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…'

rub his eyes, but froze at the last

"What is that?"

skin of his wrist, peaking out

suit provided to him by the staff of the hospital complex. Left naked to the waist, he then looked

'...Huh?!'

intricate image of a black serpent was tattooed, so detailed that it almost seemed alive. The serpent coiled around

have… a

darkness of the small room, the serpent almost seemed to move under his skin, two curved fangs threatening to break its surface. It was

and his mother had a very

was the Shadow God's

his new Shadow turn into

his body and soul, trying to feel if something

soon, he did notice

his body had changed. If previously it had circulated naturally, now, it seemed to

that thing enhance my shadow essence

poured essence into his limbs and then performed several movements of Shadow Dance. After that, he jumped

felt the difference instantly. Not only was he able to control the essence better, but it also seemed to be consumed at a slightly slower pace, and restore at a faster

such, it was connected both to his cores and to his body, creating a strange bridge that allowed Sunny to use his shadow essence with

a very useful

managing essence was for the Awakened — any tool that could enhance

got such a marvelous one,

more powerful in the future, provided he kept it well-fed, of

how was he supposed to feed

Sunny thought for a bit, then finally concentrated

Shadow: [Soul Serpent].

Shadow Rank: Dormant.

Shadow Class: Monster.

[Shadow Guide], [Soul

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

between Shadow

string, the one he had been accustomed to paying the most attention to when it came to Saint, was missing. There was no

Sunny frowned.

to think

all. So, maybe, the Serpent would not evolve its Class like Saint had, by consuming the soul core of a suitable Nightmare Creature. Most likely, it

Rank, while Sunny had already become