It hadn't been long for Shi to wake back up once more. This occurrence has been happening so much lately that it was becoming a habit. She fell asleep suddenly and woke up suddenly; it would be no surprise if her internal sleeping clock got messed up over all of this.

She glanced around the tunnel as she adjusted her body to waking up, stretching as she stood. The place was still the same damaged tunnel she was in where she battled against the snake creature before; she couldn't tell how much time had passed because nothing had changed. 

It didn't matter either since she wasn't in a rush to go anywhere.

As she was stretching her body— her eyes fell onto the back of her right hand where the tattoo was still imprinted. Moving her other hand over to it— she gently brushed her thumb along the marking to see how it felt.

"What is this?" She muttered to herself in interest and minor worry.

She didn't feel anything when her finger caressed it; it was as if the marking was directly made into her skin rather than something added onto it. It was abnormal to her— it wasn't like the marking she saw on the bandit.

"It feels weird, but at the same time, it feels natural." She spoke once more not bothering to hide her voice since she was sure she was alone.

The tattoo gave her an odd feeling inside. It was as if her mind was telling her what the tattoo could do, but at the same time, she wasn't sure if she understand what it was saying. It felt similar to her Pureblood Vampire abilities she awoke— instinctual— yet distant. 

"It feels as if the information about the mark is engraved into my mind, just very foggy. Is this maybe what touching that book did? Is this why there is a dot tattoo on my forehead?" As she thought about the marking on her forehead, her hand moved unconsciously and caressed it. 

"I've seen people use magic before in the village; the adventurers that came there to hunt in the forest had abilities that made them powerful enough to fight the monsters. I have never been able to use magic before; when i asked my mother she told me it was because i didn't know how to sense mana yet and that she would teach me when i get older."

Shi frowned at the thought since she was unable to learn about mana or magic because of the incident that happened. Yet another reason for her to be angry at the knights and yet another reason to find them.

"But this is different; it's not like the magic i saw them using. It feels different." She said once more as she closed her eyes in an attempt to hone into the feeling this tattoo was giving off.

'It feels deeper.' She thought as her mind sank into her own thoughts, diving into the foggy mist that covered her mind and made the ability seem unclear.

As she went deeper and deeper into her own thoughts the feeling only got stronger. She felt like she was swimming in very thick water that was trying to drown her— yet she didn't drown.

'What is that?' She exclaimed in her thoughts as her eyes shot up.

Information suddenly started flooding into her mind— broken and misplaced information— but information no less. It seemed fragmented, as if she hadn't completely pieced it together yet, while also some of the pieces seemed missing.

'Is this what the marking is? Imprints?' She thought as she tried to digest the information that came into her mind. It was so complex and messy that if it wasn't for her enhanced brain capabilities as a Vampire she wouldn't have even learned that much.

She couldn't focus on standing while also trying to digest so much information so she sat down on the ground and closed her mind. 

She cleared her mind of all other thoughts aside from the information that was flooded into it; in an attempt to better comprehend it.

She sat there for who knows how long— moving pieces of information and piecing them together, bit by bit. She couldn't get a full picture due to the missing fragments, but by the time she was finished, she at least had a better understanding of what it was.

"It's souls." She muttered to herself as she opened her eyes and stared down at the marking on her hand.

"So basically, as far as i can tell, by killing a creature, this unknown force inside of me is able to devour its body and soul— basically imprinting that soul into my own body and soul." She said in amazement since she had never seen— let alone heard— of anything like this before.

"That explains why i felt that way when i killed it." Shi continued as she looked at the markings on her hand, "I was literally ripping the soul out from the body and engraving it into my own soul. That must be extremely difficult, and the pain is merely an aftereffect."

As she thought deeper about the tattoo she also found out why the soul was engraved into her own and basically what she could do with it, "So i can summon them and use them as i please. Isn't this similar to the familiars i saw that some people had in the village?"

