Staring at the ceiling as he lay in his small bed, Sunny sighed.
'Should I risk weaving here?'
He did not know if Ki Song had people watching him, after all. And if there were, they were doing a damn good job at hiding it.
Sitting up, Sunny began to meditate, refining his essence. After his act of refining it mid combat earlier in the day, he seemed to reach a new qualitative state in his understanding of refinement, pushing it towards new heights.
'Shouldn't be much longer now…'
He would surely be able to ascend by the end of the year. Now the only problem was his weaving. He had been diligently creating memories for a while now, and he was almost done.
Nine months had passed since the winter solstice, and Sunny predicted he would be done within two months or fewer. And after that, he would enter the second nightmare.
He was still unsure of how he could kill Hope, but he had some ideas. In the past, Mordret left two chains intact and planned to use Sevirax to mortally wound Hope before swooping in to finish her off.
Sunny wasn't sure if he could replicate what Mordret did. More importantly, he didn't think he needed to replicate what Mordret did. After all, once he was a Master, he would have a Transcendent Titan by his side…
And if he didn't run into any problems, there would also be a Supreme Devil or a Supreme Demon alongside it.
Sunny shivered at the thought.
'Would I even need to break the chains in the first place?'
If he could simply sneak into the Ivory Tower, couldn't he just kill Hope without anyone noticing? The only danger with that plan was the fact that the Sevras would be there guarding it. But if his plan of ascending in the midst of a Nightmare truly did work then Sevras wouldn't be too big of a problem.
'Look at me now… Casually thinking about dealing with Immortal Saints…'
Although Sunny did his best to not allow himself to become arrogant, he was starting to grow frightened at his own power. He already had two Transcendent Shadows alongside an Ascended Titan. Despite his somewhat lacking personal power, he more than made up for it with his summons. Currently, his only major roadblock was the fact that he had to hide it. Both from the Sovereigns and from the world.
Many of his plans had gone out the window after Asterion had revealed the secrets of Weaver's forbidden lineage, and he needed to keep a low profile, no matter what.
'Then again, the daemons were all known, but only Hope was imprisoned. Perhaps I just need to avoid being worshipped…'
Ki Song had already agreed not to publicize Suming, keeping her a somewhat known figure among Awakened but an obscure one in the eyes of the public. Awakened Sunless was also an unknown figure, with his name only well regarded within the research circles. He'd made most of his reports under a pen name, so only those with sufficient access would be able to find out it who really wrote them.
'Should I create more separate identities in the future?'
The convenience of having two was serving him decently well. But… he did not want to repeat the disaster that was Mongrel. As much fun as he had training in the Dreamscape, Mongrel prevented him from using many of his more powerful memories as it would've tied their identities together.
Sighing, Sunny stood up as he began to perform some simple katas, constantly refining his essence as he did so. A few minutes later he began to move on to more complex katas as he got more and more in the zone.
And after an hour straight, he was sitting on the ground, panting in exhaustion.
Taking off his thick coat, Sunny sighed as he got up, making his way to the shower.
After changing into some comfortable pants and dismissing his disguise, he lay in bed and went to sleep.
***
Sunny awoke once more to a shadow approaching his room.
'Have I always been this heavy of a sleeper?'
Sure, if they had any sort of killing intent emanating from them, he could've immediately shot up, but lately he'd only been waking up when someone was already about to reach the door.
Sighing as he stood up, Sunny stretched, both of his arms held high above his head.
As the door opened without even a knock, Seishan walked in.
Turning to her, Sunny gave her an annoyed look.
"Don't you know how to knock?"
Seishan stared at him for a few seconds.
There was something strange about her stare…
Suddenly, Sunny felt the urge to cover himself.
'Why… Why is she staring at me like that?!'
He remembered this sort of feeling. The wolves he had hunted back on the Chained Isles stared at him like this as well…
"...Sorry. I was going to ask you to come help train Revel and Eunbin again."
'Oh.'
So that was why she was here…
"Still, knock next time maybe?"
