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Published at 18th of March 2024 06:31:34 AM


Chapter 30

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She was tired, mostly because so many things had happened in succession, as soon as she was sure Selen wasn't paying attention to her Elizabeth turned around and tried to get information from the other council members.

 

Alas, she only got less than moderate results.

 

[Student Council Treasurer - ???]

[Student Council Disciplinary Committee - ???]

[Student Council Vice President - ???]

 

And that was about it, the only one who turned her way was the Disciplinary Committee leader, the albino guy who sneered her way and then ignored her as he walked back into the room.

 

She would need to find a way to make her skill more powerful, either by leveling it or getting some kind of ability to spread her use of [Appraisal], but at least it hadn't been that bad of an experience, she had learned a few things.

 

Point number one: The Akashic Titles had turned into [Jobs], and Evangeline held one that allowed her to see more information of others without them noticing.

 

Point Number Two: She held some kind of loyalty / religious zealot towards [The World], the entity that had granted her the [Proliferation] and [Inheritor] titles.

 

Point number three: Evangeline had no way of knowing what the mission a [Hero] had, even if she knew who were [Heroes].

 

There was simply no way that she would ignore or give such a wide berth to Akira if she was aware of his title as [The Hero who ran away], after all, she seemed to be quite a zealot for [The World]. And Akira was someone who ran away from his destiny.

 

Still, it was quite interesting to learn that Evangeline had managed to discover the other heroes, since only Akira had that title; Rossie for example didn't have a [Hero] title, but a [Saint] title.

 

Granted she had a further description within that title that explained her work as a [Heroine] and how she was tied in with Akira, or was tied in with Akira. But since Evangeline wasn't aware of the specifics she couldn't have read it.

 

So how had she managed to find out about that?

 

Was it because of the slimy mana tentacles of Akira? But Rossie wasn't connected to one of those, nor was Michael...She didn't get the feeling that Michael was connected to Akira, at least not like Rena was.

 

And even her connection to Akira seemed to be frayed, she hadn't seen anyone else connected to Akira either, not that she had good [Soul Perception] to be honest.

 

Besides that?

 

Oh right-

 

Point Number Four: Her [Affinity] towards dragons was coming back.

 

She had materialized a fragment of [Nyx]'s presence, she had felt the [Pride] ooze from her shadows as they formed that reptilian form under them.

 

"[Nyx]" Elizabeth intoned while trying to form up a shadow dragon in her hand.

 

The shadow energy formed up into a blob of darkness, she could see it form an elongated figure with stubby legs and small wings, but ultimately it failed to materialize and burst into motes of inky black shadows.

 

This had been the closest she had to finalizing the form of a shadow dragon yet, perhaps she could try to summon another dragon? One of the scouts could be doable. But she wasn't quite sure if it mattered or not, she didn't want to lose [Nyx].

 

Maybe she needed more mana?

 

She did have around 100 status points lying around right now, but she had wanted to keep her status even at least till she got 50 points in everything...

 

Or at least till she decided what she was going to do with her status screen, her growth would be exponential for her level, she was earning way more than most at her level, and that would snowball out of control at the higher levels. Only [Skills] could make a difference in the long run, and even then she didn't doubt the [Titles] her [Parents] had given her would give her an edge.

 

So...point being, did it matter?

 

Right now? Yes, since she would fall behind in her more physical status.

 

At future? No, it would be a laughable amount of status points for what she would achieve.

 

"Might as well." In the end, she couldn't stop herself, she not only wanted to summon [Nyx], but also Beato and Sebastian. Beato wasn't as much of a problem, she was getting plenty of mana from Rossie, and her soul had some fragments from the pink-haired girl stashed around.

 

So she should be able to summon the little girl easily enough.

 

Sebastian...That one would be harder, the little guy had stated that he wouldn't be summonable, and that she shouldn't waste her time trying. But when had that stopped her?

 

The skill straight up told her her summons weren't alive, but Beato felt alive, Nyx felt alive...Sebastian felt alive.

 

And she would sure as hell summon the little guy again even if that was the last thing she did, so she put 100 points in Wisdom and intelligence in one go. She felt her mana pool grow twice as big and her mana turned twice as powerful.

 

She felt her connection to the shadows grow once more, her [Soulscape] settling more deeply within her soul. The ever-burning fire within shone brightly and for an instant, she thought if it would go out of control.

 

Only for a low growl to settle everything back in peace. Followed by a blue screen that materialized in front of her.

Notice:

You have acquired enough proficiency with a new type of summons for your [Minion Summoning] skill.

New minions available:

Shadow Demons

Devouring Demons

Demons

Shadow Devils

Devouring Devils

Devils

Shadow Banshee

 

Banshee

Shadow Simulacrum

 

Simulacrums

Shade People

Possessions

Doppelgangers

Shadow Drake

Devouring Drake

Drake Hatchlings

Shadow Dragon

Devouring Dragon

Dragon Hatchlings

Shadow Kobold

Devouring Kobold

Kobold Hatchlings

 

Notice, the summons without an element attached to them qualify as [Living] entities and require care, while any summons with an element qualifies as [Created Entities] and aren't alive.

