'My spirit power is increasing dramatically. But I don't know when the divine power inside the fragment will run out.' Abium thought to himself and sighed.
'I need to think of another way to increase my spirit power sooner.'
For now, he decided to keep a low profile in his room and take some rest.
'Once the spell time wears off, I have to move to the Creeper's Forest and construct the next spell model.' Abium nodded inwardly and soon started absorbing the divine fragment's spirit.
…
15th June, around 8 A.M, 16 Black Street, Commoners' Borough.
Knock! Knock!
At that moment, Abium was immersed in himself in reading one of the elven language books but suddenly frowned as he heard two knocks from the outside.
He quickly folded the reading page before closing the book, stood up from his seat, and moved towards the entrance door to open door. But before that, he changed his facial appearance into Baxter's face and even took out a wig from his space ring.
After that, he wore the long gray hair wig and opened the door with a click.
A moment later, he saw a total of 11 kids standing outside the door with ragged clothes and skinny faces. All of their bodies reeked of smell, and most of them timidly stood behind a brown-haired boy and a lean black-haired girl.
'Hmm? These are slum kids? Their hands are full of callous, and even had multiple scars on their hands and legs! Damn, what kind of life did they have all this time?'
"Come in." Abium quickly invited them in and started scanning them one by one. Meanwhile, they stood nervously near the entrance door and started trembling whenever they noticed Abium's gaze.
On the other hand, Abium watched their expression quietly for some time and finally spoke in a deep voice.
"I'm your employer from now on. Introduce yourselves one by one. Your name, age, and what you are good at." As he spoke, he went towards the right-side sofa and sat there silently.
In the meantime, the brown-haired kid, around 140 cm tall, took a step forward and started speaking boldly. He had fair skin, downturned black eyes, and had few cuts on his hands.
"I'm Aaron, My Lord. My age is 14 and I'm good at stealing and decision making-"
"He is a smart boy among all of us, My Lord." At that moment, the black-haired young girl interjected.
'Oh? A smart child, huh?'
Abium was surprised by Aaron's bold nature and nodded.
After that, the lean girl with long black hair bowed her head and introduced herself. She had a sharp nose, olive skin, and thin eyebrows.
"I'm Lillian and I'm 15 years old, My Lord. I'm good at observing, stealth, and disguising." Abium suddenly noticed a peculiar difference around her and raised his eyebrow slightly.
[Name: Lillian
Age: 15
Race: Human/???
Class: None
Attributes
Strength: 1.0
Agility: 1.0
Vitality: 1.1
Mana: 2.0
Spirit:1.2
Racial Trait (Unique Skill): Stealth.]
'Hmm? She has a unique skill? Wait. Azolla, what does that question mark represent?' Abium looked at the blue interface deeply and asked.
'She must have a slight amount of other race blood in her body. Wait a minute, I will check it immediately.' Azolla responded instantly.
Once again, Azolla sent a minute spiritual wave toward Lillian and analyzed her body.
'Hoo! She has a slight amount of dark-elf blood essence, lad. What's more interesting is that this kid has 'High' darkness element affinity.' Azolla said in a surprised tone.
After hearing the answer, Abium noted Lillian's potential and signaled the other kids to continue their introductions.
After Lillian, a tall boy with dark green hair and amber eyes stepped forward and started introducing himself.
"Sir, my name is Edwin and I'm 13 years old. I'm good at acting and begging." He said with a proud smile.
"Good. Next one." Abium quietly nodded and soon shifted his gaze towards the next kid.
It was a young boy with short black hair and round black eyes, and he appeared to be around 150 cm tall.
"I'm Ash, My Lord and I'm 12 years old. I'm very good at drawing, and also know a little about Sword Arts." The young boy named Ash said while bowing his head politely.
But what surprised Abium was not his polite behavior but his body movements.
'His posture looks refined.' He instantly checked his status and soon widened his eyes.
'He already mastered the 'Basic Sword Arts'? As expected of a knight's son, he seems to be practicing basic sword arts for years.'
'I didn't expect to find two gems here.'
Abium soon shifted his gaze towards another young, lean girl and signaled her to come forth.