"Didn't you know I was coming anyways?"
"So?"
Seishan clicked her tongue, closing his door as she stood outside with her arms crossed, waiting for him to get ready.
Picking out a white coat this time, Sunny changed into some more loose fitting clothes before making his way out.
Stepping out, he nodded at Seishan as they began to make their way through the many halls of Ravenheart.
'I barely ever see anyone here…'
Sunny had never seen the Jade Palace in the past, but he imagined it to be bustling with activity inside. At this time though, most Awakened were out conquering citadels or mapping out the Dream Realm, all in an attempt to explain their Queen's Domain.
'I need to hurry and close the gap between us…'
Although Sunny didn't want to rush it, his current goal was to at least Transcend, that way if he ever angered the Sovereigns too severely he could just hide in the waking world or run off to some corner of the Dream Realm — If it even had corners that was.
Approaching the training hall, Sunny idly wondered what his transformation would be.
'I already have a pseudo transformation ability from my aspect legacy, so it would surely have to be something else, right? I wonder if I should also try to transcend naturally…'
The Mad Prince had done it too, after all… Could he use his strategy again for his Third Nightmare? What Third Nightmare would he even enter?
To Transcend, one had to become one with the world and be recognized by it, whatever that meant. Sunny just assumed it meant being connected to one's source element, but he wasn't completely sure. He had never been a Transcendent, after all.
'Is it even worth entering the Third Nightmare if I'm going to Transcend naturally?'
Sunny decided to leave that question for another day, as he had now entered the training hall.
'Oh for f-'
"Suming."
Standing in the center of the arena and staring at him was Revel, her eyes seemed far more determined to beat him than yesterday, as Eunbin sat watching from the side.
That was not what Sunny was worried about though.
Because sitting with Eunbin… There were four other girls.
More of the Song Sisters had come to watch, with the Queen seemingly absent this time around.
The only two that had completed the First Nightmare currently were Revel and Eunbin, while the rest were mundane.
But looking at him curiously were four teenage girls, much to Sunny's horror.
Sunny had no idea who they were, and out of the seven girls here he had only recognized Seishan, Revel, Beastmaster, and Silent Stalker. He was curious as to who they were, but he was also in no mood to ask, finding it difficult to introduce himself in such a manner.
He was also curious as to why there were these seven women specifically, after all, Ki Song didn't only have seven adopted daughters, there were plenty more.
'Ah… I'll just ask Seishan later."
Turning to Revel, he gave her a dark smile.
"Revel. Are you ready?"
"Of course."
Raising her blade, she wasted no time.
…And a few minutes later, Sunny was holding her upside down by the ankle.
An embarrassed look on her face, Revel tried to attack Sunny's legs but to no avail.
Because he had tossed her away once she tried.
Rolling across the ground as she groaned in both pain and annoyance.
But in the next moment…
Eunbin appeared behind Sunny, having snuck behind him in the middle of their fight.
Having felt the attack coming from a mile away, Sunny gave Eunbin a kick in the stomach for her troubles.
"Better."
Watching them both slump on the ground, Sunny was rather impressed. It was a far better attempt than their first one yesterday, and Sunny quite liked the strategy they had come up with.
But it still wasn't enough. Sunny was nowhere near going all out. Sure, he was a rank and six classes above them, but Sunny had beaten scores of monsters that were far stronger than him while he was at their level.
Sure, he had cheated most of the time, but who cared about being fair in the Dream Realm?
"Eunbin, you need to get better at hiding your killing intent. Revel, you still need to be more precise. Now, again."
As the sisters slowly got up, Sunny raised his hands.
***
Several hours later, the sisters once again left covered in bruises, looking at Sunny with some resentment.
'Blame your mother, not me!'
He had to admit, beating up future Saints definitely felt odd to him. But not as odd as seeing Beastmaster seem so… nice!
He had expected to meet someone who was sinister and manipulative, but she seemed remarkably normal! It did not match the image of her he had in his head at all. The conniving and seductive demoness he knew in future was a far cry of what she had been in the past.
