Nightmare Realm Summoner

Goddamn. Those are some awesome skills. Controlling Mirrors? Combining my monsters with energy to make them stronger? The illusions — eh. Not sold on that, but the other two sound incredible.

Alex swallowed. From what Meiderly had told him, he only got a total of three Auxiliary skills, and his choice would be with him for the rest of his life. This wasn't just choosing a skill for now. It was picking something that would be shaping his future.

Think about which one has the best scaling in the long term as well as the short term. All of these are relatively weak right now. The point is what they can become, not what they currently are. I wonder if I'll get a chance to pick one of the two abilities I don't take this time around.

He looked over to Meiderly, but the eyeless man was gone. His soul was devoid of any presence aside from his own once more.

Figures. Fine. I'll just operate off the assumption that I'll never see these again. No point getting too invested in something that isn't already in my hands. I'll just focus on the current choice.

His options boiled down to being able to use glass and mirror magic, illusions, or upgrade his monsters. He drummed his fingers against his thigh as he pondered the skills. They were all pretty easy to grasp right now but extrapolating them far into the future was far from a simple task.

I don't know what my power limits are. If I can get as strong as the City-Eater Centipedes, much less the thing that was snacking on them, then what would Mirrormancy let me do? Control a sea of glass? Summon it, maybe? Probably both.

The image of bringing down a literal tsunami of mirror shards on top of something was as appealing as it was gruesome. It was basically controlling an element… just only glass and mirrors instead.

Thank God nobody was around to hear that particular comparison. Definitely far from my finest work.

He moved on to another option. Illusion was a little harder to conceptualize. Perhaps it would just let him make his illusions take physical form, or he could blanket massive areas with his power to the point where they were indistinguishable from reality.

Illusion felt like one of the abilities that was impossible to properly judge unless he knew where the line in the sand got drawn. A child with illusion magic could just claim their illusions were completely impenetrable and anything they made turned into reality.

That was no different from just pretending to be a god and hardly even classified as illusion anymore. There was no way the system would be letting him alter reality with illusions, but they had to get stronger somehow.

Not something I'm willing to risk. I've always been shit at sleight of hand anyway. I remember trying to do a magic show for my folks when I was eight or nine. Dropped all the stupid cards and broke my nose when I tripped over my shoelace trying to catch them.

It may have been sightly unfair to place that burden on the shoulders of a whole branch of magic, but Alex had already decided that he was going to live through the apocalypse in a way that befitted him.

I don't like it, so I'm not taking it. If it was better, then I'd like it. Simple as that, really.

That left Monster Medley. It was pretty easy to tell where that path was leading. It would focus on upgrading and combining monsters that he found, much like a twisted version of Pokémon.

The upper reaches of the skill weren't hard to see either. He'd already seen the City-Eater Centipedes. If they existed, then he could control them once he got strong enough. Not just that — he'd be able to improve them as well. Any monster that he ran into became a potential building block as long as he managed to harvest its energy.

This'll also let me power Glint up right now. I've got some Energy sitting around in his card that I don't know how to use. That's clearly a core part of my class. Something tells me I'd be able to use that energy for something else, probably a skill I'll get offered down the line if I don't take this one.

The more Alex thought about it, the more Monster Medley appealed to him. He'd chosen Evoker to be a summoner, and any upgrades he made to Glint would also indirectly make him stronger as well whenever the monster died.

It was the ability that best fit with his class, not just in the future, but right now. He needed enough strength to get out of the Mirrorlands — if he didn't, all the challenges in the world wouldn't save him when there was literally nothing to drink and he just died of dehydration.

He took a moment longer to turn his attention back to Mirrormancy, just to make absolutely sure he was making the right decision. It only took a few moments for him to determine that he had.

There would be other ways for him to get control over mirrors, and that included literally just killing Glint to take the monster's powers. He was already only a step away from throwing mirror shards around whenever Glint died.

When the monster got stronger, his own powers would too. It wasn't unrealistic for Glint to get some sort of mirror control skill himself.

Actually, do monsters get skills? I have no idea. I suppose I'll find out. They definitely get something. Either way, choosing Monster Medley gets me the most strength and potential in every stage.

"I choose Monster Medley," Alex said.

The other skill options flickered and vanished, and new words scrawled out.

