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Chapter 1944: Footsteps of War
Shadow Slave

Sunny did not miss the fact that neither Ravenheart nor her daughter had seemed to possess the lineage in the early years of the Nightmare Spell era. At the Academy, Orum had noted that Smile of Heaven and Anvil were exhibiting unexplainable physical prowess and strength... but Ki Song was not.

That was because by then, Immortal Flame had already claimed the Lineage Memory of Sun God, while Warden of Valor had already found the Lineage Memory of War God. Nighwalker, meanwhile, had most likely already gained the Lineage Memory of Storm God.

Sunny did not know how Ki Song earned the Lineage Memory of her own or where, but she definitely had not inherited a divine bloodline, like Smile of Heaven and Anvil did. Instead, she found it at some point after Awakening, just like their parents had.

Then, she followed Broken Sword into the Third Nightmare and attained Sainthood. By then, Clan Song would have already been considered one of the Great Clans.

And then, finally... after both Smile of Heaven and Broken Sword were gone... the Raven Queen would be born in the crucible of the Fourth Nightmare, cementing her power over the world.

It was admirable, really. Sunny could not help but feel awe at what that woman had achieved. He would have applauded Ki Song... if he wasn't planning to kill her, and was therefore at great risk of being killed by her first.

If anything, Sunny would have dearly preferred if his adversary was less outstanding.

He rubbed his face and sighed.

Sunny felt a little conflicted now that the enemy he had been thinking about so much had a face in his mind. Both Ki Song and Anvil — despite how valuable it was to have seen where they had come from, it was harder to hate them after witnessing them as children and inexperienced youths.

But, at the same time, it only made him resent them more. Because he had seen the world of their youth, with all its countless possibilities... and knew what they had turned it into, in the end.

Regardless...

Knowing what he now knew about Ki Song now , he felt that he could understand her actions in the war a little better, and maybe even predict what she would do next, to some degree.

Sunny looked at Cassie.

"Her Flaw..."

Although Little Ki had never confessed it to Orum, there were a few hints. Witnessing the old man's memories and knowing how her life would turn out in the future, he could make a cautious guess.

Cassie leaned back in her chair.

"It has to be connected to family, right?"

Sunny nodded.

"Right."

Back then, Ki Song had just lost her mother and faced her First Nightmare almost immediately after. There, she earned her Aspect, and her Flaw.

Her expression had changed subtly when she told Orum that she did not have a family anymore... as if she wanted to say that she would never have one again, either.

Had Ki Song adopted Seishan and other orphan girls because she was unable to have children of her own?

That would be a bitter Flaw to bear for someone that lonely, indeed.

Of course, Sunny could not be sure.

He frowned.

"That is... not exactly what I was hoping for. If that is indeed her Flaw, it won't be easy to exploit."

Cassie sighed.

"But not impossible."

Her expression turned somber.

"You did not miss it, did you?"

Sunny slowly shook his head, knowing what she was talking about.

Perhaps the most important detail of Orum's memories did not have anything to do with Ki Song, actually.

Instead, it had to do with Anvil.

Due to the fact that Ki Song had been a lonesome child and slaughtered everyone who could have known her well, there weren't any people Sunny and Cassie could seek out to learn more about her most important secrets. Even her daughters might not know much about their regal mother.

But it was different for Anvil. Orum remembered that the youngest son of the founder of Clan Valor had been entrusted to his father's comrades soon after Awakening, to be trained by them and gain experience in the Dream Realm.

Those people would know more about him than anyone else. So, if Sunny and Cassie wanted to learn the weakness of the King of Sword, they were the ones that had to be found.

Sunny stared at Cassie with a heavy expression.

"...How many members of the Warden's cohort are still alive?"

She let out a heavy sigh.

"Many prominent Awakened of the First Generation perished while trying to conquer the Third Nightmare, as you know... including Warden of Valor himself. That is why there are so few of them around. As for his cohort — as far as I know, there's only one person left. We must get to him."

Sunny lingered for a moment.

"You're not suggesting that we should kidnap Saint Jest, are you?"

Cassie raised an eyebrow.

"Why? Has the old man's amiable act fooled you?"

Sunny slowly shook his head.

"Not really."

She leaned forward a little.

"Good. Because he is more sinister than you can imagine, and probably the most prolific killer of this era. Worst of all, there are people loyal to Valor, and then there's Jest of Dagonet. His devotion to the King is absolute. So... whether we like it or not, he'll turn his malice toward us sooner or later."

Sunny looked at her with a grim expression.

"That might be true, but he is a Saint and one of Anvil's most trusted people. I doubt that he'll share what he knows voluntarily, so how do you expect us to take him without Anvil noticing?"

Cassie grimaced, then shrugged.

"The war is chaotic. There will be an opportunity, I'm sure."

Her voice sounded determined, but tired. She had been exhausted even before showing Sunny Orum's memories, and her fatigue must have only grown worse as a result.

He closed his eyes for a moment.

There was a lot to think about. He would have to go over everything he had learned, examining each event and every detail for hints he had missed. He would have to contemplate all of it deeply, as well.

Of course... Nephis would have to be brought up to speed, too.

Sunny suddenly looked at Cassie.

"These memories... will you show them to Nephis?"

She nodded silently.

A sigh escaped from Sunny's lips.

"...Good."

These scenes were merely a source of information for them.

But for Nephis, they would be something more.

She had lost her father as a young child, after all. As for her mother, Nephis had never met her at all — the only image of Smile of Heaven she had was that of a hollow shell.

Seeing them like Sunny and Cassie had seen them in Orum's memories, young and happy, would mean a lot for Changing Star... the last daughter of the Immortal Flame Clan.

Sunny sighed, feeling a little happy for Nephis.

But also a little envious of her.

After all, there was no one in the world who remembered his own parents. The only image of them that remained was hidden in his own memory, growing more blurry with each year.

Raising from his chair, Sunny threw one last look at Cassie and turned away.

"Rest well, Cas. And... good job. We indeed learned a lot today."

Leaving her chambers, he descended the stairs and exited the Ivory Tower.

Outside, the warcamp of the Sword Army was boiling with activity.

The war raged on.

In fact...

Now that both Domains had descended into Godgrave, it was about to grow much fiercer.

