Harry was rather impacted by learning the fish ended "escaping".
"Damn it! That thing was so big we could have appeared on the news!" My brother felt slightly frustrated.
"Hahaha, there's a lot of monsters in these lakes and rivers. I've seen some TV Shows where they show catfishes the size of like five meters! They have to grab those between three fishermen." Laughed my father. "Maybe that one sneaked into the river by accident. Those things like to sleep in the river's deeps and only hunt small fish, they don't attack people."
"W-Well, what a relief!" I said with a smile. "So anyways, let's keep trying! Maybe we can fish something decent now."
"Right! Come on, don't get all sad." Mark said.
"Yeah, I guess." Harry sighed.
After that… incident, we had a more relaxed day. We fished a lot of fishes once things calmed down, and we enjoyed them grilled with the family. I also took a dip in the river, mostly leaving behind Charms imbued into the rivers floor so monsters wouldn't show up. These were "Monster Repellent" Charms, which generate a "disgusting" sensation to monsters when they get closer.
It feeds on the lingering mana of the surroundings, and also grow stronger by themselves. The Great Spirit said they were the ultimate Charms created by an Ancient Kingdom of Magicians to repel invasions of monsters from dungeons back in Arcadia.
The River Water was quite refreshing, and the little nervousness left behind by having fought that unwelcomed monster slowly faded away as I left those problems for later. Naturally, the meals I prepared were all lingering with delicious effects, keeping everyone healthy and refreshed after eating them.
I also prepared some special fish sandwiches using the meat of the catfish for Mark, Rita, and of course me. And I also feed some of the monster fish meat to Blackie, and he loved it, licking his whiskers after the big meal and asking for more. Despite having become a strong familiar, he's still quite the fat cat.
After what happened yesterday I've kept Blackie around me some more. It is nice he hunts Hollows on his own, but its better to stay with us and help us out fighting monsters. I had considered making more Familiars, but all other farm animals are too big for that.
We need something small and nimble, there are no cats in the house, dogs? Well, they're too big too, and nothing guarantees they would get shadow powers to easily travel and hide. Maybe something like a pet rat, or a hamster. Or maybe even a smart lizard, a snake… or even a spider or something, a small animal that can be controlled using Familiar Magic.
However, the Great Spirit said it would be too much of a burden to get more than one Familiar until I grew stronger, so she recommended me to let Mark and Rita get their own instead… so we'll probably go to a pet shop or something to get one.
Once we were back home, we decided to continue our plans.
"Tonight we'll use Blackie's abilities to hide in the shadows and leave Monster and Hollow-repelling Charms in the entire town if possible." I said. "In the way, we might have to hunt any Hollow we find as well."
"I see, I guess those Charms are really useful, they grow stronger by themselves?" Wondered Mark.
"Yep, they absorb the surrounding's mana, as I explained earlier." I nodded. "I've made a special paint using my blood, the blood of the Great Tusk, the blood of the Amphibious Catfish, and the Hollow's Mud to make it, alongside other herbs mixed in."
"Ugh, I am so jealous you got to fight a monster without me…" Rita got slightly angry. "I've gotta debut my powers someday!"
"Yeah, yeah, we'll do it tonight." I sighed. "Anyways, I've given you special Magic Paper I created, you just put it on the surface we'll add the charm and then put some of the Magic Pain on top with the paintbrush. And done!"
"Is the charm invisible to normal people?" Mark wondered curiously.
"Should be!" I nodded. "So anyways, let's get to it!"
"Alright, Hollows, wait for me!" Rita was pumped up for hunting more Hollows, mostly wanting to use her magic.
"A-Ah, right, before that, wait a bit." I said, taking out a custom shield I had created just half an hour ago.
"Wait, what's that big shield over there?" Wondered Rita.
"It is a custom magic shield! I made it using monster materials from this world and Arcadia." I smiled. "I made it mixing the big scales of the Amphibious Catfish, using the Great Tusk Fur and Bones, and also using Magic Crystals from Arcadia, coupled with Iron Ingots from there too!"
"Ingots?! How did you build that thing without a furnace then?" Rita was even more shocked.
"Hahaha, I used the very convenient [Synthesis] Spell that the Great Spirit imbued into my magic circle, and fused it with the [Pathway] power. Lady Gaia was nice enough to let me unify everything into this shield. However, I still have to "awaken" it." I said, taking out a D Rank Potential Cube and then imbuing it into this shield.
FLAAAASH!
And then I once more heard that mysterious voice…
[Potential Cube (D Rank)] has been utilized on [Roughly Made Monster Shield (No Rank)]!]
[The [Roughly Made Monster Shield (No Rank)] has evolved into a D Rank Magic Shield!]
[It has gained the Potential Abilities [RES +17% (D)] and [Elemental Shield (D)]!]
"Nice, it gained two great potential abilities! And its overall design changed, becoming even more prettier." I smiled, caressing my precious shield.
"What Potentials does it has?" Mark wondered. "It looks strong…"
"REST +17% and Elemental Shield! Should be good enough to resist monster attacks now, right?" I wondered.
"Yeah, it will be pretty useful…." Rita said. "You didn't made some for us, didn't you?"
"T-There weren't enough materials…" I sighed. "But we can share it!"
"Well, if we find any other non-Hollow monster, we can craft something out of them later." Mark said.
"Now let's go then!" I said. "Blackie, use [Shadow Mirage] on all three of us!"
"Meow!"
FLAAASH!
Hidden within the shadows, we quickly started exploring the town at night, it was awfully silent. However, I immediately sensed something strong within the center of the town, as we left behind Charms in the houses and streets…
