Shadow Slave

Sunny remained motionless for a while, looking at the string of shimmering runes. A sense of profound relief and exhilaration washed over him. He suddenly felt refreshed and invigorated, as if his fatigue had receded a little, his mind clearing.

...No, not suddenly. Touching the smooth silk of the Shroud of Dusk, Sunny belatedly realized that it was already being augmented by the passive enchantment of the empowered Crown of Dawn.

'It's working.'

He closed his eyes for a moment, then took a look at the rest of the runes describing the band of bright metal. They were the same as before - only the Rank of the Memory had changed.

Sunny had expected that. In fact, anything else would have been a cause for concern. The goal of the alteration was to strengthen the existing enchantment, after all, not change it.

The Crown of Dawn would still be able to enhance all Memories in a large area around it, with no limit to their number. It was just that the augmentation it provided had become much more potent.

Most miraculous of all, that enchantment somehow remained a passive one.

His eyes gleamed darkly.

'I think...'

Armed with that power, the cohort would be able to challenge enemies far beyond their own level of prowess. Which meant that they would have a much higher chance of conquering the Nightmare and returning to the waking world alive.

Just like they had conquered the Forgotten Shore and returned from its unforgiving expanse alive.

He smiled, then dismissed the Crown of Dawn and rose.

Heading to the stern of the ship, Sunny tried to contain his emotions. His face remained neutral, with only a faint smile playing on his lips.

Soon, he saw Nephis. She threw a glance at him with the same calm expression she usually wore, then asked evenly:

"What was the shouting about?"

Sunny stumbled.

'Right... I did curse the Spell out, didn't I?'

In hindsight, that was probably not wise. He wouldn't put it past the damn thing to know how to hold a grudge... the descriptions it made of him were already vaguely snide, so Sunny shuddered at the thought of what the next one was going to say.

'Whatever. That will happen later... right now, though...'

Walking over to Nephis, he shrugged.

emotional and let the Spell have it. Why,

stared at him

that I

Sunny coughed.

anyway. Give me your

for permission, he grabbed it, lingered for a moment, and sent the

or rather, it seemed like

name

she suddenly froze. Sunny studied her face with rapt attention, registering every minute change. Sadly, Changing Star was not the kind of person to

"...huh?"

He laughed.

finally noticed its Rank, didn't you? Well, well, well... no need to praise me too much! I just took the soul shard we scavenged from inside the Black Turtle and

Sunny looked down modestly.

not a peerless genius among peerless geniuses. You absolutely don't need to worship the ground I walk on... there's

his hand tightly and pierced him with

can elevate Memories to higher Ranks

enjoying the intensity of her

smile dimmed a little bit the next

But also

Sunny sighed.

and elevate its power by two whole Ranks. For other Memories... I doubt that they'll endure such a significant alteration.

hesitated for a few moments, then said

"But, Neph... uh..."

raised an eyebrow

"Yes?"

Sunny coughed.

you let go of my hand?

looked down, blinked a couple of times,

"Oh!"

shook his hand in the air. It didn't really hurt, but he had suddenly become painfully aware of how close

he shook his head

so I don't even know

sparks appeared around her. Soon, a band of bright metal manifested itself from thin air, its single gem glistening in the light of the rising

'Let's do this...'

Sunny and Nephis were engrossed in testing the effects of the Crown of Dawn on

of potential, resulting in a Memory that was a Supreme one