The oak forest loomed like a cathedral it's ancient trees towering everything as the sun passes above, casting long, jagged shadows across the damp earth.

Nier's hand throbbed, in pain due to Silence and his conversation.

But nevertheless he spoke up, asking Silence the following question.

"Silence?"

He said, his voice low at the moment, but was filled with exhaustion and frustration.

"How much Negativity do I have left? I started with 13,252, but I've burned through a ton...5,500 for Black Scorch, 6,000 for Collective Existence, 300 for the Rhino form, 150 for the Muscular form, 1 for the Eagle form, 180 for the dragon lungs, and at least three casts of Black Scorch at 80 each. I am betting I am down past 80% already."

The veins in his hand writhed, glowing faintly as Silence's response formed in sharp, incomprehensible letters across his skin.

"Calculating… Expenditures: Calculation Complete... please take notice that 5,500 Units of Negative Energy was spent for Black Scorch 6,000 for Collective Existence 300 for your new Rhino form 150 for Muscular form, 1 for your Eagle form 180 for Dragon lungs 240 for three uses of Black Scorch. Total spent is: 12,371 Units of Negativity Entergy leaving a remaining total of 881 Units of Negativity. You have sufficient points to cast Collective Existence on a single target, requiring 500 points, but your reserves are critically depleted. This battle has drained you significantly."

Nier let out a heavy sigh after hearing this, dragging a hand across his sweat-dampened brow.

"Figures... So much for a magic System for the time being."

He muttered, his voice louder than a whisper.

Still he was little annoyed and frustrated.

The thought of absorbing more Negativity sent a shiver down his spine. Each unit was a shard of someone else's agony, pain, fear, despair, and memories that clawed at his mind like ravenous ghosts.

The stronger the source, the worse it felt, like drowning in a sea of mental and phsycial pain.

And since his reserve was already low, he would have to hunt soon for more to replenish his reserves, but the prospect twisted his gut. For now, though, the skinwalker demanded his focus. The most update n0vels are published on novel(ꜰ)ire.net

"Sigh it is what it is, can't change what's already happened, so let's finish this already."

Nier said, his tone resolute as he glared down at the writhing mass at his feet. The creature's tentacles twitched feebly, its glowing veins pulsing with raw fear. Nier extended his hand forward, his red eyes igniting with a faint, otherworldly glow, that got brighter and brighter by the second as he began to cast the Collective Existence spell.

The air crackled, charged with dark energy, and a sinister magic looking magic circle bloomed beneath the skinwalker.

Its intricate runes similar to the ones that was on the altar pulsed with a blood-red light.

And the moment Nier cast it, the creature, its will shattered and its intelligence reduced to that of a feral beast, offered no resistance. The spell took hold seamlessly, draining 500 Negativity Points from Nier's dwindling reserves.

A strange sensation flooded through him, and soon a spiritual thread was born, weaving through his eldritch soul.

A metaphysical link formed in that moment as Nier looked at blood-red string, shimmering and taut, connecting a lock of maroon hair to the string that is then connected to a glowing crimson spot in the skinwalker's amorphous head, or the closest equivalent to a brain it has.

The connection hummed with power, binding the creature to his will. Nier focused on it, and with a single thought, his consciousness shifted.

The world dissolved around him, the forest fading into an endless void of pure darkness. No light existed here, yet Nier's vision was unnaturally clear. Towering bookshelves stretched high in this endless mind space, their wooden frames ancient and weathered, their shelves empty.

The connection to the skinwalker thrummed stronger in this mental plane, a pulse that guided him to a single book resting alone on a nearby shelf.

Its cover was pitch black, and rough like old skin, with the word Skinwalker written in blood red at the epicenter of it. He reached for it, the book heavy in his hands.

It was basically no different from an encyclopedia.

Opening it, Nier found a sparse narration of the skinwalker's final moments, a desperate tale of survival and fear.

It described shedding its frog form in a futile attempt to escape, only to be crushed beneath a man's boot, overwhelmed by strange, terrifying powers.

That man was Nier, and the creature's terror was palpable, woven into every word. As he read, the pages seemed to pulse under his touch, pliable and eager to bend to his will.

With grim determination, he began to rewrite the skinwalker's memories as the mind the control the bodies behavior.

He erased its lingering instincts, reducing its intelligence to a hollow shell, barely above zero. He stripped away its survival drive, its cunning, its capacity for rebellion.

And in its place, he inscribed a new reality, the skinwalker was now his pet, a docile puppet bound to obey his every command, incapable of betrayal or independent thought. It was a living doll, existing only to serve.

Satisfied, Nier closed the book, its pages glowing faintly as his changes took root. He placed it back on the shelf, the wood creaking under its weight. With a thought, he willed himself out of the empty library, as his consciousness snapped back to the real world.

Time had moved in sync, only seconds had passed. He stood once more in the oak forest, the skinwalker still motionless beneath his boot, its tentacles limp, its glowing veins dim.

He lifted his foot and stepped back a few meters, his red eyes narrowing as he tested the spell's power of change.

'Alright let's see if this work, come here boy.'

He commanded mentally, his voice echoing in the creature's rewritten mind.

The skinwalker obeyed instantly. Its amorphous form slithered forward, tentacles dragging across the dirt with a soft, squelching sound. It stopped precisely at Nier's side, its chattering teeth silent, its glowing veins pulsing faintly with, all in all it was behaving submissively to Nier.

Seeing this Nier nodded his head with a satisfied smirk as he said.

"Good boy."