Chapter 435  : The Road for Animates

Later that night…

“And that more or less sums up what I want you to do while I’m gone,” Aurus said with a solemn expression. “In any case, just make sure everything that’s progressing so far continues as planned.”

After that, he went silent for a bit as he pondered over something, eventually adding, “Hmm… now that I think about it, allocate a bit more of our workforce towards finding more ore veins.”

“Is there a specific reason for that, sir?” Delmann asked.

“Although we still have a lot of gold coins left over after the incident, we’ll still run out of it eventually,” Aurus replied. “It’s better if we establish a stable source of income for the town while we still have the leeway to do so.”

“As you wish, sir.” Delmann could only nod in response, committing his words to memory.

“Well, with that out of the way, did you get that thing I asked you to get earlier?” Aurus asked soon after.

In response, Delmann rummaged out a rolled-up parchment from his pocket before giving it to Aurus. “Fortunately, we were able to grab a map of the surrounding areas from one of the nearby cities. Although most of the information on the settlements are shallow, the information on the surrounding forests are incredibly detailed.”

Nodding, Aurus opened up the parchment for himself, looking at the crude yet somewhat detailed map drawn on it. Lightly smiling in satisfaction, he rolled it up once more before looking at Delmann. “Good work as always, Delmann.”

“I’m just doing my job, Sir Argentum. After all, you’ve done so much for the town.” Delmann could not help but smile as well. “Though, if anyone asks for you while you’re gone, what should we say?”

Rubbing his chin for a bit, Aurus replied, “Tell them that I’m away to settle some personal matters. If they ask how long I’m gone for, tell them that I’ll be gone for a month at most.”

“Oh, and also, inform Valstra and the others about my temporary departure as well,” he added.

“Will that be all, sir?” Delmann asked in response, to which Aurus nodded. With their conversation coming to an end, the former respectfully bowed to Aurus before leaving the room.

With Aurus now left alone, he could not help but let out a long sigh as he gazed out of the window. Seeing the night life in the town he had helped improve, a feeling of satisfaction welled up inside him as he chuckled. “Even though I’ve somewhat gotten used to it, managing a town is still as hard as ever.” “In any case, this time will probably be the last time I’ll be more or less free. After this, everything I do will have something to do with the town’s development.” With a satisfied smile plastered on his face, he sat cross-legged on top of his bed before closing his eyes, attuning himself to the elements in the surroundings.

“Gotta make the most out of it while it lasts.”

…

Morning.

As the sun was just peeking out of the horizon, Aurus left the manor, feeling refreshed and energized. Making his way to one of the houses situated near the town’s center, he went ahead and knocked on its door. Soon, the door was opened, revealing two people, with one of them still somewhat sleepy.

“Got any sleep?” Aurus asked as he entered the house, prompting Herellia to lightly frown. “Why’d you have to wake us up so early?”

“To make the most out of the day, of course,” replied Aurus. After that, he looked at the other person in the house. “In any case, you’re the only one who doesn’t want to get up yet. Horell’s already ready to head out.”

Hearing that, Horell could not help but stifle a chuckle. In response, Herellia could only curse the two. “Fuck you. Just because you two are still Pseudo-Animates doesn’t mean you could mock me for wanting to sleep more.”

“I had a feeling you were gonna say that.” Aurus smiled before looking outside the window, his smile widening as he noticed a few people heading to the house. “So, to make up for it, I asked a few of the townspeople to whip up some breakfast for you.”

Coincidentally, by the time he was finished speaking, a couple of people entered the house carrying a small assortment of food that instantly made Herellia’s stomach rumble. Thanking the people who carried the food, Aurus then asked Horell if he’d like to take a walk with him as the townspeople left. Slightly confused, Horell accepted his offer as the two left Herellia on her own.

“What’s the walk for?” Horell could not help but ask.

“Herellia’s gonna take a while to finish eating anyway, so why not go for a walk?” Aurus laughed. “In any case, I wanted to ask you something.” “Ask away, Aurus. I’m all ears,” Horell replied.

“Remember what I said a couple of days ago? Where I gave you an offer to become an Animate like Herellia?” Aurus said, to which Horell nodded. “Yeah?”

“Yeah, I was going to ask about that. Although you told me yesterday if the offer was still available, which still is, I just wanted to make sure if you were actually serious about taking me up on that offer. After all, becoming an Animate changes a lot of things for you,” Aurus asked.

