CHAPTER 1: WELCOME TO THE LEGEND OF THE SHADOW
"Lucas! Did you order something again?"
A male voice rang from across the hallway as the doorbell dinged— from the corner separating the living room and the kitchen, came a boy with messy auburn hair, Grey eyes, and a frail physique. From inspection the boy had little fat, his bones were visible on his skin.
Lucas sighed and ran his right hand through his hair; his dad was always nagging him about his excessive spending on gaming sets. Opening the door, Lucas met the delivery guy who had a huge box on the transportation pad next to him.
A clipboard and a pen were shoved in his face.
"Please sign that for me"
Lucas nodded and took the clipboard, he neatly wrote his name and handed the delivery man his clipboard. The delivery man bowed to Lucas and left the package half inside the door.
Lucas looked at the box; on all sides with bold fonts was the name of the thing he had bought.
THE LEGEND OF THE SHADOW.
A year ago, a company called SHADOW SEARCH took the world by storm introducing the first-ever live simulation MMORPG. Although the beta version was not confirmed to be tested, many awaited with baited breaths for the official release of the game.
15 August 3033, a day many gamers ranging from children to adults alike had hoped for. The first installment of THE LEGEND OF THE SHADOW.
Lucas pulled the package inside the house and closed the door. He dragged the box to his room stopping on the way as his frail body could not allow his muscles to create sufficient creatines for the needed task of pulling the package and he did not want to bother his father with helping. He was already doing much more for him and he did not want to add more to his plate.
Finally, after 30 minutes of pulling, Lucas was in his room.
He locked the door and pulled out a switchblade from his drawer, and started to tear through the box bit by bit revealing the content inside.
It was as advertised by the media outlets, the news and the company. The game setup consisted of a large pod— with a hood on the top, the pod had a charging port and cable, and inside was a cushioned seat with the armrests covered in the same material.
Lucas opened the spare packaging and found a purple body suit with the fabric replicating receptors and the sensitivity of the human body— colorless glasses and a helmet with a built-in microphone.
He quickly read the manual and took the charger, and he connected it to the wall-mounted socket; with the setup set near his bed, Lucas got into the gear and stepped inside of the pod. He watched as the pod lit up and a screen appeared before him.
Being accustomed to verification, Lucas filled in his information and watched as the game pulled up his information from the database before showing him the icon to put on the head protective gear he had in his hands.
Complying with the system's demand; Lucas placed the gear on his head and felt small extensions latch on the nape of his neck and the sides of his forehead— He closed his eyes and his consciousness was transferred into the game.
WELCOME PLAYER 004
Lucas looked at the virtual algorithms flowing around him, he was in awe at what he saw. The database flowing with assimilated data was a sight to behold.
[Please create your avatar and username]
Lucas saw the same screen he had seen earlier and nodded, he began to customize his physical appearance. From auburn to white his hair changed, he did not change the orientation of his eyes and his physical appearance, opting to take a malnourished physical appearance and adorned a black long-sleeved T-shirt, black tie, and sleeveless vest. On his lower half, he wore black trousers and formal black shoes. To finish the attire he choose to go with a black blazer top.
The next interface confused him a bit.
"Classes except summoners are filled?" He mused to himself as he clicked on the summoner icon opening the full window to get the description.
SUMMONER CLASS
Physical maximum base stats: 700
Unlike other classes, The summoner class has no close combat specialty, they are often reliant on their summons and the magical items and spell they purchase and find. Considered the weakest class among all combat classes even below Healing and Support class.
Lucas groaned, he was going to get the worst class? Why did misfortune always happen to him? When he saw a shining light something had to appear in his general direction to deter him and soil his mood.
Accepting the class, Lucas watched as an umbrella manifested in his hand and the name Shikigami replaced his chosen Ingame name.
Welcome, Shikigami- Welcome to the land of Winsteria.
The algorithms in the interface collapsed and Lucas saw the world for what it was; The scenery was astounding, and multiple people were already crowding the Colosseum they were in.
The said colosseum was covered in brown thick bricks making up the structure, spectator seats omnidirectionally lined up the colosseum and an arced varanda hid the throne under it. Aside from the murmuring of the crowd, Lucas couldn't see anyone adding to the confusion he had about why they were there.
"What are you supposed to be? A class clown?"
Lucas turned around and looked at the newcomer who had disturbed his peaceful moment. He looked at the imposing figure with dark brown hair, animalistic green eyes, and large fangs to compliment his buffed physique.
Lucas could tell this person was associated with the fighter class; the large bangles around his hands, and a metallic belt attached to a pelt around his waist which was made from snake scales and lion skin. The large double-edged sword strapped on his back furthermore affirmed his suspicions.
"Who might you be?" Lucas asked as calmly as possible.
Growing up with a body like his, Lucas was the pivot of mockery and bullying. He had developed a mechanism to ignore any harmful comments made his way as he was used to being underestimated.
"Bloody foreigner, Japanese are the worst, shit stains to humanity." The buffed man replied looking down at Lucas.
Japanese? Lucas raised an eyebrow wondering what the man was talking about. "Sorry?"
He inquired.
His inquiry ignited a fierce response from the man before him, he roared to the heavens and was about to strike Lucas when thunder cracked above their heads, and storm nimbuses settled over the Colosseum.
[WELCOME PLAYERS!]
A boisterous voice resonated with the thunderclaps heralding over the sky and forth came the progenitor of the phenomenon coalesced in a black must radiating an omen aura. The cloaked individual easily towering over everyone looked at the hundreds on hundreds of players gathered from all over the globe.
