Dreamscape was a place that was neither real nor a part of the Dream Realm, but instead existed somewhere in between. It was created and maintained by a combination of advanced modern technology and a very special Aspect Ability that a certain Master — now already a Saint — possessed. Their power had to do with illusions, and so, that was what Dreamscape was.
A massive illusion that countless people could share.
However, that illusion was not entirely malleable, and functioned according to a set of absolute rules. It reflected reality instead of being a complete replacement for it. As the result, a person entering it was bound by the same laws that existed in the real world.
And since one of those laws was the Nightmare Spell, a person's Aspect, Abilities, Memories, and Echoes would function in the illusion the same way they functioned outside of it, with one important difference. One couldn't be hurt, wounded, or killed in the Dreamscape. Neither Memories nor Echoes could be destroyed.
Which meant that Awakened were able to battle each other there without having to risk their lives and keep the destructive force of their duels out of the real world. This application was the primary use of the Dreamscape… well, in a sense.
At the dawn of it, the Dreamscape was mostly used by the Legacy Clans and the government to train elite Awakened that served them, but it was quickly deemed as only being marginally useful. While such training could facilitate safe duels between the human carriers of the Spell, its simulation of the Nightmare Creatures was not that close to reality. The illusory monsters lacked the will and mind of actual abominations, after all.
So, the Dreamscape had failed to become a successful training tool and was thus largely abandoned.
It had, however, unexpectedly found incredible success in the entertainment segment.
Those Awakened that were not part of elite strike forces deemed it to be very engaging, useful… and fun. The duels in the Dreamscape became very popular, and that popularity simply exploded once the company behind it came up with the idea to integrate a broadcast function into the simulation pods, thus making these duels available to a much broader audience — the mundane humans.
Today, Dreamscape was a whole industry with both amateur and professional leagues, famous celebrities, and passionate fan clubs. There was even a version of it for non-Awakened, with its own set of environments and adventures that allowed people to experience a facsimile of what it meant to travel across the Dream Realm while battling Nightmare Creatures.
Sunny, however, wasn't interested in the fame, glory, and money that becoming a renowned Dreamscape champion could bring him. No matter how lucrative, it was just a toy, at the end of the day.
He was, nevertheless, extremely interested in that toy for three very important reasons.
The first reason was the anonymity that Dreamscape offered. It was all but impossible to track a person entering the illusion if they didn't wish to be tracked, which was very much to his liking.
The second reason was Shadow Dance. Sunny needed to fight against a multitude of opponents skilled in wielding different weapons and using various styles to sharpen his battle art and make it — as well as the Soul Serpent — stronger. In a sense, he needed to create a library of mirrored styles to enrich his own.
Was there a better place to find thousands upon thousands of Awakened who were willing and ready to cross blades with him? All without having to risk his life, to boot.
The third reason was rather unexpected. In fact, Sunny had stumbled upon it by pure accident.
Back when he had just arrived on the Chained Isles, he secretly tested the Mantle of the Underworld in battles against several Nightmare Creatures. The onyx armor had turned out to be even more remarkable than he had anticipated, so he easily hunted down several abominations. And yet, one creature had managed to escape from him after being thoroughly defeated, mostly because of the approaching Crushing.
That was when he discovered how the [Prince of the Underworld] enchantment really worked. Its description said that the onyx armor grew stronger according to the number of opponents its wielder defeated… and it did exactly that. The enchantment didn't care whether the opponent lived or died, all that mattered to it was that the enemy lost.
After the Nightmare Creature Sunny had beaten escaped, the counter of the enchantment still changed from [1215/6000] to [1216/6000].
He tested it in a battle with another abomination, bringing it to the door of death and then walking away without delivering the last blow. The counter went to [1217/6000].
So, Sunny hoped to kill two birds with one stone in the Dreamscape — to both elevate his technique and satiate the requirements of the [Prince of the Underworld] with a constant stream of victories.
Now that he had finally bought his own home and gained access to a sufficiently secure simulation pod, the chance to do so was finally in his grasp.
...But first, he needed to send Lanard away.
The two of them returned to the ground floor. The short man looked around and asked with a somewhat forced smile:
"I… I hope that everything was to your liking, sir?"
Trying not to show how weird it was for him to be addressed as "sir", still, Sunny gave him a curt nod and answered evenly:
"Yes. It will do."
Lanard hesitated for a few moments, then said:
"Good. Great! Ahem… would you like to subscribe to our active security service? Many Awakened find it beneficial to have a dedicated security… team… guarding… uh…"
The short man started to give him an obviously practiced sales pitch, but under Sunny's indifferent gaze, his voice grew quieter and quieter, until eventually disappearing completely.
Sunny smiled slightly.
"I would not, Lanard. Do you really presume to be able to guard… me?"
Lanard gulped, then shook his head.
"Ha! Ha-ha. No, of course not. What I was thinking about, even? Please forgive me, sir."
He looked away, then hurried to change the subject:
"In any case, as you can see, the interior is rather empty. We left space for your to fit your… ahem… things. If you don't mind me asking, when are the movers arriving?"
Sunny stared at him, then shrugged.
"They're not. I don't own a lot of... things."
By which he meant that the clothes on his back and the stuff in his pockets were the total sum of his worldly possessions.
Lanard sighed, then nodded:
"How profound. Indeed, people these days are too preoccupied with material possessions. They define themselves through the ownership of things, not noticing that those things actually own them. I envy your wisdom, sir."
'...What on earth is that guy going on about?'
Sunny stared at Lanard's tailored suit and antique watch with hidden envy. Those had to be expensive…
The short man caught the direction of his gaze, and blushed with embarrassment.
"Anyway! If no one is coming, then we can conclude the deal right here and now. I wouldn't want to… take too much of your precious time!"
They signed a few documents. All payments had been made in advance, so this was just a formality... but, despite that, completing this meaningless ritual made Sunny feel a deep and powerful emotion.
In a few minutes, Lanard was gone, leaving him alone in his new home.
The first home he had in many, many years.
Chapter 392: Birth of a Legend
For a while, Sunny stood motionlessly in the living room. Then, he slowly wandered around the house, looking at its walls and tastefully furnished rooms. Finally, he found himself near the refrigerator and took out a glass bottle full of clear, pure water.
With it in hand, Sunny walked outside and sat down on the porch.
The terrace district was quiet and peaceful. The air was still cold, but the sunlight was already full of warmth, promising a vibrant spring. The wind rustled the leaves gently, and streams of meltwater murmured softly as they ran down the pavement. Sunny stared at the piece of land that he now owned and opened the glass bottle.
He spent quite a while there, sipping water and looking at nothing in particular. As hours passed, several PTVs drove by. He saw a few people in clean and warm clothes. A bit later, droves of children and teenagers in school uniforms walked past, on their way home from their studies.
After that, he sighed, retrieved his shadows, and went back inside.
Bringing the empty bottle back to the refrigerator, he stared at it for a few moments.
Inside, there was food… so much food. Enough food to last him for a month. All easily accessible, delicious, and well within his means.
…Before Sunny knew it, his fist slammed into the door of the refrigerator, easily piercing the thin metal sheets and turning the vegetables stored on the other side into vapor. Pieces of metal and plastic flew in the air, and the whole house trembled slightly. The refrigerator itself cracked and deformed, nearly bursting apart from the force of the impact.
