Chapter 541 Shadow Guard
I was looking at my former summons who were kneeling in front of me with a confused look on my face.
They still look rather similar to my original Shadow Summons but just that they now had pale white skin and their sclera changed from white to black and they now have irises.
I was already quite surprised that they had changed their appearance like this but I was even more surprised that they spoke which was something that has never happened before...
I don't even think that it was possible for them to even speak in the first place under normal circumstances either…
Realising that they were most likely waiting for my response, I cleared my throat, "Umm… Rise?"
They obeyed, all of them rising up to their feet as one with movements so synchronised I thought that they might have been reflections of each other.
"What's going on?" I tried asking, wondering if they would answer.
The summon in front of me tilted her head slightly and I recognised that the movement was something I would do.
"I do not understand, Master?" She replied with a voice that was almost similar to mine.
"Why are you calling me 'Master'?"
"Because you are our Master, Master."
"Shouldn't it be 'Mistress' instead?"
My summon remained silent, giving me a look that showed that she had no idea what I was talking about.
"Umm… What should I call you then?" I asked.
Clearly they had some self awareness so they should have a name of sorts right?
She continued staring at me, "Master can call us whatever Master wants."
… That isn't helping at all…
Oh wait, maybe [Screened] will help!
Go on, do your thing!
[Name: Shadow Guard
Title: Aster Nilm's Shadow Summon, Aster Nilm's Shadow Guard, Aster Nilm's Loyal Slave Summon
Race: Shadow Summon
Gender: Futanari
Stats:
460 Strength
445 Dexterity
470 Endurance
530 Magic
Skills:
Hunting (Tier 2), Cooking (Tier 2), Alchemy (Tier 1), Navigation (Tier 1), Sailing (Tier 1), Noble Etiquette (Tier 1), Authority Projection (Tier 1), Martial Skill-(Dagger Proficiency (Tier 2), Unarmed Proficiency (Tier 2), Bow Proficiency (Tier 2), Sword Proficiency (Tier 2), Polearm Proficiency (Tier 1), Axe Proficiency (Tier 1))
Magic Skills:
Mana Management (Tier 2), Umbramancy (Tier 2), Electromancy (Tier 2), Lumenmancy (Tier 2), Pyromancy (Tier 2),?Iatromancy (Tier 2), Hydromancy (Tier 1), Aeromancy (Tier 1), Geomancy (Tier 1), Somatomancy (Tier 1), Astromancy (Tier 1), Infernalmancy (Tier 1)
Valour Skill:
Sixfold Multi Slash]
Ok… So I'm going to guess that the stone had transformed them into a monster known as a Shadow Guard or something. What's with those titles though?
I double checked with my own stats and I realised she had the exact same stats as me with only the Unique Skills missing from the list.
When I checked the stats of the others, I realised that they all had the same stats as this one as well.
Hmm… I wonder…
I reached my consciousness into my shadow and tried to will another summon that was stored there out into the open. At the same time, I used all my mana and cast [Shadow Summon] again to see if the new one would be any different as well.
And the result was that I was now face to face with two more Shadow Guards, both of them looking at me as though they were waiting for an instruction from me.
So it seems like not only did that stone change my current summons, it also changed my future summons? Was that stone actually some kind of extremely powerful artefact or something?
Fuck… Maybe I should have taken it back and asked someone else about it first before throwing it like that…
Hey, in my defence, I thought the stone simply changed someone into a mindless monster like the ones that I've been killing so far! How the heck was I supposed to know that something like this would happen?!
I gestured at the first one that had spoken to me, "Is there anything that's different about you as compared to before?"
She tilted her head once again, "Before, Master? We do not understand."
"You know… Before you turned into a Shadow Guard."
"We were just born, Master. There is no before."
Huh… I guess that meant that they have no memory of anything that happened before they had transformed into Shadow Guards.
I looked at them again before musing to myself, "It's a shame that you look different from me though."
The Shadow Guard gave me another look before her body rippled like the surface of water, transforming herself to look exactly like me.
Woah, woah, woah! Wait a minute! Is this a new skill that my summons could have?!
Oh wait…
I checked their stats again and I realised that my magic skills were also reflected in their stats too! Holy shit, they can use the magic I can as well?!
Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god…
Did I just become even more broken than before?!
Ok… Calm down… Let's just take a moment to calm down…
I basically now have an army of myself right now.
Well, technically I already did but they were like a nerfed version of myself. But now all of them have the same strength and abilities as I do!
And it seems like the past summons I have created have also been buffed no matter what version they were in the past, so even the ones I had used only one percent of my mana to summon had been buffed to full strength.
Wait… So does this mean that any future summon of mine, no matter how much mana I put in, would simply be a full strength summon?!
I hastily took out a Mana Crystal and absorbed the mana inside, replenishing the mana I had depleted by a little.
I then used the mana I had just replenished to cast [Shadow Summon] again and… Huh…
It was a normal Shadow Summon…
Scratch that, this one doesn't even have my features and it was just a literal shadow made three dimensional…
Checking its stats, the numbers were proportional to the amount of mana I used to summon it and it was also missing my magic skills.
What's more… I don't know how but I kind of have an instinctual feeling that this summon would not last forever. It felt like there was some kind of clock counting down for this summon alone and I knew that once the time was up, it would disappear.
Damn… So that means from now on, if I wanted to have more permanent Shadow Summons, I have no choice but to use all my mana just to create one.
I suppose it's a fair tradeoff for such an upgrade.
I then noticed that the dead dragon was still there since we stopped disassembling it halfway and, as though they read my mind, all of my Shadow Guards immediately turned and resumed the disassembly process without any prompting from me.
This feels like they are operating on a hive mind mentality with how coordinated they are. That's cool.
And without giving them any directions to do so, they were even using their own magic to hasten the process like using [Strength] to buff themselves in order to disassemble the dragon faster.
That means they are capable of independent thought and decision making too! I wonder… Right now their strength and stats are based on my own stats but… If I were to make them train by themselves, could they also grow stronger on their own and would I also reap the benefits too?
I know the original Shadow Summons do not need rest or sleep so do these Shadow Guards need sustenance and rest?
So many things I need to experiment on…
Actually… Maybe I can just ask them directly?
Once again, as though already knowing that I wanted to talk to them, one of the Shadow Guards walked over and stood in front of me with her hands placed demurely in front of her silently.
"Umm… Can you all get stronger on your own? And do you need to eat or sleep?"
"I am afraid not, Master. We exist through you, Master. Your strength is our strength and not the other way around. However, we do not require rest or sustenance to exist. We only need Master to exist for us to exist."
Darn… There goes my plan of just putting them somewhere and have them train non-stop just to improve my stats…
I was hoping that even if they do not improve my stats, I could at least set a few aside to specifically train one of the stats so that I could have a few of them who were really, really good in one of their stats as compared to the rest.
Guess I'll still have to train myself the old fashioned way, not that this new skill isn't broken at all…
Now I wonder what the others are going to say about this? I can't wait to go back and show them this~
The source of this c𝓸ntent is fr𝒆e(w)𝒆bnovel