Ability

David thought of the Shadow Servant's abilities as described in the Sacrificial Manual. Looking at the Shadow Servant beside him, it didn't look like it could participate in combat in any way.

He stood up, and after a meal reminded by the smart butler Emma, he brought the Shadow Servant into the underground gym.

By now, the mess in the underground gym had been cleaned up by Emma; only the Sacrificial Manual remained on the floor, while all other debris had been discarded.

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

"The Shadow Servant is a divine attendant. The deity grants the sacrificer powerful assistance, possessing the strength of a titan, the speed of lightning, and the ability to fly!" David read the content softly, his confusion growing deeper.

"Shadow Servant, go pick up that barbell!" David pointed to a one-hundred-kilogram barbell on the floor and commanded.

The Shadow Servant drifted over, but its speed was not fast, which did not match the "lightning speed" described in the book.

The Shadow Servant reached the barbell and stretched its blurry arm toward it, but its arm passed right through the barbell, causing a ripple of vibration in its limb without moving the weight in the slightest.

"It can't even move a hundred kilograms, so where does this 'powerful strength' come from?" David grumbled, patting the manual in his hand as he muttered to himself.

Judging by the situation, the Shadow Servant had no combat capability at all. With that movement speed, that lack of strength, and the fact that it couldn't even leave his side by more than ten meters, how could it pose a threat to any enemy?

He looked at the equipment in the room; the barbell he had just used was the lightest one available. Any lighter equipment would be useless to him, so there wasn't any stored here.

"Shadow Servant, catch this book!" He looked at the manual in his hand and tossed it toward the Shadow Servant.

The Shadow Servant obediently reached out to grab the manual, but once again, its hand passed through the object, though this time David noticed a slight hesitation in the manual's movement.

It seemed the Shadow Servant wasn't completely devoid of strength; it was just that these items were too heavy.

He plucked a hair from his head and beckoned to the Shadow Servant, which flew over and stopped beside him.

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

This time, the hair was held by the Shadow Servant's hand without passing through.

David's guess was correct; now he just needed to determine the maximum weight the Shadow Servant could support.

After several experiments, he calculated that the maximum weight the Shadow Servant could hold in its hand was one hundred grams.

This result left David deeply disappointed. With a strength of only one hundred grams, even holding a poison needle would make it difficult to pierce an opponent's skin, let alone harm them.

However, he also discovered a strange phenomenon: 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 also vanished along with it.

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

David did not understand the principle behind this; it likely had to do with the deity, or perhaps it was a unique ability of the Shadow Servant.

Regardless, his Shadow Servant was completely different from the one described in the manual. The original Shadow Servant didn't have the ability to turn invisible, but his did; the original was supposed to possess powerful combat strength, but his did not.

Furthermore, the physical enhancement that was supposed to occur during the sacrificial process had not manifested on his body, though he didn't know if that was because his predecessor had died on the spot.

He knew for certain that his strength had not changed from before. Although he hadn't tested his speed, he could feel no difference in his movements.

Everything seemed to have returned to square one: the same physical condition as his predecessor. Although he had recovered his memories, his academic level was still insufficient to get into Na'an University, and the hope of becoming a cadet remained slim.

On top of all this, he had discovered an enemy who wanted him dead: the trainer Jeremy, an opponent far stronger than himself.

Now, the only things he had that his predecessor didn't were the memories of his past life and the Shadow Servant by his side. The memories of his past life were of no use to him in the Interstellar Federation.

In this world, technology had long since advanced beyond the planet and into the era of the great universe, far more advanced than his previous world.

Only the Shadow Servant was his hope. Thinking of this, David looked at the Shadow Servant, recalling the energy that had flowed from it that morning, which had allowed him to fully integrate his predecessor's memories. This meant the Shadow Servant must have other abilities he was unaware of.

He reached out to touch the Shadow Servant again, wanting to see if he would gain any further benefits.

This time, after he made contact, many strange patterns appeared on the Shadow Servant's semi-transparent body, flickering with blue light.

The glowing blue patterns turned into specks of light, left the Shadow Servant's body, and merged into David's.

This unknown change startled David, but he felt no abnormality in his body.

The only difference was that his already close connection with the Shadow Servant became even tighter; he could even look through the Shadow Servant's eyes to see his own body.

It was an extremely bizarre feeling. He now had two fields of vision: one from his human body and one from the Shadow Servant's perspective.

It was as if he possessed two bodies, a sensation that made him feel quite uncomfortable. He couldn't even control his own body's balance, and he couldn't perform even simple, everyday movements with agility.

He carefully controlled his body to sit down, while the Shadow Servant didn't mind, remaining suspended in the air without needing any control.

Once seated, David finally had the mental capacity to sense more. He discovered that there were several light orbs within the Shadow Servant's body.

Because the Shadow Servant's body felt like an extension of his own, he could clearly perceive the attributes of these orbs. Most were red, with only one being orange.

Among them, he saw five red orbs belonging to the Literature attribute—Literature being one of the mandatory subjects in school. He also saw four red orbs for Mathematics, two for General Sciences, two for Body Technique, and one for Heavy Axe Mastery. Most of the red orbs were related to academic studies.

Body Technique was a method of physical cultivation promoted among ordinary people in the Interstellar Federation, consisting of eighteen movements.

Since Body Technique had no side effects and required minimal resources—needing only sufficient nutrition to ensure its effectiveness—it had become the primary method of physical cultivation for the vast majority of people in the Interstellar Federation.

To obtain cultivation methods superior to Body Technique, one had to be part of a select few organizations, such as universities or the military.

Heavy Axe Mastery was one of the basic combat skills taught in school. Because the Interstellar Federation's main enemy was the Zerg, heavy weapons had become the preferred choice.

High schools taught students basic combat skills to lay a foundation for the cadet selection process. For students applying to become cadets, the level of mastery in basic combat skills was a significant bonus.

As for that single orange orb, it displayed the Sniper attribute.

David was very curious about the origin of these orbs, and at the same time, he was dissatisfied with the chaotic way they were displayed; they were far too disorganized.

As he pondered this, he saw the light orbs within the Shadow Servant undergo a change, with a set of text appearing at the top of each one.

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

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

General Studies (40% Novice), General Studies (29% Novice).

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

Heavy Axe Mastery (33% Novice).

Sniping (20% Proficient).

Only then did he understand: the red light orbs represented the Novice level, the orange ones represented the Proficient level, and the depth of the color indicated the degree of mastery within that same level.

He had only just acquired the Shadow Servant, and the only event it had experienced was the explosion at the bookstore. David judged that these orbs, which represented various abilities, must have been obtained from that location.

Judging by the attributes represented by these orbs, they were likely abilities absorbed from the people who had died at the scene of the explosion.

David recalled that at the moment of the blast, after he had been sent flying, he sensed the Shadow Servant lose control for a brief instant; it seemed that was when it had rushed out to absorb them.