Sunny stared at his hand in shock, then awkwardly retrieved it from inside the devastating device and looked at the broken thing with dismay.
"...Crap!"
Now he was going to have to buy a new one. And replace all the food. And clean up all the mess…
'What the hell is wrong with me?'
Shaking his head, he put the empty glass bottle on the counter, sighed, and went to find a mop.
***
Some time later, Sunny returned to the basement and approached the Dreamscape pod. He looked at it for a while, then turned around and paced around the armored dojo, frowning.
'Come on now… you've been preparing for this for a long, long time.'
As he paced, his whole presence slowly changed. The way Sunny walked, the way he held himself, the way his hands moved all became slightly different.
"There are six gods. The War God, also known as the God of Life. The Beast God, also knowns as the Goddess of the Moon. The Sun God…"
As he recited the names of the gods and their various aspects, the manner in which he spoke also changed. The difference was subtle, but noticeable.
One after another, Sunny changed every little bit of behavioral traits that could be traced back to him. He had spent a lot of time training for this moment, using the physical malleability of a Shadow Dance practitioner to make himself unrecognizable. Surprisingly, the task had turned out much easier than he had thought. It was basically his specialty, anyway.
Weaver's Mask could protect his identity from all who would wish to learn it through magic, but he had to deal with mundane forms of identification on his own.
After a while, when he was ready, Sunny undressed, approached the simulation pod, and climbed into its cradle. As the polished mask of black wood appeared on his face, the lid closed.
A string of shimmering letters appeared in front of him:
"Enter Dreamscape?"
"Yes" "No"
He sighed, then concentrated on the "Yes".
A few moments later, his vision darkened.
***
Sunny found himself standing in a boundless, black void. All around him, countless stars burned with ethereal light, an inconceivably complex weave of strings connecting them together.
…There was, however, no logic or sense in the pattern. He didn't feel any meaning hidden in the beautiful weave of the strings of light. It was just a pretty backdrop, and nothing more.
A fake.
Other than that, though, the simulation was pretty realistic. He looked down and saw his naked body, the Soul Serpent coiling around his arms and torso. The Dreamscape recreated his appearance to the sma… uh… in great detail.
'...Huh.'
Shaking his head in bewilderment, Sunny summoned the Mantle of the Underworld. It weaved itself from black threads and covered his body. As soon as it did, a pleasant voice resounded in the darkness:
"Challenger! Welcome to the Dreamscape."
Sunny summoned the Autumn Leaf — a small charm that allowed him to change the color of his hair. After a short hesitation, he made them appear white.
'What next? How do I fight people?'
The pleasant voice promptly responded:
"Before proceeding further, please choose an alias."
He blinked a couple of times, then scratched a back of his head.
'Oh, right. An alias…'
After some though, Sunny remembered the legend of Odysseus that Neph like to talk about, and smiled.
"Nobody."
That would be a good alias… he could already imagine how funny it would be, to hear something like "Nobody has defeated the enemy!" or "Nobody has won!".
His thoughts, however, were interrupted by the voice of the Dreamscape:
"Alias "Nobody" is taken. Please choose another."
"Uh…"
He did not expect that. What would be a better…
"Alias "Uh" is taken. Please choose another."
"What? No, wait!"
"Alias "What? No, wait!" is taken. Please choose another."
Sunny shut his mouth, then thought for a while.
His alias had to not only sound nice, but also be the opposite of what he would ever call himself in real life. Just like his movement and speech patterns, it had to be a part of the disguise. That's why coming up with one was not that easy…
In the next few minutes, he tried a dozen different aliases, all to the same result. The level of coolness of the aliases he could come up with rapidly dropped, while the level of his irritation quickly rose. He felt as if the damned simulation was mocking him.
Finally, Sunny growled in frustration and said the first word that came to his mind:
"...Mongrel!"
The Dreamscape was silent for a while. Then, it said:
"Welcome, Mongrel. Please, choose a dream of your liking."
'Really?! Mongrel?! Well… mission accomplished, I guess! This is indeed the last thing I would want to be known as!'
Oh, the irony…
As Sunny huffed and puffed from frustration, several images appeared in front of him. All contained depictions of different environments, although most looked like an arena of some sorts.
From his research, Sunny knew that the choice of an arena decided what type of opponents he would get to fight against. Some were available to everyone, some required a certain number of victories to be accessed. Professional duelists all spent their time in those elite dreams.
'Dreams… what a stupid name. If I was dreaming, I would be on the Chained Islands right now, wouldn't I?'
His body was, indeed, awake right now. It's just that his mind was inside of an illusion.
Regardless, what he needed was a place where he could fight sufficiently skilled amateurs without drawing too much attention. He knew just the place.
Pointing at one of the images, Sunny said.
"There."
A moment later, the black void disappeared, and he was suddenly somewhere else.
A loud voice thundered from somewhere above:
"Challenger Mongrel has entered the Colosseum!"
Chapter 393: Mongrel
Sunny was standing on the floor of a vast oval arena. It was covered by sand, which had long ago turned red from all the blood spilled between these ancient walls. The merciless sun burned in the incandescent sky, and the smell of sweat, blood, and death assaulted his nostrils.
'How... realistic.'
A little disturbed, Sunny looked around and saw tall amphitheater stands rising high above the blood-soaked arena. Those were the spectator seats. A crowd was cheering from them, their voices full of macabre fascination, cruelty, and glee. Both men and women were dressed in archaic robes that left their arms and shoulders bare. With bloodthirsty smiles contorting their features, they looked like a horde of lustful demons.
Well… not all of them. Here and there, a strangely clothed person could be seen, observing the fights with a less barbaric expression. The people in archaic clothes were illusions, while the rest were actual observers.
One didn't have to be connected to the Dreamscape to spectate the duels, but some quirky fans preferred to be there in person to achieve the feeling of maximum immersion.
'Lunatics. Those damn simulation pods are too costly to use them for spectating…'
Even though Sunny wasn't poor anymore, seeing such extravagance still pained him. Shaking his head, he finally turned his attention to the arena itself.
Obviously, this illusory environment wasn't very original, but on the other hand, it was a classic. More advanced dreams had vastly different decorations, ranging from realistic to completely fantastical, but for this low-level one, the company running Dreamscape chose a pretty basic narrative.
It was an ancient coliseum — a place where slaves had once fought to entertain their masters, often to the death.
Sunny didn't like it one bit.
The Colosseum was based on a historical structure, but was much larger. Hundreds upon hundreds of warriors roamed the sand of the battle arena, some engaged in fights, some searching for an opponent.
Out here in the Colosseum, most of the participants were Awakened of high enough skill to be considered the elite among the amateurs, but not skillful enough to enter the professional leagues. Just what Sunny was looking for... maybe. Overall, while many of the duelists in the Dreamscape were talented fighters, at the end of the day, there were very few true masters among them.
Real elites spilled blood in the Dream Realm, not in an illusion that had been conjured for the purpose of entertainment. So the level of competency of these people remained to be seen.
Commanding the Soul Serpent to assume the form of the fearsome odachi, Sunny put the blade of the great sword on his shoulder and waited to be challenged. Due to his menacing black armor and fearsome mask, however, people seemed to be reluctant to approach.
At least for a while.
Soon, a young swordsman in a striking bloodred armor approached, a long and graceful espadon resting on his shoulder. With a smile, he looked at Sunny and said:
"Haven't seen you around before… Mongrel? Are you new to the Coliseum?"
