Sunny started.
"My attributes give me an affinity to shadows. I also have a slight affinity to divinity. I am also prone to finding myself in unlikely situations."
Leon listened while nodding. He knew Sunny couldn't lie, so he did not bother glancing at Noah at every sentence.
"That's not very ideal Sunny. Especially in this place."
Noah scoffed. "Says the man with the same attribute."
"You know where we are?" Nephis probed.
"From what I saw in my Memory's description, we are on the Forgotten Shore."
After a pause, Sunny spoke again.
"Also, my shadow can move independently and explore. It can't affect the material world, but we share sight and hearing. That way, I can spot danger before encountering it. Oh, and I can also see in the dark."
'His divine aspect sounds so useful.'
Leaning back, he smiled softly.
'I mean... our divine aspect, sounds so useful.'
"Anyway, that's my Ability. As for Memories, I have three. One is an armor, one is a scythe."
Leon coughed, which made Sunny pause. He slowly turned toward Leon and narrowed his eyes.
"A scythe. That is mine till Leon pays me back. The last one is a really loud bell."
Leon then looked at Nephis. She remained quiet for a while, before finally speaking.
"My attributes give me an affinity to light and fire, as well as a strong affinity to divinity. I have two Memories: a rope..."
She paused, which felt like a recurring behavior now.
"...and a sword. The rope is very sturdy and can change its length. The sword is very sharp and can protect its wielder against soul attacks to a certain extent. My Ability... can heal."
'A healer?'
Leon thought about her aspect for a while. Normally, healers don't go on the frontlines, and unlike Nephis, they were not so skilled at combat. This probably meant that her ability could do a lot more than just heal.
"That's amazing Changing Star, a healer is invaluable to us." Leon said as his lips curved into a smile that felt hollow even to him.
Nephis nodded.
Cassie perked up and spoke eagerly.
"Neph is also an amazing fighter! You should have seen her dealing with those scavengers. Well... I did not actually see it. But it sounded very scary."
Noah chuckled. "By the way, Nephis also has a divine aspect."
Leon frowned.
'Her aspect is also divine? There's two of them now?'
Cassie lowered her shoulders and sighed.
"It's my turn? Uh... my attributes are nothing special. I guess I have an affinity to revelations and fate. My Ability can see others people's attributes."
Leon and Sunny both narrowed their eyes.
'Is her aspect also divine? Does everyone have divine aspects now? Were they on sale?'
If Cassie could see other people's attributes, that was a terrifying advantage in any encounter with another human.
"About my Memories, I have three: a bottle, a wooden staff, and this armor. The staff can create wind. The armor is actually of the Awakened rank… uh, Neph gave it to me when we met. It has a very powerful protective charm. The bottle is an endless source of water."
"Endless? Really?" Leon perked up.
"Well, I once tested it out. It gives water out for 30 minutes before it stops, and it refills after a while."
"That's interesting," Leon said.
Cassie pouted. "I say all that, and the bottle interests you?"
He chuckled. "Of course not Cassie, you're plenty interesting to me."
Cassie lowered her head in embarrassment while Leon let out a deep breath.
"My aspect lets me analyze... almost everything in greater detail. My innate ability lets me release flames under certain conditions. My aspect ability lets me see the enchantments on memories."
Leon was clearly lying, and he knew it wasn't convincing. His Aspect ability, compared to his innate one, seemed entirely different.
Sunny stared at Leon. He knew Leon's memory was the one that produced the explosions and flames, since Leon was the one who explained it to him.
Leon wanted the three to notice. He wanted them to know that he didn't trust them yet.
"As for memories, I have this crown that can help me heal, although it needs to charge by killing the enemies around it. As for combat… you've seen how that goes."
He studied their reactions as he finished speaking. Sunny remained aloof. Cassie lowered her head, while Nephis looked entirely unmoved.
Nephis stared at Leon before saying, "Don't pretend to be modest Leonar. I know you're extremely talented in combat."
Leon smiled faintly.
"I'm honored that Changing Star thinks so highly of me."
Her gaze lingered on him.
Leon rose to his feet and glanced at Sunny.
"Sunny and I will head down to get some food. Changing Star, stay here and protect Cassie."
Nephis cut in. "You and Sunless need rest. I can—"
"It's fine," Sunny interrupted. "I need to speak with him. Alone."
Nephis frowned but said nothing.
The two then began descending the statue.
***
Leon and Sunny reached the base of the statue. They moved cautiously through the cold mud, searching for creatures to hunt. Leon's steps splashed loudly, while Sunny's were almost completely silent.