[MOST OF YOU ARE WONDERING WHO I AM! I GO BY THE NAME SHADOW KING AND AT THE MOMENT ALL OF YOU ARE UNDER MY CONTROL UNTIL I'M DONE.]
Lucas kept his mouth closed while the others began complaining about why they were there and what the self-proclaimed Shadow King meant by his statement.
[I WOULD LIKE TO WELCOME ALL OF YOU TO THE LEGEND OF THE SHADOW, WINSTERIA.]
[ THERE ARE A HUNDRED AND SEVENTEEN FLOORS TO WINSTERIA EXODIUM TOWER OF SHADOWS, EACH FLOOR WHEN CLEARED WILL OFFER AN OPPORTUNITY TO THE PERSON TO KILL THE FLOOR BOSS TO INTERACT WITH THE DEVELOPERS.]
Lucas snorted, the tones of those present did a 180°. They were no longer complaining but thrilled about the idea of interacting with the developers.
Interacting with the developers, that was interesting had it not been for one single margin of error.
The Shadow Search had no means of contact and the developers were not listed only the ambassadors of the company appeared on the website.
[CLEARING EACH FLOOR GRANTS A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF REWARDS AND WILL TELEPORT THE PEOPLE OR GROUP IN QUESTION TO THE NEXT PART OF THE TOWER, ALSO BEFORE I FORGET ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE.]
The dark scenery vanished as the Shadow King concluded his briefing.
Lucas looked around at the parties being formed; the man who had bothered him earlier was nowhere to be found.
Sighing to himself, Lucas began walking south toward the south entrance of the Colosseum. If they had to clear the floors to the end and have a chance at getting their wish granted, he had to level up his skill. A summoner without a summoning would be a disadvantage.
He looked at the umbrella in his hand, it felt rather odd. It was radiating potent energy one based on destruction, darkness, and malice while at the same time based on creation, light, and purity.
Wait he could feel the energy?
Immediately after that thought crossed his mind— a blue screen with flashing fonts appeared on the right side of his vision.
[Onmyodō summoning]
Onmyodō summoning? Lucas raised an eyebrow looking at the two words that made little to no sense to him, what did the Onmyodō have to do with the umbrella? Or his specialty in summoning?
The two words unfolded giving Lucas a clear understanding of what the umbrella was in actuality.
[Onmyoji: the summoning of the shikigami]
[Possessor: Shikigami - Lucas Griffith]
[Mana points: 0]
[Reauirement: Onmyoji paper made from the tree of vitality]
[Onmyoji the one charged with divination, is a special summoning class that allows Shikigami to summon demons from the abyssal prison that is his Umbrella.]
[Skill Level: 0]
Lucasʼ's jaw gaped at the detailed description of what his summoning was. A special class summoning? Was that even possible but since he was the first summoner he had to have some privileges right?
He raised the umbrella above his head and opened it; the interior was like any straw Umbrella, but Lucas could feel the presence emanating from within— it was heavy. It drowned him in its potency forcing him to close the umbrella.
Contemporaneously, another text opened in his line of sight, this one far different than the Onmyodō one he had seen earlier.
[Shikigami]
[Class: Summoner Class]
[Vitality: 30]
[Intelligence:45]
[Speed: 30]
[Strength: 15]
[Endurance: 15]
[HP: 4,500 (+360 Extra HP)]
[Ability: Onmyodō summoning]
[Mastery: -]
[Inventory: Onmyoji Umbrella(Kasa-obake)]
Lucas hummed, he had no mastery over his ability. His strength and endurance were subpar in comparison. The only things saving him were his intelligence and speed, but he knew if he had to win against some of the classes he needed more than that.
"Where would I find the tree of vitality? And how will I be able to create shikigami artifacts?" He asked himself walking through the tall foliage clouding the setting sun from view.
He stopped at a clearing and opened his umbrella again, the ominous aura from earlier becoming way too much to bare for him as it overwhelmed him.
Lucas cleared his mind, and in his heart told himself he was not going to be controlled by a power that was his.
As he was giving himself a pat on the shoulder, a dark wave emitted from the opened Umbrella prompting him to throw it away simultaneously tripping on his feet and falling to the ground on his behind.
He looked at the Umbrella glowing an obsidian aura with wide eyes and trembling hands; death that's what Lucas felt, the insurmountable amounts of bloodlust, hate, and anger originating from the umbrella scared him. He felt his throat go dry as the Umbrella did something he never anticipated it would do.
"Are you my master?"
It spoke in a childish voice.
Lucas was startled, the trepidation from earlier including the recent one made it difficult for him to answer the question the Umbrella presented forth.
He watched as the still-glowing Umbrella gyrated around for a second and a scaled claw pierced through the Umbrella reaching out to the open world.
The claw was followed by a head and a body and before Lucas knew it, the first Yokai had removed itself from the confines of the Umbrella. He got a good look at the thing in front of him.
It had the head of a dragon, red eyes, a white mane, and a serpentine body with four clawed limbs. On its forehead was the marking symbolizing the number 5.
The serpentine Yokai looked at Lucas for a brief moment and turned its attention to the Umbrella.
"Are you sure this is him?"
"Yes"
Lucas heard the serpentine ask the Umbrella and the Umbrella replied to the Serpentine.
The crimson eyes of the Serpent met with Lucas and a burning sensation flooded Lucasʼ's eye causing the boy to clutch his eye with his hand. A blood-cuddling shriek of pain escaped his lips as he rolled on the grass.
"Master Shikigami, We have been waiting."