Sunny tilted his head and studied the letters that appeared around the swordsman.
"Paradise in Red"
"Victories: 157"
"Defeats: 103"
'Good enough.'
Lowering the odachi, he answered in an even tone:
"...I was born in the Coliseum."
The swordsman smiled, then stepped forward.
"Let me welcome you back, then."
The voice of the Dreamscape immediately spoke, announcing the start of the fight:
"Paradise in Red has challenged Mongrel!"
They clashed on the bloodied sand, moving with enough speed to cause the wind to howl through their armor.
Sunny had left one of his shadows on the ground, and wrapped another one around the Autumn Leaf, where it could do him no good — he didn't want to be too strong, so that his opponents were not completely outmatched and could properly showcase their styles.
As for himself, he had completely abandoned both the flowing style that Nephis had taught him and the grounded technique that he had learned from Saint, relying only on his ability to shadow the enemy's movements.
Paradise in Red was not a master of swordsmanship, but his skill level was not bad. Still, the young man wasn't a match for Sunny, even though he had to forego his practiced techniques and wasn't used to wielding the great blade of the odachi.
The material form of the Shadow Serpent was truly formidable, but due to its size and nature, using it required a lot of adjustment. It was potentially far more devastating than any shorter blade could ever hope to be, but at the same time, demanded much more skill and strategy to be wielded efficiently. Any strike it delivered was potentially deadly, but so was every mistake made in the process.
Sunny prolonged the fight for as long as he could, learning as much as possible from how his opponent moved and wielded the sword. In the end, however, the strain of the duel turned out to be too much for the other fighter — he wasn't very strategic at how he spent his soul essence, so after five minutes or so, his speed and strength decreased sharply.
Sunny sighed and ended the duel with one precise slash of the Soul Serpent.
The great sword flashed across the enemy's neck, sending his head flying into the air.
The beheaded corpse fell to the ground in a rain of blood, then disappeared in a stream of sparks.
The voice of the Dreamscape thundered from above:
"Mongrel has won!"
'Too bad…'
Five minutes was not enough to truly learn the essence of a battle style. However, Sunny was certain that he would face another practitioner of this battle art eventually. There were not that many popular styles among the amateurs, after all. A few days or weeks later, he was bound to fight against someone with a similar technique again.
Attracted by his flashy victory, a few more challengers approached. Sunny flourished the Soul Serpent, then stopped it abruptly midair. Drops of blood flew to the sand, leaving the dark blade perfectly clean.
Under the mask, he grinned.
'Ah, so cool. Good thing that I learned this trick from Saint, too…'
***
"Argh! Are you even human?!"
Another Awakened fell to the sand, blood flowing from his mouth.
Sunny took a step forward and slashed down with the Shadow Serpent, easily cutting through the opponent's light armor and splitting his body in half. The great sword he wielded... was truly devastating.
As the corpse disappeared, he cleaned the curved blade of the odachi with a swift flourish and answered with a dejected lie:
"Human? I am not, and have never been, a human."
By that time, a small crowd of Awakened had gathered around to spectate the fights and wait for their turn to challenge him. Hearing his words, one of them laughed:
"If you are not human, then what are you?"
Sunny glanced at him, then shrugged.
"A mongrel."
Internally, though, he was thinking:
'...What the heck?!'
In the past several hours, he had fought twenty-seven people. And out of them, twenty-five — twenty-five! — had been using the same battle style.
It was a practical, but rather simplistic art that relied on straightforward, efficient movements and attacks that were optimal in terms of lethality and energy expenditure, but for the same reason very predictable. In the hands of a master, the style could have been a real menace, but with these talented amateurs, it was useless against anyone with a tiny bit of clarity.
Several of the Aspects the challengers possessed had thrown him for a loop, but in the end, he had defeated them all one after another, gaining a solid grasp of the essence of their style by the twentieth practitioner he fought.
These people were not exactly untalented, but Sunny felt the difference between them and himself sharply. He had to remind himself that, unlike him, they had not spent a whole year fighting for their lives in the hell of the Forgotten Shore.
Most of these young men and women had probably only experienced a handful of real battles in their entire lives: a few in the First Nightmare, and a few on their way to the Gateway. After that, they lived in well-protected Citadels and only ventured outside the walls in large cohorts... if ever.
'Disappointing…'
Although the counter of the [Prince of the Underworld] had grown by twenty-seven victories, Sunny was slightly irritated. This was not what he had hoped for.
Variety, he needed variety. He needed to create a truly versatile library of styles to allow Shadow Dance to be more efficient in the future. The more basic styles he learned, the easier it would be for him to shadow a truly unique technique if he needed to.
...As he was thinking that today was a complete bust, a sudden wave of whispers ran both through the crowd of the Awakened fighters and the human spectators observing them from the stands.
A dozen or so meters behind Sunny, a tall figure suddenly appeared out of thin air.
When people saw the new arrival, their eyes widened.
Chapter 394: One Strike
Leo Striker appeared on the Colosseum and looked around with a bit of nostalgia. A few years ago, at the very start of his career, he had been a frequent visitor of this arena… this was where it all had started for him.
Times had changed, of course.
Using the few moments before he was recognized, Leo smiled widely and said:
"Well, well, well. Did you really think that I would forget about the Public Mondays, guys? Of course not! This is a sacred tradition… SACRED, guys. Some of the Strike Force veterans might remember how I started in the amateur arenas, and now that I am a brilliant, famous, and incredibly handsome celebrity, I have to return here from time to time. To, you know… stay humble."
There were currently around twenty thousand people watching his broadcast, and pretty much all of them immediately exploded with a flood of mocking messages. Glancing at the Broadcaster Interface that Dreamscape provided to popular duelists like him, he grinned and winked, humored by some of the good-natured jabs thrown his way.
Leo Striker was not the most extraordinary fighter in the Dreamscape, but over these past few years, he had gathered a rather large following thanks to his skill, flair, and boisterous personality. He was so popular, in fact, that thousands of younger Awakened became enamored with the battle style he and a few of his duelist buddies practiced.
As the result, the Roaring Lion Strike style had become all the rage among the amateur duelists, and his old mentor was now flooded by a deluge of new pupils. That fact really warmed Leo's heart… he was glad to be able to repay the old man for all his patience.
Leo spent most of his days participating in top-level duels on the professional league arenas, but on Mondays, he liked to visit a public dream or two, chat with fans, fight a few amateurs and provide them with pointers as a way to give back to the community.
Today was one such Monday.
Looking around the Colosseum, Leo noticed a small gathering a dozen or so meters away from him and headed over. As he walked, he heard excited voices:
"Hey… isn't that Leo Striker?!"
"No way… wait! It's him! I can recognize that gorgeous armor with my eyes closed!"
"Leo! Love you, man! Keeping it real like always!"
"Strike Force Roar! I've been watching your broadcasts for two years, Leo!"
A friendly smile appeared on his face. Waving at several fans, he approached the crowd of challengers and glanced at the lone figure standing in the empty space in the middle.
'Woah! This dude has style!'
The man in the middle of the crowd wore a beautiful onyx armor that radiated a sense of solemn, dark menace. His face was hidden behind a fearsome black mask, with three twisting horns rising from it like a jagged crown. His hair was stark white, and there were two pools of impenetrable darkness in the place where his eyes were supposed to be.
