Chapter 5

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Translator: Ryuma

Chapter: 5

Chapter Title: Karuna's Shadow

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It was truly a bizarre sight.

The shadow of a already deceased being was writhing and rising up.

Karuna's shadow gazed upon the original flesh from which it was born.

Though it had always lacked any color to its skin, the crushed skull and fallen body of Karuna evoked a profound sense of pity in its pallor.

Karuna's shadow then turned to Snowman. And it knelt on one knee before him.

"I am yours."

Karuna's warm voice adorned the night sky.

Snowman looked at him and erased from memory the arrogant Karuna who had relentlessly pursued him.

Now, Karuna was his loyal servant.

Those watching Snowman were stunned by the sight of him commanding as a summon the very Karuna he had just been battling.

As Snowman achieved the accomplishment, countless beings flocked to watch him.

Snowman crossed to the safe zone and checked Karuna's status.

"Not bad."

In truth, it wasn't just not bad—it was downright unreasonable.

As Snowman recalled, summoned creatures were divided into 10 ranks.

Common rank for ordinary monsters, rare rank packed with boss monsters.

Most summoners used rare rank.

'And Karuna is hero rank.'

Why?

Snowman knew Karuna was hero rank, but not the reason why.

He was one of the stronger early boss monsters with diverse abilities.

Probably reflected that.

Above hero were legend, transcendent, mystic, inconceivable, and more.

Far beyond what Snowman could reach now.

'Securing this much harvest already guarantees survival!'

A summon far stronger than the master—every summoner's dream.

'Shadow Summon has very generous conditions among summoning arts...'

The corpse of a monster whose shadow he defeated.

That alone enabled the summon.

Thus, obtaining summons normally impossible. Like now.

But no perfect class from the start.

Problems abounded, naturally.

'Summoning is easy, but it depends heavily on the situation...'

First, the summon's abilities are determined by the original monster's.

Reviving a goblin yields a shadow weaker than a regular goblin.

Of course, Shadow Summon level matching the monster's rank could compensate somewhat.

'But in this case, it worked in my favor.'

Karuna's original abilities were immense, so the shadow replicate was too.

Shadow Summoning: Defeat foe, then command as summon.

'No mistakes, luckily.'

Perhaps luck that first adventure was Moonlit Dance.

Most other tutorial adventures involved combat.

Then he'd fight at level 1 with Shadow Hand, his only other ability besides Shadow Summon.

Shadow Hand, weaker than other casters', would have been tough.

'Rewards would've sucked too. Weak summons all.'

No need to dwell on hypotheticals.

He got a powerhouse summon, now truly a summoner.

Snowman approached the brilliantly glowing moon chest in the safe zone.

He stopped abruptly.

Suddenly, he realized he was smiling.

17 years of gaming life wouldn't vanish instantly.

Now, he was enjoying this moment.

He was one of the mad in Eternal World.

'...Whatever.'

Click.

Rumble...

Dazzling light burst from the chest.

Whoosh!

At the level up messages, Snowman checked his status window.

Two level ups.

In Eternal World, level ups grant 4 fluid stats and 4 fixed stats.

Fixed stats rise per class; fluid ones player allocates.

'Shadow Summoners must pump Wisdom.'

Snowman allocated all 8 points to Wisdom.

Most summoners level summons with master. Karuna hit level 3 too.

Snowman balanced Karuna's fluid stats differently.

Next, rewards.

Some minor materials, insignificant.

"As expected..."

Snowman focused on the three key items from the moon chest.

'Fixed drop.'

Moonlight Sword always dropped from Karuna.

Equipment ranks: junk, common, unique, rare, treasure, and above.

Rare was great for tutorial.

Snowman handed the bluish sword to his new summon, Karuna.

Another Shadow Summoner quirk: Summons grow individually, equip gear.

Regular summoners grow summons via trickle-down; Shadow Summoners uniquely independent.

High investment, but worth the returns.

Unlike the poor reactions from watchers, Snowman smiled and equipped the staff.

'Perfect item for now.'

Wisdom was often called a "white elephant" by Eternal World players.

Max MP boost and minor effects paled vs. other stats.

'But that's for other classes.'

Summoner.

No, uniquely for Shadow Summoner, Wisdom was crucial.

Not just MP—most abilities scaled with Wisdom.

Shadow Summoners fell into three types: versatile magic-summon hybrid (jack-of-all, master-of-none, worst), mob summoner (swarm small shadows, strong early, weak later due to boss presence), elite (few high-rank summons, strongest if grown, but hard to acquire/maintain).

Snowman aimed for elite.

And elite needed Wisdom most: loyalty, charisma, efficiency, inheritance success, enlightenment chance.

High-rank summons hard to keep loyal; low charisma risks rebellion.

Thus, Snowman thrilled at Wisdom-heavy Full Moon Staff.

'Things going well?'

'...Never thought I'd draw this.'

Item unseen in 17 years, only watched others eat.

'Early lottery item, Moon Seed.'

Guaranteed gain on consume.

Better if good stat or related ability.

And Snowman knew how to max it.

'Not eating yet... Gear check done?'

Finally, new title.

Snowman stroked his chin.

'Applies to Karuna too.'

Vague for others, spec up for him.

'Good so far. Onward.'

Vmmm—

Inspection done, Snowman's body teleported to next adventure.

'Around noon now?'

Completing by tomorrow morning sends to safe zone.

Adventure 2, rest 1.

Eternal World adventures usually cycle thus, unless special.

'5 Brothers... Tough one.'

5 targets meant variables, solid difficulty.

Whoooosh—

Adventure started mid-mountain on sunlit Pointed Rock Mountain.

Not too high, but rugged terrain and sentries meant time to climb.

'Seeing board stuff in reality feels weird. But... where are they?'

Snowman puzzled upon seeing new adventure.

'Odd. 5 Brothers is party-only due to difficulty...'

5 foes meant 5 players. Dream plays always 5-man.

"Wait... 20 hours 47 minutes left?"

Such sloppy time limit?

Moonlit Dance gave exact 6 hours; now messy.

'Bad feeling.'

Snowman quickly manipulated the adventure interface in his view.

Learned why time off, no party at start.

"...Damn."

The 5-man adventure had become Snowman's solo.

His party members were already corpses.