27 kilometers southeast of Poleria Homestead.
There was a small village with many able-bodied men, some smiling women, and even children around.
Life here seemed idyllic and peaceful as the children played while their mothers maintained the houses and their fathers were either out hunting or gathering food.
A simple village that was quite non-descript even. However, all activity in this village paused when a strangely cloaked fellow suddenly appeared in the center of the village's main road.
He stood there in silence, his darkened cowl moving left and right to scan the frozen villagers who didn't move a muscle in shock. He then walked slowly and stately towards the largest manor at the end of the road, where the leader of this village resided.
Once he crossed a few houses, the villagers finally shook off their amazement and hurriedly rushed into their houses with fear written on their faces. One could even see some of their legs shaking in terror as they practically ran, some kids even falling to the floor and crying.
By the time Darius reached the manor, the entire village was silent like someone had whisked all the residents away. He looked back for a second and smirked beneath his cloaked before entering the manor.
Once inside, he noticed that the manor was also empty, yet there were obvious signs that servants and the like had been working here just seconds ago judging by the fallen dusters and obvious footsteps.
Darius could even smell soup simmering on the fire in the kitchen to his right. Darius scanned the foyer and walked towards his left as he saw a singular person seated in the parlor here.
It was a well-dressed man with skin darker than Darius' and a thick mustache. His eyes were a typical brown color and his lips were slightly thick, his obtuse jaw forming into what might be called a 'butt chin'.
He wore a tophat of a dark green color, a gentleman noble's attire of a lovely white shirt with a tie, a jacket that was a striped green and gray combo, as well as fitting pants that matched the color of his tophat.
The fellow also wore white gloves on his hand and was currently drinking from a set of valuable ceramic cups. If the tea was as good as his expression made it out to be, then Darius was interested in having a taste for sure.
Darius unceremoniously sat down on the couch opposite the fellow before him. Just as he had done previously, he began speaking on his own.
"Foldo Garison. Exiled baron of Andrato Kingdom, who was caught smuggling contraband into a family-owned black market by a competitor. As such, your market was disbanded and your assets seized while you were thrown out to live with the dogs."
"However, you've successfully managed to build up your own bandit group on the outskirts of the kingdom by salvaging some of your smuggling contacts. Unlike the other two idiot bandit groups, yours functions semi-legal and you have the biggest smokescreen of them all."
By the time Darius was done, the man called Foldo was no longer in the mood to play around. In the digital era of Earth, despite people knowing all our info was being stolen, no one liked having it read out to them, much less in a world like this where information should be hard to acquire.
"To what do I owe the pleasure, mister?" Foldo asked in a deep voice stressing the word 'pleasure' as his only sign of feeble resistance against this intruder.
He neither confirmed nor denied the earlier claims and statements, but Darius smiled. He had mixed what he had learned from the library with the short intro Derek gave him about the three bandit groups as well as what his improved Analyze skill had revealed to him.
Finally, his deductive abilities had run at full speed in order to parse all the data he had, allowing him to present it to these fellows as statements that chilled them due to their accuracy.
Darius was silent. He was slightly wary of Foldo in a way he would never be of Diato, not in terms of danger to his life, but in terms of danger to his plan.
Foldo was a person with unbelievable 17 Intellect, smart enough that he might see through what Darius was doing and ruin everything.
So it really came down to whether Darius was interested in working with him or not, for he could not risk introducing rogue elements into his plan. Either he commissioned them... or they had to be wiped out to the last man.
Darius was currently favoring the second choice until Foldo spoke.
"I assume you must've visited the other bandit groups?"
Darius leaned back and nodded. "Only the Diato Bandits, although I plan to see the Garwen Bandits after this."
Foldo nodded. "You have the air of a noble and I can see that you must be a powerful mage. Your life level is high enough that you could probably kill everyone in this village with ease."
This was the first time he heard someone talking about life level, as even Diato and his group had been unable to see through Darius. They had only been able to tell that he was extremely dangerous. Darius internally praised Foldo for his observation.
The man before him continued. "I know this, because I too am a mage…well, more of an apprentice level one. I have paid a hefty sum to acquire more than one Scroll of Awakening and although I ultimately acquired a Spark, I remain stuck at the Amateur Rank."
Foldo then took another sip of tea before seriously gazing at Darius. "As such, I do not want gold coins, I have plenty of those leftover. I do not want items, I don't care for your threats and I don't need whatever you plan to offer."
"Instead, make me your Unofficial Apprentice. If you do, I shall become your man in the shadows, and whatever overarching plan you have in mind, I will execute to perfection. You will be able to sit back and reap the rewards."
Foldo clasped his hands together over his right knee which was crossed over the other in a gentleman's sitting posture. "What say you, Good Sir? Do we have an accord?"
Darius chuckled slowly before he responded. "That is certainly an interesting proposition, Mister Garison. However, I have to ask what makes you think I am up to the task?"
