Shadow Slave

Some time later, Sunny saw Rain out, watched as she walked away, and then calmly closed the door.

As soon as she did, however, his placid expression evaporated.

"What the hell! How come I didn't know about this?!"

Hastily taking out his communicator, he accessed the network and searched for information about the Dream Tournament.

A few minutes later, he sat down on a chair, a little stunned.

"What is this insanity?!"

Sunny knew, of course, that Dreamscape duels were a popular form of entertainment — both among the Awakened, who participated in them, and among the mundane humans, who followed their favorite duelists and created boisterous fan clubs.

However, he had no idea that even the Great Clans paid attention to the illusory game.

Apparently, the creator of the Dreamscape held a big tournament each year, and each year, one of the Great Clans — either Valor, Song, or Night — sponsored the prize pool. Participants who managed to achieve good results were able to receive cash prizes, Memories, and even Echoes.

The rewards for the finalists were especially generous, and came directly from the Great Clan's armory. They were also of the Ascended Rank.

Sunny trembled, his eyes burning with avarice.

no… think about

— keep an eye on the rising talents among the unaffiliated Awakened. But did it matter? Sunny

to even think

goodies! That's

the tournament, Sunny got completely absorbed by the prospect of receiving Memories free of charge. He was almost

enough, there was another reason for why this tournament now seemed very alluring

was to absorb as many styles as possible, to reinforce the foundation of Shadow Dance and make it more efficient.

made the same. Some were simple and straightforward, while others were complex and unique. The more unique a style was,

style… this ability of his was more or less mundane, based on his own talent,

been working diligently to create a sizable library of simpler styles, which would in turn improve his capacity to discern the patterns of more complicated ones with sufficient speed. After all, all styles were constructed out of the same basic elements. The more basic patterns he knew, the easier it was

for obvious reasons. True talents had better things to do than play games. Most of them also belonged to Legacy clans, who lived by a different set of

aware of your weaknesses. In that regard, hidden tigers of the Legacy clans were very much like Sunny, remaining in the shadows until it was time

his progress had stalled lately. These days, the only worthy opponents he could find were a few rare eccentrics and a rare gem here

technique, too, which Sunny couldn't perceive and was only able to infer from indirect clues. Sadly,

Dreamscape were bound to show up, lured by the scent of rare Memories and Echoes. Even people from lesser Legacy clans would, without a doubt, be

Ascended weapon or armor

one stone. Compete for these

be a fool

couldn't let such an opportunity go. Plus, he had some free time while Effie and Kai were

feed, he started reading everything

***