Darius reached out and took the items and placed them into his Inventory. All of them would come in handy in different situations, but Darius had realized something even more important from this.
His Transmutation had an important and limiting rule that he could only create things that already existed in Faust.
By Analyzing and identifying more items, he would come into contact with more things he would be able to recreate with his Transmutation.
Of course, Darius didn't bother to check for any of the items he already made. Just making bloody basic spells was enough to tap him out for the day, so valuable items like these that required special methods to be made would come out above his CP threshold based on the 3 stages.
Still, Darius decided to humor himself and took out the simplest item, the Entry Token to Gravitas. He took out his one Silver Ando Coin that he had transmuted on the fifth day, when he went to bed with 0.1 CP leftover.
The material of the token seemed similar to that of the silver coin, so he assumed it would make it the cheapest to convert.
[Would you like to change the Silver Ando Coin into an Entry Token? This will cost 245 Conversion Points.]
Darius' lips twitched. He immediately regretted checking, wondering which demon whispered to him to do so.
He had spent the first few days finding out what there was to know about his Transmutation ability.
It had helped him formulate a good hypothesis on how it worked, making him able to roughly gauge how expensive conversion would be as long as he understood their practical value in the world of Faust.
Darius placed the coin back into his Inventory and gave Foldo a playful smile as he prompted the older man to lead him to the slaves.
Foldo nodded as he rose back to his feet and took Darius through the mansion's lower corridors. Eventually, both men arrived at a hidden trapdoor that led further down. Foldo entered first and beckoned Darius to follow him.
The Itemancer complied and they walked down a few stairs until they came into a small room. The room was refreshingly ventilated and well-kept. Darius could even see many vent-like contraptions that allowed fresh air in and stale air to go out.
The room itself was well-decorated and carpeted despite its huge size. Many of the villagers from above ground moved up and down the large chamber, cleaning and monitoring the slaves who were kept in glass-like cubicle rooms.
This chamber was like a large prison floor, with two columns of cubicle rooms connected back to back, with a carpeted pathway in between each of them. There was also a column of cubicles pressed against the eastern and western wall, with two rows pressed against the northern and southern walls.
The slave owner led Darius down to the floor and walked along the column of cubicles to the easternmost wall and allowed his master to take a look at the persons trapped within.
Darius's eyebrows rose when he noticed that the cubicle rooms were also extremely clean and well-maintained. There was a small bathroom, a small closet for clothes with a mirror, a desk with some books, and a comfortable bed.
To Darius, it looked like a luxurious cell from Earth that was reserved for VIP inmates who didn't want to stay with the rabble in the average cells. According to his knowledge, ignoring the lack of freedom, these slaves had better living conditions than some middle-class people in Faustian society!
Foldo was amused by Darius' obvious surprise and explained. "Master Darius, you have to understand one thing. No healthy and wealthy buyer would ever want to enter a room that smells like shit, depression, and despair."
"I have never understood my fellow slavers who keep their products in filthy cages, starve and beat them to near death and then still expect someone to pay a premium price for those slaves later on."
Foldo tapped his temple with a smirk. "Much cleverer to keep your products clean, healthy, and somewhat happy if possible. Well-fed, well bathed, and sanitary is the way to go."
Darius once again felt that his choice of keeping Foldo alive and working for him was really wise. His thinking was too similar to modern merchants from Earth, as opposed to the kind of time period he was living in.
For that matter, Darius checked the so-called 'products'. Foldo hadn't lied, they showed no signs of hopelessness nor the depths of despair one would expect from normal slaves. Of course, they were not at the peak of happiness, but they weren't listless like the world had come to an end.
Foldo turned to Darius. "Master, what exactly are you looking for in your slave? Do you desire a young, adult, or older female as a servant? As a sex slave? As a combatant? Or would you prefer a male youth, adult, or elderly for one of those categories?"
Darius rubbed his chin. "I want a male, preferably youth, but an adult might also work. He needs to be human and it doesn't matter whether he is average or talented."
Foldo's eyes flashed. "I have just the thing."
He led Darius to the middle of the room, to the set of cubicle rooms that faced towards the west. There, Darius saw the entire column hold young boys aged 5-15 who were either playing with toys or reading books provided to them by Foldo.
When they saw Darius, they became curious and came to the edge of their cells to gaze at their potential owner. Meanwhile, the transmigrator Analyzed them one by one to check their different stats. Nearly all of them were actually classless and naturally hadn't sparked.
Darius rubbed his chin and held up the System Brand. After admiring the ring, he decided that it was time to test out its utility.
Darius walked to the cell of a boy who was quite burly for his tender age of 15, yet the Analyze had revealed that the lad was in fact a half-giant. He had a shaggy mane of black hair that reached just below his shoulder blades.
His eyes were a bright green color and were overwhelming, as if he could press down on whoever he gazed upon with them. He had a relatively good-looking face despite his heritage, with a small nose, thin lips, and a great jawline.
His upper body was bare-chested while his lower body consisted of shorts that were black in color. His skin tone was a healthy brown, similar to Darius himself.
Darius looked up and made eye contact with the boy while the lad did the same. After staring at each other for a minute, the boy nodded and looked away.
Darius gestured to Foldo to release the fellow. "I choose him."
