Chapter 3

Darkness was all he could see.

A darkness so deep that it negated any other color.

In this deep and seemingly endless darkness, two small but bright stars could be seen.

He could feel an unbreakable bond between himself and the stars, it was as if they were another part of him.

Before he could understand what those stars were, his consciousness was slowly being drawn in by an unknown force, losing consciousness in the process.

When he regained consciousness, he was sitting against a tree. Getting up, he could feel that his body was not in the best condition, since he was very exhausted and could barely move freely.

"Status window," he muttered.

—Status Window—

Name: Gabriel

Level 4

Attributes: [--]

Stigma: [Realization]

→ Skills: [0]

→ Traits: [0]

"Go up one level" I muttered as he looked at his level.

Apparently his new familiar had been hunting as he ordered before losing consciousness. Which resulted in the inevitable leveling up of him.

Apart from that there were no big changes, which he already expected.

Getting up slowly using the tree for support. He closed his eyes and established a communication with his wolf, luckily he didn't need to be near her to establish a communication link, so regardless of the distance he could continue giving orders without the need to be present.

"Go back" was the only thing I said before closing the communications.

It would take him a while to get back, so he took the opportunity to do some stretching and get used to the level up. Although the strengthening was not extreme, it was better to get used to it now than when in a fight.

Shortly after, his family returned. What he saw was a figure with a slight resemblance to a wolf made up entirely of darkness that was constantly moving in his body.

This "Black Wolf" was the creature that he had created using a large amount of life force, to the point that he lost consciousness. Apart from the grotesque form of him he had two extremely useful abilities for combat.

The first and foremost was [Rot], which allowed him to degrade everything that touched his body or fluids, slowly degrading them.

The other one was mainly a support ability, which allowed him to move through the shadows increasing his speed, he could also perform sneak attacks from it.

It was mostly a one move kill creature and even if you didn't kill it as long as it left even a scratch on them, they would slowly be demoted to death.

The only way to avoid the rot effect is by separating the affected part or well I suppose that if there is some healing or purification ability it could limit or directly eliminate that effect.

Anyway, right now the only monsters present in this place are Goblins, so you should be able to take out everything as long as it's not too many groups at once.

After confirming his status, I touched his body lightly and as he expected, the effect of Rot did not affect him in any way.

Could I use it as a mount?

He thought for a moment, after having that thought, he told the Wolf to stay still that he would ride on his back.

Without even hesitating, he launched himself onto his back, the feeling of riding a horse flashing through his mind, although in his place it would be riding a wolf?

The sensation was peculiar, since his skin was slimy and constantly moving.

When I have time I will create a suitable mount.

He thought as he motioned for the wolf to quickly move forward, after traveling for a few meters with the wolf he deduced that although the travel was faster using the wolf, it was quite uncomfortable to travel that way.

It will take me a while to get used to it.

Returning to the small tree where he had been knocked unconscious, he had planned to send the wolf out to hunt for a while on his own account.

He lay down in the tree and rested while the Wolf went hunting for himself. The Butterfly landed on his head while its butterfly-shaped specters of light were watching the surroundings in case any Goblins approached.

He had upgraded his Butterfly once he had reached Level 2 so that it could establish a distant bond with his Clones, this to avoid having to wait for them to return every time he wanted to explore a place.

While he was resting, he sensed in the link with his Butterfly that someone was approaching, but that the presence did not belong to that of a Goblin. Before he could identify what it was, the link to the Illusory Butterflies had been severed, meaning they had perished.

He was surprised that this happened, after all he never expected his butterflies to even be discovered due to how small they are and could resist physical attacks to a certain extent.

Nervous, he wondered if he should retreat before the unknown presence discovered him, But before he could think of his next plan of action a small figure began to slowly reveal itself a few meters from him.

The figure had beautiful golden hair, light blue eyes that were reminiscent of heaven. His skin was white and seemed to glow giving him a divine appearance. He was only wearing a simple white ankle-length dress.

The beautiful girl was carrying a sword as big as her arm with great ease, and she had an authoritative look marked on her face.

"I didn't expect to find a person so quickly," she said as she looked at the butterfly on Gabriel's head.

So that's where those strange butterfly-shaped spectra come from.

She thought to herself before turning her gaze from her to Gabriel.

Level 4? A little lower than he expected.

He thought as he checked his level with his mana signature.

"Uh- hello?" Gabriel said a little surprised by the sudden visit, and even more by the strange authoritative look from him.

Hearing Gabriel's word, he snapped out of his thoughts and said "Hello, nice to meet you." He said making a simple bow.

Gabriel hurriedly did the same. "It's nice to meet you too." Although he was a little nervous about the death of one of the illusory butterflies at the hands of the girl in front of him, as long as it wasn't the main one he wouldn't be too unhappy, especially considering that I can get a partner, although because of his figure he didn't look very strong.

"I can see that just like me, you are an Awakened." The girl spoke casually. "How did you like the strength of the goblins?" Asked.

Gabriel thought for a moment before answering, "His strength was below that of a human, even a child could fight him to a certain extent." That was his true thought, if we were talking about pure strength it wouldn't even reach that of a child, but that does not mean that one can confidently go to fight against them, after all, underestimating your enemy is the most serious mistake of any warrior.

"You're right, right now they are so weak that anyone could easily kill them whenever he wants to" he said before pausing for a few seconds "But that doesn't mean it will always be like this"

"What do you mean with that?" He was taken aback for a moment by what he said and couldn't help but ask.

"The Sys- That unknown voice said that we will have to become stronger to survive, it means that as more time passes, new and stronger enemies will come"

Hearing that he couldn't help but audibly swallow, the goblins weren't too much of a problem, but if stronger and stronger enemies arrive, it will only be a matter of time before they overwhelm them until finally all the humans in this place die.

"Then what should we do?" I asked, he already understood the essence of what he wants to get to, but he wanted her to say it herself.

"Since you know what I want, I won't beat around the bush, I want us to form a team" He said with a friendly smile, but it gave him an ominous feeling.

It didn't take him a second to give him an answer "I'm not interested"