[Welcome to the realm of dreams!]
Lumian felt his body crash against a massive body of water. He immediately held his breath and did not panic. Once the disorientation passed, he summoned the memory he had obtained.
The small blue sphere materialized in his hand and, at once, he brought it to his mouth. Immediately, he felt that he could breathe underwater.
Opening his eyes, Lumian could see with surprising clarity. Looking downward, he distinguished the mounds of crimson corals about 200 meters deep, along with the nightmare aquatic beasts that still had not noticed him.
Lumian moved the corner of his lips.
His darkness attribute, unlike the shadows attribute, allowed him to navigate between shadows and true darkness.
"Well, I'm in the Forgotten Shore, so my preparations worked perfectly," Lumian thought.
Thanks to his survival class, he began swimming toward the surface of the dark sea. After a few seconds, his head broke through the water. Everything was dark; the sky had hardly any stars, and there was no moon. Only an endless sea stretched in every direction.
Lumian began swimming forward. Sinking into the water once again, he advanced at a calm pace, observing the nightmare beasts from the corner of his eye.
Activating his aspect skill, Lumian felt his power increase overwhelmingly. His swimming speed multiplied enormously.
A few minutes passed when Lumian felt it—a thirst for blood coming from a nightmare beast.
Stopping, he summoned his fisherman's suit and the spear of the fourth level.
The nightmare creature swam rapidly toward him. It was a large fish; its appearance resembled that of a dolphin, except it possessed sharp teeth like ultrathin, terrifying needles. Its fins were sharp enough to cut metal with ease.
The nightmare creature lunged at Lumian at a terrifying speed. Lumian placed the spear in front of him, managing to block the dolphin's charge.
His body was thrown several meters back by the impact. Lumian watched as the creature swam in circles before lunging again.
This time, Lumian thrust the spear forward at the perfect moment. The next instant, the tip pierced the creature's body, stabbing through its flesh.
Immediately, Lumian activated his lightning attribute. His spear channeled the electricity, affecting only the dolphin, which convulsed as it was electrocuted.
A few seconds passed without the beast moving. Soon, the voice of the spell echoed in his mind:
[You have slain an Awakened beast. Cannibal Dolphin]
[Your core strengthens!]
[You have received an Echo]
Lumian felt his heart stop for an instant in surprise. He had never expected to receive an echo on his first attempt.
Dragging the dolphin's corpse, he discarded the spear and summoned his sword. The blade cut the creature's flesh, extracting its core.
After doing so, he moved. He had stayed still for too long and did not want to attract the attention of a Fallen beast or a demon.
Lumian summoned the Echo. The dolphin materialized in golden sparks in front of him. Mounting its back, he patted it, signaling forward. The echo began moving at great speed, crossing hundreds of meters within minutes.
To Lumian's surprise, he had no further encounters with nightmare creatures, so he grew a bit bored. Opening his runes, he inspected his core:
Monster Core [24/100]
"So an Awakened beast gives me around four cores… Then a Fallen should give about 15 or 16," Lumian thought, making quick mental calculations. He still needed to confirm if he could absorb the essence of cores.
Ordering the cannibal dolphin to stop, Lumian lifted his face from the water and saw a great coral settlement about two kilometers away.
Commanding his echo to advance toward the coral, it took only a few minutes to reach it. Leaving the water, he dismissed the echo and stored his aquatic breathing memory. Taking out the soul fragment, he crushed it in his hand.
[Your core strengthens]
If Lumian could feel happiness, he would have been jumping and shouting that he had succeeded. However, he wasn't, and all that remained was a hollow internal satisfaction.
Monstrous Core [28/1000]
Lumian faked a smile of satisfaction. Not only could he obtain fragments by killing monsters; he could also take the essence from the soul cores of the monsters.
In conclusion, Lumian gained double experience for each kill he made. His divine aspect was completely different from that of the protagonists. He remembered that Sunny, the protagonist, could only obtain shadow fragments when killing nightmare creatures or humans, being unable to absorb cores like any Awakened.
Meanwhile, Nephis, the heroine, could absorb essence by killing monsters and humans, obtaining part of the essence for being a dream offspring.
