After he followed the orders, Rein returned to the village. He felt like throwing up, but he didn't have permission to do even that. For the first time in his two lives, Gaius understood why some villains were dead set on world domination and controlling everyone. That power was scary, but it also gave a weird feeling of superiority… it was rather disturbing.

"Your job is to head to the tent where Herac is and kill him without alerting anyone," Gaius declared. "You don't have permission to disobey unless someone notices you approaching his tent. Go back to the camp and tell me what you see using your mind alone."

Rein truly felt like he was in a nightmare. There was no other explanation. That whole situation was just too surreal… still, once again, he felt that extreme urge to obey the voice.

Once he returned to the camp, the man noticed that the guards had changed. Everyone was sleeping in the tents in groups of four, and nine tents were around the largest one where Herac was sleeping. Rein reported all that.

"The guards are also keeping an eye on the tent of their leader…" Gaius thought while rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "I guess I will need another diversion."

Still, if that didn't work, things would get worse for the village… but Gaius shook his head since he shouldn't think like that. He had to act based on the circumstances instead of troublesome possibilities.

Once he used the diversion, Gaius also had to make sure that no one would look for Herac for at least one hour… that was the real problem. Since he could control Rein, he could use him to tell others that their leader left to take a dump or something, but they wouldn't wait for more than half an hour.

"I need to increase my mana recovery rate," Gaius thought.

It seemed a bit stupid to have much more wisdom than magic; the circumstances called for that. In the end, Gaius increased his wisdom by fifty points, just to be sure.

In any case, Gaius made Rein sit down near the wagon that he fixed and made him look like he was asleep. Until one of the guards suddenly screamed in pain when a fist-sized ant bit off one of his fingers.

Several people woke up and then saw the soldier stabbing the ant with a sword. They went to check the body of the creature and couldn't help but frown… an ant of that size had never been seen in that area before.

As if things weren't crazy enough, some soldiers began to run on the ground after being hit in the stomach by something. The confusion began to wake up the whole village, and when they left their houses, they saw the soldiers armed with swords hesitating to chase an extra-large desert wolf.

Gaius headed to the entrance with his parents and then saw the moment that Herac left his tent. He could snipe him right now if he wanted, but not without drawing a lot of attention.

"Move like you want to protect him," Gaius ordered.

Rein did that and put himself in front of Herac. While he frowned a bit, it couldn't be helped since he wasn't wearing any armor, and his body was still half asleep.

The desert wolf kept attacking the soldiers using wind spheres until some of them picked up shields and began to charge at it. The desert wolf began to run away, and Herac sighed.

After he calmed down, Herac thought of taking a break and going to the toilet, but soon he gave up when the light of their campfires suddenly exploded. They could hear the sound of the desert wolf's attacks, and they never imagined that the creature would be that smart. A monster that smart was a threat that needed to be disposed of immediately.

The villagers tried to grab some torches and lit them since they would be in danger as well, and the soldiers tried to do the same. In that short window of time and amidst the confusion, Gaius made a spinning magic arrow appear and grow above his house. No one was able to hear or see that, thanks to the noise created by the soldiers who were looking for their captain.

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Usually, Gaius would be unable to find Herac in that situation, but he could see some silhouettes. He could use Observe and knew which direction Herac was. In the end, he fired the massively long but thin spinning magic arrow at the enemy's chest and pierced easily since he didn't have his armor.

The human Herac was added to your summoning list.

You have leveled up.

You obtained 05 status points.

You have leveled up.

You obtained 05 status points.

…

Herac Lv 00 (00/1000)

Cost: 4000 mana

Charge: 00

Summoning Bonuses: Strength Lv 0

Health: 80/80

Mana: 80/80

Stamina: 80/80

Strength: 08

Endurance: 08

Adaptability: 08

Magic: 08

Resistance: 08

Wisdom: 08

Dexterity: 08

Perception: 08

Luck: 08

Free points: 00

"Push the body away, and don't let any blood drop," Gaius ordered Rein.

Gaius got four level-ups from that kill… the enemy was that much stronger than him, after all. In any case, the smell of blood began to spread, and the soldiers didn't hear the commands of their leader, so they began to panic.

The desert wolf attacked those with torches, so they were unable to look for him and hesitated to make themselves targets again. Still, eventually, the attacks stopped, and then Herac showed up and gave orders to all of his men… completely under Gaius' control.

"It seems that your plan worked," Angela said when Gaius fell asleep and then headed toward that place. "Since you leveled up four times, we can talk for a while."

"Is that so?" Gaius asked. "What did you think of my actions? Were you hoping for something more heroic and less underhanded?"

"I can't say what I was expecting, but you got the results that you wanted," Angela crossed her arms and began to think. "I can imagine that most people would have liked something more heroic, like facing the enemy head-on, but heroism can only take you so far. If you try to be merciful over and over again, your enemies will have the chance to do something against you or against others close to you."

"True," Gaius nodded.

"Still, people that are in the shadows can never become true leaders," Angela added. "Without revealing your hand, you won't be able to make others follow you."

"That is also true," Gaius nodded several times. "Well, not like anyone would believe that I did that, and that also would raise too many questions. I am fine with doing things like this for now and not dealing with troublesome questions so soon."

"Well, you had some years to think about this, so it is only natural that you won't regret it," Angela slightly moved her body forward and said. "What are you going to do next? I would guess that gathering Intel and increasing the strength of the minions will be your focus."

"I will take my time doing that. For now, I will be satisfied with decreasing the burden on the village and raising the strength of those guys slowly," Gaius explained. "I will know when they are trying to disobey me so that I can punish them accordingly. As long as they become docile, I won't mind letting them live their lives a bit. By the way, didn't either of them see you?"

"No, since their mana levels were reset, they weren't able to do anything in here," Angela explained. "That will change once they become stronger and die again."

"Can I use my powers to force them to forget that?" Gaius asked.

"You can, but it will require some mana," Angela explained while looking to the side. "It will be the same as trying to erase or seal some of their memories, and that is like high-level magic."

That made sense, and it was already convenient enough that Gaius could do that, relying on his power alone and without knowing the spell. He couldn't ask for more.

"By the way, can I ask something about my powers?" Gaius asked. "How come I can make copies of someone else's bodies with so little mana?"

"It isn't little mana," Angela shook her head. "You are using a lot more mana than most people can use. Besides, the necessary costs escalate according to the level of the summoned creature exponentially. There is also the fact that your existence is connected to this place, so the process is a lot less costly."

"Yeah, you are right… I am just surprised that I can make copies of bodies that easily," Gaius said while imagining how that worked. "I think that all things in this world are made of mana. Maybe that is the reason why I can do it."

Angela didn't deny or confirm it, and that didn't surprise Gaius. It was probably the source of some valuable information that he shouldn't know now.

"Well, putting that aside, is there anything that you can tell me now?" Gaius asked.

"Nothing major," Angela said, but then she made an expression as if she suddenly recalled something. "I have more or less of a warning for you. You should understand that all of your actions have reactions and that they change the world in some shape or form. If you focus too much on your goals, you won't realize the results of the waves that you caused."

“Action, reaction. Cause, and effect… huh,” Gaius muttered.