 

You may grant [Life] to an elemental entity by giving it a [Soul], but to acquire a [Soul] you must fulfill a series of strict requirements. Not many can achieve such requirements and is advised that you go for a living entity as they have a higher growth cell.

 

[Eli-Eli, it's mama. Go for what you want, the pesky purple girl wants you to steer you into something else. But Mama will support your decision...Besides that little guy was adorable.]

 

[Elizabeth, follow your heart.]

 

[PD: The last one was Papa, love you.

 

PD2: If you go to the church of magic I will ground you.]

Some interesting information was granted on this one single screen. First of all, another mention about how her shadow dragons weren't alive, this was the second time she had been told this by the [System] and the third time she had been told about this from someone, and the last one had been Sebastian.

 

She found that amusing as someone who wasn't alive shouldn't be aware of what being [Alive] meant. But besides him, nothing else had told her such a thing. She, however, found out that she could summon [Living] things with her skill.

 

The description stated as much, so long it wasn't a [Elemental] summon that is, so she could summon living dragons, drakes, kobolds, and even doppelgangers if she wanted. Or demons...She could summon honest-to-god (Or devil) demons, and also devils, that made her pun even more fun.

 

"[Shadow Dragons]" Not that her decision would be hard to make.

 

The one thing that made her decide in the end was her [Mother] and [Father] message at the end of the notification. The [System] wanted her to go for something else?

 

That was interesting, did the thing want her [Nyx] back? Too bad, she wasn't giving him back. Could she acquire a more powerful summons if she chose another one?

 

Yes, the idea of summoning a Dragon Hatchling and growing him up was quite tempting, she could even go for a demon or devil, a banshee could grant her almost the same freedom of scouting her previous shadow dragons did too.

 

So before moving forward, she decided to search for a secluded location to finalize her first summon, walking a few minutes into one of the parks on the school grounds she found herself a sturdy tree and sat down under its canopy. Her watch said she had around one hour before Rossie started her mass murder of students, should be enough time to try her luck and call Nyx back to this world.

 

Either way, she decided to go the same way she did before, and felt the connection to [Nyx] grow stronger, "[Minion Summon]-" Elizabeth intoned, and then feeling a mana thread form between her and the core of the ruined city she continued and put more mana into that thread "-[Nyxfyre: The Twilight Dragon of The End]."

 

As she said the [True Name] of her lovely shadow dragon she felt her mana pool dry in seconds, the shadows all around the park expanded and covered the whole place. The moon in the sky turned dark for a fragment of a second before it returned to normal.

 

Elizabeth saw the event and cold sweat formed on her back, for a second she feared that the moon would turn red and she would find herself trapped once more in the ruined city.

 

No one around seemed to be panicking nor any alarms had sound, had been an illusion? She turned her attention to the dirt floor and saw that it was still covered in an inky shadow, as if it was waiting for something.

 

Should...should she say something?

 

"Uhmm....[Rise]?" Tried saying Elizabeth and at her command the whole shadow puddle boiled with emotion as small little claws seemed to want to pierce the shadows only to burst apart.

 

It was quite the scene, something out of a nightmare movie even, but to Elizabeth it seemed to look more like as if a thousand of small claws wanted to escape from the shadows into the real world.

 

Her Mana Pool was still empty and she should be (by all reasons) passed out on the floor convulsing from mana drain backlash, but she wasn't. She felt normal even, had she been connected to whatever kind of horror film shadow portal had formed under her feet?

 

Her command at the very least proved that there was some degree of connection between herself and the thing under her feet, even if that one hadn't been enough to summon anything. She was sure her connection to [Nyx] was strong enough, and the small little claws looked draconic enough.

 

So maybe she could summon her shadow dragons again?

 

"[Shadow Dragon - Scout]" So she intoned the name of one of her older units. And sure enough, as soon as the words left her mouth one of the claws pierced the veil and a small shadow dragon scout formed.

 

As soon as the little thing pierced the inky substance this disappeared and sank back into her shadow, leaving her alone with a small shadow dragon.

 

"So...Did [Nyx] tell you anything?" Elizabeth asked the small shadow dragon that looked at her.

 

The little thing was so adorable, more than she remembered, but sadly it was as smart as she remembered, as the thing shook its head and looked around, as if searching for something.

 

"You are the only one I have summoned, that thing took most of my mana." Elizabeth said while feeling for her mana, only to find it...not as expended as she thought it would be.

 

If anything she was only missing around 15% of it, had this one taken only 15% of mana?

