I quickly invested some New Gems in Magic, worried that what I was going to do was going to take too much Mana from me. The first 10 stats I added still costed 100 New Gems each, just like what the System Workers had told me at the beginning of everything. However, the next stat I added subtracted 300 New Gems instead of 100. All in all, I decided to pour 15 stats into Magic. I left the rest as they were for now - they would not be useful for this battle. All of this happened within a second, and I forced my wings to bring me down a little so that the shadow eagle wouldn't crash into me and send me into an unwelcomed plunge that would end with my face flattened against solid earth. As the creature manoeuvred itself around to face me, I pulled up my profile to check my new stats.
Lvl.8
Raven Dawn
ADULT
Abilities: N/A
Strength: 17 [+]
Defense: 14 [+]
Magic: 35 [+]
Mind: 14 [+]
Class: Storyteller
Skills: Story Weaver [Lvl.1], Artist [Lvl.1], Illusions [Lvl.1]
Once it was in front of me again, I let the blue box fade away and glared at it, channeling all of my mental strength into separating it into shadow-ey chunks. They resisted against my control, but my grip was like iron. I had wanted to tear off a wing first, but the shadows there were too thick for me to separate, so I went for a clawed foot. It was not easy by any means, but after a hard tug of war, I could finally detach it. There was no blood, of course - I did not know why I expected it to bleed - but the shadows called to me, as if it wanted me to accept it as part of me.
Before I could reject it, it was already floating in the air above me, and it felt so right to let it become part of me. I beckoned to it, allowing it to sink fully through my forearm when it reached me. All of a sudden, I could feel my horns and my wings grow larger. Accompanying those changes were pain, shock, and an instinctive feeling that I was stronger than I was before I absorbed the shadow, even if only by a miniscule amount.
Unfortunately, due to my distraction, the owl used this chance to dig its remaining claw into me, and I could feel a foreign force trying to push its way into my brain. I ignored the pain and the feeling of blood trickling down my arm from my shoulder. Instead, I focused on my mind and the attacks launched at it. Both my secondary and primary gut-feelings were telling me that letting even the smallest part of it in would mean a death sentence for me, so I pushed hard against it, patching up any part of my mental wall that it managed to crack. At the same time, I channeled 11 stats into Mind as quickly as I could. The change was instantaneous, and my fight against the owl's shadow influence became much easier. Eventually, I was able to chase it out entirely, tearing out part of its right wing's shadows in the process.
As I stepped back into reality after our mental fight, I hastily absorbed the shadow I had just obtained - I need every edge I could get now. The sharp pain came back again, as the horns and wings grew. Luckily, the horns did not get heavier, something I had to attribute to its magical properties. The shoulder wound that the owl's claws had inflicted was not bleeding anymore, but it still ached. The owl dropped by half a metre, but with an angry shriek, it transferred the shadows in its remaining claw to repair its wings, before flapping them with a strong beat and rising to meet me once more.
I focused on the beast's right wing. It would not have any extra shadows to move around if I tear the entire wing off, unless it wanted to shrink to a much smaller size. The shadows felt just as thick and hard as before, but now I had a part of it with me, and it was very different. I called out in the tone of the shadows I had absorbed from it, 'Trust me. Trust me. Trust me.'
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
The shadows in the eagle's wing did not open up to me just because of this, but they were confused, and they showed just a little bit of weakness. Grabbing onto that weakness, I drew a mental lasso around the base of the eagle's right wing, and pulled hard. The creature was half way through its attack motion, its target me, when it suddenly felt its balance waver. Despite its best efforts to counter my attack, I was still able to pull the wing from it, and it fell towards the ground like a broken aeroplane. I absorbed the large chunk of shadows that I just stole from it with much anticipation. I had to grow stronger and win... Wait, was that my thoughts?
That problem did not matter much to me as I chased after the helpless shadow owl, aiming for a kill.
Hydra sounded surprised in our telepathy link as I descended onto the ground to squash the remaining life force from the creature, 'I didn't know this ability would allow you to absorb Shadow Essence.'
'What?' I asked half-heartedly as I landed on the ground. The owl had morphed its shape into a smaller version of itself so that it had wings again, but it could not do much more than lift itself a metre off the ground. It was aiming for Kaelen and Elias, who were probably easy targets in its eyes compared to me.
I gripped onto its shadows again in my mind to hold it back from invading my companions' minds. Hydra's reply came just as I decided to just tear its head off from its body and end the battle, 'Focus, Raven. I will tell you what I know later.'
Sending a wave of affirmation to the dragon, I imagined wrapping a chain around the creature's neck - I've learnt that things in this new world is easier with visualization - and tightened it until it was pressing uncomfortably against mini-owl's neck. Then, I made the most powerful tug I had attempted in this battle while trying to confuse the owl's shadows to think that they were safe and I was their friend. They put up a good fight, but eventually, they gave up, and with a ding of the System's notification bell, I knew that I won. Before the shadows would evaporate, I took them in eagerly, feeling the bittersweet ache as I grew stronger again.
You have slain Dark Phantom Owl [Lvl. 15]! You gained 1500EXP, 1x Ability Stone: Shroud of Darkness, 3x Darkness Bombs, 1x Concealing Cloak [Unbonded], 600 New Gems
Nythirra Veraelia from Planet #2577-M [Integrated] has sent a Chat Invitation! [View Details]
You have received a gift from Player #FYNR-10598 from Planet #2577-M [Integrated]! [View Details]
I've received another chat invitation and another gift. This person at least revealed their name, unlike the previous one, unless the gifter of my daemonic transformation ability is named Someone. Probably not. I decided to check the gift when we rest next. Clicking the notifications away, I strode towards Kaelen and Elias. They had escaped to a safer spot while waiting for my battle to finish when they realized that there was nothing they could do to help.
When I reached them, Elias patted me on my uninjured shoulder, "I have no idea how you won. You're so strong now."
Kaelen nodded, sighing, "There was nothing we could do. Wait... Let me heal you."
She used a protective force field on me, and I could feel her healing thunderbolt strike down, ridding me of the wounds I had accumulated and clearing away my aches for the moment. As soon as the force field was lifted, however, the pain from my wings and horns came back full force, causing me to wince.
"Thanks," I said, and she smiled softly.
"I think this is enough for one day," Kaelen looked up at the sky, "It is noon anyway. We can go back to the safe space to have lunch, then decide what to do next."
"Fight more monsters, of course!" Elias cheered, "I don't know what most of the loot are, but I know I want to keep them coming!"
I shrugged, seething when my wings moved with it, "I don't mind, but I do need to practise flying with this."
I did not want to admit that I was sort of stuck with the wings and the horns, so I had no choice but to make these new additions more useful and less hindering. Elias seemed to understand, though, because he relented, "Fine. We can stay inside for the remainder of today, but tomorrow..."
I agreed, "That is fine with me. I just hope that not all of the monsters are as strong as this one and the skeleton."
Two hums answered me as we made our way back towards the safe space.