Return of the Shattered Constellation

Baek Gyeo-Ul tilted his head in confusion, unable to understand what Chang-Sun meant by ‘shadow’. Looking back at him, Chang-Sun chuckled lightly. It was understandable that Gyeo-Ul could not understand, as Chang-Sun had heard the phrase ‘become a shadow’ from his father, Xerxes.

“Shadow? What are you talking about?”

“You know I normally don’t have a fixed physical body, right?”

“Yeah, or else you wouldn’t look like that now.”

“Just as you said, I normally can’t even manifest in a spirit body, because you could say I’m a false deity. No matter how exceptional a Celestial is, they normally don’t recognize me, but you’re different.”

“So?“

“So, in order to have a body, I extracted your shadow, then artificially made a ‘shell’ and inhabited it.”

“Hmm!”

“If it weren’t for your shadow—no, the hidden side of your imprint, to be more accurate, it would have been difficult to manifest like this in the physical world.”

“…I don’t like the way you put it, but yeah, something like that.”

As it happened, Chang-Sun had not intentionally encountered Xerxes. While exploring some ruins, Chang-Sun had coincidentally sensed him and realized he was a being who had been expelled from the planes and the universe, like the <Forgotten Stars>. Thus, Chang-Sun had lent Xerxes his shadow as a medium for Xerxes to show himself in the physical plane.

Through that incident, Xerxes had become Chang-Sun’s shadow, an ally who protected and assisted Chang-Sun, and a colleague with whom he had accomplished many achievements together. Although they had gone down separate paths due to a difference in opinion, there were no hard feelings between them.

In truth, Chang-Sun had long felt indebted to Xerxes after having lost his precious colleague through his ignorance and selfishness. Now, he had met that very same precious colleague’s son. As Gyeo-Ul had undone his old curse and regained his original looks and talents, Chang-Sun would now guide Gyeo-Ul down the path he had to walk.

Of course, Gyeo-Ul would have been able to find his own path someday with his own willpower and talent, but it would still take a tremendous amount of time. Thus, Chang-Sun would shorten the time it took and guide Gyeo-Ul, in order to ensure he did not go down the wrong path.

[The Celestial ‘World-Encircling Serpent’ says he is unsure what you are trying to teach that person.]

[The Celestial ‘World-Encircling Serpent’ looks forward to seeing your new knowledge, believing you know what you are doing.]

However, Gyeo-Ul was still perplexed, as he did not know the full story. Perhaps due to his deep trust for Chang-Sun, however, he did not doubt Chang-Sun’s instruction. He asked, “Then, what should I do?”

“First, you must learn to control your shadow energy,” Chang-Sun said.

“Shadow energy…” Gyeo-Ul quietly repeated.

“You can’t force shadow energy to move. You have to build a pathway for it, so it can flow naturally,” Chang-Sun continued.

“A pathway…?” Gyeo-Ul asked.

“A path for your shadow energy to flow through. Project your energy onto my shadow first,” Chang-Sun said, pointing at his shadow.

“…?” Gyeo-Ul tilted his head.

“Do you see my shadow on the ground? Try pulling it in your direction,” Chang-Sun explained further.

Gyeo-Ul had been looking at Chang-Sun’s face, but he then lowered his head to look at Chang-Sun’s feet. Just like Chang-Sun, a spot of shadow cast by the light stood still where he was looking. Thus, just as Chang-Sun instructed, Gyeo-Ul tried to pull Chang-Sun’s shadow toward him. However, the shadow did not budge, and Gyeo-Ul’s magic still continued to flow like an arrogant river.

“Don’t pull it forcefully. Untangle the shadow strand by strand, and slowly pull it toward you,” Chang-Sun instructed firmly.

After managing to calm down with some difficulty, Gyeo-Ul patiently focused his attention on Chang-Sun’s shadow. Instead of pulling the entire shadow at once this time, he tried to ‘untangle’ the head of the shadow and attempted to pull it toward him.

‘Huh?’ Gyeo-Ul realized.

Amazingly, the shadow’s head disintegrated little by little. It was very slow, but Gyeo-Ul successfully separated a strand from Chang-Sun’s shadow. It was such an amazing sight that Gyeo-Ul’s eyes widened inadvertently.

“Focus! You shouldn’t get distracted!” Chang-Sun yelled.

Gyeo-Ul nodded and concentrated on the shadow again. Then, the strand that was about to be sucked back into Chang-Sun’s shadow rose again… and crawled on the ground toward Gyeo-Ul’s own shadow. As soon as it met Gyeo-Ul’s shadow, his magic, which had not budged until then, moved simultaneously.