Shadow Slave
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Comments 29

  1. Offline
    kollosus_na
    kollosus_na
    + 6 ⋅ 0 -
    He should ask Cassie to preserve his parent memory for him. Brush the cobwebs off it, perhaps?
    Read more
  2. Offline
    Pro100zver25
    Pro100zver25
    + 8 ⋅ 1 -
    1947: Formlessness.

    Sunny's theory that mastering the remaining steps of Shadow Dance would allow him to shadow the Attributes and Aspects of other people, as well as profane powers of Nightmare Creatures, was not built entirely on pure conjecture.

    Sure, his intuition was telling him he was right, but sadly, his intuition was not what it used to be now that Sunny was cut off from fate.

    However, there was also something that corroborated his theory. A piece of information that Sunny had noted a long time ago, but never managed to explain before now.

    It was the scope of powers that the Mad Prince had seemed to possess.

    The Mad Prince, Sunny's own past self, had been a Corrupted Titan. He had attained Transcendence — or rather, descended into the abyss of Corruption — all on his own. He had also formed the Titan Core in the depths of the Tomb of Ariel, somehow, despite the dire number of shadow fragments that would have required.

    Sunny himself was currently facing the problem of how slow the process of building a new Shadow Core was, so he knew very well what the easiest way to absorb a vast amount of shadow fragments would be.

    It was to slay other shadow creatures.

    So, he had a strong suspicion that the Mad Prince had slain his own Shadows to become a Titan. Considering that none of the Shadows had been heard of by the people of the Great River, that suspicion was all but confirmed.

    So, then…

    How had the Mad Prince been able to visit Ananke in her dreams and instruct her where to meet Sunny and Nephis? If Nightmare had been killed, then he wouldn't have been able to use the black steed's [Dreamwalker] Attribute.

    Unless the Mad Prince had learned how to shadow that Attribute.

    It made sense, in hindsight. The vile madman had spent hundreds of years in the Tomb of Ariel, and while many paths to advancing his power were not available there, one path remained wide open — because it depended on nothing and no one except Sunny himself.

    It was to deepen his mastery of his own powers.

    Sunny did not know how many years exactly the Mad Prince — the last version of the Mad Prince, to be precise — had spent on the Great River. But if his mastery of weaving had grown sufficient to create the mind-boggling Estuary Key, then it must have been a long, long time.

    So, he could have mastered more steps of Shadow Dance, as well.

    Ananke must have called him a Sword Saint for a reason.

    «Crazy bastard.»

    While Sunny did not really want to follow in the footsteps of his past demented self, the Mad Prince was proof of what the future held.

    Thinking about him made Sunny feel hopeful about the potential of Shadow Dance, but also reminded him to be careful.

    «Slow and steady.»

    Taking a deep breath, he remained motionless for a few moments, and then summoned Saint, Fiend, and Serpent.

    In the next several hours, Sunny conducted a lot of different experiments. He told himself not to hurry, but his excitement and drive were too powerful. In the end, he spent more essence than he had planned to, and brought himself to greater mental exhaustion than what was wise.

    His eyes were still full of excitement, though, despite the fact that these early results were incremental at best.

    The first thing Sunny confirmed was that augmenting his Shadows was indeed an excellent method to improve the intricacy of his Shadow Manifestation. The stone-like flesh of Saint, the steel body of Fiend, and the countless shapes Serpent could assume were like a practical guide for making the shadows he manifested more sophisticated.

    Of course, it was not an instantaneous success, but rather gradual progress. Sunny would have to practice much more to elevate Shadow Manifestation to an entirely new level — in fact, the sheer amount of practice he would have to undertake was a little daunting. But that was irrelevant. The only important fact was that he had discovered a reliable and effective method of improvement.

    With that, the hardest part was already behind him… the hardest part of this one relatively minor challenge, that was.

    What came next was actually implementing this new skill to create a more faithful versions of Shadow Shells. For now, Sunny concentrated on two new prototypes — one Shell emulating the Onyx Saint, and another one emulating Fiend. The goal was not simply to copy their outward appearance and body structure, but to bring everything about these Shells closer to the originals.

    So, for the Stone Saint Shell, Sunny tried to replicate the stone-like properties of Saint's body. For the Scavenger Shell, Sunny tried to make the manifested shadows comprising it as similar to blessed steel as possible.

    It was an entirely new experience for him. He had freely manipulated the properties of his manifested shadows before, making them as hard as tempered steel or as soft as feather down, but he had never tried to emulate a material flawlessly. Augmenting the Shadows with an actively controlled incarnation was certainly of great help, but still, the process was immensely difficult and elusive.

    Nevertheless, Sunny was making good progress. He was especially attuned to the traits of Saint's stone-like body — most likely because he was somewhat familiar with them due to his own Onyx Shell. After a while, Sunny was able to make something that might not have been exactly like what he wanted to achieve, but at least resembled it closely.

    It was a good result for the first day of experimentation.

    Trying to replicate Fiend's steel carapace was somewhat harder, but Sunny had a lot of experience in emulating metals, as well. After all, one of the most persistent uses of Shadow Manifestation in his arsenal was the creation of weapons for him to wield — so, he possessed relevant experience in that field too, just on a more shallow level.

    Considering that Fiend had inherited some of his most fundamental traits by munching on Sunny's own flesh all the way back in Antarctica, there were similarities between his towering four-armed body and the Shadowspawn Shell. So, Sunny experimented both with replicating the gluttonous Shadow's form and with modifying his very first Shell to resemble it in a few ways.

    In the process, he also spent several minutes standing motionlessly, basking in the feeling of sharing a Supreme creature's ferocious power.

    Sunny had a little hope that augmenting a Supreme Devil would instantly reveal the secrets of Supremacy to him, but sadly, that was not the case. Although it was indeed a new and startling experience, Fiend was not a Sovereign.

    Creatures like him were different from humans, and followed a different path… and even though Fiend did possess a nascent will capable of influencing the world, he was too young and inexperienced to truly be in command of it. In fact, Sunny felt that his own will was infinitely more robust and domineering than that of his Shadow, even if it lost in terms of potency.

    There was also something about the very fact of being a Shadow that made Fiend different from the Great Nightmare Creatures Sunny had faced before — something that he could not quite explain, but nevertheless felt like a limitation.

    Sunny did not dwell on that vague feeling for long, adding it to the pile of unanswered and barely formed questions he would hopefully get to explore later. Instead, he returned to his current experiments.

