Chapter 1829: A New Way

Chapter 1829: A New Way

Before the sun set, the minions of the dead Tyrant accepted the death of their ruler. Rain watched with a dark expression as the countless hands stopped moving for a while, and then started to claw at the flesh of the dead abomination.

The corpse was going to come undone much sooner than she had expected, allowing the monstrous hands to prowl freely. She wanted to be as far away from the swarm of them as possible when that happened. Soon, she was pulling Tamar's stretcher through the mud once again. It had been torturously hard and exhausting before... but now, Rain did not feel any strain at all. It was so easy that the bitterness of her past efforts seemed like a joke.

She was slowly coming to terms with the fact that she had become an Awakened, smiling brightly from time to time.

Tamar was slowly coming to terms with it, too. The young Legacy spoke from the stretcher:

"But... how, exactly, did you do it?"

Rain considered if she should break into a sprint, but then decided against it.

"Well. It is hard to explain with words... the first thing you should know is that natural Awakening works in reversed order from the one induced by the Spell. You must learn how to sense and control your essence first, and form the soul core later." She remembered her early days in Ravenheart. Back then, she had barely known her teacher...

"Your essence has to Awaken first. There are a few ways to make that happen, but the only one I know of is to absorb the essence of Awakened creatures."

Tamar shifted quictly on the stretcher.

"Soul shards used to be extremely precious in the waking world, so very few mundanes ever had a chance to acquire many of them before. The situation is even more dire now... with how many new Awakened and Masters are out there, everyone is striving to saturate their cores."

She paused for a moment, and then added scornfully:

"You must be very rich, Rani, to have acquired so many. For a simple porter."

Rain grinned.

"Who? Me? No, I'm a bit poor... actually, I never once managed to buy a soul shard. I just went out there and hunted down Nightmare Creatures, one at a time. Mostly Dormant, and a few Awakened."

The young Legacy let out a long, exasperated sigh.

"Well, the cat was out of the bag after I killed that Tyrant. So, I had two choices... either tell you the truth or toss you over the edge of the waterfall. Although... I might still choose the latter..."

She stared at Tamar for a moment, then turned around and exploded with laughter.

"Gods, the expression on your face... relax, it was a joke. Plus, why would I keep it a secret? I want as many people as possible to know. That way, fewer kids will be dying in the First Nightmare. Fewer of them will be sent into a literal Death Zone on the winter solstice like you were, too..."

Rain couldn't help but be giddy. The intoxicating feeling of strength and potency permeating her body, the pride and relief of having finally accomplished the goal she had been pursuing for so many years, the promise of a gentler future that she could potentially help usher in...

It was enough to make her head spin.

While she was basking in joy, Tamar's cold voice resounded from behind:

"Rani... you are a bit naive, aren't you?"

Rain glanced at her in confusion.

"What's that about?"

Laying on the stretcher, the young Legacy looked at the sky tiredly and let out a long sigh.

"You absolutely cannot tell anyone about how you Awakened. At least not while you are so weak and lack protection. If you knew what's good for you, you really should have tossed me over the edge of the waterfall."

Rain blinked a couple of times.

"What? Why?"

The younger girl shifted and looked up at her, her gaze somber.

"Just think about it. The entire power hierarchy of our world is built around the Nightmare Spell. The entire economy too, more or less. Those who wield power can do so because they control the resources people need to survive. Awakened warriors are one such resource... perhaps the most important one. Now, you possess something that can render all that authority meaningless. What do you think will happen to you when those in power learn about your existence?"