Episode 4: Shadow (1)

With the black fox's wide eyes looking straight into Shinto's, silence began to protrude out in the air. The fox wagged his tail in anticipation of an answer to his question. But, little did he know that Shinto was taken aback by the appearance of the small animal in front of him.

"A-a fox...?" Bewildered by the sight, Shinto's gaze averted over to the last few notifications that he had received.

[ A shadow has heeded your call. ]

[ The Shadow of the Fox has successfully been summoned. ]

[ Contents of the skill: (Shadow Calling) has been updated! ]

"The Shadow of the Fox... So this is the Shadow Minion I've summoned?" Shinto pondered to himself as he observed the small fox in front of him. The colour of his fur from his head, the end of his fluffy tail and his paws were black, while his chest, his body and the rest of his fluffy tail were grey. It was a cute sight. "Huh... Never would I have thought that it'd be a fox..."

"Shadow Diviner..." The fox continued to wag his tail, impatiently waiting for Shinto to answer his question. "You're the Shadow Diviner, right?"

Although still observing the summon, Shinto placed his thoughts aside as he didn't want to leave the fox hanging. Nodding his head, he spoke out his words. "Yes. I am the Shadow Diviner."

"Ah!" With the long-awaited answer, the fox's expression began to be filled with excitement. In the next moment, he leapt into Shinto's arms in joy, catching him off guard. "Finally! I've been waiting for so long!"

"...!!" Surprised by the sudden pounce toward him, Shinto staggered back slightly. Although the fox's appearance was small, he still packed a punch. But, not even a second later, did the fox jump off his arms.

"Oh... Oops! Where are my manners?" The fox coughed as he suddenly sat down on the ground in front of Shinto, seemingly calming himself down. "Ahem! Shadow Diviner! It's a pleasure to meet you! I am Kon, the Shadow of the Fox from the Shades race! Now then, what will be our first order of business?!"

"...ah?" Shinto was stumped at the sudden question. He wasn't expecting that after Kon introduced himself, he would go straight to asking about today's agenda. "Err... Well, first of all, can I ask you a few questions?"

"Of course! Anything for the Shadow Diviner!" Kon wagged his tail in excitement.

Shinto had hoped that the mysteries surrounding his class would be answered by Kon. Thus, he wasted no time as he asked the main question that he was most curious about.

"...what do you know about the 'Shadow Diviner'?" Shinto asked. This was the main thing he wanted to know. After all, he knew nothing at all about the origins of his class. All he knew was that this class was related to (Altric). 

"...huh? You're asking me what I know about the Shadow Diviner?" Kon blinked in confusion at the question. "Um... Is this a test?" However, though Shinto thought that Kon would have known that he'd ask this question, to his surprise, he seemed rather confused. "Ah... Well, I know that you're responsible for bringing about a balance between two opposing sides! Which is why you called for me, right? There's a great evil we must defeat!"

"Err... Is that all you know?" Shinto tilted his head.

"Mhm!" With a nod of his head, Kon's eyes brightened. "So, did I pass the test, Shadow Diviner? Am I worthy to serve you?"

"...um, is that really all you know?" Shinto raised his brow in confusion. "There's really nothing else?"

"Yep! That's all I know!" Kon nodded his head again. "I didn't fail... Did I? Please tell me that I didn't! I don't want to go back there disappointing them that I failed to serve you..."

"Go back to where exactly?" he questioned.

"My home, of course!"

"...and where's that?"

"It's in the Shadow Realm! The Shades Race live there. Don't you know?" 

"Um... The Shades Race?"

"It's my race!"

"...I can see that," Shinto uttered with a sigh. It seemed that he could only go so far as to question the small fox in front of him. At the very least, he had gotten some information out of Kon. "Alright then. Last question. What is this 'Shadow Realm', and where is that place?"

"Oh, that's a simple question! The Shadow Realm is the Shadow Diviner's subspace! It exists wherever you exist. We of the remaining survivors of the Shades Race live there. After all, you gave us a home to come back to within your subspace. We are very thankful for that!"

"...the Shadow Realm is the Shadow Diviner's subspace?" he thought to himself. "How do I get there?"

"Hmm?" he tilted his head in slight confusion at Shinto's words. "Well... From what I heard from my brother and sister... You have a power that allows you to enter and leave as you please, right?" he answered. "It's the same power that allows you to call us!"

"Right..." Shinto muttered to himself as he attempted to compile in his head the information that he received. Though he had many more questions to ask, he didn't want to ask them now as vague answers would only confuse him further. "Then... That would be it. Thank you for answering."

