Shadow Slave novel Chapter 2358

With a sigh, Kai walked over to the altar and placed the Snow Beast figure - the one they had retrieved after slaying Abundance - on its surface. Sunny watched him intently, wondering if the figure would still have to be tossed into the volcano. And how would it have worked if the Shrine of Truth belonged to the Snow Domain, instead? There would be no pit filled with smoke here if it had been, after all. However, he did not have to worry. Almost as soon as Kai placed the figure on the altar, it began to glow. Then, luminous fissures appeared on the surface of the flawless white jade, and a second later, it suddenly exploded into a swirling mass of ash.

"Huh…"

Before either of them could react, the ash swirled around Kai… and then suddenly flowed right into him, disappearing into his chest. Neither Sunny nor Kai moved for a few moments. Eventually, Kai coughed and waved his hand in front of him. "Great. More ash…"

His expression was a little miserable. They had enough water to drink, but not enough of it to properly clean themselves. Considering the nature of the Ash Domain, with its pillars of smoke and ash constantly falling from the sky, that meant that Kai was constantly covered in smears of soot. The charming archer had managed to maintain a neat appearance even on the Forgotten Shore, so Sunny knew how much his friend was suffering. "Kai… hey, Kai…"

The charming archer turned and glanced at him bitterly. "What?"

Sunny sighed. "Did you not notice? That cloud of ash did not just swirl around you. It went into you, you fool!"

Kai blinked a couple of times. "It did?"

Sunny nodded. In fact, the whole process looked quite familiar. It was similar to how essence entered Awakened when they broke soul shards, to the point that Sunny was inclined to assume that Ariel had modeled the process to look the same.

He hesitated for a moment. "How… how do you feel?"

Kai looked into the distance, as if concentrating on the state of his body. Slowly, a startled expression appeared on his face. "I feel… stronger. Much stronger."

Sunny studied him for a bit, then shifted his gaze and studied Kai's soul. Eventually, he said in a curious tone: "Well, buddy, I don't know how to tell you this… but there's a ring of ash surrounding your soul core now."

He was, naturally, telling the truth. There, under his gaze, Kai's Transcendent soul core was shining brightly with breathtaking light. But now, there was a ring of ash suspended around it, many black flakes shining with reflected radiance. It looked very much like a planet surrounded by a thin ring system.

Peculiarly enough, the soul essence that flowed in and out of Kai's core passed through the ring of ash first, assuming a new and peculiar quality.

Kai flinched. "There's ash… inside me?"

He looked like someone desperately wishing to take a shower. Sunny cleared his throat, then patted him on the shoulder. "Relax. It's… mystical ash, not real ash. Point is, it's making you stronger, so all is good, right?"

Kai let out a long sigh. Sunny studied him for a moment, then asked: "But, more importantly… how much stronger is it making you, exactly?"

The charming archer remained silent for a while, then said evenly: "I am not entirely sure, but… I feel like I can crush a mountain."

Sunny grinned. "How about you try crushing me, first?"

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