The following day, the mansion of marquis Larmanton was found burnt down. It was early in the morning, when a group, that had been drinking the night before, passed by. They immediately reported this to the city guards.
The guards weren't sure they were telling the truth, because the people before them drunk. But just to make sure, the knights went to take a look.
After they saw the mansion, they directly informed their superior. Their commander had also reported it to the king.
King Ludwig went to the house himself and ordered a thorough research about this matter. Nothing was found, but a piece of paper that had been placed on the floor. It listed the crimes of marquis Larmanton. There was also a sentence on the back that said 'An eye for an eye'.
King Ludwig had become lost in his thoughts, tryingto find someone who had a reason to do this. He thought about Idris, who wanted the information about the attack so badly. But it couldn't be, since he was still too weak to kill the marquis. Right?
The investigation continued for the whole day, but nothing besides the paper was found.
---------------
Idris woke up. He had slept better than ever before. He was happy to have resolved the issue that had plagued him for days.
He had left the note on the floor, to inform the people of the evil deeds marquis Larmanton had done.
Of course there was still a chance for him to get found out and arrested, but he had been extra careful to make as few mistakes as he could. That was also the reason, he had burned the mansion.
Idris stood up and made himself ready to go out. He needed to search for beast spirits again. He wanted to make fast progress in his cultivation again.
He had found out that the cultivation level of his shadow subordinates was the average of all the shadows he had. Even so, how the strength and energy stats worked, was still a mystery.
The strength had increased by one, but it wasn't clear whether the physical or mental strength was meant.
The energy hasn't even started its count, so it was even more unclear.
Idris went out, with his mask on his face and his cold expression which didn't change anymore. The mix made most of the people in the city shiver and didn't dare think about doing anything to him.
Some others were stupid and even tried to hit him, because they said he had 'looked at them with such a stupid face' when they were shopping. Actually they had planned to kidnap some women, which Idris had overheard. The three people were in a dark alley and saw him looking at them.
Idris wouldn't have done anything to them, but since they attacked, he couldn't let them injure him.
They were killed the moment after with a Fire Lance.
Idris made his way to a shop that sold equipment, where he bought some armor, that he wore under his black clothes. They had a guarding and regeneration spell on it, explaining the high price.
Then he continued his way ro the mountain range where he would find the beast spirits he needed.
He would also test the strength of his shadows.
After a few hours, he entered the forest and moved onto the mountain range.
He should be able to defeat a rank 2, maybe even rank 3, beast.
As he crossed the territory of some animals, they came rushing at him. They were fire rabbits, double the size of a normal rabbit, with fiery fur.
He called forth his shadows and watched them kill all the beasts. The taller one did all the work, while the smaller one stood by its side, slaughtering the ones the other didn't get fast enough.
While watching them, Idris noticed a change on the window of his technique. The strength stat had risen to 5. It would be able to increase due to the experience in fighting.
Now he only needed to know the use of the energy stats, that hadn't risen yet.
After the fight with at least 10 of the rabbits, their strength went up to 7. One could also notice the change in their fighting style, the higher it rose. It was better than before and less flaws could be seen.
Some time later, after collecting 30 beast spirits, the ground began to tremble slightly. A 4 metre tall gorilla came jumping out of the woods and attacked them.
Idris wanted to see his current abilities against a beast and positioned himself, ready for a fight. The gorilla hammered onto the earth, where Idris had been standing until now, and cracks appeared. It was definitely stronger than the sheep he had encountered the first time he came here.
Idris formed a Fire Lance and threw it at the gorilla's heart. A shield of fire blocked it and both dissipated, because of the energy released by them.
Next Idris took his knife out and activated Lightning Strike. It became covered in electricity and when he swung it, a lightning blade formed and flew towards the gorilla.
The beast put up a barrier again to protect itself, but the lightning was too powerful and split it into half. It resumed its flight and cut the right arm of the animal down. It roared in pain. It became angry and lost its mind, punching around wildly.
Idris sent another 3 lightning blades towards the gorilla. One separated its legs, the 2nd its remaining arm and the 3rd its head.
In the next hour, 3 more rank 2 beasts attacked and were beaten by Idris. Then he took all the orbs he had gotten. He wanted to make them his shadows too, but didn't know if it would work. That's why he tried it on one of them first.
He activated The Superb Necromancer Technique and used it on the orb. The spirit inside vanished and a black water lizard formed.
After seeing that it worked, he used it on the other 43 orbs too, forming a horde of shadows. He placed them all into their hiding place, his own shadow, that he put onto his arm.
He sat down and began cultivating with the help of the orbs. The process this time was awfully slow and Idris wondered what it was.
After absorbing all orbs, he had only increased his cultivation to the advanced rank of the 7th layer Body Tempering Realm.
He wondered why it hadn't risen higher. Was it because of the spirit that was removed from the orbs?
But then he noticed. The energy of his shadows had finally risen.
---------------
[The Superb Necromancer Technique]:
[Shadows: 46]
[Strength: 23]
[Energy: 5]
[Cultivation: 4th layer Body Tempering Realm]
---------------
{Overall stats:
1. Cultivation: [Advanced stage of the 7th layer Body Tempering Realm]
2. Elements: [Water: 2nd layer]; [Fire: 5th layer]; [Wind: 4th layer]; [Earth: 1st layer]; [Ice: 3rd layer]; [Lightning: 4th layer]; [Light: 3rd layer]; [Darkness: 4th layer]
3. Spells: [1-Waterfield]; [1-Fireball]; [1-Windblade]; [1-Earth wall]; [3-Fire Lance]; [3-Lightning Strike]; [3-Wind Armor]; [3-Revert]; [4-Dark Flames]; [4-Dark Domain]; [5-Spirit Destruction]
4. Techniques: [?-The Superb Necromancer Technique] }