Armor began to form out of thin air, its pieces cladding the tiny goblin. Jake felt his mana drain away.
Gloomy's eyes narrowed. His body twisted and swelled, flesh warping into something monstrous. Thick, gray skin surfaced, marbled with a reddish tint as his frame grew in size.
The newly formed armor convulsed, reshaping itself to fit his changing body. When it finally settled, it was darker than darkness itself like staring into the abyss, only for it to stare back.
He stood with a hood concealing his face, his arm adorned with hidden blades conjured from shadow itself. Slowly, his hunched back straightened, and he now towered over Jake.
Jake gasped as this shadow figure towering above him, intimidating him.
With a swift this huge shadow kneel, "Master."
Nerdy spoke, "Check his ability master."
Jake pulled himself back as he followed Nerdy advice. With mere thought a window popped up once again.
[Summon Name: Gloomy]
[Class: Shadow Assassin]
[Class ability: Shadow Step, Shadow Morph, Shadow Domain]
Astonished by that abilities he quickly checked their description, a new window popped up.
This time the window was full of text.
[Shadow Step: Ability to teleport near a shadow]
[Shadow Morph: Ability to change Shadow into tangible weapons]
[Shadow Domain: Ability to converse with the domain related to darkness and shadow]
Jake instructed Gloomy to use the abilities to gauge their proficiency.
"Wait, Master." Nerdy interjected before Jake could give his order.
"You have just lost too much mana already from evolving his class. Better yet wait for the mana to regenerate."
Jake took his advice as he nodded in agreement.
"So, what should we do? venture into the forest?"
"No, master. That will be too dangerous." Looking towards the forest Nerdy shuddered.
He checked on his wound again, his was much shallower than Dummy's, his was too deep. It would have been fatal if not for him being a creature made from mana rather than flesh.
"Remember master, I told you this is a village."
Jake tried to remember, "Something.., Rus Haale you said."
Nerdy shook his head in approval, "Yes, Master. This is Rus Haale village, though now it's barely people lives here, all of the resident has already migrated. But a witch still lives here."
Nerdy then began, "So this witch is quite the popular one, as for it says she has master the alchemy to a degree nobody else have."
"She can conjure a chimera both functional and immortal with great ease. Though I doubt this claim, but there is something most alchemist have in common, they have potion master."
He turned towards Dummy, "See him master, he might die and you would lose more mana if that happens."
Then he gesture towards his own wound, "I don't know what the slayer used, but it has halted the goblins regeneration ability." He made groaning sound as he spoke.
Jake understood what was the implication, even if he wanted to ignore the Dummy wailing, it was now not the case anymore. If he did, he wouldn't be able to guarantee if Nerdy in future would be willingly to cooperate with him. For once he has already once abandon them.
"Alright, we find the witch. But where is she? I don't have any clue where to look for her."
Nerdy paused, before adding, "We can use gloomy to scout the forest for us."
Gloomy turned toward Jake, his expression, said he was ready to go.
Jake could already read his expression, he sighed as he gave the instruction to Gloomy.
"Check for the Witch's Hut, if there is any danger come back quickly and make sure to try and get them off you trail." He added a warning at last, "Don't bring them back to us."
It was like Nerdy was the leader of the group, with all the instruction already taken on his behalf, this made sure the responsibility was off his chest, but Jake could feel that in future this might fire back, if he is not careful enough now. He better take lead now, or latter down the line, he might have to follow his summons order all day around.
"Don't worry, Master. For now you should rest as much as possible to regenerate your mana level. Who knows if Gloomy might need to use some skills and for that you must have plenty of mana reserve."
Nerdy then turned back towards the slayer's corpse. He tried to check the items on him.
But before he could began, Jake stopped him, "I have already looted him."
"He didn't have much, little amount of gold and.." He put his hand inside his duffel bag and pulled out a book, "This book on him."
Nerdy curiously asked in a low voice, "Master, Could I see it's content?"
Jake was reluctant to part away with the loot, but now that he himself wasn't going to read it. He thought against it.
He gave the Nerdy the book, it cover was encased with a insignia of noble house.
Jake couldn't really understand what that insignia suggests as he waited for Nerdy to explain to him.
"Here take it." Jake said while handing Nerdy the book.
Nerdy bow a little as he accepted the book.
He swiftly turned the books pages, and started to get a read of it.
Seeing that Jake, stopped wanting to interrupt him with question. He went towards the cottage again, to rest.
Inside the cottage there was just a single bed with a table laid with some handwritten notes on them.
When Jake read them they revealed useless information the original Corvus wrote.
"Today, I went to check on the my garden, the potatoes are growing just fine...."
"Does he wanted to become a farmer here?" Jake thought.
What Jake was most curious about was where did the original soul went, clearly he couldn't remember the memories of this body, this suggests that his own soul and Corvus's soul were different.
"I hope he don't come back to take his body from me atleast, then that would make the things awkward."