Chapter 6

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Three days later, I was sure that our company had been forgotten. Or they didn't care. In any case, no one was attacking us, no one was chasing us, no one was poking us with sharp objects, and no one was trying to make stew out of us. On the one hand, this was good, but on the other hand, I was beginning to worry - we were too easily forgotten. So easily, that it was suspicious.

My recovery was over in a couple of days, leaving only a couple of unpleasant marks on my back that had been struck by the discharges. The first thing I did after regaining my ability to control energy was to start playing with the shadows, enjoying the new possibilities. And there were possibilities!

For starters, I found it easy to control shadows, both near and far. So easy that it was only a small step to the point where hitting with a shadow would be easier than hitting with a fist. But it was the increased materiality of the shadows that was the main advantage. They didn't just become thicker, no. Now I was a hundred percent sure that they were not the usual manipulators for magical effects, like telekinesis.

My shadows have become pits, wounds on the body of reality, doors that lead somewhere else. If I pack more shadows into a small area, concentrate and energize them as much as possible, the resulting hole would begin to feel real. It is as if you step into it and fall somewhere to the bottom of the universe. It's a disgusting feeling, very disgusting. I tried to calm myself down, but I was stupid enough to throw the mouse I had caught into the hole.

https://youtu.be/9v0_fID_jvA

I wish I hadn't done that, because the mouse just disappeared. And in the depths of the door, I had created, I could have sworn I saw something blurry, but very, very real. At the sight of this f*cking thing, my cowardly little soul signed a leave of absence and hid in the area of my heels, starting to build the Great Wall of China out of the bricks my ass produced. Trying to keep the panic at bay, I slowly unraveled the structure, and moved about two hundred meters away, just in case.

Since then, I have tried not to collect many shadows in one area, practicing multitasking and subtlety of action. The increased energy and the perk gained helped in both cases, simplifying control and strengthening the resulting shadows. In theory, I could even make a shadow monster with shadows instead of tentacles. There aren't any meguka around, but the possibility is there, which can't help but be symbolic.

Communication with Hans and Losius was over, along with my injuries. I couldn't keep up a normal conversation for fear of getting caught up in some unimportant detail, and being in hiding all the time made it hard to have fun conversations. And telling jokes was even more dangerous for disguise - it's hard to hide when you're laughing too loud.

Both men had cheered up considerably since the escape, seemingly convinced that we had succeeded in breaking through. There was that ephemeral substance in their demeanor that is called confidence in the future. We may still be in the middle of nowhere, and we do not know if we will ever come out to people, but at least the executioner's axe is not hanging over our heads, and the noose is not tightening around our necks.

We're actually in luck, for all the experience of the locals tells us that the [censored]skins are very reluctant to leave the humans they hate alone. They pursue only elves of all kinds with greater fury, fighting realistically to the last living fighter. Except that no matter how confident the two experienced warriors are in their luck, something tells me that the sudden loss of interest in us can only mean one thing.

They came up with something that will kill us much more effectively than direct pursuit. And that already makes me a little uneasy. Just a little, but enough to use my dreamwalker abilities every night and minimize my sleep time, expecting something very bad and definitely deadly.

Call it isekai intuition or paranoid delusion, but I wasn't about to give up my opinion, night after night staring into the darkness.

That's what saved our lives when my theory - what a surprise! - was not even a hundred percent true, but a hundred and forty six percent true, beating the electoral vote in the last election.

Once on Russian election show preliminary results of the election, but for some technical mistake sum of all voices was not 100% as it should be through mathematic laws but 146% For unknow reason its number became a meme.

I noticed something wrong three seconds after the first ringing of the bell. The ringing was, pardon the silly pun, complete and utter silence among the forest fauna. The crickets were silent, the birds were silent, the animals stopped roaming. In my shadow perception, I watched as all the living things either began to increase their distance from the limits of my perception with all their limbs or froze like statues, afraid to even move. Such behavior among the forest dwellers could only mean one thing: some kind of fucked-up thing was coming. And my ass was telling me that it was coming for us.

As soon as I realized this simple truth, I understood that my gut was telling me that trouble was coming with a big, spiky club behind me, and if I wanted to keep my asshole virgin, I had to either run away or get ready to meet the dear guests.

I stood silently and kicked first Hans and then Losij. The first just wakes up, cursing softly, but the second immediately rolls to the side and is already holding a dagger and a sword. This is what a high level means!

