.
'I'll ask Laplace Demon and The One next time I see them,' Thirteen thought.
While the seven-year-old was deep in thought, Norris asked Thirteen to order the Black Snake not to bite him.
Now that the Domini Mortis had a new owner, it would no longer listen to Norris. Since there was a chance that the Black Snake would attack him after it was freed from the cage, he immediately asked Thirteen to give the snake an order as a precaution.
"Don't bite the Slave Master as well as his subordinates," Thirteen said. "Do not bite any of my family, friends, and subordinates. Unless I order you to, do not take the initiative to attack. Do I make myself clear?"
The Black Snake nodded, acknowledging Thirteen's orders.
After confirming that the order had been properly given, Norris opened the Glass Cage, allowing the Black Snake to crawl out of it.
Thirteen extended his hand, and the snake immediately crawled up towards his shoulder.
After that, it coiled itself around the boy's neck like a black collar.
"Well then, Zion, it's a pleasure doing business with you," Norris said as he extended his hand towards the boy in a handshake. "I hope we continue this business relationship in the future."
The Domini Mortis, Tiona, hissed at the Slave Master, but didn't make any move to bite him.
Clearly, it didn't like the Slave Master and would have probably attacked him if Thirteen had not ordered it to not carelessly attack anyone without his permission.
"I do hope that we will be able to do business again in the future," Thirteen shook Norris hand. "I just need to save up more money so I can buy your other wares."
"Of course, money is always welcome," Norris chuckled before leading Thirteen back to his friends, who had also finished buying the slaves they wanted using the money that he had shared with them.
