Having returned to the kitchen the elf tosses me a chunk of dried meat and pours herself a cup of amber coloured liquid. The dried meat isn't quite as good as the fresh stuff. I can't quite put my tendril on why, something about it just seems... off, somehow. Perhaps it's the lack of blood? The blood is quite good... It might be the texture? Hmm, perhaps I just need to get used to it, though I'd prefer to get fresher meat whenever possible.

"So," the elf says from where she's sitting at the counter, "Why'd you give me a shitty piece of bone to k- to deal with the dark mage when these were sitting right here?"

I glance over at her, noticing that she's holding a large kitchen knife. Beside her sits an angled wooden block, the handles of half a dozen other knives sticking out of it. I... had never even considered that there would be weapons sitting around. Dammit, I really should have looked around a bit before sinking so much time into sharpening those bones. So much time wasted...

Didn't know about it. That's why, need you to provide information.

The elf thinks for a moment before responding. "Yeah, I suppose there aren't many kitchens in the Void, are there."

No.

That discussion done, I return my attention to the chunk of meat. Or I would, if I hadn't finished eating it while distracted. I wonder if there's any more hidden around here? I never bothered checking before, but there aren't any corpses left over so this is my last food source for the time being. Maybe in one of the cabinets?

The elf interrupts my rifling by saying, "We'll be working together for a while, so... What's your name?"

Nameless Voidspawn.

"That's not really a name... Voidspawn, is that your race?"

Yes.

"So, definitely not a name. I need to call you something, though... How about Umbra? That seems like it'd be a good name for you."

Will you accept the name Umbra?

Accept a name? It doesn't seem like it'll really do anything, just change what Understanding calls me. Sure, why not. I accept the name Umbra.

Nameless Voidspawn Is Now Named Umbra

Alright. I am Umbra.

"Well, nice to meat you Umbra, I'm Elvira. It seems like we'll be together for a while."

Yes. Let's work together.

Having said that, I finish rummaging through the cabinets and move over to the pantry. From the doorway I can see a good amount of dried meat, as well as loaves of bread and barrels lining one wall. Quite the bounty, quite the bounty indee-

"Hey! We still need that for later! We don't have a any source of food besides foraging, so you're going to have to make do with as little as possible."

Gah, dammit. Fine then. I shut the pantry door, perhaps with just slightly more force than necessary, and move back over to the kitchen counter. I crawl my way up to beside the elf, reaching out a few tendrils and pulling one of the knives free, barely noticing as Elvira backs a few feet away. The knife is quite sharp, much more so than I could ever get a bone. Really, I should have looked around more...

Three days pass surprisingly quickly. In that time Elvira searches through just about everywhere in the lair, though I notice that she avoids the laboratory and my nest. By the end of the three days she's gathered a pile of food, tools, and other useful items in the kitchen and has it all more or less sorted into four large bags. She's also unchained the humans, who we've learned are named Harry and Josephine, and had them help her sorting through everything. They still seem somewhat wary around me whenever the elf isn't nearby for some reason.

In that same amount of time Understanding has finished deciphering the shorthand from the books and I've gotten to work on reading them. It seems that of the ten books I have, five are Farkas' research notes. They're rather useless, though they do contain the process through which I was summoned. I'll make note of that and save it for later, but considering the required sacrifice it's not something I can attempt right now. If I even want to attempt it at all, I very much doubt that others of my kind would be willing to obey me without some way of controlling them, and I can't seem to find Farkas' notes on the Familiar's Binding.

Of the other five books, three are spell books and two are instructions on placing enchantments. The spells all seem fairly useful, but the enchantments are more... questionable. I really don't know why I'd want to create Profane Ground that leeches the energy from anything that touches it or creates undead, especially if it requires half a dozen sacrifices that will rot to nothing. I'd much rather eat those if I have the choice. The other one, the Shadow's Mark, might be useful under the right circumstances, but those circumstances are rare. It seems that the eternally dark corner of the laboratory is caused by a Shadow's Mark, a mark carved and bathed with blood that will cause an area to become much darker than it should be. Not very useful in most cases, especially considering the time required to carve the mark, but I suppose it would be good for hiding a nest.

The spells seem much more promising. I haven't had the chance to fully learn all of them, but the two that I have learned seem very useful. Night's Veil causes all sources of light within line of sight to dim to almost nothing, flames being extinguished and magical sources of light losing their luster. It isn't exactly subtle, but it should be useful in a pinch. Black Hand, the other spell I've learned, allows the creation of extra appendages made of shadow. It doesn't work in areas of bright light, and I already have enough appendages as is, but having actual hands has proven very convenient when I need to open doors. When combined with Night's Veil, I should be able to use Black Hand whenever I want.

The last spell is a bit trickier. From what the spell book says, Undead Legion should allow me to summon a large amount of undead, raising every corpse over a huge area. However, I can't cast it. From the explanation that Understanding gave me, Undead Legion is a profane spell rather than a dark one, so I need to be able to cast profane magic to use it. As usual, the most important information of what profane magic actually is and how I learn it is missing. Well, I can guess that it's somehow related to dark magic, so for now I'll work on strengthening that.

For the hundredth time in the past few days, I cast Night's Veil to put out the torches in the room, then cast Black Hand and practice turning the handle on the door.

<Dark Magic> Is Now Level 4