Evan continued to walk down the hall to the sound of steel clashing against steel around him. He watched one of his new shadow knights face off against a pair of dungeon knights. The dungeon knights should have held the advantage — they were faster and stronger and they outnumbered the shadowy knight.

The two knights charged the shadow, only for it to parry one of the blows and then sink into the floor. It reformed behind them and landed a swipe across the back of one of the dungeon knights. Evan watched as blue mana poured out from the wound and onto the ground. A moment passed before the wound began to fester and blacken as shadow mana poisoned the magic beast from the inside.

The wounded knight pivoted and threw a weak thrust, but the corruption quickly spread through his body and it collapsed to the ground. The shadow made to stab the collapsed knight but was blindsided by a strike from the other dungeon knight. The strike severed the shadow’s sword arm, but it gave no indication that it even noticed. Instead, the shadow rammed its shield into the knight’s head forcing it out of range.

The two warriors battled for several seconds, but without both limbs, the dungeon knight cut the shadow down piece by piece. With a final thrust through the chest, the shadow dissipated into nothingness.

The dungeon knight turned towards Evan, a steel longsword held in both hands. He imagined the knight smirking beneath its helmet, daring the summoner to attack him. Evan stood his ground and waited as the knight launched itself at him.

It crossed the distance between them in the blink of an eye. When it was five feet away from Evan it raised its sword in the air — intent on sinking it into his head. Evan watched as the blade descended and then stopped in mid-air before falling to the ground.

Evan grinned as the dungeon knight seemed to notice the foot of shadowy steel that had exploded from its chest. It managed to turn its head enough to see the shadow knight he had just vanquished before the shadow proceeded to cut him in half.

Two wisps of mana floated from the fallen knights and into Evan. He watched as another two wisps entered the shadow.

[Shadow Knight] has gained [100 experience points] for defeating 2x [Dungeon Knights]

You have gained [100 experience points] as a result of your [Shadow Knight] defeating 2x [Dungeon Knights]

“So it looks like we still gain experience from any beasts defeated by the shadows but the experience is split. Interesting,” he said to Fenrir.

“Powerful,” Fenrir corrected.

He bent down and picked up the two tiny, blue crystals. He activated [Extract Shadow Core] and then [Summon Shadow]. Shadows shifted and gathered together forming two shadowy knights. They kneeled and bowed.

“Help the others,” he commanded. The shadows remained kneeling as they sunk into the ground and scattered.

* * *

It had taken Evan and his shadows a little under an hour to kill the remaining knights that guarded the great hall. He was pleased when the translucent screen told him that several of his shadows had leveled up.

[Shadow Knight] has reached [Level 2]

[Shadow Knight] has reached [Level 2]

[Shadow Knight] has reached [Level 2]

The screen made him curious about his own progress. Altogether, they must have killed over a hundred dungeon knights, so he was surprised when he opened his status screen and found that he was still quite a bit away from earning his second level.

[Status].

[Name]: Evan (Soulbound to Dungeon Core - Fenrir)

[Class]: Dungeon Core Summoner

[Evolutions]: None

[Mana]: 500 / 1,000,000

[Level]: 1 (6000 / 10,000 experience)

“Seems like power provided by [The System] is proportional to the work required to earn that power,” he muttered.

“The steps towards power are often steps through sand,” Fenrir chuckled.

Evan nodded his agreement as he activated [Extract Shadow Core] on a handful of monster cores. He watched as the blue crystals crumbled into black mana and flowed into Fenrir. Five new [Shadow Knights] kneeled in front of him moments later.

“Scout ahead with the others.”

He grabbed another handful of monster cores and extracted their shadows. He activated [Summon Shadow], but instead of manifesting more shadows, a bomb went off inside Evan’s body. He collapsed to the floor, writhing in pain as Fenrir roared in agony.

Ten shadows raced back towards their King as his pain rippled through the space they shared in his mind. As they arrived they saw no physical threat, and could only watch as their King continued to spasm violently on the ground.

Minutes turned to hours as Evan and Fenrir were wrapped up in their torment. The pain lessened bit by bit, until Evan was able to sit up.

The dungeon core’s voice was strained as it filled Evan’s head. “That was mana rebound. There is something wrong. We should have regenerated enough mana to be able to summon more shadows. I don’t understand, my King.”

[Status].

[Name]: Evan (Soulbound to Dungeon Core - Fenrir)

[Class]: Dungeon Core Summoner

[Evolutions]: None

[Mana]: 0 / 1,000,000

[Level]: 1 (6000 / 10,000 experience)

An hour passed as Evan stared at the status screen, but the mana bar never changed. He waited for another hour, and then another. Nothing.

“You are right. Something is wrong. Some injury we haven’t managed to heal. We will need to find a proper healer. Someone that can tell us what is happening.”

He turned to the ten knights that surrounded him. “We will have to take it slow. If we aren’t careful we could exacerbate the injury.” He willed five of the shadows to return to Fenrir.

[Status].

[Name]: Evan (Soulbound to Dungeon Core - Fenrir)

[Class]: Dungeon Core Summoner

[Evolutions]: None

[Mana]: 500 / 1,000,000

[Level]: 1 (6000 / 10,000 experience)

Fenrir vocalized what Evan was thinking. “It seems that until we can figure out what's wrong and how to fix the problem we should not rely on being able to use the full strength of the Shadow Army.”

Evan nodded as he stared at the pile of monster cores that sat in front of him. He grabbed one of the cores and twirled it in his hands. He could sense that did not have enough mana to do what he wanted.

He eyed the remaining five shadow knights before willing four back into Fenrir. He sat down with the core in his hands.

“Continue scouting. Return here when you have found the core, but do not engage any enemies.”

The shadowy knight bowed, then sunk into the floor before disappearing.

The small, blue crystal shimmered in Evan’s hands. He laid the core on the floor and placed a hand on either side of it. Nine black threads of mana erupted from his fingertips and enclosed the core. Evan closed his eyes as he used the threads of black mana to alter the mana within the core.

Slowly, the glowing blue crystal changed shape as Evan carved it using his mana threads. Several hours passed until the blue core took the shape of a smooth black ring.

[Skills Detected]

[Black Mana Threads] - Level 1: You are able to spin threads of pure black mana. These threads can be used to alter mana at a fundamental level and shape monster cores. You can summon one thread of mana for 100 points of mana.

[Core Crafting] - Level 1: You have become bound to a dungeon core. You are able to craft items from monster cores and alter their magic to infuse them with magical properties. The number of cores required depends on the complexity of the item.

Evan placed the ring on his right index finger and then waved his hand over the pile of monster cores. He grinned as the ring glowed briefly and the cores disappeared. He took a moment to admire the ring and was rewarded by a translucent screen.

[Item - Black Ring of Holding]

This ring was created from a low-grade monster core. The mana within the core was altered to create a small interdimensional space that can hold an infinite number of small items. Items must be smaller than 1ft x 1ft x 1ft to fit within.