Alex Vaya [Human]

Class: Evoker [Mirrorlands]

Stage: Novice 2

Title Fragments:

[Mirrorlander]

Active Titles:

[Anomaly]

[1/5]

Soul Manifestation:

[Spatial Mirrors] (Novice 1)

Auxiliary Skills:

[Requiem to the King] (Novice 1)

[Monster Medley] (Novice 1)

Alex blew out a breath and waved the floating words away. He felt a little odd. It was difficult to place exactly what it was, but his motions felt smoother and his body more defined. The change was subtle enough to be nearly unnoticeable but present enough to keep him from dismissing it as mere confusion.

Now that I think about it, this makes sense. If the soul and the body are linked, then improving the soul would logically improve the body as well. But if that's true… the inverse applies as well. I guess it's time to start working out more seriously. I'm just glad that my head feels the same as it did before.

That was definitely for the best. Alex wasn't sure how he felt about the skills he took actually changing how he saw the world or filling his mind with information about how they worked. If it had stuffed a bunch of knowledge into his head, it would have made him question how much of himself was actually him.

That line of thought had fortunately been avoided. For better or for worse, he'd reached Novice 2 and had a new skill to show for it. There was only one last thing left to do. He didn't know if he could summon his cards inside his soul, but —

Glint's card snapped into his hands like it had always been there. Alex nearly dropped it in surprise.

"Well, I suppose that answers that question," he said with a chuckle. There were currently three different forms of energy stored within the card — two Low Grades and one Low-Mid Grade.

"Now, how do I combine you with Glint?" Alex muttered to himself. He focused his attention on the new skill, trying to draw its powers out. In response, a tingling sensation erupted along the fingertips of his right hand and he felt them sink slightly into the card.

He hurriedly swapped the mirror over to his left hand before his arm could sink into it completely. When nothing happened, he brushed his tingling fingers across its surface. Ripples passed through the card's silver surface and the prickling sensation grew stronger.

"Glint, can you come out in here?"

Glass shattered and claws raked through the darkness beside Alex as Glint took form inside his mind. Alex gave his mute companion an impressed glance. He'd been a bit optimistic hoping the monster would be able to enter his literal soul, but evidently that was fair game.

"Which one of these energy flames do you want?" Alex asked, turning the card toward Glint. "Is there one that suits you better?"

Glint studied the mirror but made no move to do anything.

"Is that too complex of a request?" A frown crossed Alex's face. "Can you point out which one would work with you, regardless of desire?"

Still, Glint was still. Alex blew out a huff and turned the mirror back to himself. It didn't look like his monsters were going to be able to give him much help with his decisions. If that was the case, then all he could do was experiment.

Alex pressed his fingertips into the mirror. It rippled, then gave way. His arm sank into what felt like a freezing cold pool. Alex focused his thoughts on the Low-Grade Novice belonging to the Shaded Hauntling and his hand wrapped around a mote of warm energy. He pulled it free, revealing a dark ball of fire as he unfurled his fingers.

"Well, that worked."

He held the mote of flame up before his face. Rather than warmth, it gave off a faint pressure.

I wonder which aspect Glint will take on if I give him this. It's not like you can boil a monster down to a single thing. Will he just consume the energy and get stronger?

Alex studied the heatless fire, but he wasn't getting any answers by looking at it. The only way to learn was to do. He crouched down before Glint and held the flame out.

"Here. Merge with this," Alex said.

Glint extended his clawed hands, taking the flame from Alex. He lifted it to his mouth and swallowed the fire whole. Alex's fingers tingled, but the sensation soon passed. Glint stared at him expectantly.

Not enough, huh?

Alex took out the second Low-Grade Novice flame and fed it to Glint, achieving the same result as the first. His eyes narrowed and he pulled out the Low-Mid-Grade flame, nearly stumbling over the length of the thought, and extended his hand for the third time.

Glint plucked it from his fingers and devoured it whole.

This time, the tingling sensation running down Alex's fingers intensified as something pulled at his chest. His stomach clenched and his breath caught in his throat as energy rushed out of his body, leaving behind a sudden wave of weariness.

It passed as quickly as it had come. He shook his head off and squinted through his disorientation. A dozen cracks rang out and Alex drew in a surprised breath. A tremor shook the shards of glass along Glint's back. The Shardwalker hunched over with a hiss and ripples passed over his grey skin.

Glint was changing.

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