Without saying a word, I press my finger to my lips. When I realized that my gesture had been seen, I said it with one mouth: "Listen."

Hans is the first to get it - a pathfinder, after all - but it doesn't take long for Losij to puzzle himself with the question, either. Within seconds, the three of us are on our feet, armed and ready to fight or flee.

The forest was still silent.

The silence did not disappear, the shadows did not show anything in the radius available to me, but my gut was screaming like a rocker at a concert, indicating that danger was approaching.

I concentrated harder and harder on the shadows, trying to feel the threat. And I got a huge, mammoth shit-encrusted "nothing. The forest is like a forest, and if it weren't for the behavior of the animals, I would have suspected my gut was malfunctioning. But the forest is silent, only the noise of the trees and the wind, and the ass is literally on fire, like cleric forum after post with abortion clinic ads.

"Tin, what are you..."

I interrupted Hans with a wave of my hand and concentrated on the shadows until my temples hurt, trying to sense something, something unusual, something incomprehensible, something at least. Because if I don't, there's a good chance that they'll do to me the same trick I used to do to the local savages: stab me in the throat and walk away.

Heartbeat.

The shadows lie silent on the ground in the light of the moons. They are indifferent and static, alien to all human experience. They are only shadows, a meeting place of light and darkness, a scratch on the body of reality.

Heartbeat.

There is not a single movement, only the wind rustling the leaves, whispering its song to the forest. Quiet rustles that could tell you anything, if only there was someone who could understand them.

Heartbeat.

And then I notice a discrepancy. At the very top, in the treetops, something touches the leaves, making them move out of tune with the wind. The creature doesn't make a sound, it doesn't cast shadows, it's not even material in the full meaning of the word. But its movements cause the other shadows to shift slightly. Just a little, barely, so tiny an impact that you wouldn't be able to notice it without putting your best foot forward.

But I did.

And at the last moment, I managed to push myself and my companions out from under the impact with shadows, missing the extremely unpleasant fate by just a few centimeters. One heartbeat.

Hans and Losius began to rise with a wild screech, and I was already frozen in a lower stance, ready to deflect a blow from any direction. Now there are no more leaves because something has already fallen below the crowns, being in relatively free space.

Hans's cursing becomes quite wicked and panicky when he sees the long hole in the middle of where the three of us were standing. And I realize that's it. If I can't spot the next attack, I'll just die.

With all the power I have, I ask my shadows and, with a flash of wild migraine and blood dripping from my left nostril, it's like I'm opening my eyes. The enlarged sphere of perception hits my vestibular apparatus a little, but that's not important.

The most important thing is that I see something.

It is weightless and invisible, it leaves no shadows, but those that already exist feel its presence. Like a feather flickering over the skin, like someone else's breath over the ear.

I knelt from the sensory overload and, without turning around, attacked the fuzzy silhouette of the enemy, circling around the three of us, already at our backs. The shadow that had fallen from my palm was not the sharp ribbon I was used to fighting, but rather a lump of viscous mass that constrained my movements.

My attack saves Hans's life, causing the creature to fall out of the stealth and squeal wildly. The screech literally screws into my skull, making me freeze in horror, hesitate, make a mistake, but, as with the bear, the moment of panic is washed away by a wave of calm from my title. And everything becomes abundantly clear.

There is me, and there is the enemy.

And one of us will disappear tonight.

The creature that had broken the distance froze in place, causing Losij, who had managed to turn his head in its direction, to exhale loudly. And there was a reason for that, you had to admit.

Imagine that all the skin was removed from a person and then cut into small segments. Two on the forearm, one on the hand, one on each finger, three on the shoulder, and so on. Now imagine leaving palm-wide gaps between these pieces of skin, but sewing the pieces together with veins removed from the body. Now imagine a kind of skin armor that has been filled with something transparent and fuzzy, but deadly.

Oh yeah!

The victim's face was intact and, in a some way, alive so that the three of us could admire the flour-distorted face of Gummy, who apparently served as the material for the creation of this... vessel. All my gut is screaming that the human-skinned creature is only kept real by the costume. That it's too strong to be in our world all the time, and that's why it's drawn back to the stinkhole from which it came.

It's also intelligent.

Very, very intelligent, perhaps even smarter than me. In this thing's eyes, it had stolen, there was intelligence as alien as it was malicious.

And I'm beginning to wonder how that cunt was even forced to come after us in the first place. It's stronger than ordinary orcs and goblins. Even a chief I killed would have been eaten by it just as easily as I break the necks of goblins. Maybe that's the reason why no one messes with these [censored]lings. They're weak themselves, but they can sell their holes to pay for summoning mass pussyfucking into enemy territory?

