Having just gotten my new familiar I was curious about the various aspects of summoning but Adelinda seemed tired and waking her doesn’t seem to be a good idea. So instead I’m going to continue with shadow magic practice. Having verified the fact that I am properly at what is considered level one in the shadow magic skill I have confirmed that anything I do from now on is an increase. 

Regrettably I do not possess a speed leveling skill or a skill steal skill so I have to level my skills the old fashioned way, hard work. Normally I wouldn’t have the mentality for single minded effort like this but when I remember that leveling skills is the only way I'll survive then getting bored is impossible. Having said that I also don’t think that it is possible to level certain skills without having higher stats in certain places. 

For example an archer would need great agility and endurance. Thinking about that the various thing that stat points can go into encompass more than what they seem to. Strength is fairly straightforward compared to some of the other ones, it’s just how much raw force can be used without any other form of support. 

Intelligence isn’t actually about how smart one is or how much someone can memorize or calculate, instead it is simply one's mana capacity. Endurance is the most complicated because it has many forms and is not the same representation for everyone. It can be how strong one physical defence is, how long one can last doing intense activities, or simply how strong one’s life force is. 

Because of that I was told to be careful of anyone with a high endurance because it meant that either it’s hard to hurt them, they can win in drawn out battles, or they simply won't die regardless of what you do. 

For example an undead has infinite endurance but it has weak defence instead it never tiers and is tenacious. In a similar way agility encompasses multiple things such as reflexes, speed, dynamic vision, and dexterity. And these things make fighting certain enemies annoying if you trust the status menus too much. 

Instead I was told to pay more attention to skills as it is a better representation of what someone is capable of. But Adelinda also told me that it’s just her point of view, others see it differently and most actually pay more attention to stats so it can be confusing. 

Next I was taught suport magic, this is something I had the most trouble in because my shadow attribute didn’t fit well with it but I managed to gain the skill after two weeks. 

For the level one support magic I learned three spells arm strengthening, speed boost, and defensive boost. All three spells are straightforward and work just like their namesake so there is no need for explanation other then it gives a plus four to strength, agility, or endurance for a minute. 

For now these spells are a godsend because when they are cast I have average level strength and if used on Null, my malice weed, it’s physical strength is somewhat overpowering. 

Considering it has some exp points that means it has already killed at least one thing. Speaking of Null, Adelinda explained the difference between summoned creatures and tamed creatures. Tamed creatures are companions that follow you by choice. 

Summoned creatures are more like slaves because a contract is necessary but that isn’t the only thing. They are sent to what is called a summoner space where they are broken down into mana and reside not needing food or water. It also allows them to heal safely as long as the creature isn’t dead it can recover after some time. 

The downside however is that keeping them summoned takes a permanent toll on your mana supply. For example if I had ten points of mana then summoned Null it would take two points to keep it summoned then I only have eight points available as long as it’s out. 

Because I have a good amount of mana and Null is fairly weak I don’t feel the difference but stronger monsters will have larger tolls meaning I have to focus on raising my mana pool if I want something stronger than me to protect me. 

But that can only be done by raising my level. But that’s more or less impossible considering where I am, so instead I'll try to level my skills and think of a strategy for living after reaching level ten. 

Although maybe if I never reach it Adelinda will stay with me for my ten year lifespan and protect me. But that’s also a no, I'm not willing to live in a cave for ten years while eating raw meat and sleeping on the hard rock floor. And to make my life better I've resolved to continue practicing. 

Because it seemed necessary I was given a week more to practice my support spells along with my summoning spells. I was also told that no chant is possible but it is regrettably not a skill. Instead it's done through practicing a spell until you get the feel of it and begin shortening the chant until it’s gone altogether. 

High level wizards can apparently in sta cast low level spells as a means to buy time for a larger spell. Next is going to be my only combat skill, whip, although I chose it in my excitement I'm sure that I can make something good out of it. 

I mean I've seen what someone can do with a towel so a whip should be able to do more than just harass an opponent. With this I'm more of a medium to long range character, short rang is too frightening so I'll skip that instead I plan on having Null protect me by trapping anyone that gets to close. 

And because it has planted and apparently rotted itself inside my shadow it can follow me anywhere as long as I don't mind the drop in my mana pool. Having said that I do not have a whip and I don’t really think Adelinda has one either so I have to make one. While thinking about how to make one I had a great idea. Null can help me. 

“Null grow longer.” [Enrique] 

While having Null grow I cut off various pieces to see what length would make a good whip. I thought of using material from it because it is surprisingly sturdy and at the same time very flexible. 

Having found a good piece I began working on showing Null how to braid itself into a whip. By the way I don’t know what my current height is so I can't really give measurements to anything. I know I'm short but that’s it about it. 

And for my appearance I have gray skin, pointy ears, an unproportional head to body ratio, and wings and a tail that I don't even know how to use. The reason for that is that my wings are too small to actually carry me and as a former human I have no idea how to move my tail. I can do so occasionally but most of the time it just lies motionless. 