Foldo chuckled. "Well, it's quite simple. Firstly, only Adept mages can use such a powerful teleportation spell. Even to use the basic blink spell, most Journeyman mages would struggle, unless perhaps they were awakened in tune with the space element."
Foldo raised a hand to stop Darius who was about to speak. "But fine, for argument's sake, let's assume you have awakened in tune with the space element and that you were only using the most basic Blink spell."
"It still doesn't change the fact that you would have to be at least an Adept mage." Foldo poured some more tea into his cup and blew over it.
Darius tapped his elbows as he crossed his arms and questioned, though he already knew the answer. "What makes me an Adept mage?"
Foldo sipped from his cup and smiled at Darius. "Why your Mind Power, Good Sir. Most non-awakened would not be able to sense it, but I can see the tendrils of your Mind Power stretching out, trying to interact with the world around you."
Darius nodded. In the library of Shanks, he had learned what the obvious signs of someone at each stage would display that made it easier for others to confirm their strength outside of life level.
Amateurs were all apprentices who could only use cantrips. Journeymen were beginner mages who could use a variety of spells, but were weak in terms of Mind Power. Adepts had the beginnings of Mind Power that interacted with the world around them.
In fact, Scrolls of Awakening required Mind Power to write, which was why only Adepts and above could write them. Master-level mages had full Mind Power that could connect with the world around them, granting them the power over levitation, teleportation, telekinesis, and other psychic abilities.
As for Grandmasters, they were obvious enough to tell. Their Mind Power was so strong that they could visualize avatars of themselves to interact with the world, so they hardly left their abodes at that stage.
Darius at 50 points of Intellect had allowed him to unlock Mind Power in its early stages. Despite being in the Amateur stage under the rules of the Supreme System, he already had the abilities of an Adept mage under the system of power in Faust.
This revealed one important fact to Darius. The Supreme System's mechanics took priority over that of Faust's in this world. If the universal laws were like prime ministers, then the Supreme System was the King!
As such, this bizarre anomaly existed. Darius was unsure if he could learn Journeyman or Adept spells, but he had Mind Power that surpassed these two stages.
This also led to the current misunderstanding. Darius pondered silently for a bit, whether to roll with this venture or to cut it off and kill everyone here. It didn't take him long to make the pragmatic decision.
"I have never before taken in someone as an apprentice. Is there any ceremony between a master and his Unofficial Apprentice we need to perform?" Darius asked playfully.
Foldo sighed with relief and smiled as well, sweat dripping down his forehead. "None that you need to bother with, Master. Henceforth, I, Foldo Garison, and my group pledge to support Master in all his endeavors!"
Foldo made a deep bow which Darius accepted as he rose to his feet. After that, he began to explain the basics of phase 3 and 4 of his plan.
Foldo who had been smiling before, quickly lost his amusement as his face became graver and graver. The more he listened on, the more he shuddered as he realized he had pledged himself to a very, very dangerous person.
After Darius was done, he simply ended the discussion with: "See to it that the plan is carried out to perfection. Also, show me your store of spells as well as magical materials, and let me see how far you've come."
Foldo rose to his feet and nodded servilely. He was too shaken by Darius' train of thought to notice how strange his request was.
In truth, Darius was also still finding his way through Faust. He had no idea how to train an apprentice except taking them in through the System Brand. He almost did for Foldo, but decided against it because he needed a mobile helper, not one who worked in the shadows.
As such, Darius figured that if he could see what Foldo possessed, he would be able to figure something out. Because of how Analyze worked, Darius could not see the skills and spells of neutral and friendly parties.
When he first arrived, Foldo had been treated as neutral, but now he had moved to friendly. If he had been an enemy party as deduced by the system, things would have been much easier.
Darius and Foldo passed through a secret entrance at the back of the pantry and headed down. In this secret room that was as large as the entire mansion's first floor, Darius saw many shelves with tomes, a lounge for reading, and even some alchemical equipment for experimentation.
Foldo would be an upper-tier apprentice, one who had enough money to stock up on everything needed while others had to struggle or be spoonfed by their masters.
In consequence, his talent with magic was sub-par despite his Intellect being high, hence the reason he had chosen to become an Unofficial Apprentice to Darius, which was not exactly a comfortable choice.
Darius looked around idly and walked over to the spell tomes Foldo had collected. He picked one at random and inspected it.
[Cleanse Spell - Manual
Durability: 2/5
Description: This manual was written by a hedgemage of questionable intelligence. It is a spell designed to cleanse the outer appearance of any target, be it their body or their clothes, but 55% of what is written inside is false.]
Darius's face became heavy. He had learned that every spell above Amateur was created by a mage and not some droppings from heaven, but he didn't think that there could be half-baked spells like this.
No wonder many Amateurs struggled to climb without proper mentors. Without a true mage guiding their apprentices on how to use the Magical Method and how to cast spells, people like Foldo had to rely on these questionable tomes in order to progress, which - ironically - was exactly what held them back.
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GOT IT