Now after a good night of sleep I feel oddly bad. Maybe it was sleeping on a cave floor that did that. Well let’s persevere for now and aim to increase my level now that I’ve been recognized by a god.
Really though if I would have done something outrageous and tried to level up beforehand it would have been pointless. That just goes to show that cowering in fear is the right choice sometimes, although it's not it worked out.
‘Child do not leave the cave, around here there are no monsters lower that at least level ten. And I will not protect you outside this area.’ [Adelinda]
Seemingly reading my intention My dragon guardian stopped me from going out to die. Then skill leveling while safe is the best choice.
“Umm then what will I do other than skill leveling? Also why am I always referred to as child?” [Enrique]
‘You have no name and I do not believe you are somehow older than me, hence child.’ [Adelinda]
Oh right it seems that monsters only have names when they are powerful or something like that. I’ve met named monsters in RPGs and they are usually boss type characters, something I am not.
‘Now then let us begin training you in the skills you have and have asked for. Let's begin with shadow magic as it’s the easiest.’ [Adelinda]
After that she recited three spell chants and told me to memorize them before I started trying to cast them. The three spells were quite ordinary and non lethal being shadow wall, dark cloak, and light eater.
Shadow wall was just like its name, a wall made of a large shadow, it would only be useful in sneaking around dark areas as cover without raising suspicion. Honestly I can understand why shadow magic was designated for assassination because while the spell itself doesn’t cause damage at night it would be good natural looking cover.
The second spell is similar to the first one but instead of a stationary wall it creates a cloak of shadows to conceal the caster. This also seems really useful but the drawback is that it similar to shadow wall it has no defencive properties and your front can be exposed if someone looks in your direction carefully after all cloaks aren't perfect cover.
And the last one that seems to be the most useful because it can infact directly oppose light magic is light eater. As a shadow imp my innate weakness is light magic and light magic users have a weakness to dark or undead magic which I don’t have but with light eater I even the playing field as long as the opponent isn’t too much stronger than I am. Luckily the chants for these spells are simple and I was able to memorize them fairly quickly.
‘Now start until you run out of mana then recover and do so again for the next week. When you have a grasp of your mana reserves and shadow magic I'll move on to teach you the contract skill so that you can train in your summoning magic.’ [Adelinda]
Another thing that I forgot to mention is that skills can’t actually be gained that easily, or at least what are considered high ranked or rare skills. Those skills mostly include any magic system you have a bad affinity with. So for someone to just pick up summoning even if they know the chants and can perform it somewhat is difficult, luckily I already have it.
Unlike those skills however it seems that things like weapon skills can be learned by anyone but leveling them up depends on talent and effort. Contract magic is in between those two, first you need a good or at least decent grasp of any magic to grasp your mana.
Then you need to know the chant and magic circle, normally this is the difficult part as it’s kept hidden by most as a trade secret. Apparently that's how slaves are made and monsters aren't really too fond of it in general making it almost a human exclusive skill.
But Adelinda knows it because she has had many experiences in life.thanks to this I will have the skill. It also seems that there is a taming skill but for that you either need a good affinity with different creatures or something to entice a creature to follow you.
I as a weak imp have neither and chose the contract skill that will make whatever I contract into a slave like existence. Though I'm not to fond of the word slave it’s going to consist of monsters so I don’t really mind, I don’t think I could use this on humans however.
For a week I did just as Adelinda instructed and repeatedly cast the three spells, maintaining them for a long period of time however was difficult. And through all that hard work my mana reserves didn’t increase.
That can only be done by leveling up apparently. As monsters our growth is restricted that way, unlike humans who have vast potential and very greatly in states depending on the person.
Instead I was able to feel a slight reduction on the mana cost of each spell as I continued to use them. Although from what Adelinda told me it’s not because I'm great but because I'm starting to get closer to casting the spell at a normal level one state.
‘Now then it’s time to move on to the contract skill. This will be simple, I'll draw the magic circle on the wall and you copy it onto the ground until it’s satisfactory. I will also be teaching you the chant. This skill is fairly simple and only has two chants even at its highest level they will not change the only difference is what you will be able to make submit to your will.’ [Adelinda]
Following that the same process repeated itself I memorized the chants and the magic circle for a week. The two chants were straightforward one was for making a contract and the other was for breaking it. During this time I also didn’t forget to continue practicing shadow magic, I can see why I was told not to take on too much.
For two skills I've already had to memorize five chants and a magic circle, but it’s easier if you tell yourself that you’ll die if you don’t. Recently I've been faking out less but that’s because it’s fairly safe with Adelinda after she leaves it’s going to be hell.
Now I have a good grasp of my mana and can stop before it runs out, there's nothing like passing out after it runs dry but it does leave you really sluggish and thinking strait becomes difficult so I like to avoid that state, plus draining my mana doesn't help much so it’s pointless.
Now it’s finally time to have my first familiar, a summoned creature can help me level up considerably fast and if what Adelinda said then all the monsters around here are considerably strong.
However she said that I had to practice my summoning magic so she might help me find something suitable. While I was thinking that the obsidian dragon moved towards me.
‘Good, you learned that rather quickly. Unfortunately there are no monsters around here that you can subdue… Unless we get you one just for practice, what do you say? Although it will be considerably weak.’ [Adelinda]
Oh so she is gonna kinda help, at least in the search. “I have no problem with that. What monster is it?” [Enrique]
But she didn’t tell me instead she looked out the cave entrance and gave a small dragon sigh, which made it seem rather big from here.