    Next in line… was Serpent.

    Sunny turned to the serpentine Shadow and smiled widely, his eyes gleaming so dangerously that it hissed in alarm.

    A few hours later, however, Sunny furiously rubbed his temples and let out a frustrated sigh.

    «Damn it. Damn!»
    Read more
    1. Offline
      Pro100zver25
      Pro100zver25
      + 6 ⋅ 1 -
      1948: Familiar Barrier.

      Serpent was indeed of immeasurable value to Sunny in his endeavor to master the next step of Shadow Dance. Given its ability to assume the form of any shadow resting in Sunny's soul — those equal or inferior to Serpent in Class and Rank, at least — the Legacy Shadow could be used to gain access to a vast repository of shapes for its master to study in profound detail.

      As long as Sunny was using an incarnation to augment Serpent, he could experience complete unity with countless beings, from Dormant Beasts to Corrupted Terrors.

      In fact… now that Sunny considered it, wasn't Serpent's [Formless] Ability more or less identical to what he was trying to accomplish? What he wanted to achieve was to learn how to mimic not only the outward shape of a being, but also their Attributes and mystical powers. And that was what Serpent had been able to do all along.

      The final goal had been in front of Sunny all that time.

      The problem, however…

      Was that the same obstacle that had prevented him from slowly learning the essence of Serpent's forms with the help of Shadow Dance in the past was preventing him from truly delving into the state of unity with these beings now — the threat of losing himself in the formlessness, forgetting who he was and what separated him from the beings he shadowed.

      If anything, the risk was even more dire now, because he was not simply peering into the essence of the alien beings. Instead, he was fusing with them entirely, becoming one with their bestial forms.

      Sunny had managed to maintain a strong hold of his sense of self while experiencing the state of unity with Saint and Fiend — perhaps because they had been born of his Aspect and dwelled within his soul, to begin with. Augmenting Serpent was not a problem, either — it was just when Serpent used [Formless] that he was suddenly overwhelmed by the feeling of otherness.

      Sunny persisted for quite some time, then uttered a few curses and called his incarnation back. He stared at Serpent for a while with a grim expression, then clicked his tongue and looked away.

      «I am still cripplied…»

      Being banished from the Nightmare Spell and losing his True Name was still making life hard for him, even after all these years. Sunny thought that he had finally managed to adapt to his fateless existence well enough, but now that an alluring opportunity was right in front of him, his deficiency was showing its ugly head once again.

      He remained motionless for a while, then let out another resentful sigh.

      «Whatever. I'll find a way to break through this barrier eventually… there are plenty of other things for me to explore right now, anyway.»

      In fact, with everything else he had to do, diving into the endless well of knowledge contained within the [Formless] Ability of his serpentine Shadow might have been too much for him at the moment … even with seven bodies, Sunny was in no position to explore it thoroughly just yet.

      He continued to experiment with building the Stone Saint Shell and the Scavenger Shell for a while, eventually losing track of time. Sunny even chose to augment the Marvelous Mimic, becoming a transdimensional house for a short while…

      That was quite a bizarre experience, to say the least.

      If Nightmare had not been busy lulling a Cursed One to sleep, Sunny would have summoned him here, as well.

      …Eventually, something thundered in the basement, and the entire Brilliant Emporium shook a little.

      Aiko, who had been sleeping on an opulent wooden chair, flinched and floated into the air. Wiping drool off her face, she looked around in a daze.

      «What, no way! I wasn't sitting in your precious chair!»

      Noticing that there was no one around, she calmed down a little… only to notice that the door to the basement was open, revealing a dark entrance.

      An insidious voice resounded from the darkness, making her skin crawl.

      «Hey, Aiko… can you come down for a moment?»

      The petite woman hesitated a bit, suddenly uneasy.

      «Uh, boss…. actually, I have to leave… urgently. My great dog is terribly sick and my family aunt has been run over by a PTV… wait, no, the other way around…»

      The darkness spoke again:

      «It won't take long. Come down…»

      Aiko let out a heavy sigh and glided into the basement with a resigned expression.

      Her boss was sitting on the floor with a mad look on his face and a frightening glint on his eyes.

      She landed softly on the floor and scratched the back of her head.

      «Hey there, boss. I must warn you — If you finally lost it and decided that you want to eat me or some such… I'll be expecting a huge bonus come payday!»

      Sunny stared at Aiko with a dumbfounded expression.

      «…Who wants to eat you? Tsk, don't flatter yourself!»

      He shook his head.

      «Honestly, sometimes, I have no idea what is happening in that head of yours… you are such a weirdo. Anyway, don't move. I'll be quick.»

      Aiko just stared at him in disbelief, as if she had never expected to hear such an accusation coming from him.

      Sunny, meanwhile, allowed his incarnation to separate itself from Fiend.

      Then, he controlled it to glide across the floor… and wrap itself around Aiko.

      The petite girl let out a yelp.

      «Ah! What the hell?!»

      She subconsciously floated up, this time shooting almost all the way to the ceiling.

      Sunny let out a whistle.

      «So… this works, too.»

      Aiko regained her composure, landed, and looked at her small hands.

      After making them into small fists a few times, she blinked.

      «What the hell, why am I suddenly so strong?»

      Sunny took a deep breath.

      His Aspect could be used to augment himself, his Memories, his Echoes, and his Shadows. He could also augment inanimate objects, to a degree. But he had never been able to augment other living beings — with the sole exception of Nephis, whom he had been connected to by Shadow Bond before.

      Shadow Bond was no more, and although Sunny did not have a master now, he did have a connection to two other people. They were Rain and Aiko, both bearing the Mark of Shadows.

      So, Sunny had decided to see if he could augment his followers, as well.

      Amazingly, it worked.

      Which was a great thing, because keeping Rain alive in the middle of Godgrave was getting harder and harder, and would get harder still once the two armies clashed in earnest. She did not even have an Aspect, so Sunny was quite happy to find a way to boost her strength.

      Looking at Aiko — and staring at himself through her eyes — Sunny grinned.

      «Don't worry. That's just a little benefit of being a member of the Shadow Clan. Basically, I used one of my incarnations to fuse with you, thus doubling your strength. No need to stare at me with admiration…»

      The petite girl was indeed staring at him. However, the emotion in her eyes was very far from admiration.