However, the magic still refused to move according to Gyeo-Ul’s will. Instead, it began to move in a different way from before, as naturally as if magic—no, ‘it’—was supposed to move that way. It moved downward to Gyeo-Ul’s feet and gradually seeped into his shadow.

Pzzz―!

Paah!

The more magic flowed into his shadow, the faster Gyeo-Ul’s shadow pulled on Chang-Sun’s own. It started out agonizingly slow, but became noticeably faster after some time. At first, Gyeo-Ul separated Chang-Sun’s shadow strand by strand, but later, one strand became two, and then three. In the end, Chang-Sun’s entire shadow disintegrated as if Gyeo-Ul had untangled a ball of yarn at once, mixing into Gyeo-Ul’s shadow.

However, as Gyeo-Ul pulled the last piece of Chang-Sun’s shadow toward him…

Badump!

…his heart began to race so wildly that he felt as if he were suffocating.

“Don’t get overwhelmed by my shadow. Suppress it using any means necessary.” Chang-Sun shouted firmly.

Badump!

Badump!

Gyeo-Ul’s heart began beating more quickly, and he could only faintly hear Chang-Sun’s shout, as if it came from far away. A shiver ran down his spine, and he clenched his teeth in an attempt to withstand it. His magic quickly seeped into the shadow, where Chang-Sun and Gyeo-Ul’s shadows clashed for control. Gyeo-Ul infused a vast amount of magic, but there was no sign of Chang-Sun’s shadow calming down anytime soon.

[A shadow has mixed with another shadow!]

[Shadow energy is being infused.]

[The shadow energy has been infused.]

[The foundation of your existence is in disorder!]

…

The moment those incomprehensible messages began incessantly popping up…

『It’s…tiring… I don’t… like… it…』

In his mind, Gyeo-Ul could hear a new voice grumbling from within his body. He realized that the voice was the ‘shadow’ he had seen in his unconscious world while undoing his half-spirit curse.

The ‘shadow’ had reached out a hand and coaxed Gyeo-Ul to follow it. He had believed it disappeared after his half-spirit curse was completely cured, but it seemed he had been wrong, as the residue of the ‘shadow’ remained, either in his magic or in his shadow.

『Why in the world… did you catch this kind of shadow… from the beginning…?! I have… no other choice… but to help…』

The ‘shadow’ muttered to itself, but Gyeo-Ul could not understand what it was talking about.

[The shadows have merged into one.]

[Successfully gained control of the shadow!]

The shadows that had been merging chaotically as if they were about to explode gradually calmed down and took form.

『You.』

The ‘shadow’ spoke in Gyeo-Ul’s mind again, giving him a message that could be considered ‘advice’.

『You’d better do well. Seeing as you didn’t follow me, you have to endure all the hardships and suffering you’ll come across in the future.』

Whoosh!

The shadow took the form of a human again and suddenly merged itself with Gyeo-Ul, starting from his leg. The flow of magic that had been sucked into the shadow withdrew little by little, moving according to Gyeo-Ul’s will for the first time. The magic flowed not only into Gyeo-Ul’s legs, but also to his fingertips through his entire upper body, forearms, elbows, and wrists.

Gyeo-Ul tensed up as the shadow covered Gyeo-Ul’s entire body as if it were armor. When it was done covering his body… Gyeo-Ul was no longer there. A humanoid shadow rose from Chang-Sun’s shadow on the ground, not from Gyeo-Ul’s own.

Ding!

[The Skill ‘Shadow Doll Creation’ has been created!]

[Analyzing the stolen shadow’s information based on shadow energy.]

[A temporary Trait has been granted.]

[A temporary Skill has been granted.]

…

[A temporary Talent has been granted.]

…

[There is a lot of hidden information. Imitated only 71.5% of the analyzed information due to incomplete decryption.]

[The Trait ‘Shadow Play’ has been created!]

…

[Deducing the result.]

[Baek Gyeo-Ul]

%^#%&#@#$ (Illegible.)

Title: Jigwi’s Phantom Body

!@#!%%$%! (Illegible.)

Guardian: ―

Class: Rune Master.

Level: 28

…

Special note: You are clumsily imitating the Player ‘Lee Chang-Sun’ right now. Stealing more information from him will allow you to imitate him better.

‘This is…?’ Gyeo-Ul’s eyes widened as he saw his new status window, which had become vastly different from his previous window.

It seemed he had really imitated Chang-Sun’s information. On his new status window, the word ‘Jigwi’s Phantom Body’ caught his attention first.

Badump!

