Mike watched as the dark shapes came together into a form he didn’t understand, then shoot forward towards him. He jumped back in shock but the shape didn’t penetrate the door, instead, it seemed to envelop it.

Mike tried to use the sense he had gained to try and feel what was happening, he had been able to sense the shift in the mana when he cast the Light Orb and Minor Illusion spells, maybe he couldn't sense anything here. Was it because it had come from Ishare? or was it because he could only sense Light Magic with his current Skills? he supposed this was likely Dark mana, Darkness mana? Either way, all he couldn't sense anything from it.

As the spell finished he saw the mana vanish, the door looked like a shadow cast on space, he hesitantly stepped forward and reached out to touch the door. His finger moved right through.

“Hurry now, you don’t want to be standing in the same spot as the door when the spell ends,” Ishare urged from the other side of the door.

Heeding his advice Mike made a hurried few steps forward, passing through the door, it felt like nothing, if anything it felt like walking through an actual shadow, just a dimming of light and he was through. The moment he stepped out of it he felt something from behind him, he looked back and saw the spell end, the mana didn't return to its previous state. It simply vanished as if used up by the spell

“Good, now, I will need to touch you for this next spell, reach through the bars please,” Ishare said. Holding a hand palm up on the other side of the bars to receive his own.

“I’m curious why you haven’t escaped yourself? You certainly seem capable of it?” Mike asked as he hesitantly reached through the bars. If the Dark elf had wanted to hurt him he could have just left Mike in the room, no reason to be even more suspicious now. He didn't have much of a choice anyway his chances of him sneaking out of this place on his own was next to zero.

Ishare took his hand. “I cannot leave this cell, it is warded by Soul magic to not allow any part of my soul out and my soul is present in all of my body. Though I have certainly done just fine for myself while imprisoned, getting to examine your spirit friend was certainly enlightening and helping you escape will mess with their plans,” the dark elf responded, making a wolfish smile, accentuated by his unruly beard.

As he finished speaking the Dark mana began to emanate from his palm once again, gathering around their clenched hands and slowly coalescing before quickly running up Mike's arm and over the rest of his body, engulfing him as it had the door. It felt like walking into the shade after standing in the sun, though there was no sun and no shade, the darkness was translucent in the same way the white aura from his cell had. Though it seemed more, present? for some reason.

He felt the spell take effect, able to sense its direct effect on his body when he hadn't for what had happened to the door. The mana sunk into him and changed something about his appearance, removing something. He felt it removed his physical appearance in a way that would affect others looking at him, and replace it with the Dark mana.

He felt his arm tingle again and looked at it, he could still see himself and was not too surprised to see the lines of his tattoo having formed the shape of a bell with a '2' next to it in a small circle.

Well, he could save that for later. “What exactly did you do?” he asked Ishare.

“I have made you appear as a shadow. If someone looks at you they will only see a shadow on a surface depending on their perspective, the closer you are to them the bigger the shadow, the better lit the environment the better defined the shadow. So stick to the shade and away from those,” he said pointing to what looked like a torch beside Mike’s cell door, it had a head that greatly resembled the light orb that Mike had cast in his cell.

Mike nodded to Ishare in acknowledgement. He nodded back and made a gesture with his hand that Mike inexplicably understood, it meant good luck. He nodded to Ishare in thanks, he would need it.

Mike began to walk down the corridor to the left, keeping close to the wall that had held his cell door. He stepped lightly and stayed as alert as he could, afraid that even with the spell he would somehow draw attention to himself that would end with him back in his cell, or worse. He reached the end of the corridor after only a few minutes of walking, the corridor split into different directions with a lantern on the left.

Stopping he put his back against the right wall and looked around the corner. The hallway to the left continued onwards, doors lining the far wall, further apart than the cells were. Turning his head Mike looked down the right hall.

Mike froze, suppressing a scream of surprise and alarm that almost burst from his throat. This hall was significantly shorter and ended only about 5 metres long, but there was a door on the far wall and standing before it was an enormous creature.

It looked like a Jaguar, kind of, it was probably two metres tall at the shoulder. Its fur was gold, not yellow or orange, and the spots lining it looked like holes in his vision. It appeared to be asleep. Lying its head down on its front legs with its back legs splayed out to one side and it’s tail curled around it.

His mana sight showed a golden aura around it, not that he knew what that meant. He would bet on the fact that his goal was behind that door. No, this wasn’t a video game, as much as the AI wanted to make it seem like one. Who was he kidding, what he wanted was almost certainly behind that door, the jaguar creature was placed perfectly to guard both the cells and that room.

He looked back down the right hall at the doors lining it. Perhaps he could sneak down that way to find something that could distract it? Could he use Magic? The only magic that he had unlocked was Light magic, and he had only managed to make two spells with it, Minor Illusion and Light orb.

Minor Illusion might be useful, if the AI really was using it to make the windows then that meant it could make sound, but Mike had no idea how it could do that, he had worked out colour by feeling the AI cast the spell for the window, and had figured out how to create light through fumbling.

He could just speak, he was kinda invisible right now, but he didn’t want to bring attention to himself. Hell, casting anything right now probably required him to speak, or did it?

The window said he required aids, but it was just to help him focus, could he do it with just motions?

Mike took in a quavering breath he had an idea, it was a dumb one but it might work. He focused on his new sense, the help screen had said that Attunement was the stat that measured his ability to sense Mana, so was this that? He would call it his Attunement sense for now.

The space around him was still covered in that diffuse, glowing white mana, when he wasn't looking for it he seemed to just see past it. He used his new sense as he raised his pointer finger before his face sensing the mana as he tried to cast a spell similar to minor illusion, he pointed exaggeratedly at the ground right in front of the massive cat.

The mana coalesced again under his control as he converted it to colour, this time however he didn't form it into a static floating panel instead he wanted to make a beam come directly from his finger.

A red dot the size of his fingertip appeared in front of the Jaguar, Mike made a soft sound of exclamation.

The Jaguar's eyes opened in response. They panned across the room, passing right over him, circling until they settled on the little red dot on the floor before its feet. It's head raised from its paws and tilted in an oh so familiar manner.