She had blonde hair and chocolate-colored eyes and was around 140 cm tall.
"W-Wendy, 12. I know sewing, cooking, and I have an extraordinary memory. I-I can memorize faster than normal people."
'Memorize?' Abium checked her status but didn't find any difference.
'Hmm, good memory power, huh? She might become a good apprentice for Helena in the future.' Abium silently noted her uniqueness and soon shifted his gaze toward others.
The other six kids introduced themselves individually and informed him about their specialty.
Although no one was extraordinary as Ash and Lillian, their skills appeared decent.
'As expected, Darby did a good job in picking up the good gems.'
While thinking, Abium took a deep breath and spoke authoritatively.
"Congratulations! You are all selected."
As everyone soon cheered with a smile, Abium quietly waved his hand and added.
"Aaron, you will be their leader from now on. So, take good care of these kids like an older brother."
Then, he took a few ordinary gold coins from his space ring and gave them to Aaron.
"First, go and buy some normal clothes and food for everyone."
Meanwhile, Aaron took the money from Abium and walked out of the single storied house while leaving everyone inside. After a few minutes, he returned with many new clothes for boys and girls and wheat bread loaves.
The kids went to the bathroom one by one and cleaned themselves up.
Two hours later, all eleven kids stood before Abium while stuffing their mouths with bread and glancing at each other.
Once they finished eating, Abium cleared his throat and started to speak.
"Good. Except for Ash, no one knows how to read or write, right?"
"I-I know a little, My Lord." Wendy said with an awkward smile.
"Me too." Lillian also answered while raising her right hand.
"Oh? Anyway, I will give you guys a little surprise today." Abium said with an interesting smile and asked Aaron to come forward.
"What I'm going to do might cause some pain to you, so endure it." Aaron's expression grew pale as he walked near Abium.
"Will I die if I don't endure the pain, M-My Lord?" Aaron asked nervously.
He had heard many rumors about mages' dark magic and got anxious inside.
"Don't be stiff. You will not die." Abium said with a chuckle and quickly placed his hand on Aaron's forehead.
At that moment, Azolla collected the memories of Easica Language from his mind and sent them to Aaron with a bit of spiritual power. Although it was still hard for Abium to transfer his memories out of his Sea of Consciousness, Azolla could do it without any problem.
Meanwhile, Aaron felt a lot of information suddenly appear inside his mind, followed by a sharp headache due to the massive amount of information.
His face started to twist, and cold sweat appeared on his face.
Alas, Aaron gritted his teeth and endured the pain.
A few seconds later, the pain started to diminish and soon vanished.
On the other hand, Aaron analyzed the new information and soon widened his eyes.
"It's done."
Abium nodded with a soft smile and shifted his gaze towards Lillian.
Meanwhile, Lillian stepped forward and soon arrived in front of Abium.
Abium silently placed his right hand on her forehead and told Azolla to start the memory transfer. Soon, Azolla transferred all information about the common language to all the other kids and finally completed the process after an hour. Although Abium lost 0.1 spirit power, he didn't mind it.
After a bit of excitement, all the kids began to calm down and quickly shifted their gaze towards Abium.
They all knew there was no free lunch in this world and waited for his words.
"You guys sure understand my thoughts. Indeed, there is nothing free in this world. But worry not, I've no intention of casting any of you away." He paused for a moment and said with a broad smile.
"As long as you guys do what I tell you from now on, I'll give you and your family a bright future. You'll get a new land, home, stable work, and maybe even a lot of gold coins as salary."
At that moment, everyone in the hall couldn't help but swallow their salivas.
"But, it's not the right time to talk about it. Anyway, I'm going to give you some training manuals. So, all you have to do now is listen to my words and train in this house. Got it?" Abium asked while talking out a few books from his spatial ring.
"Aaron, step forward." He ordered.
Meanwhile, Aaron walked forth and nodded his head.
"You have an 'Average' fire elemental affinity, so it's better for you to learn the attack-type Warrior Cultivation Method." Abium said.
After that, he started giving similar Warrior Cultivation manuals to other kids and finally shifted his gaze towards Lilian, who was left out.