Shadow Slave

Some time later, Sunny exited the Instructors Lounge. The clear winter day welcomed him with chilly wind and tiny snowflakes dancing in the sunlight. Despite being dressed very lightly — his skin was covered only by the soft fabric of the simple training suit provided to him by the staff of the Academy hospital complex — Sunny did not feel too cold.

'That's being Awakened for you, I guess.'

If it had been a year and a few months ago, he would have been desperately searching for shelter, hoping that he would not freeze to death overnight or, even worse, get sick. But now, Sunny felt great. He wasn't even uncomfortable.

Pulling down his sleeves to hide the serpent tattoo, he inhaled the cool, perfectly filtered air, smiled, and started walking.

'Decisions, decisions…'

The conversation with Master Jet had been useful, but left him with more questions than answers. Each of the choices presented to him had alluring benefits, but also very serious drawbacks.

'Great clans, lesser clans, government, or independent?'

Sunny tried to imagine himself as a Legacy and silently shook his head. All that prestige, all that wealth, the admiration of the masses… being a Legacy meant being a part of the nobility, the elite above all elites. It was the exact opposite of what Sunny had been all his life.

…But who said that he had to remain the same in the future? From a pauper to a prince, that would be a nice transformation. Lord Sunless… that had a nice ring to it, didn't it?

There were serious disadvantages to making such a choice, of course.

Working for the government offered its own advantages, but at the cost of not receiving as much funds and resources, while being tied down by too many obligations. Both times Sunny had met Master Jet, she seemed busy and overworked. He couldn't imagine pursuing his goals with such a schedule.

One of the functions of the Awakened forces in service to the government was hunting down rogue members of their own kind. Awakened were people, after all, and there were criminals among them, too. Especially because many were traumatized and driven to the edge of madness by their experiences in the Nightmares and the Dream Realm.

If Sunny could absorb the essence of those humans he killed like all the other Awakened, that path could have offered him a faster track to saturating his cores. But as it was, he didn't see himself putting on the uniform, unless there were new Gates opening every day, thus providing him with the endless supply of Nightmare Creatures to hunt.

...By the way, how many Gates were opening in a given year, on average? Suddenly, Sunny realized that he had no idea. The propaganda never mentioned concrete numbers, only the fact that valiant Awakened had the situation under control. Did they, really?

The last option was to remain independent. That choice was seemingly in contradiction to his desire to acquire status and as many benefits as possible, but only on the surface. In fact, Sunny had already received most of what he wanted by becoming a high-ranking citizen and getting a free pick of any Citadel. Of course, not having the vast resources of a Legacy clan or the government would be a huge loss... but it would also provide the best chance he had to keep all his secrets to himself.

All three options were worthy of being considered.

In the end, it all came to the fact that he simply didn't have enough information to make a decision. So, getting information was his first priority. But… how?

Academy

outskirts, too, although using them cost credits. He had never had any to spare, so his visits

could access a lot of information from the network, but doing so would doubtlessly leave a digital trail behind. Considering that some of the topics he wanted to research were rather dangerous, he

'A library it is…'

later, he approached a square white building. Like most of the Academy, its walls were made out of smooth, pristine alloy, with wide windows that could be covered at any moment with reinforced shutters. There weren't many people in sight, so Sunny

there could be accessed remotely? He was the weirdo for coming here

automatic door, Sunny looked around and blinked

young men and women reading behind them silently. Most of them were using terminals to take notes, but some were actually writing

hell…

synthetic paper… but why have them printed at all?! Wouldn't it be way more convenient to read from a

physical book in his life. The very idea of using one was

was highly advanced, but susceptible to various types of damage. During the dark times… which came before the even darker times of the Nightmare Spell… back when humanity had been consumed by an endless series of devastating wars and cataclysmic natural disasters, a lot of knowledge had been lost due to overreliance on digital mediums.

still the safest way to

had never thought

'Still weird…'

man… no, wait… a young woman? A young person, with short black hair and intelligent brown eyes, who was currently reading a vintage-looking book. There was a badge on her chest,

thought that it was a name. Maybe it was some weird title among the librarians. Who knew what kind

read, fully engrossed in

familiar. Must be a really great book. Maybe I should

I get

seconds, then reluctantly put down the

can

bit, then said with

the current state of human expansion

blinked a couple of times, then

you

Sunny sighed.

all the Citadels out there, as well as learn who owns what

The librarian smiled brightly:

as well! Of course, of course. You have come to the right place. We have all

Sunny flinched.

What does nickel mean?