Behind the house, there was a small courtyard. Really just a small field of grass with a large tree in the corner providing plenty of shade. Alaster found himself subconsciously relaxing.

“What do you think?” Lunaria asked from behind him.

“It’s nice. Calming.” Alaster said truthfully.

Lunaria beamed, “Thanks! My Mother designed it. She spent countless hours building, growing, and maintaining it, and she would always make me help her.”

“Where is she?”

Lunaria’s constant smile dimmed for a moment, “She passed. Eight years ago. I was only eleven at the time.”

Alaster solemnly nodded. He understood the pain she felt. It was not an uncommon pain. Many lost their loved ones. Despite the wonders that Magic could create and repair, there were just too many ways to destroy. Magical diseases, curses, accidents, and the ever-present Monsters.

Resurrection Magic was rare, but present. But it was anything but reliable. Through his connection with the dead, Alaster understood better than most how and why a soul acted. Sometimes they were already too distant for the Resurrection to affect them, other times there were other things blocking or limiting it. But sometimes, the soul simply rejected the revival.

Sometimes the soul was content with death.

The death of a loved one was common, even in a world where many chose to believe the lie of safety.

Alaster did not offer his condolences; he knew firsthand that it did nothing to help and that she had long since grew tired of those words.

“This isn’t where we will spar.”

“No. Of course not. This is my special place, do not damage it.” Lunaria warned with a hint of steel in her voice.

“Where are we going to spar then? Its been a while since I’ve had a challenge so I am hoping you can offer one.”

It had been less than a month since he died in battle, yet for Alaster, that was an eternity. After spending several years deep in the wilderness, he was not used to any length of peace. While for others, any battle was something worthy of note. Something that was serious and intense. Something that happened rarely.

But not for Alaster.

He had rarely gone a week without some sort of battle that threatened his life at every moment. His army allowed him to combat many Monsters at once, but he was rarely able to combat an equal number. His Undead had gradually grown specialized in fighting against Monsters that outnumbered them.

They were individually quite weak, but together, his army of Undead had constantly defeated Monsters that gave even Experts a moment of pause.

Alaster did not actually like fighting, though he could sometimes find a mote of enjoyment. But he could feel himself itching for a fight capable of endangering him.

“I was thinking we could first play a game of chess.” Lunaria smirked.

“Chess? The board game? Why?”

“Because it’s a good exercise that will merge well with what my father will be teaching you.”

“How could chess possibly help with my training?” Alaster sighed. He knew about chess, but never really thought much of it. Just a game that the rich and old played to pass the time.

Lunaria waved her hand and two chairs, a small table, and a chess board appeared.

“Oh, come on, give it a try.” She chuckled as she sat down. “Do you know how to play?”

“Never had a reason to learn.”

“Then sit down and learn! It’s a popular game among Nobility, and if father wants you to blend with them, then you should know one of their favorite pastimes.”

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Alaster could not find fault in her reasoning and sat down, the Pact Armor dissolving around him as he did so.

Lunaria looked at him with a curious gaze.

“What?” Alaster asked.

“Oh, its nothing! Its just the first time I’m seeing you without your armor. Though we should definitely get you some new clothes.”

Alaster looked down in confusion, but quickly saw the problem. The clothes that the City Lord of Onigas had given him now had countless holes, cuts, and worn-out spots. Luckily for him, the pants were still in fairly good condition, but the shirt was little more than a rag.

“I guess I do need new clothing.”

“I know the best places!”

Alaster sighed, “I hate shopping.” He groaned under his breath, but Lunaria’s own enhanced hearing easily caught it.

“Oh don’t worry, they can get it done very quickly and I promise you’ll be surprised by the quality and practicality of it.”

“So how do you play?”

“Ok, so this piece? This is the Pawn, it’s the most common piece, but also one of the weakest, but has the potential to become the strongest.”