Revel he had never met, but from what he knew, she was rarely ever seen and most people didn't know how powerful she was.
She was similar to Sunny in that sense, but he was sure it was for a different reason. That was because she was a hermit! She did not hide her powers on purpose, she simply detested going outside.
'Maybe it has to do with her Flaw?'
Then again, she did seem like the introverted type, perhaps she was just like that.
That really wasn't anything Sunny expected at all, in fact, he had not expected any of the Song Sisters to seem so normal. He had observed the group through his shadows while he fought, and from what he had seen, they were like actual sisters rather than clan members. There wasn't an ounce of tension between them, and the way they sat together while idly chatting and laughing made Sunny realise… these really were just siblings, not rivals.
Perhaps his view of Legacy siblings had been skewed from his past experiences, having met sociopaths like Morgan and Mordret.
Sunny sighed inwardly at the thought,
The Song Sisters left the room alongside Eunbin and Revel, chatting and laughing loudly as they went over what they had learned from Suming.
Everyone had left but one.
Seishan stood across Sunny in the arena, her hands raised.
"You too?"
Sunny wasn't very tired even after fighting for several hours, as he had restrained himself quite severely so as to not injure the girls.
"Me too."
Sighing, Sunny beckoned her to attack him as he got into a combat stance.
As Seishan dashed towards him, Sunny parried her hand with his own, knocking her back with a foot as he stepped backwards.
Seishan did not let up as she immediately lunged at him with an elbow, intending to hit him in the stomach.
'Hm. She's improved.'
It would seem that Seishan had been observing him quite intently, intending on figuring out his combat style.
Normally this would've worked, but unluckily for her, Sunny was a practitioner of the Shadow Dance. He could fight in any style he wanted.
Sunny immediately pushed her arm down, causing her to lose balance as his knee slammed into her face a moment later.
Staggering backwards, Seishan held her now bloodied nose.
"Don't get any weird habits. Most nightmare creatures fight quite erratically, you know?"
While reading someone's method of combat was a good way to stand a better chance against them, it could also be used against them. If Seishan attempted to predict his next move, Sunny could simply predict what Seishan was going to predict and use it against her. The best method of fighting in the age of the Nightmare Spell was to either be adaptable or brutal.
Lowering her hand, Seishan gave him a bloodied grin, her nose no longer bleeding. Rushing towards him again, Seishan attempted to attack him with a stab from her razor sharp nails just for her arm to be pushed to the side as her shoulder received a heavy blow, knocking her off balance again.
"Make sure you retain your balance as well."
Sunny felt six gazes on his back as six heads peaked back into the training hall to watch their fight.
'Ah, whatever…'
Seishan didn't seem to notice them as she leapt towards Sunny, her arm now reared back as he lunged towards him once more.
Sunny simply sidestepped, causing Seishan to miss her attack. And as she was still flying through the air, Sunny grabbed her leg before swinging her over his head, slamming her onto her back.
"Don't jump if you can't control your movement in the air."
Seishan lay on the ground, groaning in pain as small plumes of dust were kicked up from her impact. Despite being raised in a Legacy clan, she didn't seem to have too much experience fighting humans, as if she had only ever fought beasts.
'Then again, she always did seem more like the resourceful scheming type than the brawler type…'
"You're free to use your Aspect, you know?"
Seishan was still on her back, breathing in ragged breaths as the air had been knocked out of her lungs.
"Won't… work… on… you…"
Sunny tilted his head slightly.
"Why not?"
"Need… you… to… bleed…"
"Ah."
If Seishan needed him to bleed… She truly couldn't do much. With Blood Weave, he almost never bled. It wasn't like he received any wounds that would make him bleed either.
Sunny seemed to be quite an unfortunate opponent for bearers of the Beast Lineage.
'I wonder what it's called?'
Would it be a name like The Fire? Sunny remembered Noctis calling himself the Blood of the Moon, so perhaps it was something like that.
