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nPrepare for appraisal…

nSunny found himself in a space between dream and reality. It was an endless black void illuminated by a myriad of stars. Between those stars, countless strings of silver light were woven into a beautiful and inconceivably complex net, forming various nexuses and constellations. It was truly breathtaking.

nSomehow, Sunny understood that he was seeing the inner workings of the Nightmare Spell. He also couldn’t help but think that it looked a lot like the celestial equivalent of a neural network. If so… was the Spell alive?

nThis was a question that countless people had been asking themselves for the past few decades. The best answer they had come up with was that there was no way to know. The Spell was neither alive nor dead; neither sentient nor mindless.

nIt was more of a function than a creature.

nBut Sunny was in no mood to ponder philosophical questions. He was eagerly awaiting his boon.

nThe Spell was still appraising his performance. However, the first reward had nothing to do with it.

nYou have received a Memory: Puppeteer’s Shroud

n‘Yes!’

nSunny felt incredibly elated. He was almost ready to do a happy dance. That Memory belonged to Mountain King, who was an awakened tyrant — which meant that the Memory itself was of the Awakened rank. Getting it was a stroke of incredible luck!

nThere were seven ranks to everything in the Spell. These ranks were, in order of growing power: Dormant, Awakened, Ascended, Transcendent, Supreme, Sacred and Divine (with the exclusion of Nightmare Creatures, who were ranked as Dormant, Awakened, Fallen, Corrupted, Great, Cursed and Unholy).

nFrom the Spell’s point of view, Sunny was a dormant human. Having a Memory of a higher rank than his own soul core would be of great help once he enters the Dream Realm. The power gap between different ranks simply could not be overestimated.

nHe wanted to take a look at the Puppeteer’s Shroud, but there was no more time. The Spell was done with its appraisal.

nHere in the void, its voice didn’t sound subtle and familiar anymore. Rather, it seemed like the universe itself was speaking. Sunny held his breath, listening.

nAspirant! Your trial is over.

nA nameless slave ascended the Black Mountain. Both heroes and monsters fell by his hand. Unbroken, he entered the ruined temple of a long-forgotten god and spilled his blood on the sacred altar. The gods were dead, and yet they listened.

nYou have defeated a dormant beast: Mountain King’s Larva.

nYou have defeated three dormant humans, names unknown.

nYou have defeated an awakened human: Auro of the Nine.

nYou have defeated an awakened tyrant: Mountain King.

nYou have received the Shadow God’s blessing.

nYou have achieved the impossible!

nFinal appraisal: glorious. Your treachery truly knows no bounds.

nThat final part was not really necessary, as far as Sunny was concerned, but he was still pretty satisfied with the praise from the Spell. He felt like his chances of evolving his Aspect to an Awakened, or even Ascended one were pretty high.

nHis overall power was still dependent on the rank of his soul core, which would remain dormant until much later, but the rank of the Aspect itself would do wonders for his overall potential.

nDreamer Sunless, receive your boon!

nHe was an Aspirant no more. Sunny grinned.

nYou have been bestowed a True Name: Lost from Light.

nHis jaw dropped. A true name! He had received a true name! Never in his wildest dreams did Sunny dream of becoming one of the chosen few to accomplish such feat — and in his very first Nightmare to boot! Not even all of the Saints could boast of having one. He was an elite now, a bonafide cream of the crop! He was going to be rich!

nBut the rewards kept coming.

nYour Aspect is ready to evolve. Evolve Aspect?

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n‘What kind of a question is that?!’

nSunny crossed his fingers and said “yes”.

nDormant Aspect Temple Slave is evolving…

nNew Aspect acquired.

nAspect Rank: Divine.

nSunny fell over.

nAspect Name: Shadow Slave.

n***

n‘Divine… it’s Divine.’

nSunny was standing on his knees, stupefied. The shock was so great that for a second there he lost all control over his limbs and fell.

n‘It said “divine”… right?’

nHe raised a trembling hand and rubbed his eyes, making sure that he was awake. Or rather conscious, since, technically, he was still sleeping in the underground vault of the police station.

nConfused by all this terminology, Sunny silently summoned the runes and found the lines describing his aspect.

nAspect: Shadow Slave.

nAspect Rank: Divine.

nAspect Description: You are a miraculous shadow left behind by a dead god. As a divine shadow, you possess plenty of strange and wondrous powers. However, your existence is empty and lonesome; you mourn the passing of your former master and long to find a new one.

nInnate Ability: Shadow Bond.

nAbility Description: Find a worthy master and let them know your True Name. Once they recite it out loud, you will be bound to their will, unable to disobey any command. It is improper for a shadow, let alone a divine one, to walk around without a master.

nThat was… a lot to digest.

nFirst of all, Sunny felt his heart beating faster. He heard it right! All the suffering and horror he had experienced in the First Nightmare paid off in the end. A divine Aspect, he had received a divine Aspect! Anything above Awakened was rare and immensely valuable!

nPeople with Ascended Aspects were rare enough to be fought over by various factions. The factions themselves were built around singular powerhouses with Transcendent or Supreme Aspects. And he had never, ever heard of anyone acquiring a Divine one. Never!

nAnything with the “divine” prefix was so hard to find that it mostly lived in the realm of myths and legends. After all, the human race had not reached that high yet; it was only slightly more than a decade since humans managed to finally conquer the Third Nightmare and receive the ability to evolve their cores to Transcendent rank.

nAs Transcendents — or Saints, as they were called in the real world — powerful Awakened ruled over the Dream Realm, but even they did not dare to face Nightmare Creatures of higher ranks. Subsequently, there were not a lot of Memories and Echoes of Supreme rank around, let alone Sacred… or Divine. The same went for Aspects.

nAnd yet Sunny just got one!

nHe grinned, driven half-mad by joy and arrogance. However, his jubilation was a little muddied. After all, there was that weird innate ability. Of course, he had no intention of becoming someone’s magical slave, with no free will of his own. To hell with that!

nBut it wasn’t that bad. All he had to do to avoid that fate was to conceal his True Name. No one except for him could see his status. That meant that Sunny just had to keep his mouth shut, and no one will know that he even had one.

nIt meant giving up on all the benefits that someone who was bestowed a True Name after the First Nightmare was entitled to, but it all paled in comparison with a Divine Aspect.

n‘Not a problem,’ Sunny thought with a smirk.

nIf the Spell had the ability to laugh, it would surely do so after hearing his thoughts. However, it didn’t. Instead, it began to speak again:

nThe First Seal is broken.

nAwakening dormant powers…

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