Juno sat cross-legged on his bed, staring at the flickering interface hovering in front of him. The blue, semi-transparent window pulsed gently, almost as if it were alive.
[Skill Acquired: Shadow Extraction]
"Shadow extraction…" he whispered, letting the words roll off his tongue. "What the hell does that even mean?"
He waved a hand through the projection, but it didn't vanish. Instead, the system responded:
[Shadow Extraction: Allows the user to extract the soul of a defeated being and bind it as a shadow servant. Skill level affects success rate, strength of shadow, and number of summons.]
A thousand questions raced through his mind. Soul extraction? Shadow servant? This was no ordinary ability. The system wasn't some weak stat booster like mana-supplement apps or tracker implants. This was something else. Something deep. Arcane.
Before he could fully digest the information, a new window appeared.
[System Mission: Solo Field Test - Complete a solo dungeon clearance (D-Rank)]
Reward: +5 Strength | +3 Intelligence | Unlock Shadow Arsenal]
Failure Penalty: -5 Stamina | Stat progression locked for 72 hours]
Juno's heart skipped a beat. A D-rank dungeon? Alone? He was still registered as an E-rank. No one would legally allow him to enter solo.
But the system had a solution.
[Mission Location: Unauthorized Rift - Code: 8712-Z | Status: Unregulated, Detected by System Only]
That night, while the city buzzed beyond his dorm window, Juno snuck out with a hoodie and a suppressed panic. The map led him to an abandoned subway tunnel, cordoned off decades ago.
The moment he stepped past the rusted gate, the air changed.
His system interface blinked.
[Entering Rift...]
A sudden vortex of darkness enveloped him. His vision twisted, gravity shifted, and with a pop of static silence, he was inside.
The dungeon resembled a crumbled city street frozen in perpetual twilight. Fog drifted through ruined buildings. The silence was deafening.
[Welcome to the D-Rank Trial Rift]
Juno clenched his fists, glancing down at his clothes—still normal, no armor. "If I'm supposed to kill something here, I'll need more than my fists."
As if responding to his thoughts, a tab opened.
[System Shop Unlocked]
Available Points: 20
[Beginner's Shadow Blade – 15 points] [Shadow Leather Armor – 10 points] [Healing Salve (1 use) – 5 points]
He only had 20. If he bought the sword and salve, no armor.
He hesitated, then selected the blade and salve.
In a pulse of dark light, a short obsidian blade materialized in his hand. It was cold, humming slightly with invisible energy. His grip tightened around the hilt.
From the fog, a growl.
He turned slowly. A creature emerged, its frame hunched, twisted, with cracked bone protruding from oily black fur. Its eyes glowed like dying embers.
[D-Rank Beast: Scavenger Wolf]
He exhaled, then stepped forward.
The wolf lunged.
Juno ducked, rolled, and swung instinctively. The blade met resistance—flesh and bone. Blood splattered across his hoodie. The beast yelped and staggered back.
[System Hint: Aim for weak points. Shadow Blade is most effective at the base of the neck.]
He lunged again, sidestepping the creature's claws and burying the blade deep into its neck. A crunch. A howl. Then silence.
The wolf collapsed.
His hands trembled. He looked down at the corpse.
[Beast Defeated: +10 System Points]
[System Notification: Eligible for Shadow Extraction.]
[Extract? Y/N]
He stared at the blinking prompt.
His instincts screamed yes. But part of him was still scared. What if it turned into something worse? What if he lost control?
Then he remembered the faces of his team. How they left him.
"Do it."
He accepted.
A dark mist coiled out of the corpse like smoke drawn into a vacuum. It spiraled into his palm, cold and electric, and disappeared into his shadow.
Then… movement.
The shadow beneath him rippled, detached, and the silhouette of the wolf emerged from the ground—silent, eyeless, loyal.
Juno took a step back. The creature mimicked him.
[Shadow Extraction Successful: Scavenger Wolf – Bound]
[You may name your shadow.]
He smirked. "Let's call you Shade."
The shadow wolf bowed its head.
New windows blinked open:
[Strength +5] [Intelligence +3] [Skill Progression: Shadow Extraction Lv. 2]
He felt the changes immediately. His mind sharpened. Hi
s limbs steadied. His stamina stopped draining so fast.
He glanced around the foggy battlefield. More