Chapter 2: Target Acquired
After King Sombra claimed residency inside my shadow, I decided to first calm my mind before jumping into this rabbit hole.
With a heavy sigh, I dropped down onto my couch and grabbed the half-empty beer bottle, finishing it off in one go. Not yet satisfied, I popped open a new one to find some solace in the cold drink.
It took a few minutes to deal with my Carlsberg six-pack, but the distraction helped in settling down my wildly beating heart.
Though unfortunately, I knew all too well that escaping reality won't help in my current predicament.
With a newfound resolve, I focused on the issue at hand. According to the game's description, I'm now a rookie Monster Trainer and King Sombra is my tamed monster.
The fact that he had indeed followed my order to use the [Shadowmeld] skill, and not to mention that I'm still alive, goes to show that I probably wasn't in any immediate danger.
Throwing a contemplative glance at my messy coffee table, I was suddenly struck with what seemed like a bright idea.
Gaining courage from the alcohol running through my veins, I reached out for an empty bottle and threw it up in the air.
"Fetch," I said boldly, the words coming out a bit slurred.
Faster than my eyes could follow, a single dark tendril extended from my shadow and snatched the bottle mid-flight. With the object secured, the tendril morphed into a clawed appendage and presented the empty bottle before my completely petrified form.
As the implications of what exactly just happened finally settled in, I couldn't help it when a shit-eating grin stretched across my face.
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After a few more experiments, I managed to roughly gauge the current strength of my monster. King Sombra's main ability seemed to be [Shadow Manipulation], with which he could freely shape and give substance to the shadows he controls in order to affect physical objects. At his current level, he is limited to manipulating two shadows within a 10-meter radius of his body.
The strength of his constructs is dependent on the Spirit stat and with his meager 10 points in Spirit, the shadows controlled by him were powerful enough to lift my fridge and gouge out a sizeable gash on one of the walls.
Now considering the fact that thanks to his [Shadow Form] skill, he can completely ignore all damage done by conventional weaponry... Makes me want to wonder, what sort of monstrosity will he turn into once he reaches his full potential at level 100.
For now though, he was still only a newborn monster and after a few minutes of such strenuous exercises, he simply stopped responding to my commands. According to the game description, he had run out of spiritual power.
Now, I could either use a Lesser Spirit Up card to help him recover immediately or let him rest in the comfort of my shadow to recuperate naturally.
Seeing as I already exploited him into a comatose state, I decided to give the fellow a few minutes of rest and chose the latter option. Meanwhile, I turned my attention back to the accursed phone.
After a round of the usual praise, the game guide led me into the game's store. It had a vast variety of items useful for Monsters and their Trainers alike, most of which I couldn't afford.
The in-game currency was called Credits and without a top-up option anywhere in sight, I was stuck with my initial amount of 100C. This could at most afford me some monster-specific snacks, which would be useless as my only monster, King Sombra, feeds exclusively on ambient spiritual energy.
Done with the shop, I tapped continue on the game guide and earned myself a new line of instructions, "Great! Now that you've established rapport with your tamed monster and stocked up on essentials, it is time to experience your first battle."
Next, I was led to tap on the map icon on the game menu, transferring me to a page with a 3D image of Earth. Judging by the Google logo at the bottom left corner of the screen, I could already tell where this was going.
Sure enough, just as the page finished loading, I received a request to give "MonsterAR" access to my location. Clicking accept, the picture of Earth zoomed in on Turk St, San Francisco.
As cheerful as always, the game guide requested that I click on the 'Radar' button. According to the description, it was a game feature to locate nearby wild monsters with a limit of 5 uses per day.
Curious, I decided to give it a try and with a tap, a green circle began to expand around my current location. Whenever it located a monster, a cartoonish monster picture would appear on the map.
It found three monsters in total before it stopped expanding at around a 1km radius.
Tapping on the one closest to me, loitering right around the corner of my apartment building, I received some basic information about the monster.
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Name: Impish Monkey
Status: Wild
Rating: Uncommon
Type: Beast
Attribute: Normal
Level: 3
A mischievous critter that is always up to no good. Loves to break precious objects, pull pranks, and sweet fruits.
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After I closed down the description, new instructions followed, "Well done! Now that you've found a worthy opponent, the time is right to engage it in battle. Note: Please hurry or the monster might escape the area."
With that said, the game 'helpfully' set up directions on the map for me to reach the monster's location.
Disregarding the rationality of battling flesh and blood monsters in the middle of the night, I carefully weighed my chances against the monkey. Although it was a whole 2 levels above my King Sombra, the fact that it was only an Uncommon rated monster should equal out the battlefield. Not to mention that my monster had Normal-type damage immunity as opposed to the Normal Attribute of the opponent.
Deciding that the odds were favorable for me, I put on my jacket and grabbed a face mask. Though just before leaving the apartment, I noticed my reflection in the corridor mirror.
Raven black hair and deep blue eyes, standings at one meter eighty with an athletic build. I could've been quite the looker. That is if I didn't currently look like a hobo.
The hair was in complete disarray and half my face was hidden behind an unkempt beard. Meanwhile, the whites of my eyes were mixed in red and contoured by heavy eye bags due to a messed up sleeping schedule and recent stress.
"This quarantine will kill me before any monster could," I said with a heavy sigh, resolving myself to call in a barber the first thing in the morning.
Throwing the issue of my appearance to the back of my mind, I closed up my apartment and called up an elevator.
The wait wasn't long and I soon got off on the ground floor.
Nodding as a greeting to Frank, an ex-boxer that I've especially hired to act as the doorman, I wordless left the building. Tenderloin was far from what you'd call a safe neighborhood in San Francisco. Though the fact that I'm partially at fault for the district's horrid reputation doesn't mean that I should compromise when it comes to my personal safety.
Leaving my house for the first time since the lockdown, I took a second to appreciate the invigorating night air.
Feeling refreshed, I was prepared to face whatever this strange yet familiar world had in store for me.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Sythcake
Sythcake Vote and review if you’re enjoying the story so far. The next chapter promises to contain a bit of action!)
P.S. Feel free to share with me if you have ideas for unique monsters for the story.)
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