Second Story Online: Aiming To Become The World's Number 1. Ideal Witch Chapter 12 - My Very Own Horned Owl (1)

h.e.l.lo everyone! I am back! Got busy with a lot of things and health issues, sorry. Here's your chapter!
12 – My Very Own Horned Owl (1)

… … …

I came back to the town of Dilord. The in-game and time in reality are coincident—currently at 9 AM.

The busy streets were crowded with people as I headed downtown; this should be the usual time to hunt, isn't it? I walked against the tide of players heading off to the plains. Since I've recently hunted, there was no need to follow; I made my way towards the open plaza, back where I first appeared in this world.

A number of new players greeted my line of sight. It was the same scene from when I started, where a person has just recently logged in and was surveying the new territory curiously. The place where the soldier stood was also packed.

I sat on a bench near the plaza and decided to organize the information from a while ago.

Finally, I can call forth my own familiar spirit! I should summon it for the time being. How should I call it as a witch? Aah, it was actually worth it—going inside the forest despite my initial hesitation.

"Come! My familiar spirit!" I got caught up in the moment and declared the statement in a loud voice.

In any case, no one can understand me anyway… A magic circle appears on the ground, with light s.h.i.+ning from it. Several seconds later, the meal burglar, [Twilight Owl], that I fought before, appeared.

Huh, has it shrunk in size? It seems to be smaller from its original ma.s.sive physique, but the appearance has remained identical. The wings are similar to a real horned owl, it was long enough to exceed the length of one's body. It soared around fluttering its wings. From where I sat, I could see that the feathers were colored gray with some hints of white and the beak yellowish.

Although I just summoned it awhile ago, the eyes which were open were slowly drooping. It arrived on the tip of my staff which I rested against the bench. Afterwards, the round body huddles for warmth and finally closes its eyes. It looks quite drowsy, isn't it?

"It must be because it's nocturnal."

A status screen for the familiar spirit appears before me. There was a skill called [Nocturnal]. It apparently doesn't like doing activities in the day.

"What should I give it for a name?"

Towards the top of the screen, there was an input field for the name. Presently, it was named after its biological cla.s.sification, but it can still be freely changed anytime. I didn't know what to name it. Uhm.. it was easy to decide for my character since I already had a name prepared beforehand.

"Well then, how about Neil?"

I tried to say the name I came up with. As if hearing it, the owl perched on the cane briefly fluttered its eyes open, looking at me. However, only after a short while, it yawned before shutting its eyes completely, falling back into slumber.

Since there doesn't to be any negative reaction, I'll just go with this. I inputted the name 'Neil' and clicked accept.

"Please take care of me in future, Neil."

As a reply, Neil nodded with its eyes closed. Ah, I see, doing things at one's comfort.

I should check out Neil's skills—listed were [Dark Sense] [Forest Sage] [Dark Mist] and [Nocturnal]. The last skill was the cause of Neil's former sleepiness; the status should be effective at daytime while consequently nonexistent at night time.

[Dark Mist] would have been the thick, black fog released while fighting with me, which gave the [Darkness] abnormality effect.

[Dark Sense] apparently raises the offensive power and tolerance against another summoner's dark magic. In other words, with such a skill on hand, my dark magic will become stronger. Hmm.. I should go hunting at night to test this effect.

Finally, [Forest Sage]—a phenomenon had occurred I summoned Neil; it seems like it was from this skill, I was able to see the information on other people or creatures. The information seen by Neil is transmitted to me, the summoner. When Neil opened its eyes from before, something like an HP bar appeared over momentarily over the people in the distance. Now I wasn't able to see anything because Neil has currently closed its eyes due to the skill [Nocturnal]. So it doesn't seem to be a skill I can utilize in the day.

After checking Neil's skills, I moved to mine. I'm already level 10 by the way. In addition, the number of skills under [Dark Magic] and [Wind Magic] has increased.

My [Summon: Familiar] has risen to level 3. I can't understand why it rose so much. Probably from contracting with Neil? I'm not too sure

The skill I couldn't grasp the most was [Command]; I didn't know how to raise its level. It's actually strange, I didn't remember using such a skill. Perhaps it was when I ordered Neil to become my familiar. Was that it? I guess the skill was rendered active when I give orders to a familiar spirit, consequently raising its level.

That leaves [Compounding] which was still stuck at level 1. Oh, this will go up, since I will be using it from now on.

And after the battle with Neil, I had obtained new skills. I will first confirm those; I opened the list for obtainable skills. The list which was empty was approximately added with 2 skills.

The two skills were [Moonlight] and [Upheaval]. A detailed explanation for the skill can be seen when selected.

[Moonlight] – Magic attack power is strengthened under the moonlight. Power is also influenced with the waxing and waning of moons. Gives a mild MP recovery effect and reinforces magic attack power.

[Upheaval] – Status improves when fighting against superior opponents.

Oh ho. First of all, [Moonlight] should be used in a place where the moon is visible to increase magic attack power. I probably earned this skill from constantly acting at night. After acquiring this, my [Dark Magic] should be more effective, which makes me more and more specialized for night battles.

For [Upheaval], it may have been caused by the fact that I've only been battling high level monsters up to now. Definitely. I was already challenging the gray rabbit leader at level 1, next was the night bat.. Besides, I also fought with Neil in the Twilight Forest which wasn't an area suitable for beginners.

It is possible to acquire said skills by consuming an SP each. I'm a bit worried about getting it as a language skill hasn't shown up yet—I wanted to acquire the language skill first. I'm sure I can get it in a while, so I'll just hold on to this skills until then. Priorities.