Obviously, I want them all.

Hmm... if I choose meditation and ask Ronan if he could curse me with poison that takes away one health point every twenty minutes, then I could meditate and learn magical resistance on my own. Because meditation accelerates mana regeneration and also regenerates health. It seems like an ability I definitely need.

But balance... To begin with, it appears to be specially designed for my specialization. It has no level, which means I can't raise it, it's a unique level. My most advanced elemental magic is fire. If I understand correctly what balance means, I'll need less practice with air or water to raise their level from minor to low. And if, for example, I want to improve my minor splash, it will be easier for me too.

I really can't decide between the two.

It's not that I think magic resistance wouldn't be good for me, especially when lower-level spells normally deal one point of damage (except for mages with high magic affinity or a lot of intelligence). The problem is, the other two options are just too irresistible.

Moving on to the spells:

Available spells (choose one):

* Minor Versatile (spirit spell): One-point increase in a chosen attribute. Target: single, caster. Duration: 30 minutes. Cost: 1 MP.

* Minor Flash (spirit spell): Instant movement to a location within the caster's visual range. Target: single, caster. Range: 3 meters. Cost: 2 MP.

* Minor alchemy (spirit spell): Transmutation of elements into known minor potions. Cost: x MP, with x being the number of elements (earth, water, fire, air) involved in the potion. Known potions so far: minor mana potion. Cost: 4 MP.

Honestly, alchemy it's very tempting, considering how expensive potions are. I spend four points—I imagine mana then uses the four basic elements—and if it's like the potions the teachers have given me, I recover six. What a bargain: I improve the spell, raise my spirit magic, and on top of that, I can make good money selling the extra ones.

I feel like crying, I think to myself.

Because I want alchemy, but I'm a pioneer in this branch of spirit magic, which means no one can teach me a spell. So, if I pass up on flash or versatile, I run the risk of never being able to learn them. Spells aren't like masteries, I can't just start training to learn them. And if my fighting style really involves strengthening my body and weapons, I need flash. It can make me dodge an attack that would otherwise kill me.

I choose flash.

Then, I mull over the mastery again. I'm about to not choose because I can't decide when I realize it. Meditation will improve as I level up. If at some point it reaches one MP per minute, I could summon the shadow wolf and keep it in that form while I'm meditating.

That's a game-changer.

Maybe if I start meditating on my own every day, they'll give it to me, but I'd rather have it now.

I reach out my fingers and select minor level meditation.

Good, very good. Now let's see if this little wolf, who takes 5% of the experience I earn, has leveled up. 5% of 100 is 5, plus the ridiculous amount it may have gotten from the bears and the hunting days. The last time I checked, it was at 85%.

"Let me see your statistics window and the wolf's, please," I ask in a whisper.

The little one, without leaving the skin we're covering ourselves with, does so. Well, would you look at that! It just leveled up too. It's level 2 and its progress bar is at 0%.

Since it's a divine beast, I couldn't help but wonder if it might require significantly more experience to level up compared to creatures like deer, boars, bears, or even myself. It's definitely something I should look into further or bring up with a teacher, leaving out the whole "divine beast" detail, of course. I'm curious to find out if different animal species have varying XP requirements for leveling up.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

What I do know is that a human, with 5 experience points in total, is level 2. That confirms to me that the divine beast needs more.

Seed of darkness. Level 2.

Progress towards level 3: 0%

Constitution 5

Strength 3

Intelligence 3

Agility 2

Wisdom 2

Health Points 5

Mana Points 2

Skills:

Not available

Spells:

Healing Lick initiated level: restores half of the future Dark Lord's maximum HP and MP. Not applicable to itself or other targets that aren't the future Dark Lord or the Dark Lord. Cost: 1 MP.

Not available

Not available

It has gained at least one point per attribute, and no less than three in constitution. It must have been arduous, but leveling up is much more profitable for it than for me.

And now it can use Healing Lick twice? I have to take advantage of this to level up my magic.

Shadow Wolf. Level 30.

As a divine creature, it can exceed the level 20 restriction imposed on mundane creatures.

Constitution 35

Strength 33

Intelligence 33

Agility 32

Wisdom 32

Health Points 35

Mana Points 32

Skills:

Shadow Jump grandmaster level. Active. Teleport to a shadow within vision range. Instant. No cooldown. No mana cost.

Regeneration grandmaster level. Passive. Heals 6HP per minute. Regenerates lost limbs.

Hard Skin grandmaster level. Passive. +10 points physical resistance.

Magic Resistance grandmaster level. Passive. +10 points magic resistance.

Spells:

Shadow Howl grandmaster level. Paralyzes for 10 seconds all creatures that hear it and don't have the magic resistance skill. If the creature has magic resistance skill at a level lower than grandmaster, will be paralyzed several seconds depending on their mastery in magic resistance. Cost: 2 MP.

Shadow Aura grandmaster level. Decreases enemies' defense and attack by 10x%, both physical and magical. Range: 300 meter radius circular area. Cost: x MP.

Darkness Ball grandmaster level. Ball made of dark mana that explodes in a 30m² area. Range: 300 meter radius circular area. Cost: x MP. Damage: 2.5x damage points to the target on direct hit. 2x damage points to targets within explosion area.

Shadow Claws grandmaster level. Layer of darkness that covers the wolf's front claws with dark mana making claws ignore targets' armor. Physical armor is completely ignored. If target has magical armor or shields, they're also ignored if their value is less than x. Cost: x MP. Duration: 10x minutes. Damage: 5x damage points.

Interesting. I see how the wolf's attributes have increased as a result of the seed's level up. What I'm sure of is that I have to make the puppy, now that it has a little more health, go off on its own to hunt rabbits or boars or whatever. And the wolf… it doesn't have too many hit points. Sure, it has great resistances that make it quite immune, especially to the enemies we've encountered so far. But something tells me this won't always be the case.

Oh my, what a to-do list... Learn archery, try to apply channeling to the bow or quiver, level up the puppy, Mary's dress, tomorrow's dungeon, do something about Sol who's been looking at me with too much resentment this week... Not to mention the goblin village, keep training, tomorrow's dungeon without my new friends seeing that I can do strange magic...

Alright then, time for bed.

Although that's not going to happen, I remain sleepless until almost time to get up. And to think stress was only a 21st century thing on Earth…

For example, my head keeps spinning about this whole accepting vassals thing. The bears were easy, they're like pets. The goblins, not so much. Of course, the ring I'm wearing, the seal of resistance, still has its abilities blocked. I'll need to fulfill its requirements for it to be of any help. However, if I were to be able to use it, I don't know if I would. I mean, it's easy to say that I accept the goblins because the contract forces me to and thus rid myself of all responsibility. But I always have a choice, I could have said no and rid the world of the seed of darkness. Honestly, even if I hadn't been bound by contract, I think I would have accepted them anyway. These goblins don't seem bad. They have their honor and want to protect their families. They don't seem like monsters that only think about killing and exterminating humans. Besides, for now the only darkness here is that of the seed and Ronan, and they don't seem like bad people either. I mean, the shadow wolf didn't help us in the fight against the bear in the pit, but the truth is that the goblins gained a lot of experience from that. Not me, animals hardly give me anything. Getting five times more than a level one bear is still ridiculous if this bear gives me next to nothing. However, I did improve my magic.

I think the wolf did it for that reason, to help us grow.

There comes a point where the little wolf that snuggles against my stomach makes a sound that seems like a hoarse purr. I pet it. I focus on the silkiness of its fur and finally end up falling asleep. Too bad Ronan wakes me up right away because we have to go to the dungeon.