      «F-fuse with me? Who… bastard, you have some nerve, going around fusing with unsuspecting women without permission! Thanks, but no thanks, I did not assent to fusing of any kind! Defuse me right this second!»

      Sunny blinked a couple of times, then recalled his incarnation and coughed awkwardly.

      «Right…»

      In hindsight, he could have just sent his shadow to augment Aiko without controlling it directly. He just forgot about it in all the excitement.

      «Well. That's embarrassing.»

      Sunny cleared his throat.

      «Whatever. Anyway, you can go… I'll think about giving you a bonus. A small bonus, mind you!»

      Aiko opened her mouth, wanting to retort, but he added sternly:

      «And, by the way… were you sitting in my chair?»

      The petite girl turned around and hurried upstairs.

      «I'll be going, boss! My great uncle and my family cat… I mean, my auntie and my dog… anyway, see you later!»

      Sunny scoffed and looked at his Shadows.

      After a while, he dismissed them, deciding that it was time to switch gears.

      «Next, the Memories.»

      It was time to delve into the second avenue he wanted to explore.

      The first one had to do with augmenting Shadows to advance his mastery of Shadow Dance, while the second one… the second one was inspired by the experience of fusing with Serpent in the Soul Weapon form, and had to do with Memories.

      Sunny hoped to advance his mastery of weaving by augmenting them.
      Read more
      1. Offline
        Zrilla
        Zrilla
        + 1 ⋅ 0 -
        О круто, я рад что автор не забыл про момент с тем что Санни без истинного имени может забыть себя
        Read more
  3. Offline
    Nameless Reader
    Nameless Reader
    + 8 ⋅ 3 -
    New chapters with normal padding

    Chapter 1947 — Formlessness
    https://telegra.ph/Chapter-1947--Formlessness-10-26

    Chapter 1948 — Familiar Barrier
    https://telegra.ph/Chapter-1948--Familiar-Barrier-10-26
    Read more
    1. Offline
      Turnc4406
      Turnc4406
      + 6 ⋅ 0 -
      I thought these chapters were really good. This is the difference between this book and some others out there, like the My *blank* System series. Sunny actually has to work for what he's got, while the JKS characters have it all handed to them.
      Read more
      1. Offline
        Glee Boi
        Glee Boi
        + 0 ⋅ 0 -
        Each of them have what makes them special
        Read more
  4. Offline
    James005
    James005
    + 12 ⋅ 3 -
    Chapter 1947 - Formlessness

    Sunny's theory that mastering the remaining steps of Shadow Dance would allow him to shadow the Attributes and Aspects of other people, as well as profane powers of Nightmare Creatures, was not built entirely on pure conjecture.

    Sure, his intuition was telling him he was right, but sadly, his intuition was not what it used to be now that Sunny was cut off from fate.

    However, there was also something that corroborated his theory. A piece of information that Sunny had noted a long time ago, but never managed to explain before now.

    It was the scope of powers that the Mad Prince had seemed to possess.

    The Mad Prince, Sunny's own past self, had been a Corrupted Titan.

    He had attained Transcendence — or rather, descended into the abyss of Corruption — all on his own. He had also formed the Titan Core in the depths of the Tomb of Ariel, somehow, despite the dire number of shadow fragments that would have required.

    Sunny himself was currently facing the problem of how slow the process of building a new Shadow Core was, so he knew very well what the easiest way to absorb a vast amount of shadow fragments would be.

    It was to slay other shadow creatures.

    So, he had a strong suspicion that the Mad Prince had slain his own Shadows to become a Titan.

    Considering that none of the Shadows had been heard of by the people of the Great River, that suspicion was all but confirmed.

    So, then…

    How had the Mad Prince been able to visit Ananke in her dreams and instruct her where to meet Sunny and Nephis? If Nightmare had been killed, then he wouldn't have been able to use the black steed's [Dreamwalker] Attribute. Unless the Mad Prince had learned how to shadow that Attribute.

    It made sense, in hindsight. The vile madman had spent hundreds of years in the Tomb of Ariel, and while many paths to advancing his power were not available there, one path remained wide open —

    because it depended on nothing and no one except Sunny himself.

    It was to deepen his mastery of his own powers.

    Sunny did not know how many years exactly the Mad Prince —- the last version of the Mad Prince, to be precise — had spent on the Great River.

    But if his mastery of weaving had grown sufficient to create the mind-boggling Estuary Key, then it must have been a long, long time.

    So, he could have mastered more steps of Shadow Dance, as well.

    Ananke must have called him a Sword Saint for a reason.

    'Crazy bastard.‘

    While Sunny did not really want to follow in the footsteps of his past demented self, the Mad Prince was proof of what the future held.

    Thinking about him made Sunny feel hopeful about the potential of Shadow Dance, but also reminded him to be careful.

    ‘Slow and steady.‘

    Taking a deep breath, he remained motionless for a few moments, and then summoned Saint, Fiend, and Serpent.

    In the next several hours, Sunny conducted a lot of different experiments. He told himself not to hurry, but his excitement and drive were too powerful.

    In the end, he spent more essence than he had planned to, and brought himself to greater mental exhaustion than what was wise.

    His eyes were still full of excitement, though, despite the fact that these early results were incremental at best.

    The first thing Sunny confirmed was that augmenting his Shadows was indeed an excellent method to improve the intricacy of his Shadow Manifestation. The stonelike flesh of Saint, the steel body of Fiend, and the countless shapes Serpent could assume were like a practical guide for making the shadows he manifested more sophisticated.

    Of course, it was not an instantaneous success, but rather gradual progress. Sunny would have to practice much more to elevate Shadow Manifestation to an entirely new level — in fact, the sheer amount of practice he would have to undertake was a little daunting.

    But that was irrelevant. The only important fact was that he had discovered a reliable and effective method of improvement.

    With that, the hardest part was already behind him… the hardest part of this one relatively minor challenge, that was.

    What came next was actually implementing this new skill to create a more faithful versions of Shadow Shells.

    For now, Sunny concentrated on two new prototypes — one Shell emulating the Onyx Saint, and another one emulating Fiend. The goal was not simply to copy their outward appearance and body structure, but to bring everything about these Shells closer to the originals.

    So, for the Stone Saint Shell, Sunny tried to replicate the stonelike properties of Saint's body.

    For the Scavenger Shell, Sunny tried to make the manifested shadows comprising it as similar to blessed steel as possible.

