Free Web NovelChapter 6: Shadow Guardian
After taking a warm bath in a tub that was too big for just one person, I now stood in front of the mirror staring at Yves’s lean body.
He did not slack when it came to training. Despite being a mundane human, he trained hard every single day, honing his physique to the limits of what a 15-year-old body could achieve without mana inside it.
Now that mana was being absorbed by this body, in a few months the growth would skyrocket.
"Shout-out to him — even when he was depressed he did not quit the gym, unlike other characters who did nothing and looked like toothpicks." I said as I opened the closet.
The closet had a room of its own, filled with nothing but clothing.
It was basically a mini room just for clothes.
Rich people.
I chose a full set of black clothes with purple stripes and an oversized black coat on top. I dressed the same way Yves dressed since I didn’t want to raise any suspicions, and besides, I liked the type of clothes he wore — black and purple were my favourite colours.
Sitting at the table in my room while I waited for my meal, I read through the books in the meantime to kill time and perhaps find something useful.
I barely found anything important. Most of what was written in the books I already knew, and beyond that were some writings from Yves venting out his frustrations.
One thing I did find that was truly important was that in two months, the Rite of Passage would take place.
This wasn’t just any normal rite of passage.
It was a rite of passage where all the children of the main family who had awakened from the age of 15 and hadn’t yet gone to the Academy were required to participate. Basically, you had to kill some monsters and also fight other children.
And if you were lucky enough to place in the top five, you would be able to claim a weapon from the family’s sacred treasure vault.
Since I was now here, I needed to participate. I knew what kinds of things were in the vault, and I already knew what was in there that would pair well with my first Main Story.
I needed to get that weapon at all costs. For that, I needed to place first.
It was not going to be easy. I was very far behind the other children who had awakened a year ago and had been training far longer than I had. Bridging that gap seemed impossible.
It would be impossible, if I didn’t know the story as well as I did — heh.
I knew all the shortcuts and events that would happen that could help me bridge the gap, or at least push me enough to contend with those kids. And my second Main Story would help me greatly in that regard.
So I needed to prepare well for that. But first, I needed the person lurking in my shadow.
"I think you’ve watched long enough, no?" I said, speaking to no one in particular.
As expected, I got no reply.
You see, years ago the Laurent family’s ancestor had brought a certain dangerous assassin family to submission and forged a pact with them.
The terms were simple — they had to protect the children of the Laurent family. To become their shadows.
So for generations, each child of the main family was assigned a Shadow Guardian to protect them. But there was one rule the Shadow Guardians followed:
"We will only protect those who are worthy."
They would only bow to those who earned their respect.
Therefore, despite Yves never having awakened, I believed he still had a Shadow Guardian. He had to.
That was one of the other reasons I had put on that scene earlier — to earn my shadow’s respect as well. To show that Yves was no longer the old Yves.
Whether they would choose to reveal themselves or not, I didn’t know. So I would try.
"I’m talking to you." I looked at my own shadow. "Wasn’t what I did earlier enough to catch your attention?"
Silence again. No response.
As I stared at my shadow, I could feel that something was there. I couldn’t quite explain what I was sensing, but I knew something — or someone — was present.
"Playing hard to get, huh?"
I stood up, closed the windows and drew the curtains shut. Then I turned the lights off, making the room darker, though light from the sun still pierced through the gaps.
I spread my mana forward, around the whole room. It wasn’t much of a strain since I had twice the mana of a normal awakener, thanks to having two Main Stories.
Activating [Esoteric Darkness Manipulation], darkness poured out of my body and spread across the room, smothering every source of light including the windows. Soon I was standing in complete darkness, though I could still see clearly.
And then something strange and faintly unsettling happened.
I had been the only person in the room a moment ago — but not anymore. In front of me stood a man so pale he looked like a corpse, staring at me with ink-black eyes that seemed to want to swallow me whole.
There was something cold touching my neck as well. The cold blade of a katana.
I stood there staring silently at him, my composure never wavering despite his blade nicking my neck slightly and drawing a thin line of blood.
After what felt like an eternity, he finally spoke, his voice cold.
"So tell me — how did you know I was hiding in your shadow?"
I smiled.
"Simple. I had once read about your kind in some books, and the moment I awakened, I felt a slight disturbance in my shadow. On top of that, my power is tied to darkness — not just any darkness — and shadow is a sub-element of it. Of course I’d notice your presence."
It wasn’t a lie. Even if I hadn’t known about Shadow Guardians beforehand, I still would have sensed him the moment I awakened. I’m not sure how, but his presence inside my shadow had been there from the start, like an annoying mosquito.
"And how did you know how to draw me out?" He asked.
I shrugged. "Isn’t it obvious? Darkness cancels light. No light means no shadow."
The man’s eyes narrowed slightly, and then he pulled the katana away from my neck and took a step back.
"Thank God, it was getting kind of itchy." I rubbed my neck. The wound had already healed.
I deactivated my ability and drew the curtains open. ƒгeewebnovёl.com
Light returned to the room.
I looked back at the man.
Honestly, he looked more like a corpse than a person.