After reflecting on all of this, Lumian observed the distance, noticing the first gray rays adorning the horizon. The long night had finally come to an end, and with it, the dark sea began to retreat slowly.
Lumian let out a sigh. His fisherman's suit kept his body at a perfect temperature, something he appreciated, since he did not want to be so cold that he couldn't sleep.
Now that he remembered, almost two months had passed since he last visited his soul sea.
Still using his aspect and not sensing any nearby nightmare beasts, Lumian decided he could visit his soul sea for a few minutes.
Sitting on the hard, red surface of the great coral mound, Lumian closed his eyes. After concentrating for a moment, he was pulled into his soul sea.
The first thing he noticed was that his soul sea looked the same as last time: an enormous darkness illuminated by stars and clusters above him. A massive blue sun pulsed with a faint source of heat, yet much of the core remained empty.
Around him floated several small spheres and one larger.
Lumian summoned the largest first.
The sphere slowly descended until it touched the ground, where its light faded little by little, revealing the Cannibal Dolphin, standing still, awaiting his orders.
Now that he observed it closely, the echo was around three meters long. Its skin was black with reddish lines; its mouth housed countless sharp teeth as thin as needles.
Its dorsal fins were sharp, capable of cutting through metal and steel.
Lumian summoned the echo's runes.
Echo: Cannibal Dolphin
Echo Type: Beast
Echo Core: Awakened
Description: A monster that devours its own kind.
Lumian touched the echo's head, feeling its tough skin. New runes appeared.
"Could it be possible?" Lumian quickly read the runes.
[Transform Echo into a Subordinate Monster]
Lumian felt his heart stir. He faked a wide smile with his eyes to imitate the happiness he felt.
"Well, well… looks like I've found another function of my aspect," he thought.
Summoning his runes, he read the description of his aspect:
Aspect: [Lord of Monsters]
Aspect Rank: [Divine]
Description: [You are an abnormal existence that rises above monsters. As the Lord of Monsters, you can command monsters as if they were loyal subordinates to their master and lord.]
Lumian smiled.
Apparently, his aspect not only allowed him to rule monsters of the same rank or lower, but also to directly modify his echo to turn it into a loyal monster placed within his soul.
Combined with his [Dominate] ability, Lumian could be considered a one-man army.
Lumian felt enormous satisfaction, but his defect erased that emotion instantly.
"Damn defect," he thought angrily, but even his fury dissipated like smoke.
Lumian returned to his runes.
"Yes," he answered.
However, nothing happened. Shortly after, the runes changed:
[Not enough monster cores to perform the transformation.]
[Fragments required: 28/100]
"So, to turn it into a subordinate, I need to use 100 monster cores," Lumian murmured.
"If I gather 100 and turn it into a subordinate, I'll return to zero… so it's better to first gather a large amount of cores and then convert it into a follower."
After saying this, Lumian dismissed the echo, which returned to its bright essence sphere.
Lumian decided to exit his soul sea. When his vision returned to the external world, he noticed that the dark sea was still retreating.
Since he had nothing to do, he decided to train with his sword, performing a thousand slashes to continue his practice.
Summoning the sword, Lumian began performing the most basic movement of swordsmanship: a downward swing from top to bottom.
After an hour, the dark sea finally retreated completely, revealing the crimson coral beneath.
Lumian stopped. He could see one or two scavenger monsters—centaur-like creatures with crab bodies—emerging from their hiding places or the ground where they had burrowed.
Looking to the west, he narrowed his eyes upon seeing the statue of the headless knight. He had to move in that direction to reach the walled city, where the First Lord had arrived years ago.
Lumian looked at the nightmare creatures. They were truly terrifying and monstrous; however, he had to move.
He wanted to reach the statue before dusk, and if possible, obtain monster meat to eat.
Stretching, Lumian began descending carefully from the enormous crimson coral.
Upon reaching the ground after about ten minutes of climbing down, Lumian began to advance.
The black mud was deep enough to slow him but not enough to halt him. After getting used to it, he could move at an acceptable walking speed.
Lumian was cautious. Thanks to his enhanced senses, he could distinguish whether creatures were near his position and how many, judging by the sound of their chitinous steps.
He continued for several minutes when his first monster appeared—a creature with a shell that stopped upon seeing him, its pincers clacking together.