    It was an entirely new experience for him. He had freely manipulated the properties of his manifested shadows before, making them as hard as tempered steel or as soft as feather down, but he had never tried to emulate a material flawlessly.

    Augmenting the Shadows with an actively controlled incarnation was certainly of great help, but still, the process was immensely difficult and elusive. Nevertheless, Sunny was making good progress.

    He was especially attuned to the traits of Saint‘s stonelike body — most likely because he was somewhat familiar with them due to his own Onyx Shell. After a While, Sunny was able to make something that might not have been exactly like what he wanted to achieve, but at least resembled it closely.

    It was a good result for the first day of experimentation.

    Trying to replicate Fiend's steel carapace was somewhat harder, but Sunny had a lot of experience in emulating metals, as well.

    After all, one of the most persistent uses of Shadow Manifestation in his arsenal was the creation of weapons for him to wield — so, Ire possessed relevant experience in that field too, just on a more shallow level.

    Considering that Fiend had inherited some of his most fundamental traits by munching on Sunny's own flesh all the way back in Antarctica, there were similarities between his towering four—armed body and the Slradowspawn Shell.

    So, Sunny experimented both with replicating the gluttonous Shadow‘s form and with modifying his very first Shell to resemble it in a few ways.

    In the process, he also spent several minutes standing motionlessly, basking in the feeling of sharing a Supreme creature's ferocious power.

    Sunny had a little hope that augmenting a Supreme Devil would instantly reveal the secrets of Supremacy to him, but sadly, that was not the case. Although it was indeed a new and startling experience, Fiend was not a Sovereign.

    Creatures like him were different from humans, and followed a different path… and even though Fiend did possess a nascent will capable of influencing the world, he was too young and inexperienced to truly be in command of it. In fact, Sunny felt that his own will was infinitely more robust and domineering than that of his Shadow, even if it lost in terms of potency.

    There was also something about the very fact of being a Shadow that made Fiend different from the Great Nightmare Creatures Sunny had faced before — something that he could not quite explain, but nevertheless felt like a limitation.

    Sunny did not dwell on that vague feeling for long, adding it to the pile of unanswered and barely formed questions he would hopefully get to explore later.

    Instead, he returned to his current experiments.

    Next in line… was Serpent.

    Sunny turned to the serpentine Shadow and smiled widely, his eyes gleaming so dangerously that it hissed in alarm.

    A few hours later, however, Sunny furiously rubbed his temples and let out a frustrated sigh.

    "Damn it. Damn!"
    Read more
    1. Offline
      James005
      James005
      + 10 ⋅ 1 -
      Chapter 1948 - Familiar Barrier

      Serpent was indeed of immeasurable value to Sunny in his endeavor to master the next step of Shadow Dance. Given its ability to assume the form of any shadow resting in Sunny‘s soul —

      those equal or inferior to Serpent in Class and Rank, at least — the Legacy Shadow could be used to gain access to a vast repository of shapes for its master to study in profound detail.

      As long as Sunny was using an incarnation to augment Serpent, he could experience complete unity with countless beings, from Dormant Beasts to Corrupted Terrors.

      In fact… now that Sunny considered it, wasn't Serpent's [Formless] Ability more or less identical to what he was trying to accomplish? What he wanted to achieve was to learn how to mimic not only the outward shape of a being, but also their Attributes and mystical powers.

      And that was what Serpent had been able to do all along.

      The final goal had been in front of Sunny all that time.

      The problem, however…

      Was that the same obstacle that had prevented him from slowly learning the essence of Serpent's forms with the help of Shadow Dance in the past was preventing him from truly delving into the state of unity with these beings now — the threat of losing himself in the formlessness, forgetting who he was and what separated him from the beings he shadowed.

      If anything, the risk was even more dire now, because he was not simply peering into the essence of the alien beings.

      Instead, he was fusing with them entirely, becoming one with their bestial forms.

      Sunny had managed to maintain a strong hold of his sense of self while experiencing the state of unity with Saint and Fiend — perhaps because they had been born of his Aspect and dwelled within his soul, to begin with.

      Augmenting Serpent was not a problem, either — it was just when Serpent used [FormIess] that he was suddenly overwhelmed by the feeling of otherness.

      Sunny persisted for quite some time, then uttered a few curses and called his incarnation back.

      He stared at Serpent for a while with a grim expression, then clicked his tongue and looked away.

      'I am still crippled…‘

      Being banished from the Nightmare Spell and losing his True Name was still making life hard for him, even after all these years.

      Sunny thought that he had finally managed to adapt to his fateless existence well enough, but now that an alluring opportunity was right in front of him, his deficiency was showing its ugly head once again.

      He remained motionless for a while, then let out another resentful sigh.

      'Whatever. I'll find a way to break through this barrier eventually… there are plenty of other things for me to explore right now, anyway.‘

      In fact, with everything else he had to do, diving into the endless well of knowledge contained within the IFormIessJ Ability of his serpentine Shadow might have been too much for him at the moment even with seven bodies, Sunny was in no position to explore it thoroughly just yet.

      He continued to experiment with building the Stone Saint Shell and the Scavenger Shell for a while, eventually losing track of time.

      Sunny even chose to augment the Marvelous Mimic, becoming a transdimensional house for a short while…

      That was quite a bizarre experience, to say the least.

      If Nightmare had not been busy lulling a Cursed One to sleep, Sunny would Irave summoned him here, as well.

      …Eventually, something thundered in the basement, and the entire Brilliant Emporium shook a little.

      Aiko, who had been sleeping on an opulent wooden chair, flinched and floated into the air.

      Wiping drool off her face, she looked around in a daze.

      "What, no way! I wasn‘t sitting in your precious chair!"

      Noticing that there was no one around, she calmed down a little… only to notice that the door to the basement was open, revealing a dark entrance.

      An insidious voice resounded from the darkness, making her skin crawl.

      "Hey, Aiko… can you come down for a moment?"

      The petite woman hesitated a bit, suddenly uneasy.

      "Uh, boss… actually, I have to leave… urgently. My great dog is terribly sick and my family aunt has been run over by a PTV… wait, no, the other way around…" The darkness spoke again:

      "It won‘t take long.

      Come down…"

      Aiko let out a heavy sigh and glided into the basement with a resigned expression.