‘Follow me.’ [Adelinda]
Following her I was kinda expecting something grand. I mean she is a dragon maybe what she considers weak is still multiple times stronger than I am, even if it was a low level gray wolf it would still be fine. After walking for about an hour I found that we were headed to an area with less and less trees.
This was fine now because I had an obsidian dragon accompanying me but normally I would avoid open areas such as this. This is the kind of place where you have a random encounter with an adventurer or some stronger hungry monster without anywhere to hide.
‘Child the creature is in that direction, be careful and spot it before approaching.’ [Adelinda]
Looking around I saw nothing but because she had told me to spot it first I knew something was in the general direction in which she had pointed her head. Not being able to find it I began using identify on everything until it’s statues menu popped into view.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
[tr]
StatusNAMERaceMalice WeedStat points:0Exp:4/10Level1AttributeStrength8Intelligence2Endurance14Agility7skillsEntanglelv.1Trap an opponent.Fast growthlv.4grow your body at a fast rate.Self plantinglv.3Plant yourself into any environment.
No, that couldn’t be it right? I mean the stats aren't actually bad, if it was just physical strength then it trumps me easily but that? Can it even grow.
“Ahh, Adelinda you couldn’t be talking about the malice weed right?” [Enrique]
‘So you do have the identify skill, good. And yes although it’s level is low and it’s fighting ability is also low, it’s the only thing around here that’s possible for you to contract on your own. Also for future reference try using identify on its race.’ [Adelinda]
Well I can only do as i’m told, ‘identify’.
Malice WeedMalice weeds are small plants that have taken in mana and have become monsters. They are hostile to anything around them and work to capture prey at all times.
So it’s just a weed that took in mana, has no intelligence, and attacks anything that gets near. Well hopefully I can give it commands after this as it has two good skills that could work for crowd control. With that my first battle in this world started.
And I lost quickly. I tried to use shadow cloak to hide myself while using light eater to deprive it of its vision but it doesn't have eyes and I have no other ways to attack. I really should have learned something offensive.
After that because it was trying to kill me slowly like an anaconda squeezing its prey I had enough time to draw the contract circle with practiced ease using my blood. Getting the blood was easy as I had semi sharp nails and no real defensive hide. the good thing was that I didn’t panic.
Why you ask, did I finally became brave? Well no, the malice weed had good restraining power but instead of actually trying to kill me it just trapped me and squeezed slowly due to the fact that it has no intelligence and never did anything past capturing its prey.
Normally they just feed of the earth so while not deadly it is mean, hence malice weed. Once the contract circle had been finished I began the short chant.
“Creature who has fallen prey to my power fall under me and submit. I declare you my possession, from now on my word is law to your body and soul. Contract creature.” [Enrique]
The difference for creatures and humans or any other thing can be reworded and I can also contract a creature to someone else if I use their blood and true name, it doesn’t work if the other party gives me a fake name. And though I kinda fell prey to it, it didn’t really matter now I had my first familiar.
Lastly because of the fact that the creature was bound for summoning it would transform according to my elemental affinity as long as it didn’t have one of its own. The malice weed does not have one meaning that it would transform and then enter what is known as a summoning space but Adelinda said she would explain that when we get back for now I left the malice weed where I found it and headed back to the cave.
After a while my dragon companion taught me the summon magic chant while sounding tired for some reason. Maybe she doesn’t go out much or simply thinks that taking care of me is getting boring.
‘Child… I will only be with you until you reach level ten. Learn what you can in that time and then go out and explore.’ [Adelinda]
After saying that she went to the place she usually sleeps in and left me to summon my malice weed alone.
“Creature which is bound to me hear my call and come forth to serve your master. Summon malice weed” [Enrique]
With that the floor looked like a swirling shadow appeared and out of it came the malice weed. Looking at it from up close without all the grass that was around it before I don’t understand why it’s called a weed. It’s just a blade of grass in reality, but now it has some dark lines running through it, most likely from obtaining a shadow aptitude.
Because it could not get a firm hold on the ground it moved into a shadow. Which was really weird, did it gain a new skill? Before going to sleep for the night I should check what my status is and what the malice weed’s status is. And I should probably name it. Well because I'm bad at naming I'm going to go the easy rout.
“Malice weed from now on you’ll be Null.” [Enrique]
[table=black]StatusNAMERaceMalice WeedStat points:0Exp:4/10Level1AttributeShadowStrength8Intelligence2Endurance14Agility7skillsEntanglelv.1Trap an opponent.[tr]Fast growthlv.4grow your body at a fast rate.Self plantinglv.3Plant yourself into any environment.shadow plantlv.1Plant yourself in shadows.[/tds][/table]
[table=black]StatusNAMERaceShadow Imp[td2]Stat points:0Exp: 0/10Level1AttributeShadowStrength2Intelligence7Endurance4Agility6skillsShadow magiclv.1Use magic to manipulate shadows.[tr]Archerylv.1Use a bow with some skill.Summeninglv.1Summon creatures of your attribute.Identifylv.maxIdentify anything around you.
(does not work on anyone more than five levels above you)Contractlv.1Contract and enslave anything on the same level or weaker then you.[/table]
(Author's note. Who want's an op main? I'm not sure what rout to go on this.) thank you for reading:)