Yet another magic exploration chapter; Shadow becomes someone's golden finger for a moment.
Alpha was watching the illuminated place nervously.
Master Shadow said he was going to be training here, but what she found was… Well, whatever these shining things were. Upon inspection Eta clarified that these are some kind of artifacts, and judging by magic signature, they were made by Shadow himself, and then asked to take some of them for further research. Alpha even thought she saw their scientist salivating at the mere thought of taking something that had Master Shadow's scen- cough, cough, trail.
Well then, it's obvious what their Master was working with here. Question: where is he now? Because they can see the results of his work, but can't see him.
Oh, it also attracted attention of both princesses. As the time passes, Cid breaks their "hunting in shadows" motto more and more… Alpha wanted to press them, saying that they should not partake in business like that, but then Eta noted that the only purpose of these artifacts is… to shine. That was their whole purpose. To emit light.
Naturally, it disappointed Midgar's forces that thought it was something like Goddess' Trial… Hmm, if they thought so, them this Goddess' Trial should be researched upon… In short, princesses retreated.
And now they had to find their Master, that once again disappeared somewhere…
Wait, what is this?
Right in front of them shadows started moving, converging into a single point. Soon enough even the artifacts' light was unable to disperse the mass of darkness, but before they could assume fighting position…
"Whew, now that was a wild ride! Gotta do that again sometime later…"
Their beloved Master Shadow stepped out of darkness.
Hours before Shadow appeared…
"Alright, what the hell is this?"
Cid was looking around… Well, looking was not the right word. Once he quite literally sank into shadows after a little brainstorm, he found himself… In the same place but completely dark and colorless like these pseudo-VHS analog horrors he saw in his previous life. He also could not see any animal life that was present in the normal world, so he concluded it was quite literally a shadow world; shadow world mimics the real world but lacks its… how to say that… liveness? If he had to guess, that's because plant life doesn't move from spot to spot and stands in one place, allowing a more detailed and stable shadow to appear. Though…
Some kind of shadow-like figures slowly moved towards him.
Yeah, looks like he was wrong about this place not having any life. It does have its own life, but it's kinda shady. Get it? Shady, because the are shadows in the world of shadows!… Well, he was never good in puns as it was not required to become Eminence in Shadows, so it is what it is. Right, monsters. He still doesn't know what their intentions are. Maybe try to initiate contact like with these light guys?
Check, check, check…
Oh, they're not outright hostile, just curious at a new being in this place. As it turns out, they did not have any kind of guests since… Well, since time immemorial, so they were just sitting here. They did not have boredom, though, as in they were some kind of spirits, so they were focused on their conceptual goal, that is, being shadows. They lamented the fact that they couldn't be in material world, but nothing more than that. Oh, they also conveyed that his is not, per say, real Shadow Dimension. Where they are right now is merely a connecting point between real world and true Shadow Dimension. Which means he has to dive deeper.
Well, he will do that later. As of now he wants to have fun in this "connecting point". Oh, he mentioned that this dimension is completely dark, so how does he see, you may ask? Well, these artifacts he made with spirits of light were shining through dimensions, so it brigthened the place up. Not by much, but enough for him to see without using magic, which is cool. The mana in this place was also kinda strange, like… Yeah, a shadow of what is in real world. And when he tries to absorb it, his body rejects it? Hmm, how strange…
Alright then, he will sit here and try to do something with this mana.
This energy is very similar to mana in normal world, but it is kinda… polar opposite? Then why doesn't it actually get attracted to his normal mana? As far as he knows polar opposites attract, no? Hang on, let's release his own mana… Yep, the moment his mana went out of his body it got immediately swarmed by this world's mana, and he could even see entities of this place trying to get it. Then why doesn't it go to his body? Is this some kind of incompatibility?
Alright, let's try the air's method then; he will spread his own mana into surroundings, mix these polar manas together, and then try absorb the result. He even has an idea how to do that…
Cid made a sphere with his hands and slowly released his mana to the center of it. Shadow Mana immediately converged, forming a compressed sphere. However, the longer he released his own mana, the less "eager" converging process became, until it completely halted. Now he had a mixed sphere of mana, and he wanted to do something really outrageous with it.
You see, what do magic users in this world have is some kind of magic vessels. They do not try to forcefully absorb mana into themselves (well, with the exception of these strange guys that gulped these strange drugs down) and completely rely on what their own reserves grant them. Of course, these reserves still passively take in the world's mana, but in the process it gets purified until it comes to user's body standard. Whenever Cid forcefully takes in the mana, it does not get purified and is way harder to control, which gives probability of Magic Overload. Of course, if you get past that, you will receive a nice bonus to your reserve, but it's really painful, even for him.
What Cid now wants to do, however, is completely different. Using Magic Overload to increase your potential? Yes, this world may have some counterparts to his technique. But taking in a large amount of mana and creating a new organ with it that will allow you to use exactly this kind of mana with no problems? He should be the trailblazer here!