Foldo smiled as he understood what had just occurred, but did not comment. He only said: "You have made the best possible choice, Master."
Darius left Foldo's little village with his new slave in tow. When he turned to gaze at the fellow, he also stared at Darius silently without saying a word, which made the old soul chuckle.
"What is your name?" Darius asked genially.
In a rough tone that was mostly pleasant to the ear, the slave answered: "Gunner."
Darius nodded. "Mine is Darius Stone. The reason I chose you, Gunner, is not because of your looks or heritage, but because of your intelligence which you have suppressed."
"I prefer followers who can actually think over ones who need to be told everything step by step."
Gunner just watched Darius silently, his intense green eyes locked onto his owner like he was the only thing he could see. It was this very intensity in his gaze that made looking at Gunner feel oppressive.
However, Darius felt no pressure from that glance. "What I need from you, Gunner, is for you to become my shield in battle. That doesn't mean you need to wear plate armor or the like."
Darius waved his hands lazily. "You can even choose offensive skills and abilities and be a frontliner if you want. The important thing to me is that you must be able to attract the attention of all enemies to focus on you. You must also have enough strength to beat them back while I lance them with my magic."
"Do you understand?" Darius asked the fellow.
"I do, Master. However, I have no such power." Gunner affirmed and revealed frankly.
Darius smiled and checked to make sure they were far enough from Foldo's place and that they were no prying eyes around. He then turned around and spoke to Gunner: "That should not be a problem."
"Kneel down, Gunner, and kiss my ring. If you are willing, I shall grant you a way to acquire power that will be much faster and will make you far more powerful than merely relying on a silly Spark."
Darius put forward his right hand in a fist with the System Brand visible while smiling at Gunner. For that matter, the larger boy gazed at Darius, then the System Brand, and then at Darius again.
After a moment of silence, he knelt and gently kissed the ring. The very instant he did so, it was as if time had stopped and Darius saw a prompt appear before him.
[Detected target for branding with the System Brand. Proceed?]
Darius assented then watched as a strange light emerged from his ring and covered the body of Gunner in its entirety. While this went on, he noticed many messages appear in his mind.
[Target has been assessed to be a willing candidate. The candidate is healthy and below the stage of Amateur. All conditions met.]
[Candidate name: Gunner. Candidate race: Half-human, half-giant (Royal bloodline). Candidate class: None.]
[Overwriting existence… auto-educating with provided Infopack… quantizing statistics… establishing loyalty…]
[Congratulations, Candidate Gunner has succeeded in becoming your Branded Servant!
Note: At the Amateur stage, you can only have 1 Branded Servant!]
The light subsided and Gunner rose to his feet with a shocked expression. His eyes when he gazed at Darius were no longer filled with raw intensity but respect and reverence.
"I, Gunner, am your Branded Servant henceforth, Master Darius. Your enemies will be my enemies and clearing your obstacles shall be my utmost goal!" Gunner pledged sincerely, making Darius nod in contentment.
"Worry not, Gunner. After becoming one of my own, you are now a different form of existence in my eyes. You can trust that I will use you, but I won't waste you." Darius admitted bluntly.
"Firstly, tell me more about your class." Darius instructed him, as he wanted to make sure the fellow knew how to use his sub-routine.
Gunner's eyes glazed over as if he was in a trance for a few seconds before he returned to normal. "Master, my class is called 'Vanguard'."
Darius nodded and decided to test him a bit further. "What do you have in your Inventory?"
Gunner checked once again then shook his head. "Nothing lies within."
Darius was surprised that the sub-routine was kind enough to give his Branded Servants an Inventory. He had expected they would only get the Character and perhaps the Settings menus at best.
"Is there anything else in your system menu?" Darius asked to be sure.
Gunner shook his head once again. "No Master, that is all. Character and Inventory are all I can see."
Darius was silent as he pondered over this interesting development. The question now was what to do about the information he had acquired through this experiment.
Firstly, he had found out that there seemed to be criteria involved for getting Branded Servants outside of being a willing party. The system prompt had stated that the target was healthy and below the stage of Amateur.
It was hard to say whether only those below the Journeyman stage could be branded regardless of Darius's level, or if that was currently the overarching limiter.
Neither of these options really pleased him.
Unfortunately, since he was limited to 1 Branded Servant at his current stage, it was impossible to find out until he became a Journeyman.
Darius realized that his choice not to brand Portia or Derek had been a wise one, as in the case that he could not unbrand a target, he would be stuck with them unless he climbed a stage.
Or killed them, of course.
The third thing he had learned was that Gunner was originally classless, but had gained a class upon being branded. This solved one of Darius' pressing questions about the System Brand.
Ever since he got it, he had wondered what the brand would grant a person chosen by him in terms of power and progression. After all, he had come to learn that the natives of this world had their own system of power that was totally different from the System's.
However, as the prompt stated, Gunner's existence was overwritten by the Supreme System, so he was now bound to its rules as opposed to that of Faust's.
This meant that like Darius, Gunner could no longer achieve organic growth and could only grow via stats or skill points.
Of course, to be sure that he wasn't just needlessly speculating, Darius checked his theory by opening Gunner's character panel for himself.
Btw, I styled Gunner after Broly(DBS) from Dragonball FighterZ. Google it.
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