The Courtyard was lined with banners, both Onigarian and Galmorian. Just three hours before, the City Lord had announced an alliance with Galmore, both in trade and in military aid.

If either city needed help, the other would be obligated to send it. They did this in order to further deter the other nations from interfering with them. As it was, most people did not know Galmore was still standing, as cut off from the rest of the world as they were.

The Onigarian people, still recovering from the siege, celebrated loudly.

At the same time as the announcement, Keylan announced a massive project to build a road connecting the two cities. That project was met with worry. Alaster couldn’t blame them either.

The forests around Galmore were incredibly dense and ancient. The types of Monsters one would find there would all be able to threaten Experts, and they would not take kindly to Humans invading their territory.

However, if the project was completed, it would birth the rise of dozens more Experts as well as allow open trade and transport between the two independent cities.

Alaster himself had not been there to hear the announcement. He was instead in the Siphas Training Hall, finalizing the creation of his newest Minion. The news had been relayed to him afterward by the Shadow Assassin hidden in Iris’ shadow.

Iris and Astrid had taken the news surprisingly well. They both understood his reasoning. They were still hesitant to let him go, especially after his death, but Alaster was able to calm them enough by promising that he would visit them once his training was over and before he left for his sister.

As Alaster left them, he had attached a Shadow Assassin to the shadows of both Astrid and Iris. As the distance grew, Alaster would not be able to Bond with them, though the Shadows would still be able to relay basic information, such as the general wellbeing of the women.

At the moment, it was just after midnight. In a few hours, Alaster had to be in the courtyard and join the Galmorian Delegation. He should have been sleeping, both Belgroth and Sedall had told him so. But he ignored them, instead using [Death Embrace] to avoid the basic need.

He stood in the Training Hall examining his newest Minion.

It was quite simple, not at all amazing to look at, and yet it was the most complex Minion Alaster had made. It was his first Expert Tiered Minion. While the Knights of Remembrance were technically Master Tiered, they were created from the System and required the body of the victim.

But this Minion? It was made entirely from Alaster’s own skill, ambient souls and a Mana Core.

What made this Minion so complex?

It could grow.

Its appearance was that of an ordinary person, so long as someone didn’t look at their face, of which it didn’t have. Alaster had been practicing with [Flesh Crafting] in his off time. He was experienced enough to cover the Skeletal Structure with flesh and muscle, but not quite enough to create a face, let alone a unique one.

His first creation had simply had a smooth surface instead of a face. That had disturbed even Alaster. So the second was made with a metal helmet covering the face, leaving only the glowing green eyes exposed. That was much better, so after only a dozen or so additional editions, Alaster fine tuned it enough to be suitable.

Now the final version was an ordinary fit man. It had neither a mouth, nose, nor genitals. Though Alaster was not intending to have it walk around without clothes. It was summoned without clothes, though the helmet was built into the actual body.

The helmet was fairly simple, and in fact, was a visored T faced Barbute. Alaster had not bothered to design the helmet with a functioning lift visor, so the visor was permanently closed.

Now, Alaster could have simply created the body and have an organic Skeletal Minion, quite similar to his first Skeletons. But Alaster wanted a Minion that could grow, that could become stronger. To do that, Alaster found that the best option was to introduce a Mana Core into the Mana Streams of the Spell.

The new Spell was a mixture of the Undead Mage and Undead Soldier, both fairly simple Summons, but both with vast areas of growth. After all, each of Alaster’s Third Method Summons originated from the Undead Soldier.

Simply put, this new Minion, Alaster’s first Expert Tier Minion, was capable of becoming stronger from practice and killing, just like a System affected Human.

The Core was what defined the Minion’s starting Abilities and Tier. If Alaster used a Novice Ice Core, than the Minion would start out as a Novice with a few Ice related Abilities. Even better, if Alaster used another Novice Ice Core on another Minion, while the two Minions would have similar Abilities, they would not be the same.

Alaster saw it like this, each type of core had a list of Abilities it could grant to the Minion, and it would randomly pick three from the list.

Once Alaster used the Core, it was consumed. If the Minion was destroyed, unlike the other Advanced Minions like the Dread Knight, where Alaster could simply resummon them, the Expert Minion was instead destroyed. Alaster could simply remake another one, but it would require another Core and would start out at the lowest level of that tier.