"Phew, the test is over!" Kon cheered. "So, uh... Did I pass? Please tell me I passed!"

"Ahem. Well, you see..."  It appeared that Kon was gravely mistaken about this entire conversation. It seemed that he assumed that Shinto was at full power, or rather, it appeared that Kon was thinking about someone else entirely. "I don't even know whether what you said was even true or not."

"Eh?" Kon blankly stared at Shinto. "What do you mean? Ah! Do you have amnesia?! Oh no! This is bad! What do we do?!"

"Wait, hold on! You're mistaken. You're gravely mistaken." In an attempt to calm Kon down, he hurriedly corrected him. "I don't have amnesia. But, here's the thing. In the first place, I don't know what this whole 'Shadow Diviner' thing is about. I was hoping you'd tell me, but... It seems that this is as far as you know?"

"...huh? You don't know much about the Shadow Diviner?" he uttered in worry. "Hey, isn't that amnesia?!"

"No. I don't have amnesia," he reasoned. "I just know next to nothing about this whole Shadow Diviner business as I was given these abilities without prior context."

Shinto hadn't expected this to happen. From the get-go, as soon as his class was changed, besides the few notifications regarding his new skills, there wasn't anything else that explained what the Shadow Diviner was about. He had hoped for a class quest much like what other hidden classes had received, but, to his disappointment, not a single quest appeared even after reaching level seven, or when the Shadow Calling skill spammed his notifications madly.

Thus, he relied on getting information from the Shadow Minion. Unfortunately, Kon's answers were mostly vague. So, he was basically left clueless once again.

"Huh?" Kon blinked, as suddenly, a sudden realization came to him. "A-Ah... Right... My brother did inform me of your situation in preparation for my summon... Ahh! I'm such an idiot for forgetting such a fact!" he cried out. "Please forgive me, Shadow Diviner! I'm so useless!"

"It's fine..." Shinto calmly said. "Since this 'brother' of yours knows more about the Shadow Diviner, would it be possible for me to call him?"

"N-No..." Kon shook his head. "My brother told me that for now, with your abilities, you're only able to summon me for the time being after the first shadow calling," he sulked at the explanation. "He and my sister are unavailable since they are handling some matters... So, I was the only choice left. I'm terribly sorry that you're stuck with me!"

"...I see," Shinto calmly nodded his head. "Then, did your brother say anything else to inform me? Like, what I'm supposed to do, or about the origins of this class?"

"He did explain some things. But I was so excited about finally being summoned that it kind of slipped my mind..." Kon helplessly sighed. "I'm sorry for failing you..."

"Hah..." he sighed. "I'm guessing that since both your brother and sister are busy, even if you go back to the Shadow Realm, you wouldn't be able to get any information from them, right?"

"Y-Yeah..." he continued to sulk. "But, I wouldn't necessarily go back to the Shadow Realm even after you release me from the skill. Instead, I would go back to my original spot before I was summoned. It's the same case for all the other shadows!"

"Hmm, if that's so, then it can't be helped." Shinto shook his head helplessly. "Just to be sure, since you say that I'm only able to summon you for the time being, does it mean that I can summon others when my power grows further?"

"Yep! I think..." Kon answered in unsureness. "For the time being... You can only summon me."

"Alright then..." he sighed. "It looks like I've got to level up this skill in order to learn more about this class."

"I'm so sorry about all of this, Shadow Diviner!" Kon didn't dare face Shinto. He wanted to bury himself in the ground in shame. "If only I had listened to my brother... But, excitement took the best of me..."

'It's alright. What's done is done. I can't do much about that," he smiled. "Also, you can stop calling me Shadow Diviner, you know? You can just call me by my name, Shinto."

"Ah... Well... I'm not worthy enough to call you by your name..." Kon meekly said.

"...if that's so, then, what would you prefer calling me?"

"Is Shadow Diviner not good enough?"

"No," Shinto shook his head. "It's too much of a mouthful."

"Then... Do you have a suggestion?" Kon asked.

"Err..." Shinto was yet again stumped at his question. He didn't know what Kon should call him. Informalities would be considered rude, and formalities would be too much. He needed a line in between the two. "H-How about 'Master' then...?"

At the awkward words spoken out by Shinto, he felt like covering his face in embarrassment. After all, asking someone to personally call him master was rather too much for him. However, with the situation as is, it couldn't be helped.

"Oh!" Kon's eyes brightened up once again. "Master is fine!"