Horell went silent after that, mulling over it as they walked through the town’s streets. Eventually, with a wry smile on his face, he looked at Aurus and said, “Well, I don’t really have much of a reason to stay as a Pseudo-Animate if you’re planning to become an Animate.”

“Plus, I kind of like the idea of getting stronger together.” Aurus could only sling his arm over Horell’s shoulder after that as they walked for a bit more around town. By the time the sun had fully gone past the horizon, the two went back to the house the two were staying, only to find Herellia with a satisfied smile on her face as the plates of food were seemingly licked clean. Not minding her ravenous appetite, Aurus then gave the two time to prepare as he told them that they would be out in the wilderness for a while. A few minutes later, the two of them told him that they were ready to head out, prompting him to cast his movement speed boosting skills and spells on all three of them. In fact, Horell even cast a couple spells of his own, further amplifying their movement speed for the journey that was about to come.

Taking a cursory glance at the map Delmann had brought him last night, the three of them then left the town, heading towards a large forest situated a couple dozen kilometers away from Verdant Breeze Town.

…

As they had gone for a more leisurely pace, the trio had arrived at the periphery of this forest a couple of hours later, stopping to look at the map he brought, then at the map from the system to double check if they were at the right place. Certain that they were, Aurus went ahead and took the lead as they delved deeper into the forest, leaving the two no choice but to follow him from behind.

Around ten minutes later, the three had stopped at a small clearing, coming to a consensus that this clearing would become their temporary base while they increased their combat experience. Well, to be more exact, Herellia was going to increase her proficiency with her skills, while Horell and Aurus aimed to reach the peak of Grand-grade, as well as bring up their skills to the peak.

“So, before we go our separate ways, I just want to explain something,” Aurus said, making the two come a bit closer to him as they were slightly curious.

Looking at Herellia, he continued, “Well, this explanation would benefit Herellia the most, but there’s no problem if you want to listen in as well, Horell.”

Getting a light nod from Horell in response, he then explained, “So, since both of us have a system, I’m sure you’re familiar with how we strengthen our skills, right?”

Nodding, Herellia replied, “Yeah. Just using the skill over and over again until it improves.”

“I’m sure the same thing applies to you even though you don’t have a system, Horell,” Aurus said after that, to which Horell lightly nodded. “More or less. Herellia did tell me a thing or two about it in the past.”

“Alright, with that in mind, do you think it’s the same for Animates?” he asked soon after, to which the two looked at each other before simultaneously nodding their heads. “It should be, no?”

“Unfortunately, it’s not.” Aurus shook his head. “For Animates to improve their skills, sure, they could repeatedly use it. However, that’s not the main method of improving their skills. Instead, they have to increase something called mastery.”

“Herellia, mind telling me what skills you have access to at the moment?” he asked.

“Two skills. An active skill named [Blood Manipulation] and a passive skill named [Inferior Blood Affinity],” replied Herellia without hesitation.

Nodding in response to her words, he then asked, “Could you identify [Blood Manipulation] for me? After you do, tell me what’s written beside the phrase ‘Mastery Level’.”

Slightly confused yet curious as to why Aurus asked her to do all of this, she went ahead and did what was asked, prompting a small screen to appear in front of her field of vision. Reading through it for a bit, she then found the part Aurus was asking her to look at. “According to the system, my mastery level of the skill is Novice.”

“Can you check if you could see the mastery levels after Novice?” Aurus asked, to which Herellia nodded after commanding the system a couple of times. “After Novice, it goes Adept, Veteran, then Expert.” Hearing Herellia’s words, Aurus could not help but let out an inward sigh of relief. After all, what he had done just now was confirm if the information he had gotten from the original Aurus regarding ISE was still applicable for the Animate stage. And from the looks of it, it did.

Grabbing the attention of the two, Aurus continued his explanation. “To sum things up, your mastery level dictates how proficient you are in using the skill. Novice level means you’ve just started to use the skill, while Adept means you’ve more or less gotten used to using the skill.

“Veteran means you’ve more or less understood how the skill works, allowing you to make slight modifications, while Expert goes beyond that, with the skill looking far different from how it originally is when compared to someone who has the same skill at the previous three levels.”

“Now what if I told you that there were a few more levels after Expert?”