The Mana Stream required for the Spell was by far the most complicated Alaster had ever attempted to Manipulate. Thousands upon thousands of Streams, all layered and weaved into each other. Changing even a single one would slightly change all of them. Alaster had stopped counting how many times he screwed up the entire project after the four hundredth time. But he was nothing if not determined.

Summoner Type Mages were wanted because they could summon others to fight for them, and do so repeatedly, allowing themselves to hide away in safety or fight alongside the Minion, usually casting Magic from a distance.

Necromancers were renowned for their ability to raise thousands of very weak Minions, simply drowning their enemies in numbers.

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With this new Minion, Alaster could create an army of Adepts and even Experts by himself. An army that did not need to breathe, eat, sleep, and never grew tired.

Unfortunately, Alaster was not quite sure what would happen once this Minion Type grew stronger. If he used a Novice Core, it was summoned at level one. It could grow stronger using the same methods as any Human. But unlike a Human, who could simply advance to Adept simply by choosing their advanced class, Alaster did not know how the Minion would advance, or if it could.

He would need further testing, not just for the question about advancing, but also for the hundreds of other unknowns about the Minion Type.

As for its intelligence, the Minion was summoned with none, it was no better than a drone. But within the tangled mass of it’s Mana Streams, Alaster suspected that it would generate its own false identity overtime. It would not have a soul, but it could learn and adapt, creating its own identity.

However, at the moment, all of those questions could be answered over time, at a later date. He had a limited time left in Onigas. He needed to the answer to the question that had suddenly become the most important question. And unfortunately, neither Belgroth and Sedall knew.

They both claimed that it was simple enough that they could figure it out in a few weeks, but why wait when there was someone in Onigas who knew the answer?

Alaster sent the Minion into his Soul and told the others to leave it alone for the moment. Using the Shadow Assassins as a sort of merger, Alaster used [Swap] to quickly traverse the shadows to arrive at his destination in a single minute.

Preparing himself, Alaster knocked on the door loudly. Muffled curses immediately began, leaking through the wooden door.

Colius threw open the door, “Alaster? I like you, but you better have a good reason for waking me up at this hour.”

Alaster got right to business, “How do you create Mana Cores?”

Colius, still in his sleeping robe and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, looked at the dark armored man before him with confusion, “Seriously? That’s what this is about? You mean to tell me that with all your Magical Power, you never learned something that simple?”

Colius sighed, “Come in. It’s simple but can take a while to figure out.”

Colius shuffled back into his room and sat down on his bed. Alaster followed him, closing the door and sitting down in the chair at the cluttered desk.

The old man yawned, “Alright, so a Mana Core is basically just condensed Mana contained in a hardened shell of Mana. Like a pill. Cores are naturally created within the bodies of the occasional Monster, but they can also be artificially made. Unfortunately, the artificially created ones are not as effective as the natural ones.

The Natural Cores can be used to bestow Abilities, Spells, and even Bloodlines to others. But Artificial Cores aren’t intricate or efficient enough to do so.

So usually, Artificial Cores are used as a cheaper alternative to enchantments and alchemy. Cheaper at the cost of less efficient and effective. Though many find the cost saving worth it. I use Artificial Cores whenever I’m experimenting with certain enchantments but prefer to use Natural Cores on the final product.

Artificial Cores are simple to make, but use a lot of Mana and time to create. On the open market, they are much cheaper than Natural Cores, but still cost a pretty penny. I know a few Mages who pay their bills entirely off the Artificial Cores they sell.

As a basic rule of thumb, Novice Artificial Cores require a thousand Mana. Adept Cores, five thousand. And Expert Cores, ten thousand. As you might expect, the more Mana that is used, the harder it is to control it, making higher Tiered Cores much more expensive as they require more skill and Mana.

Now why do you want to make them? I’m sure that with your money you could buy as many Natural Cores as you might want or need.” Colius explained, stopping several times to yawn, not bothering to cover his mouth.

“The problem is supply. As well as attention. I doubt I could buy a thousand Cores at once, so that would take time to buy in much smaller amounts. And it would create a lot of attention I simply don’t want to deal with.”

