[Knight Grade Shadow Extracted] X1
[Elite Grade Shadows Extracted] X156
Jima rose as a shadow, his massive form darker and more ethereal than it had been in life. The Naga King's intelligence remained, along with his combat skills and magical abilities, but his will now belonged entirely to Lucien.
He bowed his serpentine body in submission before flowing back into his master's shadow along with the rest of the army.
Lucien dismissed the shadows, watching as they all dissolved into dark energy and returned to the dimensional space he carried with him. The beach was quiet now; the bodies of the fallen Nagas, who were not converted into shadows, were lying lifeless.
In the end, they were not chosen by the Young Monarch.
He pulled up his status screen to check the results of the dungeon clear.
[Level Up!] [Level Up!] [Level Up!] [Level Up!] [Level Up!] [Level Up!] [Level Up!] [Level Up!] [Level Up!] [Level Up!] [Level Up!] [Level Up!]
Twelve levels from a single dungeon run. That was impressive even by his recent standards. The B-rank dungeons really did provide substantially better experience than the C-rank dungeons he'd been farming.
[Shadows: 451/451]
Lucien reviewed the numbers with satisfaction. Today alone, including Jima, he had gained 157 new shadows.
His storage was now full at 451 out of 451 possible slots. Every single space was occupied by a shadow of at least Elite grade, with a solid core of Knight-grade commanders to lead them.
He could have gained more shadows from the C-rank and D-rank dungeons he'd been clearing over the past weeks, but he'd been selective about what he claimed.
Most of those lower-ranked creatures simply weren't strong enough to justify taking up valuable storage space. The B-rank dungeon monsters were all Elite-grade at minimum, which made them worth the slots.
Opening his full status screen, Lucien examined his overall progression.
Name: Lucien Reynolds
Title: The Monarch of Shadows [+2]
Job: Shadow Monarch
Level:121 Fatigue: 0
HP: 7500/7500 MP: 8100/8100
Strength: 328
Health: 321
Agility: 332
Perception: 225
Mana: 351
Stat Points: 60
Gold: 4,900,780
Passive Skills:[+]
Active Skills[+]
Job Skills[+]
He had progressed so far since the beginning.
When he'd first awakened in that research facility, trapped and powerless with a suppression collar around his neck, he'd been nothing more than a lab rat. His stats had been in the single digits, his body weak from months of captivity, his future looking bleak at best.
Now he was level 121 with an army of over four hundred shadows at his command. The contrast was almost laughable.
The twelve level-ups had granted him sixty stat points to allocate. He considered his options carefully, thinking about how he wanted to build his capabilities going forward.
Twenty points went into Mana. His magical capabilities and army maintenance both depended on having a deep MP pool, and with the exponential scaling he'd discovered, each point in Mana was worth significantly more than it appeared.
Twelve points went into Perception. That stat had been proving increasingly valuable as it grew, expanding his awareness to cover larger and larger areas. Being able to sense enemies from miles away provided an enormous tactical advantage.
Eighteen points went into Agility. Speed and reaction time were force multipliers in combat.
The final ten points went into Strength. Raw power was always useful, even if it wasn't his primary focus.
He confirmed the allocations and felt the familiar sensation of stats increasing, his body adapting to accommodate them.
Lucien studied his stat distribution thoughtfully.
His current build was like a Swiss Army knife - useful everywhere but perfect nowhere.
He didn't have a single dominant stat that defined his combat style. Instead, he had solid numbers across the board with a slight emphasis on Mana and Agility.
But he was going to continue building like this anyway. All of his stats together were what made him who he was. He was fast, he was strong, his mana was sufficient to maintain his army, and his shadows were currently at a good number.
Though from what he remembered from the original Solo Leveling story, Sung Jin-Woo's army had eventually numbered in the millions. Lucien was still far from reaching that level, but he was making steady progress.
He was a jack of all trades, which suited him fine. Though Mana had started to become his priority as his army grew larger and his magical abilities became more central to his combat style.
His eyes drifted to the Perception stat. All his other stats were approaching or exceeding 340, but Perception lagged behind at 237. Still, that was more than double what it had been just a few weeks ago, and the effects of the increase were dramatic.
