SHADOW SLAVE

Some time later, Sunny saw Rain out, watched as she walked away, and then calmly closed the door.

As soon as she did, however, his placid expression evaporated.

“What the hell! How come I didn’t know about this?!”

Hastily taking out his communicator, he accessed the network and searched for information about the Dream Tournament.

A few minutes later, he sat down on a chair, a little stunned.

“What is this insanity?!”

Sunny knew, of course, that Dreamscape duels were a popular form of entertainment — both among the Awakened, who participated in them, and among the mundane humans, who followed their favorite duelists and created boisterous fan clubs.

However, he had no idea that even the Great Clans paid attention to the illusory game.

Apparently, the creator of the Dreamscape held a big tournament each year, and each year, one of the Great Clans — either Valor, Song, or Night — sponsored the prize pool. Participants who managed to achieve good results were able to receive cash prizes, Memories, and even Echoes.

The rewards for the finalists were especially generous, and came directly from the Great Clan’s armory. They were also of the Ascended Rank.

Sunny trembled, his eyes burning with avarice.

‘No, no… think about it rationally…’

The Great Clans were obviously after a straightforward goal — keep an eye on the rising talents among the unaffiliated Awakened. But did it matter? Sunny had already failed to keep his fake persona under the radar. Anyone who paid attention to Dreamscape had at least heard about Mongrel.

What was there to even think about?

‘Free goodies! That’s what it is!’

Completely forgetting about his previous disdain for the tournament, Sunny got completely absorbed by the prospect of receiving Memories free of charge. He was almost drooling.

And if free Memories weren’t enough, there was another reason for why this tournament now seemed very alluring to him.

For the past months, Sunny had participated in hundreds of duels in various arenas. His goal was to absorb as many styles as possible, to reinforce the foundation of Shadow Dance and make it more efficient. This way, he hoped to achieve the next level of mastery over his elusive battle art.

Not all battle styles were made the same. Some were simple and straightforward, while others were complex and unique. The more unique a style was, the harder it was for Sunny to gain insight into its principles.

It was not like he had a magical ability to peer into the very essence of a style… this ability of his was more or less mundane, based on his own talent, mastery, and sensitivity to shadows.

So, he had been working diligently to create a sizable library of simpler styles, which would in turn improve his capacity to discern the patterns of more complicated ones with sufficient speed. After all, all styles were constructed out of the same basic elements. The more basic patterns he knew, the easier it was to understand various styles on the fly.

However, the quality of his opponents in the Dreamscape arenas was not that high… for obvious reasons. True talents had better things to do than play games. Most of them also belonged to Legacy clans, who lived by a different set of rules.

In the world of Legacies, strength and talent were not something to boast about. Renown only served to make the enemy aware of your weaknesses. In that regard, hidden tigers of the Legacy clans were very much like Sunny, remaining in the shadows until it was time to deliver a lethal strike.

That was why his progress had stalled lately. These days, the only worthy opponents he could find were a few rare eccentrics and a rare gem here and there, not nearly enough to satiate Mongrel’s hunger for a variety of distinct battle styles.

What’s more, at the highest levels of Awakened battle skill, styles were not only about physical movements and mindset anymore. They weaved unique patterns of essence control into the technique, too, which Sunny couldn’t perceive and was only able to infer from indirect clues. Sadly, he wasn’t exposed to a lot of opponents practicing such styles in the arenas.

…The tournament was going to change that, however. With the valuable prizes added into the mix, people who would usually not waste time in the Dreamscape were bound to show up, lured by the scent of rare Memories and Echoes. Even people from lesser Legacy clans would, without a doubt, be tempted to participate.

A powerful Ascended weapon or armor could change their lives, too.

So, Sunny could kill two birds with one stone. Compete for these prizes and enrich his library of styles at the same time.

‘Forget it! I’d be a fool to miss this chance…’

Even knowing what a headache it would be to bring even more exposure to Mongrel, Sunny couldn’t let such an opportunity go. Plus, he had some free time while Effie and Kai were traveling to the Chained Isles.

Scrolling through the feed, he started reading everything he could find about the upcoming tournament.

***

Several days later, Sunny locked the door of his house, descended into the basement, and approached the Dreamscape pod.

As soon as he entered the fake black void, the familiar pleasant voice greeted him:

“Welcome back to the Dreamscape, Challenger Mongrel!”

Sunny didn’t pay attention to it and briefly looked at his status.

“Mongrel”

“Victories: 813”

“Defeats: 0”

With a quiet sneer, he turned to several images floating in the boundless darkness in front of him.

These were the arenas he had access to, and by now, there were significantly more of them than had been there at the start. Today, however, the list looked different.

The images of the arenas were pushed to the sides, and a new one appeared in the very middle. It was completely white, with a golden shape of an olive wreath depicted beneath two shining words:

“Dream Tournament”

Sunny lingered for a moment, summoned the Mantle of the Underworld and Weaver’s Mask, and then stepped toward the image.