As previously ordered, one of the Minotaurs woke Alaster at dawn. Its interpretation of this was yanking off the tarp over their little shelter. The sudden movement and sound had been enough to wake Alaster, but not Owen. The other Minotaur stood over the boy and used its foot to shovel snow onto him.

“I'm up!” Owen exclaimed, quickly waking up as the massive foot of the Minotaurs covered the boy.

Alaster stood up and stretched, before adding some firewood they had dried the night before onto the dead fire.

Yawning, Alaster asked Owen, “Could you start up the fire? These guys don't like stopping until sundown, so if we are going to eat, it's gotta be now.”

Owen shook himself off and held his hand over the wood Alaster piled. Alaster was tired, but he wasn’t too tired to forget to watch with his [Mana Manipulation] active. Once more, the bolt of fire Owen produced ignited the wood, and once more, provided a small increase in Alaster’s understanding of the spell.

“How come I’m the only one getting snow thrown on me?” Owen grumbled, holding his hands over the flames.

“Because you were the only one still asleep.” Alaster grinned. In truth, the Minotaurs simply didn’t like Owen. None of his Undead did. To be fair to Owen, the Undead didn’t seem to like anyone, besides Alaster.

Alaster discretely pulled out Snow Ape meat and passed some over to Owen. They sat silently as they roasted the meat. As they did, the Undead, who had been randomly wandering the area, all turned to one direction. Alaster immediately noticed, though Owen did not, as he took a bite out of the roasted meat before allowing it to cool, burning his tongue.

Rolling his eyes, Alaster kicked Owen.

“Ow! What was that for!”

Alaster held up his finger to be quiet and pointed where the Undead were looking, slowly getting closer to the spot and lowering their weapons. Owen caught on and raised his staff, but didn’t do anything.

“Impressive senses!” A voice cried with joy.

A older man in clothing resembling a Noble’s seemed to appear out of a tree. The man’s white hair was shoulder-length, tied back in a low ponytail. Everything about him, from his posture, demeanor, and stance, revealed him as a dignified individual. However, to Alaster, it also revealed the man as someone dangerous.

Alaster could not identify the reason for this feeling, but every thing about the man screamed at Alaster ‘danger’.

“Greetings young ones.”

As much as Alaster was wary of the man, he replied, “Greetings yourself. Might we have the honor of knowing your name?”

The man calmly walked forward, completely disregarding the ten armored ‘men’ with their weapons pointed at him.

“My name is Regis. I’m actually on my way back home, though I decided on a more roundabout way. I just recently retired from adventuring.”

Alaster put on a fake smile, ordering his Undead back, “Congratulations, perhaps you would share some stories while sharing the warmth of the fire with us?”

The man’s ever present smile widened, “I would love to!”

Regis calmly walked to the fire and lowered himself to the snow bench. Alaster’s Undead continued to randomly wander around, but they did so much closer.

“We were just about to eat breakfast, would you like to join us?” Alaster asked, offering some Snow Ape meat.

The man graciously accepted, and began to roast it over the fire.

“This is one thing I miss.” The man reminisced, his eyes unfocused, recalling some memory.

“The cold?” Alaster joked, desperately wanting to keep the man pleasant.

“No, that is something I will be glad to forget.” The man replied with a light smile, “The new people! Adventuring always brings new and interesting people together, such as yourself, young man.”

Owen sat back down, and didn’t seem to like being ignored, but he kept his mouth shut.

“Oh please, I am nowhere near as interesting as you must be.”

“Perhaps, perhaps not. I remember once meeting a man who could create a ball of light so bright you would think it midday, even in the pits of the darkest caves. And yet, the man preferred the dark! Then there was another man who was dumb as a brick sober, but if he was wasted, he was the smartest man you’d meet.

I’m sure in your own travels, you’ll meet just as interesting, if not more so, people.”

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“What's the most memorable adventure you’ve had?” Alaster was beginning to calm down, allowing his more childish side, who always enjoyed hearing such tales, to emerge. But he was still on guard.

“Two come to mind, actually.” The man said, scratching his neck as he rotated the meat over the fire. Though, his face turned dark.

“The day my daughter was born. And the day she died. As you grow stronger, you will inevitably create enemies. Its the cost of power. Even if you help everyone and are kind to everyone. Mere power is all it takes to make people despise you, to see you as a threat. I thought I didn’t have any enemies. Maybe a few rivals, people who wouldn’t mind seeing me suffer, but wouldn’t actively cause the suffering themselves, but not enemies. I was wrong.

My daughter was only sixteen years old when they came. And they came in strength. I fought them off as best as I could, but there is only so much one person can do. I don’t recall how many I killed, but when they ran away, they had accomplished what they came to do. My family was dead.”

