A sharp pressure hit my forehead.
My vision shook for a moment. Then the shadow beneath me rippled.
It peeled off the floor and rose slowly.
The shape wobbled as it stood.
It looked like me, but smaller, darker, and blurred like smoke.
It tilted its head, waiting.
"Yes! That's exactly how it should look. You succeeded on your first try, Lord of Shadows!" Yuna clapped her tiny hands.
I gave her a flat look. Of course it worked. Skills were like pressing a button. It would have been harder to fail.
She floated in front of me with sparkling eyes. "Now, please give it a command to move."
I focused.
'Crawl to the left.'
The shadow stumbled to the side, moving clumsily.
"Very good! Again!"
'Back.'
It returned to where it had started.
"Again!"
'Forward.'
It obeyed without hesitation.
"You are doing it perfectly! Keep going!
"Using your skill many times is how you will train it and level it up."
Her praise echoed in the quiet room.
I gave her a sideways glance.
Being praised for something so easy felt a little strange. But, ahem, keep them coming.
I kept going.
The shadow moved left. Then right. Then forward and back again.
It listened well. But that was all it did.
After a while Yuna landed near it and crossed her arms.
"Hmm. As I thought, your Shadow Summon has no physical presence yet. It can't touch or interact with anything. Right now, it is just an obedient illusion."
She circled it with interest.
"But do not worry, Lord of Shadows. This is only the beginning.
"Once your [Shadow] Class reaches Rank 1, its power will grow far beyond what you can imagine.
"That is when you will see its true worth."
I nodded lightly.
The summon shivered, then collapsed back into the floor. It lasted no more than ten seconds.
'Tch. That's barely anything.'
It matched what I feared.
With my Spirit stat at zero, I could only hold it for a short time.
'I need to raise my Spirit stat. But that's not easy.'
Yuna floated near me again.
"Please do not worry about the short skill duration, Lord of Shadows. It is because your Spirit stat is so low. We will work on increasing it."
She raised one finger.
"One way is to keep training your Shadow Summon. Each time you use it, it drains your mental strength. That is tied to Spirit. So the more you use it, the stronger your Spirit becomes. It is like training a muscle."
She raised another finger.
"Or, we can try to get you a Mage Class. That would also increase your Spirit."
I blinked at her slowly.
She smiled as if she had already planned everything.
"We will start with the first option for now. Since you are still a baby, training with Shadow Summon is the safest and the easiest way."
I let out a small sound that almost resembled a sigh.
She giggled. "Don't look so troubled. You will see results soon."
Her wings glowed faintly as she hovered near my crib.
"Let us try again. Summon your shadow once more."
I nodded and concentrated.
The pressure hit my head again. The shadow peeled off the floor, forming the same small figure.
It tilted its head, ready for commands.
"Good! Now move it again," Yuna said.
I ordered it left, then right. It obeyed.
She clapped. "Perfect! Again!"
We repeated the process until my vision blurred. My newborn body couldn't handle much strain.
My eyes grew heavy.
Yuna noticed. She floated down and patted my forehead gently with her tiny hand.
"Enough for today. Rest now, Lord of Shadows. Training is a marathon, not a sprint."
My summon faded.
I closed my eyes, letting exhaustion pull me into sleep.
The next night, I tried again.
This time I managed to hold the summon for twelve seconds.
"Progress already! You are doing wonderfully." Yuna cheered.
I kept at it.
Night after night, I summoned and ordered it around. Each attempt drained me, but little by little the duration grew.
Ten seconds became twelve. Twelve became fourteen. Soon it reached twenty.
Yuna kept track of everything. She seemed more excited than me each time I managed to improve.
"You see? Your Spirit stat is slowly climbing. At this pace, your Shadow Summon will become more reliable."
I gave her a small nod.
Her eyes softened.
"Lord of Shadows, you are working very hard. I am proud of you."
I turned my head away, pretending to ignore her.
She giggled quietly.
Days passed. My parents noticed I often slept heavily during the day.
"Lyra, do you think he's alright?" my father asked.
Mom rocked me gently in her arms. "He's fine. Babies sleep a lot. It means he's growing well."
My father scratched his head. "I suppose."
They didn't know the truth. That every night, after everyone slept, I trained until exhaustion pulled me under.
The numbers showed the result.
Spirit: 0 → 2.
I looked at the screen with quiet satisfaction.
'This is progress.'
Yuna hovered nearby, her wings glowing faintly in the dark. She tilted her head. "Lord of Shadows, you look pleased. Did your stats go up?"
I nodded.
She clapped her hands. "Good! That means your training is working. But do not get too excited yet. Spirit grows slowly. Don't forget training is a marathon, not a sprint."
She was right.
However, it would have been better if I had a Mage class.
Mages grew Spirit and Intelligence stat naturally.
If I had that class, I would progress much faster.
The problem was Earth had no ambient mana, at least not enough to use it and become a Mage.
I waved my hand through the air as if to prove it. The room was empty of any noticeable energy.
She frowned. "Lord of Shadow, did you notice it too? The ambient mana in this world is pitiful. Trying to gather it is like trying to drink from a dry well.
"That is why to become a mage, you can't use ambient mana.
"You would need mana stones. But we don't know where they are in this world," she said.
I knew the locations of hidden societies on Earth that sold mana stone, but I'm could not go there as a child.
I would have to wait to grow up.
For now, Shadow Summon would have to be my main training method.
I stared at the wall and whispered in my mind. 'Status.'
The faint blue screen appeared.
…
Name: @!$!@#$@
Rank 0
.
Species: Draconic-Blooded Human [Rank 1]
.
Stats:
Strength: 0
Dexterity: 0
Endurance: 0
Intelligence: 99
Spirit: 0
.
Class: Shadow
Class Skills: Shadow Summon Level 1
…
My name was not displayed on the status.
It was the doing of [Shadow].
Shadow erased all records of its inheritor from System. That was why Yuna, a Fallen Angel sent by System, couldn't read my status before.
But the part that caught my attention wasn't the missing name.
It was the other detail.
Species: Draconic-Blooded Human [Rank 1].
'I have a Dragon bloodline?'