With this new development though, he had another path before him. Well, it depended on how successful the early parts of phase 5 would turn out. It would not be wise to count his chickens before they hatched.
Darius eventually left with Gunner and Foldo who showed them to a lavish room the old fox had prepared for the duo. As Darius rested and Gunner exercised, the day came to an end and ushered in a new one.
..................
The same night Darius spent at Foldo's place, two strange creatures were gallivanting about in the area of the Plains of the Green. Their boney silhouettes would chill the heart of any onlooker, but once their forms came into the light, they looked rather unimpressive.
It was just two undead skeletons with rusty weapons and poorly maintained wooden shields that were energetically rushing through the forests and grasslands.
Interestingly, the two were not without purpose. Their movements seemed to take them to any location where a living beast or monster lay, and the duo would immediately engage such monsters, often ambushing them in their slumber, forcing them into intense battle before eventually culling them.
If anyone followed the progress of these two skeletons, they would be shocked to note that with every battle, the duo became more and more skillful, as if they were adapting to combat and its rules.
At the same time though, their forms were withering greatly from the damage they accumulated from all the enemies they had fought on their journey.
The only reason the duo remained upstanding till now was that their damage would be partially healed after every kill, at which point a strange blackish energy would exit the corpses of their victims and mesh with their cracked or shattered bones, mending them.
As their skill got better, so too did their ability to withstand and avoid damage. There were many close shaves, like when they encountered a den of feral Nightwolves or hidden Goblin den housing a small clan of the green monsters.
However, someway, somehow, the duo of undead skeletons would manage to overcome these trials and become much better because of it. This continued way until the morning, after they had practically cleared everything living within a 10 km radius of the homestead.
After their most recent kill, which was a pack of hyenas that had lusted over their bones, they paused for the first time since setting out. They then stared at each other.
In their previously empty eye sockets, a small wisp of green fire began to emerge and intensified until it formed into a small dot.
Both skeletons moved their jaws in strange and eerie motions, the newly formed emerald fires within their sockets gleaming every time they did so.
After doing this for almost 3 minutes, the undead skeleton on the left finally managed to produce a sound. "M..u..s…t…"
It seemed to be unable to continue, like that little sound had exhausted its energy. Luckily, its compatriot had the same idea and finished its statement much in the same manner.
"R…e..t..u…r…n…"
Both skeletons nodded and turned around to leave the battlefield. Just as they had come, they rushed back towards the location of their summoner, which they could vaguely sense now that they had generated their Soul Fire.
It was this same fire that had given them sentience and its presence in their eyes constituted something that Darius had yet to understand or appreciate.
.............
The next morning, Darius made the changes for the three tomes and watched them become proper spell manuals.
He tried to learn them but received a system prompt that he must advance to journeyman level to learn skills and spells of that stage.
Annoyed, Darius called Foldo over.
Upon handing them over to Foldo, the old fox knelt and thanked Darius many times over for his kindness.
Darius waved it off as he and Foldo knew it was not kindness, but an open transaction. By giving him these three spells, Darius was opening the way for Foldo to become a Journeyman mage.
He would need at least that much power if he wanted to fulfill Darius' objective of creating a power out here, so it was only a matter of course and an incentive to work harder and more efficiently.
Darius left the settlement of the Foldo Bandits with a House Portal Scroll and found the sleeping form of Portia on his bed. Slapping his forehead, Darius recalled about the little miss' existence which had completely escaped him when he was executing phase 4.
Darius sighed and gently shook Portia awake. She raised her upper body and rubbed her eyes groggily, only realizing that Darius and Gunner were looking at her after a few seconds.
"Ah! M-Master Darius!" Portia exclaimed in a mixture of shock and happiness at seeing her crush.
Darius smiled benevolently. "Sorry for keeping you waiting, Portia. I had to sort out many things in the aftermath of yesterday's fight, so I wasn't able to relieve you of your worries."
Portia was touched by his concern and shook her head. "No, it's fine. It might sound strange, but I've never felt as peaceful during a conflict like I was yesterday. Somehow... I just knew that everything would be fine once you got involved."
Gunner nodded his head in agreement because in the time he had spent with Darius, he had come to share this belief. He had seen the power and intelligence of his master, so he was convinced that this world would soon bow before his master's feet.
That was why he was largely unbothered by anything. As long as he would follow Darius' command, everything would work out perfectly.
As for Darius, he scratched his cheek with a strange smile. He knew he was quite clever, but not to that extent, okay? He wasn't a perfect genius, just a very dirty businessman who had been given nice tools.
"Be that as it may, I think you'd better check in with Sir Shanks and Friend Derek, lest they think I've kidnapped you away for nefarious purposes." Darius joked lightly.
Portia blushed deeply and rushed out of the sheets. Before she left the room, she bowed lightly to Darius and thanked him.
"Thank you for keeping my family safe, Master Darius."
After saying her mind, the young maiden quickly closed the door and fled. Darius and Gunner shared a look before the former chuckled then muttered to himself.
"Keeping your family safe, huh? Hohoho."
