Alaster had just raised the Skeleton itself, molding it into the shape size and shape as the first Black Guard using the various bones he had gathered over the weeks. It took several hours to create the armor. The sun was long set by the time he finished. The design of the armor was the same as the first. Standing next to each other, neither Astrid nor Alaster could tell the difference.

However, there was, in fact, one difference. The second Guard didn’t have a mind, like the first, as simple as it was. In combat, that minor intelligence was a vast improvement. The Undead would be capable of learning simple combat techniques and be able to identify and properly react to threats easier. Unfortunately, it seemed like Alaster was only capable of offering five hundred mana. It was a lot for the Novice, and required him to meditate to recover enough Mana to offer the rest, but in the end, the result was only a very simple mind.

Astrid warmed her hands by the fire before laying down on the thick blankets she had bought, creating a much more comfortable spot to sleep on than the bone floor of the shelter. But Alaster wasn't ready to sleep, not yet at least, he had to give the second Guard a mind. With his much larger mana pool, it was done much quicker. Unfortunately, despite his much higher INT and WIS, it seemed like the limit was still five hundred mana before the skull began to violently vibrate.

Once the mind was created, Alaster immediately noticed the first Black Guard look over curiously at the second Black Guard. The second Black Guard also looked at the first. They stood in front of each other, simply staring at the other. But then they both held out their fists, bumping them together.

‘Weird.’

Alaster wanted to study their interactions, but it had been a long and tiring day, and his eyes were threatening to shut without his permission. Before they could, Alaster laid back and was asleep almost instantly.

The next morning, the young man was woken by the Astrid excitedly yelling.

“Go go go!”

Alaster shot to his feet, reaching for his sword that never left his hip, eyes searching for any threat. But all he found were the two Black Guards laying across from the other, competing in an arm wrestle, with Astrid sitting behind their grasped hands, bouncing with energy.

Alaster dropped his hand from the handle of his sword and sighed.

‘This is what I wake up to?’

“Astrid, what are you doing?”

She looked up with a wide smile that seemed to cover her entire face, “Seeing which is stronger!”

Alaster shook his head and took out a loaf of bread, breaking it in half and tossing one half to her, “Astrid, they are the exact same. I made sure of it while I made the second one.”

Just to make sure, he pulled up their statuses, but instead, he saw that he was wrong.

[Black Guard

Health: 200/200

Strength: 17

Dexterity: 13

Constitution: 20]

[Black Guard

Health: 200/200

Strength: 40

Dexterity: 35

Constitution: 45]

“Second Black Guard, stand up.” Alaster ordered.

The two immediately stopped their arm wrestling, which the first was just barely hanging onto, and the second stood up. Alaster suspected that the only reason the first didn’t immediately lose was that it had more experience with its strength and knew how to better leverage it. But there was only so much knowledge could do against superior stats. In the higher levels, it had more of an impact, but at the lower levels, even a single stat could drastically change the outcome.

Alaster examined the standing Black Guard, but did not notice any specific difference.

“What is it?” Astrid asked through a mouthful of bread that she warmed over the fire.

“The second one is stronger than the first.”

“Why?” She asked, swallowing her bite and quickly taking another.

“So far, no idea.”

“Do your minions scale with you? I’ve heard that most Summoner Types scale with their level.”

Alaster scratched his head, “That seems the most probable, because I’m not seeing any other difference. Let's see if I can make the first one stronger.”

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He dismissed the first one, and it lost the mana holding it together. The bones and its armor lost connection to each other and fell apart. But it was still laying down, so none of the parts went far.

Alaster immediately resummoned it and found that the stats were in fact higher, matching the second.

“There we go. Now we have two Black Guards, each with one hundred and twenty points divided between STR, DEX, and CON.”

“Wow.” Astrid was impressed, even as she shoved the last of her warm bread in her mouth.

Alaster was only level ten, but he could potentially summon four Black Guards, each with enough physical power to defeat most average Novices level seven and below. Still not a great force, considering the vast majority of humans were Adepts or Experts, but certainly much more power than anyone would expect from a Novice, and that was just his summons. If Alaster joined the fight, he was certain he could threaten a full party of level ten Novices.

However, he didn’t have four Black Guards. He had two, plus the Night Child, that was still hiding in the forest. Ever since Alaster felt the sense of being watched, he had kept the Night Child out of any battles, and focused on watching their surroundings, ensuring they weren’t attacked or surrounded. Doing, Alaster decided to also give it a mind so it could do its job better. But for the most part, it had not done much for the last several weeks.

Alaster still needed to equip the second Black Guard. He was thinking of setting it up the same as the first, for ease of command. So far, the Bill and shield had worked well for the Black Guard, and now with its improved stats, it would be much more effective with them.

