Shadow Slave novel Chapter 1822

1822 /2446

Actually, Rain already knew what miracle could save her. It wasn't a miracle that could happen to her, but rather a miracle she could make happen.

It was her Awakening.

Just like her teacher had said, it was the only solution to this lethal predicament.

The problem was that the formation of her soul core was far away, while the Tyrant was too close. The abomination was not drawing closer yet, but it would soon.

If Rain could rest with no distraction and concentrate on meditating steadily, there would have been hope of Awakening before the hideous giant caught its prey. But she had to escape from it, dragging Tamar across the wasteland, from dusk till dawn.

She had to rest at night to recover at least some of her strength, so there were only a few short hours for her to circulate her essence while keeping watch.

Those hours were woefully insufficient for the task at hand.

But actually...

Wasn't she looking at it all wrong?

Rain remembered the previous night. The cool sensation of water droplets falling on her face, the joy she felt. Back then, she was circulating her essence. She took Tamar's helmet and moved it from below the overhanging stone ridge to catch the rain, hoping to quench her unbearable thirst.

Which proved something vital.

It was that she could move and control her essence at the same time. As long as her concentration wasn't broken, Rain could do whatever she wanted while forming her core.

Of course, it wasn't easy to keep her essence under control when doing something else. It was already hard enough to maintain the raging whirlpool while in a state of perfect peace, not to mention extremely tiring.

And yet, if she could circulate her essence while traversing the wasteland, then she wouldn't just have a few pitiful hours at night to form her core. Instead, she could keep forming it constantly, for as long as her mental fortitude allowed it.

Rain felt a strange compulsion to laugh and cry at the same time.

'Of course... of course! Why not?'

She was already doing something unprecedented by trying to Awaken without the help of the Nightmare Spell. As far as Rain knew, no other human of the waking world had ever done that.

And yet, she didn't just have to perform that miraculous feat, but also do it while being pursued by an Awakened Tyrant and dying from physical exertion. Lost in the wild reaches of the Dream Realm with no help, hope, or support.

It wasn't fair at all.

But it also made sense, in a strange kind of way. After all, making history was not supposed to be easy.

‘I can do it... I must do it. I have no choice but to do it.'

Rain gritted her teeth.

And then, ignoring her terrible fatigue and suffocating strain, she reached into her soul and tried to move her essence.

The heavy mental and spiritual burden was instantly added to the crushing hardship of pushing her tired body forward.

As soon as she took the next step and felt the wire rope cut into her skin painfully, her concentration was destroyed, and she lost control of her essence.

Rain took a laborious breath, gripped the rope tighter, and tried again.

This time, she managed to keep hold of her essence, but lost control of her abdominal muscles, allowing them to relax. She instantly lost balance, stumbled, and sprawled in the mud.

"Ah..."

Tamar subdued voice resounded from behind, tinged with concern:

"Rani, are you alright?”

Rain exhaled slowly, then pushed herself off the ground and wiped the mud off her face.

Well, with how dirty her gloves were, she might have just added more mud to it.

"I'm... fine."

Pulling up the alloy harness, she gripped it again and pulled the stretcher forward.

She did not make the same mistake the second time.

It was terribly difficult, and ruthlessly hard. But after a while, she managed to take several steps without losing control of her essence.

Then, a dozen steps.

Then, a hundred.

And finally, Rain forced herself to keep walking and circulating her essence at the same time. Her vision had turned blurry, and her mind felt as if it would collapse from strain.

But it did not.