System
New Abilities Added: Summon Shadow Minion, Blink, Phase Lock, Curse of death
New Affinity: Shadow - Average of Death + Life - Shadows are the thin line between life and death, immortal, ethereal, and mysterious. A realm of its own, to underestimate the shadows is to seek certain death. Few can see the shadows, fewer to talk to them, and only one to control them.
Er...ror… quest is given by shadow beholder.
Long long ago, there was once an entity of shadows, it was dull and incompetent, with no real intelligence or willpower to have true power, even with its ability to command the shadows it became obsolete. It was swallowed by its unloyal companions, like an idiot prince who is nothing but a stepping stone for power. Ever since then, the shadows have been in hiding waiting for their return to power. No one can understand their true power, as they are depthless. Are you worthy of this power?
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POV Anubis:
Anubis looked at his message given by the system with shock. After choosing the Shadow Elemental Emperor as his next evolution this system popped up. Anubis thought the message must either be from a loyal shadow creature to the last emperor, or the previous emperor’s last dying words. Thinking either could be probable as the last emperor must have a self-loathing personality. Then the shadow-egg that covered Anubis began to crack, the light from the outside began to pour inside slowly as the egg broke apart slowly by itself. However, being a reincarnated hunter and god, Anubis was smart in the ways of the wilderness. He knew that eggs were used as nutrition for the newborn for some animals, so that’s exactly what he did. Anubis could feel the power of the shell and it’s the connection to him so he used shadow domain to consume the shell, an incredibly dark shadow spread in every direction for a few hundred feet or 30 meters around him. It was much much easier to use now, thought Anubis. Accidently overdoing it, he consumed the shell into himself along with tearing up the ground around him that broke apart the trees into wooden shrapnel and the rocks into pebbles that shot everywhere.
Anubis looked at his surroundings and laughed… oops, he thought. He then looked into the sky and used his new ability blink. He teleported into the air about 1000 feet or 300 meters above ground and the treetops. So about 1000 feet is the max distance, Anubis thought excitedly. A teleportation ability has always been a dream for him until now. With this, he has an escape card. The only problem he has to work on is the quick feeling of space distortion. Due to the distortion, it isn’t the perfect assassination feeling. If any strong enemy is worth their stuff, they will have quick reflexes and be able to detect the space distortion. It also seems to have a cooldown of a few seconds or so. That could be the space needing to stabilize again.
Anubis floated far above the treetops and boulders that dotted the land, he could see the local layout of the land. Far off into the distance to his left and right there were mountains that seemed to separate the land. On one side were rolling plains and the other was thick forests that only seem to turn darker and darker the further it goes off into the distance. Anubis seemed to be right on the border between the two lands. Being able to float was most likely thanks to his low density as an ethereal body being made of shadows. He thought about him still being a demonic looking genie at the moment, and thinking he should have a more… civilized form if he is able to meet any intelligent people besides monsters. Thinking for a few minutes about his newest evolution being an emperor he came up with a good idea.
The air wavered, pure darkness seemed to overtake the land as the light was absorbed into the shadows. Runic lines of cyan color spread out in a disc-like shape in mid-air around Anubis. A dark humanoid figure was first made, then a robe flew upon the being. Minutes of molding, shaping, crafting was spent to make a fallen-angel like a figure without wings. Lines of runic scripting lined the straps that were wrapped around the waist, they also were visible on the lining of the hood in intricate detail. Silver metal that looked like it was forged in both pure light and darkness created a chest plate and arm bracers. A waist plate that covered the groin and a portion of the lower back formed made of the same metal. Shoulder pads of layered metal formed, and lines of beautiful engravings formed to make shapes of demons on the left shoulder and angels on the right. A metallic plate formed to tie and lock the pure black waist strap into a plate, then an engraving of a ying-yang symbol formed, half of pure white metal and pure dark metal.
System
You have created a new form named, Emperor of Shadows
…
Deep into the dark lands in a hidden grove.
In a court made of dark wood and intricate metal linings. Similar to wood elven buildings but with a more dark feel, a group of elves with long silver hair and grey skin that would make humans look incredibly ugly. Smooth, and beautiful is the vibe given off of the elves, both men and women. If someone ignored the dark and mysterious vibe given off was ignored, then people would believe they could be fallen, angels. A group of elves were discussing the new findings within their borders…
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
“WHAT! , you said a portion of the forest was devoid of life… then another completely frozen off in black ice. I see now why you called the entire council in. It seems as an ancient beast must have fought another. This is serious, if this beast goes deeper into the forest..” A young looking shadow elf that seemed to be in his twenties was talking to other council members. A medium aged looking elf stood up from his wooden chair on one side of a dark wood table with engravings of mountains alongside the rim of the table; “the mountain tribe has already started looking into this matter, it isn’t even a full week after the events have been caused, and they believe they have found a trail… this trail isn’t what we are wanting though, the corpses of strong tier 0’s sucked completely dry of lifeforce. We are thinking that an ancient creature has awoken and is starting to feed. In our libraries of old, there was a tale of a shadow creature that is able to consume lifeforce and grow stronger incredibly fast, however, this creature was also insane and attacked everything possible. This monster we are looking for is actually just choosing strong opponents. We at the mountain tribe believe it is intelligent and is actually trying to farm for the experience to evolve. If we allow it to evolve, then the destruction it can cause based on the earlier found reports… it would be undefeatable with us alone”. All the council members had an expression of seriousness at this news. Although the shadow elves are undeniably strong, they are also few in number. Their racial weakness is their incredibly low birth rates. The only way to actually repopulate fast is for an elf to sacrifice their life force in a higher chance for a newborn. News of a creature that could devastate them potentially is not good news. Unheard of black ice, creatures that have been turned into corpses, an area that is completely just ashes… all of them are afraid of what could happen if they anger this beast. The middle age elf sat down, and they all turned to their grand elder. The only tier 2 man in the entire shadow elf population. He is their leader that they look up to, whether strength or intelligence he is the best. The grand elder was thinking, tapping his hands on his desk *tap* *tap* *tap*... he cleared his throat *hmph*, he looked at all of his shadow elf family. Then, with a serious face said, “this is something we can’t ignore, I will personally go and find this creature… we have enough to deal with whether it’s the lizardmen to the north-west or humans to the north-east of the mountains. I will take a group of 30 of our strongest men to come with me and the scouts that have discovered the.. after effects of the creature”. All the council members looked at their leader with steel-hard gazes and nodded. They knew if they were to all go and die, their race would be doomed in these hard times.
