[First Resurrection Stone - Unique

Durability: MAX

Uses: 3 (Rechargeable)

Description: A unique item that was born from the Will of Faust to allow special entities to revive themselves upon death for a limited number of times. It is the first of its kind and was incubated in the body of a child in order to grant it sentience after experiencing his life and absorbing his spiritual energy. It requires the purest infusion of energy to generate a revival chance, and the current maximum is 5 times.]

Just as Darius had seen when he was on the run from the Plains of Death, this stone was everything it was supposed to be. The details alone given in its description allude to so many things and left even more for speculation, but Darius wasn't interested in that at the moment.

What he wanted to know was how best to use this stone. It had three charges, which meant three chances for revival after the 8,000 years Marasmus spent charging it.

That alone made Darius understand that each use was as vital as the blood flowing in his veins, and he could not afford to become complacent and careless just because he knew he could come back to life after death.

Darius placed the stone on the table and removed a dagger from his Inventory. He then cut his finger gently, wincing as he did so, then allowed his blood to coat the stone fully.

What happened next was that the blood was instantly absorbed by the stone, and it shone with a splendorous light before settling down. Darius immediately felt an intangible connection between himself and the stone, like a lifebuoy was perpetually holding his waist to pull him from the 'sea of death' back onto the 'shores of life'.

Darius was pleased by this and Healed himself. While he had nice Endurance, it wasn't at the level of cuts closing up within seconds. He would need to reach Gunner's level in Endurance first.

Now that Darius was connected with the stone, he understood a little bit more about how it worked. The moment he died, he would have his soul pulled from wherever he was and brought into the stone.

The stone would then nourish his damaged soul for a while and then rebuild him a body from scratch. It was this precise process, especially the soul restoration, that swallowed so much energy for it was going against the laws of death.

Darius identified a few problems from this. Firstly, he would only have his soul brought over, so he had to make sure that whatever he had was solidly in his Inventory before he died. Otherwise, it would… 'drop'… upon his death.

Secondly, the body reconstruction would leave him extremely weak. Coming back from death was only supposed to be possible for an undead, but for a living person? Hard!

Finally, he needed a safe place to store the stone so that it would not be discovered and destroyed while he was either away, dead and being regenerated by it, or sensed by a powerful being.

Darius smiled when he realized he had perfect solutions for the three issues. For the first, he would simply do the obvious and make sure that his valuables were kept safe.

For the second, he could easily provide the best sort of resource that could help in bringing him back to peak health and condition. With the Bowl of Nuwa, Darius could turn water into Lunar Dew.

As for the final one, that was even easier. It was the exact reason he had chosen to return to his place of origin, for this glade was definitely not something the average person could easily access.

With that in mind, Darius put the stone away. He then checked the new class skill he and Gunner had unlocked from their main classes after ranking up.

[Combine - Level 1 Skill

Cost: None

Description: Merge any two compatible items into one. The items must be of the same grade and be of the same type. The effectiveness of this skill is based on your Intellect stat.]

[Energy Ward - Level 1 Skill

Cost: None

Description: Create a tangible shield that resists physical damage from all directions. The amount of damage resisted per attack is 1%!]

Darius was pleased by both skills. He was staying true to the Itemancer class he had seen in that anime from his past life, and probably the entire class in general.

He could combine two compatible items of the same grade, huh? His mind first landed on the Lunar Dew and the True Dragon blood he had. His original plan had been to put the dragon blood in the Bowl of Nuwa for 24 hours and see what miraculous liquid would come out of it.

Which one was better? To let the bowl work its magic or combine the liquids if they could?

Why not both?

He could just combine the two first and then place it in the bowl. Even if it doesn't work, no one could fault him for trying to get the best out of it.

As for Gunner's own skill, it basically solidified the half-giant's perfection as a frontliner and main tank. He had the Mageward Barrier to give him resistance against magic and the Energy Ward to give him resistance against physical damage.

This was all buffed in the background by his Earth's Guardian skill. All the large lad needed now was a skill to defend his mind, and the situation from before would never repeat itself as long as he had enough Skill Points to maximize the skills.

Unfortunately, despite leveling up from 20 to 21, they had not gained any AP or SP. Darius was unsure whether this was another one of Caesar's tricks, or just the result of having benefitted from the maximum extra 20 they got while at the stage cap.

With a glint in his eye, Darius finally honed in on what was likely the most important change of his new stage for more than one reason.

He checked out the improvements of his Transmutation ability...