"Brother, look! look!"

Hearing Robin's enthusiastic voice, I looked at her hand and saw a piece of paper where something was written on it.

When I looked at it closely, I was amazed by her geniusness. On the paper, there were three names written on it.

Nico Olvia

Nico Ashborn

Nico Robin

.... all in ancient letters. 

It might not seem a big deal at first, but you have to remember that she is only three and a half years old, and at her age, many can't even speak their mother tongue fluently. So, I praised her a little while gently caressing her hair.

'At this rate, she will catch up to me in no time. And my hard-earned title of being a genius will be taken from me.'

'....'

'Just kidding!'

Oh yeah, almost 6 months have passed, since, Mom's departure from O'Hara.

In these 6 months, I trained every single day without wasting any time. Of course, excluding the time taken by sleeping, eating, and Professor Clover's babbling.

'Oops, I mean, Lecture on ancient language and history.'

'....'

'Maybe a little bit of fun with Robin...'

'....'

'What? A man gotta pamper his kid sister from time to time.'

......

I only study ancient stuff for 2 hours a day. This is the minimum threshold set by Professor Clover. If it was up to me, I might have stopped studying a long time ago. But what can you do, children don't have the freedom of choice in this aspect, for a good reason. 

While Robin spends most of her time studying at O'Hara Library.

'That's why she is catching up to me despite my long years of experience...'

'....'

'What! you don't believe me?'

'How dare you distrust me. You're... you're just a figment of my imagination.'

Jokes aside, in these 6 months, my stamina increased significantly, along with some signs of muscles here and there.

The three skills I rigorously practiced, improved greatly in this time period. Most noticeably, the 'Shadow Sense' skill.

Now I can cover the area of the whole island with my 'Shadow Sense'.

Whereas 'Ruler's Authority' and 'Shadow Manifestation' skills can only be used consciously, on the other hand, I can keep up my 'Shadow Sense' while eating, studying, and now even while sleeping.

As for the 'Ruler's Authority' skill, I can manipulate large boulders with it.

'Shadow Manifestation' experienced the least improvement. Even now, I can't create something as complex as a gun. But at the very least, I can create sharp objects with it.

'This much preparation should be enough...'

'Today, I'm gonna get my first Shadow.'

......

Even though O'Hara is an archaeological hub, it also has a vast area of forest where many dangerous animals reside. 

For my first target, I had two animals in mind. Namely, Brown Bear and Stone Wolf.

These two are some of the native animals of this Island. Brown bears are just brown in color with humungous bodies. Whereas, stone wolves are grayish in color with the ability to turn their bodies as hard as stone.

'That reminds me of 'Tekkai' of 'Rokushiki'. Did the Marines develop it while watching these wolves? Who knows...'

But at last, I settled down with the bear. Because wolves tend to live and hunt in packs. Combined with their stone-hard defense they are out of the league for the current me.

The bear I particularly targeted is about 5 feet in height and 7 feet in length. I have been following its track for the past month using 'Shadow Sense'. I was trying to figure out its habits, likes, and dislikes along with its routine.

After a while...

I arrived in front of the lake from where the bear drinks water, after its meal every day.

I hid inside a bush behind a boulder, hoping its sense would be less sharp after a good meal.

And, I was right in my judgment.

The bear didn't notice me and started to drink water from the lake.

Immediately...

I pushed the boulder in front of me at breakneck speed using the 'Ruler's Authority' skill, and it hit the bear right in the head.

Because the bear was drinking water from the lake peacefully, it couldn't react to my attack in time. But, it didn't die immediately, although it was seriously injured.

I ran toward the bear giving it no time to adjust which made the bear look angrily at me.

It lunges at me with murderous intent. But, I was just acting as bait here.

The moment it touched my shadow, a sharp blade purely made out of shadow, rose from my shadow and pierced directly in its neck.

The bear dropped to the ground amidst running, while blood gushed out from its neck. 

After a bit of struggle, it stopped moving.

Dead. As dead as it can be.

......

Gasping for air, I sat down beside the corpse, resting for a bit.

'Man, it was intense. I can't believe I poll through.'

'Let's get it over with.'

Standing up, I looked at the corpse, took a long breath, and said the magical word.

"Arise."

As soon as I utter the word, night seems to have descended upon the surrounding area. Shadows came alive around the corpse. Mixing with the bear's own shadow, a creature about 5 feet in height and 7 feet in length came out of it.

It looks just exactly like the bear prior to its death. It remained standing, waiting for my command. And, I understood what it wanted.

"Kuma... Nah, it's just too common."

"Browny... It's just plain stupid."

"I got it..."

"From today onwards you shall be called, Otso."

'The name of my first shadow should be something epic like this.'

Seeming grateful to be given a name, Otso nodded slightly and disappeared into my shadow. And, the surroundings became normal again.

.....

After burying the corpse, I carefully left the forest area and returned home.

Then, I took a shower, ate a light snack, and went to bed. By the time I woke up, it was already night. So, I went to the O'Hara Library to pick up Robin and walk back home while giving her a piggyback ride.

'This girl! She forgot about everything for study. She even forgot her lunch. What should I do with her?'

Thinking like that, I arrived home, discovering that she had fallen asleep. Even though I didn't wanna disturb her sleep, I reluctantly woke her up cause she didn't eat throughout the whole day.

We had our dinner and went to bed.

......

For the next week or so, I tested out my other 3 skills. Namely, 'Shadow Preservation', 'Shadow Exchange', and 'Monarch's Domain'.

After that, I started to hunt down other powerful creatures on the island, alongside Otso and started to build my Shadow Army using 'Shadow Extraction' skill.

By the time, I was done, I had become the top predator on the island.

(To be Continued)