“What did you do?” Owen asked, causing Alaster to roll his eyes.

‘What a moron.’

Despite Owen’s rude interruption, Regis answered, “I hunted them down. It took many years, but I hunted and killed each person that was involved. And now, I am old and tired. I am retiring, and will hopefully manage to live the rest of my days in peace.”

The old man blew lightly on the meat before he took a bite.

“Do you regret it?” Alaster asked.

“Regret what?”

“Getting revenge.”

“Ah… well, I don’t know. Don’t get me wrong. Killing each of them brought a great sense of pleasure, but in the end, it didn’t bring my family back.”

Regis looked into the flames with a distant look in his eyes. A brief breeze swept through the area, picking up some loose snow as it went, but the old man didn’t seem to notice.

“If you had the chance, would you do it again?” Alaster asked.

Regis didn’t hesitate to look up at the young man with a bloodthirsty grin on his face, and a sensation consumed the area around the old man that froze Alaster’s heart. “Without a doubt.”

The old man looked back toward the fire and the feeling vanished as if it had never been there. Owen gasped and Alaster breathed heavily, feeling as if a heavy weight had been lifted off their chests, crushing their lungs.

‘If he decided to attack, we wouldn't be able to do anything against him.’ Alaster realized, a cold sweat breaking out.

When Alaster advanced to Adept, he felt that he was so close to his goal. Sure, practically all adults were still stronger than him, but not to an overwhelming degree. He felt that if he manipulated the situation with careful planning, that he could emerge victorious. But after meeting this old man, it was as if he was slapped in the face with ice water. Regardless of how much planning and preparation Alaster did, he would never be able to harm Regis, let alone kill him, even with his age.

Old age didn’t actually decrease the power of someone, their Abilities were just as potent and their stats just as influential. The only thing that really changed was the body’s ability to handle the stress. If someone as young as Alaster and someone as old as Regis both had the same sized Mana Pool, and emptied it at the same rate, both would be tired and breathless, but the younger one would physically recover much faster, even if their Mana Pool was still empty. And if the elderly pushed themselves too far, it could be lethal.

Yet despite that, Alaster doubted the old man before him would require the use of any Abilities to destroy his Undead and kill him.

“Are you an Expert?” Alaster asked, still recovering from the sheer bloodlust that had enveloped him.

The man looked up at the cloudy sky above, threatening to cover the world below once more.

“It’s been a long time since I have been classed as such.”

“A Master? That's impossible. Those are just stories” Owen spouted, causing Alaster to shoot him a glare that promised great pain.

“Not impossible,” Said the man, finishing the meat he had been offered and casting the stick into the flames, “Just exceedingly difficult to achieve.”

“How is it done? What level do I need to reach?” Alaster asked, desperate for some secret to power.

“I’ll tell you this. The System is a crutch.” With that, Regis stood up and patted himself down, not that any snow or dirt would have dared to touch him.

He stepped out of the little fire pit and began to walk away, but he only got a few feet before he stopped and turned around.

“I almost forgot! Its bad manners to accept the warmth of a fire and food without offering anything in return.”

Alaster opened his mouth to object, saying that the old man had already done much for him, but he wasn’t given the opportunity. Before Alaster could open his mouth, Regis tossed a ring to him, which he caught.

“Thank you for the conversation, lad.” Regis waved farewell before vanishing into the forest once more.

Alaster looked down at the ring in his hand. Its appearance wasn’t anything special. It looked to be a simply iron band. There were no engravings or markings of any kind. Cautiously, Alaster slipped his finger through. Normally, he never would have done such a thing to an item he knew nothing about, but if the old man had wished them harm, Alaster was fairly certain that a mere sneeze would have been enough. The ring was a perfect fit, even more so than his sister’s ring. But the young man was not interested in that. He was instead fascinated by the effect the ring produced.

Immediately after he put on the ring, he could feel something change. Alaster quickly opened his Status.

[Warning: Temporary Effects Active

Summoner’s Ring:

Capable of Storing Minions bound to the User’s soul

0/50]

Alaster was stunned. This was exactly what he needed. Most Monsters struggled to identify the strength of their opponents, leading them to attack those they had no chance of defeating. But they could identify superior numbers. Since Alaster had managed to create a dozen Undead, no Monster had yet attacked him. Since he had become an Adept several days ago, his progress had severely slowed due to this. Of course, that was normal for many. But for Alaster, it was aggravating.

But with this Ring, he would be able to store his Undead inside, and bring them out when a battle begins. It would also allow him to enter Settlements much easier. A bright grin split Alaster’s lips, and he stood up, excited to experiment with it. Behind him, unseen by Alaster, Owen glared at his back, his eyes burning with jealousy and greed.

It was not unseen by the two Night Children hiding above.