(At everyone's request, I've moved the creation of permanent characters earlier. It won't cause any major conflicts with the later plot, so rest assured and enjoy reading!)
The harvest from the cemetery trip, combined with the leftover soul energy from creating Clinton, gave Donald more than five hundred units of soul energy. He was tremendously excited.
But there were still several hours until dawn when he got home. Afraid of waking Code, the butler next door and having to explain himself, Donald could only suppress his urge to create more subordinates right away. He tossed and turned in bed before finally falling asleep.
The next morning, Donald was still groggy when the butler woke him.
After serving Donald breakfast, Code and Clinton took the spoils from the previous day's hunt and headed to the town market to sell them.
Once they were gone, Donald hurriedly opened the Book of Truth and summoned two more Human Footmen. Following his approach with Clinton, he named them George and Bush.
It wasn't that Donald didn't want to create a higher-level unit. His soul energy reserves met the requirements for creating a level-three unit, but he didn't have a level-three Magic Core or Elemental Crystal to power one. So for now, he could only create two more footmen.
The strength of level-two footmen was already more than enough for him. With three footmen protecting him, he was confident he could hunt level-three magical beasts with Black Iron high-tier strength. He even believed he could defeat level-four beasts, which could stand against Bronze-rank warriors.
Although the Kingdom's laws forbade nobles without territories from maintaining private forces, there was always a way around the rules. He could skirt the law by hiring guards.
He currently had only three Knight Attendants, but they were stronger than an entire twelve-man militia guard in Red Maple Town.
Although his guard force was small for now, with enough soul energy and other resources, he might one day even summon an entire infantry legion!
With two more powerful Knight Attendants appearing, Donald got rid of the butler using the same excuse as before. Code was puzzled, but he understood how anxious his young master was and chose to remain silent. After all, Donald's coming-of-age ceremony was approaching. As the last heir of the Merlin Family, he was about to take the knight's examination. If he failed, he would lose his chance to become a full-fledged noble for good.
So Code could understand anything that might help his young master.
Over the next five days, with three heavily armored footmen guarding him and a steady stream of summoned creatures assisting him, Donald hunted more than twenty low-level magical beasts. Most were level one, but he also obtained five level-two cores and two level-three cores. The latter came from two Wind-Chasing Wolves, the same species of magical beast that had killed the previous Donald.
Ordinary Wind-Chasing Wolves were nowhere near as powerful as the level-four beast that had been driven out of its pack and become its former alpha. But even a level-three Magic Wolf, serving as the vanguard of its pack, was more than an ordinary hunter or Adventurer could handle.
Donald had to use up three level-two cores to summon three level-two Lightning Lizards, wild monsters that could inflict paralysis, before he managed to kill the two ferocious Magic Wolves.
By today, Donald had hunted a total of twenty-one low-level magical beasts. The carcasses alone had earned him more than a hundred and fifty Gold Sol. He didn't know the going rates and was eager to sell, though. A shrewd merchant could have gotten him at least twice as much.
After accounting for the cores he had used, he had eleven level-one Magic Beast Cores, two level-two cores, and two level-three cores left. He couldn't bring himself to use the level-three cores, so he had kept them all.
Level-three magical beasts were hard to find in the outskirts of Green Cloak Forest. The two Wind-Chasing Wolves had only come there by chance to hunt, so their two level-three cores were now Donald's greatest trump cards.
However, he still had no way to replenish his soul energy. As a result, he was stuck with three footmen and couldn't increase the number of his subordinates at all.
While out hunting, he had also gone to the large cemetery outside Giant Stone City one night. The results were even poorer than at the Red Maple Town cemetery. He had dealt with only two newly awakened low-level skeletons, earning less than fifty units of soul energy. Even if he hadn't stepped in, those two undead creatures wouldn't have escaped the Priest's purification.
That was because Giant Stone City was the capital of North Shire. It had a formal Temple of the Goddess of Agriculture, plenty of Priests, and even a local bishop stationed there. It was nothing like Red Maple Town, which had only a small shrine.
Besides, most of those buried in the large cemetery were ancestors of the nobility. How could anyone let them mutate?
Still, that was a good thing. The Merlinar family cemetery was there too, and Donald didn't want his ancestors to turn into undead creatures one day, only to be destroyed and left without a trace.
With the ability to summon creatures as powerful as level-three magical beasts at any time, he could easily defeat ordinary warriors and hunters. Even against a mysterious spellcaster like a Mage, Donald was confident he could win as long as they were no higher than level three.
Considering the many creatures in the Warcraft game, he had plenty of powerful options to summon, even without counting the intelligent units of the various races.
He had no intention of summoning any of the four major unit types that had human forms in front of outsiders—not unless he summoned them permanently beforehand. Ordinary Night Elves, Orcs, and even the undead, who were considered taboo, were all creatures that couldn't be seen in public.
