Shadow Slave

Sunny stared at the runes, perplexed.

Then, a sudden light of understanding appeared in his eyes. He finally realized what was the principal difference between an Echo and a Shadow.

It was really very simple.

The Echoes were mere replicas of the creatures that had left them behind. They were molded in their image and never changed, always remaining the same as the originals at the moment of their deaths.

Shadows, however, were different. After all, they were mercurial by nature, always changing their forms and shapes depending on the environment. And so, a Shadow was capable of change to some extent, too.

It was capable of growth.

His eyes widened.

By slaying Nightmare Creatures, he was able to absorb their shadow fragments and become stronger. Eventually, his Shadow Core was bound to evolve, turning from Dormant to Awakened… and beyond. The jump in power that came with this evolution was nothing short of unmatched.

Granted, he wasn't sure about the particular details of this process, not to mention that, as a human, he could only become an Awakened after returning from the Dream Realm into the real world, which was impossible to do in this godforsaken place. He also didn't know what would happen if he actually managed to accumulate the thousand shadow fragments that the runes demanded.

of the Awakened, he would eventually outgrow his Memories and Echoes, rendering them weak and useless against the enemies of the comparable rank. He would then be forced to discard them and try to find suitable replacements, with no guarantee whatsoever that he would

Echoes, however, were exceedingly rare. Once an Echo grew too weak to

were capable of growing with him, becoming more powerful just as he grew more powerful! As long as Sunny was willing to put in the work, his

plans for the future. In the past, Sunny always envisioned himself as the main force on the battlefield, only relying

Echoes around, and a fair number of Awakened ones too.

anything even more dreadful, were never easy. As such, there were not enough trophies brought back after killing creatures of their kind to make the idea of acquiring an Echo of a higher

except for

diminishing chances, he could slowly build an army of powerful Shadows to fight his battles for him, and then watch them destroy his enemies

rich people drank,

raise their rank… at least not to Sunny's knowledge. To be honest, he had no idea how Nightmare Creatures

a possibility that he would be able to make the Shadow Saint much more powerful than

even powerful enough to make his life here truly

the Shadow with excited sparks dancing in

going to

shadow wasn't worried about its place in his heart yet, it would be smart to start worrying

***