Ryan was very nervous. When he was a human, he was a law-abiding citizen. He had experience in fighting. He was a hobbyist of various kick-focused martial arts, and he used to go to the gym regularly to stay fit, but he never fought to the death with someone.

In before, he had passed out after two times of using Rocket Kick. He wondered if evolving to Spirit Rooster increased his mana capacity, but according to his attribute, his [Mana] was Mortal 0. He didn’t want to push out his luck, so he determined to use his Rocket Kick only once.

[Shadow Rat]

Rank: Mortal

Type: Elemental; Physical.

[HP]: 100%

[MP]: 50%

 Ryan was lucky the rat’s mana was only 50%, but he still didn’t want to look down on it because it emitted orange light. That meant he had to stay cautious. Besides, he remembered a saying that a cornered animal was two times more dangerous.

The rat was getting closer, so Ryan spread his wings and crowed to scare it. However, it had the opposite effect. The rat’s red eyes gleamed, and it became a shadow as it rushed at him.

Ryan jumped to the side, evading the rat as it crashed to the wall. Its [MP] decreased to 25%. He took an advantage to attack when the rat stopped moving.

[Rocket Kick] activated!

His right foot produced a shock wave as Ryan stomped the rat’s body. The system informed him he triggered critical damage. The attack crushed, flattened, and killed it. Blood and gore splattered everywhere, and Ryan felt sick. Rats were disgusting in his previous life, and killing a rat as big as his body didn’t help him cure his disgust.

You killed a [Shadow Rat] for the first time. It dropped resources.

The system appeared before him and whispered in his mind, too. Normally, Ryan would find it annoying, but it helped him to avert his attention.

The rat’s body suddenly emitted smoke and dissipated into the air, leaving two items on the ground. They were the rat’s pelt and a black ball that was like the one inside those [Red Slime]. With his [System Window], he could identify it.

[Dark Elemental Core]

Type: Elemental.

Attribute: [Mana].

Drop Rarity: Rare.

A core that exists inside every supernatural being. It grants monsters a slot ability.

It was quite amusing that the system explained items and not for living creatures. Ryan wondered if the system would start giving him a description of living creatures if he killed more.

Ryan shook his head. He didn’t have time to fall into random thoughts. He was in an unknown area, and he needed to find out more about this place. First, he had to do something with those items.

Ryan remembered he owned a racial ability called [Inventory]. He called the skill and two screens appeared in front of him. The first was the inventory screen, and the second was a pop-up about the guide to use inventory. He read the pop-up first to make sure nothing was wrong.

[Inventory]

Rank: Mortal (00%)

Dimension: 36 squares

Usage: Passive; touch the target to and imagine the target to store it; imagine the target to let it out.

This skill can alter the size of a target. Can store up to 36 things. Can’t store living creatures.

As a man who had lived in the modern era, this ability fascinated Ryan. It was his favorite so far. Magic could do anything, even achieving more advanced things than human technology.

He touched the drops on the ground and they became light before disappearing. Those items occupied boxes in the [Inventory]. After that, he imagined letting out the [Dark Elemental Core] and it appeared out of thin air.

“This is awesome.”

After admiring his [Inventory] ability, he immediately checked his status window.

Ryan Alpha Edison

• Race: [Spirit Rooster]
• Type: Physical; Elemental; Spirit
• Rank: Mortal
• [Hit Point]: 100/100 (100%)
• [Mana Point]: 75/100 (75%)
• Progression to the Awakened Rank: 0% (0 / 4) cores.

So using [Rocket Kick] used up 25% of his mana. It was quite a terrifying and versatile ability. Ryan was glad he could use it up to four times in his current form.

The problem was how he charged his [Mana Point] full again. If they really based this world on RPG, his mana would recover.

The next issue was increasing his strength. If he used the core on the ground, Ryan was sure his progress to the Awakened Rank would increase, but he didn’t know whether using the core would need a long time or instantly. Luckily, he had the guide to get stronger.

Ryan intended to summon the guidebook. Instead of an actual book, a screen appeared in front of him.

[Tome of Basic Knowledge]

Usage: Consumable

Gain knowledge of basic things in this world.

Do you want to consume [Tome of Basic Knowledge]? (Y/N)

Thank God he didn’t have to read things. It was very convenient in this situation. He immediately said yes and the box that occupied the book disappeared. At the same time, a stream of information entered his mind.

Ryan staggered a few times and came back to normal again after a few seconds. “That’s quite intense.”

Ryan looked at the black core on the ground, and he suddenly understood the work of getting stronger in this world. To get stronger and gain new abilities, monsters had to absorb the core of other supernatural creatures. There were five types of cores: physical, elemental, technique, magic, and spirit. This core was the elemental type.

He immediately touched the core with his beak and intended to absorb it.

Do you want to absorb [Dark Elemental Core]? (Y/N)

He said yes. The core glowed and entered his body. Ryan was quite excited. His adrenaline rushed to his entire body. He puffed his chest and crowed instinctively.

