Two days had passed since Marcus collapsed in his room.
He was unconscious for almost the entire day, only waking up in the night to the noise of people moving about.
Marcus later realized that it was his people fixing the windows of the mansion that broke under Maney's aura.
He himself had woken up feeling unwell, with sore muscles and a painful headache that seemed to intensify with every movement he made.
As a result, Marcus was forced to rest for two days.
And within this time frame, Bradley had returned, accomplishing everything he had been tasked with.
Just as Marcus expected, amongst the apothecarists that returned with this steward of his, Benicci and Darrell were present.
So were other familiar faces that he came across many times in the previous life.
Seeing them filled him with some mixture of emotions. Gratitude, ease, regret, and guilt.
The first two came as a result of what they had helped him accomplish before he died in the previous life.
And the second two were as a result of what they faced in Agard in that life, and then what they were likely to face in the upcoming future.
But Marcus shook these thoughts away for now, not wanting to delve too deep in them.
There was also the matter of the students from Ulha's Academy and the mission they had in Agard.
But due to Zach's death, they've been instructed to stand down until an investigation has been carried out.
How did he know this? Veronica informed him.
Even after how rudely he had dismissed her alongside her classmates a few days back, she didn't seem to take much offense from it.
Nonetheless, Marcus didn't let their matter disturb his thoughts. Zach was a traitor, a cultist at that.
He had no qualms about killing such people, and he had committed no crime in doing so.
*****
Presently.
July 20th.
Four months.
The duration that Maney gave continued to ring in Marcus's mind as he was seated.
Staring at the light-cream walls of the office, he locked his fingers together and tried to connect the dots…
"In four months, it will be November." He rubbed his chin a bit before sitting up.
"Within the last two redos, I was able to live till November. Though in the first redo, I died a few days earlier than in the second, to those Humanoid puppets. And the second to the curse of Dalmon."
Marcus paused.
Apart from the fact that he died in November twice, Marcus couldn't figure out why the month was chosen.
He couldn't point out what was so special about it.
The more he thought about it, the more he felt like he was slowly being surrounded by forces he couldn't see.
He ruffled his hair a bit, biting his lower lip, only to calm down a few seconds later.
"Regardless of what's to happen, two things remain true. Firstly, there's something beneficial to Maney that's going to take place in November. It will definitely be to his advantage.
Secondly, he's using the time in between to prepare. If not, there's no reason why he can't attack me tonight. His hands must be occupied."
Marcus got up from his chair and paced around his work table a bit.
"Which leaves us with the time to prepare too. At the same time, we don't have to conform to the timeline he set… and he knows this too."
Pertaining to the timeline, Marcus felt as if he had lost the initiative. He needed enough time to prepare, and so did Maney.
And even if he decides to attack before then, his side is too weak to face Maney at the moment.
The battle has already begun.
Marcus sighed and sat on the edge of his table. "We'll have to make the best out of this then."
While he had taken a few days to recover, he had also given his men and the people he rescued a bit of time to acclimatize, so to speak.
This time, compared to the first recruiting he did in his previous redo, he was planning on gathering at least over a thousand new fighters.
The upcoming battle would require a minimum of this number, or so he thought.
Marcus was confident that he would find quite a few talents if he searched. Though he wasn't planning on using his [Inspect] on everyone in his estate, as that would be taxing and perhaps even more daunting to follow up.
Rather, he would take on the same tactics as before, 'rile their hearts' and make them want to protect the little they've achieved.
Make them want revenge.
And with the Blood Bane Arts, there was some hope.
All they had to do was venture a bit deeper into Dawn Mountain.
A frown came with this thought.
Simple as it sounds… Dawn has always been an enigma. Moreover, Beasts are quite difficult to deal with. We might incur some casualties. Even the weakest one might require all hands on deck.
If not all, then at least half.
Marcus was aware that to build his army, he would have to take some risks.
As for himself, he had the Seven Desolate Swords to practice.
Folding his arms over his chest, with a thought, Marcus's status screen appeared before him.
…
[Name: Marcus Sirdi.]
[Age: 24.]
[Level: 2 (Mage), (Sage).]
[Race: Human.]
[Mana: 3100.]
[Titles: Lord With A Will (Lv2). Unprecedented Oddity (Lv0)]
[Pathfinder: Will 52/52. Strength 100/100. Dexterity 120/120.]
[Achievement Points: 29435.]
[Arcane Knowledge Learned (Lv2). Advanced Technological Knowledge Learned (Lv2). Body Modification Knowledge Learned (Lv2). Futuristic technological Knowledge Locked.]
[Redo: 2.]
[Days Left: 50 months (1502 days)]
…
With a bit of focus, the interface changed.
…
[Unprecedented Oddity (Lv0): A title that defies categorization. Something in you refuses to process the world the way others do.
When the weight of what you've encountered becomes too much for ordinary comprehension to hold, this title activates on its own terms, forcing understanding through regardless.
Effect: At an unknown threshold, grants a burst of accelerated and deepened comprehension of skills, situations, systems, or truths the user has been exposed to but not yet fully processed. Cannot be triggered manually. Cannot be suppressed once triggered.
Threshold: Unknown.
Duration: 10 seconds - 2 minutes.
Cooldown: 60 days.]
…
This was the first of its kind. Marcus didn't know what exactly cooldown meant, but he had an idea.
This title seemed useful at first glance, but it quickly became unreliable due to the restriction of not being able to utilize it at will and also, having an unknown threshold.
It was a trump card, yes, but one that he didn't have any control over.
Moving past that, he turned to his table and picked a pen to write down names. When he was done, Marcus called for Bradley and Brown.
"Sir?" Bradley stepped into the office right after Brown, and the two of them bowed at the somewhat disheveled Marcus.
"Gather up the men, everyone. We're heading into Dawn for an urgent mission."
"Huh? Everyone sir?" Brown questioned.
"Yes."
"Including me?" Bradley, dumbfounded, pointed at himself.
"Yes, including you."
What do you need me for? Nothing in that scary place needs stewarding or administrative assistance! Bradley complained silently.
"Before we go, gather up these boys. They will be joining our ranks as apprentice knights. Though it's going to be unofficial for now, by the time we get back, we'll make it official. They will be in charge of taking care of things here till we come back."
Taking the list, Brown read slowly. "Jonu, Sonu, Harey, Tempa…"
There were eighty-two names there, all of which Bradley and Brown didn't recognize. All of them were those whom he had recruited in his previous life.
The two of them began wondering when Marcus had interacted with the masses so deeply that he knew these many names.
"Be fast about it." Marcus urged and they quickly left the office.