His weapon of choice was a long, curved odachi forged of lusterless black steel. It rested on his shoulder, seemingly devouring the bright light of the illusory sun.
The stranger looked more like a demon than a human being.
Leo let out an approving whistle.
'Is he also a broadcaster? Huh, I don't recognize those Memories.'
He checked the stats of the demonic warrior.
"Mongrel"
"Victories: 27."
"Defeats: 0."
'A newbie… but a talented one! A perfect KDA, what a rarity!'
In any case, that guy was incredibly photogenic. A duel with him was not going to be interesting due to the gap in their skill, but it would definitely look stunning. Leo felt a little ashamed to break Mongrel's perfect streak, but this talented amateur would receive useful advice in return, which was far more useful.
Who knows, they might meet again in the professional arena one day…
Looking at the invisible camera, Leo raised an eyebrow and asked:
"What do you say, Strike Force? Should we challenge that dark and handsome guy other there?"
As the viewers expressed their approval, he approached Mongrel and gave him a friendly smile.
"Hey there, friend. That's a big sword you got there. Do you even know how to use it?"
Teasing the opponent was another sacred tradition of the Dreamscape, and Leo was rather good at it.
Mongrel shifted slightly and faced him. The disturbing mask stared at Leo, making him shiver slightly for no apparent reason.
"No."
Leo laughed.
"No? You don't know how to use your sword? Well, would you like me to teach you?"
The demonic warrior stared at him and didn't even move.
"No."
'What's up with that dude? Does he not know other words? Come on, work with me here, buddy! I am dying here, trying to make this duel entertaining…'
With a sigh, Leo stepped forward and unsheathed his own blade.
The viewers once again exploded with a flood of messages, and at the same time, the voice of the Dreamscape announced:
"...Leo Striker has challenged Mongrel!"
***
'Goddammit!'
Sunny stared at the young man in a beautiful azure armor, cursing his luck.
'Why can't he get a hint?!'
Even though Sunny couldn't say a word of truth while wearing Weaver's Mask, he tried to communicate his reluctance to fight this guy... to no result whatsoever.
He didn't have anything against the new challenger… what did the Dreamscape call him, Leo?... but there was one problem.
Just from the way the young man walked, Sunny could tell that he practiced the same damned battle style that everyone else here seemed to practice. And Sunny had more than enough of it for one day.
'Ugh…'
His time in the real world was limited, so he really hoped to experience a more diverse collection of opponents before it ran out.
'Maybe there's still hope. Maybe the next one is going to be different.'
It was better to finish this fight quickly, then.
Sending the happy shadow from the Autumn Lief to his body, Sunny lowered the Shadow Serpent and took a step forward.
His opponent, meanwhile, smiled.
"Let me teach you the first lesson. You should always…"
'...wear a helmet into the battle, fool.'
Dashing forward, Sunny easily deflected Leo's blow and pierced his head clean through by continuing the same motion.
As the corpse of the eloquent young man fell down and disintegrated into a rain of sparks, he flourished the odachi to clean it from blood, returned to his previous spot, and indifferently put it on his shoulder.
'I swear to gods. The next person to challenge me better be using a different style. Otherwise… I might get angry!'
***
Leo Striker found himself standing in a boundless black void, his mouth agape.
His viewers, too, were uncharacteristically silent.
'One strike… one strike! He killed me in one strike?'
He lingered for a few moments, then turned to the invisible camera and forced out an awkward smile.
"That was… uh… that was really unexpected, right guys?"
Then, his smile grew wide and sincere.
"That, Strike Force, is what people call finding a diamond in a pile of… uh… dung! Incredible luck! Yeah, definitely a stroke of luck. Oh, by the way... has anyone clipped it?"
Chapter 395: Roaring Lion,Hidden Dragon
Leo sent the clip to a couple of his buddies and waited in the dark void, chatting with the viewers and laughing about his terrible performance in the duel against the demonic newbie.
'That Mongrel... there's something about him...'
Just as he had expected, his friends joined him in the Dreamscape almost immediately after receiving the message.
Yes, his defeat was rather embarrassing… but there was an opportunity in every disaster!
This was going to be a very special broadcast.
A rare and bombastic… crossover episode!
Answering the invitations, two figures joined him in the black void. The viewers grew silent for a moment, and then sent so many reactions that the Broadcast Interface almost crashed.
Well, as expected. Both guests Leo had invited were very prominent duelists, at least as popular as he was himself, or perhaps even more.
One wore a heavy plate armor. There was a castle engraved on its breastplate, and four dragons depicted on his pauldrons and vambraces. This was Daoist Saifer, a renowned swordsman who possessed a powerful Aspect that allowed him to control fire.
The other was a taciturn warrior in a grey silken robe. His alias in the Dreamscape was the Fool, and he was known to be one of the most peculiar and persistent duelists in the professional league.
Leo grinned.
"Hey there, Saifer. Hey there, Fool. Long time no see!"
Saifer scoffed, then pointed at him.
"Leo, my friend. What the hell was that? You got killed by an amateur… in one strike!"
The Fool simply shook his head and remained silent.
Leo coughed in embarrassment and looked down.
"Yeah, well… it's not like the two of you never tasted a piece of humble pie, is it? If I remember correctly, Queen Bee decimated both of you just last week…"
Saifer grinned.
"I am ready to be killed by our noble Queen every day. But a newbie? Come on..."
Leo shrugged, then pointed to his sword.
"Alright, alright. But there's a reason the two of you arrived so quickly, right? You saw it too?"
The two duelists glanced at each other, then slowly nodded.
Leo turned to the camera and smiled brilliantly.
"What? None of you battle geniuses have noticed it? Well, well, well. It's this rare moment when I get to mock my dear viewers and their insufferable expert advice!"
He gestured to his friends, then continued:
"For those Strike Force veterans who still remember the early days of my broadcasting… as you might know, these two distinguished gentlemen are actually not only my colleagues, but also disciples of the same cranky old man who taught me swordsmanship. Basically, the three of us are childhood friends, and we practice the same ingenious battle style. The Roaring Lion Strike style."
He paused, and then sighed mysteriously:
"And while it hurts my pride a little to have been defeated by an unknown novice, the real reason why I was so shocked by our duel… IS… YOU WON'T BELIEVE IT... oh yeah, before we do this, I should mention the sponsor of today's…"
Saifer rolled his eyes and interrupted him:
"Cut it, Leo! What he was going to say is that the masked guy used the Roaring Lion Strike style to defeat that dolt. And while there are many — lots and lots, really — people who can beat that loud nuisance in a heartbeat, the fact that someone done so while using our own style is very interesting."
Leo glanced at his friend with vitriol, but then gave up on the ad break and nodded.
"Indeed. So, the three of us are going to go and see who that Mongrel really is, and what is he really capable of…"
***
Sunny felt that something weird was going on in the Colosseum after he dispatched the young man in azure armor. The other Awakened seemed to stare at him with a bit of confusion… shock, even.
The same went for the human spectators in the amphitheater. Many had changed seats to get closer to him.
'What's the matter with all these people? Did I go overboard and move too fast?'
But no, he had measured his dash to not appear too powerful. Maybe they just liked the spectacle? Sunny was, indeed, giving them a good show. Not that doing so was his intention...
