Chapter 6: Using The Shadow Element

Waking up from a much-needed night of sleep, Alice went out to the kingdom's market to see if she could sell the goblin weapons and remaining herbs.

Walking through various stalls, she finally found a weapon shop. Entering the shop, she was greeted by a Half wolf - half human girl that couldn't have been older than 25. She had silver hair with wolf like ears poking out and a fluffy long tail. "Hiya~ Welcome to my weapon shop! I'm Yumi, what can I do for ya cutie?" Feeling excited to be able to talk to another demi-human she began to show the merchant her items. "I have some weapons I looted off some goblins I killed, and I'd like to try to sell them as well as buy some armor if possible." Alice said with a smile. She took the 2 daggers and short sword out of her Inventory, keeping the bow in case she wanted to use it for later.

"Woah~ how rare to have a storage skill! I can give you 2 silver per dagger and 4 silver for the short sword, so 8 silver all together. Oh, and I'll give you a discount on the armor you want, so feel free to look at my wares!" Yumi said giving Alice a playful wink.

Looking around at the different armor sets Yumi had, skipping past the heavy armor as it wasn't a good fit for her. She finally, after some time, came across an interesting set that caught her eyes.

| Shadow Chest Plate |

| +5 DEF |

| Shadow Cloak |

| +5 INT |

| Shadow gloves |

| +5 DEX |

| Shadow boots |

| +5 AGI |

"Yumi, how much for this shadow set?" Alice asked since this set matched her perfectly.

"Hmmm, I'll sell it to you for 9 silver. Normally it would be 15, but I want you to only come to my shop in the future for your weapon and armor needs. If you can promise me that then I'll sell it for 9 silver." Yumi said trying to rope in a cute new customer that she'd get to see more of and make a profit on since she got the set for free from a dead body she found in her travels.

'Hmm… I'll have only a few copper coins left if I buy it, but I can still sell the herbs I have and there's always the option to go and kill more monsters as well as more requests she can take.' Alice thought agreeing with her terms. "Deal. I promise I'll use you for all my armor and weapon needs in the future."

Walking up to the counter with the armor set, she hands Yumi the 9 Silver coins she had. "Do you have a room I can use to try the armor on?" Alice asks hoping to make use of the stat boost as soon as she can.

"Sure, if you go into the back there is a storage room you can use. Just let me know if you need the armor adjusted." Yumi happily replies.

Being in front of a mirror for the 1st time, she is slightly shocked at how she looks, Alice knew she had a nice figure, but she didn't expect her beautiful light purple eyes, as well as her full soft pink lips. Her hair was long and light grey. 'I can see why people stare now.' Alice though to herself while changing into her new armor, keeping her tight-fitting black leather pants on. She quite admired this look, and the armor fit perfectly.

Walking back to the front of the store, Yumi, who had turned her head hearing that Alice had returned, dropped the shield she was hanging onto her foot. "GAHH!" Yumi yelped out in pain. "Sorry! I just didn't expect you to look so good in the armor set!" Yumi said drooling a bit half from pain half from attraction.

"No problem. You should sit down and tend to your foot. I have to go meet an old geezer at the mage's guild" Alice said as she left the store happy with her purchase.

Moving slightly faster than before she smirked wondering how fast she would be if she invested her next level up into the AGI stat.

Walking through the tricky front door of the Mage's Guild, she ran up to Sarah at the receptionist counter. "Hiya~ I'm here to see the Old Geezer." Alice said still happy from her stat boost and her new armor.

Sarah, trying not to stare too much, looks toward the stairs. "If you go up the stairs, Albert is there and expecting you"

"Thanks~" Replied Alice darting up the stairs.

"I'm here as I said I would be, Old Man" Alice stated looking around for the old man not seeing him. 'Maybe Sarah didn't see him leave?' She thought.

"I've been expecting you, young lady. It's rude to make people wait you know." Albert said from above floating in the air near the bookshelf, reading.

"Sorry to make you wait. I wanted to level up and get some new armor before I came." Alice said while looking up. 'Will I be able to fly again with magic?' Alice wondered feeling a little sad since she missed having her wings.

"Here catch this, I managed to find a Grimoire for Shadow users. It'll prove very useful for you, and since you're the only Shadow user we have. You can just keep the book, just make sure to take care of it." Albert said as he tossed her the Pitch-Black Grimoire.

Before she could touch the Grimoire, it floated above her hands, looked at the old man pouting, she lowered her hands back down. To her surprise, the Grimoire followed her hands and began to open. The pages flipped around quickly giving off a Black aura making it seem like the pages were shapeless.

"It seems the Grimoire already recognizes you as its owner, probably since you're the only shadow user to touch it in a hundred years." Albert said already expecting this to happen.

"We can talk later, I just wanted to give you this. You should head to the practice room. The Grimoire will naturally bring out your element and you should be able to read the spells. Just think of an attack or buff etc. and the Grimoire will automatically flip to the page best suited to what you want." He said as he snapped his fingers and she appeared by Sarah in a flash.

"AHH!!" Sarah jumped back as Alice appeared from thin air in front of her. "Curse you Old MAN you're going to kill me if you keep doing that." she shouted towards the stairs. "I'd like to use the training room to test out the Grimoire."

Looking down at her hands she realized the Grimoire was gone. "If he gave you a Grimoire you just have to think of it being in your hands and it'll show itself. As for the training room, you should already know where it is, so feel free to use it as long as you'd like." Sarah said as she put her head in her hands still trying to compose herself.

Thinking of the Grimoire, as instructed, it really did appear in her hands. Since she has the damage already, she thought of a movement, buff, or skill, wondering if the Grimoire had a skill like that.

Reading what Alice wanted, the Grimoire flipped towards the end of the book showing a skill that will allow her to sink into the shadows near her and appear in a shadow she can see a further distance out from. As if she already learned the skill, she sunk into the shadow of the target next to her as if she was below the ground. She could see little shadow orbs floating all over the place. Concentrating on one, she changed places with it instantly and rose from the shadow across the room from where she had been standing.

Taken back by the usefulness of this skill she put the Grimoire away to see if she could use it without having the book out. She instantly appeared in the place she started. "This is freaking amazing!! I'll be able to take on more monsters and kill them so much faster with this skill!' Alice thought with a victorious smile.