From Player To Npc

At first, Shingi thought he just saw things, that this was just a black Eagle, but his eyes might get affected by the light somehow. But as time passed, nothing changed. There was still a normal size black feather chicken in front of him.

The chicken was asleep, and Shingi could see it breathing normally. His MANA SENSE detected that it had a Mana Pool of Air Element, as expected. However, he couldn't tell if it also had Spirit Mana.

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An unknown creature tries to create a bond with you. Do you accept?

YES / NO

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It seemed to feed it his Spirit Mana actually made a connection, and actually a bond through the System. Creating a Bond was pretty similar to what Tamers used to the creatures they tamed, but it had some extra benefits. But not every creature could be bonded with, and only a few among them even gave that option. But every one of those creatures was among the top of the power chain, or at least could reach that power.

Shingi, of course, accepted without thinking further about it, but he then fell to his knees.

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MP REACHED 0. INCAPACITATED CONDITION ACTIVATED FOR 2 HOURS.

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He knew little about how bonds worked since the ones lucky enough to have a bonded creature kept it a well-kept secret, but now he understood why all of them were mages. Unfortunately, the bond needed a massive amount of mana to complete itself, and even his massive Mana Pool seemed not to be enough. So he probably needed to feed it in doses until reaching the final amount.

An helped him drink a Mana Regeneration potion, which with his Minor Mana Regeneration had decreased the time his INCAPACITATED Condition would last at one hour instead.

Still, his MP was almost empty and would take some time to restore it at full. He didn't know how much mana he needed to use to finish the bond. He detected that the sleeping chicken was slowly drawing to itself Tower's Spirit Mana, meaning it was a race of who would end it first.

He could feel that the Bond wasn't complete and was too weak, almost nonexistent, meaning if he let the Tower feeding, it could miss his chance. But, of course, people outside the Tower wouldn't have that problem since the Spirit Mana out there was more limited.

With his current rate regenerating MP, he couldn't possibly make it, but then he had an idea.

"Syra, fight me." [Shingi]

"Why? Did you hit your head or using that much energy had messed with your head?" [Syra]

"Just do it. You don't need to get serious." [Shingi]

She seemed skeptical, but she trusted Shingi, formed a water ball, and threw it towards him. After he avoided it, he felt a familiar sensation; an aura got activated from his Angel's Boon since An was nearby.

But it was an SP Regeneration aura, which wasn't what he aimed for. During their fights, he felt all three of the auras while fighting nearby An, but the one restoring MP was the one that appeared the least. But it was possible, so he told Syra to stop the combat.

He ended his recruitment as he told Hineko to attack him. The aura wouldn't enable if he was finding someone he had recruited him or if he was at the same party as the one who recruited him. Also, if he stopped fighting someone and started fighting again within the hour, the aura would always be the same, so he had to have a different target.

Hineko also enabled the SP Regeneration aura, so he moved to Wild Tycoon, enabling the HP Regeneration aura. Mizuneko followed, who also enabled the SP Regeneration aura, and finally, it came Little Phoenix's turn, which gave him the MP Regeneration aura.

After making sure that he had the right aura, as the System didn't tell him, but he had to tell by feeling, he enabled the active effect of Angel's Boon.

And so, his MP was full once again.

He went over the chicken once more and started pouring his Mana on it once more. He used only Spirit Mana, as this time it rejected Air Mana completely.

He was pouring his man at a slow rate to notice the differences, and as time passed, he became faster at it. Finally, his MP reached half-point, and he still didn't seem to have reached the amount needed. He had consumed another MP Regeneration potion, as the effects of the previous one were over, but since he consumed one so fast, his effects got weakened a bit.

Since he wasn't in combat, his MP Regeneration aura was over, but it would be deactivated either way since he used the active ability of the Boon.

He was close to reaching his MP at 0 once more until he saw the still sleeping chicken moving.

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CONGRATULATIONS ON COMPLETING THE BOND.

