Nexus Ascension: My Comprehension Defies the Heaven-Chapter 328: Binding Vow

"Binding Vow? What’s that?" Grey was pleasantly surprised.

What was this new term she had never heard of?

"It’s swearing upon the Heavenly Dao to fulfill a condition. If, let’s say, you don’t fulfill a condition that we both set, then you will be struck by heavenly lightning and die."

"I can swear upon the heavens that I won’t use the data I receive from your blood to do anything bad. You don’t have to swear upon anything in turn, since you will only be watching me."

Jasmine wasn’t really an innovator that constantly pushed herself to bring new inventions to society. Rather, she was a curious scientist who did things purely out of enjoyment. To her, being inside her lab, finding solutions, and inventing new things that made her life easier was her goal.

Other things didn’t really matter to her.

"How come I’ve never heard of this before?" Grey was dumbfounded.

Was he the ruler of the Southern Region, or was she?

"I came to know about it when I went to roam around the floating cities. I sometimes get bored of the Southern Region and go out there to play around," Jasmine said with a chuckle.

"Oh." Grey nodded. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Right, with her capabilities, sneaking into the floating city would be a breeze.

Entering the floating city required a pass, a pass that only the overseer of a region could give you, or someone from the floating city had to recommend you.

Cheating the system was also another way to enter. She must have entered that way.

Grey could do the same. With his mind interface, he could do it even easier than her.

Then, Jasmine continued.

"It’s one of the many major functions of a binding vow. For example, the one we are about to do is considered a mutual binding vow, where both parties are bound, and failure to fulfill the condition will result in death. Then, there is a strengthening binding vow."

"A strengthening binding vow?" Grey’s eyes flickered with interest.

"That’s right." Jasmine nodded with a chuckle. "Your eyes lit up when I said strengthening binding vow, Chief. Are you more interested in strength than anything else?"

"Maybe. Now tell me what it’s about." Grey merely shrugged as he spoke.

Jasmine nodded subtly. "The strengthening binding vow is something that an evolver, or any other higher-level being, can use, as long as they have broken their first genetic shackle. A second-rank evolver, to be more accurate."

"The way it functions is by taking power from the Heavenly Dao to make yourself more powerful, or to get a specific thing done, by giving it something in return."

"For example, if I said I want to become smarter for a while, then it’s possible with this binding vow. I just have to give it something in return, like not being able to fight at a specific time of the day. If I fight during that time, I will die."

"Interesting." Grey chuckled when he heard this.

"Likewise, if someone wanted to make their elixir fields bigger, they could, in theory, achieve it. But one would need to give something of equal importance to make it possible."

"Binding vows are, in short, a system of equal exchange. You are a buyer. You buy things from the heavens and pay in the form of something that heavily restricts you. You could even pay with your soul."

"I’ve never seen someone like that personally, but it’s said that, for revenge, someone decided to cut short their lifespan to just one year to reach the third rank and eliminate the enemy clan that wiped out his own."

"It’s a system that allows immense power but comes with backlash."

"To think such a thing existed."

Grey now really felt like a frog in a well.

The floating city was far more advanced than he originally thought.

The beings there must be equipped with all kinds of techniques, spells, and powers as well.

"Sure then, let’s make a binding vow."

"But you must also make a binding vow that you won’t do anything bad to me, directly or indirectly, after you realize something from taking my blood."

"Huh?" Jasmine’s eyes flickered with disappointment. "I can’t do anything to you?"

Grey’s lips twitched when he saw this.

This damn crazy woman. He knew she was up to something bad.

That’s why he added the last request as an act of precaution.

"Kidding, I’m fine with that." Jasmine said with a chuckle. "What am I going to do with you, Chief Grey? The only thing I can think of doing to you is giving you headpats daily and maybe even comforting you as your faithful wife."

"..." Dark lines formed on Grey’s face.

Headpats? What am I, a dog?

Jasmine naturally noticed the change in Grey’s expression.

Seeing this, she laughed out loud.

"What? I thought men liked headpats or something."

Grey merely coughed at her words.

"Alright, tell me the binding vow technique, incantation, or whatever. Let’s get the binding vow done. Just so you know, I will be staring intensely at you all day, and I say this not as a joke."

Grey had to make it clear to her.

Origin imprints took him far too much time to comprehend. Hence, he would be intensely staring at this woman, perhaps for twenty-four hours straight each day, to comprehend it.

He felt nothing about it.

In his pursuit of power, staring at a beautiful woman who was probably the craziest one he had encountered so far was within his limits.

"Kyaah! You stalker!" A red tinge of blush formed on Jasmine’s face. "Will you be staring at my face when I’m sleeping too? This is not good, Chief Grey. If you do things like this, then I won’t be able to control myself and might do some bad things to you."

"These are things that lovers who can’t part with each other and are extremely obsessed with each other do."

"..."

"Actually, never mind. I can just stare at you using my mind perception. That way, you won’t even realize that I am there," Grey said with a darkened look on his face.

Jasmine put on an even more "shy" expression.

"So now you want to see me naked? You pervert." Jasmine said with a shy look on her face.

That was right. Mind perception could see through anything as long as he willed it. Even through clothes.

That was because it wasn’t just normal sight like eyes. Mind perception was a domain where everything three-dimensional was converted into visual information and sent directly into his mind.