"I don't trust Changing Star." Leon said in a cold tone.
Sunny looked at him and nodded. "She's too quiet."
"My abilities actually let me analyze other abilities… and sometimes imitate them."
Sunny froze, his head turning toward Leon with stiff, deliberate movement.
"What?... Like copy them?"
Leon grinned.
"What? My ability sounds too impressive for Mr. Divine Aspect?"
Sunny grimaced. "Your aspect sounds a lot more divine than mine!"
Leon shrugged, raising his hands innocently. "It's only sacred actually."
Sunny stared at Leon in silence before walking forward. Leon's casual way of revealing his secrets could be explained by his flaw, but it still felt strange to Sunny. People didn't just share their secrets like that— especially someone from the outskirts. Leon was either too gullible, or perhaps too cunning.
"What's the plan exactly?"
Leon exhaled slowly. They had finally located one of the corpses of a Carapace Scavenger from yesterday's chaos.
"We watch her for now. Anything funny and it's better to leave her."
A scythe materialized in Sunny's hand as he tossed it to Leon.
"Worst case...We kill her." Leon said, as he dug the scythe into the hinges of the thick chitin.
Sunny frowned slightly, before he nodded.
Reaching into his seaweed bag, Sunny took out the transcendent soul shard. He stared at it silently, before sighing.
"So, do you want to absorb the soul shard?"
Leon remained silent for a while. He gathered the pieces of flesh and placed them into the bag.
'Can I trust him?'
"Tell him. It's better to make him trust us now. It will get too crowded later." Noah spoke up.
Leon looked at Noah, who stared ahead with a dark expression.
After tying up his seaweed bag, Leon sighed and looked at Sunny.
Before Sunny could add the price, Leon said, "I actually can't absorb soul shards."
Sunny froze.
Leon reached for the soul shard, picked it up, and began admiring it.
"My core is called the resonance core. I only get a new fragment every time I kill a brand new enemy. Which means so far, I only have three."
Sunny's mouth gaped open.
"That's...."
Leon nodded. "Annoying."
Sunny sighed as they began walking back to the statue.
"My core is called shadow core. I can't absorb soul shards either. I only get fragments by killing nightmare creatures."
Leon's eyes widened slightly. He glanced at Noah who nodded.
"Guess we're more alike than I thought." He said with a chuckle.
Sunny smiled as he sighed.
"Let's just head back."
"Let me use this more efficiently."
He said, tossing the soul shard up and down.
Sunny snatched the shard out of the air before it reached Leon's hand.
"This is mine. You already have that armor Memory."
Leon scoffed. "Listen buddy, I know for a fact that you wouldn't have gone for the Centurion, if not for me."
Sunny's eyes twitched. "Bastard. Without me, you would've been dead by now."
Sighing softly, Leon looked up at the statue.
"This shard isn't much use to us Sunny. But I'm sure someone would be willing to trade for it."
A slow grin spread across his face.
"Then we split the rewards."
They say greed is a sin, but Leon simply thought it was honesty. And honesty, after all, is the best policy.
***
Atop the statue of the Headless Knight, four figures lingered beneath the boundless sky, surrounded by the endless dark sea.
The blond girl suddenly woke up. She began pacing around in panic, cold sweat running down her face. Just before she stumbled off the edge, Sunny grabbed her.
"She's fine. I grabbed her." He said, as he led her back to the center.
Cassie extended one hand and pointed down.
"Th—the head... I saw... oh gods!"
Trying to calm her down, Sunny asked,
"Did you see a vision? The past?"
Cassie didn't respond as she kept shivering.
Since there was no apparent danger around, they took turns trying to calm the horrified girl down. However, after that one sentence, she fell quiet and refused to speak again. Nothing seemed to help.
After a while, Sunny sighed.
"Let's... leave her be, for now. Maybe she needs time."
Nephis nodded.
"I'll keep an eye on her." Sunny said.
Leon caught the look of horror on Cassie's face as he sat back down. Not knowing how to help in such a situation, he turned away and looked out into the vast darkness surrounding them. With nothing else to do, he sighed and slipped into his soul sea.
***
He opened his eyes and found himself standing in an endless blue expanse. It stretched in every direction, boundless and silent, like the surface of a vast ocean. Beneath his feet, translucent waves moved slowly — ripples spreading across.
It felt as though he was standing above the sea itself, yet there was no wind, no sound, no scent of salt — only the quiet weight of the endless blue.
Leon slowly lifted his gaze.