They wouldn't let me think it through. The creature had had enough of playing peek-a-boo when it realized it couldn't stun me, as it had done to the frozen Hans and Losij, who now need to be covered up, too.

The creature stayed where it was, at least I could see it there, but the shadows, my faithful allies, and servants felt an instant tug in an arc, with a step to the side of the poor isekai. So fast that I looked like a snail in comparison, if not a snail, then a slowpoke.

I had no idea how I'd dodged it, but I'm inclined to think that it simply wasn't expecting me to see it. I didn't even try to dodge or parry it with my usual blades, but I hit it with two of the shadow blades that came off my daggers. Surprisingly, it ducked, literally leaking between my attacks and nearly ripping my stomach open. If I hadn't been curled up at the very last moment, my guts would have gone for a walk.

A second's delay and two more ribbons ripped out from under me, forcing the creature to retreat. Again going into my back, from what it thought was a blind spot. This time I don't even waste time turning around, forcing the shadows to cover the nasty thing like a blanket. Not cutting it, but restraining it, slowing it down, exposing it to the blows of my shadow ribbons.

I put in enough energy to keep the three bears at bay, which saved me from a very unpleasant blow, delivered the moment the shadowbag was torn to shreds. The creature's strength was off the charts! And not just strength, but its dexterity is terrifying, too! I would have been gutted like a fish without the shadow perception's three hundred and sixty-degree view, and the monster even bothered with it.

We look at each other again. Me and the creature that had become visible. Despite the first impression, it did take some damage: my shadows began to dissolve the skin off Gummy, gradually depriving the entity of its anchor in reality. In fact, that was my only chance of survival. If I stand long enough, it will go away. The main thing is to stand, not to die in the process, and not to suffer the fatal wounds that would kill me later.

The reserve is almost full, despite the serious expense. Just don't waste it, which will be extremely difficult given the speed at which the enemy is moving.

Why is it such a shit for me?

I step to the side, reply with three ribbons, through which the creature has already habitually leaked, coming into my side. I do not have time to shift. So I lift my own shadow, making it solidify like a stone. The sharp ghostly claws are completely invisible, but the shadow, which I estimate could withstand a ramming blow from an orc chief, is literally opened like a tin can.

I look at the cut clothes with a kind of doomed indifference and roll away again. I brushed by the shadowy ribbon from the crap that was trying to get on top of me. I dodged the claws, but I didn't dodge the blow from the lower limbs. I was dexterous enough to avoid injury, but I got a good kick in the ribs. I don't even have time to bump my bones against a tree, I have to lean into the shadows, dodging another series of claw attacks - the creature took full advantage of my temporary lack of a foothold.

My shadow ribbon was routinely ignored and in vain. This time I didn't just whip, but also made a spoof of Karabas-Barabas from the notorious Pinocchio, dividing the end of the whip into several thinner ones. In fact, we both underestimated each other, which allowed such an unpleasant situation to arise.

It underestimated me when it decided to play with the food, despite the very unpleasant shadowy blows. And me, in my naivety, when I thought I was fast enough to react to its attacks. As it turned out, this thing could be fucking fast! Because as soon as my attack slashed the creature's leathery robes, vaporizing nearly half its anchor, it began to play seriously.

A blow to the side, and I twisted like a small dog that had been kicked by an angry man. The pain was just beginning to spread through my body, and I was being flattened again by the claws... no, not claws, a fist. Have you ever been kicked in the nuts by an industrial bouncer? If so, you'll understand before you die, but if not, don't even try it.

For the next few dozen seconds, it played with me, too, but a lot more carefully with itself, and a lot less careful with the toy.

Hit.

Hit.

Kick.

Another kick followed by a punch.

It didn't kill me in one blow, though it was guaranteed to do so, and there could be no doubt about that. It played with me like a cat with a half-suffocated mouse, trying not to hurt me too badly - after the first couple of blows, when my bones were really cracking, they started to hit me more carefully. So as not to break the toy prematurely.

And all I could do was grit my teeth in pain, not even having time to concentrate on my shadows.

I gritted my teeth and slowly went mad, like an anabolic paratrooper at a gay pride parade. The suffocating feeling of helplessness, multiplied by the pain all over my body and the doom in the face of a superior opponent gradually accumulated, blowing my fucking mind. At some point, it was as if a trigger clicked in my head, and I realized that that was it.

