Chapter 41: Chapter 41
Darius spent the rest of the day in the library instead of heading out again. He changed his mind not because of Portia, but because of the wealth of knowledge Shanks possessed in the form of books.
In truth, Darius had been clumsy. He had assumed that since Shanks was a soldier, he would be a meathead with little education or interest in knowledge, but he was wrong to have stereotyped the man.
He had everything, from geography to history, modern literature, sociology, mathematics, and even some books on magical theory and combat theory!
Darius had surprisingly chosen to pick up the books on history first, rather than magical theory. He then spent the rest of the day parsing through them quickly with Portia watching on with shock.
When Darius explained that he had an eidetic memory and could memorize it on a single glance, she gazed at him with respect and envy. Darius was just the perfect scholar and mage type!
Darius was excited the more he read. So much of the information he slowly acquired filled up the holes in the small Infoblock he received about the Andrato Kingdom and its history.
All he had known was that it had existed for about 300 years and had about 5 rulers, but he finally discovered how and why it was formed, as well as what recognition it received to be called a state.
Now, he discovered that the Andrato Kingdom was a subsidiary state of a larger and more powerful kingdom called Fraterina. It was a kingdom that was matriarchal in nature due to the founding mother being an ex-valkyrie.
It had existed for more than 5,000 years, after a divine war between the various churches and demonic factions. Darius was intrigued by this tidbit, but it was not storied in the history book since it wasn't the direct reason for the formulation of the Andrato Kingdom.
However, it confirmed a few things for Darius. There were deities in this world and they, unlike on Earth, made themselves known. This was something he had suspected to exist after hearing Caesar speak of Dragons and whatnot, so he wasn't too jilted.
It did make Darius wonder though, how did the 'Supreme' stage fit in all this? Was it a level above deities? One step below them? Or an intermediary?
According to Caesar, the highest stage currently achievable was Grandmaster. Since this was between level 80 to 100, could the world have mistaken Grandmasters for deities since they were the highest point of power?
After all, if Darius reached level 80, his stats and skill would be a whole different level from right now. It was likely he would be able to fly, crush mountains with a punch, and call thunderstorms to destroy an entire city.
What else could that be but a God to the weak? Especially to the lesser educated masses of Faust who were still in the heavy religious/superstitious phase which earth had long shed away.
Then again, these were speculations. He would have to endeavor to learn more about the deities and the churches, and thankfully he had Portia for that. However, Darius didn't want to go on a tangent just yet.
By the time it was 9 pm, he had already discovered that the first queen of Andrato Kingdom had been only of the princesses of Fraterina Kingdom sent here to subdue the Plains of Death as punishment.
It was a form of exile for a sin she had committed… which was trying to advocate for more rights for men.
When Darius read this, his eyebrows furrowed deeply. It seemed Fraterina was a spitting example of a sexist state, where the dominant sex - male or female - treated the other as a subordinate sex.
If there was a Fraterina, there would definitely be a Fraterino, where the opposite dynamic existed.
However, ever since the first founder, named Julietta, settled down with her allies to form the Andrato Kingdom, the power balance between both sexes had been neutralized.
Darius saw a note from either Shanks or Portia that stated: "The Royal Court is still split into two; those who want to adopt the traditions of the mother kingdom then return to her fold and those who want to adhere to the wishes of the founder."
Darius rubbed his face with frustration. So before he had even entered the noble circles, he had already been hamfisted into a faction, which was obviously the one that supported the founder.
Supporting the other one would be shooting himself in the foot unless he could find a way to change his gender, which, even if it was possible, he had no interest in doing.
After reading this far, he was a bit tired and decided to go to bed. Portia escorted him to his room, once again hoping for something more, only for Darius to bid her goodnight.
As such, the young lass could only slink away with her head lowered and her expression downcast.
Darius plopped into bed and sorted all the knowledge he had acquired today. The one thing he was most interested in now wasn't even the divine war from the ages past that led to the formation of Fraterina, but the Plains of Death.
Exactly what secrets did that place hold that made it imperative for the Fraterina Kingdom to send one of their princesses here? Was it a figurative or literal goldmine? A growing threat?
Perhaps a mix of both? Darius would have to research more on it either through books or when he got to a larger place of civilization.
Whatever the case, he found his eyes drooping the more he thought. Today, he had battled a Blue Troll and come out on top, climbing a whopping 8 levels in one go.
The power boost it had given him was not a joke, but it had also tired him out and made him feel strange in his empowered body. Darius's last thoughts before he fell asleep were of the Conversion Points he would be receiving tomorrow and how to best allocate them.
After all, tomorrow was the day he would have to choose a new spell to add to his repertoire.
Chapter 42: Chapter 42
Darius woke up quite refreshed and limber. It could be because he had a long period of sleep or because his averaged out Endurance stat made him less fatigued overall.