…
POV Anubis:
I was busy looking at my self and thinking I did a damn good job in my new creation. I could give the Nazgul, from the old Lord of the Rings series that was still a classic in my old life, a good run for their money in looking dark, mysterious, and terrifying.
[Looking good master, I do like this version of yourself.]
“Thanks, Zero”... Wait did I just talk? “HAHAHAHA, I CAN FINALLY TALK AGAIN!” I am so happy with my choices at the moment, being able to talk is a blessing in disguise. Not only that I sound really cool! “I sound like a mysterious wanderer, a being of absolute control. Just the vibe my voice gives off is much more majestic than my previous Anubis god’s form. Sweet, now it’s time to continue on, I really don’t need food as I can just absorb life force, just as delicious as a perfectly cooked steak. Hmm, I guess it’s time to head deeper into the forest and level up some more and test out my new skills. Actually, I can just use my shadow summon ability now. I floated back down to a clearing that is surrounded by a couple of dozen trees. A shadow appeared from under my robe that seemed to just barely not touch the floor as if not to dirty itself. The shadow was like a pool of darkness that was ready to be molded into my will, I used my Void Walker form as the base. A demonic looking genie that was a miniature version of mine appeared. It was only 5 feet or 1.5 meters tall, it looked at me then bowed in a 90-degree angle and then went onto guard duty to make sure the surrounding was clear. However, I also realized it didn’t have any soul powers and its 4-eyes are just grey instead of cyan color. Still studying the creature and its connection to me, I found there is a thin ethereal connection to my soul, however, it’s not to my soul exactly more like it just is sucked on like a suction cup. I feed it mana through the channel and the being is sustained, I continued to mess with the channel and found the being can last up to 1 hour before it dissipates from lack of mana. I also found during that time it is absolutely loyal, without any hesitation, it cut off one of its arms from a command I gave it. It has some form of intelligence, just enough to be able to understand my commands and perform them to either perfection or attempt at it. I told the minion to cut down the surrounding trees in one hit and it tried really hard, however its attacks could only take out a few trees at the time. After it took out the surrounding trees and reduced them to rubble, it turned to me and bowed, through the connection I could feel it was incredibly sorry about not being able to do it in one move as though it is not enough to perform to my wishes. It even went to the motion of about to commit suicide as it had it’s hand ready to tear out its own throat.
“Wait! Wait!... it’s fine, I gave you an impossible task in the first place to test your skills and see how I can better use you, my minion”. The minion understood with another 90-degree bow and went back to guarding me against potential intruders. Interesting… really really interesting I thought to myself. I summoned another 7 minions, each minion seems to take 100 mana, however, every minion locks 20 mana from being regenerated as it needs such mana to live. I understood where I need to still increase my strength. I summoned up my stat screen with thinking Stats, With my level as 5 and tier as 1, I have 52 points to put into my skills, it seems every 2 levels gives me 1 stat point to use. I observed my available points and my current stats. I ended up putting 15 stat points into AGI and PER, I also used my remaining points for INT, my wisdom is absurd and doesn’t need an increase anytime soon. However, I realized that my mana pool although very large can be depleted in a fight quite fast, with my minion summon cost, soul flame cost per charge, and my other abilities cost, it can run out within minutes if used less sparingly. In the end, I decided on my future build, I will increase my agility with perception for assassinations, and intelligence with wisdom(if needed) for summoning, and magic. A rogue - mage build seems to come to mind from my old VRMMO days.
…
After finalizing my strengths, I decided its time to level more, I need to be strong to realize my future ambitions, and while I hunt I can think about what I want to accomplish in this world. I already know In the future I will be known around the world, whether for good or bad it is yet up for me to decide. I am no hero and I am no villain, there is no such thing. There are only shades of grey, some shades can be darker than others however there is no such thing as perfectly pure in goodness, or evilness only heavily influenced in one way or another. I was gliding across the ground as my “shadow form” instead of any visible form, this is the easiest transportation from right now so it is the easiest to use for hunting. My next target was a … cave. I could smell mustiness in the cave. I could also sense many hundreds of small life forms through life detect. Bad smell, breeding like rabbits, caves… goblins. I smiled, it’s time to be an exterminator I guess.
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