High above him hung a radiant blue sun, suspended in the emptiness. Within its glowing surface, layers of shifting waves flowed endlessly, folding into one another like currents trapped inside a sphere of light.
The strange sun pulsed faintly, illuminating the silent ocean beneath it. Two spheres of white light orbited the larger blue sphere.
'My soul core.'
Beneath the blue sun, a strange pattern hovered above the silent sea, like a hologram woven from white light.
Leon stepped closer.
Three small nodes floated in the darkness, connected by a thin strand of luminous energy. The line of white light looked eerily similar to the pattern he had once glimpsed within the Spell's inner workings.
Upon closer inspection, Leon realized he could see reflections of the Carapace Scavenger and Carapace Centurion inside the nodes of white light.
Leon narrowed his eyes at the third one. He could make out a faint green glow from it, but nothing else was clear. Not wanting to see a familiar face in it, he stepped away and glanced around, before noticing a silhouette in the distance.
"Our soul sea looks so beautiful."
It was Noah. The mysterious ghost could apparently follow him into his soul sea. Leon wasn't sure whether to feel relieved or creeped out.
"Reminds me of the time I wanted to see the beach." He said, smiling softly.
In his last life, Leon had always wanted to visit the beach. He had heard people talk about it countless times and had seen many illustrations of the endless sand and the vast stretch of water. Unfortunately, he had never had the opportunity to see one for himself.
Noah rested a hand on Leon's shoulder. "Let's make sure we live the best life this time."
The two stood in silence, staring out at the blue sea.
***
Leon got out of his soul sea and sat up. Looking around, he found Sunny sitting beside Cassie, as she lay asleep. Changing Star rested a short distance away, seemingly asleep as well.
Leon could tell she wasn't asleep. Her body was too still — the kind of stillness that came from someone pretending.
"That armor," Sunny asked.
Leon turned toward Sunny's voice. He couldn't really see in the dark without activating his Ability.
"Starlight Legion Armor. Courtesy of the centurion."
Sunny hummed.
"You are walking on thin ice." Noah said.
Leon's ears perked up. He couldn't really speak to Noah in front of everyone. Even if he did whisper, Cassie would definitely hear him because of her heightened hearing.
"What do you think will happen when some Nightmare Creature eventually kills you?"
Leon frowned, as he listened silently.
"You think saying your flaw made you do it justifies it?" Noah continued, his voice low and tense.
Leon sighed and closed his eyes again.
Although he did not see a problem with taking such risks, he needed to think about others too. If Sunny had died to the Centurion...
He slowly shook his head.
'I just need to make sure I'm stronger… then everything will work out.'
His thoughts slowly drifted away as he fell asleep.
***
The next morning, the four descended the broken knight statue, and continued west.
Sunny walked in front, with Nephis and Leon behind him.
Cassie walked at the back without a rope. She was already used to her blindness — enough to move without assistance.
They encountered a couple of Carapace Scavengers on the way.
While Nephis acted as the bait, Sunny usually snuck behind the scavengers and killed them. Leon however, fought the scavengers alone.
He used the crown of Ember and a sharp bone he fished out of the centurion's corpse.
[You have received a Memory: Azure Scythe.]
'Again? Well I'm not complaining.'
The Scavengers inflicted countless injuries on him, but in the end, he used his speed and small build to hit their weak points. While the majority of Scavengers were busy with Nephis, he fought with one or two by himself.
After disposing of all of them, Leon checked on the crown.
Ember Charge: [30/1000]
He dismissed the runes and went back to the other three.
Sunny and Nephis were mostly unscathed, while Leon himself was covered in wounds. Nephis leaned toward him, touching his cheek. White flames covered his body — yet they did not burn. Instead, they soothed every wound he had.
He looked at her eyes and noticed pain and sorrow. But there was also a little bit of joy? Perhaps it was pride.
"Thanks," he said.
Nephis nodded, moving on to tend to Sunny's wounds.
As they moved forward, Sunny boasted about his new echo.
Staring at the beast walking ahead, Leon grew jealous of Sunny's seemingly unending luck.
'First his aspect, now echoes. Is this guy the bastard son of the Spell or something?'
Leon exhaled as the group continued west. Soon, they reached a line of cliffs. Sunny and Nephis began climbing, while Leon stepped back and smiled.
Nephis turned back with a look of worry. Leon activated his crown and detonated the ground beneath his feet, blasting himself upward. His feet singed from the heat, but soon healed themselves.
He reached the top of the cliff and helped Cassie up.
