Ability

David thought of the Shadow Servant's abilities as described in the Sacrificial Manual. He looked at the Shadow Servant beside him, but no matter how he viewed it, it didn't seem capable of fighting.

He stood up and, after Smart Butler Emma reminded him to eat, finished his meal and took the Shadow Servant to the Underground Gym.

The mess in the Underground Gym had long since been cleaned up by Smart Butler Emma. Only the Sacrificial Manual remained on the floor; all the other shattered debris had been thrown away.

He picked up the Sacrificial Manual and found the passage describing the Shadow Servant.

"The Shadow Servant is a divine attendant. The gods grant the sacrificer powerful aid. It possesses the strength of a giant, the speed of lightning, and the ability to fly!" David read the passage softly, his doubts only growing.

"Shadow Servant, pick up that barbell!" David ordered, pointing to the hundred-kilogram barbell on the floor nearby.

The Shadow Servant drifted over, but it wasn't moving quickly. Its speed didn't match the incredible swiftness described in the book.

The Shadow Servant reached the barbell and stretched out a blurry arm to grab it. Its arm passed right through the barbell, trembling as it did, but the barbell didn't move at all.

"You can't even move a hundred kilograms. Where's this so-called immense strength?" David muttered in frustration, tapping the Sacrificial Manual in his hand.

From what he'd just seen, the Shadow Servant had no combat ability at all. With its speed and strength—and the fact that it couldn't move more than ten meters away from him—how was it supposed to threaten an enemy?

He looked at the equipment in the room. The barbell he'd just tested was the lightest one there. Lighter fitness equipment wouldn't be of any use to him, so there wasn't any here.

"Shadow Servant, catch this book!" He glanced at the Sacrificial Manual in his hand, then tossed it toward the Shadow Servant.

The Shadow Servant obediently reached out to catch the Sacrificial Manual, but it passed through its hand again. This time, though, David noticed that the book had slowed down for a moment.

It seemed the Shadow Servant wasn't completely without strength. The things he'd tested were simply too heavy.

He plucked a hair from his head and beckoned to the Shadow Servant. It floated over and stopped beside him.

He handed the hair to the Shadow Servant, which took it.

This time, the hair remained in its grasp instead of passing through its hand.

David's guess had been right. Now he needed to find out how much weight the Shadow Servant could support at most.

After several tests, he determined that the Shadow Servant could hold a maximum of one hundred grams.

The result was a huge disappointment. Even if it held a poisoned needle, one hundred grams of force would hardly be enough to pierce an opponent's skin, let alone hurt them.

However, he also noticed something strange. When he placed a needle in the Shadow Servant's hand and it turned invisible, the part of the needle held by the Shadow Servant disappeared along with it.

He had the Shadow Servant cover the entire needle with its hand, and the needle vanished into thin air.

David didn't understand how it worked. It probably had something to do with the gods, or perhaps it was a unique ability of the Shadow Servant.

In any case, his Shadow Servant was completely different from the one described in the Sacrificial Manual. The Shadow Servant described in the book couldn't turn invisible, but his could. The one in the book was supposed to have great combat strength, but his didn't.

The enhancement that was supposed to occur during the sacrifice hadn't affected his body, either. He just didn't know if that was because his predecessor had died on the spot.

He could tell for certain that his strength hadn't changed. He hadn't tested his speed, but he could feel that his movements were no different.

It seemed everything had returned to square one. His body was in the same condition as his predecessor's. He'd recovered his memories, but his education was still insufficient to get him into Na'an University, and his hopes of being accepted as an Armored Warrior there remained slim.

On top of that, he'd discovered an enemy who wanted to kill him: Trainer Jeremy, an opponent far stronger than he was.

Now, all he had that his predecessor hadn't were his memories from his previous life and the Shadow Servant at his side. But those past-life memories were of little use to him in the Interstellar Federation.

Technology in this world had long since advanced beyond the planet and ushered in the Great Universe Era. It was far more advanced than the world of his previous life.

The only hope he had was the Shadow Servant beside him. As David looked at it, he recalled the energy that had flowed from it that morning, allowing him to fully absorb his predecessor's memories. That meant the Shadow Servant must have other abilities he didn't know about.

He reached out and touched the Shadow Servant again, wanting to see if he would gain anything else.

As soon as he touched it, strange patterns appeared on the Shadow Servant's translucent body, glowing blue.

The glowing patterns broke into tiny specks of light, left the Shadow Servant's translucent body, and sank into David.

The unexplained change startled David, but he didn't feel anything unusual in his body.

The only difference was that his already close connection to the Shadow Servant had grown even stronger. He could even see his own body through the Shadow Servant's eyes.

It was an incredibly strange feeling. He had two separate fields of vision, one from his human body and one from the Shadow Servant's perspective.

It was as if he had two bodies. The sensation made him extremely uncomfortable. He could barely keep his own body balanced, and even ordinary movements felt clumsy.

He carefully controlled his body as he sat down. The Shadow Servant, on the other hand, didn't need any attention. It hovered motionlessly in the air.

Once David was seated, he finally had the focus to sense more. He discovered several glowing orbs inside the Shadow Servant's body.

Since the Shadow Servant's body felt like his own, he could clearly sense the properties of these orbs. Most were red, and only one was orange.

He saw five red orbs with the Literature attribute. Literature was one of the subjects students had to take exams in. He also saw four red orbs belonging to Mathematics, two belonging to Comprehensive Studies, two belonging to Body Technique, and one belonging to Heavy Axe Mastery. Most of the red orbs were related to academic subjects.

Body Technique was a training method promoted by the Interstellar Federation among ordinary people. It consisted of eighteen movements.

Body Technique had no side effects and required very few resources. As long as a person received enough nutrition, it could produce results, which made it the most common method of physical training for people in the Interstellar Federation.

The only organizations with the means to provide training methods that surpassed Body Technique were a handful of universities, military forces, and similar groups.

Heavy Axe Mastery was one of the basic combat techniques taught in schools. Since the Zerg were the Interstellar Federation's main enemy, heavy weapons had become the preferred choice.

High schools taught students basic combat techniques to prepare them for the Armored Warrior selection process. A student's proficiency in basic combat techniques was a major advantage when applying to become an Armored Warrior.

The one remaining orange orb displayed the Sniping attribute.

David was curious about where the orbs had come from. At the same time, he wasn't satisfied with the Shadow Servant's cluttered display. The orbs were all jumbled together.

As he thought about it, the orbs inside the Shadow Servant changed. A line of text appeared above each one.

Literature (35% Beginner), Literature (28% Beginner), Literature (44% Beginner), Literature (19% Beginner), Literature (66% Beginner).

Mathematics (12% Beginner), Mathematics (18% Beginner), Mathematics (22% Beginner), Mathematics (99% Beginner).

Comprehensive Studies (40% Beginner), Comprehensive Studies (29% Beginner).

Body Technique (70% Beginner), Body Technique (20% Beginner).

Heavy Axe Mastery (33% Beginner).

Sniping (20% Proficient).

Only then did he understand. Red orbs represented the beginner level, orange represented proficiency, and the depth of each color showed the degree of mastery within that level.

He had only just obtained the Shadow Servant, and the only event it had experienced was the blast in the bookstore. David concluded that the ability orbs must have come from the bookstore.

Judging by the attributes represented by the orbs, they must have been abilities absorbed from the people who died at the site of the explosion.

David recalled that at the instant of the explosion, after he'd been thrown away, he'd sensed the Shadow Servant briefly slipping out of his control. It seemed that was when it had rushed out and absorbed the abilities.