Shadow Slave

Sunny spent a very pleasant morning selling all the stuff he had brought to the Dream Realm to a crowd of Awakened, each of them ravenous for the small comforts the real world could provide.

Very few had a close enough relationship with a Master or a Saint to be able to get these things here, in a place as remote as the Chained Isles. Things were slightly different in large Citadels like Bastion or Ravenheart, but on the frontier, most people simply had to figure out ways to get by with makeshift replacements. Still, nothing could compare to the real deal.

All in all, the Brilliant Emporium was performing splendidly.

Of course, Sunny did not charge too much for the small necessities he sold, but it added up. He wouldn't charge a whole soul shard, even if it was from a Dormant creature, for a tube of toothpaste. But a few tubes, plus a toothbrush, plus some soap and a box of tea leaves, and a promise to bring some sugar with him the next time? That could work.

Unlike before, he wanted soul shards instead of Memories. He was going to take these shards to the waking world, where their value was much higher.

Out there, soul shards came from only two sources: some were brought back by Ascended and Transcendent from their journeys into the Dream Realm, and some were scavenged from the corpses of the Nightmare Creatures that had invaded reality through a Gate.

They were always in short supply, because anyone in possession of a shard was more likely to use it themselves than to sell it for credits. Saturating their Soul Core meant much more to an Awakened than worldly currency… after all, dead men could not spend their riches.

The demand, on the other hand, was extremely high. Not only because all Awakened strived to become stronger, but also because young Sleepers, especially, were able to use these shards to increase their chances of returning from their first venture into the Dream Realm alive.

That was the reason why even Caster, a scion of a prestigious Legacy clan, had not entered the Forgotten Shore with his core already fully saturated.

And that was the reason why Sunny was going to profit a lot from being in possession of his new favorite Memory... the magnificent Covetous Coffer.

After all, he — for better or worse — had no use for the soul shards whatsoever. He could not consume them, so there was no choice to be made between growing stronger himself or earning credits from others.

He was going to sell the shards, buy Memories, and feed them to Saint.

because Memories, unlike shards, had no additional value in the real

fact, they were extremely expensive. But the correlation between the number of soul shards he would have to sell and the number of Memories he would be able to buy was very much in his

usefulness of a Memory dictated its price, but did not affect the amount of Shadow Fragments Saint received from consuming

smile was growing

to bring Saint

however. were eventually interrupted

'...Another customer?'

up and tensed a little, recognizing

garment… the same one that had escorted him to meet Master Roan before his

of the White Feather

a heavy

can I

young woman bowed slightly, then

share a meal

is what I have

Sunny shivered slightly.

keeping all his secrets to himself during a conversation

were only a few dozen of them across all of humanity… they were not only

one wanted to survive the harrowing trial of

wasn't sure of his ability to fool such a

forced out

would be

turned around, obviously expecting him