I mean that's it. Over.

I probably won't see the sunrise again, but I'll ride that thing into hell, even if I have to strangle it with my bare hands and eat it alive to do it. I've never been this high, not even after a full day on my feet in the office, and that's saying a lot.

My head went blank and empty, and all my concentration problems went far away. Everything became very clear and understandable, like a multiplication table. I just knew exactly what to do and how to do it.

It was as if all the pieces of the puzzle I'd observed were put together, creating a whole and already analyzed image. The image of my victory, even if it was my last.

The creature was fucking fast and strong had at least two fighting abilities on top of the damn invisibility and had some pretty unimaginable experience hunting flesh-and-blood creatures. I don't even want to imagine its age, but there's at least a three-digit number or probably more.

But for all its speed, it either did not possess or did not develop, a sense of danger. In principle, with its speed, it didn't need it. But the fact remained that it reacted to my attacks only after they had begun. Not before, not during, but only when the attack was already directed.

It simply meant that I had to put the thing to rest before it realized it was being attacked, or at the very least, block all escape routes without avoiding a hit.

I take advantage of the sudden clarity of my mind and put all my remaining reserve into the next action, feeding everything I had into the void with grim satisfaction.

After all, there is no tomorrow.

I guess I was wrong about the creature's lack of premonition skills. Because it sensed my preparation, or maybe it sensed the energy I was using. Either way, it got serious immediately, attacking me at full speed without discount. Maybe it didn't intend to kill me, only to tear off my arms and legs so it could play a little more.

But it did exactly what I needed it to do. If it had broken the distance, I would have wasted all my energy on a hopeless attack that wouldn't have even scratched the monster. What a pity it came closer, though.

The invisible claws stopped a few inches from my eyes, caught by the shadow of my hand. The creature swung its second grip, familiarly and deftly, to free itself and finish me off, but the other was intercepted as well. Nonsense, barely able to restrain the creature for even a few heartbeats, especially since the rest of its body was free.

But my shadow didn't slow down - the second pair, the third, the fourth, the tenth... My hands, [censored] as night, kept multiplying and multiplying, clawing at the creature's body. It tore them apart as a man would tear a thread, but each one was replaced by two whole ones. And the touch of my shadows immediately began to dissolve what was left of the sacrificed Gummy, stripping the monster of its strength and anchor in the real world.

When it realized that the games - any games - were over, the monster spat some invisible stuff at me, but it only hit the shadowy silhouette before me, which immediately began to dissipate. The new hands closed the monster's mouth in the same second, preventing it from attacking again.

Now the creature was no longer silent or hissing, no.

A bone-crushing growl, as if it were freezing your insides out, was screwed into your temples with blades of steel. It realized that it would not see prey today, that its prey was too clever to die. But it promised to return. In its cry could be heard centuries of experience, promises of immeasurable torment, of skin stripped alive and a captive soul that would entertain the creature with its cries for years after the body was dead.

It was a promise literally hammered into my skull by someone else's will, and the creature broke free of its bonds one last time... it threw off the skin, like scales being thrown off, leaving a world that was foreign to it.

Except it couldn't get away.

There wasn't even a drop of strength left in my body, not a crumb of energy in reserve, and I, by and large, shouldn't have been able to stand on my feet at all from the waste and the broken bones, or even foam from the deadly exertion. But it was as if I were grafted to the ground, and my own shadow kept me from falling.

The many shadowy hands I had created... they stayed! I couldn't hold them anymore, couldn't infuse them with power, but they weren't gone, as if something was feeding them from the other side. And that something was hungrier than the creature that had come after me.

That's where it got impressed.

The tugging, the desperate attempts to break free became much stronger. Now it was using up not the anchor's reserves of strength, but its own, trying hard to break the grip of the shadows and escape from what had suddenly become a very inhospitable forest. But it couldn't!

More and more arms appeared out of nowhere, restraining, binding, tearing the creature to pieces, dissolving it into itself, dragging it to the very bottom of the universe. And in an instant, my failed assassin's powers ran out, while the shadows did not diminish.

A sharp jerk and reality seemed to ripple, and the creature, howling longingly on a single note, was dragged into the [censored] puddle of shadows that burst directly beneath it. That howl was still audible, but it faded with each passing second.

And there was also something watching me from there. They, those watchers, were not just watching, they wanted me just as much as the monster they had captured, wanting to take all they could from me, to drink me down, to drain me dry, and there was nothing to stand in their way.