'I wonder what the completed Weaves would be called… Would it just be The Weave?'
Sunny only thought idly, as he had no clue how many Weaves there were, nor where the Weaves were. He could only explore the Dream Realm and wait for Blood Weave to respond to something.
Seishan had now completely recovered, standing up as she wiped the blood from her nose.
"Why don't you use that transformation then?"
She grimaced as she gave him an annoyed look.
"I'm sure that would make it far easier for you."
Sunny laughed.
"Probably."
He was most accustomed to fighting beasts far larger than himself, really. Fighting humans was far more difficult.
Passively refining his essence, Sunny waited for Seishan's next attempt.
***
Several hours later, Seishan was left even more battered and bruised than Revel and Eunbin had been.
Slumped on the ground, she muttered curses in between breaths.
Sunny thought he heard her call him a 'damned menace.'
Still feeling the six gazes on his back, Sunny turned as he saw the heads of the Song Sisters hurriedly disappear behind the door.
'...I hope they aren't scared of me.'
He had held himself back as much as he could, and he had also been as nice as he could. But when teaching someone how to fight, one had to be rough, especially if they were being prepared to face the horrors of the Dream Realm.
Sighing, Sunny walked to Seishan and offered her a hand, which she took.
Standing up with a grunt, Seishan dusted herself off as she glared at Sunny.
"Would it kill you to stop going for my nose?"
"Stop leaving it so open then. Or would you rather I go for your eyes and teeth?"
Sunny heard the slight yelp from behind the door, courtesy of one of the younger girls.
Meeting Seishan's eyes, Sunny saw a look of slight embarrassment on her face.
"I'm going now."
Seishan lowered her head in shame as she hurriedly left the hall. The moment she exited, Sunny heard a litany of worried murmurs from the Song Sisters.
"Just who did mother pick up? She's crazy strong!"
"Shan, you have to get stronger! What if she ruined your face or something?!"
"I felt no ill will or malice from her, but all her moves were so brutal. What a menace…"
As the group of seven walked away, Sunny sighed, relaxing his shoulders.
Walking to the other exit of the hall, he only picked up some of their words with his sharp senses.
'Ah… I don't fit in at all…'
What's new?
Making his way through the horribly confusing halls, Sunny returned to his room.
Sending his shadows to continue mapping out the Jade Palace, Sunny refined his essence as he went through a series of katas.
His progress in mapping the place had been terribly slow lately, as he had to be as careful as possible. The only reason he even dared to try was because the Raven Queen wasn't present, as he was sure that the senses of someone bearing the Beast God's limits would be extremely sharp, especially while inside their own Domain.
He had to be mindful of the powerful puppets guarding certain areas as well. He wasn't sure whether or not the puppets retained their aspects or abilities or whether they were truly dead, there was simply no way to check.
'Such a pain…'
There was also the problem of him entering the second nightmare. He was sure that Nephis would be fine, but there was a strong possibility of Valor or even Song targeting the remnants of Immortal Flame rather than Nephis herself. Knowing what sort of person Nephis was, the deaths of people that were a part of her clan would definitely weigh down on her mind.
There was also the problem of Ki Song herself. What would Sunny tell her before entering the nightmare? Was it worthwhile to just tell her that he was entering one? Or would it be a good idea to pretend to have accidentally stumbled upon one during one of his expeditions? Sunny was still thinking about it.
'If I tell Ki Song, she'll be suspicious of how quickly I was able to Ascend… And If I don't, she would be suspicious of my reasons for hiding it if she ever finds out.'
There wasn't much he could do. Ki Song would likely find out regardless of whether or not he tried to hide. Even if he was able to hide from her senses within the heart of her Domain, there was still another problem.
Once he conquered the Nightmare, the Ivory Tower would become a Citadel.
Sunny simply had no choice but to accept it, as the last time he completed the Nightmare, it automatically bound him to the tower's gateway. And although Sunny didn't know for certain how, he was sure that the Sovereigns had a way of knowing which Citadels were under their Domain.
