(Samuel Pov)

"And what next, what was next?"

"It couldn't have ended like this.... otherwise we wouldn't be talking now."

"I don't remember... I have a lack of memory.... also some passages in my earlier story seem unclear to me. Excuse me Master." My knight answered me in a voice as hard as a stripped plate. But despite this, I could still make out the depth in his voice, the hoarse bass voice.

"I understand Gawain, don't worry.... it's not your fault..."

Only rather mine, I feel a little silly now.... I guess to get a further story, I will have to go through evolution myself.

"I'm sure you'll recall, eventually."

"I see, Master." Gawain replied, all the while not changing the tonality of his voice. Until now, he showed no emotional shift when he narrated the story of his life, no sadness, joy or bitterness, anything. It was as if he was unraveling the saga of another human being or looking at it from the perspective of a third person.

"..."

"..."

"Just asking Gawain, do you remember anything from before.... from before your evolution?"

"I have a slight flashback Master, I see it as if through a fog.... It feels as if something is blocking me at that moment, yet I don't know what. Sorry Master."

So, after all, you are still the same person.... interesting.

"I see, there was no topic." I replied slowly and then, as was my habit, I began to analyze the situation. My faithful knight, already accustomed to my quirks, moved back slightly and profoundly began to observe the surrounding area.

As the environment became calm again, my head could finally be flooded with a flood of new data.

Gawain's story had many, many threads that mostly led nowhere or meant nothing important right now, fortunately not all of them.

The abilities of the priests was very similar to those found in this world, I have not yet encountered the ability to heal, but what kind of priest would throw that at the undead. Also the pantheon, the structure, the hierarchy, the distribution of power, if it were not for the other symbols and domains of the gods I could say that they were similar.... although maybe I'm stretching it too far though. Maybe it's like some genre, fantasy, sci-fi or similar, just one and no other, who knows. I felt, though, that it would be impossible for me to know, or at least not anytime soon.

Another interesting point was how Gawain got here in the first place, after all, from what he was telling it was likely he had died in this desert. Yet now he was standing here in front of me.

Which leads to a longer thread about how my skeletons are made, after all, I don't create calcium from mana.... I guess. My knight at the time of summoning had battle marks on his body, and now there are none. So I can assume that some place where the dead gather, the working title 'land of the dead'. However, how Gawain found himself here, in a completely different world and stayed over there.... some connection between worlds or maybe a job of the System. Could there be one big land for all the dead from all the worlds.... but number of inhabitants of such a world would be counted in the trillions if not more.... but what else would it be?

Further what is evolution at all, a sudden change is unscientific. My knight gained new equipment and probably unlocked new capabilities, but why. The message appeared when I created a hundred undead, the captain unlocked at ten. There are two possibilities, either the remaining number of skeletons serves as a kind of power transmitter from the world of the dead, or it was about commanding. Gawain has fought in war almost all his life, commanding troops.... would it be a condition of evolution to recreate that. Randaloph was an alpha and now he is one, Gawain was a commander and now theoretically he is one too, he commands my entire army after all.... it's all about the realization of the former life.... it... it... makes sense.

Just why a hundred and ten.... am I missing something.... or maybe...

"MASTER?" Gawain asked interrupting my deliberation, he knew I hated it, so it must have been something serious.... must have been.

"Yes?"

"Forgive me Master for interrupting but I have an important plea, no events are too urgent so I thought this would be the perfect time."

"Yes?"

"Master, would you like to receive my pledge of allegiance, now that sanity has returned to me?"

"Yes?"

Upon hearing my words, Gawain momentarily put his weapon aside and knelt on one knee, bending his head toward me. He apparently ignored my hesitation and confusion in my voice, or simply ignored it.

"My Master I Swear to, Be ruthless and brave that you never have to be ashamed of me. Be without fear in the face of your enemies and never give up. Be guided by the honor to which you give direction. Speak the truth always, even if it leads to my death. And lastly, I pledge to be loyal to you and only you my master... till my death... or till you want to reject and betray me like the rest... that is my oath."

"Will you accept it... my master?"

I froze, I stagnated, I did not know what to say, but everything told me that I should not wait. I marched a few steps over to my knight to help him get up, but before that I gave him the words he wanted to hear.

"Yes I accept... my knight, I accept your oath..."

