it had taken another month before I could use a basic version of echolocation to deal with being blinded by Nimuë. Upon becoming proficient in that way of interpreting the world she started testing me. Beginning by throwing small things at me randomly and progressing into sneaking up behind me to hit me. She was quieter and quieter until it was only the faintest footsteps that she was using to move. Although I began to still be able to catch her presence she told me there were much more stealthy creatures in the world and I should always be ready for an ambush.

After that, she removed the physical blindness but not the mana block and again I had to learn to see everything I was missing she would lay traps in order to catch me if I stopped paying attention. Usually when I woke up and after a month of this, I was proficient enough to avoid them. This earned me back my mana. Feeling like a lost limb was returned to me I felt that it had grown stronger. Becoming more in tune with my senses meant that I could feel and control my mana better. In order to stop feeling that way again, Nimuë explained how to stop my mana being sealed by an enemy. She told me that from now until my next birthday I would be learning to use every weapon she had learned but first was the art of swordsmanship. In her words “just because the sword is curved does not make the shotel any less of a sword. She had however never encountered the urumi so had no way to specifically teach me but a whip was a weapon she had learned the use off so I was given insight into both of these weapons first. Due to the manaore, I had the ability to use any kind of close range weapon I could think of and even though I had lost my beast abilities when I released all of my friends I was still the same person that had fought using claws and talons.

After a lot of conversations it was decided that if I could get close enough then a dagger to the neck and kidneys before retreating and defending with my usual weapons would be the best option if not then fooling the opponent into thinking I am unarmed and solely a magic user with natural weapons like claws would be the best fighting method. Of course against Nimuë who knew how I fought the method was never to work. Luckily it had only taken half as long as expected and despite still not being even close to good enough to defeat Nimuë she agreed it was time to begin my kingdom.

Due to mainly eating naturally occurring animals to survive I had not gained any traits that the minions I summoned would receive but began by summoning into the lake 400 goldfish and 100 koi toad infusing half of each with unholy and half with holy mana it required 5000 mana to transform them all into what I was hoping for. The goldfish became golden piranha and golden angelfish respectively the piranhas had true scales and left a trail of darkness behind them every so often a stray hand would reach from the darkness and claim one of the non-dungeon fish before releasing a skeleton fish. This was not expected. This was offset by the angelfish which had grown 2 extra fins which flapped for a boost of speed, upon moving a white and sparkling trail was left behind which would spread into the lake and create small creatures which would save fish from the spontaneous hands. Moving onto the koi toads they began named this as they had the same whiskers as koi fish but were toads upon being infused with mana they grew to a larger size and the toad-shaped feet they had morphed into human looking and clawed hands while the slimy skin become filled with different properties the slime of the demon toad would sizzle and cause decay on whatever it dripped onto while the slime of the holy toad would change what it landed on to be more likely to grow things on. The skeleton fish themselves actually impressed me as when they transformed they became minions of my dungeon. The issue was that because they were made of only bones they would not be able to swim very fast. The bonus, however, was that the bone was insanely sharp and if something came close enough it would slice with ease.

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Next, I realised that my new creations needed food too creating more goldfish for the piranhas and small birds for the toads. Upon completing this my curiosity was too strong and I conjured a lilliebud, knowing only one was allowed I wanted to know why. It was like a seed but it grew roots near instantly which dragged it toward the waters edge where the pod that I expected to be the location that something would grow from opened and a swarm of seeds were exploded out of the opening before the near 6 foot pod shrank to only around 15 cm before in the next 3 hours reaching 20cm. what impressed me was that seeds which exploded out were all types of colours but mainly related to the affinities I had over 50% and from these seeds grew flowers which the angelfish ate if they landed in the lake or holy toads ate if it was on land. I had created my own little ecosystem. But why stop there. To begin with, I wanted to experiment with something. Summoning 3 goats and imps I saw why the goats were so cheap they were terrible hence my experiment ordering the imps to sit atop the goats head  I decided to deconstruct the lower region of the imp and the goat head this required another 2000 mana each but the result was extremely worth it. I had created imp centaurs made of goats the little imp wings had stayed attached but grown to a similar size to the back of the goat the imptaur was sadly only at the end of its head 3 foot but I hoped they would grow when they levelled up. They were the top of the food chain for now and consisted of two females and one male while the rest of the creatures were fairly equally split. However I decided it was time for a nap until my mana returned feeling that my domain stretched to the outer edges of the lake but anything entering would notify me of its challenging of the dungeon using the last of my mana I pulled up a room made of stone and grew a plant bed in order to sleep in relative comfort rather than the sleeping on the hard ground I had been forced to suffer through as part of Nimuë’s training although I think it was just to be mean.

------- Human Kingdom -------

Pov of the king.

There was a knock at the door of my private bedchambers. “Enter,” I said hoping it was someone I would be pleased to see. The door slowly creaking open I saw the shape of a man enshadowed and the disembodied voice I had grown used to over that past 2 years. “ it is done my liege you may rest easy in your bed that the pests that you complained about thoroughly will no longer be of the issue”. I looked hard at the figure before replying contemplating how to reply before speaking.  “I thank you, young man, but need you to speak like such an ominous dick. all you did was put my grandchildren to bed you crazy bastard. You make it sound like you murdered a village. You didn’t, did you. If you did then you will be out of a job. The paperwork is a nightmare. I joke I joke but seriously, why speak like that”. The shadows receded and there stood a young man of about 24. “ I don’t know its fun and the kids enjoy it. it makes them think I'm a lot more dark and dangerous than I really am. Although I graduated well and have since grown into a strong rank c fighter I prefer them to think that the man who babysits them is really a guard of S rank hired to keep them safe. I apologise your highness.” I really did like this new babysitter that my wife had hired to take care of my grandkids  “  that is fine then just maybe don’t carry on the act to me it's off-putting.” My wife had been assassinated sadly only one year previous. It was poison in the drink and although we expected death on its way due to having lived a long life it was still a shock. The poison had taken 6 months to finish killing her but in that time she had hired the babysitter. I loved her wholly and was awaiting the end of this mortal coil to join the woman in the afterlife. My son would succeed me as he was the most kind of my sons I loved them all but he struck me as the best leader. The young man bowed and upon leaving once again disappeared into the shadows.