Edgar stood on the castle, staring up at the magical storm, until a dark figure appeared among the clouds, plummeting downwards. Edgar drew his claws with one hand and clutched the seed tightly in the other.

“What are you doing to me, little guy?”

A massive pile of bones fell from the sky, a familiar sight, punctuated by the fall of a dragon’s skull. Eyes of purple fire locked onto him as it roared, its body assembling as it found its feet.

Edgar activated [Hot Foot] and began running, its eyes locked onto him, so he sped up, feeding more mana to his new skill. Its bone-pile stomach engorged until an arm exploded outward at him. He sped up again, setting aside even more of his mana, and managed to dodge it.

He started at twenty percent of his mana set aside for [Hot Foot] and even that felt like a lot. Now, at fifty percent, he was moving fast enough that he knew his old mortal body would have crumbled under the stress.

His new body could handle it. It was made to go fast. His blood pumped as he kept feeding it bits of mana, seeing how far he could push it.

The seed pulsed, trying to get his attention.

“Little guy, if you’ve got a way out of this, I’d love to hear it. I have a feeling hot foot alone isn’t gonna cut it.”

Faster.

“I’m doing what I can out here. Are you saying to put all my mana in hot foot?”

Three arms exploded outward, one after another, and Edgar pushed [Hot Foot] further, giving it even more mana. Each time, he managed to dodge, but it was getting closer. He wasn’t used to thinking as fast as he needed to when he moved like this. The adrenaline helped, but it was going to take some practice.

Faster!

He felt a heat blossom from the seed and pour into his core.

[One with Darkness] has spawned the skill [Shadow Step].

Skill: [Shadow Step]

* Move instantly from one shadow to another.

* Aspect: Darkness

* Duration: Instant

* Cost: 3 Mana

* Cooldown: None

Edgar smiled, “Oh, now that is cool.”

As the next arm lanced out, he glanced at his mana. At level two, he had twenty-one points total and about seventy percent of that was tied up with [Hot Foot], with about six left. Two [Shadow Step]s. He eased up on [Hot Foot] a bit, letting that mana recover.

Releasing [Hot Foot] completely would be a mistake, but not having the mana he needed to [Shadow Step] his way to victory would be an even worse mistake. He had a feeling he couldn’t die here—not really, anyway—but failing the mastery challenge might be just as bad.

“Hey, little guy, if I just go for it, do you think you can cook up something to—”

Do it! Attack!

A rush of intentions poured out from the seed. There was something about darkness and claws, but in its excitement, the thoughts were coming in fast and out of order, flashes of images that he just couldn’t quite understand. Eventually, it gave up and simplified its message.

Trust. I will help.

Edgar nodded. “Alright.”

As he lowered the amount of mana fed to [Hot Foot], the Amalgamation sensed an opening and attacked. An arm flew at him, fingers unfurling as it neared.

Then Edgar disappeared.

It was like the shadows swallowed him whole. Traces of dark energy amassed at the corners of his vision, and he could feel them swirling around him. There was a strange lurch, and then he appeared in his target shadow, behind the Amalgamation. Wisps of shadow streamed from his body.

He blinked, shaking his head and smiling. “Amazing…”

He could tell his body wasn’t used to it, and it would take a bit longer to adjust, but his mind was adapting quickly. The skill had no cooldown, either. He could feel it in his core, crackling with energy.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

The seed was also crackled with energy in his palm, pushing him onward.

As he hesitated, the Amalgamation’s dragon skull spun, locking onto him once more. He could see its body deforming again, bulging with even more arm cannons.

Edgar smirked. “That’s not gonna be enough anymore, buddy.”

The clouds overhead were casting shadows everywhere, and Edgar had enough free mana for one more teleport. Just as the Amalgamation unleashed its attack, Edgar teleported into the shadows above the Amalgamation.

He could feel the seed surge with excitement and warmth flooded his core.

[One with Darkness] has gained the skill [Dark Strike].

Skill: [Dark Strike]

* Your next attack is augmented by the darkness aspect.

