The room was pitch black, only lit by a dim purple light.
Kanos sat cross legged on the dirt floor. He had just drawn a half meter thick stone wall to tightly seal the entrance of the small cave where he was hiding right now. No way out, no air coming in. Completely airtight. If he stayed in here too long, he would suffocate to death.
But his eyes were wide open. There was absolutely zero sleepiness on his dirty face.
In front of him lay a purple crystal the size of a fist. The monster core from the Bone Amalgam. The crystal pulsed slowly, letting out thin smoke that made the temperature in the cramped room incredibly cold.
"Let's begin," Kanos whispered.
He raised his left index finger. He didn't crush the crystal like what he did to the bat core yesterday. It would be a huge waste if this much energy was thrown away for a single use. He just touched the crystal's surface gently.
Dark purple smoke instantly stuck to his fingertip, following his hand's movements like thick syrup.
Kanos took a short breath. He started drawing in the empty air.
His brain immediately unpacked all his memories about the shape of the shell wolf that almost killed him on the first day. He didn't draw its skin. He purely only drew its bone structure.
From the skull, the lower jaw, rows of sharp teeth, down to the neck bones, ribs, all the way to the tailbone. Line by line he pulled very carefully. The purple smoke followed every stroke, hovering in the air forming a wolf skeleton the size of a grown dog.
"Done."
The shadow lines lit up. The air inside the cave vibrated softly.
Black dust from the corners of the room got sucked into Kanos's drawing. The wolf skeleton made of solid shadow materialized with the sound of clashing metal. Heavy. Sturdy.
But the very next second, the entire shadow skeleton collapsed into a mess on the dirt floor.
Thud.
No movement. No life. The pile of shadow bones just sat there for five seconds, before finally fading back into smoke and vanishing.
Kanos clicked his tongue in annoyance. He wiped his face roughly.
"Failed," he muttered. "The frame is right. The energy to form it is there. But why did it just fall apart like that?"
Kanos stared at his own left palm. He moved his fingers slowly, closing and opening his fist.
'My bones move because they're pulled by muscles,' Kanos thought hard. 'Muscles move because the brain tells them to through nerves. If I make a wolf drawing purely out of this monster core's energy, that drawing doesn't have a brain. There's nothing giving it commands.'
The memory of fighting the Bone Amalgam boss returned to his head. That crazy monster could move because there was a mana flow wrapping around every joint.
'It moved because its own mana acted as muscles. But my drawing is just an inanimate object. An empty shadow.'
Kanos's eyes widened. His heart suddenly started beating fast.
'If the drawing needs a brain to give it commands... why not just have my brain be the one commanding it?'
Kanos hurriedly leaned his body forward. He touched the purple crystal again, scooping up more of the thick smoke.
He started drawing in the air again. This time his movements were much faster and wilder. He drew the skeleton of a giant wild dog. Thick leg bones, a broad chest, a long jaw for tearing flesh.
The drawing lit up again. The dust in the room was sucked back in.
"Don't break yet," Kanos hissed.
Right when the shadow began to solidify, Kanos didn't pull his hand away. He let his fingertip stay attached to the drawing's smoke line.
Kanos closed his eyes. He forced himself to find the warm sensation in his chest. The same feeling as when he looked at his mana panel. He focused on that feeling, pushing the energy from inside his own body to flow through his left arm, then straight into his fingertip.
'Connect. Come on and connect, dammit.'
Kanos's fingertip glowed brightly. A thin blue thread sprouted out from his skin, connecting directly to the shadow wolf skeleton solidifying in front of him. The blue thread quickly wrapped around all the joints of the shadow bones.
Kanos opened his eyes. His head was throbbing terribly, but he grinned widely.
Golden screens suddenly exploded in front of his face, covering his entire vision. The sound of system warnings blared incredibly loud in his ears.
[ CRITICAL ANOMALY: LIVING ANATOMICAL STRUCTURE DETECTED ]
[ USER CONNECTING INTERNAL MANA PATHWAYS TO EXTERNAL MEDIUM ]
[ ACCESSING ANIMATION PROTOCOL... SUCCESS ]
[ BRANCH SKILL UNLOCKED: SHADOW PUPPETRY ]
The air inside the cramped cave instantly screamed.
The mana thread from Kanos's finger greedily sucked energy from the purple crystal on the floor. The wolf skeleton in front of him didn't collapse this time. The shadow bones stood tall.
Thick smoke began billowing in the middle of the wolf's ribcage, gathering densely to wrap around the purple crystal that was previously lying on the floor. The crystal now floated right in the position of a heart.
A heavy humming sound filled the closed room. Black smoke kept pouring out from the crystal, wrapping around all the shadow bones, forming muscles, sharp fur, and claws out of incredibly thick pure shadow.
Kanos held his breath. His left hand was still pointing forward, feeling a strange vibration flowing straight from his finger into the monster's body in front of him. He could feel what the creature felt. He could feel the creature's feet stepping on the dirt.
In the middle of the darkness, two neon blue eyes lit up brightly from the shadow wolf's head.
The silence in the room broke.
Thump. Thump.
The sound of a heavy and slow heartbeat could be heard clearly. Coming from the purple crystal inside the shadow wolf's chest.
Kanos lowered his left hand slowly. The giant wolf also lowered its head, obeying Kanos's hand movements one hundred percent like a puppet tied to strings.
Kanos stared at the terrifying creature of his own making. The corners of his lips pulled up, forming an insane smile that made his face look way more horrifying than any monster in Yomalvara.
"Wake up," Kanos whispered softly.
The shadow wolf opened its jaws, letting out a low roar that made the entire cave walls shake violently.