Darius leaned back into his seat and glanced at Gunner to the side who had come over when he heard the summons. Since he was technically still on vacation, Darius didn't specifically ask him to come, but the fellow had also invested a lot of effort and time into these brats.
He naturally could not miss something as important as this. This amused Darius because he wasn't exactly going to say something they would expect.
"The five of you have come far under my tutelage, spanning over 2 years of your lives since you were merely young children. No, some of you are almost at Safemoon's age of adulthood while all of you are about to graduate to become Masters. This brings you one step closer to becoming a Grandmaster, the peak of power in the known world." Darius began while crossing his leg.
"But just like when you became adepts, my lessons and teaching plan do not involve just allowing you to go through to the next stage without proving that you have mastered yourselves at the current stage you find yourself."
"When you were going from Amateurs to Journeymen, I gave you the task to clear the Dungeon and you five discovered something new about yourselves and your martial power."
Darius turned to the young man with reddish-brown hair as well as deep gray eyes. He was even more handsome after aging this while with his former bright outlook tempered and his heroic bearing condensed.
"Ash, you cultivated your Sword Aura at the Amateur stage time, a skill which only those who have sparked with special sword-related abilities could master after becoming at least, Adepts."
Darius turned to a lovely young lass who had short, curly blonde hair, light blue eyes, and a round, pretty face. She had been short for her age when she first came at 15 years and 5 foot 4 in height, but at 17 she was now taller at 5 foot 9.
Not only that, her svelte and modest form had grown out with all this harsh training and good eating, causing her to become a little bit voluptuous. She looked like she could end up becoming like Portia.
"I remember my shock when I found that you had been able to attach magic to arrows, which is something that is only available to the elven archers. Humans have almost no one who can do this outside of those who Spark with the ability."
Darius then glanced at a powerful young man of 18 years, who was lean and tall. This lanky young man had a sharp visage and chiseled features that were a mixture of handsome as well as mature and were slightly slavic.
Minus the light frown and pale skin, he had a mop of curly brown hair as well as dark brown eyes that showed fierceness and domination.
"Jonathan, dual-wielding two large weapons with your strength is marginally impressive. However, dual-wielding weapons of two different categories yet managing to adapt a fighting system for them showed your talent with weaponry at the time."
Darius glanced at a boy with an average build and stable looks. The striking thing about him was that he usually wore a strange smile on his face as if he was amused by everything he saw. This made him look a bit silly, but Darius knew that this was a mask that hod the dark and cruel killer inside.
The lad had black hair and dark eyes, with lightly tanned skin and a skinny frame that had become taller in time.
"James, I still think about how amazing it was to discover how to make yourself completely undetectable which was above and beyond the means of normal Darkness Element magic back then. You have only come far from there."
Darius's attention then focused on his most special apprentice, who was half-human, half-monkey, of the Sage Monkey clan who were a special and rare race of Fallon.
He had golden fur that lined his cheeks, chest, and arms as wee as a tall and muscular body that was always well-trimmed and neat.
"And then there's you. Achieving your race's unique transformation at such an early age was legendary."
Darius smiled as he nodded with pleasure. "And then after that, you fellows moved up from there and reached the pinnacle of the journeyman stage and were given a task to fight Grandmasters in live combat."
"That was your crowing achievement so far in your tutelage, being able to fight the peak of the continents power cap while being Journeymen. Now, at the peak of the Adept stage, all of you should be more powerful than any Grandmaster in existence."
"With this level of power, you can now rampage around Fallon and some of the other continents with ease. This is a power that solely belongs to you and cannot be taken away."
Darius' eyes happened suddenly. "However, you have to temper this power and how you use it, otherwise you are no different from a maverick."
The Five Apprentices shuddered at Darius' seriousness and as for Gunner, he simply snorted as he glanced at them as if they had already failed whatever test Darius had for them, leaving them speechless.
"Your next task is to head to Kiel. You will be randomly teleported to anywhere on the continent and have to survive there for one year without any supplies from me. You will have to carve your own territory on the continent and then grow your territory."
Darius then leaned his cheek onto his fist and smiled softly. "And 6 months into your survival, you will have to compete against each other, and the strongest one gets the best resources for the stage climbing."
Immediately, the five apprentices perked up and excitement coursed through their bodies. They often competed against each other, but it never usually came under the purview of Darius or Gunner.
To hear that this would occur for the first time made them fired up.