Only this time I had no fear: some insight buried deep within me, pure knowledge, told me that they had no right. That they were waiting for me to make a mistake, for me to prove my weakness to them, and then they would take more than enough to satisfy their eternal hunger for a few moments.

Call it intuition, or luck, or whatever, but in the next moment my parched and cracked lips opened with difficulty, and I said, in a dry and cracked voice: "The fee is given."

Wild rage, hatred, and hunger rained down on my brain in a continuous avalanche of images that easily distinguished disappointment and reluctance to retreat, along with forced acceptance. I didn't have the right to call myself Lord yet, but I was a Shadowborn, and as long as I followed the rules, as long as my will was strong enough, I would not be touched, even if they wanted to.

The scream of the monster munching by shadow was finally silenced, and the life-giving power flowed into me like water from a stream. My broken ribs and bones crunched and agonized, the emptiness in my chest receded as if it had never come, and I regained my strength.

And the images came back to my mind, foreign and alien. I could see the orcish settlement, the tens and hundreds of [censored]-skinned bodies clustered around the bloody altar, the slaughtered goblins, and orcs whose flesh and blood stained it. I saw the human skeleton, whitened and fleshless, saw the three shamans standing around, fueling the anchor with their powers, saw the bones of the man slain for the summoning crumble to ashes, and with them the altar began to crack. Crackling, melting, flowing like wax. And the oldest, most motley-clad orc began to shrivel before his eyes. In a matter of seconds, the skin on his shrieking face turned pale, stretched, and, after one brief moment, the withered corpse fell to the damaged altar.

The sacred place for several tribes at once still functioned, but the death and disembodiment, final and irreversible, of one of the strongest and oldest allies of those tribes, had too much effect on the old and soaked of a thousand deaths stones.

It will be a long time before their former strength comes back to them...

The shadows left instantly.

Here they are still swarming around me, and here they are again habitual and flat, as they should be ordinary shadows, simple and understandable to every living person. They are again the same as they have always been.

Two-dimensional.

Harmless.

I don't want to do it again! Even once! Trying a stunt like that again! I don't need this kind of adventure, just don't need it. I almost shat my soul out of my ass, along with my heart and the entire brick industry in the post-Soviet space!

Fuck that.

With a quiet groan, I sat my ass down on the ground, breathing deeply in the forest air. My body didn't just feel painless, on the contrary, it was literally overflowing with strength. From a purely physical point of view, I had never felt so healthy in my life. But morally, I wanted only to lie down, cover myself with a blanket, turn on the Winnie the Pooh cartoons on the TV, and not go anywhere for the next hundred years.

Fucking life!

Fucking isekai!

This fucking world, with its government conspiracies, evil goblins, hungry skinning spirits, and who knows what else, prepared especially for dumbasses like me!

From self-pity and attempts to write a manifesto to the creators of this world, using only obscene language and few pretexts, I was finally distracted by my comrades-in-arms.

Ah, well, yes.

The creature was gone, which meant that the paralyzing effect exerted on the will and body must also have disappeared. I hope they didn't crap their pants, because the river is not so close, we can't wash anything.

For the next few minutes, all that could be heard was the utmost incisiveness of the foul language with which my companions were relieving the tension. In a way, they were worse off, because I could at least fight for my life, while they couldn't even walk normally. On the other hand, they hadn't been kicked all over the clearing, either, and were merely paralyzed.

"You know, Tin, your joke about the three mythical classes doesn't seem so funny after what I've seen." Surprisingly, Losius's voice hardly shook at all. "Not that I'm complaining, or that I need your secrets, but maybe you can explain to us what just happened."

For a second I even considered telling them my story, just to see the look on their faces. But joke's a joke, and I'm not going to kill them. Leaving the bearers of my secrets alive would be even more foolish than revealing them. So we'll do with half-truths and innuendos again, and then let them come up with their own plausible versions.

"It seemed that tired of chasing us all over the forest, the [censored] had just summoned some particularly dangerous shit on our heads. I could sense the danger approaching and put up a fight, but it was too strong. I had to lay out the last trump card, which you witnessed. I don't want to repeat it and I don't advise you to do it again."

In response to my remark, Hans and Losius looked at each other and looked back at me very eloquently. Is that all? Where are the detailed explanations? To their credit, they did not press and question me, not out of fear or apprehension, but simply out of respect for the man who had once again saved their skins.

