Shadow Slave

A few days passed in pleasant tranquility. Eventually, however, the time ran out. Nephis gathered her things and left for the Immortal Flame manor, leaving Sunny alone.

It was a bittersweet feeling.

Sweet because he finally had the house for himself once again. Bitter because… well… Sunny was not sure that he enjoyed his home being so empty anymore.

Nevertheless, he had chosen not to follow her to join the rest of the cohort yet. Sunny felt like the looming ball was going to change a lot of things, and had to prepare a few contingencies. If the worst happened, there was a big possibility that he would be gone for a very long time again.

There were several things he had to do, just in case.

His lecture course at the Academy had just started, but at this rate, it was under threat of ending prematurely. Sunny spent some time imparting his students with the best and most essential knowledge he could relay in such a short amount of time, but other than that, there was not much else he could do to prevent his academic reputation from potentially receiving a hit.

Luckily, all Masters led hectic lives. The administration was long accustomed to their star lecturers disappearing for months on end without much of a warning, so his case was not unique.

His second worry was the Brilliant Emporium. The Memory store was already in a difficult position because of the invisible blockade that had prevented Sunny from visiting the Dream Realm and hunting down Nightmare Creatures for half a year. Their inventory was running low.

of mundane items that he weaved. That was not a straightforward endeavor, however. Sure, the idea of having a toothbrush Memory sounded pleasant… but he had to use a soul shard to create one. Considering how expensive soul

earn more than the price of a soul shard. Rich clients already had

large batch of these extravagant Memories and then met with Aiko to transfer them. After thinking for

as possible. The second priority went to Memories that could serve as a source of light, which were usually cheap and plentiful. He also told Aiko

announced the voluntary mobilization, a lot of people were going to need to equip themselves for the harsh realities

case, he hoped that the Brilliant Emporium would survive for a while thanks to these measures, should

Lastly… there was Rain.

turn sixteen in a few months, which meant that Sunny had very little time left to prepare her for the potential First Nightmare. On the other hand… there were not a lot of things left that he could teach her.

do was to truly internalize and assimilate the skills and knowledge that he had already imparted to her. While Sunny could help his

the ball to the fullest extent. The teenage girl might have been sour about how intense their lessons suddenly became, but it was for her own good.

be enough,

than these three things, there was not a lot for Sunny to

return from the ball. He restocked the Covetous Coffer with various supplies for

Sunny was

fateful