Shadow Slave

For the next several days, Sunny did nothing but sleep, rest, and practice weaving. His two new wooden fingers were able to channel essence, which showed just how incredible Noctis was at his craft. However, they could not touch the ethereal strings. It seemed that only Sunny's own flesh and bone were capable of that.

He was already accustomed to manipulating the shadow strings without those fingers, though, so the task had not grown much harder. There was also the long needle that shone with faint golden radiance to help him along. In those several days, Sunny made a bit of progress in his attempts to copy the simplest of enchantments.

...He also successfully destroyed several more Memories, which really stung his newly repaired hearts.

'Ah, curses…'

Sunny stared at the rain of disappearing sparks that had been an enchanted buckler just a few moments ago and sighed. Another failure, another lost Memory. He was going through his collection of them way too fast… at that point, he was starting to wonder if there was a better use for it.

Saint's shadow fragment counter was still at [59/200], and now, he had another Shadow to feed. Nightmare also demanded his fair share of resources to reach the next Rank, and his appetite was even steeper. Currently, the dark courser was at [1/300], and that single fragment came from a Memory Sunny had fed him to check if the horse also consumed them.

The only silver lining was that Nightmare was still of the Awakened Rank, and as such, gained more sustenance from weaker Memories. Getting him to three hundred was going to require about the same amount as what Saint needed to get to two.

…That was another reason why Sunny wanted to master at least the very foundation of weaving. If he could create even the simplest Memories himself, he would effectively gain the ability to convert soul shards into shadow fragments, as far as Saint and Nightmare were concerned. Probably.

He already knew enough to try, actually, and only lacked a few shards to experiment. However, the ability to copy and modify enchantments seemed even more alluring. Just imagining the utility of such a skill made him tremble with excitement.

But enough was enough! He could not endure the heartbreaking sorrow of losing another Memory today. With each of them he destroyed, Sunny could practically see potential credits disappearing from his theoretical bank account.

Shaking his head dejectedly, he returned the needle into the maw of the Covetous Coffer, dismissed the little box, and headed toward the door of his room.

It was time for some fresh air.

Finding his way to the familiar corner of the garden, Sunny noticed the motionless figure of the bandaged cripple and ignored him, then sat down on the grass some distance away. The two of them were perfectly content pretending that the other didn't exist. After that first conversation, neither uttered a single word… which was a beautiful thing.

'If only all humans were that reticent…'

The cripple never bothered him, and so, Sunny liked him a lot. They had a perfect understanding.

Closing his eyes, Sunny meditated for a while, but then grew bored. He still had a few hours to kill before dinner, and there was nothing to do. Well, that was not a problem… really, there always was a mountain of things he had wanted, but never found time to address. For example, he was very curious to study the spellweave of the Shadow Lantern… it was a Divine Memory, after all.

made his mood grow foul, so Sunny decided

What else was there?

practiced archery for a long time now. His skill in that regard was still very far

which were the same color as its grip and string, as well as the small brand in the shape of a straight sword piercing straight through an avil that was burned into its

of one of the giant menhirs that loomed some distance away. Surely, the ancient stone pillar that had withstood a thousand years in perfect condition,

Noctis would just have to produce a new menhir if he destroyed

the bow, placed his fingers on the string, and strained his muscles

just to draw the string… no mundane human would have ever been able do that, and even among the Awakened, only

by the black bow went especially far, and hit with devastating

turning from a ghostly shade into a sharp arrow. The other enchantment of Morgan's Warbow, [Soul Arrows], allowed it to attune to the soul of the wielder and create arrows

a narrow head that seemed to be made out of a sharp piece of obsidian. This was a shadow arrow, which flew swiftly and didn't produce any sound at all. It was also perfect for finding cracks

to be forged out of pale gold, their broadheads perfect for slicing flesh and causing

any case, that didn't matter

his ear with some effort, Sunny struggled to hold it in place, then closed one eye, took aim, and jerked his fingers away from the arrow. The string hit the inner

by the sound, the cripple turned his head and stared at Sunny from beneath his dirty

the arrow hit the giant menhir… completely off the mark. He had aimed at a tiny crack on the surface of the ancient stone, but had not managed to

a deep cut, Sunny clicked his tongue

wrapped his arm with a piece of cloth, summoned a second arrow, and

'Damnation!'

only reduced in the past months. How

doing it

black eyes. Perhaps he was hasty to commend the man for his quiet and reticent

emerald amulet, Sunny thought with

yeah? What, you are an archery expert

silent for a while, then

to be a captain in the Sun Legion.

and then

warriors into battle, for the glory of Lord Sevirax and

grew silent,