And as Sunny was currently a part of Ki Song's Domain, she'd most certainly notice the Tower of Longing appear within it. Sunny could easily hide it from Valor, but from Ki Song? He was at a loss.
'I'll probably just have to tell her…'
Sunny sighed at the thought.
***
Entering the training hall, Sunny saw three people waiting for him in the arena as four people watched from the side.
Not wasting any time with pointless words, Sunny made his way into the arena and beckoned for them to come at him.
This time, Seishan led the charge as Revel supported her. Sunny felt slight mental attacks jabbing at him as Eunbin remained in the back instead of attacking him directly.
Grinning, Sunny slid a foot back as he prepared to receive their attacks.
A minute later, they were still fighting. Eunbin had seemingly prepared a bow today, so he also had to dodge an arrow from time to time.
Taking a step back, Seishan and Revel rushed him from the sides at the same time with great speed.
Twisting his body gracefully, Sunny dodged the pincer attack as an arrow just barely missed his chest, shooting off beneath his arm instead.
And as a result of his dodge, Revel and Seishan crashed into each other, their foreheads slamming together gracelessly.
"Good effort."
The two women were only dazed for a moment, immediately turning towards him sharply as they lashed out once more.
And a few minutes later, both of them were slumped over some distance away from Sunny, as Eunbin put her hands up in surrender, not even bothering to try anything.
"Enemies won't stop just because you surrender you know…"
Feeling a mental hex in his mind, Sunny heard Eunbin speak.
"Uh… Stop? Please?"
Offering him a charming smile, Eunbin gracelessly surrendered.
Giving her a hard look, Sunny said nothing as he made his way back to the other side of the arena, waiting for the girls to recover.
A minute later, they were back up and ready to fight again,
Sunny heard some of their sisters cheering for them as they charged at him for their second attempt. Paying it no mind, Sunny continued to thrash them leisurely as he taught them in any way he could.
But after an hour, someone entered the hall.
A puppet of the Queen had appeared, and with a single clap it gained the attention of everyone.
"Girls, there seems to be a small pack of abominations approaching one of our borders. How about you four come out and fight them?"
Of course, she was talking about Sunny and the princesses he was currently tutoring.
And as they weren't sparring too seriously, they still had plenty of essence to spare. And it wasn't like Sleepers could use their essence anyways.
Turning to his students, Sunny gave them a nod as he followed the puppet out.
Exiting the Jade Palace, Sunny, Revel, Seishan, and Eunbin stood on the snowy peaks as the moon hung high in the sky. Glancing at the Queen's puppet, it pointed towards one of the roads leading up the mountain chain towards Ravenheart. And there, Sunny could see small specs climbing up the rocks and making their way up towards the human enclave.
Looking at the distance with a slight grimace, Eunbin turned to her mother.
"How are we getting down?"
The puppet turned to Sunny with a sly grin, whispering to him.
"Suming… How about you summon that great big bird Echo Seishan said you had?"
Sunny glanced at her with a helpless smile.
"I can't summon it here."
The puppet clicked its tongue and turned away, slightly disappointed.
Of course, the reason Sunny had said he couldn't summon it here was simply due to the fact his shadows were still gliding around the Jade Palace, with one of them remaining within his quarters to make sure no one messed with it. And as their hunt was quite sudden, his shadows didn't have time to return to Sunny just yet.
And even if they had, Sunny would've left them behind just in case a situation such as the current one occurred.
"I guess you'll just have to glide then."
***
"Please… please don't drop me!"
Hanging from Sunny's arms currently were three people.
In one arm, he held onto Seishan's hand, making it look like she was holding onto a hang glider.
And on his other arm, Eunbin and Revel were holding on. Revel had an impassive look as she held onto him with one hand, but Eunbin was clinging onto his arm for dear life, not daring to look down as she pleaded with Sunny.
'Ah… What am I even doing?'
Trying his best to ignore the sensations on his arm, Sunny slowly glided towards the now much closer nightmare creatures.
