Chapter 106- Ruler's Army
Rin was wholly lost in his thoughts for a while. He never forgot about the king's death since it was a very pivotal change in the whole story and even more because of the mystery behind that death. Dying normally was fine, dying because of something that shouldn't even exist in this world is not so fine.
Now, there was another case similar to that one and that died this time wasn't a king but a top 100 Ranker. When it comes to priority to the academy, kings are glaringly less important to the academy than a top 100 student.
Each and every one of those 100 people is akin to a cornerstone that keeps the academy afloat high above any other kingdom or empire. So, losing one of them in such a borderline humiliating way wasn't good for the academy's reputation at all and for its general prowess. It was a spit on their face.
"What are they going to do now?" Elise asked.
"I honestly have no clue. But, I can predict their next move. The academy higher-ups are extremely prideful, they won't let this slip as if nothing happened. Whoever did that is going to pay a hefty price. But, that's not the problem here, our problem is Rin." Aria said as she looked at her brother.
Elise also nodded her head in understanding.
"Me?"
"Yes, Rin. Don't forget that your powers are shadows. It's not that hard to imagine what will happen if they even knew about that. It won't be a pretty outcome." Elise explained with a small frown as she imagined the huge disaster that will fall on them if anyone ever discovered Rin's powers.
"Tsk. This is troublesome."
"It is, indeed. So, Rin, please, don't even think about ever using your powers in front of others. You will certainly get hunted down by the academy and they are not the ones to let their targets run away no matter what especially after the crime that happened. The academy can tolerate anything except the killing of one of its students."
"I understand, I won't use my powers."
"Good." Aria seemed to be satisfied enough with his response so she didn't try to push it any further.
The three then continued eating food in a less tense atmosphere. They knew that taking action right now before the academy even decided on what to do would be stupid and very risky.
After that, Rin had to basically slip out of Aria's hug just to be able to get back to his class. The rest of the day was calm with no major problems happening. Most students' approaches to classes and training drastically changed quickly.
After the end of classes, most of them immediately headed to the training area to start practicing. They had no desire to get kicked out in the first month so they had to actually train hard to not fall behind.
As for Rin and Elise, they merely walked back to their dorms. Elise had plans in mind so she couldn't stay for long.
As for Rin, he just came back to his room and laid to rest on his bed.
'Oh, right. I need to check that…' He said as he opened his eyes.
Waking up, he opened the system panel and went to his weapon, the Shadow Monarch's dagger.
[Fragment of the Shadow Monarch's dagger]
[This is one fragment of 3 other fragments that make the full weapon. Each fragment is scattered across the vast universe. Find them to complete the whole weapon.]
[Rank:???]
[Durability:???]
[Level: 02]
[Skills: Ruler's Army]
[Ruler's Army: You can use this skill to absorb any opponent you kill and turn them into a servant that you could summon. The moment the creature turns into your servant, it loses 60% of its initial prowess. The summon can keep existing as long as the host has enough mana to sustain it. The more monsters summoned, the more mana needed.]
'Oh, I leveled up the dagger? When?'
[During the fight with the hybrid clawing bird, host.] The system answered.
'Oh, right. It did level up at the time. My memory is really bad.' Rin replied as he rubbed the back of his head.
Then, he quickly checked his inventory for the hybrid clawing bird and summoned it out. The skill Ruler's Army is arguably his strongest trump card right now. Even more than shadow manipulation itself. Creating a huge army of undead and controlling them is insanely overpowered if Rin focused on using it.
At some point, he might even be able to fight empires and worlds alone if he had enough summons to control.
pαпdα-ňᴏνê|·сóМ *Bang*
The moment the monster left his inventory, it landed roughly on the ground, shaking the whole place violently.
'Sigh, I hope this won't raise the suspicion of the students living next to me.'
[Corpse detected.]
[Corpse meets the criteria for Ruler's Army Skill.]
[Would you like to turn Hybrid Clawing Bird into a summon?]
'Hmm, so there are criteria for the skill?'
[Yes, host. There are many factors that come into the equation such as the state of the corpse, whether it was fully intact or not, what parts its missing, its power level, and other factors. Not every creature you will kill in the future will meet these criteria.]
'I see. Well, it's understandable to have this kind of restriction or it will just be stupidly strong.'
Then, Rin focused on the question in front of him and accepted it.
The next second the dagger in his hand shook gently. The black blade also shone with a faint dark aura around it.
Then, from that blade, the aura passed to Rin's body and quickly engulfed him completely. Rin didn't feel any discomfort or pain at all so he let it do its job silently while watching what was occurring.
The aura eventually reached his shadow and started affecting it visibly. His shadow then extended quickly, aiming for the dead bird. When it came in contact with it, it didn't try to swallow the whole bird as Rin predicted but instead, start consuming its shadow.
Rin's eyebrows raised in surprise but didn't try to stop it. The shadow quickly got swept inside Rin's shadow and fused with him very swiftly as if it was the most normal thing to happen.
As for the bird, nothing changed about it at all as it stayed dead and unmoving.
[A summon has been added successfully.]
'How do I use it?'
[Any word could work, host. The summon is completely under your control.]
'I see… Hmm, let me think of a cool word to say.' Rubbing his chin, his eyes quickly lit up.
"Ok, I have the perfect word for it. Ahem!" Coughing a few times to clear his throat, he lifted his hand in the air and said.
"Rise."
The moment he said that word, his shadow contorted and expanded like a piece of playdough getting manipulated by a small child. Then, from that shadow, a huge dark creature appeared in front of him.
The creature was all black from head to toe with shiny red eyes and had the form of the hybrid clawing bird except considerably smaller in size. The creature looked at Rin silently before it bent its head to the ground in what seemed to be a respectful bow.
"Wow! This is amazing!!" he exclaimed as he strolled around the creature, examining it thoroughly. It was certainly weaker than the demon he fought but he didn't care that much about it as he wasn't going to rely on one single monster for fights.
"Can it fly with me on top?" He muttered as he jumped on top of the bird.
'Hmm, I can't just fly in the middle of the city. That will just raise suspicion.' He thought before he looked up.
"Is the ceiling high enough to try and make the bird rise from the ground for a few meters?"
He was hesitating about the risk of destroying his room because of it.
'Ah, fuck it! I can't know until I try!'
Then, he ordered the bird to flap its wings and rise from the ground.
*Swish* *Swish*
The monster immediately did so and Rin quickly found himself higher in the air.
'Oh! Wow, this is amazing! This is real! I can literally fly!!'
No person had ever thought about riding a bird monster and flying in the so Rin was most likely the first person to ever do that.
But, his happiness soon turned into surprise and then he paled.
'It's consuming a huge amount of mana! Besides, this bird is struggling to bear my weight?'
Not even 60 seconds passed and he already used almost 5% of his mana pool. He had no idea why it was this costly but he was sure that he can't keep it up for more than 20 minutes at this rate.
"Woah!! Wait, put me down, put me down!!" The bird started swaying left and right, clearly having a tough time staying in the air.
But, Rin was too late as the next moment, he found himself launched into the air.
"Tsk!!"
Clicking his tongue, he span a few times and then landed gently on his feet. The bird also fell down and hit the ground.
"Stupid bird! I'm not that heavy."
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