When morning had arrived, I woke up. I observed with curiosity the enormous corpse of the whale shark and the multitude of scavengers that were still devouring the carcass.
Taking some scavenger meat, I ate it.
"Right, I need to check how many fragments I have," I murmured, invoking the runes. I focused solely on the fragment counter.
Shining Fragments: [107/1000]
'Good, that's a good number.' Having thought that, I stopped looking at the runes and instead simply began to descend the enormous statue.
After descending, I summoned the Leviathan's sword.
"My next objective would be the dead coral. I think it will take me at least a week, or perhaps two if too many scavengers don't appear," I said to myself.
There was no one around, so I didn't have to worry about being watched.
"Now that I stop to think a little... The Sovereigns must have ascended recently, perhaps one or two years since their ascension. So their influence isn't great enough yet. So I'll be able to become a Master and maybe later, a Transcendent."
Although challenging the third nightmare after ascending was complete madness.
"Better to ascend first and then prepare to challenge the third nightmare."
Having made my decision, I continued my journey through the crimson coral.
Even though almost all the scavengers were devouring the enormous corpse, there were stragglers moving in groups of two and three towards the feast.
Inevitably, I had run into them, but they were quickly eliminated by me.
"I feel like a hacker, using a cheat bar from the start," I said happily, crushing the Awakened beast's soul fragment.
Letting out a slight yawn, I continued walking through the crimson coral. Every now and then I had to turn and circle around a multitude of scavengers. I wasn't crazy enough to fight ten of those things.
Five was possible since the passage wasn't so wide for them to attack me all at once.
Taking the direct route to the cliffs, I continued advancing. From time to time I looked at the sky to see if any storm was forming, but there was no sign of any.
Hearing the sound of heavy, chitinous footsteps, I saw a Scavenger which came running to attack me.
"I hate these things."
With a sigh, I started to run. My speed was greater than the scavenger's. Arriving in front of the monster, it raised its claws to bring them down. However, I anticipated it.
Passing through its legs, I cut three of its six legs, causing it to fall lengthwise.
The scavenger got back on its feet, using one of its limbs to balance its body.
Taking several steps back, I manipulated the light, giving it the shape of a bow. Pulling back the string, I formed an arrow and fired it.
The arrow lodged directly in the scavenger's head, right in one of its eyes.
The monster's body collapsed instantly.
[You have killed an Awakened beast, Chitin Scavenger]
[You have received a Memory:Infinite Spring]
"Damn, finally, a memory and undoubtedly a very good one." I quickly summoned the bottle, beginning to drink fresh water. After two days, it was truly delicious.
Filling my stomach with water, I observed the memory. It was the same one Cassie had had: a bottle capable of producing infinite water. Well, for 30 minutes if left upside down.
Discarding the memory, I continued my journey in a much better mood.
After taking a few steps, I stopped.
"Oh, right, the fragment."
After taking out the monster's soul fragment, I resumed the journey.
When the afternoon arrived, I had reached the cliff, being on the upper part of it, far from the dark sea.
Reaching the upper part, I began to explore the area. There were several scavengers that were eliminated by me. That was until I encountered the Centurion.
Which had seen me.
The monster shot me a murderous look, a crackle of pure fury and rage. Its legs, as sharp as scythes, dug into the ground with a dry crunch, propelling its enormous body towards me.
I didn't wait. With a spin, I lifted my transcendent sword and closed the distance in a fast run.
The centurion raised its scythe and brought it down in a whistling arc. I planted myself and placed my sword directly in its trajectory. The impact was a hammer blow of metal that made my teeth grind. The force of the blow made me slide backwards, plowing through the earth.
Without respite, the monster advanced. Its scythes became a silver whirlwind. I threw myself to the ground, rolling through the dust, and emerged between its colossal legs. There, I pivoted on my axis and swung the Leviathan's sword in a perfect circle. The blade cut through the hard chitin of its limbs with a crunchy sound.
Two of its legs, severed, gave way. The monster collapsed to one side with a bellow. I jumped backwards just as its mass crashed against the ground.
Writhing, the centurion hurled one of its remaining scythes in a desperate movement. I couldn't dodge it. The tip struck me in the side with a blunt impact. My body was sent flying and slammed against the rocky wall. A dull pain spread through me, but nothing was broken.
With a grunt, I got up. My eyes met the hate-filled gaze of the centurion, thrashing helplessly.
I took a running start and leaped towards the fallen monster. It tried to lift its mutilated appendages, but only managed a useless spasm. My jump carried me in an arc over its head.
