Inside, Raze had made several preparations. He had been crafting better Mana-restoring pills using higher-tier crystals because the Dark Spirit form consumed a lot of Mana, which he needed for exploring around in Alterian.
Last time, it was a close call with everything that happened, and Raze didn't want to repeat that painful experience.
He also prepared one Cursed Mana-restoring pill, just in case, but decided against placing a second one in the formation due to the severe headache it caused him last time.
'It's okay if my spirit form dissipates; I'll let Alterian deal with the mystery instead of experiencing that effect again,' Raze thought. 'Besides, I don't plan on entering such dangerous places where I will get into a fight again.'
There were lots of crystals, Qi pills, and magic circles drawn all over the place. Raze was pleased that he had knocked down the walls to create such a space.
'I've done this in the cave multiple times before, but now that I'm here, I need to start creating safe places in my own territory,' Raze thought as he took a deep breath and sat cross-legged on the floor.
'Let's start the meeting of the Dark Guild.'
The light lit up from underneath, signaling Raze's return to Alterian.
The set time and place for the Dark Guild meeting had arrived. Underground, in the familiar ruined building surrounded by them, Raze was ready to enter. He had missed one of the meetings due to everything he had been through. From what he had gathered, the Dark Guild was working on their own things before he arrived as well, so he wasn't too worried. Honestly, if he didn't meet with them, he could always go exploring himself.
Making the connection to the Dark energy, he soon found himself appearing in front of them, in the center of the building.
He looked around and could see two familiar figures wearing robes that heavily covered their faces. However, Raze already knew what one of the figures looked like—Kelly. He could tell the difference between the two since she was slightly smaller than the other member and had a slimmer figure.
When Raze's eyes, in his Dark Spirit form, set on her, he felt a tinge in his heart, a slight twitch.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})'It seems she decided to still turn up in this world after all. I can't force people but only inform them of what they are getting themselves into,' Raze thought.
When looking at Kelly, he could see something on top of her shoulder moving about, and of all things, it was a relatively fat cat.
"A cat?" Raze spoke.
"Welcome, Dark Spirit!" Harvey said in a cheerful voice, and bowed, moving his arm across his chest. "It is good to see you after all this time, and I must say you are looking better than you usually would."
The comment caught Raze off guard, but when he looked down at his own hands, he realized that it really was the case.
The amount of energy that was contained in his body, the mana, was similar to what he had in Pagna. At the same time, the mana leaking out of his body was significantly less compared to before.
'If I wanted to, maybe even without pills, I could stay in this world for a whole week if I had to,' Raze thought. 'This is because I finally reached the middle stage. I was right, the higher the stage of the body, the better this technique is when going to the other world.'
'If I managed to reach the Divine level, would I practically be myself, would it be like teleporting to Alterian? If that was the case, I wouldn't even have to worry about heading back to Alterian with my real body; I would be able to get rid of them without it.'
"Yes… my power has been growing. I feel that soon, I might be able to help you all directly. It's good to see that both of you are doing well and haven't been caught either," Raze said.
When he turned around to look at Kelly, his eyes kept lingering on the cat. He hadn't noticed it at first, but now he did. The cat that was on her shoulder, it contained traces of magic!
Raze lifted his hand and let out a small trace of black magic. Everyone remained still as they could see a floating piece of dark mist floating through the air, and naturally, it had then split into two.
Part of it went to Kelly, while the other half had gone to the cat.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})"How can that cat know Dark Magic?" Raze asked. It wasn't really a question to the others, but something he was asking himself.
"Oh, this!" Kelly said, startled, and stretched out her hand. The fat cat then jumped off and went onto the floor.
While on the floor, it sat and looked up at Raze before lowering its head onto the floor. It lifted its head up again and did this a further two times.
Raze couldn't believe it, but the cat was bowing to him. He had seen some crazy things in other dimensions, in Pagna and Alterian, but not like this.
'Wait, there are lots of videos online of people training their animals to do crazy things. It might be just like that article where someone trained their dog to do Nazi salutes,' Raze thought.
"Since she can't speak for herself, I will add some context," Kelly cleared her throat, feeling her face getting a little hot, embarrassed by the situation.
"This here is the newest member of the Dark Guild. Her name is Sophie… the reason why she is in this state is because of a special book. She used it and managed to put herself in this state."
"On top of that, she was also a user of Dark magic before."
Raze was quite perplexed by the whole thing, but if there was a special book that could make him go into another body in another world, one that would put a person into that of a cat, seemed even less far-fetched.
So, he decided to accept this fact quickly.
"So, is she still able to use magic?" Raze asked.
As if the order was given to the cat, with a paw, Sophie made a circle in the ground. As she did, the Dark magic lingered on the floor, destroying the dirt particles like a type of acid, disappearing from sight.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})"Oh, and quite a strong Dark Mage as well," Raze noted.
Thinking about this and looking at the cat, he had a number of questions. For one, he wanted to know where she had perhaps found the book, but communicating with an animal would be difficult.
What he was also interested in, however, was learning what did they know about Dark Magic. All of these people in the room, and animals had learned Dark Magic, a forbidden magic one way or another.
They had to have gotten their hands on information from somewhere; it was unlikely that they were just natural talent and knew how to use such a thing.
"I have a question for all of you," Raze said. "In terms of Star level, what are you at, and how well-versed is your Dark magic?"
Kelly was first to answer.
"I'm a three-star mage, but my Dark magic skills aren't sufficient at all. I would say the level of spells I could use are only at the first level."
The cat had drawn four lines on the floor, indicating her star level, after that, she then drew another three lines beneath.
This was quite good, which just made Raze more interested in the cat. When turning around, there was one more person to ask.
"I'm a five-star mage," Harvey answered. "And my Dark Magic is also at the fifth star level as well."
This was not an answer Raze was expecting. Although he was known as the Dark Magus, and he was a nine-star mage at the end of his life, he had only been able to get Dark Magic spells around that of the sixth star.
This person was only a little less proficient in Dark Magic than him.
"How did you learn Dark Magic?" Raze asked. "I think it would be best if we act like other guilds if we can combine our information about Dark Magic and share it together.
"It will allow current and new members to increase their Darkness power."
Harvey was nodding his head; it was an excellent idea, and his more selfish nature had never thought of things like that.
"Then I believe I can help, due to my occupation I am always aware of those that might have learned Dark Magic. That is how we found the cat Sophie and how we will continue to search for new members.
"As for resources, as well due to my title, I should be able to get you plenty."
This was more than Raze was expecting. He was thinking that he would have to go searching blindly, picking leads up on his own.
Yet, the Dark Guild was proving more useful, even though it still wasn't large in size.
"Very well, then let's head to where we need to be," Raze suggested.
This suggestion had caused Harvey's heart to beat frantically; his eyes were widening.
"You mean, this isn't just a task, you wish to come with me!" Harvey asked.
"I wish to see what is needed and what is not needed. I am also in a bit of a rush, so I would rather come myself."
Harvey bowed down to the Dark Spirit; he was over the moon about this.
"The Dark Guild's first outing is here!" Harvey grinned.