“And what do you want to use them for? As I said, Artificial Cores are much less effective.”

“I have a Minion that requires a Mana Core to be summoned. I honestly don’t know if an Artificial Core would work, but if it does, amazing. If it doesn’t? That sucks, but I’ll make it work.”

Colius shrugged, uncaring as he laid down with another yawn, “Alright, listen up boy. To make a Core, simply bundle up your Mana tightly, once you are satisfied with the amount, you want to harden the outer layer. Do not harden the entirety of the bundle, or it will explode. If you can use multiple types of Mana, then you will also want to pay attention to what Mana you are using. If you use multiple types of Mana in the same Core, then it increases the difficulty exponentially.

Very simple, but a bit finicky. I suggest practicing in an open place that you don’t mind damaging. Meaning, not here. Now go away, I want to catch some rest before dawn.”

Smirking at the old man’s antics, Alaster quietly left the room through the shadows, quickly reappearing in the Training Hall.

‘That’s it?’ Sedall asked in disbelief.

‘Primordials, no wonder Humanity’s enchantments are so shit.’ Belgroth cursed.

‘What do you mean? And Sedall, shouldn’t you know this?’ Alaster asked as he sat down in a mediative stance.

‘No, I never cared much for Enchanting. They could be quite irritating to fight against but had a hard limit. Meaning, as long as you were strong enough, enchantments meant nothing. As a demigod, only Enchantments powered directly by other demigods could affect me.’

‘I also didn’t really study Enchantments. Too much book work for me. But even I know more than this! Alaster, I promise you, I can figure out how to make Cores that are just as good as Natural Cores.

It will be more complicated than simple Mana, but I know its possible. Just give me time.’

‘For now, try to use make an Artificial Core and see if it will work for the Minion.’ Sedall pushed.

Nodding to himself, Alaster began to follow Colius’ instruction. As the old man had said, the concept was simple, but the actual creation was harder. However, as an Expert, Alaster had great control over his own Mana, further refined by his own practice and experience. It only took two attempts to successfully create a Novice Core.

Each of the failed attempts had caused the ball of greenish Mana to explode in a four-foot radius. Had there been anything organic within those four feet, Alaster imagined it would have been eaten by the Mana. As it was, there was only dirt.

Alaster held the finished product in his hand. It had only taken him a few minutes to make the polished ball. It looked like a thick greenish mist had been trapped inside a glass ball. It still swirled around.

‘It’s actually kinda pretty.’ Alaster commented.

‘Pretty dangerous. At least for Novices. If you threw that, it would break and explode. Much more fragile than Nature Cores.’ Sedall added.

‘Potential weapon?’ Alaster joked.

‘Not a bad idea, though I can imagine many better uses for a thousand Mana. Now try it on the Minion.’

Alaster stood up and held the palm sized Core in his open hand.

Channeling Mana into the Spell, an additional five thousand Mana was taken, condensing in a brief swirling cloud of dark green Mana. In a few moments, the cloud vanished, revealing the naked Minion. Without any prompting, the Core flew out of Alaster’s open hand like a bolt. It touched the Minion’s skin and slowed to a crawl in a moment, slowly merging with the Minion, disappearing within.

As it fully vanished, the eyes of the Minion pulsed.

‘Well it worked, lets see how well though.’ Alaster commented, peering at the Minion’s Mana Streams.

Still feeling his soul ache, his migraine grew slightly as he looked at the complex tangled mess. A single glance was enough to make it worse but was also enough for Alaster to learn what he wanted.

‘Hmmm. It worked. The Minion can grow stronger, but it didn’t inherit any Abilities, only gained the ability to crudely manipulate Necrotic Mana.’

‘So it can learn to use Necrotic Spells?’ Sedall asked.

‘Maybe [Death Touch] and [Necrotic Bolt]. Basically, just the Spells that use just raw Necrotic Mana.’

‘Oh don’t sound so disappointed. You can create a Minion capable of growing in power, and as of yet, an unknown number of them.’ Belgroth scowled.

‘Fair enough. Soon, the core of my army will be of these Forgotten. My Forgotten Legion.’