      Her boss was sitting on the floor with a mad look on his face and a frightening glint on his eyes.

      She landed softly on the floor and scratched the back of her head.

      "Hey there, boss.

      I must warn you — If you finally lost it and decided that you want to eat me or some such… I‘ll be expecting a huge bonus come payday!"

      Sunny stared at Aiko with a dumbfounded expression.

      "…Who wants to eat you? Tsk, don‘t flatter yourself!"

      He shook his head.

      "Honestly, sometimes, I have no idea what is happening in that head of yours… you are such a weirdo. Anyway, don‘t move.

      I‘ll be quick."

      Aiko just stared at him in disbelief, as if she had never expected to hear such an accusation coming from him.

      Sunny, meanwhile, allowed his incarnation to separate itself from Fiend. Then, he controlled it to glide across the floor… and wrap itself around Aiko.

      The petite girl let out a yelp.

      "Ah! What the hell?!"

      She subconsciously floated up, this time shooting almost all the way to the ceiling.

      Sunny let out a whistle.

      "So… this works, too."

      Aiko regained her composure, landed, and looked at her small hands.

      After making them into small fists a few times, she blinked.

      "What the hell, why am I suddenly so strong?"

      Sunny took a deep breath.

      His Aspect could be used to augment himself, his Memories, his Echoes, and his Shadows. He could also augment inanimate objects, to a degree.

      But he had never been able to augment other living beings — with the sole exception of Nephis, whom he had been connected to by Shadow Bond before.

      Shadow Bond was no more, and although Sunny did not have a master now, he did have a connection to two other people.

      They were Rain and Aiko, both bearing the Mark of Shadows.

      So, Sunny had decided to see if he could augment his followers, as well.

      Amazingly, it worked.

      Which was a great thing, because keeping Rain alive in the middle of Godgrave was getting harder and harder, and would get harder still once the two armies clashed in earnest.

      She did not even have an Aspect, so Sunny was quite happy to find a way to boost her strength.

      Looking at Aiko — and staring at himself through her eyes — Sunny grinned.

      "Don't worry. That's just a little benefit of being a member of the Shadow Clan.

      Basically, I used one of my incarnations to fuse with you, thus doubling your strength. No need to stare at me with admiration…"

      The petite girl was indeed staring at him.

      However, the emotion in her eyes was very far from admiration.

      "F—fuse with me? Who… bastard, you have some nerve, going around fusing with unsuspecting women without permission! Thanks, but no thanks, I did not: assent to fusing of any kind! Defuse me right this second!"

      Sunny blinked a couple of times, then recalled his incarnation and coughed awkwardly.

      'Right…‘

      In hindsight, he could have just sent his shadow to augment Aiko without controlling it directly. He just forgot about it in all the excitement.

      'Well. That's embarrassing.‘

      Sunny cleared his throat.

      "Whatever.

      Anyway, you can go… I'll think about giving you a bonus. A small bonus, mind you!"

      Aiko opened her mouth, wanting to retort, but he added sternly:

      "And, by the way… were you sitting in my chair?"

      The petite girl turned around and hurried upstairs.

      "I'll be going, boss! My great uncle and my family cat… I mean, my auntie and my dog… anyway, see you later!"

      Sunny scoffed and looked at his Shadows.

      After a while, he dismissed them, deciding that it was time to switch gears.

      'Next, the Memories.‘

      It was time to delve into the second avenue he wanted to explore.

      The first one had to do with augmenting Shadows to advance his mastery of Shadow Dance, while the second one… the second one was inspired by the experience of fusing with Serpent in the Soul Weapon form, and had to do with Memories.

      Sunny hoped to advance his mastery of weaving by augmenting them
      Read more
      1. Offline
        Zrilla
        Zrilla
        + 3 ⋅ 1 -
        Чувак ты конечно молодец, спасибо за главы, но не нужно выкладывать в таком качестве(
        Read more
  5. Offline
    Pro100zver25
    Pro100zver25
    + 14 ⋅ 1 -
    1946: Divine Shadow.

    Although the battle in the Hollows had dealt a heavy blow to the Sword Army, Sunny himself received quite a boon as a result of facing Revel and her true darkness. Robbed of most of his powers, he had been forced to rely on his Shadows to prevail, and discovered a new facet of his Aspect in the process.

    That timely discovery had helped Sunny defeat the daughter of Ki Song… but its repercussions were much wider than a momentary triumph. He felt that the ability to augment his Shadows and his Memories personally could potentially propel his mastery of Shadow Dance and weaving to new heights.

    In fact, Sunny suspected that he had stumbled onto one of the cornerstones of what a divine shadow like him was meant to be. Not that he was obliged to follow someone else's designs — he had done quite well by being his own independent person so far, after all, instead of acting as a loyal minion of the being casting him.

    Even if his Aspect originated directly from Shadow God, it was folly to assume that a long-dead deity had known better what its uses would be in the distant and dire future of the Nightmare Spell.

    Still, the discovery held so much promise that it left Sunny impatient, giddy with anticipation, and almost breathless. He felt something that he had not felt in a while — the pure excitement of an explorer. Even if what he was going to explore were the depths of his own power, it was still uncharted territory.

    The Lord of Shadows had returned to the Nameless Temple, and Nephis was still on her way back to the main camp of the Sword Army. So, Master Sunless had little to do for now — locking himself in the basement of the Marvelous Mimic, Sunny dedicated himself to research and experimentation.

    There were two avenues he wanted to explore.

    The first one was his newly discovered ability to augment his Shadows, which allowed him to gain a profoundly deep understanding of their physical nature. It also allowed him a glimpse into the nature of their powers and mindset, albeit to a more shallow degree — for now, at least.

    Needless to say, such a source of profound knowledge about how the bodies of his Shadows were built and functioned could potentially do wonders for his ability to construct faithful Shadow Shells, as well as push the intricacy of his control over Shadow Manifestation to a new level.

    Sunny suspected that the path to the next step of Shadow Dance lay in that direction.

    Right now, his Shells were a crude fusion of emulation and improvisation. His most natural Shell, for example, was the giant version of himself — Sunny knew his own body the best, after all, so reconstructing it was relatively easy.

    Which was not to say that it was simple. Many things went into building this powerful Shell, from deep knowledge of human anatomy, material science, and basic physics to more esoteric subjects like souls, essence, and will. Much of that complexity was miraculously solved by Shadow Dance, but the process still required a lot of conscious effort from Sunny.