Correct, he wanted to insert this Shadow Sphere into his own body and make a new organ out of it. In theory, it should go smoothly. If he tried to create Sphere of another kind, for example fire, he would probably die if something goes wrong because this element will kill him. But Shadows? Shadows turned out to be almost the same kind of mana, minus the polarity. The worst it will do is force Magic Overload on him, and he knows how to manage that.
Alright, now he needs to prepare the place for that Sphere. He slowly guided his magic into the desired place and started smelting the pathways.
And when he says "smelting", he means literally smelting. His magic went to the solar plexus (yes, very hard choice, but he didn't have any better place) and made another sphere, now out of his normal mana. Next he slowly created some kind of channels that connected the newly made sphere with his body. Why does he do this when he can just absorb it into his reserve, you may ask? Because once he does that the mana will mix and over time his body will simply purify it to standard condition. What he wants to do there is to create a second mana reservoir that will carry and generate the mana of Shadow World. If he succeeds in that, it will open up an insane amount of roads for him, like the ability to use whatever element he wants regardless of whether or not the current environment has it. In theory he will also not need to mix mana with the element, because he will be already attuned to mana of that element. In short, really cool!
Alright, he made the pathways and a vessel. Now why did he mix his mana with Shadow World's mana if he needs pure Shadow Mana for his second reservoir? Because otherwise Shadow Mana refuses to even enter the body. Once he has a Sphere, though, he might be able to suck it in and then purify to the world's standard.
Tch, auch! Alright, now that is painful! Bear with it, Cid, no pain, no gain!
Cid slowly injected mixed mana sphere into his body . There was some resistance, but otherwise it went fine! And once he finally connected it to the newly made mana vessels…
"Yes!…"
Once Sphere touched his freshly made vessels, it immediately stationed itself at the center of reservoir as its mana flowed through the channels that were prepared for it. As the mana flowed, it was quickly absorbed into the structure, making it firmer and more suited for the Shadow Mana. Once the process was finished, however…
"Where did it go?"
The Shadow Sphere and everything related to it disappeared. No, not disappeared, it was… In shadow of his normal mana? He couldn't quite explain that, but if before that his material body was normal, now it was kinda doubling in magic vision. If you simply glance at him, everything will look normal, but the more you gaze into his body, the more you realize how wrong it is. It was almost like deep inside his seemingly normal human body there was something… Something dark. And it was waiting. Waiting for his command.
As Cid connected to the feeling, he finally realized what, exactly, happened. Shadow World exists in the shadows of material world. And he is material. So Shadow Mana upon properly connecting with him and getting a vessel from him simply created something similar to it; now he has his normal mana and body, Shadow Mana that occupies the Sphere, and mana vessels that connect all of this like the connecting dimension between real world and shadow world.
That's… actually neat! Now he doesn't have to worry about finding a place in his body for new type of mana! Not only that, but upon receiving this kind of… evolution, so to say, his senses were expanded. Before that there was something obstructing his view in the Shadow Dimension, as if he was not welcome here. Now, however, everything cleared up. He was warmly greeted as the sole connecting point between real world and shadow world. And now he could actually see all the ways where he can enter deeper and exit back.
Of course, he went deeper.
He still needs to get the purest Shadow Mana to fill his new system, after all!
"And now I am almost lost."
Even with his brand new senses and mana the fact was clear: as of now, his body was simply not adapted enough for this kind of environment. He frequently lost himself in the deeper parts of Shadow Realm, and the entities that inhabited it… were way more hostile that ones in connecting point. It was no problem for him to fight them, actually, but the moment he killed one he was literally swarmed by the others, and he still wanted to actually research this place, so he went back to connecting point and re-emerged in a different part of Shadow Realm.
Of course, that didn't stop him at all. Once he found a somewhat quiet place (the concepts of sound and vision didn't even exist there to be fair, so he relied on his magic sense to actually make sense of the "surroundings"), he started calibrating his Shadow Core (yes, very cool name, he knows). First he attuned it to the surrounding mana, then he tried to absorb it. As expected, his body rejected the foreign mana, but this time he could actually feel… something like a burn on the places where it touched him. Obviously, Shadow Mana of this purity was completely incompatible with his material body… But once he placed his Shadow Vessels at the front, oh, that when it went great!
Shadow Mana immediately rushed into his secondary reservoir, and instead of purifying it as normal, he allowed the incoming mana to wash out whatever traces of his own mana were left in the Core. He firmly grasped on the slowly weakening connection with Shadow Core, and the moment the last drop of his man was washed away from it, it was almost like he lost it. But he immediately pulled it on himself, and then he felt.
He felt the Shadows themselves. He felt how the world around him immediately turned its full attention to him. He felt how previously hostile shadow entities turned into the most friendly puppies that surrounded him in curiosity.
