Portia spotted Darius and almost jumped. Her bitter expression was quickly wiped away as she wore a weak smile, while Derek's eyes slightly narrowed. Darius noted their reactions with interest.

"Hello, Master Darius. Do you require any help?" Portia stepped forward to ask.

Darius smiled gently at Portia, making the young lady's heart speed up a little. "Thank you very much for the thoughtful offer, dear Portia, but I am currently headed out to perform some experiments."

Portia's curiosity suddenly burned up. Darius had shared with them that he was here to do some experiments in the area, which was how he even got permission to stay.

Even more importantly, they were very likely to be magical experiments! Darius had shown himself to be a mage and Portia had read a lot about mages and how they advanced their craft.

It was through the universally-approved Magical Method!

If Darius was actually going out to advance his powers as a mage by using the Magical Method, then that would be a sight worth seeing! She would actually be able to watch a mage draw up spells firsthand.

"I would like to accompany you, Master Darius. I'm a Scholar, and I have a real fancy for magic. Might it be possible for me to learn from you?" Portia asked with a rush.

Derek's expression twisted as his sister rudely requested to become an apprentice to a mage without even paying a fee or doing anything of note. He was more worldly than his sister thanks to the time he had spent in the towns with his father on errands.

Portia, who had spent her time nosing through books was not too adept in reading negative social cues occasionally, like now. Her intellectual curiosity got the better of her, leading the young woman to make a social gaffe that even a non-mage like him was aware of.

Derek sighed internally and spoke before Darius could reply. "Please forgive my rash sister. As she admitted, she has quite a fancy for magic and has a tendency to let her curiosity override her better manners. I can assure you, we shall both wait for you to complete your experiments and will await your return."

Darius, who was about to deny Portia kindly, was surprised by this young lad's astuteness despite being more of a physically focused person. As such, Darius simply nodded with a smile and walked away.

Portia, who realized her gaffe after being called out on it, became even sadder. Derek hugged his sister gently while chiding her, to which Portia nodded her head while tearing up.

After comforting her, Derek looked towards the direction Darius left with a strange gleam in his eyes.

* * *

Darius passed by the broken carriage he had spent the night in and walked past it while checking it out idly. He reminisced on his journey here fondly. From that small wooden cottage in the glade to Poleria's Homestead had taken him 2 or so days.

He had gone from level 1 and was now level 3, not a bad growth cycle given that he was not really given much in terms of combat minus one starter spell.

Darius wasn't disrespectful though. He understood well enough that receiving that starter spell alone was a boon that would likely shake any knowledgeable mage.

The ability to skip weeks and months of training, lectures, and tests to achieve basic mastery in anything he learned through skillbooks was not something Darius could describe as a 'mere' boost.

It was downright unfair and overpowered. Compared to people who woke up every day, paid fees for tutelage, and suffered through harsh reprimands from their trainers, he just had to tap a book and would achieve all of that.

This was something that made the Supreme System really important to Darius despite how barebones and unappealing version 1.0 of it was.

Of course, for every benefit, there was a detriment. The Skill Points mechanic. This was something that didn't just limit the utility of the skill system, but also had hidden psychological effects that must have been designed to damage the user over time.

For the time being, Darius was immune to it thanks to the fact that he had identified the effects as well as his high Intellect... but he also realized that it could not last forever. As long as things stayed this way, he would eventually be struck by the mental afflictions until he caved in.

He did not want that.

This was why he was currently walking towards the river he had crossed to arrive at the homestead. It was 23 kilometers away and would take him half a day to get there if he jogged, but he opted to walk and explore a little.

Last time, his singular goal had been to reach a place of civilization to create the first point of contact as well as to establish a homebase. Both had been achieved, so now his aim was to start mapping the area around Poleria's Homestead.

Derek had already given him some information on the wildlife here and from what he had heard it appeared like a good opportunity to raise his level before heading for one of the 20 towns. Once there, he would not have as much freedom to gallivant as he pleased.

About 4 hours later, Darius came upon a strange sound. It was a sound that he could not mistake, but he also could not possibly believe what he was hearing due to the absurdity.

He took a deep breath and steeled his heart, creeping around the trees on the side of the footpath and heading deeper into the forest. The deeper he went, the louder and clearer the sounds became, and the more Darius' face twisted.

At this point, he almost lost the will to go forward, for what he would see wouldn't be worth satisfying his curiosity, unfortunately, this was a part of his purpose in leisurely strutting through the area.

Darius secured his back against a tree, which was only a few feet from the sound which was now as clear as day. After angling himself quietly, Darius turned to peek around the tree and saw something that nearly burned itself into his retinas.

A 10 foot tall blue Troll was currently wrestling with a tanned lioness, trying to pin the beast down for reasons Darius despised.