Lunaria excitedly taught Alaster how to play. Slowly, Alaster began to realize the complexity behind the game, as well as its utility. It was a strategic game that taught about war, sacrifice, openings, vulnerabilities, and even falsehoods.

While she taught him, Alaster noticed that Lunaria seemed strangely distracted. Even so, when he finally learned how the pieces moved and they played a game, she still effortlessly destroyed his army of pieces and captured his king.

“Again.” Alaster challenged.

And so, they played again, and again, and again. And again, they played until the sun gave way to the night.

Despite the numerous games, Alaster did not win a single one.

After the final game, Alaster leaned back in the chair, “You are just too good.” He conceded.

Lunaria giggled, “Thank you, but I’ve been playing for as long as I could remember. My father loves the game and taught me early. But we should probably get to bed. Its late.”

Alaster nodded in agreement and stood up, allowing the young woman to store the game and furniture in her Ring of Holding.

With just a simple, “Good night.”, the two parted, going into their separate rooms. However, while Lunaria prepared to sleep, Alaster begun his plans.

Laying down in the bed, Alaster’s body turned skeletal as his mind focused on his Shadows. They were spread throughout the city, hidden in numerous important locations. Surprisingly, and to Alaster own annoyance, several of the Shadows were unable to infiltrate their assigned locations due to the various protections.

Some were simply complex enchantments that would either alert or reveal the Shadow Assassins, but there were also people that seemed to sense the Shadows as they came close, forcing them to flee in order to remain hidden.

But not all of the Shadows remained in the city. Able to hide within something as intangible as shadows, they could easily traverse over the massive walls of Galmore. The few Shadows that left the city were busy scouting the surroundings of the City.

Alaster had ordered them to do so in hopes of finding some Monster that he could kill. Azemar estimated that his teaching would take an entire year, but Alaster had no intention of remaining stagnant during that period of time.

Unfortunately, there were very few Monsters worthy of the effort of his own presence. Of the few that were worth any action on his part, he simply had the Shadows kill them, slitting the Monsters’ throats without being detected at all, continuing with their scouting without any hinderance.

The Orcs’ attack on the city had of course ended in complete failure. A Shadow watched as the soldiers of Galmore cleaned up the battle with practiced movements. They even cleaned up the dead outside the walls by simply casting long range Fire Spells from atop the wall, burning them to ash without exiting the safety of the city.

Alaster even found himself focusing on the lives of the common people. It was late, yet it did not seem as if the city was going to sleep. If anything, the only difference was the quiet. Even those awake kept the noise down as they went about their work.

Alaster imagined that a city under near constant siege would have need of a constant supply of countless different things. Everything from weapons, armor, clothing, food, repairs, etc. It was much easier and cheaper to harvest the materials, but magic expedited the processes exponentially.

The citizens did not have to worry about mining their minerals when Metal Mages could simply conjure the materials. It was Mana intensive, costing even more Mana depending on the rarity of mineral, but it was safer and typically more reliable.

Alaster found himself subconsciously ordering one of the Shadows to observe the crafters. He had always liked the idea of becoming one himself. The Shadow moved from building to building, watching the crafters for a few minutes before moving on.

Each building had numerous crafters of various types. The most common set up that Alaster was seeing was each building had three levels, one ground floor, one basement, and a second floor. Blacksmiths and Masons were on the ground floor, while the weapons and armor smiths were in the basement, and clothing and enchantments were created on the second floor.

It made sense to Alaster. The heaviest materials were on the ground floor, making it the easiest to access. While the lightest was on top and the hottest were in the ground.

However, somewhat separated from the rest of the crafters, Alaster noticed a small building with only a ground floor and basement. The Shadow entered to find the entire ground floor filled with various projects, drawings, and blueprints. Alaster did not pay much attention to it until he found that the basement had enchantments that prevented the Shadow from entering.

Intrigued, Alaster focused on the blueprints through the Shadow’s eyes. There were dozens, but they all centered around the same idea, an idea that Alaster began to grasp after studying all of them.

It was an idea that could change everything.