Chapter 62: Nightmares and dungeons

Mira glared at Leon.

"Shut up bitch, it’s not like I want to be like this."

The black-purple shadow beneath her shifted restlessly across the floor.

"And I’m still better than you two, at least I’ve completed my First Transition."

Leon looked at the shapeless mass below her waist and muttered under his breath,

"I’m happy the way I am."

Mira’s shadow immediately surged toward him.

Leon barely moved before the black-purple mass stretched across the hallway like it was about to swallow his legs.

Karl stepped between them before another fight started.

"Enough, let’s just go eat first."

Mira grumbled but finally pulled her shadow back.

Among the three of them, she was currently the only one who had actually completed her First Transition.

The biggest reason was the Shadow Heart she had obtained earlier.

Even Victor had underestimated how compatible it would be with her Shadow Assassin profession.

Once Mira began attempting Shadow Body, the Shadow Heart had accelerated the process tremendously, allowing her to satisfy the requirement far faster than either Karl or Leon had expected.

Unfortunately, completing it had created another problem.

During the deeper Shadow Body state she entered while completing her Transition, something had gone slightly wrong.

Mira could still maintain her upper body normally, but everything below her torso refused to properly return to flesh.

Instead, it remained a constantly shifting mass of black and purple shadow.

She had spent the days since then trying to reverse it completely and so far without much success.

Karl started downstairs with Leon beside him.

Mira followed them jumping through the shadows.

By the time they reached the dining area, the smell of cooked beast meat had already filled the room.

Three tiger cubs were gathered nearby around a piece of meat almost as large as they were.

Noctis, Mikros and Astra were tearing into it enthusiastically.

During the last fifteen days, Leon and Mira had both brought their cubs over to the Reed residence as well.

The three beasts had bonded surprisingly quickly.

Noctis had grown used to having the other two around almost immediately, while Astra had only needed a few days before treating the estate as another territory she belonged in.

Mikros mostly seemed interested in whether there was food available.

Astra had initially reacted much more strongly to Mira’s new appearance.

Watching her owner suddenly lose half her physical body and begin sliding through shadows had apparently been confusing even for a beast cub.

By now, she had mostly stopped caring.

When Karl entered, Noctis briefly lifted his head from the meat before immediately returning to it.

Astra did much the same when Mira appeared but Mikros did not react at all, fully focused on devouvering the meat.

Leon stopped beside the cub and loudly cleared his throat but Mikros just continued eating.

Leon cleared his throat again, considerably louder but was still ignored.

Victor, who was arranging the remaining food nearby, glanced over.

"Like owner, like beast."

Leon immediately gave him an offended look.

Before he could properly complain, however, his attention landed on the food covering the table.

The complaint disappeared as he sat down on the chair.

Karl looked at him for a moment before sighing and taking his own seat.

Mira settled near the table as well standing in a wierd manner.

Victor glanced toward the black-purple mass.

"Oh? Still stuck?"

Mira immediately pouted.

"It’s all because of you, Uncle Victor."

Victor raised an eyebrow.

"What kind of teacher are you?"

Victor only smiled.

"I did what I was supposed to do."

He placed another plate onto the table.

"The rest is up to you."

Mira immediately started arguing with him.

Karl watched her for a few seconds before returning to his food.

This girl really argues with anyone.

Still, Victor had done considerably more than simply teach Mira how to maintain Shadow Body.

It was during those training sessions that Karl had finally learned Victor’s actual profession.

Nightmare Lord.

Karl had known for a long time that Victor’s abilities were heavily connected to darkness and shadows, but the profession itself went far beyond what he had expected.

According to Victor, Nightmare Lords possessed a far deeper connection to the Shadow Realm than ordinary shadow-related professions.

Mira could interact with shadows through her Shadow Assassin abilities.

She could hide within them, move between them and now even partially transform her physical body into shadow.

Victor’s connection reached much deeper.

A Nightmare Lord could draw power directly from deeper layers of the Shadow Realm and use that energy to reinforce his own abilities.

More importantly, Victor could summon Nightmare creatures from within the realm itself.

The ability sounded terrifyingly useful but it also came with a price.

Every Nightmare creature required some form of sacrifice before it could be summoned. The stronger the creature Victor attempted to bring out, the greater that sacrifice became.

Mira had naturally become interested the moment she learned about it.

She had immediately asked whether developing Shadow Body meant she would eventually be able to summon Nightmare creatures too.

Victor quickly poured cold water on that idea..

Her Shadow Assassin profession certainly possessed a connection to the Shadow Realm and Shadow Body had strengthened that connection further.

It was still extremely shallow compared to his own.

Mira manipulated shadows and could partially merge her body with them.

Nightmare Lord interacted with the realm those shadows ultimately connected to.

Karl still did not understand everything about Victor’s profession, but he understood enough to see why Victor had been the perfect person to guide Mira.

