Sunny waited for a few moments, and then hurriedly stood up while summoning the runes. This was it the moment he had been waiting for! After so much time, all the sweat and blood, his effort had finally paid off. He had made another step toward becoming a true battle master.

All it took was

Sunny thought for a second, then glanced at the runes describing the Mantle of the Underworld first. Under the description of the [Prince of the Underworld] enchantment, a runic counter glowed:

Vanquished Foes: [2332/6000].

All it took was killing twelve hundred enemies with his own two hands and dying by a Master's hand once.

Around nine hundred of those kills had happened in the Dreamscape, one in the waking world, and the rest in the wild reaches of the Chained Isles. Sadly, creatures slain by Saint did not count toward the requirement of the strange enchantment, or the number would have been any higher.

Still, it was good progress.

Turning away, Sunny found the string of runes he wanted to see the most:

Shadows: [Marble Saint], [Soul Serpent].

He concentrated on the latter and read:

Shadow: [Soul Serpent].

Shadow Rank: Awakened.

A wide grin appeared on his face. Sunny closed his eyes and listened to his soul, then circulated shadow essence through the coils of the serpent. He could feel that it was flowing even faster than before. The rate of essence expenditure and regeneration was also improved.

'Perfect!'

He had expected the process of evolving to a new Rank to take a long time, like it had happened with Saint back on the Forgotten Shore, but Soul Serpent had awakened instantly after he had reached the second level of mastery over the Shadow Dance, maybe due to its unique nature as an Aspect Legacy Relic.

'What else changed, I wonder?'

Sunny opened his eyes and looked back to the runes. He had already noticed that there were new ones in the description of the Shadow.

Shadow Attributes: [Shadow Guide], [Soul Weapon], [Soul Beast].

The [Soul Beast] wasn't there before...

He concentrated on the new Attribute and read:

Attribute Description: "Soul Serpent can assume the form of a beast."

Sunny blinked a couple of times.

'...What?'

He looked down at his bare chest and stared at the intricate tattoo of a black serpent that coiled around his torso and arms. Then, Sunny carefully raised one hand and gave the Shadow a mental command.

Immediately, the tattoo moved, slithering onto his palm and moving down his fingers.

However, instead of the tip of a sharp blade, a triangular head of a massive snake appeared in the air instead.

Enveloped in streaming darkness, the serpent crawled forward, leaving Sunny's skin and manifesting itself into existence. Its jet-black scales rustled quietly as they touched the armored plates of the floor, and soon, petrified Sunny was looking at a giant snake, at least six meters in length, its body as wide as a large man's arm and strong enough to crush granite into dust.

The stygian creature coiled its long body and stretched into the air, its head slowly rising and soon reaching as high as Sunny was tall. A forked tongue flashed for a moment, and then the serpent looked him right in the eyes.

...Then, it opened its maw and hissed, revealing long, terrifying onyx fangs.

Sunny gulped.

The serpent's eyes were as black as its mighty body, and shone with dark radiance. They seemed as deep as the lightless expanse of an ocean of shadows, and were full of strange, alien intelligence.

Luckily, there was no aggression or ill will in them. Instead, there was simply recognition.

The Shadow Serpent was greeting its master.

Sunny slowly looked away and studied the dark creature's body. Then, he sent the creepy shadow forward, and it swiftly wrapped itself around the serpent. Immediately, flowing patterns that were somehow even darker than the lusterless, obsidian scales revealed themselves, and the pressure that the shadow beast exerted instantly became much, much more frightening.

Its body had turned ghostly, enveloped in wisps of impenetrable, moving darkness.

Sunny hesitated for a moment, and then grinned.

"...What a good buy you are!"

Very satisfied, he glanced at the giant snake, and then patted it on the head with a delighted expression on his face.

Now, it was the mighty beast's turn to blink if it had any eyelids. Was Sunny imagining things, or did the obsidian serpent seem a bit startled by such treatment?

With a shrug, he glanced back at the runes, and lowered his gaze. There was one last surprise left for him to discover.

At the very bottom, several new runes appeared.

Shadow Abilities: [Serpentine Steel], [Soul Reaver].

[Soul Reaver] Ability Description: "A portion of the soul essence of those slain by the Shadow Serpent in its Soul Weapon or Soul Beast form is absorbed and transferred to its master."

Sunny's smile widened.

'Excellent! That will help with the fact that I can't use the Serpent to regenerate essence while it is not on my body. In fact, as long as it continues to kill something, my essence might never run dry!'

He glanced at the Shadow with gleaming eyes.

"You and I are going to do great things together, buddy! You'll have plenty of tasty souls to eat, don't worry!"

Saying that, Sunny opened his palm and commanded the Serpent to crawl back onto his skin. A few seconds later, the Shadow had already turned back into a tattoo and coiled itself around his body. It was as though there had never been a terrifying creature in the underground dojo, in the first place.

"Now let's take a look at that relic"

Sunny looked at the runes and found the right cluster.

Aspect Legacy: [Shadow Dance].

Shadow Dance Mastery Level: [2/7].

First Relic: Claimed.

Second Relic: [Claim].

Third Relic: Unearned

Concentrating on the second Relic, Sunny said confidently:

"Claim!"

For a second, nothing happened. Sunny waited, full of anticipation.

'What could it be? Another Shadow? A weapon? An armor? Maybe a charm or a tool or something more unexpected? A new Attribute, perhaps?'

And then, answering his call, the Spell spoke from the darkness:

[You have claimed an Aspect Legacy Relic.]

[You have received a Memory.]

Sunny hurriedly glanced at the runes describing his Memories, searching for a new one.

A moment later, when he saw it, his heart skipped a beat, and he momentarily forgot how to breathe.

Out there in the darkness of the underground dojo, several familiar runes shone with ethereal light.

They read:

Memory: [Drop of Ichor].