—Shadow Sorcery
—Form 1: Shadow Spread
—Form 2: Magic Eye Awakening
Mana surged inside him, gradually spreading outward. It was only his second time using it in actual combat. The shadows on the ground began to twitch, then suddenly unfurled and swept across the area. Everything they touched fed Yuda a stream of detailed information. His Magic Eye sharpened that awareness even more, forcefully expanding his perception.
He had always practiced sorcery in a still, silent room, so using it in real combat felt completely different. Through Shadow Spread, he counted the number of enemies.
‘Three in total.’
His minimap lit up with red dots, and there were more than he expected. Not one wolf but it was three. They had completely surrounded him, waiting for an opening to strike from behind. He had nearly rushed toward the one making noise, but without sorcery, the other two would have torn into him the moment he moved. On top of that, he had misread their movements. They hadn’t shifted positions at all, just rustled occasionally to throw off his sense of direction.
Grrr.
A sharp killing intent pierced from behind like an attack signal. One leaped from the brush, roaring as it revealed itself.
ROAR!
He spun to face it.
‘Damn, it’s huge!’
The wolf was bigger than he expected. Its dense, razor-sharp teeth gleamed, ready to rip out his throat at any moment. At the same time, more wolves charged in from the other side. But before they even burst from the foliage, he had already pinpointed their locations using Shadow Spread and the Magic Eye. He hurled a dagger toward one of the two rustling spots, already gripped and ready in his hand.
Thankfully, there was no need to worry about accuracy. After two years of training, he had mastered〈Mercenary Left-Hand Dagger Technique〉. The blade flew straight toward the wolf’s forehead. Caught off guard, the charging beast flinched and dropped flat to the ground.
He would deal with the closest one first. Young or not, his stats bolstered him, and steady training kept his swordplay clean. Sidestepping the frontal assault, he gripped the longsword two-handed and slashed upward with force.
A shhk sounded, a sensation of cutting through something.
‘Ugh!’
Just as the wolf’s fangs came dangerously close, a surge of fear caused his strike to veer off its intended path. Consoling himself with the thought that no one succeeds perfectly on their first try, he quickly regained his focus. In that moment, the wolf's front paw, which he had managed to slice, dropped to the ground with a soft thud. Immediately after, the wolf's heavy body hit the dirt with a loud splat. As the beast twisted and let out a high-pitched snarl while trying to get back on its feet, he pulled one of the two remaining daggers from his belt and hurled it straight at the wolf’s head.
Black wolf hide was tough, but at this range, the blade pierced its neck cleanly. Its twitching frame slumped, convulsing. He wanted to exhale, but not yet.
Woof!
Two remained. The one that had dodged the dagger hung back, but the other, unimpeded, was closing in fast.
Dodge or strike.
It was one or the other. Yuda chose the latter. The wolf leaped, swiping its forepaws. Shadow Spread fed him its attack pattern; Magic Eye let him evade. Twisting his waist, he swung the sword inward as he dodged.
‘Gah!’
Not a clean miss—its claws grazed his left shoulder. A sting, then blood spurted. Pain creased his brow, but faltering here meant death.
—Shadow Swordsmanship
──Form 2: Slash
A flicker of mana coated the blade in black particles. Untwisting his waist, he swung with all his might. The cocky wolf’s flank split open, a massive gash spewing hot blood like cherry blossoms. Drenched in it, Yuda had no time to wipe it off. He had to spin arond and ready his stance. The last wolf was right beside him.
He locked his gaze on the wolf's every movement. What had seemed like a charge suddenly shifted as the wolf crouched, preparing to leap. Pulling the bloodstained longsword handle back to his chest, he pointed the blade toward the air. His left hand extended forward, taking on the role of a sight, guiding him as he aimed the tip of the sword at a specific spot, like an archer aiming at a target.
ROAAAR!
The wolf’s furious howl thundered out. Yuda unleashed the next move.
‘Shadow Swordsmanship, Form 3: Piercing Point!’
He visualized it in his mind.
Whooosh—
Wind gathered, black energy swirling around the blade. With a full-force thrust, it morphed into a lance mid-air, skewering the leaping wolf’s chest dead-on. For a split second, its rage-filled eyes flashed with shock.
No dodging that.
Maybe with some special trick, but it was too late now.
A thunk sounded as the lance punched through tough hide, muscle, and bone, piercing vital organs. Before its weight bore down his arm, he dispersed the mana, reverting it to a longsword. Blood gushed from the wound. Head, face, clothes. He was soaked. The stench hit hard. A flick of the sword shook off the gore.
Whine, yelp!
The flank-slashed wolf still lived. He approached slowly, driving his sword into its struggling head. Watching it die, his hands trembled. He’d gripped so hard they ached. Only then did he release his held breath.
“Hooo…!”
It was dangerous. The thought suddenly crossed his mind. It wasn’t that he felt his life was in danger. No, it wasn’t that. It was the rush of pleasure and faint exhilaration he felt at the moment of taking the wolf’s life. It was completely different from the sensation of hunting deer or boars. He had survived. He had fought for his life and emerged victorious.
The duel with Kain was meant to test each other’s skills and push each other to greater heights, not to take each other’s life. In a duel, even if one lost, death wasn’t the outcome. He was certain Kain wouldn’t kill him. But the fight with the wolf was completely different.
“…Heh. Hehehe.”
He tried to stifle the laughter, but it was tough.
“Haha—hahahaha! Ahaha, ahahahaha!”
In the end, he burst into laughter. He laughed maniacally, as if completely lost to madness. There were no more wolves around. His entire body screamed with exhilaration. His heart pounded wildly, as if applauding his victory. After a long while, Yuda finally stopped laughing. The hot blood smeared on his body began to cool in the wind. He then checked the system message he had missed during the battle.