'Anyway… why is no one challenging me? Stop wasting my time, people! I'm on a tight schedule!'
Indeed, no one in the small crowd of Awakened that had been waiting for their turn to fight him seemed willing to step forward now. Sunny stared at them in boredom for a few minutes, trying to understand what was going on. They had been very eager just a few moments ago, no?
Then, someone finally walked toward him, unsheathing a formidable-looking sword.
The guy was wearing plate armor, with an intricate engraving of a castle and four dragons decorating its polished surface. He looked strong, noble, and experienced.
'You. Must. Be. Kidding me!'
The same style… he was obviously practicing the same damn style!
As Sunny's eyes narrowed, the voice of the Dreamscape announced:
"Daoist Saifer has challenged Mongrel!"
Before the guy in plate armor could even attack, Sunny unceremoniously bashed him in the face with the pommel of the odachi, swiped his foot, and then viciously thrust the tip of the great sword into the narrow crack of his visor.
As blood flowed from the steel helmet, the voice of the Dreamscape thundered once again:
"Mongrel has won!"
The faces in the crowd grew a bit pale.
'What the hell is wrong with these people?! Is there no one here who knows a different style?!'
Before Sunny could even clean the blade of the Shadow Serpent, a new challenger approached.
This one was wearing a grey silken robe.
"The Fool has challenged Mongrel!"
The bastard was wielding a heavy saber… and using the same cursed battle art!
Sunny let out a low growl and dashed forward.
The Fool turned out to be more nimble and aware than the last two fighters. He managed to sidestep the attack… sadly, it had turned out to be just a feint. Before he could correct his footing, the odachi pierced his chest and exited from his back.
Sunny tore the great sword out of the enemy's body and stepped back in frustration.
The man in the grey silken robe swayed and stared at the growing red patch on his silk garment. Looking up at Sunny, he silently gave him a thumbs up, then collapsed to the sand in a rain of sparks.
"Mongrel has won!"
'Curse it all! Do I need to go to a professional arena to find a proper opponent?!'
These people were not, exactly, bad fighters… the three last ones especially… but why on earth were all of them so similar to each other?
Sunny looked around and noticed that the Colosseum was deathly silent. Everyone was staring at him with strange expressions.
'Wait… don't tell me…'
He scowled behind the mask, a terrible suspicion entering his mind.
'Is… is this whole arena meant for practitioners of a single style? Was I breaking some unspoken taboo this whole time? That would be a bastard move… no, wait, that doesn't make any sense. I was using the same style as them…'
Suddenly, a familiar face approached him from the crowd. It was the young man in the azure armor. Lion Beater, or whatever…
'No… oh gods, please no! I don't want to fight him again…'
The young man stopped a few meters away from Sunny, hesitated for a few moments, then smiled and asked in a light tone:
"Mongrel, my friend... if you don't mind me asking… what are you even doing here, in this amateur arena?"
Sunny rolled his eyes behind the mask. The answer was really simple: he was here to learn.
But he couldn't say that, of course. He was also too frustrated to come up with a creative lie.
Staring at the young man, he allowed the Soul Serpent to disappear and become a tattoo again, then said somberly:
"I am here to unlearn."
Lion Beater blinked a couple of times, then shifted his weight slightly, clearly intending to unsheath his sword.
'Enough of this!'
With an irritated huff, Sunny commanded the Dreamscape to eject him from the arena and disappeared from the Colosseum in a shower of white sparks.
Climbing out of the simulation pod, he stared at it with resentment, then suddenly flinched and grabbed his hand with another.
"No, no… we don't want the refrigerator accident to happen again, not to this beautiful, shiny, extremely expensive pod… right? Right! I should… I should probably go and get some fresh air… try it again next time, on a more challenging arena…"
With that, he threw the last glance at the high-tech device, and walked away.
…What Sunny did not see, though, was the crowd of Awakened back in the Colosseum, all staring at the empty space where he had stood a minute ago.
Leo Striker stared at it, too, a thoughtful expression on his face.
A few seconds later, he said quietly:
"To… unlearn? Huh."
Chapter 396: Viral Sensation
Sunny salvaged some food from the destroyed fridge, had a very late supper, and went down to the basement again, this time to travel to the Chained Isles.
By then, all shadow essence he had spent during the duels and to keep the Mantle of the Underworld from turning back to stone had already been restored.
Wearing the onyx armor required a constant flow of essence to maintain the [Leaving Stone] enchantment active, and with the Soul Serpent assuming its weapon form, Sunny couldn't use the Shadow to keep the expenditure to a minimum. Wearing the Mantle for prolonged periods of time was rather draining... however, it was also a perfect way to train himself on how to manage essence most efficiently. He had no complaints.
...It was funny, though, that the Dreamscape required a person to expend real essence despite being just an illusion.
'Oh well.'
Climbing into his new, state-of-the-art sleeping pod, Sunny lay comfortably in the soft cradle and smiled.
'No more sore muscles! Finally.'
With that, he closed his eyes, and very quickly fell asleep.
While his soul wandered the Dream Realm and his body slept, locked in an underground bunker behind multiple layers of protection, though... several things happened in the real world.
The clip of his short duel against Leo Striker had unexpectedly gone viral.
All around the planet, countless people watched it with a wide range of reactions. Some found it funny, some fascinating, while some simply scrolled past it as they watched their feeds.
Even those who did not have any interest in the Awakened duels found it striking, though. The image of an infernal wraith clad in black onyx armor defeating a charming, noble human warrior with one swift and ruthless strike was, indeed, very cinematic… just how Leo had predicted. Even if, to his dismay, the roles had ended up being switched.
What's more, even though Sunny had not even known that their fight was being broadcasted, he accidentally looked directly at the invisible camera right after cruelly putting the tip of his odachi through the opponent's eye.
The image of the fearsome black mask staring emotionlessly directly at them, two pools of darkness hiding the eyes of the human being behind it, sent shivers down the spines of people watching the clip.
It was chilling, arresting, and strangely hypnotic.
Many of them had the same question after watching the clip on repeat several times…
Was there even a human there, behind the scary mask?
People who followed the Dreamscape leagues, however, had an entirely different reaction. Although they, too, appreciated the undeniable aesthetic value of the short and striking duel, they paid more attention to the actual meaning of it.
How could a completely unknown novice defeat an established and well-regarded duelist, someone as famous as Leo Striker… in just one strike? The exact moment when Sunny delivered the deadly blow was analyzed, disassembled, and put under the microscope. Was it skill or pure luck? Was it intentional or accidental? Did Leo make a mistake, or was his mysterious adversary just that much better?
The answer was rather confusing: no one had the slightest idea.
Obviously, once people became curious, they didn't stop on just that one viral clip.
Rather swiftly, every fight and every word that Sunny had uttered during his infuriating visit to the Dreamscape were found and published for everyone to see.
...Once people saw the contents of those recordings, the whole duelist circle was violently shaken. One shock was followed by another, and then by yet another, still.
The first thing that people found during their investigation was two more short clips.
One showed Mongrel killing Daoist Saifer in the span of a single second.
The other showed Mongrel killing the Fool… once again, with a single ruthless strike.
All in all, it took him less than a minute to easily crush three of the most renowned young duelists in the world. They weren't the absolute elite, but still some of the best the Dreamscape had to offer.
The conclusion was obvious: his victory over Leo Striker was neither lucky nor accidental. Mongrel was, indeed… just that much better.