"Well, if you don't want to, don't say anything, like a fool." Hans summed up by starting to toss some wood into the almost extinguished embers of the fire.

No one went to bed that night. I was, as I said, full of energy, so I didn't want to sleep, and the men were too excited to go back to bed. Apparently, we would stay awake until morning.

"Won't they send something more dangerous after us?" The Duelist spoke up. "I don't mean to be a coward, but I'd hate to die at the hands of another wretched creature who couldn't even lift a blade."

"Pardon my elvenspeak, but where the fuck are you going to find more dangerous shit?" I decided to reassure the nervous men. "They're just orcs. I'm sure they threw the worst they had at us. I'm sure they had to call off the hunt, return to their villages, get ready to summon, and only then could they summon the dreadful thing. They'll have to try very hard to get back together, and we already have a huge head start, which won't be easy to beat. If we don't accidentally go out to another settlement, we should sort of get away from the enemy."

My speech - perhaps the longest of the last few days - had calmed them both down a bit, though there was still some anxiety. Well, this is one of those places where you can't relax, even if you're dead. Gummy would confirm my words.

"Gummy's dead." Hans, who was a bit wistful, stretched out. "They didn't even let him die properly. Ass-faced bastards!"

I only shrugged my shoulders. Personally, I did not like this man, and quite justifiably so. His desire to live at any cost was, of course, quite understandable to me, but since I had not even allowed myself to kill the wounded man, I was entitled to hypocrisy. And I have a near-absolute certainty that he would have sold me for a penny, even if I had saved his skin a hundred times over.

"Love me the priestesses of Sheila!" My musings are interrupted by the cries of Losius. "We are... you... just look at the status. You have to see it, or you won't believe me."

I open the system message tray with a puzzled blink and then fall silently out of my mind. Who the fuck did I kill today? I saw that the monster was strong, many times stronger than me, but not to such an extent!

A new title is obtained!

The Legend Seer: The Skin-Taker, or, as the local tribes call him, Sa'Shai Garhmnul, very rarely shows his face, and even more rarely leaves those who see him alive. In any case, you were among those who survived the encounter. Luck or stupidity, we can't let something like that go unrewarded. Bonus: +5 to all stats except class stats.

I had already had a chance to get the stun out of the (childish and lightweight) piano when I read the next line and got stunned by it twice as much.

Piano or "piano in the bush" - Russian idiom for the stupid plot devices. Like "The main character was brutally insulted and humiliated by the main villain. He trampled everything that was dear to him. The main character decides to take revenge, but how? He is left with only a pillow, into which he cries at night. But then he finds a super sword under his pillow, with which he can now go defeat the main villain."

A new title is obtained!

The Legend Killer: To become a Legend, the Skin Taker lived a long life and shattered countless lives of strangers. But all his power didn't help him when he met you. Luck and stupidity, we'll say, but we'll give you a reward nonetheless. After all, it's not every day someone proves that even Legends sometimes die. Bonus (halved): +5 to all characteristics except class, +1 free ability point.

Such an attraction of unheard generosity makes my gut hardened by Internet scams feel like there's some devious trick that will bite me in the ass at the most inopportune moment.

No doubt, sixty point of characteristics is very good. And, come to think of it, even for a good cause, because killing that thing was really very hard and more of a coincidence than a real consequence of my performance. And they cut my reward, too, at the expense of the shadows that helped me, bitch-fucking-want-to-forget. That's where creepy fucking creep and creepy creepiness.

Speaking of shadows, it's impossible not to mention the two promotions in the shadow class at once. Although I'd be surprised if they weren't promoted after that, yes.

Shadow Control: 5/5

Allows you to masterfully control shadows in your field of vision, giving them full physical embodiment; shadows can freely take solid form and are suitable for creating obstacles and barriers; the range, speed, control, and stretching of shadows is greatly increased; shadow density is greatly increased; shadows can inflict energy damage and impose effects that reduce target characteristics; wounds from shadows are worse; with maximum tension and concentration of the shadow on a certain area, you can turn the shadow into a door to another plane; increases the Shadow's characteristic by +5.

Shadow Sense: 3/5

Allows one to sense all shadows within a perceptible radius from oneself; allows one to sense the movement of shadows and their belonging; allows one to control shadows freely even outside the field of direct vision; allows one to sense invisible people touching the shadows; at the limit of concentration allows one to see through a shadow.

Note for the future.