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[Acquired 1 silver coin.]
[Acquired 1 silver coin.]
[Skill proficiency for Shadow Swordsmanship and Shadow Sorcery rose by 1.]
[Acquired 2 silver coins.]
[Level increased.]
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Five levels that took him two years of grinding in the mountains bumped up instantly. The shoulder pain dulled as his level rose, though the wound didn’t fully heal. This damn world, game-based yet brutally real, didn’t fully restore him on level-up, it just sped regeneration a bit.
Dazed, he stood for a while, then exhaled deeply and reviewed the messages again.
Something stood out: currency drops. Unlike animals, killing wolves added money to his inventory.
‘Zentia said no items drop, didn’t she?’
He had asked once before whether killing monsters in this world would drop items like weapons or armor. When Yuda made this game, he had set it up so that hunting would drop items. However, Zentia seemed to misunderstand the question at first and asked if he was talking about the code. After hearing Yuda out, she scoffed and told him it was a foolish question, saying there were no such drops. Since hunting wild boars and deer hadn’t yielded any rewards, money or items, Yuda believed her. But now that he had earned some money, a thought crossed his mind: Couldn’t items drop as well? Maybe it was just money that dropped. If he hunted more wolves later, he could find out.
Yuda took out a cloth from his 〈Inventory〉to wipe the blood off his longsword and collected the daggers. He glanced at the black wolves lying on the ground. Now that he thought about it, these creatures were worth money. Their hides were valued at the general store and clothing shops, and being a type of monster, they even carried magic stones
Opening his 〈Inventory〉 again, he took out a butchering knife. First time with wolves, but two years honing his skills on eastern forest game made it doable. The pelts weren’t top-notch, yet satisfying enough.
After skinning the wolves, Yuda needed to extract the magic stones. According to what Zentia had taught him, the magic stones were typically located between the navel and the solar plexus. True to her word, he was able to gather two magic stones. However, in the case of the last wolf, its chest had been completely blown apart, so he couldn’t find any. Instead, he found something special.
“A 〈Code〉, huh?”
A baseball-sized orb, encased in a glassy film, glowed within. Blue runes spun slowly inside like a conveyor belt. The outer sheen shimmered white—‘Common’ grade.
「Code Suffix: ~’s Sharpness」
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Grade: Common _ Weapon Only
Effect: Wound Aggravation - Bleeding +3%, Regeneration -1%
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This game didn't have item enhancement in the traditional sense. There were no +1 or +2 increases. Instead, items could gain prefix and suffix effects called 〈Codes〉. The higher the grade, the more special the options. There were many ways to obtain these codes.
In the original game, you could obtain them through hunting, or by killing someone who met specific conditions. Completing quests could also reward you with them, and like most games, there was a synthesis system where you could combine codes of the same grade to get a higher-level or different code of the same grade.
However, this world was not a game for Yuda; it was his reality. From what Zentia told him, the ways to obtain codes here were largely the same. Killing monsters or having influential figures like saints or sages die could result in codes manifesting on their bodies.
What set this world apart was that codes could also be found in places struck by disasters, such as where plagues had spread, or places affected by torrential rain and floods. To check the effects of a code, one could ask a mage or use a scroll sold at the Mage Tower. It seemed to be a limited system, unlike the open system Yuda had access to, where he could simply shout out for information and confirm it.
“Hmm.”
Checking its effects, he tested it on his longsword. Zentia said applying Codes needed a magic tower’s help, but for him, it differed.
[Would you like to apply 「Code Suffix: ~’s Sharpness」 to 〈Longsword〉?]
A system prompt popped up. Agreeing, the orb shattered, its runes seeping into the blade.
[Successfully applied suffix Code. 〈Longsword〉 is now renamed 〈Longsword of Sharpness〉.]
“…”
There was no big change. Swinging it felt the same. Zentia said removing Codes required a tower’s aid, but if he could apply them, maybe extraction worked too. Sure enough, the item info showed a “Code Extraction” option.
Moments later, the white-glowing Code rested in his hand again.
“Free applying and extracting… Nice.”
Grinning, Yuda sensed sunset nearing and headed for Serenia Castle.
Tension fading, his legs wobbled once en route, but he steadied and walked on. Thankfully, no more black wolves appeared.
* * *
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Tip 11. 1 gold coin = 1 million won, 1 silver coin = 10,000 won, 1 copper coin = 1,000 won.
Tip 12. Item grades: Common (White) - Rare (Green) - Treasure (Purple) - Unique (Magenta) - Ancient (Orange) - Legendary (Yellow).
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「Status Window」
[Name: Yuda Arshe]
[Title: None]
[Level: 10]
[Occupation: Black Claw _ Shadow Magic Swordsman (Hidden_A)]
[Revival Count: 1]
[Strength: 35 (D) / Potential A]
[Stamina: 35 (D) / Potential S]
[Agility: 30 (D) / Potential SS]
[Mana: 37 (D) / Potential B]
[Mana Resistance: 51 (C) / Potential S]
[Knowledge: 17 (F) / Potential B] ◀ Special
[Luck: 79 (B) / Potential A] ◀ Special
[Remaining Points: 9]
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***Author’s Note***
With your coupons, I got new glasses today.
First pair in three years—wow, the world looks different.
I’ll write with more effort, lol!
Q: I read all the library books—why’s Knowledge only 17?
A: Reading isn’t fully remembering. We forget—especially non-essential stuff.
Q: When will our Yuda go adventuring?
A: Uh… good question. Haha…? Ha?
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