Whatever the case, he bathed with the help of Portia - only in preparing it of course - and wore another one of Derek's altered clothes. Instead of heading out, Darius walked right back to the library where he resumed his reading.
Of course, he didn't forget about his newly refreshed Conversion Points.
[Would you like to change the empty spell manual into a small teleport spell manual? This will cost 9 Conversion Points.]
Darius was left speechless by how expensive it was. Then again, space was among the pinnacle of the elements and was definitely hard to grasp for normal mages.
Before he made the change, he decided to check how much it would cost to make a healing spell manual.
[Would you like to change the empty spell manual into a small recovery spell manual? This will cost 7 Conversion Points.]
Darius' lips twitched. Both were far more expensive than the Ember Spell Manual had been. Darius had planned to create a spell and some more Short Warp scrolls today, but his plans were shot.
Well, if he had a blink spell, it wouldn't matter if he had Short Warp scrolls, would it? With his healthy mana pool, even if the blink distance was short, he had no cooldowns for his spells like other mages.
He could just rapidly blink to his destination or until his mana ran out, which was why he chose the blink spell after thinking it through some more. Since he had potions to help with his healing, he didn't think he'd need a spell for that so pressingly.
As such, he sighed and created the small teleport spell manual for 9 of his precious points for the day.
[Blink Spell - Manual
Durability: 10/10
Description: Contained within is the required knowledge to cast the simplest spell of the space element, Blink. Due to the high quality of the material and the penmanship, the success chance of learning the spell is increased by 100% while the effectiveness of the spell is increased by 500%.]
Without wasting time, Darius learned the spell immediately.
[Detected spellbook. Would you like to learn its contents?
Warning: The spellbook will be destroyed upon using this method! Continue?]
As he assented, he saw the spell manual turn into a purplish slush that climbed up his arms and went into his brain through his ears. After a short pause to digest the years of practice and studying he had undergone to master the blink spell, he checked its description.
[Blink - Level 1 Spell
Cost: 1 MP
Description: Move through the folds of space to cross the distance between two locations instantly. The maximum distance is 10 meters.]
Darius tutted. 10 meters was quite short, he could even sprint that distance in under a second or two right now. However in battle, being able to appear even 1 meter away from an attack could mean everything.
This wasn't a traversal spell, this was a battle one. Darius understood this the moment he read its details, so he pondered if a traversal version of the blink spell existed.
It likely did for sure, but he fathomed that its relative cost would be higher, even with a prepared manual. Whatever the case, he would find out more on that later.
Just as Darius was about to enter the library with Portia, who had seen Darius absorb the spell manual with wide eyes and a drooping mouth, he saw Derek coming over.
Slapping his forehead, Darius quickly walked over to Derek. The young man still wielded his own spear, as if he never let that thing down for even a second.
"Hello there Derek, I was wondering if I could share some things I acquired with the homestead." Darius greeted with a smile.
Derek nodded and paused. "What would that be?"
Darius flourished his palm a little and a cut of Grey Bear meat appeared on it. This action greatly startled both Portia and Derek, for it was something they had never seen before.
"I have a lot of cut meat I saved for my journey, but no longer need since you have all given me lodging and food. As such, I also thought to give something back to you all, even if it might be small."
Derek received the meat and checked it to see that it was still as good as new, as if Darius had just killed the source of the meat a few seconds ago. There was even fresh blood still dripping from the meat!
The young man's face became solemn and he nodded. "Follow me to the storeroom, Mister Darius."
Derek turned and led the way down to the kitchen area of the farmhouse/manor. Darius told Portia to wait for him in the library while he followed Derek with a slight smile on his lips.
'Mister Darius, huh?'
Interesting. Just as the Analyze skill had stated, Portia was a friendly party to him and would likely be more if Darius accepted her advances. Derek though, despite being her sibling and seeing the same things Portia did, still did not fully accept or trust him.
It could either be part of his personality, being cold and detached which seemed likely, or it could be because he saw something in Darius that Portia failed to. After all, the young miss was enraptured by the circumstances and his looks, but the young man had no such interests.
As such, it was likely that Derek could see more about Darius than usual. This Darius disagreed with because if Derek could truly see into his character, even slightly, he would undoubtedly be hostile and not neutral.
Darius appeared in a storage room that was maintained by a few of the other men and women of the homestead, mostly the peasants just reaching the age of adulthood.
When they saw Derek and Darius, all work stopped as they greeted the duo. Derek nodded to them while Darius smiled benevolently.
Soon, their respectful faces changed to one of utter shock when Darius removed pounds and pounds of meat he had cut from the various beasts he killed on his way here.
As for the Troll's carcass, he obviously kept that to himself.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
6 Power
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