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…'

raised a hand to rub his eyes, but froze

"What is that?"

the skin of his wrist, peaking out slightly

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

'...Huh?!'

pale skin, an intricate image of a black serpent was tattooed, so detailed that it almost seemed alive. The serpent coiled around his arms and

I have… a tattoo

under his skin, two curved fangs threatening

Both the nameless temple slave and his mother had a very similar image marking

was the Shadow

his new Shadow turn

trying to feel if something had

soon, he did

flow of the shadow essence through his body had changed. If previously it had circulated naturally, now, it seemed to follow the coils of the serpent, moving

does that thing enhance my shadow essence

poured essence into his limbs and then performed several movements of Shadow Dance.

able to control the essence better, but it also seemed to be consumed at a slightly slower pace, and restore at a faster

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

is… a

how important and vital managing essence was for the Awakened — any tool that could enhance that aspect of their power was truly

he got such a marvelous one, practically for

would only get more powerful in the

to feed Memories to a

Sunny thought for a bit, then finally

Shadow: [Soul Serpent].

Shadow Rank: Dormant.

Shadow Class: Monster.

Attributes: [Shadow Guide], [Soul

gods to be destroyed. Many have

connection between Shadow God and death, Sunny lowered his

last string, the one he had been accustomed to paying the most attention to when it came to Saint, was missing. There was

Sunny frowned.

to think of

himself, after all. So, maybe, the Serpent would not evolve its Class like Saint had, by consuming the soul

why was it of the Dormant Rank, while Sunny had already