To write it on my forehead with indelible paint and to memorize it so that even when drunk and delirious I would never forget: never, under any conditions, use a breakthrough of reality again. Only if all the other options are even worse, which is extremely difficult to do. Otherwise, a little more in this vein and I will start to be afraid of my own shadows, which would be another joke.

I liked the sensory enhancement much better because now I could feel everything happening within a radius of four hundred meters. If you think about it, each time the sphere doubled: one hundred, two hundred, now four hundred. In the end, it should be a little over a kilometer and a half.

When you are your own radar.

Add to this the increasing clarity of perception, and I find it difficult even to imagine how someone like me would have to be caught. Invisible, inaudible, aware of everything in the vast territory around me. I will be like a champion runner on steroids: I will kill whoever I can, even if he is stronger than me (no one canceled a surprise attack); if I cannot kill, I will run away, winning time due to shadow attacks, and if the fight is initially hopeless, I will not go to it at all, just sensing the ambush in advance and fleeing in terror.

Now I understand why I was given this particular class.

Two perks, for stamina and for concentration, completed the picture of complete stunningness. As it turned out, a free ten points and a boost for a hell of a fight were enough to get me over the required number of stats. I looked impatiently at the gifts offered to me.

The Endurance characteristic has reached 50! Choose a perk!

- Bone strengthening (common);

- Skin hardening (common);

Attention, the further growth rate of this characteristic is significantly reduced.

I don't even think about the options and choose the bones. The damn ghost of communism broke half the bones in my body, causing me to nearly die from pain shock. I had to take care of this problem urgently, saving myself from at least some future fractures and cracked bones. A very useful acquisition, I think.

I don't care about tough skin, because my style is such that I either don't get hurt at all, or I get kicked so hard that my ribs fall into my underpants, not to mention the usual wounds. That's why strong bones are the key to health.

The characteristic concentration has reached 50 units! Choose a perk!

- Meditative tranquility (common);

- Combat Concentration (common);

Attention, the further growth rate of this characteristic is significantly reduced

It is the same as in the previous case - I choose the right thing at once, without even thinking about it. I had to go to extreme measures because of my lack of concentration in combat. Yes, I was cured and rewarded as a result, but I'd rather listen to Russian rap than repeat my communication with the native inhabitants of the shadows.

And why do I need tranquility in my life? I'm fucking calm as it is, and the title of Hero obviously helps me deal with tension and stress. If I had the class of a Shaolin monk, meditation would be a good thing, but I'm not a Jedi.

The last few messages were of the same type, indicating that I had accumulated as many stats as possible. On the one hand, this allows me to invest free characteristic points with a clear conscience. On the other hand... And on the other hand, it means that the freebie is over, which almost physically hurts me.

Only someone who has once been deprived of the freebies to which he has become accustomed and is absolutely unwilling to give up this grace will understand me.

Attention, the dexterity characteristic has reached a limit and will no longer be developed by training.

Attention, the endurance characteristic has reached a limit and will no longer be developed by training.

Attention, the characteristic of perception has reached a limit and will no longer be developed by training.

Attention, the characteristic energy has reached a limit and will no longer be developed by training.

Now if I could just figure out where to put those points so that I don't waste them. Now it would be a very stupid thing to accumulate and hoard them. It's the dumbest thing I've ever done.

Meanwhile, my thoughts were interrupted by a whistling of admiration from Hans, who had read his status, too. Yes, they both saw our almost-killer, too, so they could get a bite out of the System.

And for an ordinary man, not a Hero, suddenly having six levels of stats on his head is a big thing.

An excuse to get drunk, for example.

Well.

What else I have left: "Status."

Name: Konstantine

Race: Human

Level: 14

Titles: Hero; Silent Assassin; Night Master, Thunderstruck; The Legend Seer; The Legend Killer

Characteristics Points: 65

Class Points: 6

Characteristics (standard):

Strength: 46

Dexterity: 67

Endurance: 60

Perception: 66

Concentration: 52

Energy: 62

Characteristics (class):

Shadow: 26

Dreams: 1

Inspiration: 2

Class: Lord of Shadows

Rank: 1

Basic characteristics: shadows, dexterity, perception.

Abilities:

Shadow Control: 5/5

Allows you to masterfully control shadows in your field of vision, giving them full physical embodiment; shadows can freely take solid form and are suitable for creating obstacles and barriers; the range, speed, control, and stretching of shadows is greatly increased; shadow density is greatly increased; shadows can inflict energy damage and impose effects that reduce target characteristics; wounds from shadows are worse; with maximum tension and concentration of the shadow on a certain area, you can turn the shadow into a door to another plane; increases the Shadow's characteristic by +5.