She then shook her head as she corrected herself since that line of thought wasn't exactly right according to the information, "No, it's not. Those familiars are still alive and are just bound to the house using a different type of magic— pact magic i think they called it? This is different— the creature is dead and loses all sense of self."

At the thought of the creature losing all sense of self and being forced to be subservient to her, she couldn't help but think of how dark that was. But shortly after she furrowed her brows and got that thought out of her mind.

If the creature attacked her and she had to kill it, then it deserved it.

'Plus it's power i can use.' She thought to herself as she removed the feelings of doubt in her heart. Power was something she badly needed. 

Sure she had the power of a Pureblood Vampire, but that was limited to her physical state, magic is boundless, and the people that could do magic were powerful.

"If I'm going to defeat the knights, i need to become strong. This might be my chance to become powerful enough to stop them." She thought to herself as her gaze wavered on the marking on her hand.

"I need to learn how to summon the creature. I know i can— I'm just not sure how. It's missing pieces of the information." She thought to herself as she tried to go over the information in search of help.

This was the part of the information that was mainly missing information— pieces were fragmented, and while it did say how to do it to an extent— the information was weird.

"I need to feel the creature? And will it out of me? What?" The information was so abstract and weird that she couldn't make any sense of it. 

She couldn't understand how she was supposed to will the creature out of her, especially if she didn't even know how to feel the creature, to begin with.

'Whatever, let's give it a try— if i fail then it wouldn't be due to a lack of effort at least.' She thought to herself as she held her hand out in front of her and closed her eyes.

Just like before she allowed her mind to sink into deep thought; unlike before when she was focusing on the fog in her mind— this time she focused on the marking on her hand. 

Deeper and deeper her mind sank until she felt something calling out to her. It was faint but she heard it. The sound of a hiss echoed within the darkness of her thoughts.

She was surprised that this stupid idea actually worked— but she didn't allow herself to get distracted by the thought and instead grabbed onto the feeling she got from that hiss— pulling it closer.

The hissing grew louder as the feeling was pulled closer— until she shot open her eyes and spoke. The words echoed out from her mouth with a faint rumble under it as it did, "Come forth~"

The mark glowed, and from it, the serpent unraveled and formed into reality once more. It looked just as it did before— with only one major difference. This one was covered in black markings much like she had when she was absorbing it.

Once the creature was out, Shi could feel the difference. She could feel a warm feeling circulating throughout her entire body and connecting to the creature before her somehow. 

'Is this mana? Or maybe the soul? No, it doesn't feel like the soul that felt different. This is mana.' She thought as she cleared up her understanding of the ability further. 

"So it relies on mana to summon and connect to the creature while it is outside of my body. Does this mean there is a limit to it depending on how much mana i have?" Shi started to analyze the ability right away. 

The best way to grow stronger was to know where you were weak, and Shi was no fool in doing that.

Since she didn't know how much mana she currently had— nor a way to increase mana— she decided it would be best to leave such thoughts until she had a way to collect more information; most likely at the city she was wanted to go to. 

Instead, she focused her gaze on the snake before her that was once an enemy that threatened her life— but was now no more than a tool. "How do i use you."

While she said that out loud in hopes that the creature would understand and react— she also didn't expect it to actually do so. So when the creature suddenly moved and lower its head before her she was naturally surprised.

"So you understand me, interesting. But can i understand you? Speak." She ordered the creature as an idea behind the power was taking form. 

She didn't bother being kind or friendly to the creature since it wasn't living, and she also didn't feel like being kind to something that tried to kill her.

The creature hissed in response to her command, yet all Shi could hear was just that, hissing. While she did feel weird, as if there was an underline meaning behind the hiss, she couldn't quite grasp it.

'It seems i can't fully use the ability till i learn more about it.' She thought to herself as her gaze lingered on the creature— thinking about her next course of action.

It was time to get out of this underground world. While it was fun exploring— maybe— it wasn't where she was going to spend all her time.