Author's Preface
Ryan found himself laid out in the grass in front of the dungeon entrance. The moon was high in the sky already. His clothes were wet with morning dew. "I must've passed out." He tried to stand, but his entire body was weak. "This is worse than any hangover ever. What the hell am I going to do now?" His system screen appeared in front of his face.
[Meditation: Focus your mind and core on the shadow. Let it envelop your entire being]
"You are forcing this, aren't you? You created this whole fucked-up situation just so I would do your creepy-ass meditation style." Ryan sighed. "What about those two goblins, huh? They fucking sacrificed their lives for me, and I can't even resummon them!" A tear fell down Ryan's cheek. "Just like them, they covered me as best they could, and I let them down. I've failed all of them, my brothers. Those goblins." Ryan forced himself to sit up through the screams of his muscles. "Fine, I'll do the damn meditation. But do not force me to sacrifice anyone else to satisfy whatever fucking mission or request you have for me. I am not your fucking puppet. I am not this Shadow Sovereign. I am Ryan fucking Cole."
He grabbed his legs and folded them on top of each other. "This is how that hot yoga teacher taught me how to meditate." Ryan closed his eyes. He focused on what the system told him to. The shadows. Every time he tried, he only ever thought of the two goblins. He shook his head and closed his eyes again. Ryan eventually entered a trance. Shadows from trees, stones, and sticks started gathering around him. Black smoke swirled around Ryan's body and then disappeared as it entered his core through his skin. Ryan opened his eyes. The sun immediately blinded him. "Seriously? I was doing that for that long?" Ryan squeezed his fists. He stood up, and all the aches and pains were gone. He opened his system.
[Mana reserves: 100/∞]
Ryan looked back at the entrance of the dungeon. "Okay, so comics and animes are bullshit. I can't resummon a shadow. Once it dies, it's gone for good. I can treat them as fodder, but that would be silly of me. I can't have a lot of them, so I need to make use of their abilities and do my best as their commander to not just sacrifice them for no good reason." Ryan took a deep breath and walked back into the dungeon. "Time for round two you bastard."
The corpse of the first orc they had killed still lay in front of him. "So monsters don't regenerate and dungeons don't reset." He stuck his hand out. "Serve me." Black smoke enveloped the corpse. From it rose a black orc with purple eyes and a battle axe in one hand. He checked his system again.
[Orc Axe-Warrior - 1.5 Star.]
[Mana Reserves: 85/∞]
"Okay, so 15 mana. I wonder how much it would cost to summon the orc king." Ryan stood there for a moment, contemplating. "I can summon 2 more orcs and still have 50 mana left. I guess we'll see if that's enough for that bastard or not."
Ryan proceeded through the dungeon. He stopped at another orc along the way and summoned it. Another fifteen mana spent and another 1.5 star orc axeman. The last orc they killed before the boss entrance was bigger than the rest were. Ryan knelt down again. "Serve me."
The orc shadow appeared with a massive tower shield in one hand and a sword in the other.
[Shadow: Orc Heavy Knight - 2 Star]
[Mana Reserves: 50/∞]
Ryan looked at the three orcs now standing in front of him and nodded. The three orcs grunted as they walked through the boss door once again. Ryan looked around the room. The goblins' bodies were gone. The staff, spear, and shield they carried, though, were sitting to the side of the throne the orc king sat on. Like treasures or prizes he had won.
Ryan summoned his tendrils immediately. This time, 5 came out of the shadows and slammed down as the orc king raised his warhammer to block them. The orc knight raised its shield and slammed his sword against it. A wave of energy rushed forward toward the orc king. He instantly targeted the knight.
"Oh. A taunt, that's useful."
The two orc axemen began to wildly swing their axes, cutting through the orc king's hide with every swing. The knight thrust his blade through the orc king's abdomen as it swung its warhammer, knocking the two axemen hard against the wall behind them. Ryan summoned his tendrils once more. All 5 appeared in the shadow behind the orc king. They wrapped around each other and formed a long, thin shadow spear. With a flick of Ryan's wrist, the tendrils penetrated the orc king's chest. Blood splattered all over the orc knight, who took a step back. Ryan watched as the orc king stumbled back and forth a few times. A massive hole was left in its chest. The orc king grabbed its warhammer and attempted to raise it for one last swing. An axe flew from across the room and drove into the orc king's skull. It dropped to both knees, stared at Ryan for a moment, then slammed into the ground. Ryan exhaled and looked at his new shadows. "Fucking awesome job, guys." The three orcs grunted.
Ryan walked up to the orc king and used the axe to slowly cut the orc king's head clean off. He grabbed his vortex bag. It opened wide as he shoved the head inside.
Ryan slipped the vortex bag back into his satchel. He approached the orc king. "Serve me."
[Insufficient mana]
[Ability unlocked]
[Shadow sacrifice: Sacrifice a current shadow and return a portion of the mana spent summoning it back to the Shadow Sovereign.]
"Seriously? I can sacrifice low-level shadows to restore mana?" Ryan looked at the three orcs who stood staring at Ryan. He reached his hand out. "Shadow sacrifice." All three orcs turned into black mist and entered Ryan's body through his hand.
[Mana reserves: 85/∞]
Ryan bent down over the orc king. "I'm going to be pissed if you made me sacrifice them and I still don't have enough to summon this big fuck." Ryan reached out his hand one more time. "Serve me." This time, a large, thick black smoke circled the orc king. Through the smoke it rose up. Warhammer in hand, its eyes purple like every other summon.
[Shadow: Orc King - 4 Star]
[Mana Reserves: 10/∞]
"75 mana! Oh, you better have some dope-ass abilities." Ryan looked at the orc king. It swung its warhammer. A wave of black energy left the hammer and demolished the door at the entrance.
"That'll do. Your name is Bubba, because I refuse to acknowledge you as orc king."
"Yes, master. Bubba is a fine name."
"You can fucking talk?"
"I can."
Ryan and Bubba stared at each other for a moment. Then Ryan waved a hand and unsummoned him. Bubba turned to black smoke and disappeared into his shadow.
"Any other surprises?" Ryan said as he chuckled to himself. On his way out of the dungeon, he grabbed what ore he could find, any weapons left behind by the orcs, and anything else of value he could sell to the guild.
He finally made his way back to the village. He knocked on Shinron's door.
"Oh, Mr. Kade, I was getting worried. Please come in."
Ryan stuck his hand out. "I'm going to head back to the guild. I just wanted to let you know the dungeon is taken care of."
"Thank you, thank you. We owe you. If there's anything we can help you with in the future, do not hesitate to ask."
Ryan nodded and turned to leave. He turned everything into the guild, collected his payment, and headed back to the village. He left a small bag of money at Shinron's door. The fee they paid, plus fifty percent of the earnings Ryan collected from what he had sold at the guild. Ryan knocked on the door and ran away. By the time he had reached the edge of town, he took his mask off and sighed. A hand reached his shoulder. Ryan turned as Shinron stood before him, out of breath. "Mr. Kade, you don't need to do this. Please take this back."
Ryan shook his head. "No, your village has suffered enough. Think of this as a payment for keeping my identity a secret, since you've seen my face now."
Shinron bowed. "You, sir, are a true gentleman. Your identity is safe with me."
Shinron turned with the money in hand back toward his village. Ryan turned and walked into the night back to the capital. In his eyes, at least, everything had been set right.