But how could that be?!
Was he some other famous duelist in disguise?
People continued to dig, coming to a bewildering conclusion: the man who called himself Mongrel had never entered Dreamscape before that day. His profile showed only two pieces of information:
"Victories: 30."
"Defeats: 0."
And:
"Status: Offline."
After that, many theories appeared postulating that Mongrel was, in fact, a Master who had visited the Dreamscape to have fun. There weren't that many Masters in the world, and all of them had much more crucial things to do than spend their time having illusory duels. Even if they did, however, those duels transpired in private arenas that were created specifically for the occasion, away from the public eye.
Still, if Mongrel was a Master, that would explain it all. He was just much stronger...
But he wasn't.
That theory was debunked when the recordings of his other twenty-seven duels were unearthed. After watching them, the investigating enthusiasts became truly shaken — and for a very strange reason.
It was because those recordings showed Mongrel actually struggling against much weaker opponents.
Now wait a minute… what the hell did that mean?!
How could a man struggle against novices, fighting them for an average of five to ten minutes, and then kill three experienced professionals in three seconds?
The answer was simply mind-boggling. While people who did not know much about combat techniques assumed that Mongrel had been just pretending to be weak, more knowledgeable experts came to a stunning conclusion…
Mongrel only used the styles of his opponents to fight against them.
He came into the Colosseum not knowing anything about the popular Roaring Lion Strike style, and mastered it in the span of a single evening to such degree that even the Fool, Daoist Saifer, and Leo Striker himself — the three fighters who had popularized the style in the first place — couldn't resist him even for a couple of seconds.
Now, it was the experts' turn to shiver.
Ironically, after understanding what exactly had transpired, they were left with the same question that the people who knew knowing about Awakened duels had after watching the viral clip.
…Was the being wearing the black wooden mask even human?
And all of them, regardless of their interests and level of knowledge about battle arts, were now wondering the same:
"...Who the hell is Mongrel?"
Chapter 397: Mongrel's Wisdom
In the absence of any new information, people had no choice but to look back at the existing recordings of Mongrel. Fascinated by the mysterious demonic warrior, they disassembled his every action and every word, trying to find some hint to his identity, background, and standing.
Although there was not much to learn, they gradually came to perceive his sayings as rather meaningful.
...In fact, people ended up finding too much meaning in them, even though there was none. It was all just awkward lies Sunny had come up with on the spot to fulfill the requirements of the [Simple Trick]. He had never, ever intended to say something profound.
But when had good intentions ever stopped people from over-complicating things?
Without Sunny knowing anything about it, Mongrel had gained a… philosophy.
"Are you new to the Coliseum?"
"...I was born in the Coliseum."
Sitting in a school cafeteria, two students stared at a cheap communicator, their eyes burning with enthusiasm.
One of the boys frowned, then asked in confusion:
"I don't get it… what does he mean? Isn't the Colosseum just a Dreamscape arena? How could a person be born there?"
His friend shook his head with disdain:
"Idiot! Don't you get it? Mongrel doesn't mean that he was born in the Dreamscape! He means that he was born in battle. Those ancient gladiators were slaves forced to fight to the death against their will. Aren't Awakened the same? They are infected by the Spell and have no choice but to battle Nightmare Creatures to survive. In a sense, all Awakened were born in the Colosseum…"
Somewhere in the outskirts, several workers had gathered together during their short break.
"Are you even human?"
"What is a human? I am not, and have never been, a human."
One of the workers shivered.
"Scary… do you think that Mongrel is actually a Nightmare Creature that infiltrated the real world?"
Another shook his head.
"No, of course not."
The first sighed:
"Then why would he say that he's not human?"
The second worker looked at the dirty tunnel of the industrial air filter exhaust they were cleaning, then at his own calloused hands.
"What the hell does it even mean, to be a human? Do you think that you and I are really humans? No, you fool. That Mongrel has more brains than you, I swear. He at least understands that just having two legs and two hands does not make you a human. He gets how it is…"
The third listened to their conversation and grimaced.
"So what? Yeah, he gets it, but I don't see him complaining. That guy took the hand he was dealt and turned himself into a... a damned sword demon. What have you done? That's the lesson he is trying to teach us, I think. No one will treat you as a human unless you behave like one…"
Far away, in the Sleeper compound of the Academy, a group of young men and women were looking at a screen.
"That's a big sword you got there. Do you even know how to use it?"
"No."
"No? You don't know how to use your sword? Well, would you like me to teach you?"
"No."
One of the Sleepers scratched the back of his head, then asked:
"I don't get it. Why did Mongrel lie about not knowing how to use a sword? He is obviously a very experienced fighter. Maybe even a Legacy! Was he trying to trick Leo into underestimating him?"
A girl standing near him chuckled.
"He didn't lie. Why would Mongrel need to trick Leo? He would win against him fair and square, regardless. No, there's a deeper meaning in his words."
The other Sleeper raised an eyebrow:
"What meaning?"
The girl smiled knowingly.
"Only a boastful duelist like Leo Striker would claim to know his way around a sword. A true master, one who battles Nightmare Creatures in the Dream Realm instead of playing games with pampered Awakened in the Dreamscape, would know that they have infinitely more yet to learn than they already know. That's what Mongrel meant. No matter how good he is, he understands that in the grand scheme of things, his skill and power are like that of an infant."
Her friend was quiet for a while, then asked:
"If that's the case, then why did he say that he doesn't want to learn more?"
The girl shook her head.
"He didn't say that he doesn't want to learn. He said that he doesn't want Leo to teach him. The true enemy of an Awakened is the Spell, not other humans. That's why Mongrel doesn't want to be taught by battling humans... even if he has to. And also, if someone is strong like Mongrel, they can end a fight with one strike. But true strength… true strength is not needing to strike at all. Maybe that's what Mongrel wants. To become powerful enough so that he never has to bare his sword again…"
And just a few hundred meters away from them, on her way to the Academy hospital complex, a young woman in a wheelchair was staring at her communicator with an amused expression on her face.
"What are you doing here, in this amateur arena?"
"I am here to unlearn."
This quote, especially, had become a topic of heated discussion across the network. Among the duelist, it caused a whole philosophical storm. Countless Awakened were passionately debating its meaning. No one knew what exactly Mongrel meant, but everyone had at least a theory.
The only thing everyone agreed on was that his short statement hid profound, fundamental wisdom about the nature of combat and ways to become a master of it.
…Not Effie, though.
Looking at her communicator, she shook her head and said:
"To unlearn? Huh, that guy must have hit his head one too many times. What a dimwit."
Then, she looked at the image once again, and added:
"And also, what's up with that armor? It looks so familiar. For a moment, I thought that Sunny's Echo has run wild. Ha, what a fun idea… the look on his face would have been priceless!"
With that, she shook her head, deactivated the communicator, and continued on her way.
Effie had more important things to do than waste her time thinking about mongrels...
The rest of the world, though, apparently did not.
Chapter 398: Master of his Trade
Blissfully oblivious to the storm his visit to the Dreamscape was causing back in the real world, Sunny opened his eyes on the Altar Island of the Sanctuary.
Because of how much time he had spent fruitlessly searching for worthy opponents on the Colosseum, he arrived on the Chained Isles much later than he usually would. The sunset was still a few hours away, and the sky was clear and bright. He was welcomed by the familiar murmur of flowing water, the rustling of leaves, and a cool breeze.