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I'm also not sure what my face looks like but because it can’t be good so I would prefer to save that for when I'm not in danger of dieing. After a long time trying to get Null to make a whip I succeeded and now had a decent whip made from part of Nulls body. 

I also instructed it to learn how to create one quickly and use it for itself. After all apart from the entangle skill it has no offensive capabilities which is a waste considering its high strength stat. Now with my whip I began to learn how to strike and Adelinda would correct my mistakes. 

I had an idea of adding spikes to the end of it later but was told that it would be a bad idea. Whips are apparently blunt force weapons and it’s the final crack of the whip that produces the most damage. I was told that if I used spikes at the end instead of having the force from the crack it would instead get stuck and then simply become a weapon for harassment instead of a deadly weapon. 

Instead I was told that adding spikes to the body of the whip would be a better idea as it could help me catch anything I want with more ease. And with that Null and I began to master the whip. I was told that although Null can’t see it can feel the vibrations in the ground and air to sense near by enemies. 

It also can’t hear but do to our contract it will more or less do what I tell it. After this I'm going to be given two months to up all my skills then Adelinda will find good opponents for me to fight and raise my level. 

Fighting is also important because just practicing skills will only get you so far, I'm told that skills will raise faster if you participate in actual combat. I guess it’s the difference from going at a punching bag for an hour and sparing for an hour. 

Sparing will definitely help improve your skills more while simply hitting a punching bag is meant more as a workout. Ahhh, why does a game system like world have to have so many complications. 

Well I guess it makes sense, this is real life after all and not a game. While the gods are willing to auto increase our stats it would feel weird to have them change me based on my skills, like if I suddenly knew how to use some weapon or magic. 

‘Child after you reach whip skill level two I’ll teach you a whip art.’ [Adelinda] 

Art? What’s a whip art? I'm going to assume it's like a martial art skill. After asking it’s apparently what a spell is to a magic system for a weapon or martial arts system. Something like heavy slash for the sword skill or power shot for an archer. 

Well that's a long way to go if I don’t pay attention to what my dragon instructor tells me. And honestly it is hard to use a whip but it’s also a good and versatile medium range weapon. Ahh, I wonder if Steve’s summoning is going better than mine. 

He always talked about getting summoned and screwing over a king if he wasn’t treated fairly then getting his own harem. Well I guess I’ll pray that he’s doing better than I am. But I have no time to think about those things I have to focus on being able to survive and finding a way to live longer. 

As a former human I had expected to live for at least sixty years but now my prime will pass after i’m five. No that’s not something I can except. Wait why don’t I just ask my dragon teacher who is here to answer my questions. 

“Ahh, excuse me. Adelinda I have a question.” [Enrique] 

‘Speak child.’ [Adelinda] 

“So I was thinking if there was a way for me to extend my lifespan. It’s just that ten years seems to short.” [Enrique] 

I thought that she would have to think about my question for a while but she was actually able to give me an immediate answer. 

‘Then you have to evolve. After every ten levels you have a chance to evolve into a higher class monster. Although I've never seen a high class imp it is possible. And depending on what race you are there are also various evolutionary paths. The lower a creature is the more paths they generally have. Take a goblin they might become a hobgoblin then a goblin noble and eventually became a goblin king but they can also go a different rout and change race altogether turning into an ogre. But like I said for an imp I wouldn’t know. After all as soon as an imp levels up it usually dies.’ [Adelinda] 

Ah the cruel stupidity that is the shadow imp hunting method, we'll all imps really. They attack in groups of at least a hundred and can kill even level twenty opponents but the problem is the sacrifices they make to accomplish that. 

On top of that the most powerful imps are always at the front dieing before they can achieve anything then the one’s who manage to kill the prey level up and become the new vanguard. It is a vicious cycle of stupidity and ensures that the imp race will never prosper. 

‘Because you have a higher chance of survival and reaching a higher level I'll explain some things for when you prepare to evolve. First there are two kinds of evolutions for monsters. The first is going closer to a humanoid form and then the second is a form closer to that of a beast. Humanoid forms will allow a wider variety of combat choices but your physical ability will not be the same as other monsters.’ [Adelinda]

‘A beast however will have great physical abilities and is generally very strong. Then there are other choices within those as well like becoming another race entirely or becoming a higher class to your race. But changing race is more of a matter of how one was bread. Goblins have so many choices because long ago they had a great king who went and mated with any war slave he could find making the goblin race very diverse in what they could become.’ [Adelinda] 

Considering that those are my choices I guess I'll have to go with becoming a higher class if I can. And I'll stick with the humanoid choice because it would feel the most natural. Now for a month of intense training to prepare me for combat. Still though I'm missing my crucial bow for my archery skill.

(Author's note: so this is the fourth chapter and I've been doing a lot of little time skips the next one should be it for a good amount of time. And then I'll start the independence from the protective dragon. Thank you for reading.) :)