43: Objective Achieved

Jonathan watched the entire process of Sunny obtaining the drop of ichor, absorbing it, and suffering that terrible pain.

When Sunny had obtained his second shadow core, he mentioned that the pain he experienced when creating his new core was less intense than the pain from absorbing the drop of ichor. This was why Jonathan did not steal Sunny's ability, to avoid altering the novel's canon too much.

He observed the process of his friend's integration with the drop from start to finish, hoping Sunny would now acquire the attribute that would serve him for the rest of his life.

...

After several minutes of agony, Sunny got back up. The fear and excruciating suffering in Sunny's soul was palpable, something Jonathan could understand, at least to some extent.

"Don't be afraid; you're not a nightmare monster now. You're still Sunless." Jonathan reassured his friend, who feared he had made a foolish decision and become a monster.

Sunny slowly opened his eyes and, not seeing any changes in his body, turned his vision to his shadow and inspected himself from head to toe.

Calmed down, he turned his head towards Jonathan, feeling resentment. Jonathan had caused all that pain, and he would make him pay.

"YOU!" Sunny exclaimed, walking toward Jonathan.

His steps stopped abruptly as he seemed to be repeatedly reading something.

"Did something good happen, Sunless?" Jonathan asked.

Doubtful and confused, Sunny replied, "I just got an attribute, and one is ready to evolve." He looked up at Jonathan and spoke again.

"What the hell did you do to me?"

"Something that will benefit you greatly. Look at your armor," Jonathan said confidently as he watched Sunny open his eyes wide when he looked at his armor.

Beneath the surface of the gray fabric, five embers glowed with an ethereal light. Each one represented a nexus and an anchor of countless diamond threads extending to different parts of the armor, weaving an intricate, elaborate, and unpredictable pattern.

It resembled the inner void of the Spell, only on an infinitely smaller scale.

However, Sunny was surprised to discover that he somehow understood the pattern. Newly discovered innate knowledge helped him sense the logic behind the seemingly chaotic placement of the strings, a defined purpose behind every twist and turn. They were meant to achieve certain effects... durability, resistance... and another more complex type of protection.

Before continuing this line of thought, Jonathan pulled him out of his mind and said, "It seems to have worked. You'd better enter your soul sea, Sunny." Jonathan said, looking at his chest where his shadow core was.

Intrigued and apprehensive, Sunny entered the Soul Sea. A familiar, dark expanse of calm water appeared before his mind. There was the towering Shadow Core, the shining satellites of his Memories, and the strange sensation of something moving beyond the periphery of his vision.

Out of habit, Sunny turned his head to try to see that something, knowing he would see nothing.

However, this time he did.

With a cry of surprise, Sunny shuddered and lost his balance.

'What the hell! What the hell!

Out there, in the darkness, at the edge of the dim light cast by the shining Memories, stood immobile black figures. They were shadows... shadows of creatures he had killed.

There was a shadow resembling the broad-shouldered, bloodied-back slave whose name Sunny never bothered to learn. His figure was deformed and horrible, having transformed into a killing beast after becoming the host of the Mountain King's Larva. Sunny had then strangled the Larva.

The shadow of the Mountain King himself loomed over him, as dreadful and abhorrent as the tyrant had been when he was still alive. Sunny shuddered, remembering escaping the terrible creature's grasp.

The shadow of the cruel slaver who had whipped him was also there, standing next to the tyrant. This was the first, and so far the only, human whose life Sunny had ended with his own hands. He had even stolen the dead man's boots and cloak.

On either side of them were other shadows. The colossal, shell-covered scavengers stood silently, their pincers lowered to the ground. Among them was the savage silhouette of a fearsome centurion, surrounded by giant centipedes, bulbous knots of carnivorous worms, and a few strange man-eating flowers.

Every being that had fallen by Sunny's hand was there in shadow form. Or, to be more precise, every being whose shadow fragments he had absorbed.

Even though the shadows had no eyes, he couldn't help but feel that they were all looking at him...

Silent, immobile. Watching.

Feeling chills run down his spine, Sunny swallowed and stood up, his legs trembling slightly. Discovering that a small army of dead shadows had appeared within his Soul Sea was not the most pleasant surprise. Especially if those shadows once belonged to creatures he had personally killed.

He gritted his teeth.

'Can I repeat... what the hell is this?!'

***

Jonathan watched Sunny's still body as he waited for him to check all the new things he could do with his new attribute.

Among them was the improvement in memory descriptions; now he could see the level, the charms, and the descriptions of the charms, he could see the internal weave of the memories, and his blood was now more stubborn and therefore less likely to bleed out.

These were indeed very good abilities, and he would have gladly stolen them if he didn't care about changing fate. But if that happened, his knowledge would be wasted, so he could only maintain the original line and try to become strong with the protagonists.

He was in his soul sea for a few minutes until he came out and looked at Jonathan with suspicious and cautious eyes before asking, his voice somewhat threatening:

"You, you really knew this would happen, didn't you? Tell me, what do you want, Jonathan?"

Lowering his shoulders, Jonathan responded indifferently, avoiding the central issue of his answer.

"I knew the egg had something special, and yes, I knew that special something would be very useful. It's just that, as you may have felt, that egg could absorb the souls of those who approached it. But since your soul is more special than mine, I knew you could kill it. That's all, I didn't know it would give you such a significant upgrade."

He paused for a moment, opening one eye towards Sunny and then continued.

"As for how I knew you would see something special in your armor, I knew because your eyes were glowing with a golden hue, just like the drop you consumed. I only thought your eyes were now special. Nothing more." After answering him, he told him to climb down the tree, and Sunny followed him, still cautious of Jonathan and his mysteries.

...

'Good, it's time to get everyone out of here, a few hours remain until sunset, and we can use the demon-made boat. This will be stressful.'

When they arrived at the camp without any fruits, Sasha, Ludwin, Nephis, and Cassia seemed puzzled but reluctantly accepted that there would be no fruits today.

After all, Jonathan had brought them fruits every day, so they wouldn't think ill of him.

As for Isaac...

"Isaac, can you come here for a moment? I need to talk to you about something."