The True Form of Shadow Step

“I never imagined I’d be fretting this much when I first met you, Doyun-nim, but thankfully we made it to the second stratum!”

“Is that supposed to be a compliment?”

Ciel held out a gift box along with that oddly pointed confession. In a normal Tower of Trials they would never have needed to struggle so hard, so her reaction was only natural.

Click.

When he opened the box he found a single ticket nestled neatly inside.

E-Rank Skill Selection Ticket.

It was the standard reward given to anyone who cleared the first stratum, yet for Do-yun it carried far greater meaning.

Will the coefficients on this one be warped as well?

His heart hammered with uneasy anticipation as he accepted the gift box. What if that inexplicable luck applied only to the rewards of the first stratum? From now on would he have to face other monstrous challengers with nothing but ordinary equipment?

Yet the moment he reached out and closed his fingers around the ticket, every one of those fears proved baseless.

From E-rank onward, skills no longer simply strengthened attacks. Entirely new conceptual effects began to appear. And astonishingly, every coefficient on those skills had also been warped beyond all reason.

“What a relief.”

He had been half-afraid the strange standard applied only to F-rank gear and skills. Clearly the luck clinging to him had not yet faded.

“I should check these first before I choose.”

After skimming the list, Do-yun turned his head. Before deciding which E-rank skill to take, there were two others he needed to examine.

The two unique skills that had risen from F-rank to E-rank. He needed to know exactly how their performance had improved.

“Let’s start with Shadow Step.”

The skill he had taken from Nightwalker Grham after defeating him had already been an enormous help. As an F-rank skill it cost almost no mana yet delivered the absurd effect of teleportation—a true golden goose. Of course the low mana cost would diminish now that it was E-rank, but the newly unlocked effects would more than make up for it.

Maybe I can now move through shadows outside my line of sight, or sense the shadows around me.

That vague hope froze solid the instant he read the description. Not because the skill had gotten worse. On the contrary—it had become far, far too good.

It could move any desired target. The already broken movement skill had never even been a mere movement skill to begin with. The functions suppressed by its demoted rank had finally been revealed.

“This is insane.”

He could not even begin to calculate the value that single sentence of description could create. Eager to test just how far the word “target” extended, Do-yun prepared to activate the skill—only to frown at the flood of brilliant light around him. The Sanctuary Room, bathed entirely in white radiance, was hardly an ideal place for shadows.

No choice. I’ll have to make one myself.

Perfect, actually. It would also let him check whether he could force the skill’s conditions even in bright surroundings.

“Ciel. You don’t happen to have any more gift boxes, do you?”

“Ah, I’m sorry. Those aren’t something I can just hand out on my own.”

“Figures.”

Multiple boxes would have let him run more varied tests, but for now he would have to make do with the single box that had held the E-rank ticket.

He carefully stood the box on end, angled it so light could not reach the interior, and darkened the inside as much as possible.

This should be enough.

Focusing his senses on the darkness before him, he chose his test subject: the ribbon that had wrapped the gift box Ciel had just given him.

In the next instant pitch-black darkness bloomed and the ribbon vanished from his hand. Walking over and peering into the box, he found the ribbon resting safely inside exactly where it had disappeared.

“Ha.”

He could only swallow a hollow laugh of pure disbelief. Just what kind of skill had Grham possessed?

Further experiments revealed several conditions.

First: the target had to be small enough to hold in one hand. Only objects he personally touched could be moved.

Second: the target’s size had to fit within the shadow’s area. He discovered that one while trying to shove a longsword into the tiny box.

Third: mana cost varied wildly by object. A small ribbon or button cost only 1 mana—the same as the old F-rank version—but as volume increased the cost skyrocketed.

When I move myself with Shadow Step I can teleport my entire body without trouble…

Yet moving his own body still cost only as much as a button. After thinking it over he arrived at one hypothesis.

“The farther the target is from my body, the more mana it burns.”

Since he was the caster, efficiency seemed to drop the farther the object traveled from him. Of course it was still less efficient than moving himself, but under the right circumstances the payoff would far outweigh the cost.

“Next is Transformation.”

Unlike Shadow Step, this one had never been particularly useful. Do-yun was not a full-body cyborg like its original owner Destroyer, and reshaping objects took longer than expected. The only practical use he had found was liquefying a gem-sized Mana Stone to activate a staff.

The upgraded skill fixed that flaw. When he used it on the sword in his hand, the blade lengthened and shortened in a blur.

“Now this is actually usable.”

The greatest reason he had ignored the skill—its sluggish casting speed—had been remedied. At this rate he could freely employ it even in the middle of combat.

“It really has changed a lot!”

“Yeah.”

Do-yun answered Ciel’s ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠excited remark with an ambiguous expression. A single rank-up, yet the felt performance was on an entirely different level. The change was welcome, but he could not simply rejoice.

…I’m not the only one getting stronger.

Even for him, a simple movement skill had gained an entirely new effect. How drastic would the changes be for other challengers? Fighters whose styles he thought he understood might suddenly fight in completely different ways, and challengers who had barely registered until now might erupt as unexpected dark horses.

“Nothing I can do about it. Just have to survive.”

He dismissed the worry with a single sentence and turned his gaze back to the ticket. After long deliberation among the countless options, he made his choice.

Under normal circumstances it would have been a mediocre support skill that merely sharpened focus a little. The description floating before his eyes meant something entirely different.

Perceiving the world four times faster. That was effectively time acceleration.

“In a fight decided by fractions of a second, nothing beats this.”

Seeing an opponent’s attack more slowly meant more time to decide how to respond. Veterans who had crossed the line of death countless times already reacted with their bodies before their minds even registered the threat. To stand against them, Do-yun needed every extra moment he could seize.

The moment he tested the skill, every sense sharpened to a razor’s edge and the scenery around him began to crawl. He could feel the flow of every individual muscle fiber. Until now, even with high stats he had never fully commanded his own body. With Concentration Enhancement active, every movement became crystal clear.

This is incredible.

It would be devastatingly useful in combat, and just as valuable for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠training. Maintaining this state would let him learn complex movements he had never dared attempt before—and those movements included the fine control of his skills.

He activated the most basic technique of Sun Swordsmanship. Mana slowly wrapped the blade and kindled flames. Previously the process happened too quickly to observe; now it was different.

Whoosh.

Do-yun watched the flames blooming along the sword with rapt attention, following their flow and attempting the slightest change of direction.

Crack.

The wavering fire refused his will and scattered.

Still too soon.

The third form, Sunset—usable only when one could freely command the flames—remained out of reach. Yet he did not give up, continuing to wrestle the fire of Scorching Sword into obedience.

I need to get even ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a little more familiar with it before entering the eleventh floor.

There was spare time before the eleventh floor opened anyway. He intended to spend every second of it on this alone.

Staring at the notification that appeared right on cue, he kindled his fighting spirit.