BOND RATE: 65%

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He had used almost all his Mana twice on the egg and the chicken to finish the bond, and his rate was lower than one would expect. If he hadn't used his Angel's Boon or didn't have the Minor Mana Regeneration or their MP Regeneration or even his massive Mana Pool, he probably would have less than 50%, which would be as good as failing.

Still, the Tower having that big Bond Rate wouldn't be good news, but at least he had the majority.

The chicken stood up and looked towards Shingi with eyes like a puppy seeing its owner returning home.

"Oh, it is so cute. Are you going to give it a name?" [Little Phoenix]

Shingi wasn't good with names, especially for animals. He had named Volig and An, but they had to do with people they were related to, and his choice wasn't the best.

"Well, I guess first we need to know if it is male or female before picking a name." [Shingi]

It looked like a chicken and not a rooster, but there were some differences from a normal chicken. For example, its peak and toenails seemed sharper and longer, as also seemed to be a bit less round, and its wings being longer by a little.

Shingi normally wouldn't like to try finding its gender, as he would need to examine its body while still alive, which was quite weird even for him. But since he was bonded with it, he could check its status.

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STATUS

Name: Unnamed

Class: None

Race: Male ???????? ???????

HP: ???/???

SP: ???/???

MP: ???/???

STR: ??

AGI: ??

END: ??

INT: ??

Mana Pool: Air and Spirit Element

PASSIVE SKILLS

?????? ?????, Minor Mana Regeneration (Inherited), Mana Detection (Inherited)

SKILLS

None

SPELLS

None

Blessings: Blessing of Nyhm (Inherited)

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Shingi was surprised at how little info he could actually see. But those '?' weren't random ones, especially in the stats. The number of '?' meant that there was an actual number being hidden. So its HP, MP, and SP were over 99 and under 1000. Those numbers were incredible, especially considering the fact that it had no Class.

But that didn't mean that its current power was great as it still wouldn't know how to use it. Normally it would take months, or maybe weeks, if it was on its own, but with Shingi on his side would be a lot faster.

"So it is a he. I am open to suggestions for names, but first, let's make sure the place is as abandoned as it looks. Could use some rest." [Shingi]

Looking around, they didn't find any signs suggesting anyone being around recently but noticed that at the huge nest, there were pieces of eggshells and some gooey substances similar to the ones that there were on some of the broken eggs they met. So it seemed they found where the missing unborn eagle babies went and their missing shells but still didn't know what use they served.

'Could it be that they also got consumed by the egg?' [Shingi]

It wasn't abnormal for monsters eating their kind to get stronger, but doing something like that for an egg sounded absurd. Maybe it was a part of the ritual to create the egg. But then, where is the one who made the ritual?

They actually found a nearby cave that had no track of being used recently and rested there. They didn't use the repellents this time, as their power could draw unwanted attention.

The chicken kept following Shingi, and at first, it had some problem walking, but with some help from Little Phoenix, who seemed to be captured by its cuteness, it adjusted quickly enough to move by itself.

They made a campfire, but instead of an actual fire, they used a Fire Mana Gem to heat some water as they made something to eat.

In the meantime, Shingi tried to see what the new member of their team could do. Unfortunately, it had no Skills or Spells, but he probably could teach him a few. As for its class, he didn't know how to help it, as monsters earned their classes differently than how NPCs did.

He started teaching it MANA SENSE and MANA MANIPULATION since it had mana of its own. This reminded him of when he first started training with Annoue, who was in a similar situation. Both of them even had the Air Element, but of course, Annoue couldn't use Spirt Mana.

It learned both skills in less than half an hour and actually reached them in Master Rank at that time. Its speed was more than incredible; it was inhuman.

Then he started seeing teaching it his few Air and Spirit-based spells he knew, except his Spirit Slah, as in would be difficult to cast this without a weapon and wanted to keep it for himself, even if nobody else could use it either way.

He also discussed with the others and decided on a name for it after noticing it blend perfectly in the darkness because of its natural color.

The name they gave it was Dark Shadow.