Most inner circle members already arrived at the inner circle room when Fraser stepped into the room.

All of the senior apprentices stood around a single figure: Magus Sept.

Only a few masked figures stepped into the room after Fraser and a single sentence from Magus Sept caused the entire room to fall into silence.

“We are now all gathered.”

Pausing Magus Sept looked at every apprentice before explaining the reason for the urgent gathering.

“Unfortunately I have to inform you that we entered the phase of a tide. Which will mean that the organism of the howling abyss will gather and form a colossal army breaking into the nearby eco-systems of the howling abyss devouring everything in order to sustain itself.”

Another short pause followed as if allowing the apprentices to digest the information Magus Sept just revealed.

“Since we are one of the outposts bordering the howling abyss and the territory of the howling abyss academy and not one of those outpost venturing into the howling abyss our duty is it to hold the outpost for the entire duration of the tide. Also, a couple of outposts who have their location in the howling abyss will return and fuse with our outpost. Nothing will change except that fact that the tasks of killing organisms near the outpost will be a primary task for the next few years. Additionally, I have to inform you that we won’t return to the academy for the entire duration of the tide, which easily will stretch the assigned period of three years.”

Once again Magus Sept continued to look at the members of the inner circle before continuing to speak:

“Emium, you will be the representative of me and handle the inner circle. The new members this year will not have any duties and are allowed to move in a non-restricted way as long as they don’t hinder your plan in any way. I hope you won’t disappoint me.”

Just as Magus Sept reached the door he seemed as if he remembered something.

“I forgot to give the new members the advanced meditation technique, here it is.”

Five dark balls appeared which floated towards the respected “new” members of the inner circle which naturally were Fraser, Nicholas, Adrian, Elise, and Elizabeth.

As Fraser examined a flask similar to the dark liquid when he received the normal meditation technique Magus Sept already stepped outside of the room leaving the members of the inner circle alone.

Fraser was a little bit surprised that the white masked senior apprentice had such a high standing in the eyes of Magus Sept.

‘I am sure that I left a small positive impression, though the rest of the new members doesn’t seem to be that lucky.’

Fraser could see how the other four new members visible had a pale face or looked troubled when Emium got selected for being the second in command to Magus Sept.

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“Since I am the second in command, every inner circle member has to kill a couple of animals or beasts every week. You can do whatever you want with the corpse. I only expect you to show the corpse in order to prove you have killed it. Also, everyone has to take a couple of the other apprentices every week in order to kill a group of beasts. That’s it. Disperse.” spoke Emium after Magus Sept left and directly stepped out as well as soon as he finished announcing the task.

Slowly everyone went back to their private chambers, Fraser included.

Pushing the howling abyss tide information on the side Fraser looked towards the pile of corpses.

‘I don’t know what for a servant I am able to create with this pile, however, it should be enough for the start.’

Raising his hand Fraser sank into his spirit sphere. Runes covering the surface of the spirit sphere.

Activating a certain section of the runes on the spirit sphere caused the spirit within to slowly drain towards the runes.

In reality, something started to wiggle and crawl out of Fraser's hand.

It was a yellow insect shaped in the form of a worm.

Legs covered the sides of the yellow worm.

With fascination, Fraser watched how the insect seemingly crawled out of his hands with no resistance.

An unknown bond formed between the yellow insect crawling out of Fraser's hand and Fraser's mind.

It didn’t feel like something split of him. Instead, it felt like an arm trying to reach something and somehow leaving his body.

As Fraser lowered his hands in order to allow the yellow insect worm to crawl on top of the first corpse it immediately jumped onto the corpse and buried its way into the corpse, disappearing from vision.

Still, the bond between the yellow insect worm and Fraser remained. He felt like he is able to end the life of the yellow insect worm within the blink of an eye.

But as it felt like a third arm which naturally could be controlled with ease Fraser never killed his first “servant” just in order to test it.

The feeling of control was enough for him.

Finishing the preparation of his first servant, which according to Fraser's plan would emerge as a soldier, he turned his attention towards the flask with the black liquid in it.

‘So this memory substance holds the advanced meditation technique. Since Elise, Nicholas, Adrian, and Elizabeth all reached Apprentice Level 3 then that means that this meditation technique would allow me to increase my spirit towards the fourth and fifth level.’

Without hesitation, Fraser opened the flask and drank the entire substance in a single gulp.

Preparing for the headache Fraser waited and already was on top of his bed.

But the headache or the severe pain never came.

Instead, comfortable sleepiness spread through Fraser's body.

At the moment Fraser closed his eyes, he fell asleep.

Awakening Fraser asked the AI to check whether the memory substance worked.

‘AI, did anything joined your database? Something similar to the meditation technique?’

[Affirmative, the advanced meditation technique is now stored in a file called the ‘advanced meditation technique]

‘Is the advanced meditation technique similar to the first meditation technique or is there anything different? Also, use the future data of the advanced meditation technique in order to simulate improvement and notify me when there is a result. Since both are meditation techniques, tell me if there are any major differences between those two.’

[Affirmative, the two meditation techniques are similar because they are both meditation techniques]

Shaking his head Fraser used the advanced meditation technique in order to see whether he is able to increase his spirits.

After all the old meditation technique didn’t work in increasing his spirits as he woke up after the fusion with the yellow insect.

Hours passed as Fraser asked the AI:

‘Is there an increase in the maximum amount of spirit?’

[Affirmative, the spirit increased by 0.0056]

‘Even if the spirit increased by a small margin, it will probably be less effective the higher my spirit gets. I will tackle this problem as soon as possible. After all, I can still get something out of the advanced meditation technique. Now I have to wait and see how powerful the battle-oriented servant soldier is.’