Untold Understanding

Descending the statue was a bit more challenging than expected. Although Sunny had learned to climb, it wasn't on such a scale.

I had intended to use [Antithesis] but decided against it. If I did, Sunny wouldn't get the [Azure Blade], so I made up that I was exhausted from using my world slash.

Immediately after the girls lit the fire, I sent the raven over to watch over them. I saw their struggle against the scavengers, but they managed to survive.

Right now, my raven was still looking over them. They were only a few kilometer away, and since it was morning, it was much easier to see.

"How long until we reach them?" Sunny questioned as he kept descending the statue.

He was making progress, but not enough to be praised for.

[We would have reached them if you weren't so slow. Didn't you take a sip from my memory? You should feel much stronger than normal.]

"I do feel a little better than usual, but I want to reserve my strength. Plus, you have that raven watching over them."

[Well, that's true, but I don't want them getting too far away. If that damn Great Titan appears before we make it, we could be in serious danger.]

Sunny stopped and looked around before a frown crossed his face. "What Great Titan?"

[Oh, did I forget to mention that the ocean is actually a Great Titan? My bad.]

Sunny had just started descending but stopped again. He paled and grimaced before speeding up. After just a few minutes, he had finally come down.

'Did that scavenger get killed by my world slash? If it did, that could prove to be troublesome.'

Luck was on my side today, though. Whether from my attribute or fate's influence, a wounded scavenger lunged at Sunny.

[Back away and follow with a weave!]

I blurted out the words, and Sunny immediately backed away. As he did so, he bent down, and just above his head, a pincer came, missing him by only a hair.

He wrapped Gloomy around himself and threw a punch at the scavenger's unprotected stomach.

The scavenger tumbled back—a shadow-infused punch was quite scary, after all.

[Bash its head in.]

Sunny went for a rock to the right of the scavenger, quickly picked it up, and dodged the now barely standing scavenger.

He leaped upward and bashed the scavenger's head in, causing it to pop like a watermelon.

Sunny backed away and fell to the ground, taking off his shadow and breathing tiredly.

His eyes perked up, and he looked a little to the left, almost as if reading something.

[Good job. Even though it was clumsy as hell, you did it. Oh, and what about the memory?]

"How do you know I got a memor—you know what, forget it. I did get one, a weapon at that."

He summoned the [Azure Blade] and studied it. The azure steel of the one-sided blade was beautiful and glistened in the sunlight.

[Cool toy. Now let's go see our friends.]

Sunny got up and looked around, seeing no immediate threat he first took out the soul shard from the dead body of the scavanger and looekd at it.

(Need this, since i can't really absorb it.)

[Did you forget about my soul shard diet, i won't absorb it but give me control i wanna do something with it]

Giving me control somewhat hesitantly i took the soul shard and wrapped it in a piece of kelp.

[I'll hold onto this, it'll be to commemorate your first kill in the Dream Realm]

(It's just a soul shard, plus this isn't the first thing i killed.)

[Well i'll just hold onto it then, since it isn't important]

Summoning the storage memory i placed the soul shard in there and gave back control to sunny.

He headed north, just about half a kilometer away, where the girls were still traversing the treacherous terrain.

As he got closer, Sunny finally caught sight of them. Peeking from a coral wall, he hesitantly took a step forward.

Nephis was in the front, wearing an outfit made of seaweed that showed quite a bit, and just a foot or two behind her was Cassie, tied to a golden rope and wearing a black cloak.

[Go on, move it. They don't bite.]

"I know, I'm going alright."

He walked behind them, hiding among the shadows just thirty feet away.

He stepped out of the shadows and spoke up. "Hello!"

Nephis immediately turned around, pulling the rope that Cassie had been tied to and moving her behind her.

As she looked at Sunny with determination, her eyes widened, and she lowered her sword.

Cassie looked confused before she turned her head to Sunny and waved at him, which he returned.

Nephis approached him cautiously, with Cassie still following behind.

'Did she see him cause of the Attributes?' i thought as they approached

"How?"

Sunny was confused and tilted his head. "How what?"

"How did you know about this place?"

[It is very suspicious, you know. I would be quite concerned too.]

(You're the one that caused this!!!)

Sunny restrained himself and composed himself. Uncomfortably rubbing his cheek before averting his gaze, I felt a pressure in my head, causing some discomfort.

"Well, it was a story."

Nephis gave him a suspicious look before scrutinizing him.

Deciding to switch topics, he cleared his throat. "What happened, though? I saw a fire get lit and went to investigate."

Both of their expressions became sour, and Cassie spoke up.

"We made a fire, but Nightmare Creatures came from the sea and attacked. We barely made it out alive."

Nephis nodded, and Sunny empathized with them.

[Boo hoo, that isn't important right now. Get to asking to join their team.]

Listening to my advice, Sunny did so. "Would you mind if I join your team? I think I can be very helpful."

Nephis looked to her right. Her gaze seemed to pierce through the coral reefs, and she spoke.

"No…"

Sunny's heart skipped a beat, and Cassie's face fell.

"…problem."

[haha, you two almost had a heart attack. Oh, and I've decided, she's more of a paragon in socializing than you are.]

He ignored me and let out a sigh of relief.

Cassie stepped forward and smiled at Sunny. "Well, since you're going to be with us, we need to know what your aspect does and your attributes as well."

[Remember, she can see your attributes. Don't lie… get it, because you can't?]

He would have probably cursed but didnt.

"Well, my aspect grants me the ability to control my own shadow…" He paused and detached his shadow, making it move around.

"One of my attributes causes unlikely events to happen to me, another gives me an affinity to divinity, and another makes me liked by shadows."

He finished and looked at Cassie, only to see her staring at him in confusion, almost waiting for him to continue.

"What's the matter?" Nephis asked, causing Cassie to hold her chin.

"Well, he's either trying to deceive us or isn't aware that another person is in his body."

(…)

'…'

"... Uhhh..."

[.....Well, shit.]