Badump!

The change was incredibly unexpected, and Gyeo-Ul had never expected to create such a skill. The most surprising part was the magic that had not budged until then… or in other words, his shadow energy… was circulating smoothly.

“Shadow energy is energy that mimics something, so it needs a subject to imitate,” Chang-Sun explained.

“That was why… you told me to take your shadow,” Gyeo-Ul said. However, he was surprised again; although his voice was similar to his original voice, it had changed a lot, resembling Chang-Sun’s voice.

“Yes, that was why,” Chang-Sun replied with a nod. smiling visibly.

While wrapped in shadow, Gyeo-Ul looked like a knight wearing black plate armor that shone like obsidian, somehow reminding Chang-Sun of Xerxes.

“The better you understand about the subject you imitate, the more meticulously and powerfully you can apply shadow energy, so watch and repeat after me from now on,” Chang-Sun said.

Gyeo-Ul nodded and tightly grabbed his spear. As he now understood what Chang-Sun meant by becoming a shadow, he intended to perfectly become Chang-Sun’s shadow. However, when Chang-Sun pointed the Nameless Spear toward him, he knew he had still been complacent.

‘I-It’s heavy!’ Gyeo-Ul thought in shock, sensing the calm air around Chang-Sun abruptly changing.

[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ wants to judge how much your martial arts skill has been upgraded.]

[The Celestial ‘Twilight-Piercing Owl’ thinks your camaraderie is admirable.]

[The Celestial ‘Calamity Tiger’ wants to see how well you learned his skill!]

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

The magic wind emanating from Chang-Sun became fiercer. As he walked forward using [Tiger Prowl], his [Tiger Kill] spread and mixed with [Tiger Disaster], taking the form of a tiger! However, the tiger form behind Chang-Sun looked completely different from before. It was larger and clearer. It was ash-colored and made up of clear lines. However, the biggest change was that the tiger looked more vicious, with one injured eye. He was finally using the power the had chosen and learned in the Tier 2 Fierce Tiger Library—[Cruel Tiger].

[The Celestial ‘Calamity Tiger’ watches your progress with satisfaction!]

‘He wants me to imitate this…?’ Gyeo-Ul thought, breaking into a cold sweat as he directly faced Chang-Sun’s [Cruel Tiger].

Although he was imitating Chang-Sun, it was difficult to think that he could actually mimic such a thing. In fact, the shadow energy that made up his body was about to scatter.

[Illegible!]

[Unanalyzable!]

…

[The gap between you and the shadow’s owner is too big!]

…

“Why aren’t you picking up your spear?” Chang-Sun asked.

Gyeo-Ul nervously cleared his throat and held his spear in the same posture with which Chang-Sun held the Nameless Spear. Even though he would not necessarily be able to perfectly mimic Chang-Sun, Gyeo-Ul wanted to at least try as much as possible, in order to be able to call himself Chang-Sun’s shadow. Chang-Sun contentedly watched Gyeo-Ul’s positioning, remembering that Xerxes had been just as persistent as Gyeo-Ul. It seemed Xerxes’ Talent was not Gyeo-Ul’s only inheritance.

“Let’s begin then,” Chang-Sun said, adjusting his grip.

Step!

When Chang-Sun took one step forward, the [Cruel Tiger] behind him also stepped forward. His swirling [Tiger Kill] was then sucked into his spearhead. By any standard, Chang-Sun handled [Cruel Tiger] very proficiently; it would be inconceivable to think that it had only been a day since he learned it.

[The Celestial ‘Calamity Tiger’ is sad because you could have grown a lot more if you had also entered other chambers.]

After reading Heoju’s message, Chang-Sun smiled enigmatically, and…

[The Celestial ‘Calamity Tiger’ tilts his head, sensing that something is wrong.]

Soon, Heoju felt strange. As Chang-Sun drew a diagonal line in the air with the Nameless Spear, the [Cruel Tiger] behind him scattered and transformed into an entirely different form. The tiger was now red, and its size had multiplied. It moved slowly, but the spearhead had an extremely heavy aura, as if it could crush anything.

[The Celestial ‘Calamity Tiger’ is struck with dismay!]

[The Celestial ‘Calamity Tiger’ yells violently at you, asking what in the world you did in the library!]

[The ‘Cruel Tiger’ state has been changed into the ‘Fierce Tiger’ state!]

[The ‘Fierce Tiger’ howls.]

[A ‘Fierce Tiger Unleashed’ is raging!]

Chang-Sun was also using a new Trait that he had not chosen from the nine Traits that made up the Tier 2 Library.