As Seol learned how to see through the darkness of the labyrinth, Shin Hyun just told him ‘good job’ and left the annex.
Seol returned to the annex and, for the first time in a while, stretched out his arms and legs and lay down.
Suddenly, he was overwhelmed with exhaustion.
Swoosh...
It started to rain.
Opening his eyes in the labyrinth brought more discomfort than waking up underwater. His eyes would feel like they would pop out whenever he opened them.
'It's a good omen.'
It might have caused him annoyance if it were just a simple pain, but Seol could guess that wasn't the case.
'The evolution of Eyes of Foresight is imminent.'
His growing eyes would most likely transform into better ones once given the right conditions.
Moreover, the hard-earned Eyes of Foresight hadn't been very useful recently. So this opportunity had come just in time.
Seol felt a sense of peace for the first time in a while.
Although he had been training fiercely every day, no sense of crisis came to him. He wasn't being followed by any ugly lizard, nor was there a fight that would determine the fate of a tribe.
Right now, Seol was just Seol.
Until now, he had always grown by throwing himself into the pit of despair. Not only because it was fast and efficient but also because he wasn't confident in persevering and focusing on something for long.
However, as he finally opened the lid, this side wasn't too bad either.
Of course, regardless of what he thought, he still had a long way to go.
'For now, the only thing I can do is see. I still have a long way to go.'
He had come here to do shadow-related training.
He shouldn't get overly confident just because he learned how to see through the darkness of the labyrinth.
"Hmm..."
He heard footsteps outside the door.
Since Shin Hyun always moved without making a sound, the footsteps were deliberate for sure.
"Come in."
"I think it would be better if you came out."
Wondering why Shin Hyun had come all the way here, Seol stepped outside the annex.
"Ugh..."
"Hihihi... What's wrong?"
Shin Hyun had piled up night beasts in one corner of the annex's courtyard. They were all corpses, and their number exceeded ten.
"This is all..."
"They are night beast corpses that were hunted nearby. The souls' insides have all been extinguished."
In other words, they were just empty shells.
'Why did he bring them to me?'
Noticing Seol's doubts, Shin Hyun went straight to the point.
"What you need to do now is to deal with the remnants of the night beasts. In other words, handle the shadow shells."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
"What...?
- Yes?
- Did I hear wrong?
- Dhw?
"Why are you surprised? Do you think it's useless?"
"No, I was just curious about the reason."
"Hmm... The spirits here don't disappear just by being beheaded or pulling out their insides. In other words, these guys are like mushrooms. They're shadows that parasitize on souls."
"Hmm..."
"Once all of the souls inside disappear, these things become mushy and then disappear."
"They disappear...?"
"Yes, they get reabsorbed into the labyrinth. Then, they cling to other souls again. In other words, it's an eternal fight that won't end just by cutting them down."
He roughly understood what Shin Hyun was saying.
It seemed that Shin Rip and Shin Hyun had learned how the labyrinth’s ecosystem worked after staying in it for so long.
"Fortunately, there's a way. After scraping out the remnants of the souls inside and burning them, most of them disappear. Otherwise, they will always ultimately win. After all, the Darkness will return to the labyrinth. I will entrust this glorious task to you from now on. That's all for the explanation. Any questions?"
- Summary) I'm too lazy to do this, so I want you to do it instead.
- It's a necessary task for the world. And that task is now, of course, yours.
- Are you annoyed? What will you do about it?
- So this kind of thing also happens inside labyrinths...
- I'm more and more convinced that he needs to leave this labyrinth...
"No."
"...?"
Seol nodded and walked toward the corpses.
Shin Hyun looked at Seol for a moment and then left.
It seemed that this was the second trial Seol needed to go through, although the lesson was far from pleasant.
'Well, Shin Rip and Shin Hyun are legendary swordsmen. So I guess it wouldn't be bad to learn swordsmanship.'
If he dedicated ten years to swordsmanship... he might be able to become better than Shin Rip or Shin Hyun.
However, he wasn't sure if that was the appropriate thing to do.
'I came here for the shadows.'
He found himself worrying about unnecessary things after having met a master who awkwardly stood between the line of shadow and swordsmanship.
After all, being a summoner didn't inherently carry penalties regarding weapon usage. No—to be more precise, there were penalties.
Seol tilted the palm of his hand as if intending to suck in the shadow crawling up his arm.
He then used his power. And as he did...
Whir—!
The shadow was sucked into the middle of his palm.
"Huh?"
And a message, which he now could see, popped up.
[The shadow has reacted to Passive: Sticky Shadows.]
[The shadow has been absorbed.]
[Shadow Space increases by 30.]
[The Darkness' grace has descended.]
[Awakening! You have awakened a new skill.]
[You have learned Passive: Friendly Shadow.]
...
【What's wrong?】
Agony approached and climbed up Seol's shoulder. Then it looked into his eyes.
"Huh?"
Seol's pupils were flickering.
* * *
"Is that guy doing this properly without scheming?"
"He was so engrossed that he was even humming a tune, unlike at the beginning when he had no motivation."
"It's a good thing. Now that we've shared work, the number of night beasts nearby has significantly decreased."
"Hihihi... Now I just have to cut them down without worrying."
"Understanding those beasts is important. That guy still isn't strong enough to fight them. He needs to go step by step."
"Well, I guess he will eventually improve."
"But to think he would do grunt work for two months without complaining. That's commendable."
Night beasts weren't only the things they had to fight, but they were very similar to Seol's current situation.
Therefore, they had him handle the night beasts' corpses so he could understand how they moved, why they were strong, and uncover their secrets.
"Hmm..."
However, unlike Shin Rip, who praised Seol, Shin Hyun was stroking his beard.
"What's wrong?"
"It seems that guy has some strange personality trait. He had been asking me if there were any bigger ones."
"Hmm... Well, he does need to see how the Darkness has consumed the bigger ones."
"And... Hmm... This..."
"If you have something to say, just say it."
Shin Hyun scratched his head.
"His energy has become... strange."
"Strange?"
"How should I say it? It became heavier."
"Did he do some training at midnight?"
"I don't go to the annex outside the schedule, so I don't know. But it has definitely become heavier."
"How strange. Perhaps I should go and check..."
It was at that moment.
Someone came walking from the annex.
It was Seol, who hadn't left the annex in almost five months.
Seol, who hadn't left the annex for such a long time, had come out on his own to meet Shin Rip and Shin Hyun.
Rather than happy, Shin Rip and Shin Hyun were worried. Usually, there's a reason when someone does something they don't normally do. And it was usually something bad.
Seol's energy was conveyed with every step.
Shin Rip and Shin Hyun could sense the energy of others just from their steps.
Shin Rip's eyes narrowed.
"Hyun, you were right."
"It's strange, right?"
Before they noticed, Seol had come close to them.
"What brings you here?"
"I have a request."
"Say it."
"Instead of corpses, I want to see live night beasts."
"Hmm...?"
Seol politely asked the brothers.
"Please, take me on a hunt."
"You aren't ready yet for a hunt."
"I won't hunt. I just want to see them up close.
"Then why...?"
Shin Rip waited for the answer.
Soon, Seol gave his reply.
"There's something I need to check."