Shadow Slave

The room provided to Sunny was a far cry from the luxurious cabin he had enjoyed on the train. It was small, spartan, and lacked windows due to being located deep underground. The designers of the military bunker did not even install a false one, so the walls lacked the lifelike projections of the outside.

Not that Sunny cared about such things. In fact, he quite liked the solid nature of his temporary quarters. Perhaps things would have been different if he did not possess the ability to escape to the surface with the help of Shadow Step, but since he did, the fear of being buried under countless tons of stone and soil was not bothering him too much.

The room reminded him of his hidden lair in the ruined cathedral of the Dark City, which was a pleasant bonus.

Sitting on a narrow bed, Sunny sighed and projected the screen of his communicator on the opposite wall. Leaning back, he then got lost in thought for a few minutes.

In the next day or so, he would have to make a lot of important decisions. There were a lot of things to consider. While the task seemed daunting, he was rather excited to start.

'It's like playing a game… only without checkpoints and real human lives at stake. Including mine. So… uh… I guess nothing like a game, actually.'

The first thing he did was acquaint himself with the default set of assets provided to his future cohort by the government. This generous and highly optimized array of premium gear and equipment included everything to cover the basic needs of his unit during their deployment in Antarctica, from thermoregulated outerwear to priceless spelltech medical kits and beyond.

The centerpiece of the set was, without a doubt, an advanced all-terrain personnel carrier that was going to serve as the mobile home of his cohort in the future. This heavily armored transport vehicle resembled an angular, high-tech mix between a turtle and a rhinoceros.

…Of course, Sunny only knew what a rhinoceros was because he had looked up the extinct beast after learning that the APC was colloquially known as Rhino. It was hard to believe that the massive thing was an actual animal and not a strange Nightmare Creature.

Despite its prodigious size and thick armor, the Rhino armored personnel carrier was capable of moving with immense speed across various terrains. It could even climb mountains without too much problem, provided that the driver knew what they were doing.

variant provided to the cohorts of the First Irregular Company was additionally modified with even more robust armor, inordinately powerful engines, enhanced internals, and a sophisticated command and communications

always room for improvement. In fact, the interface offered Sunny a lot of opportunities to enhance the APC

for keeping his cohort mobile, it would also serve as the logistical core of their deployment. Its importance was already apparent due to the fact that the

familiar with the Covetous Coffer, of course. Thanks to his loyal toothy chest, Sunny would be able to more

is important… however, it

be prudent of him to beef this aspect up. After all, no one knew what would happen if dozens, or even hundreds of Gates came to exist in the area

for Sunny to

had a clearer picture of what kind of Awakened he wanted to

opening another, he rubbed

not going to be

***

in front of him, each containing the personnel file of one of the best Awakened soldiers stationed in the port. Most of them were going to be assigned to other units, while forty-two would become members of the

them would be

Sunny was paralyzed by

Aspect and Abilities, their service record, and psychological profile, as well as of additional skills and specializations that the soldier might have

who would not only comprise a well-rounded cohort and compliment his own powers, but also work well with each other

for the government possessed contrarian and antisocial personalities. People who chose the life of service were predisposed to having a

antisocial enough to balance

Flaws of these elite soldiers. Not even the government servants were comfortable sharing something like that with their employer. Each file only mentioned how severe the Flaw had