{Aariv how's my level looking?}
[Status;
Race: Shadow Dragon
Title: None
Level: 25
HP: 203
Mana: 406
STAM:609
ATK: 558
DEF: 507
Exp: 0/375
{Holy… my stats are a far cry from where they started! That reminds me of another fire trick I need to try considering how science seems to apply to a certain extent here in this world, and how far that extent reaches will be left for my future experiments to understand. Aariv, how does fire manipulation work?}
[You must press your will upon the fire and guide it into doing whatever it is you wish. With a higher level of fire manipulation, you may command stronger and higher density of fire; you may get much more precise and fine-tuned with your manipulation tactics as you practice.]
{I understand now}
Shadow began spewing fire out of his muzzle while attempting to press this 'will' Aariv was referring to onto the fire and command it.
However, he only saw success after hours of practice, when the fire started to manifest into a huge ball in front of Shadow, reaching the size of a large boulder.
Realizing he had succeeded in part one of his experiment, Shadow attempted to condense the large ball of fire into a single focal point in front of him. Taking many minutes to notice any progress.
Slowly but surely he tried his hardest to make his idea work, but the more fire he packed into a smaller space, the more it fought back against him, it seemed impossible. Yet he carried on with a stubbornness he never realized he had.
After an hour of tearful efforts, Shadow succeeded in getting the ball to the size of a marble. A marble that glowed orange with tidbits of red mixed in. It resembled a beautiful and very small red dwarf, packed with intense heat and energy but oh so small, in comparison to other stars of course.
{ I never actually expected this to work if I'm honest. This tells me a lot but at the same time, nothing; I must conduct more experiments, but first.}
He proceeded to aim the packed marble and readied himself to fire
{Let's test this out}
[NO]
The system's sudden shouts in his head severely startled Shadow, causing him to panic and come up with a plan to deal with the nearly detonated marble, his solution: swallow it.
He collapsed onto the ground as he roared in agony. The pain tore his insides apart as he writhed, hoping to shake it off. His efforts were for naught since he was still suffering.
[Putting host to sleep]
Shadow's squirming slowly came to a stop as he slept, still breathing raggedly while grimacing in pain.
[Attempting to distribute energy]
A process that took many days
[Energy distribution complete]
[Waking host]
Shadow slowly opened his eyes groggily, his snout feeling sore as looked around, trying to assess his current situation.
To his horror, however, he was surrounded by corpses. They were all of different natures, some large as a shed while others the size of a basketball; they all had a few things in common, such as their mutilated bodies and severe deprivation of fat.
The corpses seemed to have belonged to some frightening creatures, yet, were all dead. Shadow was not in the mood to meet whatever caused such carnage, he would have to theorize that during his slumber, the mysterious assailant assumed he was dead and didn't bother defiling his "corpse."
{Hey Aariv, what happened here?}
Although Shadow had a vague idea, it was better to gather information and assess the likelihood of the entity returning
[This is your doing]
Shadow was thoroughly puzzled at this point. Did he cause this? He took a long look at each dead body.
Every corpse looked ridiculously strong in life, not even mentioning the remnant aura oozing out of their orifices and pores; how could he have ever caused this? All of these entities were way out of his league.
{Care to explain?}
[... I don't have an explanation]
Shadow was honestly shell-shocked. He assumed the system was all-knowing in the beginning since it seemed to have powers beyond his comprehension and was fully autonomous while still being artificial within its intelligence. However, it seemed Shadow would need to reevaluate his original thought process
{Why is it that, you cannot give me an explanation?}
[I had nothing to do with the reaction of your unconscious being, you simply reacted and I was too preoccupied with keeping the rampant energy from eviscerating your flesh and bones to properly study the occurrence; please forgive me.]
{No, it's fine, just a bit weird.}
Does it have anything to do with the experiments? Once again, Shadow's life is shrouded in a cloud of mystery, due to the greediness of washed-up, old assassins.
{Dwelling over the issue won't bring us any closer to a conclusion. Have there been any changes in my body due to the energy that I should be aware of?}
[A vast increase in physical, energy, and mental defense, |Fire Resistance| evolved into |Fire Immunity| and you gained |Magic Manipulation|. {Seems like an impressive boon if I do say so myself}
{What negatives have cropped up that I should know about?} [I have detected no negative bodily changes; however, I will keep searching if you would like.] {Yes, stay on that, can't be caught with our feet flat on the ground} [You don't have feet...]
{It's an expression...}
[...Updating System]
{Anyway, our next step is to figure out the strength and severity of the forest we're currently residing in. Is there anything you can tell me, or will I have to risk my neck for information?}
[At your current level of strength, you are not entirely helpless, especially considering your race and bloodline, however, you are far from the peak and should tread lightly while creeping through the forest. Many beings would see to it that the Monarch's bloodline is forever extinguished, even if it meant killing a child.]
Shadow shivered at the thought of whatever Aariv was trying to warn him about with her ominous descriptions.
{Whatever it is they can call come after me, I'm going to become the strongest being in this Forest. Not a single soul wouldn't perish if I were to breathe too hard by the time I'm done; I just love a challenge}