Sunny scoffed. "Show off."
"No need to be jealous Sunless. I prefer quality over quantity when it comes to Memories or Echoes." Leon said with a grin.
Noah covered his face with his hand, letting out a shallow breath. "How much ember charge will you waste like this? No wonder you had no savings back on Earth."
Leon's eyes twitched.
'But we were the same person...'
While Sunny argued about the superiority of his new Echo, Nephis suddenly stepped in between the two.
"Would you two like to duel?" Nephis asked with a stoic expression.
Leon stared at her in disbelief.
"Sunny....did she ask for a duel just now?"
Sunny also kept his gaze on Nephis. "Yes."
Nephis blinked.
"Is something wrong?"
Leon shook his head.
"Nothing, Changing Star. Never thought you would be the battle hungry type in the middle of a death zone."
Nephis frowned, lowering her head.
Sunny coughed.
"What he meant was that we would love to duel you Changing Star."
He nudged at Leon's shoulder, which made Leon laugh awkwardly.
"Yes. I never said that was a bad quality." Leon added.
Nephis looked up and smiled crookedly — or at least she tried to smile. Sunny shuddered at the sight of her smile, while Leon's mouth gaped open.
'Is she...what the hell is that?'
Leon pushed his thoughts aside.
"Sunny should start."
He paused before adding.
"You should start with the weaker ones after all."
Sunny narrowed his eyes in disbelief.
"Oh yeah bastard? Let's go right now and see who's better."
He grinned, turning toward Sunny.
"Fine. Loser has to pick up soul shards from corpses for an entire week."
Sunny grinned.
"I'm gonna enjoy making you my slave."
Leon laughed and summoned his new scythe.
Staring at the scythe, Sunny's voice sounded with frustration.
"You... You got another one?"
Leon chuckled.
"Don't worry Sunny. I'm not that petty, I'll still give you your sword... When I get one of course."
Sunny sighed. "Whatever."
He then summoned his own scythe as the two got into their stance. But before they could start, however, Nephis stepped in between again.
"I was the one who wanted a duel, I should start."
After a long argument, it was eventually decided that Nephis would fight Sunny first. Leon sighed as he stepped back and sat beside Cassie.
He watched Sunny and Nephis clash their blades. Glancing beside him, he noticed Cassie was still frightened, clutching her knees.
"How you holding up Cas?"
Cassie slowly tilted her head toward him. "Better now."
Leon leaned his back against the cold rock. His silver armor glistened under the sun.
"So you can see other people's attributes. That's an incredible ability to have, Cas."
She smiled faintly. "I… I guess it is."
"You can even see their description?"
Sighing softly, she leaned her head on his shoulder. "Just the names actually."
But Leon had clearly noticed a little bit of hesitation in her words. She also seemed to avoid his gaze just now.
'Is she lying?'
Noah lay nearby, sprawled on the ground. He yawned as Leon slowly narrowed his eyes.
"Now it feels like everyone has incredible abilities except me."
Leon didn't mean those words, of course. His Aspect was far more versatile, but he only said it to make Cassie feel a little better. She had a habit of drowning in self-pity. Whether it would actually help, he had no idea. It was his first time trying to console someone after all.
"That's not true Leon! Your attributes sound far more interesting." She said in a hurried tone.
Leon chuckled as he continued watching the duel in front of him. Sunny was slowly being pushed back by Nephis. The gap in skill was obvious, but Sunny was beginning to adapt. His movements grew more precise and less wasteful.
"Well, three of those four attributes are nothing but trouble for me, to be honest."
Cassie froze. She slowly turned her head toward him.
"Four? But there are five."
Leon blinked, clearly confused.
"Five?"
He summoned his runes immediately.
Name: Leonar
True Name: -
Rank: Dreamer
Resonance Core: Dormant
Skimming through them, he focused on his Attributes.
Attributes : [Fated], [Oathbound], [Veil of Forgotten Truths], [Omen of Insight]
'But there's only four...'
Turning toward Cassie, he spoke in a hurried tone — mostly because he was too excited and curious.
"Could you name them for me?"
Cassie tilted her head, while her face was filled with confusion. "Um... sure?"
She cleared her throat and straightened her back.
"So first there's Fated — the same one Sunny has, actually. Next there's Oathbound, Omen of Insight, Veil of Forgotten Truths…"
Her voice trailed off as she squinted.
"And…"
Leon's eyes twitched. "And what Cas? What's the last one?"
Cassie frowned. "The last one is a bit..."
She leaned in closer.
"Oblivion."