Eventually, the argument between the two faded and dinner became considerably quieter.

Victor looked toward Karl and Leon.

"What about you two?"

He sat down across from them.

"How’s the progress going?"

The mood immediately dropped, Leon chewed for another moment before putting down what he was holding.

His Body Tempering had been progressing reasonably well but the Martial Heart was another matter entirely.

Leon looked increasingly irritated just thinking about it.

"What the hell even is a Martial Heart?"

He gestured with one hand.

"Form it through martial will? What does that even mean?"

The more he spoke, the more annoyed he became.

According to Leon, there was absolutely nothing wrong with his willpower in the first place.

In fact, as far as he was concerned, nobody could possibly have stronger willpower than him.

By the time he finished complaining, he had apparently decided where the true blame belonged.

Once he became powerful enough, he declared that he was going to personally teach the World Will a lesson for giving him such a ridiculous requirement.

Karl nearly choked on his food and Victor stared at Leon for several seconds before giving a solemn nod.

"Truly, what a will."

Leon nodded seriously and went back to eating and Karl decided not to explain the sarcasm.

Victor’s attention shifted toward him.

"And you, Young Master?"

Karl already knew what he was asking.

"Same as I told you."

He picked up another piece of food.

"The Death Domain still won’t form."

There was not much more to say.

Victor clicked his tongue.

"You two really are in a tight spot."

Then he seemed to remember something.

"Anyway, I have something that might cheer you up."

Karl and Leon both looked toward him.

Victor continued casually.

"Old Master bought a special Dungeon Token yesterday."

That immediately got their attention.

During most of the last fifteen days, Karl and Leon had been repeatedly clearing the available dungeons around Ardent City.

Karl needed enormous amounts of Death Energy for the Sun Knight’s evolution, along with the EXP required for his Transition.

Leon needed constant combat and whatever useful materials could help his Body Tempering.

At first, neither of them had minded but after two weeks, they were thoroughly sick of seeing the same dungeons.

The situation had become even more troublesome around five days earlier.

The final results of the Human Alliance National College Entrance Examination had officially been announced.

At the very top of the ranking was one name.

Karl Reed — Alliance Rank 1

Ardent City had gone completely insane afterward.

The other local examinees had almost immediately been pushed out of public attention by the simple fact that the highest-ranked student in the entire Human Alliance had come from their city.

Karl’s name was everywhere.

People who had watched the examination recognized him almost instantly whenever he appeared in public.

Recruiters still tried approaching him despite William handling most formal contact, while ordinary people gathered around simply because they wanted to see the supposed F-rank Necromancer who had somehow finished first in the entire Alliance.

Even entering the Dungeon Hall normally had become annoying.

Because of that, Victor mentioning a Dungeon Token immediately sounded far more interesting than another trip through the same local dungeons.

Leon asked first.

"What grade?"

Victor answered casually.

"Insane."

Leon paused.

"...Insane?"

Victor nodded.

Dungeon Tokens were rare items capable of establishing a direct connection to wild dungeons located far beyond territory controlled by the Human Alliance.

Those dungeons could be extremely valuable.

Many had remained untouched for years, sometimes even decades, without human professionals repeatedly entering and clearing everything useful from them.

Rare materials could accumulate naturally and powerful monsters had time to develop.

Treasure areas could remain completely untouched, while sections deeper inside might never have been explored by humans at all.

Normally, reaching one of those dungeons was half the danger.

The wilderness beyond Alliance-controlled territory was filled with monsters, unstable regions and vast areas humanity had never properly mapped.

Travelling deep enough to reach a valuable wild dungeon could easily become more dangerous than the dungeon itself.

A Dungeon Token removed that problem.

Once activated, it directly transported its users from their current location into the wild dungeon connected to the token.

There was no need to cross the wilderness at all.

After completing the dungeon, or satisfying whatever return condition was attached to the token, the users would be transported directly back to the location where the token had originally been activated.

Victor reached into his storage ring and a small token appeared between his fingers.

He casually tossed it toward Karl.

Karl caught it and afaint glow immediately spread across its surface.

He turned the token over once before looking toward Leon and Mira.

"You guys want to go?"

Leon answered immediately.

"Obviously."

Mira nodded.

"I’m bored anyway."

Victor yawned from the other side of the table.

"Tch, great."

He leaned back slightly.

"And because of you guys, I’m stuck guarding the house alone again."

Victor reached into his storage ring and pulled out another massive piece of cooked beast meat.

Noctis, Astra and Mikros all stopped eating at almost the exact same moment.

Victor tossed it toward them and the three cubs immediately lunged for it.

Leon watched Mikros throw himself into the pile and muttered,

"Don’t make my little tiger fat."

Karl barely paid attention as his gaze remained fixed on the Insane-grade Dungeon Token glowing faintly in his hand.