“Let's get going. We need to stop by the Blacksmith before we head out.” Alaster announced.

Astrid simply nodded and grabbed her equipment, same with the first Black Guard. As they left, Alaster made sure to kill the fire properly and seal the shelter closed. It was still fairly early, so while the streets were still busy, they weren’t packed. Plus, the two Black Guards seemed to naturally create a bubble around them that no one entered, much to Alaster’s joy.

The Blacksmith they were headed to, where they bought the rest of their equipment, was on the way to the gate, so it wasn’t much of a detour. Nor was it busy at this time of day. They entered the store and immediately approached the apprentice manning the counter.

While the store did have weapons and armor on display, either on the walls, or on a stand, most of their work was stored in the back.

“Hello, how may I help you?” The young apprentice asked.

“Morning, I need another Bill and shield like these.” Alaster said, pointing to the Black Guard’s.

The apprentice looked over and nodded, “Ok, will there be anything else?”

“Nope, just those.”

“Alright, I will be right back.”

The apprentice quickly went into the back and brought back the equipment, which he placed on the counter.

“Alright, that will be eight silver.”

Alaster had learned from their previous times shopping at this particular store, bartering was not accepted. While practically all the other stores, regardless of the goods sold, encouraged bartering, the owner of this store was almost violently against it. However, that didn’t bother most customers, as while the equipment sold wasn’t anything special, it was still good quality, and typically cheaper than they could get at the other Blacksmiths. At least the ones that catered to Novices.

Alaster handed the young man the coins and mentally ordered the second Black Guard to grab the equipment. Now that they both had the same gear, it truly was impossible to tell them apart.

“Thank you, come again.”

Alaster nodded to the apprentice, while Astrid politely waved as they left. Now, with both of the Black Guards holding weapons and walking right behind them, the bubble of space around them widened even more. It was an easy trip to the gate.

During the night, it had snowed, once again. And while the street sweepers had done their job before most people woke up, there was now so much snow in the city that it was beginning to pile up against the buildings and in the alleys. Which Alaster was happy about as it provided more cover for their shelter. The fewer people that knew they were there, the better.

The Guards at the gate glanced at the Black Guards, but didn’t stop the group. They had no reason to. They only cared about what was coming into their city, not what was leaving. Unless an order came, they wouldn’t stop anyone leaving. And at this point of the day, most of the people leaving the city were Adventurers, either on their way to a job, or going out hunting to level up.

The average growth rate for Novices was level ten by their sixteenth. So while Astrid was still behind, she was making much faster progress than most of her age. And Alaster was well ahead of the average. He was still eight months away from his sixteenth birthday, and was already level ten. Then again, very few had the opportunity, let alone the capability to kill a Bugbear, wipe out an entire Tribe of Goblins, and go out hunting every day for several weeks, killing monsters that an entire party has to fight, then have the EXP divided amongst them.

With their current group, the EXP was only divided two ways. And that was only if both contributed to a kill. Due to the number of Undead, they were capable of killing more enemies at a time, which meant most of the EXP of a battle still went to Alaster.

All the Novices, and a couple of Adepts, split up after exiting the gate. None wanted to get their prey stolen by another group, and most had a favorite area to hunt in. Alaster had his own, which they headed for. As they entered the cover of the trees, the Night Child made itself known from the tall branches of the trees.

After it had gained its mind, it seemed to emulate its name, acting quite like a child. A child that wanted attention from its parent, which in this case, was Alaster.

It dropped from the branching, landing in front of Alaster and looked up at him. Alaster patted its head, while he looked around. Usually, after entering the woods, they had a few minutes where Alaster didn’t feel like they were watched. Even Astrid had begun to feel it, and had asked Alaster about it after they had returned to the shelter one night. He had told her his suspicions, and also told her to keep natural and act like she didn’t notice.

After a minute of patting, he ordered the Night Child back into the trees. He did not want the Goblins to know about it, a hidden weapon if they decided to attack. And as he expected, the feeling of being watched continued only a few minutes later.

The day’s hunt was fairly calm. They encountered several groups of monsters, ranging from seasonal monsters that migrated, like the Ice Leopard, to the monsters that called the forest home, like packs of Thunder Wolves. Even the occasional humanoid monster, like the Gnolls. However, they didn’t encounter anything serious, like they had yesterday. And with the second Black Guard, it was even easier.

Due to the ease, Alaster considered going deeper into the woods, where they would find stronger monsters, meaning more EXP. But he didn’t want to rush. All it took was a single mistake to be killed, and only Expert Holy Magic could revive someone, and only if they were recently dead.

Instead, they decided to call it a day early. And that is when things turned around, very suddenly, and very violently.