[Name: Ash Spencley || Race: Human || Stage: Adept || Jobs: Mage, Multi-Elementalist.
HP: 203,397/203,397 (125,960) || MP: 79,200/79,200 (40,180) || STA: 26,940/26,940 (15,416)
Level: 60 (41) || P-Status: Healthy || M-Status: Calm
Power: 453 (335) || Speed: 298 (202) || Constitution: 449 (376)
Magic: 1,320 (980) || Will: 1,908 (1,342) || Luck: 80 (65).
Skills: Omitted.
Spells: Omitted.]
[Name: Reina McNickles || Race: Human || Stage: Adept || Jobs: Mage, Multi-Elementalist.
HP: 90,298/90,298 (72,836) || MP: 74,940/74,940 (32,226) || STA: 17,940/17,940 (10,742)
Level: 60 (41) || P-Status: Healthy || M-Status: Calm
Power: 302 (278) || Speed: 457 (301) || Constitution: 299 (262)
Magic: 1,249 (786) || Will: 2,645 (1,990) || Luck: 80 (60).
Skills: Omitted.
Spells: Omitted.]
[Name: Jonathan Black || Race: Human || Stage: Adept || Jobs: Mage, Multi-Elementalist.
HP: 586,752/586,752 (302,400) || MP: 36,300/36,300 (23,821) || STA: 46,080/46,080 (22,960)
Level: 60 (41) || P-Status: Healthy || M-Status: Calm
Power: 764 (540) || Speed: 321 (235) || Constitution: 768 (560)
Magic: 605 (581) || Will: 1,009 (908) || Luck: 75 (55).
Skills: Omitted.
Spells: Omitted.]
[Name: James Jones || Race: Human || Stage: Adept || Jobs: Mage, Multi-Elementalist.
HP: 88,596/88,596 (74,500) || MP: 68,640/68,640 (38,704) || STA: 16,560/16,560 (10,250)
Level: 60 (41) || P-Status: Healthy || M-Status: Calm
Power: 321 (298) || Speed: 1,090 (736) || Constitution: 276 (250)
Magic: 1,144 (944) || Will: 2,011 (1,823) || Luck: 100 (80).
Skills: Omitted.
Spells: Omitted.]
[Name: Anthony Sabins || Race: Half-Human, Half-Beastman (Sage Monkey Clan) || Stage: Adept || Jobs: Mage, Multi-Elementalist.
HP: 3,145,212/3,145,212 (1,525,200) || MP: 193,980/193,980 (77,080) || STA: 106,980/106,980 (50,430)
Level: 60 (41) || P-Status: Healthy || M-Status: Calm
Power: 1,764 (1,240) || Speed: 1,002 (795) || Constitution: 1,783 (1,230)
Magic: 3,233 (1,880) || Will: 5,890 (3,250) || Luck: 500 (300).
Skills: Omitted.
Spells: Omitted.]
Their stats had grown by a great amount and put them at the top of Grandmasters. Since Kiel only had one True Lord in the form of Jack Frost, as long as the apprentices did not interfere or mess with his territory, things should be fine.
Even if they did, Darius would deal with him and prevent him from taking his anger out on the weak.
He waved his hand and the five apprentices were teleported out of the mage tower and to the courtyard, where he and Gunner soon joined. For this Cross-Continental transfer, he couldn't use the convenient fast travel system as that was reserved for him and his Branded Servants.
As such, Darius had to dig out something he used to use back in the day to get around, which was the Cross-Continental Temporary Spatial Array!
He laid it down and set the coordinates, then had the apprentices enter it one by one. As they were beamed away in a yellow flash, Darius seemed to foresee the chaos they would bring on Kiel in the coming months.
When they were gone, Gunner came over with a curious expression.
"I've been keeping track of your plans. Eternity Sword? They sound interesting." The half-giant spoke with a gleam in his eye.
Darius nodded. "And those Eternals too. But we cannot afford them right now, so we have to stir things up a bit first."
"If you do buy the Rank 3 Rebirth Eternity Sword, and spawn the Spirits, I want to make them a subsidiary race for my son, especially those Earth Spirits." Gunner requested with a smile.
Darius raised an eyebrow and glanced over.
"Well, well, look at that. My old pal Gunner has become soft-hearted so soon for my nephew." He teased Gunner with a knowing look.
Gunner became slightly embarrassed and scratched his hair. "I just… I just feel like I want to give him the world whenever he smiles at me."
Darius patted Gunner on the back. "Trust me, I understand. When Solena was born, I felt the same way and it carried on with Miranda and Martin especially. Your son will be blessed to have you as a father."
Gunner shook his head. "No, it is I who am blessed to have such a son, and from such a wonderful woman too. Everything I do, I do for them."
Darius felt emotional. He remembered when he first bought Gunner from Foldo's slave pen, the emotionless and unambitious look in his eyes.
At that time, Gunner's only wish was to become strong enough to seek revenge on the giant race for abandoning him and serving Darius, the one who freed him.
After so much time together, the lines between servant and family were blurred, to the point where Darius no longer really cared about forced loyalty from his Branded Servants, Xela, and Luna included.
The moment he gave them to 'Stone' surname, he considered them family, and if there was one single positive trait Darius had in his life, it was that he was extremely protective and benevolent to his family.
And now look. The silent and usually cold Gunner could display an expression of kindness and familial love, as well as the strong will of a father who wanted to conquer the world for his son or daughter.
Darius felt happy for Gunner and simply patted the fellow on the back without saying any more. Between men, there wasn't much to be said or added. Just a few words and a glance was enough to convey intentions more often than not.
