Dean looked down at the body of the night bleater. It had stopped moving a while ago, but he still stood over it, just in case it wanted to play a fast one.
After a few seconds and no movement by the bleater. Dean slowly crouched next to the small puddle of blood beside the body, as he cleaned his tanto with the fur of the creature while taking an exaggerated breath.
Returning the tanto back to the scabbard on his waist, Dean couldn't help but think how the tiniest of mistakes would have meant the end of his life.
He'd lived with danger for most of his life and had also taken a few lives along the way.
Most of which he had no choice, and others he regretted till this day, their faces still plagued his mind, carrying their weights with him even across worlds. But this creature was one life he didn't mind taking a second time.
He couldn't help but think how dangerous this would have been for another human being. This creature would have easily killed them.
'Maybe I am just under-estimating them,' Dean couldn't help but catch himself.
After all, these humans, even the ones here today, knew that they were the first and last line of defence against potential extinction at the hands of the monsters and these flux zones.
'Most of them probably wouldn't die to a creature like this. They are humans after all, and adapting has always been our superpower,' he reminded himself not to look down on the people here.
A mistake like that might cost him a lot more than the monsters could ever take.
After all, humanity would always be the greatest monsters.
He looked around the cave and noticed how the darkness had reduced, with rays of light entering through the opening now.
Beside him, the head of the creature began to break apart as a small green orb appeared.
'A flux core.' Dean thought, witnessing the process of its formation for the first time.
The orb held fast to the cave floor as the green light dimmed and then brightened, as if the light existed within the orb itself, not as part of its composition.
Curiosity finally won, as Dean picked one of the three orbs that formed. The scarred edges gave them a rough feel.
It was also quite dense and warm to touch, like a pumice stone.
With the core close enough, the black box strapped to his waist pulsed once as it absorbed the cores one after the other as green smoke of light into the seal.
Even as the flux cores disappeared slowly, someone updated a scoreboard elsewhere with Dean's name simultaneously.
Dean opened his palm as green smoke flowed from the orb towards the box. He then clasped his hand as if he hoped to catch the smoke.
After all, Flux Cores were practically the most important resource in this world.
Ever since the shattering occurred a hundred years ago. Humanity fell into a state of utmost despair.
They watched thousands of years of growth and evolution erode in less than twenty-four hours.
One day, civilizations had a backbone, humanity flourished in technology and the gifts of summoning from the heavens.
The next… chaos took over everything. Cars stopped working. Power grids crumbled. Nuclear plants lost their spark.
Everything humanity knew for centuries came to an abrupt halt, and all that was left was the gift of the heavens. The Familiars.
These summonings, alongside swords and other basic weaponry, were the only reason the apocalyptic event didn't usher humanity completely back into the Stone Age or even extinction.
In the midst of emerging monsters known simply as Fluxraiths that attacked relentlessly, humanity almost had no opportunity to adapt.
With the death toll that followed the shattering being in numbers that middle schools didn't teach.
The fact that the planet that was once home to billions was now shrunk into a single city told all the tale anyone needed to hear.
Even in those days, alongside familiars that fought with the survivors, it was the discovery of flux cores. A concentrated form of energy that didn't match anything prior, that gave humanity hope.
Even to this day. No one fully understood what these flux cores were, and yet the survivors found a way to use them. And now they were everywhere.
Dean opened his mind slightly as the memories from his childhood lessons settled.
'To think, this things power everything.'
From lights to devices, to planting fields, to even the walls themselves. These cores were one of the reasons humanity's last stronghold exists.
<><><>
Standing up fully after the last flux core entered the box. He noticed the wind sprite already hovering on his left-hand side.
The slime, on the other hand, was still motionless. Its body had stopped glowing altogether.
Dean moved closer while adjusting the gauntlets as he crouched beside the slime that seemed to house what looked like shadows in its gelatinous formed.
'Was it contaminated?' Dean thought, but said something entirely different while he touched the slime with a soft poke.
"What are you up to? Big guy!"
The words barely left his lips when a set of system notifications appeared.
"About time…." Dean said.
He had actually been waiting for his rewards and wondered why it was taking too long.
His eyes widened in shock as a screen read something else.
[Familiar 3— Adaptation recorded]
[Environmental acclimation: Darkness]
[Method: Passive absorption]
[Result: Darkness tolerance → complete]
The next screen entered his view.
[Familiar 3 — Skill: IMU Active]
[Slot 2: Night Domain]
[Source: Night Bleater]
[Method: Observation]
[Note: The skill has evolved.]
[Description: You can create a small pocket domain of darkness in open or enclosed spaces to blind your opponents.
[Limits: The duration of the skill depends on the type of space]
[Grade: D]
[Status: Upgradeable]
Dean read it twice before staring back at the slime, which was now hovering.
This wasn't experience points, but it was just as important.
Dean couldn't help but think back to the three days he'd spent experimenting with the slime before the re-evaluation.
He'd seen it copy things in two ways. Either get hit by something and absorb it immediately, or consume something completely and take hours to process it like it did with the kitchen knife.
Assuming those were the only methods were the biggest mistakes he had made.
This was neither of those two and definitely different from how it got the ability to fly from the wind sprite.
Dean watched how the slime landed on his right shoulder. Wobbling. From left to right.
Staring at the slime far longer than necessary, Dean smiled with a twitching eye.
"What are you, really?"
A/N: I have just applied for a contract for this and after previous fails. I'm hoping this time webnovel gives this a chance.
Your support would go a long way. No matter how little. So please support.. Help me keep the story of Dean and his chaotic summons alive.
Send in Powerstones. add to library. A review wouldn't be bad either.
Thank You.