Tai nodded, seeing the explanation of the system. Now he just needed to wait. To pass the time, Tai decided to check out the new power that he had gotten from the system, Darkness Manipulation.

Tai was excited to test out this power as not only did it sound cool, he also had tons of ideas. Could he combine it with his ki? What's the difference between it and ki? Those were some of the questions that he needed answered.

Since he was going to test out his new power, he might as well accept a mission. It was killing two birds with one stone. Test out his new power and get some money, so he made his way to the guild.

During the past few days, Tai had completed a lot of missions and his rank had been promoted twice to B. With his new strength, he was confident that he could do Rank A missions, but he was still Rank B and had to complete more missions to be promoted.

Rank B missions were quite good and they paid good money too. The lowest Rank B mission paid 700 AC which wasn't a small amount, and the hardest Rank B mission paid 1,500 AC.

Arriving at the guild, Tai received some stares and congratulations at reaching level 100.

"Congrats, kid. Stay safe out there."

"Good job."

"At that speed, you'll be 1st on the Guild Leaderboard."

Tai smiled and said his thanks as he approached the mission board looking for a Rank B mission. While looking, Tai noticed a mission that paid 900 AC meaning that it was most likely not too hard, but also not too easy, so he accepted it as making a lot of money wasn't the priority right now. He just wanted to test out his power.

Slay the Drake and Take its Eggs

Rank: B

Slay the drake that's built a nest to the east of the city and take its eggs. Note: While drakes are much weaker than dragons, drakes are still related to dragons and can kill you if you aren't careful.

Rewards: 900 AC

Optional Reward: Drake Egg

Heading out of the guild, Tai headed to the east entrance of the city. The trip didn't take him that long and he quickly arrived at the gate where he appeared in a forest, but this forest was different. In the distance, black smoke rose into the sky meaning that something was burning.

"Do drakes breathe fire? Oh, well I'm about to find out soon anyway," he asked himself as he made his way towards the smoke to investigate it.

When Tai arrived at the scene, he saw that there was fire everywhere and it seemed like it would burn the whole forest down and in the middle of it all was the perpetrator, a fire-breathing drake. It seemed that before Tai arrived, the drake had been hunting small prey.

The drake had four strong legs and was covered in hard, reptilian scales. Its scales had a red sheen on them as it puffed out some smoke from its nose and ate the prey that it had hunted, revealing its sharp teeth that looked like it could rip through metal.

"Alright, let's test this," Tai looked at his shadow and tried manipulating it to move around.

His shadow started moving around, responding to his will. "Easier than I thought."

Channeling the darkness in the area, he tried solidifying it, making his trusty naginata, but this time instead of ki, he was using darkness.

The darkness in the area started gathering in his palms as it solidified and turned into a lengthy pole. At the end of the pole, the shape of it started morphing as it formed a blade. It seemed that his experience in manipulating ki was helping him with manipulating darkness.

You have learned a skill: Darkness Constructs

+1 status point

Darkness Manipulation has leveled up

+1 status point

Darkness Manipulation has leveled up

+1 status point

Darkness Manipulation has leveled up

+1 status point

Darkness Constructs has leveled up

+1 status point

Darkness Constructs has leveled up

+1 status point

Darkness Constructs has leveled up

+1 status point

"Now, can it fuse with ki?" Tai started channeling his ki into the naginata made of darkness trying to combine them. The ki surrounded the darkness and fused with it, creating a darkness-ki hybrid. The naginata, instead of being pure black, was now black with a black and red aura emanating from it.

The aura that the naginata had was similar to the aura that he had when he was in his empowered state and looked menacing.

"Let's go test this out."

Holding the naginata, Tai was about to do one of his favorite move that he called 'The Naginata Throw'.

Bringing his arm back, Tai did a run-up and roared as he threw his naginata at the drake at an amazing speed. Throwing his naginata was powerful, but it really only worked if the enemy didn't know where he was, so it was ultimately a one time use per fight as monster would be a lot more cautious once they knew his location and that they were being attacked.

Unfortunately for this drake, it was too busy eating its prey and hadn't noticed the naginata that was flying through the air and headed for its head. When the naginata pierced the drake's head, Tai felt a connection with the naginata and actually felt it going through the drake's head. It was a weird feeling, but it seemed that he really did have a connection with the darkness as the system said.

The nest of the now-dead drake wasn't far from where it had died, so Tai didn't have to waste an unnecessary amount of time trying to find the nest.

Mission Complete: Slay the Drake and Take its Eggs

Take the eggs to the nearest Adventurer's Guild to collect your reward.