The Last Primal

What was even better was the fact that the Roas, the once old, wrinkled exiled shaman, that now sported a rejuvenated, youthful body brimming with power could feel some long-forgotten sensation cascading down from the top of his head gently touching his shoulders. 

With shaking hands, he slowly reached for the spot, only to feel lush, silky strands of hair from where only his bald head used to be. Unable to process this new reality, he remained frozen, kneeling on the ground whilst patting the top of his head with wide eyes gazing in front of himself, to the absolute nothingness.

Seeing him in this state, Aiden's smile turned into a wider smirk, he remained silent, enjoying the sight a bit longer. 

However, his silent enjoyment was interrupted with a strange, new notification from the system. It had a slightly different, lower-pitched bell-like sound than the usual ones, which immediately grabbed his attention. Opening the note, it was now his turn to go wide-eyed with shock.

[Minion: Roas has been restored to peak condition. 

Minion Details:

Name: Roas

Race: Mountain Orc (Tier 2) (clean)

Class: Tribal Shaman

Level: 10

Condition: 100% (restored to peak)

Soul Power: 0

Mana: 100

Experience: 0

Might: 13

Agility: 7

Spirit: 9

Skills:

Language: Orc (Lvl -)

Language: Goblin (Lvl -)

Hunt (Lvl 5)

Magic Proficiency (Lvl -)

Dark Magic (Lvl 2)

Fire Magic (Lvl 4)

Spirit Magic (Lvl 3)

Effects: 

Touch of the Primal (Lvl -)]

He actually received a character sheet for Roas! This was something he did not expect, and it caught him by surprise. Taking a few moments to process the shock this new update has provided, Aiden took a closer look at the character sheet for his minion, but he only received questions after questions instead… First of all, what was that new section under Roas's race? Class? Is it referring to his current job? He could accept the level, albeit he found it strange that this was the first time this metric showcased itself… Nevertheless, he knew it represented his overall experience and strength.

Going further, Aiden was curious what could have been Roas' previous condition, as the 100% now represented his current, peak, restored state… Anyway, what was more interesting was the new resource he seemed to operate on, something called Mana. He had no mana, he used Soul Power, but even though it was a visible metric in Roas's sheet, it was currently 0.

His next surprise was when he noticed the attributes. So far, he couldn't compare his Might, Agility, or Spirit to the real world. He understood he was considered fast and strong, but never realized how much so. If he were to accept that Roas's metrics were the norm, or maybe even higher than the average, and if he were to accept that orcs were generally stronger, much stronger than humans, what were the normal, default numbers for them? 5? Maybe less?

If that's the case then no wonder he could toss them around like broken toys whenever he hit them, or that even the elite mercenaries proved absolutely no challenge back then.

'Humans are weak, in general, I guess… Still, there must be a reason for their dominance…' Aiden lamented inwardly.

Shelving these thoughts for the time being, what excited Aiden the most was Roas' skills. He had some proficiency in 3 different schools of magic, something that Aiden still lacked but was really eager to get into or get some knowledge in. His system was learning as he witnessed his Master and his Granny casting, but it was such an incredibly slow-paced progress that till now, he couldn't complete the analysis, which was one of his great regrets. He never asked them to teach him about it, which, in retrospect, was a mistake.

Aiden was wondering if he could use his Minion to learn some of these skills… He made a mental note to follow up on it later on.

Going to the last section of his minion's character sheet, the effects. There was only one note here, something he had no idea what it meant but was eager to learn more about it. Sadly, no matter where he focused his attention, he could not find any section on the screen that was interactable, Aiden was unable to bring up any details about any of the skills and effects on the screen. 

Once again, he was reminded of Enya, his little helper who was sadly unavailable in this time of need. She would know for sure what these all meant, and how to move forward…

Sadly, Aiden could only sigh, and just hope that she would recuperate sooner rather than later and return to his side. As the days went by, he found himself missing her more and more…

"[Orc] My lord…" His silent lamenting was interrupted with a faintly whispered question, coming from his minion. Coming back to reality, he looked at the now youthful, vigorous orc with a barely contained, excited grin stretching across his face.

"[Orc] With our preparations now done, it is time to get inside the tribe's grounds, and meet up with these other supposed leaders of the horde that have gathered here and see what they want. Also, we have a second objective which is just as equally important as the first. There's a human male that has sneaked inside the camp." Aiden explained, slowly shifting his attention towards behind the remains of the hut, where the supposed entrance to the tribe stood.

Hearing his lord mentioning a human male, a confused expression surfaced on Roas's face. Looking at the young master, he couldn't help but ask.

"[Orc] Excuse me, my lord, but… why are you bothered by a single human male? Is he of any value to you?" Although he was confused by his young lord's interest in this singular male, his tone was still reverent, respectful.

Already expecting such a question, Aiden calmly responded, his wide smirk returning to a much calmer, friendly smile.

"[Orc] He is a… friend of mine. As you have already witnessed, I can alter, reshape my body. This man helped me in my time of need. We will find him and get him out of his predicament. You are to help him and protect him. Understood?"

Roas, hearing his master's question immediately began to fervently nod his head as he exclaimed with clear determination in his voice.

"[Orc] Yes, my lord! I will protect this human with all my strength!" Then, thinking about the order a bit more, confusion once again resurfaced in his face. Looking at Aiden, he voiced his concerns.

"[Orc] Umm… I'm terribly sorry my lord, but I don't know what this human male looks like. How will I find and rescue him?"

Shaking his head slightly, Aiden smilingly replied.

"[Orc] Don't worry about it, I will be there with you. You can't speak their language anyway, so you will be hard-pressed to make him understand that you are there to help him and not hurt him anyway."

As they spoke, the new, minion-related notifications kept ringing inside Aiden's mind. Since it could affect their plans, he decided to not skip them, and open them up just to be sure he wouldn't miss anything important.

A moment later, he was glad he did not skip the message, as though it would not affect the current mission at hand, it informed him of such a crucial new feature that he had trouble keeping his calm, collected face on the outside.

[Update: Minion Space has been unlocked!

Minion Space is a sub-dimension where you can store your minions. The dimension itself is an empty mass of land which can be customized by the host using his Spirit attribute. More details can be found once the host enters the minion sub-space himself.]

'I can customize it? What does that mean?' He asked inwardly, not really expecting any response. 

'Argh, I have so much to focus on… For now, I should just complete this assignment, then once I'm free, I should explore this new space. After all, if it's a now sub-world, something similar to the Pocket Dimension I trained in, and if I were to 'keep' Roas there, I should take my time to get to know it…'

Shaking his head, Aiden focused his attention to the now rather than the future. Turning towards his faithful new minion, Roas, with the friendly smile that seemingly never left his face, he raised his arms, pointing behind the destroyed home. 

"[Orc] Okay Roas, the tribe's entrance should be somewhere that way, right?"

Following the direction his young master was pointing at, Roas nodded as he slowly raised from his knees.

"[Orc] Yes, my lord. There will be a few guards at the entrance, but I don't think they will give you any trouble. Your current look is majestic, and they will be hard-pressed not to immediately bow to your powerful aura."

Nodding, Aiden could only agree to Roas' words. Unfortunately, he found no way as of yet how to suppress his newly acquired aura, it was something different than his draconic heritage one, this was ever-present, affecting all orcs and goblins alike.

Looking at his servant, Aiden was reminded of some small detail.

"[Orc] Will they not recognize you and cause you trouble instead?"

In response, Roas shook his head as a wide smirk resurfaced on his face.

"[Orc] No my lord. They will never expect me in this new, youthful body!"