    A Shadow Shell was not a perfect replica of the original, but it was close enough. For example, Sunny did not need to recreate things like the heart, the blood, and the digestive system when turning into the Shadow Colossus — however, he did need to create a semblance of things like bone structure, musculature, tendons, and so on.

    That was how the Shadow Colossus was able to move and fight effectively. The foundation was rebuilt, while all the parts that Sunny neglected to shape were substituted by the intricate use of Shadow Control, and the whole Shell was empowered by his essence.

    Of course, building such a complicated Shell required him to get inventive with using Shadow Manifestation, as well. Sunny had gotten quite adept at manifesting shadows in various ways, manipulating not only their shape, but also their physical attributes.

    He could easily control such traits of the manifested shadows as rigidity, elasticity, viscosity, density, and so on. He could make them rough or slippery, solid or fluid, dense or porous… of course, there were limits to how sophisticated these manipulations were.

    Sunny could manifest a shadow as a liquid, but he could not make it resemble water in all regards. He could make the surface of a manifested shadow slippery, but he could not turn it into actual ice. While sufficient for his purposes, his ability to finely control the physical attributes of shadows was relatively crude.

    …This was going to change now.

    While augmenting Saint, Sunny had sensed the structure and composition of her stonelike body with stunning clarity, as if it was his own. Even greater than that, really, considering the mystical nature and legendary origin of his taciturn Shadow.

    Those turbulent moments alone had given him some insight into how to improve his Shadow Manifestation and potentially build a Shell of a Stone Saint, one superior in quality and faithfulness than any other Shell he had created before. The benefit did not end there, though — on the contrary, that spark of inspiration was merely the appetizer.

    Sunny could also augment Fiend, Nightmare, and Marvelous Mimic, learning more about how their bodies were constructed. The more comprehensive examples he had to compare, the more he would be able to understand and infer, and the better his skill would eventually become.

    And there lay the source of his excitement…

    Because he had Serpent.

    And Serpent could assume the forms of thousands of creatures whose silent shadows dwelled in Sunny's soul, waiting to become fuel for his development.

    «…I've struck a jackpot.»

    What Sunny now possessed was basically a vast library of all kinds of beings, all ready to be studied and fathomed by him. From the Mountain King to the abominations of Godgrave, he could potentially learn from them all.

    And by attaining all that knowledge… who knew what Sunny would be able to achieve?

    He couldn't even imagine.

    Or rather… maybe he could.

    Standing in the basement of the Brilliant Emporium, Sunny suddenly shivered. His eyes widened a little, full of shock and fear, glistening with ambition and greed.

    «Shadow Dance.»

    He had often wondered, of course, what the final form of Shadow Dance was supposed to be. He had already mastered four of its steps, but three still remained, both alluring and elusive.

    The first four steps of Shadow Dance were about sensing the essence of a being to shadow their mind, skill, and overall form. The fourth step in particular had allowed Sunny to delve into the physical structure of creatures both deeper and faster, which allowed him to shadow them more perfectly by assuming the same shape as them through the use of Shadow Shell.

    But there was a glaring difference between the forms Sunny assumed and the beings he endeavored to shadow.

    It was that he could not replicate their Attributes, Aspects, and mystical powers.

    He could become a five-meter tall adamantine troll to resemble Fiend, but he could not breathe out jets of infernal flame.

    …But what if he could?

    If he was supposed to be a divine shadow, then what was the shadow of a god supposed to look like? Was it supposed to only replicate the general shape of the being casting it, or was it supposed to replicate more?

    All of it, perhaps?

    Overwhelmed by these thoughts, Sunny made a tentative guess about what the final form of Shadow Dance was meant to be. It was the ability to become a true shadow of a being — all of them, including their mystical powers and authorities — not just their shape.

    The fifth step of Shadow Dance, then…

    Would have to encompass the ability to shadow a being's Attributes.

    Some of them, at least.
    Read more
    1. Offline
      rekicchi
      rekicchi
      + 0 ⋅ 0 -
      If it doesn’t take more than a year to completely shadow a being, then indeed that is a Divine Aspect for you.
      Read more
  6. Offline
    DanielPlay
    DanielPlay
    + 6 ⋅ 0 -
    After a linear growth in the release time of the chapters, it seems that it is finally decreasing, it was about time.
    Read more
  7. Offline
    Uchia-Madara-Pathway
    Uchia-Madara-Pathway
    + 10 ⋅ 0 -
    Since Ki Song can't bare children, I guess she passes her divine aspect to her daughters by feeding them her blood, Like a vampire?
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    1. Offline
      Dummybaron
      Dummybaron
      + 8 ⋅ 0 -
      Can't say that about every daughter of Song, but Seishang 100% drink it
      Read more
    2. Offline
      Zrilla
      Zrilla
      + 2 ⋅ 0 -
      Ну это ещë только предположение, мы не знаем прям на 100% что Ки не может иметь детей.
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      1. Offline
        Dummybaron
        Dummybaron
        + 3 ⋅ 0 -
        Но это всё равно весьма подкреплённое некоторыми намёками предположение.
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  8. Offline
    Pro100zver25
    Pro100zver25
    + 25 ⋅ 1 -
    1945: Spreading Domains.

    The nature of war did indeed change after the invading armies of humanity conquered two of the ancient Citadels in Godgrave.

    The authority of the King of Swords now stretched from east to west, covering vast areas of the Collarbone Plain and the Breastbone Reach. Anvil had waged a terrifying battle against the inhabitants of the Hollows after arriving at the smoldering ruins of the Citadel, eventually clearing a safe area around the lake. The lake itself grew shallow and drained in a few days, though, turning into a nearly impassable marsh.

    The Sword Army established a secondary camp above the closest fissure and stationed a formidable garrison to guard the Gateway in the Hollows. From there, they started a tentative exploration of pathways to the remaining two Citadels once situated far below, in the spine of the dead deity, the other at the very edges of the Sea of Ash, on one of the titanic's skeleton femurs. Neither were easy to reach, let alone conquer. The path to the Spine Ocean was perilous and hard to navigate, while the dark waters below were home to untold horrors. The femur Citadel in the south was relatively easier to reach, especially considering that the Nameless Temple, the stronghold of the Lord of Shadows, was located on the southernmost point of the Breastbone Reach.

