Шинэхэн

Now that Sunny had experienced moving up a class without simultaneously rising to a new Rank, he understood the difference between the two more clearly.

Ascending to a new Rank was a much more profound change. It elevated the quality of his shadow cores and essence, gifted him with new abilities, and allowed for a deeper access to his Aspect. The resulting jump in power was nothing short of tremendous.

Reaching a new Class, on the contrary, primarily affected the quantity of his shadow essence, and as such, the increase in power was much more gradual. Sunny didn't feel much stronger than he had a few hours ago… but that was because he had already been enjoying the extra strength and essence capacity for a long time.

In fact, the main benefit of having several cores had been aiding him ever since Sunny passed the one-thousand mark on the counter of shadow fragments. Unlike all other Awakened, excluding Nephis, there was no limit to his capacity to store essence and reinforce his body. Or rather, that limit was so high that it might have as well not been there.

…However, that was not to say that Sunny didn't get other, incredibly potent benefits from manifesting a third shadow core.

Standing up with a groan, he allowed the moonlight to bathe his slender figure and looked down, at the three dark silhouettes sprawled on the ancient stones in front of him.

One shadow looked like it was suffering from a toothache, the other was beyond itself and jubilant, and the third one…

'Uh…'

The third shadow was just standing there motionlessly and staring at him, its dark figure not betraying any hint of emotion. Under its silent and unnerving gaze, he suddenly felt a bit uncomfortable.

For some reason, Sunny shivered slightly.

'Is it just me, or is this guy a bit… uh… creepy?'

The creepy shadow didn't react at all to this thoughts and just continued staring at him without moving.

Sunny hesitated, then cleared his throat.

"Uh, well… welcome to the team. Meet the other two, your elder siblings."

The new shadow lingered for a few moments, and then slowly turned its head to look at his other ones.

Immediately, the happy shadow made an energetic move to welcome it, but then stumbled midstep, shivered a little, and slowly backed away, somehow ending up hiding behind the gloomy one.

The gloomy shadow sighed with contempt, then faced the new guy and glared at him, clearly unimpressed. Amused, Sunny watched the two stare at each for several minutes straight.

In the end, the creepy shadow glanced at him, then silently walked over to one of the ancient skeletons and studied the skull with disturbing fascination.

…It was trying to act cool, but Sunny could tell that the new guy was a bit flustered.

He smiled.

'That's right… that gloomy one is a real menace! Even I am afraid of him, a little!'

The gloomy shadow looked at both of them with disdain, shook its head, and indifferently turned away.

Sunny chuckled.

'Alright… time to experiment a little.'

After that, he summoned all three shadows and wrapped them around his body. Immediately, he felt explosive might course through his veins, his skin turning hard as stone, his speed increasing tremendously. It was as though he grew four times more powerful than he had been a couple of seconds ago.

A dark grin found its way onto his face.

'So that is how it feels to be a demon…'

Sunny dashed to the wall of the vast chamber, then ran back, raising a gale of wind in his wake. Then, he brought his fist down on a piece of rubble, making it explode into a cloud of shards. Finally, he saturated his muscles with essence and jumped up, easily flying a dozen meters into the air and climbing onto the roof of the ruin through the breach in the dome of its central hall.

His heart was beating fast in triumphant exhilaration.

"Incredible! This is amazing!"

Sitting down, he glanced at Saint, who was far below him now, and laughed.

Sunny was more powerful now than any Awakened was supposed to be. In fact, in terms of pure physical ability, he was much closer to Masters, perhaps even at the same level as those of them who had just reached their Rank and had no time to reinforce their cores yet.

That was not to say that he had a good chance of prevailing in a fight against an Ascended. Physical ability was not what made them so deadly, after all. Remembering the ease with which Master Jet had severed the arm of a Fallen Tyrant, Sunny sighed wistfully.

What's more, he now had the ability to augment three things at the same time. If Saint wasn't with him, Sunny could enhance his body, his armor, and his weapon simultaneously. Depending on the situation, he could also stack augmentations either on the Cruel Sight or the Undying Chain, which gave him much more choices during a battle with especially tough or dangerous opponents.

And there was one other thing…

Sunny summoned the runes and glanced at a particular string:

Shadow: [Soul Serpent].

Shadow Rank: Dormant.

Shadow Class: Demon.

'Aha! Just as I thought.'

Before, the Soul Serpent was a mere Monster. Sunny had long thought that the Shadow's Rank depended on the level of Shadow Dance comprehension he was able to achieve, while its Class depended on his own. Now, he had proof.

Looking down, Sunny noticed new runes shimmering in the darkness.

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

Shadow Abilities: [Serpentine Steel].

The Ability was new. Excited, he read its description:

[Serpentine Steel] Ability Description: "Shadow Serpent's Soul Weapon form can assume the shape of any weapon."

A crooked smile appeared on his face.

Commanding the Serpent to slither forth and assume the shape of the dark odachi, he studied the great sword for a few moments, and then gave another command. The lusterless blade suddenly flowed like black mercury, and a few moments later, he was holding a long spear in his hand.

Almost unseen on the dark wood, the scales of a long coiling body were engraved on its shaft, the spearhead shaped to resemble that of a serpent.

Sunny drew in a deep breath.

'This is perfect. This is just what I needed…'

Dismissing the predatory spear and allowing the Shadow to slither back onto his body, he looked east, where a pale lilac line had already appeared over the horizon, and smiled.

"...I should be getting back."

The new day was coming, and Sunny couldn't wait to return to the real world.

With only a few months left until it was time to challenge the Seed of Nightmare, he had a lot of things to do…