Shadow Slave

After a while, Rain felt rested enough to move. She rose from the ground with a grimace and went about taking care of her wounds.

Her teacher had made a fire from the splintered remains of the twisted tree, so neither of them had to freeze in the cold. Rain disinfected the cut on her side, then wrapped it tightly in a clean bandage. That would have to do until she returned to Ravenheart and found a healer.

Usually, she would have been lamenting the need to pay one, but there was a sizable reward promised to anyone who managed to slay the Huntsman. Not only could Rain afford a decent Awakened healer, but there would be enough coins left for her to replace the broken javelin, and maybe even upgrade a few pieces of her equipment.

«No, wait… actually, I don't need to worry about that anymore?»

Rain still had hope of Awakening swiftly. Even if she failed to do it before returning to Ravenheart, there would be no more hunts in the next few months — she already had everything she needed to form a soul core, so the best course of action would be to hole up in a safe place and patiently work on becoming an Awakened.

Once she was an Awakened, her mundane equipment would not be of much use. She would be able to draw a much more powerful bow, wear armor crafted from much heavier mystical materials, and even wield Memories.

Her entire arsenal would need to be changed. She would have to purchase a lot of things.

…Suddenly, Rain did not feel rich anymore.

She was so poor!

Full of sorrow, Rain put on her winter coat and approached the remains of the Huntsman. She stared at it for a while, then glanced at her teacher.

«Should we harvest his armor? It should sell for a lot of coins.»

He scratched the back of his head.

«Who's going to carry it all the way back to Ravenheart, though?»

Rain sighed.

«How can a deity be so useless?!»

«…Yeah. Still, we should take the axe blade, at least. To prove the kill at the town hall.»

That axe blade alone would sell for a hefty amount of coins.

She fished the giant blade from the ground and attached it to her backpack. Her teacher, meanwhile, looked at the remains of the dreadful Chalice Knight and clicked his fingers.

ground and sliced the carcass apart, cutting the rusted

corpse as she harvested the soul shards and sat down, staring at

were three of them… the glimmering crystals were not too large, but to

«This is it, then.»

years. Those years had been full of pain and hardship… but also joy, satisfaction, and fulfillment. And now, the final stretch of the road was right in front

sat on the ground across from

worked hard to

looked at him, remained silent for a

«I did.»

her knife and crushed the soul shards one

flowing into her

suddenly permeated by a cool, vibrant, nurturing flame, However, that

«W-what… what is happening?»

keen interest.

your soul, which had been dim and

moment, and

circulating because of your heart… but you don't have a soul core, which is like a heart for soul essence. So,

deep breath and closed her eyes, imagining the map of her body. She could feel her essence flowing freely, chaotically, with no shape or form. So, she slowly extended her will

the top of a mountain… the boulder was dead weight, it was cold and reluctant to move. The moment she lost concentration,

there was a lot of chaos and colliding currents in its flow, but as Rain deepened her concentration, the torrent of her soul essence grew increasingly stable

teacher chuckled in

On the first try? You're

not

do I form the

confident, like an anchor that she could use to

of the rotation. You don't need to form the entire soul core

Rain smiled.

it vividly… it was a beautiful process. Like

and faster. The greater its speed, the

a

could feel a condensed mass of energy slowly forming in the place where her heart would have been. It was not solid yet, but also not as ethereal as the

heart of that mass, where the pressure was most crushing,

tiny crystalline gemstone… so small that it could only