* Aspect: Darkness

* Cost: 2 Mana

* Cooldown: 2 seconds

Too bad he only had a single point of mana left. He held the seed in front of his face, shouting over the wind.

“Good game, little friend. It just wasn’t—”

He could feel the seed smirking at him as a single point of mana recovered, ticking his total up to two.

I told you. Trust me.

If a seed could wear glasses, then this seed was having a glasses moment.

Edgar shook his head, smiling at his ridiculous little friend. “You expect me to believe you were mathing out those mana points this whole time? Yeah… right…”

Below him, the Amalgamation’s head spun in circles, whipping back and forth as it searched for its missing prey. An angry roar sounded as it smashed an oversized, bulbous fist into the stonework, sending bits of bone and castle flying like shrapnel.

Edgar flexed the claws of his free hand, activating [Dark Strike]. Black magic enveloped his claws, wisping off in dark trails.

The strike struck the Amalgamation’s dragon skull and sliced cleanly through it, cleaving all the way down into its bone-pile body. The black-purple energy seared the bones, leaving the nubs steaming with dark energy.

The two halves of the skull fell aside, clattering to the stone floor, and then the whole bone-pile body collapsed, flooding the top of the castle with bones.

It was done.

Edgar grasped the little seed in his hand. “Thank you.”

Welcome. Now plant.

“Plant you? Where?” He glanced around, but there wasn’t a speck of dirt anywhere he could see.

In your garden.

“Don’t tempt me with a good time. I’ll sow my—.”

The little seed chuckled. No time, Edgar. Plant.

The storm overhead rumbled, casting more bolts of lightning against the castle walls and parapet. Edgar peered into the darkness, and his [Darkvision] allowing him to see well enough, but there just wasn’t any garden to be found.

Bones.

Edgar glanced down at his feet, realizing the Amalgamation’s bones were decomposing rapidly, turning into a gray powder.

“Won’t it blow away? Tsk. I don’t like the idea of leaving you in a garden on the roof of the castle.”

He could feel the little seed insisting that it was fine, but Edgar fussed over it anyway, using [Dark Strike] to cleave enough stone from the parapet to build an impromptu raised bed. It ended up looking more like a campfire overloaded with gray ash than a real garden, but his skill thrummed happily, anyway.

He knelt, digging a small hole and laying his little friend in it.

Thank you.

“You’re welcome, little one. I’ll be looking forward to fighting with you.”

[One with Darkness] has leveled up.

...

Character [Edgar Voss] has leveled up.

..

The Leveling Ritual is now complete.

.

Ability: [One with Darkness]

* Movement speed in shadows is increased.

* Side Effect: [Darkvision]. Sight through non-magical darkness up to 60 feet.

* Side Effect: [Rift Sight].

* Aspect: Darkness

* Level: 2

* Essence to next level: 0%

Edgar could feel the strange feeling beginning again, like his body was being sucked through a pipe. He closed his eyes and sat before the garden, meditating. He could feel the seed there, its warmth appearing like a little speck of brightness to his mind’s eye.

“I’ll see you again soon, I hope.”

Don’t tempt me with a good time.

Edgar laughed as his body was slurped up through a cosmic straw. In a flash, he was back in his body. He opened his eyes to find Raiden smiling at him. Black Mountain was as gloomy as he had left it. In the distance, waves of mist crashed against snaggletooth mountains, and beside him, Mirai was still deep in her own meditation.

“Welcome back, kiddo. How’d it go?”

“I did it! Level 2!” Edgar held out two fingers proudly.

Raiden raised a fist, beaming. “Congratulations! Well done, let’s see some laps, then. Your body will be a bit stronger now, and your mind sharper, so enjoy the feeling of it while it lasts. You’ll adjust to your leveled body pretty quickly.”

Edgar leapt to his feet, activating [Hot Foot] and began zipping around the arena. Kly, Priz, and the others waved at him as he ran, cheering.

“Congrats, Edgar!”

“Way two go!”

~~~~~~~~~~

Stats Page for this Chapter here.