"So what are you going to do about Houto, Pan, and Ludo? You have made plans for the rest to be thrown into chaos." Gunner moved on to what was bothering him.
Darius rubbed his gold buttons lightly. "Pan is a place we'll be paying a visit after we fix some things. Houto is not a problem because they have enmity with Pan, and once we penetrate Pan's society, we will exacerbate that conflict and lead to full-blown war."
"As for Ludo, it's even easier. I just have to unleash an incest tide on that continent and let the people suffer for a while." Darius revealed with a soft smile.
(Author's Note: Due to some issues with writing two novels at the same time, I mistakenly uploaded a Guild Wars chapter here. Since webnovel prevents one from editing premium chapters with more than 100 words, I was stuck for a while. Rather than make the next chapter this chapter and let this one exist, I decided to just add enough words to this one to make the change.)
"An incest tide?" Gunner was stunned.
After all, according to what he remembered, they had slaughtered every single member of the insect race on Pokterr back then to become Adepts. He had even watched Darius cruelly smash his own Insect Queen to seal the deal.
Darius seemed to see Gunner's skeptical thoughts and smiled. He then opened his inventory and took out a mashed and ruined body, which was that of the Insect Queen he crushed back then.
Gunner was surprised to see it and then glanced at Darius deeply. "You kept its corpse in case you needed to resurrect the insect race for any purpose."
"That's right. At the time, Caesar was still in power and there was no system shop, so if I ever wanted the Insect Race back, it would be impossible to achieve since most of their bodies were ruined." Darius answered with a laugh.
Gunner nodded and took out a drop of Soul Nourishing Lunar Dew that wasn't diluted and dripped it on the corpse. Immediately, the ruined body pieced itself together to perfection, and a spark of life emerged.
The Insect Queen was a pinky-sized humanoid bee with two big yellow eyes, a striped thorax with a stinger, and two fat antennae. The rest of her body was surprisingly similar to that of a human and she was extremely cute, possessing very favorable aesthetical standards for humans to win affection.
She jolted upwards groggily, her last memory being that of Darius' large palm closing in on her and crushing the life out of her. Seeing that she was awake and whole now, the Insect Queen was naturally at a loss.
"You're alive now, and there's no need to be confused," Darius spoke calmly, startling the confused Insect Queen.
The Insect Queen glanced at Darius with her big eyes and hesitated. A part of her still loved Darius as her guardian and parent, but the other part was scared and wary due to what he did to her, feeling betrayed.
Darius understood her thoughts and smiled. He simply flicked a finger which contained a small orb of light. Within it was the information about the Insect Race, their fate, and why Darius did what he did.
The Insect Queen was at the Master Stage, so she had enough power to easily process the formation. When she didn't, her big eyes were less ignorant and naive, but there was a bit of complication in them.
"Father…" She called out to Darius in a sweet, high-pitched voice that was slightly buzzy.
"Are you sure you want to call me that? After what I did and what you know?" Darius asked with an amused smile.
The Insect Queen paused and then nodded. "I understand why you did it, father. Also, you brought me back anyway, so it doesn't matter."
Obviously, it did matter, but what was the point? It had already happened and she had been given new life and returned to the world. She was also the only insect in the world alive, so she had the burden to revive her race.
Gunner and Darius could easily see through her thoughts but did not take action on it. It was better for the Insect Queen to have such thoughts and emotions, as it was realistic and sensible, rather than simply being stupid and forgiving Darius inexplicably.
"Fine then, I shall give you the name of Queenstar Stone, one of my honorary family members. Make sure to bring honor to your family." Darius declared.
The Insect Queen, Queenstar, hopped up excitedly and seemed moved. A name was an important thing to the insect races as only the top echelon could have it, and it meant that she was a ruler of her own hive.
"I will! I, Queenstar, will be super good, I promise!" She exclaimed while buzzing her wings.
"I trust that you will. Go and rest in my mage tower and get yourself acquainted with the life there. Soon, you will head out to Ludo to begin recovering your brood and rebuild your race." Darius instructed as he pulled his hand back.
Queenstar easily took to the air and glanced at Darius silently before flying away. After all, this was the first time Darius allowed her to fly semi-freely and it was actually a really nice feeling.
However, the burn of what she needed to do next hit Queenstar like a truck, and her big round eyes could not help but tremble. However, she could only grit her teeth and firm her resolve to bring back the insect race!
Darius and Gunner watched her go silently. Darius then turned to Gunner and smiled.
"So, when do you think we should pay the illustrious world of the immortals a visit?"
Gunner's eyes narrowed. "As soon as possible. I have always wanted to test the power of those so-called Body Cultivators."
Darius couldn't help but laugh and pat Gunner on the back. "You can do more than just challenge them. I don't plan to go incognito into their land, not 100%."
Darius folded his arms behind his back and looked into the horizon. "If I am to go, it is as we are, people of significance. It will pave the way for us and allow us to carve out our own territory in those unruly and rugged lands divided by sects."
Gunner raised his eye brows. "Sects?"
"Some sort of pseudo-religious group, similar to a mixture between a family clan and an organization. The entire system is quite interesting if handled well, but the human factor tends to make it worse than even autocratic governments in terms of functionality." Darius explained with a smile.
Gunner lost interest. "I hope these sects don't stand in our way."
"Oh dear Gunner, they will. They will absolutely do everything to stand in our way from even the pettiest level to the top, from what I have learned about Pan. As far as I know, that continent has the highest death rate in conflicts out of the while Faust." Darius pointed out with a laugh.
Gunner was naturally rendered speechless by this.
