Request

"...a favour?" Shinto raised his brow as he heard the sudden request from Raina.

"Yeah, a favour! Though, I guess you could say it's more like a request?" she replied. "Do you have some time?"

"Hmm, it depends on what the request might be. If it's inconvenient, then I'll have to decline," Shinto said.

"Ah, well, I don't think it would be of inconvenience to you, not at all!" she said. "The request is something regarding about Ethaniel..."

"...something regarding Ethaniel?" he asked. "What of it?"

"Err, well, you know the business that he and Lucas went to? I'd like to ask whether or not you know anything about it?" she asked. "Seeing as how you spoke to Lucas quite often during the dungeon run, I thought you might know something?"

"No, nothing at all I'm afraid," he shook his head. "Why would I know something that seemed to be a secret between the two?"

"...right. I never did consider that huh? Sorry about that," Raina said helplessly. "Anyways... I guess there really isn't much that can be done then."

"You seem worried though, is something the matter?"

"Oh well, I guess I'm a little worried. I just wanted to try to find out what Ethaniel had to do all of a sudden. The fact that he wanted to do this dungeon and then continuously saying for Lucas to keep his end of the deal during the run, seemed quite off-putting for me I guess," she explained. "Ethaniel lost quite badly in a fight recently, you see. So I was thinking whether or not this deal had something to do with it."

"...ah, I see. Well, if I find anything, I guess I'll let you know? But, I can't really do much about it," Shinto shrugged. "I'm just an outsider to this group, no? Me looking into this matter would be like minding someone else's business."

"Right... I can see that. I'm sorry for the abrupt request," she bowed her head. "Anyways, thank you for the dungeon run! Do you want to be added as friends so we can keep in contact?"

"Yeah, sure I guess," he said as he sent a friend request to Raina.

...

At the outskirts of the dungeon, Shinto made his way out of it as he let out a tired sigh. "Phew, the dungeon run's over and I got the information I needed."

"Now the first order of business, I should check out the spoils of battle from Shivuliz," he stopped at his footsteps the moment he was outside of the dungeon, as he turned his eyes over towards his inventory.

There, from the unsorted items and equipment inside the menu, his eyes narrowed over towards a dark purple shard. Quickly, he took it out as he checked the details of the item.

[ Shivuliz's Soul Shard ]

Type: Material (Consumable)

A shard fragment that heeds the call of Shivuliz and the one who sealed away her. Only when her presence exists within the surroundings will thee be able to use this.

Upon usage, something special will occur.

Condition of usage(s): Shadow Diviner, Shadow Stat at 50.

Reading through the description of the item, Shinto thought to himself. 'So this is the item which I got from the boss, huh? A fragment that heeds the call of Shivuliz and the one who sealed her away... What does that mean?'

'Hmm... since it says that something special will occur, I wonder if it means I get a chance to speak to Shivuliz without her wanting my head?' he continued his trail of thought. 'Then again, it could also mean a battle with her.'

'Sigh, with how vague the description is anything could possible,' he shook his head as he turned towards the condition of usage. 'Well, seeing as how the condition would be for my shadow stat to be at 50, I'll have to raise it up more to find out what this item does."

Shinto closed the item menu as he opened up his status and skill window. 'Speaking of shadow stats now that it's raised to 30, I should check out the new skill. The ability seems to be impatient for me to use it...'

He turned towards the constant rise of system notifications.

[ The shadows are calling you... The skill 'Shadow Recreation is shaking. ]

[ The skill 'Shadow Recreation is shaking. ]

[ The skill 'Shadow... ]

"I can finally use this skill but, why do I feel like it's so ominous? The fact the skill is shaking makes it seem like something wants to be broken free..." he said. "Well, it a summoning skill, so I guess that's the reason why."

[ Shadow Recreation Lv 1 ] [ 50 Shadow Gauge ] [ Cooldown: 10 Minutes ]

A Shadow Minion is summoned by the Shadow Diviner. Upon summoning them for the first time, this skill will be updated.

Opening up the skill window, Shinto took a deep breath. "Well then. Time to see what this 'shadow minion' is all about." Without wasting any time, he said the name of the ability. "Shadow Recreation."

Following his call, he saw another batch of notifications flooding his window.

[ The skill 'Shadow Recreation is greatly shaking! ]

[ The shadows are looking at you from the darkness. ]

[ Some shadows show no interest to you, others are joyful while some stayed silent. ]

The moment Shinto called out the skill, he felt a tremble below him. Following that, a black cloud of shadows appeared before him. As if calling out to him, he unconsciously reached towards it.

[ A shadow has heeded your call. ]

Shinto's arm touched the dark cloud, as it quickly dissipated away. What remained at the spot where the shadows original were, was but a small dark ball.

"...?" Upon seeing the thing in front of him, Shinto raised his brow. "A dark ball...?"

Quickly as he questioned the sudden appearance of it, the ball shook.

"...!!"

As the ball shook, a small tail that seemed to be fluffy appeared behind the dark ball. Soon after, the ball shaped into what seemed to be an animal, a small black fox?

The black fox opened its eyes as it made eye contact with Shinto. "...shadow diviner?" the fox spoke.