 

"No wait, my mana was dry when you came around. Did that hellscape scenery summon return the mana back?" Elizabeth asked the minion, who in turn only tilted its adorable little draconic head.

 

Yeah, as dumb as a brick. But more useful than anything else, since she had taken to use them quite often. Maybe she could try summoning more?

 

"[Minion Summon - Shadow Dragon Scout]x4." And sure enough other four shadow dragon scouts drained another 60% of her mana pool bringing her down to 25% mana.

 

But the other four small shadow creatures joined the previous one, all of them playing among themselves jumping from shadow to shadow, another reason she found the claim that her minions weren't alive was something hard to believe.

 

If they weren't alive and were mere projections of her mana, then why did they seem so... alive.

 

Even while she was thinking all of this the [System] kept working, as she found herself a new notification popping up in front of her.

Notice:
Minion Summoning 1>5

That was one of the more bare and simplistic notifications she had ever gotten, the skill barely said anything at all, and just stated that her level had jumped from 1 to 5.

 

But why?

 

She had only summoned five minions, and that was it. She hadn't ordered something complex nor summoned something truly special, was it because her minions were different?

 

Was it because of the scenery change that trying to summon [Nyx] had caused?

 

She wasn't sure, but for now "Patrol around me in search for hostile intent, try to remain hidden, and don't expose yourself." Elizabeth ordered her ever-loyal shadow dragons, they quickly formed a line and raised their little front paws in salute, cute. "Also, when we arrive at home I want at least one of you guarding Rossie 24/7 and another guarding our home."

 

They all nodded and as one jumped into the shadows, one remained within her shadow while the others jumped from shadow to shadow, she felt her awareness expand as the information of her surroundings was fed into her through the [Shadow Haven] that resided in her soul.

 

That was useful indeed, unlike before that she needed to ask Beato for translations about the information, now she was aware of what was happening. But it wasn't invasive nor hard to parse, was it because she was more in sync with the shadows?

 

Did her body make that much of a difference?

 

"Let's go home, lest Rossie start murdering people." Elizabeth wasn't sure, but on that note, she started walking towards home.

 

She noticed some people in the periphery of the park, just a shy away from where the park started and marking a line as if quarantine the zone, "Look! There is another one there!" Someone said while pointing at her. "Quick come to this side before that thing comes back!"

 

That thing?

 

"What happened?" Asked Elizabeth as she went to the other side of the taped zone, had something happened?

 

"Some weird type of summoning went awry, didn't you see that thing on the moon?" One man dressed in armor with the emblem of [Framework] on his chest spoke, "We think someone tried to summon an [Eldritch God] and failed at it."

 

...Rude, Nyx wasn't an [Eldritch God].

 

"It failed to pierce the veil and so all those weird claws in the floor tried to invade our world, souls of the damned." Another woman said afterward, she was dressed in a nun habit and held a pendant with the emblem of a star. Was that the emblem of [Odyssey]?

 

"Oh...Yeah, I was sleeping and didn't notice anything special." Elizabeth said, not sure why they called her cute and adorable [Shadow Dragons] soul of the damned. "Well, if someone is trying to summon something like that I better go home. My-"

 

...Her...what was her Rossie in this case?

 

"Yes, better go back to your apartment, lest your roommate worry." The nurse said to her.

 

...No. "No," Elizabeth stated before she could think about what she was doing.

 

That made the nun and the guard turned to her, "Oh sorry. I will go back to my apartment, it's only that I'm not living with a roommate." She said, not sure why she had suddenly said no.

 

"You live alone?" Asked worriedly the nun. "It is dangerous to live alone, even under the umbrella of the MPI."

 

"I don't live alone," Answered Elizabeth with a smile, "I live with my girlfriend."

 

And on that note, she walked away, it felt right to say so. And she felt the shadows around her smile back at her, as if they also thought so. Maybe she was imagining things thinking so.

 

After all, most of the time her shadows turned into hideous maws and malevolent eyes, even a smile from such a thing would make most children cry and make the bravest of men think twice about fighting against such a thing.

 

But to Elizabeth? To Elizabeth the smiles in the shadows looked like a friendly and encouraging smile, the eyes looked like those of someone who cared for her. And if nothing else, Elizabeth knew for sure that the shadow dragons within those were friendly and loyal to her.

 

She wasn't quite sure why that Nun and Guardsman thought someone had tried to summon an [Eldritch God] or why they called those shadow dragons that she hadn't been able to summon the [Soul of the damned].

 

She would ask Rossie what she thought of her shadow dragons later, that girl was the closest person she knew that dabbled in [Soul Magic] after all. No matter what the pink-haired girl said, someone who could crush their own soul and feed it to someone else was someone who knew how to use [Soul Magic].

 

But for now?

 

For now, she would walk under the moon towards the apartment where her girlfriend waited for her, maybe she could indulge her a little today?

 

Today had been quite the eventful day, and her [Soul] needed some cuddles.

 





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