Sunny flinched slightly and threw a resentful glance at the deep pool of clean water surrounding the small piece of land on which the altar and the ancient tree stood.
During his first visit to the Sanctuary, Saint Tyris herself had brought him here from the real world. Both of them had appeared near the altar… there had been a small problem, though. Sunny had materialized a bit further than people usually did, and as the result, plunged straight into the pool instead of landing on solid ground.
Not a big setback. However, in a moment of disorientation, he almost had a heart attack. Falling into water reminded him of his first minutes on the Forgotten Shore just too much. For a second, he had thought that he was back in that godforsaken place…
Ever since that day, Sunny never ended up in the water instead of on the soil of the Altar Island again, but the scare that first time had given him was still fresh in his memory.
'Not today!'
With a triumphant smirk, he left the white altar behind and headed toward the ring of tall menhirs.
Now that it was day, the Sanctuary looked more populated. Groups of Awakened rested on the grass of the park, some discussing upcoming ventures into the wilderness, some simply killing time until they were able to return to the real world.
One couldn't just enter the Gateway immediately after appearing in the Dream Realm. Perhaps because the soul wasn't able to withstand traveling between worlds too often, perhaps because the Spell did not wish for them to return too quickly, or perhaps for some another, unknown reason, Awakened had to wait several hours before being allowed to use a Gateway again.
The exact time they had to wait was slightly different from person to person, but in general, it was somewhere around ten hours. During these hours, those Awakened who did not wish to risk their lives in the wild expanses of the Dream Realm usually went about their business or fulfilled their duties to the Citadel.
A lot of work went into keeping human enclaves in the Dream Realm going. Apart from the obvious demand to keep watch on the walls and fight off attacking Nightmare Creatures, mundane tasks like cleaning and preparing food were also shared among the inhabitants of the Citadels.
In a sense, each Citadel was a settlement — some were small, some large enough to house thousands upon thousands of the Awakened. The population of the three Great Citadels was even higher, with hundreds of thousands of humans visiting them every day.
The Sanctuary was a rather tiny Citadel, in comparison, so each of the Awakened anchored here had to do their share of work to preserve it. Luckily, Sunny had been assigned a role of an advanced scout — in exchange for his reports about the things he noticed during his expeditions and the movements of Nightmare Creatures across the Isles, he was all but freed from other tasks, only occasionally having to do a small chore or stand watch during the darkest hours of the night.
He was rather happy with that situation.
Sunny greeted a few people he was on somewhat friendly terms with, entered the interior of the Sanctuary, then headed to his room. Now was a good time to finish the things he had not done during his last visit.
Namely, exchange the soul shard he had collected for Memories or credits… oh, and to properly study the ancient coin to draw and describe it for Teacher Julius later.
But the useless coin could wait. Right now, Sunny really wanted to satiate his avarice.
Unlocking the chest that stood at the foot of his bed, he fished out the soul shards off its bottom and unceremoniously threw them into the pack. The strange fruits he had gathered during his last journey also went there, leaving the chest more or less empty.
Noticing the golden coin glinting between a few curios that Sunny had collected in the past two months, he hesitated for a moment, then shrugged, picked it up, and hid it under one of the Puppeteer Shroud's vambraces.
'All set…'
It was time to haggle.
Returning to the park contained within the inner circle of the Sanctuary, Sunny glanced at the Awakened gathered there, walked over to a big, sun-washed rock, and sat down on it. Taking out the soul shards, he placed them on its surface and waited patiently, pretending to be bored and indifferent.
It almost looked as if he was simply enjoying the sun, while the soul shards had somehow appeared near him by accident.
In the beginning, Sunny had to walk around and initiate trades, but by now, the inhabitants of the Sanctuary had already caught wind of the fact that he often had soul shards to trade. Sunny just had to keep his trading operation seemingly humble, at least on the surface.
If people knew how many Nightmare Creatures he really killed, things would become a bit difficult. He was known to be from the Forgotten Shore, which gave him a bit of leeway of how deadly of a hunter he could appear to be, but it was still wise to keep the full extent of his competency to himself.
Of all the people on the Chained Island, only Saint Tyris and her trusted aids knew about his SS evaluation. So whatever soul shards Sunny didn't sell to the local Awakened, he sold directly to the White Feather clan, leaving all parties satisfied by the arrangement.
Soon, the first customer approached, looking at the gleaming crystals with burning eyes.
Sunny smiled brightly.
"Oh, hey there. Looking to trade for a shard or two? Well, you're in luck, my friend... Sunny's Brilliant Emporium is currently open for business!"
Chapter 399: Golden Coin
If there was one thing Sunny missed about the Forgotten Shore, it was how scarce the resources out there were. As the result, the value of soul shards was way higher there than back in the real world. Well… the parts of the Dream Realm that were better connected to the real world, at least.
Not that shards were cheap here. It's just that the deals Sunny was able to make were not as lucrative as the ones he had made in the Dark City. He was also not able to bring the soul shards back to the real world with him, which also affected the final price.
In the end, the collection of crystals he had gathered during his last trip through the Chained Island — including those retrieved from Fallen creatures — only landed him three Memories of questionable utility. He fed them to Saint, bringing her shadow fragment counter to [163/200].
'Not bad, I guess.'
After concluding his business in the park, Sunny went to the kitchens and traded the fruits he had found for a bunch of credits.
The fruits were a very rare commodity on the Chained Isles — they could not be made into anything even remotely useful or advantageous, but some bright mind in the Sanctuary had once come up with a method to make them into a very hard-hitting and tasty wine. Sunny himself had sworn off alcohol after his experiences on the Forgotten Shore, but he wasn't against making some money from it.
In the early days of the Sanctuary, the wine was all the rage among the local Awakened. Not too long after it had been established, most of the man-eating vines that grew the fruits had been hunted down to extinction on the island surrounding the Citadel. Now, only people who went further and risked their lives more had a chance to find several fruits, so the cost was rather substantial.
'That should… uh… buy me a new fridge, I think.'
Sunny had only a very vague idea of how much refrigerators cost, but suspected that this recent exchange would be enough to cover the expenses of shopping for a new one.
All in all, he was satisfied with the result of his recent expedition. He was progressing at a steady pace and slowly gathering everything he needed to make it even faster.
...Just in time, considering that Nephis was days away from becoming a devil.
With a slight frown, he exited the ring of menhirs and looked up.
The trades took him several hours to complete, so it was already night. The crescent moon was visible in the dark sky, and the winds grew cold and forceful. Up above, heavy clouds were gathering.
'I think it's going to rain.'
Suddenly in a sullen mood, Sunny sighed and thought about his plans.
Usually, he would be charting out a route for his next venture into the Isles, either going for a yet unexplored ruin or a habitat of the Nightmare Creatures he was preparing to challenge and kill. But these excursions took several days to complete, and he had a lot of business to take care of in the real world right now.
'Can I return already?'
He had only spent around four hours in the Dream Realm, but sometimes, that was enough — for him, at least. Sunny had no idea why his experience with the Gateways was different from most other people, but suspected that it was either because of his two cores or because of the fact that he had spent an entire year in this dead world even before becoming an Awakened.
Maybe the [Spark of Divinity] had something to do with it, too.
