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nAs soon as Elder Jax left, Liam mustered enough strength in his body to sit upright

nHe struggled for a minute, before laying his back against the wall.

nHe took the pills the Elder put beside him and swallowed them.

nHis mental energy and strength returned to a good enough amount.

nSlowly, Liam ran his fingertips across the surface of his bare, tattooed body.

n‘At least it doesn’t look bad. It’s to my taste even. But would it remain even with my Ashura form?’

nLiam could only hope it would, otherwise he wasted both time and his mental health.

nThen, Liam shifted his perception to the Shadows.

nHe could feel them, albeit faint and vaguely.

nThe Shadows further away were out of his perception, and their connection faded due to the distance.

nBut those near him were much more noticeable.

nIt was like another organ.

nNot a center of power, of course, since that would make Liam a monster with five organs capable of gaining strength.

nThe strongest connection of all was his own Shadow.

nHe could feel its presence in real time, as though it was breathing together with him.

nIt was no surprise, since all the Ten Thousand Shadows Art did was form a connection between its user and the darkness.

nLiam could also feel depth in the Shadows.

nThey were like a hidden sea that rippled with every movement.

nAs of now, his own Shadow felt incredibly thin and shallow compared to the surrounding darkness.

n‘Let’s see.’

nLiam began to explore the sensation and attempted to move the Shadow.

nA few minutes passed with him fiddling around with it.

nThe Shadow didn’t move at all.

n‘Is it because the Inkshadow Tattoos aren’t working yet?’

nLiam closed his eyes and focused.

nHe felt the rhythmic beating of his sensitive heart, the flowing of blood through his veins, the feeling of light air against his pale skin.

nLiam brushed past all the unnecessary senses and discarded them, like picking apart the petals of a flower.

nAfter a few minutes passed, Liam no longer felt anything, leaving only the Shadow in his perception.

nNow, Liam could slightly control it, like he’d grown an ethereal third hand, mendable to any shape.

nThe Inkshadow Tattoos on Liam’s body were starting to flicker from blue to jet-black, signaling the activation of his abilities.

nLiam willed it, and the Shadow slowly crawled on his body.

nWhat was Shadow made of? 𝚍ｎ𝚘ｖ𝚕．𝚘𝚛𝚐

nIt was simply the absence of light.

nThey were neither gaseous, liquid or solid.

nYet, as the Shadows wrapped around Liam’s figure, he felt a weightless material enshroud him, neither cold nor warm.

nWherever it covered, Liam felt a tiny bit stronger.

nHe also slightly blended in with the darkness of the room.

nWhen the lower half of his body was coated by his Shadow, he couldn’t stretch further to cover more of his body.

nLiam gathered all the Shadow in his body and wrapped it around his clenched fist.

nLiam smiled.

nLiam took out a Rank 3 Spirit Beast part from his ring.

nWith his uncoated hand, he attempted to snap the rigid, white bone in half.

nA few cracks formed on the bone’s surface, but Liam was unable to break it.

nThen, Liam tried to do the same thing with his Shadow infused hand.

nCRACK!

nThe bone snapped!

nElder Jax had explained the process to Liam a few days before he did the procedure.

nThe Dark Star had absorption abilities.

nThe more Shadows and light Liam had absorbed, the deeper, longer, and powerful his Shadows would grow.

nAnd so would their capabilities.

nAt one point, even weapons could be coated with Shadow.

nHowever, none of the Acolytes, Disciples or Shadows had this ability.

nOnly a darkness user like Liam could accomplish such a feat.

nUnlike others’ Shadow abilities that were expendable… Liam’s Shadow was not!

nIt was a fixed amount he could manipulate however he wanted.

nShadows enhanced, strengthened and even heightened perception.

nIf Liam could understand the sea of Shadows surrounding him, he could pinpoint the exact movement, weight and size of an individual from long distances away.

nWas this the same as mental energy?

nNo.

nIf someone used their mental energy to sense or watch someone, the cultivator being sensed would instantly know.

nEven regular humans could sometimes feel like they were being watched if they felt a gaze on them.

nAlthough there were exceptions to the rule, mental energy in general could not be hidden, except to mask one’s own presence.

nHowever, the Shadows were different.

nShadows were everywhere and anywhere, a product of darkness.

nIt co-existed with light, like two sides of the same coin.

nNo matter how bright or luminous an area was, there was bound to be darkness there.

nLiam continued to practice with the Shadows, attempting to absorb it into his Inkshadow Tattoos.

nHowever, without Elder Jax teaching him how to do so, he couldn’t figure out how.

n‘Until tomorrow then. I’ll practice with it in the meantime.’

nAt the same time, Liam quickly realized the effects of the Dark Star on his mind.

nLittle whispers that scratched the back of his head.

nLiam blinked.

nAnd for a second, Eve appeared in the room, skin purple, skull devoid of eyes, a vicious bruise on her lithe neck.

nLiam blinked again in shock.

nEve was gone.

nAs his shock settled down, Liam grimaced deeply.

n‘Is this what the Dark Star does?’

nIn truth, hallucinations were rare with the Dark Star’s effects.

nIt largely depended on the user’s mental fortitude to resist them.

nHowever, with so many tattoos on his body, even someone with Liam’s endurance couldn’t resist those effects.

nLiam had already mourned his mother’s death, yet he couldn’t help but feel momentary regret at her sight.

nThe path of cultivation was incredibly isolating and lonely.

nLiam had lost his mother due to his weakness.

nHe had migrated to a foreign land in order to escape from higher powers.

nHis teachers were no longer with him.

nLloyd. Rogan. Revel.

nRevel had already died, but Liam didn’t know of Lloyd and Rogan’s fates.

nYet, even if they were alive, he couldn’t meet with them.

nThis was the price of power.

nBut Liam was resolved to pay.

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