"I'm amenable to any fate you have in mind for me." The Moon Elf replied humbly.
Darius nodded. In maintenance of the ritual, he put his ring finger out for her to kiss, which she did. Immediately, the familiar menus came up that Darius had seen twice already.
[Target has been assessed to be a willing candidate. The candidate is healthy and below the stage of Adept. All conditions met.]
[Candidate name: Unnamed. Candidate race: Moon Elf (Progenitor). Candidate Jobs: None.]
[Overwriting existence… auto-educating with provided Infopack… quantizing statistics… establishing loyalty…]
[Congratulations, Candidate Unnamed has succeeded in becoming your Branded Servant!
Note: At the Adept stage, you can only have 3 Branded Servants!]
Immediately, the Moon Elf seemed to have come to life. She then knelt solemnly before Darius, much in the same way Gunner and Xela had done previously.
"I'm your Branded Servant henceforth, Master Darius. Your enemies will be my enemies and clearing your obstacles shall be my utmost goal!" The Moon Elf pledged sincerely, making Darius nod in contentment.
He then gazed down at her with a strange look. "Rise. Henceforth, your name shall be Luna Stone. Welcome to the family, Luna."
Luna, the now named Moon Elf, smiled beautifully. "Thank you, Master."
Darius then spared some time to view his Quests and Events.
[Congratulations, Darius Stone. You have completed the Special Quest: (Stage 1) Brand The Neo Lifeform.
Rewards: 20,000 True Coins, 'Unique Existence's Master' Accolade, 'Life Creator' Achievement.]
[Your Quests have been updated!]
[Congratulations, Darius Stone. You have completed the Special Quest: (Stage 2) Name The Neo Lifeform.
Rewards: 30,000 True Coins, 'The Namer' Accolade, 'Progenitor's Father' Achievement.]
[Your Quests have been updated!]
[Congratulations, Darius Stone. You have completed the Event: Witness the Birth of a New Lifeform!
Rewards: 2,500 AP, 2,500 SP.]
[Your list of Events have been refreshed.]
Mm, Darius was happy for the True Coins. There were some things he would like to buy after settling down, and he would need slightly more than this for some of the fancier options.
The fairies who had been watching the event suddenly lit up as they flew forth, dancing around Luna beautifully, spinning around Moon Elf until they reached the top of the trees.
Luna closed her eyes and basked in the purity of the fairy dust, releasing a light violet glow from her body that washed over everyone in the glade.
Darius checked what this was and found that it was called the 'Glow of Dusk'. With it, he and his team members would gain double their base power during the night, regardless of location.
This startled Darius until he smiled. It seemed Luna would be perfect for her new role, given her inclination for the dark and the night.
He snapped his finger and their group Fast Traveled back to Safemoon. He then took them to the fourth floor of his Mage Tower and assigned a room for Luna, while Xela and Gunner checked into their own rooms.
The first thing Darius decided to do was to check in on those 5 little fellows before anything else. He asked Martin to call them to the first floor so that he could inspect them and their progress.
Gunner decided to come along while Xela and Luna stayed upstairs to chat.
Soon, the five lads came in, looking slightly more mature and capable compared to when Darius and co had left. About 6 or so months had passed since then, so it wasn't as if all of them suddenly sprouted beards, but they did lose some more baby fat.
When they saw Darius seated regally in his chair with a slight smile on his face and the ever-stable Gunner behind him with his arms folded behind his back, they teared up.
Seeing his Five Apprentices get so emotional, Darius chuckled. He then casually Analyzed them to see where they stood stats-wise.
Since he had prevented them from becoming Journeymen until he came back, their stats had already been squeezed to the limit, so apart from their skills which had grown more diverse, there was not much to report.
He decided to tabulate it for later. Right now, he gazed at quintet and spoke. "Not bad, you have all lived up to my and Gunner's expectations. Martin kept us abreast with your achievements, and I must say, I'm indeed impressed."
"Being able to cultivate Sword Aura at the Amateur stage should be something unheard of on Faust, well done Ash."
"Being able to attach magic to arrows is something that is only available to the elven archers, and humans have almost no one who can do this outside of those who Spark with the ability, you have certainly done well as well Reina."
"Jonathan, dual-wielding two large weapons of two different natures yet managing to adapt a fighting system for them shows your talent with weaponry, very good."
"James, discovering how to make yourself completely undetectable is above and beyond the means of normal Darkness Element magic, very impressive."
Darius then gazed at Anthony. "And then there's you. Achieving your race's unique transformation at such an early age heralds a big change for you. Manifest it better and become stronger, so you can wield power untold. Magnificent job, young one."
Darius' words of praise made the faces of the five become ruddy as they were filled with pride and accomplishment.
Only they knew the amount of suffering and struggle they went through to achieve these feats!
Now, it had all paid off as their mentor and most respected person had acknowledged them wholeheartedly for it. This feeling would bury itself in their hearts, forming a craving.
They would always want to work hard to receive this kind of praise and feel this kind of emotional and spiritual high, making them diligent fellows in the eyes of others.
"Now that a year has passed under your tutelage with me, you all need to take the next step. That's right, sit yourselves down on those mats, it is time for the five of you to become Journeyman mages!" Darius declared grandly, shocking the five little fellows who had thought this to just be a welcoming reunion.
Author's Note: It has come to my attention that some readers are complaining about 'wasted' coins on chapters with a lot of menus or misc text used to enhance the experience.
There's a lot I can say, but there is no need to fight with my own readers over this.
I offer a simple solution. Send me a link to your Paypal and I will pay back that $0.06 that makes up 3 coins or less.
I don't wake up and spend 60% of my waking hours and sacrificing my social life writing daily so that someone can point at me like I want to purposefully steal your $0.06