Shadow Sense: 3/5

Allows one to sense all shadows within a perceptible radius from oneself; allows one to sense the movement of shadows and their belonging; allows one to control shadows freely even outside the field of direct vision; allows one to sense invisible people touching the shadows; at the limit of concentration allows one to see through a shadow.

[undisclosed]

Bonuses:

Shadowborn: stealth skills grow five times faster; in case of danger, shadows will shelter you as their brethren.

Dexterous: Dexterity grows faster.

[undisclosed]

Class: Master of Dreams and Reflections

Rank: 1

Basic characteristics: dreams, concentration, perception

Abilities:

Create a dream: 1/5

Allows you to control the dream you are in, with limited influence on the passage of time.

Send a dream: 0/5

[undisclosed]

Bonuses:

Dreamer: social and magic skills associated with the class grow five times faster; no one has power over your dreams but yourself.

Undeterred: the concentration grows faster.

[undisclosed]

Class: Mystic Alchemist

Rank: 1

Basic characteristics: inspiration, perception, energy

Abilities:

Creating a compound: 1/5

Allows you to create alchemical compositions from available reagents by instinctively understanding the creation process

Reagent breakdown: 0/5

[undisclosed]

Bonuses:

Understanding of the essence: the ability to see and, with reservations, understand magic in things and reagents; all craft skills related to alchemy grow five times faster.

Attentive: perception grows faster.

[undisclosed]

Special:

Limit of Excellence (from the title ‘Hero’): raises the maximum limit of natural characteristic growth to 50 (Now: 60), accelerates trainability and increases the amount of experience gained.

Hero's Will: Thought-affecting skills ranked below your class have no effect.

Hero's Gaze: allows you to see a certain amount of information about others; depending on your level.

Mythic: Limit of characteristic development raised by 10 (Now: 60), allows you to choose three classes at once.

Silence in the hall (rare; from the title ‘Silent Assassin’): active skill that completely mutes sounds in a small area. Duration and area of effect depend on user’s level and energy value.

Night Master (rare): You have, voluntarily or involuntarily, met the standard for the title of a professional assassin. Proving that you have this title will get you a job in any shadow guild. If you don't get slaughtered just in case. Effect: +5 to dexterity; +2 to all characteristics except class.

Improved coordination (common): improves coordination and fine motor skills.

Improved hearing (common): Improves hearing, allows you to distinguish previously inaudible whispers and rustles, makes it easier to distinguish the sources of sounds and identify them.

Increase energy quality (common): makes your energy more saturated and denser, thus increasing the power of your charms and reducing the cost of creation.

Thunderstruck (rare): You received a charge of many millions of volts on your head, but managed to survive such a gift. You have to be pretty stupid to be struck by lightning, but you also have endurance. Effect: +5 endurance.

The Legend Seer: The Skin-Taker, or, as the local tribes call him, Sa'Shai Garhmnul, very rarely shows his face, and even more rarely leaves those who see him alive. In any case, you were among those who survived the encounter. Luck or stupidity, we can't let something like that go unrewarded. Bonus: +5 to all stats except class stats.

The Legend Killer: To become a Legend, the Skin Taker lived a long life and shattered countless lives of strangers. But all his power didn't help him when he met you. Luck and stupidity, we'll say, but we'll give you a reward nonetheless. After all, it's not every day someone proves that even Legends sometimes die. Bonus (halved): +5 to all characteristics except class, +1 free ability point.

Bone strengthening (common): makes bones stronger and more resistant, allowing you to better tolerate stress.

Combat Concentration (common): makes it easier to stay focused on something during combat or other active actions; pain and injury have a reduced chance of interrupting caste.

Skills:

Provocation: 5 (apprentice)

Running: 12 (journeyman)

Stealth: 49 (master)

Swimming: 5 (apprentice)

Alchemy: 30 (journeyman)

Herbalism: 24 (journeyman)

Fishing: 14 (journeyman)

Spear Mastery: 3 (apprentice)

Infiltration: 20 (journeyman)

Danger sense: 36 (master)

Deathstroke: 31 (master)

Dagger Mastery: 47 (master)

Hand-to-hand combat: 11 (journeyman)

Energy Flow Management: 27 (journeyman)

Two-Handed Combat: 13 (journeyman)

Throwing Weapon: 6 (apprentice)

Foresight: 4 (apprentice)

* * *