Re-Awakening: Evolving My Shadow Limitlessly With A System
Chapter 50: New Status, Class Runesmith Level Up

Chapter 50: New Status, Class Runesmith Level Up

I moved to the next room and devoured the trainee’s Shadow Essence.

+0.6 Strength.

Then I slipped into the shadows again and entered another room.

+0.4 Strength.

One more. +0.5 Endurance.

Each child’s Shadow Essence gave me stats.

Some gave more, some gave less.

It depended on their personal strength, and the stability of their Shadow Essence.

’Thirty-four trainees in this dormitory.’

And this was just one building.

There were two more dormitories in the facility.

Each one would have a different number of trainees.

I’d only know how many after I visited them.

...

One Week Later

A week passed in a blur of routine.

Daytime with my mom and dad. Every day, I would spend a few hours training with dad.

Nights were spent silently slipping between shadows, devouring small bits of Shadow Essence from the trainees.

I never left behind a trace, not even a ripple of mana. I made sure of it.

The results?

Well, they were more than just good.

I opened my status and glanced at the numbers.

...

Shadow Summon

Stats:

Strength: 6 → 168 NovelFire

Dexterity: 0 → 63

Endurance: 2 → 139

Spirit: 0

...

’Finally, I have some good stats.’

Over the week, I had collected a total of 367 stat points.

The growth speed was terrifying compared to before.

Supernaturals — even if they were just trainees — were the best source of stat harvesting through shadows.

Some of my skills had also leveled up:

Shadow Eater: Level 2 → Level 3

Shadow Gaze: Level 1 → Level 2

Shadow Assimilation: Level 1 → Level 2

With the boost in Shadow Eater, I could now share 30% of my summon’s stats permanently, instead of just 20%.

Shadow Gaze’s range expanded.

Shadow Assimilation now allowed me to move between shadows that were twenty meters apart — double the previous limit.

’Training every night was worth it.’

Then I checked my own stats.

...

Stats:

Strength: 13 (+1.2) → 13 (+56)

Dexterity: 29 → 29 (+21)

Endurance: 13 (+0.4) → 13 (+46.3)

Intelligence: 132

Spirit: 30

...

Strength and Endurance increased by nearly four times.

Dexterity almost doubled.

The real bonus was what happened when I used Shadow Assimilation.

My shadow’s stats would merge with mine during the duration of the skill.

Which meant that my strength and endurance would each cross 200, and dexterity would cross 100 — I would be able to fight head-on with Rank 2 Supernaturals now.

’Time to move to the next step.’

’I need go get the Anomaly Hunter license.’

Today was the day they would announce what the test was.

That meant accessing the Underworld website, to look up the current test requirements.

The problem?

The only computer I could access was in the study room.

And that room was right next to my parents’ room.

If I went there at night, dad would definitely notice.

He had terrifying senses for someone who had a destroyed dantian.

’I’ll have to leave the estate and use someone else’s computer.’

I got to work.

First, I chanted a low-level spatial spell and layered a thin membrane of sensory magic over my room’s doors and windows.

"—Silent Bind: Veil Layer."

If anyone stepped into the room, I’d be alerted instantly.

With how fast my portal casting was now, I could be back before anyone noticed I was gone.

Then I drew the [Absorption Rune: Null Drift] on the wall using fairy dust and my Class perk ’Basic Inscription.’

Runes created with the perk would not vanish upon use and could be reactivated by channeling mana.

’That’s one Rune done.’

I knelt and started drawing the more complex rune: [Warp Point].

The estate was surrounded by a powerful magical barrier.

I could teleport out with a simple portal, but I couldn’t teleport back in.

The barrier would block me unless I had clearance.

The [Warp Point] rune was the solution.

Unlike a regular portal, a Warp Point was fixed in location.

Once paired with another Warp Point rune, they acted as two ends of a stable tunnel.

I used Basic Inscription perk to etch the rune into the floor.

Since runes created with this perk were reusable, I wouldn’t have to redraw them each time.

I just needed to provide mana.

Once I finished inscribing it, I activated a normal portal to exit the estate.

The portal opened a bit farther from the forest boundary that protected the property.

From there, I headed east — deeper into the woods.

This region bordered the lower Alps.

There were plenty of abandoned spots and caves that no one would bother to explore.

After about twenty minutes of moving, I found a narrow cave opening hidden behind thick roots and moss.

It was quiet.

There were no signs of human tracks, or wild animals living inside.

Perfect.

I stepped inside, cleared a flat area on the stone floor, and began drawing the second [Warp Point] rune.

When I finished, the rune glowed faintly before fading.

It was now paired with the one I had drawn in my room.

Class Runesmith

Grade: Apprentice Runesmith → Journeyman Runesmith

+1 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, +1 Spirit

Perk Gained: [Stabilized Ink]

Perk Effect: Your rune inscriptions are 30% less likely to misfire due to environmental or mana interference.

All that was left was to test it.

I placed my hand on the rune and channeled mana.

A portal shimmered to life in front of me.

I stepped through, and appeared back in my room.

It had worked.

Back in my room, the Warp Point rune dimmed.

Since I hadn’t provided the Warp Point rune in my room with mana manually, it had pulled from ambient mana in the air.

Unfortunately, the ambient mana in air was minimal.

’I’ll have to wait at least six hours before it can be used again.’

That was the amount of time until air would recover enough mana to activate the Warp Point rune.

And since there were two Warp Point runes, I could give mana manually to only one.

Not ideal.

I needed a way to store mana, or rather, to feed the rune passively using collected mana.

That meant building a simple Rune Array (a Rune created by combining two or more Runes) to connect the Warp Point to a mana absorption rune.