Valerie took a few more items from her shadow, and with Bai Yin's assistance, wrapped them individually in cloth, as if they were delicate artefacts from the ancient times rather than random loot she picked up from Dawd, before stuffing them all into a duffel bag.
However in the process of all this, her shadow seemed to notice the disturbance, and shifted on its own.
There was a tugging deep in her chest, and a wave of exhaustion immediately struck her as all of the newly acquired energy was drained out of her and channelled into the shadow beside her.
She managed to catch herself before she fainted, supporting herself on the arm of the couch and leaning back to relax, her chest heaving heavily. Weakly turning her head towards the shadow, Valerie frowned slightly at the dark void, wondering what took so much power, when the void opened its eyes.