Looking at the small pack, Sunny noted that it mostly consisted of Awakened creatures, led by a few fallen monsters.
Sunny sped up their slow descent a bit, much to the dismay of Eunbin. And after a few more minutes, the nightmare creatures had spotted them.
"They've seen us, get ready to land."
As they got close enough to the ground, Sunny felt Revel and Seishan let go of him. Small plumes of snow kicked up as they landed on the ground, the glow of several memories weaving themselves into existence shining.
After carefully placing Eunbin on the ground, Sunny summoned the Abyssal Drapes alongside the Midnight Shard, readying himself for battle.
'Do I even need to help?'
Sunny and Revel followed closely behind as Seishan led the charge, Eunbin remaining in the back as she summoned a bow and placed hexes on the opposing abominations.
As Seishan met the first wave of abominations, a boom was heard from the clash of their bodies. Sunny and Revel followed up immediately, both of them swinging similar looking blades and slicing apart the nightmare creatures. An arrow shot from behind them, planting itself onto the head of an abomination in the middle of the back, downing it almost immediately.
The Song Sisters were actually very impressive compared to the average Awakened, it was just that they were borderline helpless in front of Sunny.
'Oh well…'
If they wanted their skills to meet Sunny's expectations, they were going to have to receive many, many more bruises.
As they continued to fight, Sunny saw something through the shadows.
A Fallen Monster was slowly approaching Eunbin's back…
"Eunbin! Behind you!"
Even with his warning, Eunbin was still only able to barely dodge the Demon, a nasty wound tearing through her slender arm.
Stepping forward, Sunny delivered a wide slash in front of him, slaying a large swath of nightmare creatures, temporarily freeing up Seishan and Revel.
"Go help her!"
Not hesitating even slightly, the two girls dashed towards their sister with stunning speed. As the demon attempted to complete its ambush, bringing a ferocious arm down towards Eunbin's retreating figure, a now transformed Seishan lunged straight into it. Sliding back in the snow, the demon roared as it attempted to pry off Seishan with its terrible might. But in the next moment, a figure wreathed in darkness slashed at its legs, causing it to stumble slightly as Seishan used the opportunity to kick herself off of the Monster.
The Monster roared, facing down the three with dark malice emanating from its body.
Across the road, Sunny was slaughtering the horde of abominations. Most of the Awakened nightmare creatures were already dead, and he was currently fighting the two Fallen. The Fallen of this ragtag group were quite weak so Sunny did not have to go all out, instead he watched the group of three face the Monster.
Facing a far stronger enemy was the perfect learning experience for them, so Sunny decided to prolong his battle against the Fallen so they wouldn't be able to rely on his help.
Observing with his shadow, Sunny saw Seishan yelling out orders to her sisters as she ran towards the demon. Sliding on the snow, Seishan narrowly dodged the swing on the demon's grotesque arm before lunging towards its torso, delivering several slashes with her hands. An arrow shot at the demon's eye as Revel appeared by its feet, delivering several more slashes.
'They'll be fine.'
Despite how much Seishan struggled when fighting him, she was an experienced hunter on the Forgotten Shore and had killed plenty of fallen with her handmaidens. She definitely knew what to do when facing a Fallen Monster such as this one.
Sunny observed as they continuously delivered small blows to the creature's torso and legs until eventually it could no longer stand. As its long arms swung towards the girls, its eyes began to grow more and more unfocused, the middling intelligence of the Monster fading with Eunbin's hex.
And after a while, Seishan delivered a terrible blow by tearing its stomach open after it had missed a particularly hard swing.
As the girls stood panting, they did not let their guard down until the creature was without a doubt dead.
Seeing as their battle had finished, Sunny quickly tore apart fallen monsters before him before joining them.
"Pretty good."
Revel gave him a dark look.
"What took you so long?"
Sunny gave her a small smile as he shrugged.
"I'm teaching you how to fight. This was the perfect learning experience!"
Clicking her tongue, Revel turned away.