In any case, he tended to avoid returning to the real world too fast too often, in order to not attract unnecessary attention. Today, however, he was willing to forego extra caution… the things waiting for him back there were very important, or at least pressing.
With a shrug, Sunny headed toward the Altar Island. Walking on the stone path in complete darkness, he looked up at the veil of clouds hiding the moon and sighed.
'Not like I would really want to venture out in the rain, anyway.'
Approaching the white monolith of the altar, Sunny hesitated for a few moments, then put his hand on it.
Nothing happened.
'...Oh. I guess it's too early, after all.'
What a disappointment.
With nothing to do but kill time and wait for the opportunity to activate the Gateway, Sunny paced a little, stared at the depths of the clear pool, then paced some more.
Finally, he returned to the altar and grabbed the handle of the obsidian knife laying on its surface… purely out of boredom.
Sunny strained every muscle in his body and tried to lift the damned thing, but no matter how hard he pulled, the knife didn't move even by a millimeter.
'Move, damn you!'
However, there was no response.
Giving up, Sunny grimaced and let go of the knife.
'Well, that's a bust… again...'
As he did so, though, a heavy gold coin slid out from under his vambrace and fell on the polished surface of the altar with a melodic ring. It rolled a few times and then landed flat, the face of the beautiful person with the image of the crescent drawn on their forehead looking at him with a carefree smile.
'Oh, right… I have forgotten about that thing…'
Sunny moved his hand to pick up the coin, but at that moment, the veil of clouds split slightly, letting through a beam of pure, pale moonlight.
The light fell on the coin and made it gleam.
…A moment later, the surface of the coin suddenly shone with ethereal radiance. The features of the person etched on it became sharper, then disappeared into the light.
When the light dissipated, the coin was gone.
Sunny stared at the empty spot where it had been just a few seconds ago with a bewildered expression.
It was then when the Spell suddenly whispered into his ear:
[Your Shadow grows stronger.]
Chapter 400: Call of Treasure
[Your Shadow grows stronger.]
Sunny stared at the place where the coin used to be, then blinked.
'What just happened?'
He dropped the coin on the altar, it was illuminated by the moonlight, and disappeared. And then, he received a shadow fragment.
'No way…'
Holding back excitement, Sunny summoned the runes and read:
Shadow Fragments: [198/2000].
The last time he checked, there was only one hundred and ninety-seven. He had definitely, without a doubt, just received a shadow fragment from the strange golden coin.
'So it wasn't an ordinary coin, after all!'
A satisfied smile appeared on his lips.
Not only was the coin special, it was even not cursed. On the contrary, it was blessed!
'Well, that was the easiest shadow fragment I have ever received…'
Suddenly, his eyes widened.
'Wait…'
Weren't there more coins he had left behind on the Iron Hand Island? Three more, at least, had been swallowed by the dead monstrosity.
Before the thought fully formed in his mind, Sunny was already leaving the Altar Island.
'Two things… there are two things…'
The first one was that other coins could, potentially, turn out the same as the first one and reward him with free fragments. The second one was that where there were three, there could be more… much more.
The Fallen Demon he had discovered could have come from a place where a whole treasure trove of miraculous coins was hidden. A whole mountain of them, even. If Sunny was right and managed to somehow trace the path the creature took before dying…
Who knew how much more powerful he would become?
Trying to suppress the giddy feeling of discovering a huge and tantalizing secret, Sunny left the Sanctuary and headed toward the edge of the island. As the sound of waterfalls grew louder and the first drops of rain fell to the ground, a dark silhouette suddenly took a step towards him.
It was one of the watchmen.
"Huh… Sunny, right? Are you really going to go out in that weather?"
Most of the watchmen here in the Sanctuary already knew that he was comfortable in the dark, so their initial surprise about seeing someone leave the Citadel at night had more or less disappeared by now. It was still strange for some of them, though.
Sunny halted for a few moments, then smiled.
"Yeah. Don't worry, I will be fine. I'm not going far, anyway. Just want to check something on the Iron Hand Island."
The watchman hesitated, then shrugged.
"Alright. Be careful out there. Night vision or not, this is not the time for humans."
Sunny thanked the man for his concern, then walked past him.
'Not the time for humans? Good thing I am a monster, then…'
Approaching the edge of the Sanctuary Island, he didn't waste any time and summoned the Dark Wing. Sunny was tempted to simply turn into a shadow and rush toward his goal, but he didn't want to show his powers near the Citadel so openly.
'Patient. Be patient…'
Since the Dark Wing couldn't really allow him to fly, he glided above the chain for as long as he could, then landed on it and continued forward on foot. By that time, the rain was already falling rather heavily. The iron surface beneath his feet was treacherous and slippery, so Sunny had to be careful and watch his step, lest he plummeted down, into the Sky Below.
He shivered, trying to think of a more terrible fate. With no means of real flight, he would just be falling through the darkness, endlessly, until his mind was gone and his body consumed itself from hunger, then slowly turned into dust.
People on the Chained Isles loved to tell horrible stories about unfortunate souls who fell into the Below, and Sunny could easily understand their fear. For that reason, he was very careful not to slip.
'Only fools fall down, knowing what waits for them below. I would never…'
As if to answer his thought, a gust of wind suddenly crashed into him from the side, and a distant bolt of lightning illuminated the sky.
'...To hell with this!'
Not wishing to tempt fate, Sunny dove into the shadows and continued his journey as one of them.
Soon, he arrived on the Iron Hand Island.
The severed arm of the unknown metal giant was still there, making Sunny wonder once again what force could have torn it off the creature's body. Judging by the size of that thing, the owner of the arm must have been of monstrous proportions itself. Not really on the same scale as the walking colossus of the Forgotten Shore, but still undeniably gigantic.
The remains of the winged demon that had swallowed the mysterious coins were there, too.
However, they did not look the same.
By now, only the bones of the fearsome abomination remained, all its flesh long devoured by the gluttonous scavengers of the nightmare world. The grass around the carcass was now higher, too, and had changed its color from the usual green to bright red.
The grass looked… satiated.
Sunny grimaced.
Out here in the Dream Realm, no creature or plant was really what they seemed. Otherwise, the thick forest on the island where he had battled the pack of Fallen Wolves would have been long ago destroyed by the Crushing.
Even the most innocent things were twisted, corrupted, and predatory. Without sufficient caution, even a blade of grass could be deadly.
…But he wanted those coins.
Approaching the wide patch of bloodred grass, Sunny hesitated for a bit, and then took a step forward. He felt the ground moving slightly beneath him, the rustling of the raindrops changing tone as they fell on the grass.
With a deep frown, Sunny summoned the Moonlight Shard and circulated his essence, sending it flowing furiously through the coils of the Soul Serpent. He also collected both his shadows and wrapped them around his body.
The grass swayed slightly, and then grew still.
A subtle smile appeared on Sunny's lips.
Indeed, everything in the Dream Realm was dangerous and deadly… including humans. In fact, Awakened were perhaps one of the most fearsome tribes of creatures in this world, if not in terms of raw power, then at least due to their cunning, wickedness, and unpredictability.
For something as weak as a blade of grass, it was wise to avoid angering one of the Awakened, especially one as dreadful as Sunny.
'Ah. It feels nice to be feared.'
With nothing threatening him anymore, he walked over to the spot where he had seen the coins last and bent down, trying to find the alluring golden disks.
They were just where he had left them.