    However, the territory of the Cursed Tyrant, Condemnation, lay between the lands conquered by the Sword Army and the Nameless Temple. There were other Cursed Ones dwelling in the Hollows, as well even the Sovereigns did not dare to provoke those beings lightly.

    So, the conquest of the King of Swords was temporarily stalled.

    On the other side of Godgrave, the impact of the Song Army was similarly growing.

    Seishan and Death Singer had conquered the Citadel in the western part of the Collarbone Plain, finally allowing the Song Domain to descend upon Godgrave… and for the Queen of Worms to appear personally, as well.

    The battered soldiers of Song were saved from the depths of despair by the arrival of their Queen. Immediately after appearing, she slew a Great Demon and eradicated the stampede of Nightmare Creatures threatening to swallow the trapped expedition force, rescuing both the exhausted warriors and her two daughters.

    And Rain, who had been fighting on the frontline with the Seventh Legion.

    The dire pressure on the entire Song Army drastically reduced now that they were supported by Ki Song and her Domain. Their precarious position in the west of the Collarbone Plain had become nearly unassailable, and the territories conquered by them were slowly encroaching on the northern boundary of the Breastbone Reach.

    Of course, the Song Army was also aiming for the two remaining Citadels. They had almost no hope of reaching the Citadel in the south before the forces of Valor due to sheer distance, but the one in the spine of the dead deity was still within their reach.

    On paper, Song still seemed like the losing side. After all, they only controlled one Citadel in Godgrave, cornered on the western part of the Collarbone Plain. The Sword Army, meanwhile, controlled three or two and a half, if one considered the lukewarm loyalty of the Lord of Shadows its vast sphere of influence dwarfing that of Song and stretching all the way from the eastern edge of the dead deity's collarbone to the southern boundary of the Breastbone Reach.

    However, if one looked beyond the mere marking on the map, the strength of the two armies would seem more or less equal.

    While the Song Army controlled much less territory, it also possessed many more Saints. More than that, Prince Mordret was still besieging his father's Domain from the south. His seemingly inevitable march north had been halted by the tall walls of Bastion — for now but no one knew how long Princess Morgan would be able to contain the terrifying power of her traitorous brother. The outcome of the war was still uncertain, and the future of the world still hung in fragile balance.

    Which was good news for Sunny and Nephis, who needed the Sovereigns to weaken each other.

    The three leaders of the Sword Army's expedition force had temporarily parted ways.

    The Lord of Shadows was dispatched back to the Nameless Temple in order to defend it and prepare raids on the supply lines of the Song Army, just like he had been supposed to do before the fall of the House of Night. Summer Knight was left in charge of the lesser camp of the Sword Army in the Breastbone Reach.

    Nephis was eventually sent back to the main camp in order to mobilize the fresh forces there and helm the expansion of the Sword Domain's territory.

    It was then that Sunny learned a peculiar fact about the Domains — something that he had not known before.

    In his mind, the territory of a Domain had always been strictly dictated by the power of its ruler and the location of loyal Citadels. Sunny had usually imagined the influence of a Sovereign akin to his own shadow sense as a formless sphere that spread to a certain distance, centered around its source.

    Only, in the case of Supreme Domains supported by the Nightmare Spell, their source were the Sovereigns themselves, while each Citadel that belonged to them served as a powerful relay that increased the reach of their authority.

    But reality turned out to be more nuanced than that.

    Not only did the Citadels channel the power of the Sovereigns, but each of their subjects anchored at those Citadels was a vessel of their Domains, as well. At least that was what Sunny had surmised after observing the movements of both armies.

    Perhaps there was a more complicated process involved, but the truth remained the same — the more ground the soldiers gained, burning down the scarlet jungle and establishing fortified strongholds on the surface of the ancient bone, the further the reach of the Domains spread.

    The increase was minuscule when compared to the benefit of having a Citadel nearby, but still significant. Now, the previous orders of both Anvil and Ki Song made more sense to Sunny. Laboriously conquering the territory between the main warcamp and the fissure leading to the Garden Castle had not been simply for the sake of helping the army entrench itself in Godgrave and provide reliable support for the frontline fighters — it was also to help the Sword Domain stretch, uninterrupted, all the way from northeast to center of the Breastbone Reach as soon as the Citadel was conquered.

    Now that it did…

    Both armies continued to push the scarlet jungle back and claim more and more land.

    The Song Domain was spreading south, toward the territory of the Sword Domain. The Sword Domain was spreading north, toward the territory of the Song Domain.

    Which meant that the two armies were going to clash soon.

    The scarlet infestation would not be their only enemy in Godgrave for much longer.

    …There were still a few days left before that happened, though.

    And Sunny was determined to use these few days well. In particular, he hoped to thoroughly explore the unexpected benefits he had earned in the battle against Revel, pushing his mastery of weaving to a new level.
    Read more
    1. Offline
      DanielPlay
      DanielPlay
      + 5 ⋅ 0 -
      I think I missed something, but how did your weaving mastery increase during the battle against Revel? 🤔🤔🤔
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      1. Offline
        wedsonlucena
        wedsonlucena
        + 10 ⋅ 0 -
        He discovered how to merge with things like he did with saint in battle, then he can merge with weapons and increase his understanding of them I think that's it
        Read more
      2. Offline
        Elrenegat
        Elrenegat
        + 0 ⋅ 9 -
        He had to much time on his hands being useless, so he weaved during the fight
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  9. Offline
    Deathseeker
    Deathseeker
    + 12 ⋅ 1 -
    One chapter today, three tomorrow

    troll25

    What if Anvil flaw is that he must create sword in his free time otherwise he will die butwhy
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    1. Offline
      Elrenegat
      Elrenegat
      + 5 ⋅ 0 -
      If his flaw was that he had to permanently forge swords, he wouldn't have found the time to hunt monsters or challenge seeds of nightmare
      He does what he does, because he wants too, the swords are part of his power
      And if his flaw wasn't like that, he wouldn't spend his days in the forge
      No, he is in there because he wants to
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  10. Offline
    Dummybaron
    Dummybaron
    + 2 ⋅ 0 -
    One chapter today, three tomorrow.

    well nothing unusual
    Read more
    1. Offline
      DanielPlay
      DanielPlay
      + 1 ⋅ 1 -
      Every two days this nuisance happens.
      Read more
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