The demon then began slowly standing up, having been turned into a puppet. Watching the dead horde walk towards Ravenheart, Eunbin spoke to their group.
"...How are we gonna get back up?"
Seishan turned to Sunny with a deadpan look.
***
After a while, the four approached Ravenheart sitting on the backs of the dead nightmare creatures. Seishan sat at the front of their small group atop the Fallen Monsters, as the rest of them sat on some of the weaker Beasts.
"This isn't bad…"
Eunbin seemed quite happy about their method of transport, staring at the puppets curiously.
Revel said nothing, silently cleaning her blade as Seishan sat with an impassive look.
Meanwhile, Sunny was staring at the sky as he refined his essence.
Arriving at Ravenheart, the four jumped off their rides as they disappeared into the Jade Palace.
"Well done!"
A puppet met them at the entrance, smiling slightly.
As they met with the puppet, it walked forward and began dusting off Seishan's clothes, the dried blood staining it falling off strangely easily.
'Sometimes I forget she's actually a mother…'
Sunny rarely ever saw the members of Ki Song's family show each other affection. The only time he really had was back when he was trapped within the Nightmare Desert. Back then, Seishan had been grievously wounded and Beastmaster had painstakingly nursed her back to health.
Seeing them act so tenderly was a strange sight for the Sunny of that time. And even now, it was still a little weird.
He knew that the Song Sisters were all a very close bunch, and perhaps the only reason he never saw their acts of care for each other was because they only did it in private. Sunny lived quite far from their shared quarters, so outside of the training hall he practically didn't see any of them besides Seishan.
Even having been technically adopted, Sunny was still a stranger to them.
'Whatever…'
It wasn't like he wanted to be treated as a sister by them anyways. That would've been a disaster! Not to mention awkward…
And he was sure none of them thought of him as a sister either, as it was clear that he was only one of them on paper. If he were any older, Sunny probably would've been married into the family instead.
Strangely, the thought didn't terrify him as much as it should've.
Standing a short distance away from sisters, Sunny stared at the peak of the mountain they were on. Beyond it lay a terrifying Death Zone that only Ki Song could enter.
'Should I take a look around there once I'm a Master?'
Blinking, Sunny realised what he was thinking.
'Am I some kind of idiot?'
It was a damned Death Zone! Sunny didn't know too much about it, but it had to be just as dangerous as somewhere like the Hollow Mountains! It was an endless frozen wasteland with terrifying blizzards, and the only reason the blizzards never reached Ravenheart was because of the massive volcano barring its path.
Sunny shuddered slightly at the thought of blizzards.
Waiting with a distant expression on his face, Sunny continued to stare at the snowy peaks.
A bit later, Sunny heard footsteps coming towards him.
Approaching him was Eunbin with a nervous smile as Revel trailed behind her. Standing further behind them, the Queen's puppet was turned away and its shoulders were shaking as Seishan gave Sunny a meaningful look.
'...Now what?'
Stopping in front of him, Eunbin asked:
"Uhm, Suming... Seishan, Revel, and I were about to go to hot springs to relax. Would you… like to join us?"
"..."
The puppet's shoulders shook even harder as Seishan performed a slicing motion on her neck with her hand.
Sunny stared at her uncomfortably for a moment.
'...Do I do it?'
Of course, he wasn't that kind of person, but… doing so would definitely make Ki Song regret putting Eunbin up to this. Such pettiness would overjoy Sunny.
Fortunately, he still had lines he wouldn't cross. And this was most certainly one of those lines.
"...Sorry, but I'm going to have to decline."
Clicking her tongue, Revel elbowed Eunbin sides before whispering to her.
"Told you she was gonna say no."
"Ah… That's okay."
Turning away with slight disappointment, Eunbin walked back to Seishan and shook her head.
Entering the Jade Palace, the group gradually split. With Sunny entering his quarters, the puppet entering a random cave, and the remaining three making their way to the hot springs.
Settling in his room, Sunny quickly bathed and changed into some more comfortable clothing.
Stretching slightly, Sunny continued refining his essence.