You have absorbed [Dark Elemental Core]. Progression to Awakened Rank has increased to 25% (1/4) Cores.

[Dark Elemental Core]: 1/5 [Mana, No Attributes, No Attributes, No Attributes, No Attributes.

The attribute of the core is [Mana]. Your [Mana] attribute has increased.

[Mana] 1/5 Cores: [Mortal 1]

Your race is compatible with the core. You have gained the right to choose one of abilities instead of getting a fixed ability.

The last message surprised Ryan. He hadn’t thought about the compatibility of the absorbed core with his race. Sure, one could absorb every type of core to get stronger, but if one absorbed the core compatible with their race, they could gain the right to choose more abilities. More choices were always good. Finally, he focused on the choice of abilities.

1. Shadow Rush

• Attacks enemies by turning into a shadow and charging at them.

2. Shadow Clones

• Creates clones that share senses with the user. The clone can use the user’s abilities too, but 75% weaken the clone’s attributes.

3. Darkness Chains

• Conjures chains of darkness.

4. Death Aura

• Emits aura that decreases enemies’ [HP] over time.

Facing with the choice, Ryan thought carefully about the most suitable ability to choose. He wanted to survive, so an ability that would increase his chance to survive was good. The answer was one.

“I choose [Shadow Clones].”

You choose [Shadow Clones]. Adding [Shadow Clones] to your ability list. You can check it via [System Window].

After that, Ryan checked his first skill ever.

[Shadow Clones]

Rank: Mortal (00%)

Usage: Active

• Creates clones that share senses with the user. The clone can use the user’s abilities too, but 75% weaken the clone’s attributes.

There was no saying it had a time limit, so he was lucky. This skill was very convenient to scout the surrounding without endangering himself. He could use it to lure enemies too and the clone could help to attack too. Without further ado, he used the ability.

[Shadow Clones] is activated!

His shadow wiggled and formed a perfect form of his body. From it, a rooster rose and stood before him. The clone before him had a black form. The weirdest thing was they really shared sense. Ryan could see his rooster form from the shadow’s eyes. He averted his attention to an information screen above the shadow.

Shadow Clone #1

Race: Shadow

Type: Elemental

[HP]: 100%

[MP]: 60%

“So using this ability consumes 25% of my [MP]. This shadow’s [MP] and [HP] capacity is like mine, but I know it is weaker than me. Shadow Clone #1, I want you to scout the surrounding.”

The shadow nodded and walked away. He had been activating [Spirit Eyes], so the shadow automatically used it too. Luckily, the ability only consumed 1% of [MP] and it didn’t consume anymore after getting activated.

Ryan rested on the ground to recover his [MP] and watched from the shadow’s vision. It was still a straight tunnel ahead, and the shadow met nothing on its way. Feeling bored, he quickened his pace and caught up to the shadow. It was better than waiting because the room where slimes live had orange light.

Ryan realized his [MP] increased by 1% every one minute. 10 minutes had passed and his [MP] became 70% from 60%. Finally, the clone met another monster. It was a rat monster again. He willed the clone to run from it and lure it to his position.

Ryan rushed forward too, and he met his clone in no time. A rat monster followed behind it. He immediately activated his [Rocket Kick] and killed the rat again. This time, the rat dropped nothing and its corpse didn’t disappear.

Ryan cleaned his feet against the wall grudgingly. He convinced himself that he would get used to it. After that, he ordered the clone to scout again cautiously. He didn’t want to fight for a while before his [MP] restored to 100%. Luckily, after his [Mana] attribute became [Mortal 1], the cost of [Rocket Kick] decreased to 10% usage of his [MP.] His mana became 60%.

Ryan walked again while watching the shadow’s vision. His shadow finally reached the end of the tunnel. It stood before a spacious area where the ceiling was so high. There were many tunnels too on the wall, and many paths were available to reach those. This area had many rocks and boulders. The shadows could see a dragon sleeping on the highest boulder.

The sight fascinated Ryan. It was the first time he saw a mighty dragon. It resembled a western dragon with four feet and a pair of wings on its back. Its scale was greenish, and it had a pair of horns.

In every fiction, dragons were mighty and powerful, so he assumed the dragon was powerful, too. Ryan ordered the clone to stay extra cautious. From its vision, he saw a group of [Shadow Rat] too. That creature was weak, so it made sense they were originally hunting in a group.

The clone ran to a pair of boulders that leaned against each other, leaving a small gap in the middle of it. Luckily, the shadow could enter it.

The inside of the gap was spacious enough to walk without restraint. There was another gap on another side, so the clone walked closer to it. In the middle of this small pathway, the clone encountered a hole that was big enough for the clone to enter.

Ryan originally wanted to ignore it, but he could hear a calling from the hole.

“Anyone? Help me?” said a man’s voice from the hole. Yeah, Ryan could hear it because he shared sense with the clone.

A human voice made him curious. He was only sending a clone, so what could go wrong? He ordered the clone to enter it and check out what was inside the hole, and the clone plunged without hesitation.