After all, although Summoners were exceedingly rare, they did exist in this world. Neither the rumors about Summoners nor the records in books had ever mentioned one summoning humans from this world or humanoid races like Elves, Dwarves, and Orcs. Besides, if the humans he summoned suddenly vanished in front of a crowd, how would he explain that?
Non-humanoid units from those races, however, could be shown without causing any trouble.
Even so, Donald decided to be cautious and avoid attracting attention. He didn't want some evil high-level Professional to discover that something was amiss, capture him, and force him to answer questions or become a test subject.
Donald had thought it through. His incredible summoning ability came from the divine artifact, the Book of Truth, in his mind. If he lost the artifact or ran out of the cores and other materials he possessed, he would be right back where he started: an ordinary human boy whom any untrained strongman could easily kill.
So, to better fit into this world, Donald decided to choose a real combat profession.
The most powerful forces in this world weren't nobles who couldn't fight their way out of a paper bag, or even the kings of nations. They were the churches of the gods, as well as the scarce high- and top-level Professionals.
Of course, some noble lords and members of royal families were powerful combat Professionals themselves. Noble groups with systematic education and traditions accounted for more than seventy percent of the world's high-level Professionals. This was especially true of Mages, a rare and powerful profession that required a deep well of knowledge.
The common people were no match for them in that regard.
According to his predecessor's memories, when his grandfather was still alive, he had taken Donald to a Mage in the city to test his professional potential. Donald had been not quite four years old. The test showed that he had good affinity for the elements, but his potential for mental power was too low. Otherwise, he would have been well suited to becoming an Elemental Mage.
Donald now knew that mental power could be improved after the fact. This world had miraculous alchemical potions that could raise one's mental power ceiling, and the item exchange section of the Book of Truth also offered magical items that could improve mental power and even the soul's source.
In this world, he had only heard rumors of high-level alchemical potions, which cost a fortune and were impossible to find. Compared to those, the items in the Book of Truth were undoubtedly easier to obtain. As long as he had enough energy crystals, Donald was certain that exchanging for a divine artifact someday wasn't just wishful thinking!
So Donald had chosen to become a Mage. Compared to other combat professions, which required extensive physical training and took years to yield results, a spellcaster had a higher status and could also use the Book of Truth to fast-track his progress!
Based on his knowledge from his previous life, Mages were an expensive profession. Donald had earned quite a bit of money hunting magical beasts these past few days, but he realized it was still far from enough to reach his goal.
On top of that, the old house was already small, and it had become even more cramped with Clinton and the other two grown men living there. He needed a separate space to become a Mage, and the three footmen also needed somewhere to train regularly.
From the moment they arrived, they had become real humans of this world, with flesh and blood. They needed to eat and sleep just like ordinary warriors. If they didn't train, their strength might decline.
So buying a larger place to live was a must. Besides, as a noble, he needed a suitable residence to maintain appearances.
That morning, Donald had finally amassed enough cores for the time being. He decided not to go into the forest to hunt magical beasts. He had more important matters to attend to.
After breakfast, he handed the few scattered Gold Sol he had to old Code to buy things and improve life at home. He thought of the butler's expression when he'd first seen Donald drag two enormous carcasses home by himself—both distressed and delighted—and felt a warmth in his heart.
With fifty Gold Sol and a dozen or so Silver Moons, Donald set off for Giant Stone City, the nearest city to Red Maple Town, accompanied by the three men.
Red Maple Town was one of three towns surrounding Giant Stone City. It was prosperous, but not enough to attract the mysterious, noble Mages.
"To learn the ways of a Mage, I can either join the Mage Association in the city as someone's apprentice, or buy some introductory books on magic from a magical goods shop there."
Donald had pieced this together from what he knew and from conversations he'd overheard among the well-traveled Adventurers at the taverns in town.
Self-study was extremely difficult for someone entering a profession like Mage. Only those who had received a good education and possessed truly exceptional talent could hope to achieve anything.
But Donald had no choice but to take this path. His secrets were too shocking, and before he had the strength to protect himself, approaching a powerful and mysterious Mage risked having his oddities discovered. With the Book of Truth's miraculous abilities and the extraordinary summoned creatures it offered, he figured he had a good chance of at least becoming an Apprentice Mage on his own.
They rode in a cart belonging to a shop in town that was heading to the city to stock up. The journey was slow and bumpy, and it took Donald and the other three more than three hours to reach the gates of Giant Stone City. That was with a cart to carry them. With his current stamina, he'd have been exhausted by the time he arrived if he'd walked.
"Looks like I should buy a carriage too. Carriages or fine horses are essential for nobles when they travel. Some Knights and great nobles even take pride in keeping a purebred, high-quality horse. With my status, I'm a noble young master from a Knight family, after all. Having no carriage and needing to hire one or go on foot everywhere is a real blow to my dignity!"
Thinking this, Donald followed the cart into Giant Stone City, which he hadn't visited in years.
Before you continue