"And I swear I will never betray you.... never."

~~~~

When the awkward ceremony was behind me for the next trip was already time, maybe at least this time I can manage to wander there without distraction.... three times the charm.

Randaloph, obviously, immediately where disappeared as if knowing what was coming, so unfortunately journey was to be slower.... and on foot. In theory, I could have ordered another wolf to transport me there, but there was only one carriage worthy of a gentleman.... actually, I didn't want to bend the thin line of trust that was between me and my dog, his pack, his rules.

Well, but thanks to my conversation companion, it was not going to be so boring.... if it weren't for the fact that Gawain was silent as the grave, spoke only one word usually, and only when I asked him about something.

So nothing has actually changed.

But hours of wandering in complete silence were able to calm.... yeah, of course.

As for the knight himself, during this time I finally had a chance to look at him in depth for in addition to the changes on his mind he also passed through changes on his body.

In general, all his equipment had lost all rust, and seemed as if brand new, more fresh, just extracted from under the blacksmith's hammer. Starting at the legs, the plate leggings, instead of being purely of European style, now somehow appeared more oriental. Instead of a simple steel or iron plate, the armor was layered and decorated, small symbols and intentional indentations made it look like a museum exhibit and not something to protect yourself with, but Gawain quickly proved otherwise.

Gloves and arms the same, protruding from underneath skin, covered by layers of steel at least a centimeter thick, and spikes, don't miss the spikes. On the other hand, the top of the shoulders were just as protected as before by powerful ornate epaulettes, made of one large piece of metal. Each of them had two lines sizable spikes, symmetrically at the top as well as the bottom. Which like nails fastened the whole thing together. Of course, there was no way to miss a specific symbol engraved in that metal, I guess I didn't have to remind what kind.

At the chest area, part of the main armor changed the most but I couldn't see clearly. Everything in this area was covered by a long white robe reaching almost to my knight's ankles, obviously with a Maltese cross in the middle.... or a variant of it. However, I could spot some fragments, the big hole in the armor along with the earlier chainmail had disappeared but that was to be expected. Not even a fragment of some lack remained, even better, I would even say that now the size of armor was too much, it was the same formed in layers but I stopped counting with ten because it didn't make the slightest sense to me, this thing that Gawain was wearing didn't look like a ten-centimeter cube of solid steel, I didn't even want to start thinking how it was connected inside. Still, even I as a layman I could tell that it was someone's masterpiece.

Even my warrior's helmet has changed, a minor change but a change is a change. Instead of the letter T there was only one straight line left, so that the wearer could see, not to mention the ornaments and small holes below probably so that the warrior could breathe with them.... sadly useless in that case.

Also the shield and sword had changed also but minimally, the shield was only renewed, making the very famous cross visible again. The sword, on the other hand, seemed only to have been renewed, sharpened and perhaps even slightly elongated.... yet I wasn't sure about the last one.

The new clothes of the em... knight made it look like he was straight out of a crusade, regardless of how one looks at him, a slight change in color scheme and no one would know the difference. Even his name in the system has changed.... this, however, is just a formality, a mere cosmetic.... or maybe not.

Everything has changed, and yet nothing has changed.

If my theory about that for evolution you need a repeat of memories, reconstruction of the history of the person.... then what about me.... what should I do.... die, hehe...h e h.

I knew so little, and paradoxically every day I knew less and less.... but every day after was more and more interesting, even my anger at those fuckers from the corporation slowly began to pass, slowly.... very, very, very, very slowly.

At least I will not be bored now, the number of skeletons will not replenish itself after all.... what came to my mind to wait and stand for hours in one place... instead of doing it on the road.

Oy there will be a lot to minmaxing.... well, but what else is left for me to do.

Overall, with this amount, I can start thinking about the right proportions to aim for, 8 : 1 : 1 or perhaps 7 : 2 : 1 or...

All in all, it's starting to become quite a community of us, a community of outliers, outcasts, misfits.... psychopath, loser and traitor.

Misunderstood doctor led by the good of humanity, shunned and deceived for his willingness to help.

Leader eager to do everything for his family, who forgives even his worst enemy, even for the highest price.

And a warrior dedicated to only one goal, a mighty sword arm anchored by humility and holy purpose... the last of his kind.

Oh irony... what fate has brought us together

Just hope the visit to the Baron goes smoothly this time.