Shadow Slave

Sunny stared at the runes for a while, then slightly tilted his head.

'A Shadow…'

What an unexpected boon.

Usually, a Legacy Relic came in the form of a Memory, or very rarely an Echo. Perhaps there were some other types of Relics out there, but he had never heard of them.

That didn't mean much, though. By now, Sunny was reasonably certain that there were a lot of things that he, as well as the rest of mundane humans, had never heard about. Awakened kept a lot of secrets.

Nevertheless, receiving a Shadow pleasantly surprised him.

Looking up, he saw new runes appearing out of thin air:

Shadows: [Marble Saint], [Soul Serpent].

Sunny hesitated for a few moments, then furtively looked around. The small room was empty and quiet.

Feeling a little bit stupid, Sunny shook his head and summoned his new Shadow to take a good look at it.

A slight breeze moved his hair, and in the next second…

Nothing happened.

'Huh?'

Sunny frowned and looked around the room, then scratched the back of his head.

'What the hell? Where is the damn snake?'

He had hoped to see a giant serpent made out of shadows appear in front of him, with black scales as thick as plate armor and a mouth wide enough to swallow his enemies whole. Or an average-sized snake, at least!

But there was nothing.

He even checked to see if a new shadow joined his two invaluable helpers, but no. Both rested on the floor, one seemingly content, the other bored and in a perpetually bad mood.

'Weird…'

to rub his eyes, but froze at the last

"What is that?"

something dark on the skin of his wrist, peaking

training suit provided to him by the staff of the hospital complex. Left naked to the waist, he then looked at himself through the eyes of

'...Huh?!'

image of a black serpent was tattooed, so detailed that it almost seemed alive. The serpent coiled around his arms and his torso, its tail resting just above his right

I have…

of the small room, the serpent almost seemed to move under his skin, two curved fangs threatening to break

serpent immediately. Both the nameless temple slave and his mother

the

his new Shadow turn into

body and soul, trying to

did notice a

it had circulated naturally, now, it seemed to follow the coils of the serpent, moving faster and with more intent, as if

that thing

then performed several movements of Shadow Dance. After that, he jumped

difference instantly. Not only was he able to control the essence better, but it also seemed

for it, existing both on the material and the spiritual plane. As such, it was connected both to his cores and to his body, creating a strange bridge that allowed Sunny to use his shadow

is… a very

already understood how important and vital managing essence was for the Awakened — any tool that

such a marvelous one, practically for

sure that the Serpent would only get more powerful in the future, provided he

how was he supposed to feed Memories to

Sunny thought for a bit, then finally

Shadow: [Soul Serpent].

Shadow Rank: Dormant.

Shadow Class: Monster.

[Shadow

was the last of the gods to be destroyed. Many have resented him for

detail of a connection between Shadow God and death, Sunny lowered

attention to when it came to Saint, was missing.

Sunny frowned.

think

it was a monster — Sunny was a monster himself, after all. So, maybe, the Serpent would not evolve its Class like Saint had, by consuming the

Rank, while Sunny had already become an