And he felt how the biggest entity rushed towards him.
Cid watched as the shadow entity in front of him tried to intimidate him. A grin appeared on his face as the previously foreign shadows slowly covered his entire being, merging with his slimesuit and bringing it back to life.
"My name is Shadow," they did not understand the words, but they understood the meaning he wanted to convey. And they listened closely.
His slimesuit slowly formed into his signature coat.
"I lurk in the shadows," he stood up, encompassed in flames of dual mana, as the entity finally realized who it tried to fight against.
Shadows connected with a part of his slime, forming a darkest sword, darker than whatever he tried to create before.
"And I hunt down the shadows."
For the first time ever, Shadow Realm saw light.
The light of Shadow's crimson eyes.
"Oh-ho, so your Sect tries to covet the treasures of Heaven and Earth! Blasphemy! Hmph, kowtow three times, then I may be benevolent enough to leave your corpse intact!"
"Even though our Sect is overall weaker compared to your Family, do not think of us as pushovers! If we fight all-out, even your Family will be damaged in the process! And what will your enemies do after that… Hmph!"
"It seems you have eyes but cannot see Mt. Tai! Good, good, good! You had a road to Heaven in front of you, but you had to barge at the gates of Underworld!"
Everyone around them stared with bated breaths. These were the strongest experts of their respective regions, capable of shattering the earth itself with their mere strikes! And they were fighting for the treasure that might allow one to breakthrough to the mythical Immortal Realm! But there was a third side.
A group from the fabled Central Region, disciples from the strongest sect in the world! Legends have it that their Sect Master was Half-Step Immortal, capable of completely eradicating a chain of mountains in a single swoop! They wanted to get their hands on the treasure, too! The Sect Master himself with three of their strongest Elders went out to make sure no harm shall befall upon their disciples and they secure the treasure!
In short, it was obvious that they will get what they wanted. Two other groups can only sigh in pity and take whatever Central Region's disciples leave for them.
But at this moment…
The sky cracked.
"What is going on?!"
"Is that Heaven's Punishment?!"
Everyone's stares went into the sky.
A large dark crack was slowly stretching in all dimensions. It was horrifying enough for normal cultivators, but experts watched in horror as their developed senses showed them an even more terrifying picture!
"Q-Qi of Darkness!"
Was that an invasion from Demon World?!
And then sky shattered.
Onlookers watched as gigantic beast rapidly descended from the sky. No, not descended, it was falling! Falling down on them!
Experts watched in horror as the beast's dark aura completely immobilized them. They could only stand there and wait for their inevitable demise.
Crash!
The place was completely destroyed by the landing, killing all the world's strongest experts in nothing more but a mere aftershock.
Beast of Darkness let out its last wail as it slowly evaporated, having lost its last strength. At the last moment, it looked upon the one who killed it.
A man clad in shadows themselves, his crimson eyes indifferently watching over it. Whatever shred of intelligence Beast had, it finally realized.
'If I simply swore loyalty, I would not end up like that…'
Its body completely disappeared in the air.
The man in shadows looked over the place and then turned, going back into the void. As he entered, the crack finally closed off, allowing the world to breathe in peace once more.
A youth from the destroyed village slowly walked over the place. The village was pillaged by the so-called righteous cultivators, and the youth had nothing left but hate. As the collision completely killed off them all, the youth only cheered.
Then the place of landing came into view.
The sword made of Darkness itself stood proudly, seemingly uncaring about the world around it.
Beneath it, a necklace was shining brightly, dwarfing even the sun itself.
And near them lied an Ancient Scroll.
The youth hesitated briefly before coming closer.
'What would it bring being good if you have no power to back it up?…'
And the youth took a new path.
"Whew, now that was quite a wild ride!"
Cid finally emerged back into his world. He got in a fight with this so-called Biggest Shadow Entity and was completely disappointed. It didn't give him any challenge whatsoever! And then he accidentally made an exit with one of his attacks, sending poor spirit flying into material world. He briefly looked around to make sure it would not do any harm, and upon confirming that the place was quite desolate and the spirit dissipated into air went back into Shadow Realm before the crack closed off. Then he decided that it was enough experiments for today and headed back, realizing in the process that he no longer needed connection point to move between real world and Shadow Realm.
"Gotta do that again sometime later…" he muttered. Well, it was fun!
"Do what, Master Shadow?"
"Oh, hey, Alpha."
It's gonna be alright, right? She's not gonna scold him that much, right?
"…Let's just go back to our base and you will tell us what, exactly, were you doing," Alpha sighed.
"Sure, lead the way," well, at least that's better than getting scolded in the… middle of night? Oh, damn, now he understands why she's so pissed. He missed the dinner with them!
'Wait, I think I forgot something… Oh, yeah, I threw away the slime sword together with the spirit… Eh, no biggie, it's not like that will have any consequences…'