He was starting to sense things that were multiple miles away. Not just vague presences anymore, but actual details about what he was sensing. The number of entities, their approximate power levels, whether they were moving or stationary, and even hints about their emotional states if they were close enough.
What was going to be the limit of this stat? Would it eventually let him sense across entire cities? Countries? Continents? The idea of being able to perceive threats anywhere on Earth was both fascinating and slightly unsettling.
He was curious to find out, but that would have to wait. He'd find the answer one day as he continued to invest more in this stat.
Lucien closed his status window and turned toward the exit from the dungeon. The portal back to Earth shimmered nearby, and he stepped through.
He found himself back in the hotel room exactly where he'd left it. The bed was still made, the curtains still drawn, everything exactly as it had been before he'd entered the dungeon.
He was about to head for the door and leave the hotel when a system notification suddenly appeared before him.
This one was different from the usual dungeon clear or level-up messages.
[Quest Unlocked!
The Monarch's Heart
Level Requirement: 120
You have been chosen by Ashborn— he, the first being who rose from the dead, the creation of an Itarim, the Monarch of the Shadows.
The one who rose to surpass his very own creator, slayed the kin of his creator, rose from his own multiverse as he travelled to many, and slayed countless beings.
His power sleeps within the abyss of your soul, waiting for you to awaken. Only by walking the path of death and dominion shall you inherit the throne of shadows.
- Complete the Five Monarch Trials. Each trial will reveal itself as your level increases.
Trial Progression:
Trial I: ??? – Unlocked at Lv. ???
Trial II: ??? – Unlocked at Lv. ???
Trial III: ??? – Unlocked at Lv. ???
Trial IV: ??? – Unlocked at Lv. ???
Trial V: ??? – Unlocked at Lv. ???
Rewards:
-Black Heart
-Job-related Skills ]
Lucien read the notification once, then again, his mind processing the implications of what he was seeing.
Black Heart.
That was the source of Sung Jin-Woo's mana in the original story, the core that worked alongside his human heart and granted him access to effectively unlimited magical power.
It was what had allowed the original Shadow Monarch to maintain an army of millions without exhausting himself.
But the information about Ashborn was different from what he remembered.
In the Solo Leveling story he'd read in his previous life, Ashborn had simply been a powerful being who had given his powers to Sung Jin-Woo.
There had been mentions of the Monarchs and Rulers, of a war between them, but nothing about Ashborn fighting against the Supreme Being's kin.
The Itarim.
That name hadn't appeared in the original web novel at all. It was from the continuation series, the one that had been announced but he'd never gotten to read before dying and waking up in this universe.
And Ashborn travelled to other multiverses?
That was entirely new information.
The original story had been contained within a single universe, with the Monarchs and Rulers fighting their war across dimensions but not across entirely separate multiverses.
Was that related to why he had found himself in the Marvel universe?
He didn't have the answers. The system was being frustratingly vague about the details, only providing hints and fragments of information.
But one thing was clear - he would only gain answers to these questions when he grew strong enough to complete the trials.
The system had locked the information behind level requirements and challenges, which meant he needed to keep progressing, keep getting stronger, keep pushing forward.
Lucien closed the system window with a thought. The quest would remain in his newly created quest log, waiting for him to reach whatever level was required for the first trial to appear. There was no point in dwelling on mysteries he couldn't solve yet.
He turned toward the hotel room's window, preparing to leave, when something caught his attention. Not something he saw, but something he heard.
A scream. A child's scream, high-pitched with terror and pain.
He locked onto the source immediately. Two blocks away, down at street level, in an alley between buildings.
The child's presence was weak, their life force flickering like a candle in the wind. Around them were three other presences - adults, their life signatures twisted in ways that suggested them having powers.
Lucien didn't hesitate.
In the next second, he was no longer in the room. The window stood open, curtains billowing inward as wind rushed through the space where he'd been standing just a moment before.
...
Want to read ahead of the public release? Support me on Patreon at "https://www.patreon.com/FreakyHaru" and get access to:
5 and 10 chapters of all my fanfictions.
Ongoing Projects:
Marvel: Shadow Monarch
ATG: Not a Cannon Fodder
DC/MARVEL: The Kryptonian Emperor
Your support helps me keep writing and brings you more content faster!
Thank You