9 First Servant
"Shall I attack this one?" thought Kevin, looking below him.
Kevin spent about thirty minutes hiding in the trees, not daring to go deeper into the forest.
He saw many different types of beasts that seemed to be pretty weak, at least to Kevin's sensibilities, but the problem was that most of them were in groups, which made it suicidal for Kevin to even attempt an attack.
And so the time passed with Kevin hiding in the darkness, looking for suitable prey, and eventually, he found one.
It was a gray-colored wolf, with a curled-up muzzle that bared its fangs. It was quite similar to a normal wolf, except this one was able to....stand, making it look quite similar to a human.
Kevin read about this species in a hunter's guide, it's a humanoid wolf, they are loners that hunt by themselves, pretty similar to what Kevin is doing right now.
Their god powers are [Empowering]. Although they are quite an unpleasant opponent for tanks who pounce on their opponents at first glance, Kevin is a different story.
He has confidence in his speed and skill, making this wolf an easier prey, but he still has to stay alert as you never know what can happen.
Kevin looked around, searching for other beasts, and after not noticing anyone in sight, unsheathed his sword.
He moved stealthily towards the end of the branch, trying not to make any extra noise.
He looked at the wolf again from above and when he saw it turn its head in a different direction, Kevin jumped.
He placed both hands on the hilt of the longsword and aimed for the animal's neck.
As if sensing the incoming danger, the wolf looked up, only to see two deadly eyes staring at him. He immediately dodged to the side, but he wasn't fast enough. The blade pierced the wolf's shoulder causing one of his hands to fall to the ground.
The wolf jumped back, howling in pain. He bared his fangs as his gaze was rushed to the casually standing Kevin.
'I have to take care of him before other monsters show up,' Kevin thought rushing at the wild wolf again. Kevin slashed towards his fetter, but a sudden sense of danger forced him to retreat.
The muscles all over the wolf's body began to expand, causing his body to increase in size.
Kevin, already anticipating such an outcome, focused on the beast. They both stared at each other for a few moments before the wolf finally made its move.
It charged at Kevin with incredible speed as it opened its mouth slightly, obviously trying to bite Kevin to death.
Kevin stood in place waiting for the predator, and when it was only a few feet away, he charged forward as well.
He let mana flow into his hand, causing the sword's grip to grow larger.
*Thrust*
Kevin pierced straight through Wolf's heart, causing the latter's expression to instantly turn pale. And after only a few seconds, his eyes rolled, indicating that he was already dead.
Kevin took out his blade and after carefully cleaning it of blood, he put it back into its sheath.
'That was dangerous' he thought, glancing at the lifeless beast on the ground, 'If it had hit me, it would probably be me, who is laying on the terrain now'.
Kevin once again reflected through the fight thinking about how he could improve before looking at the bluish screen in front of him.
[You killed humanoid wolf]
[Does the host want to make the humanoid wolf a servant?]
"Yes."
[Choose a word to activate the skill: Resurrection of the Dead].
"A word?" muttered Kevin, flipping through the dictionary he had accumulated over the time, "I need something that sounds badass....let's see."
"How about...obey"
[Humanoid Wolf has been successfully made into a servant.]
A sentence formed on the screen as Kevin noticed something rising from the ground. A dark creature appeared in front of Kevin fixing himself with its gaze.
Kevin immediately felt some sort of connection with it, as if they could talk telepathically.
"Kneel," Kevin ordered with an expectant look. The wolf didn't hesitate for a second and knelt down, instead, Kevin felt it being excited.
'Let's test your loyalty,' Kevin thought as he commanded the servant to rip his arm off.
Once again the same thing happened, the wolf ripped his arm off in no uncertain terms.
Kevin hadn't expected such a quick response as he looked at the one-handed wolf dejectedly.
'Losing the same arm twice in a row, I wonder how he feels' Kevin thought, but something strange occurred, forcing him to stir from the thoughts. Kevin felt his mana rapidly diminishing.
He looked around in confusion, wondering if perhaps it was an enemy attack, but, luckily, there was nothing nearby.
The mana stopped dwindling as Kevin took another deep breath once again looking at the dark wolf, but strangely... the wolf's arm was back.
"Is that regeneration? But I don't think humanoid wolves have such abilities," Kevin spoke as an odd theory popped into his head.
Kevin unsheathed the blade and cleanly severed the wolf's head, making it the third lost limb of the day.
As expected, the mana surged as the head slowly reformed.
"This is really useful, they're practically undead if I have enough mana," Kevin thought before opening the screen once again.
[Choose a name for the servant.]
"A name.....welp, I'm not good with names, so just let it be Wolf"
Once the name was given, Kevin felt an even stronger connection with the Servant, and he was obviously very pleased at this moment.
[Servant: Wolf]
[Cultivation: Human Stage 3]
[God Power: Empowering- tightens muscles in the desired area, improving strength and endurance]
"This is so cool," Kevin beamed out, staring at the screen with bright eyes, "Let's try the other skill"
"Ability sharing"
The moment the words left his mouth, a strange glow of power set in. A smile rippled across his face as he surged the power into his fist.
Veins popped out all over Kevin's hand, causing the muscles to enlarge. Using such power, he struck the ground, creating a series of cracks that instantly spread, the sound of trembling echoed through the forest , startling the beasts nearby.
"This ... was at least at the peak power of the fourth stage of Human" Kevin gloated, looking at his glowing fist with delight.
*Roar*
*Roar*
The howls of beasts from all over the forest reached Kevin's ears as he immediately jumped back onto the tall tree.
'I was careless,' Kevin thought as he lay down on the branch to rest from the battle. He opened the screen once more and looked at the status, 'Let's begin the experiments'.
.
.
.
.
.
"So that's how it works," Kevin beamed. He spent a couple of hours trying to figure out what other advantages there were to have a Servant.
First, he can use the Servant's god power for 30 minutes before the two-minute cooldown kicks in, which is a very big disadvantage since two minutes in a fight may change everything.
Second, it is possible to cancel sharing abilities, but the cooldown still functions.
Third, it is impossible to call out your servant when using his god power, which is very limiting.
Even though there are drawbacks to this power, Kevin can't argue with it, after all, he shouldn't have gotten this system in the first place, or maybe he should have?
It's still a mystery to Kevin, but he's sure that in the future he will slowly uncover all the secrets of this phenomenon.
"If I have enough servants, I'm sure I'll become a one-man army," Kevin thought as he looked at the full moon in the sky, which kept casting a faint light on Kevin's pale hair, "With this power, I'll protect everyone."
Thus, Kevin spent a few more moments enjoying the peace of the silent night before calling out, "Wolf, survey the surroundings."
The black servant immediately jumped off the branch and headed north, seemingly sensing something there.
"Has he already found something?" wondered Kevin as he climbed down from the tree, heading north as well.
Along the way, he saw many cracks and burned trees, obviously from an intense battle. Crimson blood was scattered on the ground, which Kevin assumed was from an injured human.
He traced the almost invisible blood trails and finally found the source.
It was a girl with long, brownish hair and colorless eyes. She wore a white robe that was stained red due to the injury.
"What a shame," Kevin thought before closing her eyes with his hand, letting her soul rest in heaven if such place even exists.
"Since you're already dead and your soul is no longer here, why don't I use your body as a bait?"
