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 had already failed to keep

there to even think

goodies! That's what it

absorbed by the

there was another reason for

arenas. His goal was to absorb as many styles as possible, to reinforce the foundation of Shadow Dance and make it more efficient. This way, he hoped to achieve the next level of mastery over his

others were complex and unique. The

he had a magical ability to peer into the very essence of a style… this ability of his was more or less mundane, based on his own talent, mastery, and sensitivity to

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

the quality of his opponents in the Dreamscape arenas was not that high… 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

the world of Legacies, strength and talent were not something to boast about. Renown only served to make the enemy aware of your weaknesses. In that regard, hidden tigers of the Legacy clans were very much like Sunny, remaining in the shadows

could find were a few rare eccentrics and a rare gem here and there, not nearly

mindset anymore. They weaved unique patterns of essence control into the technique, too, which Sunny couldn't perceive and was

the mix, people who would usually not waste time in the Dreamscape were bound to show up, lured by the scent of rare Memories and Echoes. Even people from lesser Legacy clans

armor

stone. Compete for these prizes and enrich his library of styles at the same

a fool to miss this

such an opportunity go. Plus, he had some

everything he could find about

***