At the highest point, I inverted my body and delivered a definitive vertical slash. The transcendent sword split its face in two halves with a wet, decisive snap. I landed firmly, facing the remains of my enemy.
[You have killed an Awakened monster, Chitin Centurion.]
[You have received a Memory:Armor of the Starlight Legion.]
[Your core strengthens.]
"You deserved that and more, damn it," I said angrily.
Walking around it, I brandished the sword, opening its chest, taking out the two soul fragments and crushing them along with the third one I had.
"Good. Now that I killed it, I need to hide and wait for the Herald of the Needle. I can't kill it because I need to touch the statue to be able to get the Memory of Twilight."
Moving away from the centurion's corpse, I hid among the rocks, far from the centurion.
After waiting for a while, it finally arrived: a fallen monster, the appearance of a pale griffin, with black wings and feathers, plus multiple legs protruding from its chest. It was horrible, it was disgusting, and it was what hid beneath the hollow mountains.
'While that thing is still alive, leaving this place is impossible,' I thought to myself, watching as the Herald of the Needle moved away with the remains of the centurion.
Once it was far away, I came out of my hiding place and prepared a campfire to cook the centurion meat I had taken.
The next morning there was a storm that lasted a whole day, and after that, I finally set off again.
---
A full week had passed since I left the cliffs and was moving towards the skeleton graveyard.
During the week I had been in a kind of light monotony. I killed scavengers, took their soul fragments, crushed them when night fell, climbed to a high place, slept, and then repeated.
For seven full days.
"This is taking more time than I want," I murmured, sitting on the corpse of a dead scavenger.
I looked around and there were only scavenger corpses, about ten of them. After fighting dozens of times and strengthening my core, I lost my fear and became more reckless in attacking them.
Summoning the bottle, I took several sips and then washed my head, removing the damp earth and the scavenger's blue blood.
At least I had to give myself a bath once every two days to avoid the bad smell.
Discarding the memory, I invoked my runes to review them.
Name: Lucian
True Name:Morning Star
Rank:Dreamer
Class:Inactive
Shining Fragments:[192/1000]
Memories:[Shroud of the Sun Priest] [Blue Sword] [Leviathan's Sword] [Infinite Spring]
Echoes:—
Attributes:[Child of the Stars] [Destined] [Spawn of the Dream] [Light] [Flame of Divinity] [Fire]
Aspect:Shining Fragment.
Aspect Rank:Divine
Aspect Ability:Lightbearer.
Aspect Ability Description:You can give shape to light and drive away shadows.
Flaw:Unchanging.
Flaw Description:Your body is incapable of change.
---
"It seems I'll soon reach 200 fragments. Maybe by the time I reach the Chitin Demon I'll reach 300."
Getting to my feet, I did some stretches and began walking west. Soon I would be entering a different area, towards the region where the centipedes lived.
Advancing through the coral, I ran into a scavenger which lunged at me.
The battle was quick, it barely lasted a few seconds before the monster died.
Taking its fragment, I placed it in the algae backpack I had improved in my free time when the sun began to hide. Now it was as big as a straw basket, with at least 50 fragments inside along with the two transcendent fragments from the titan.
After traveling for another two days and killing scavengers, I finally arrived at another zone where scavengers and centipedes were at war.
Which gave me the opportunity to expand my attack range.
Since I had no interest in close combat, I simply attacked from a distance with a bow made of light. The chitin of the centipedes was less resistant than that of the scavengers, so I could eliminate them more easily.
I spent a week inciting fights between scavengers and centipedes, making them kill each other, and at the end of the conflict I took the soul fragments.
In this way I had managed to gather about 400 soul fragments, added to the 100 I had in the basket, I had reached 500 fragments, half of what I needed to advance and become an Inactive monster.
Finally, after a week of travel and fighting nightmare creatures, I had finally arrived at the bone graveyard or the oceanic ridge.
Advancing through the gray, lifeless coral, I approached the enormous skeleton, beginning to climb the spinal column.
Advancing through the darkness, there were small rays of light which I used to create a luminous sphere that illuminated the interior. There were no nightmare creatures, so it was quite safe; furthermore, it was high enough to be above the dark sea.
Lighting a campfire with difficulty, I began to cook the scavenger meat, also seasoning it with salt extracted directly from the dark sea.
While the meat was cooking, I began to crush the fragments one by one. I could feel how the essence flooded my body before traveling to my soul core.
The fragment counter increased continuously.
'Maybe I'll investigate if the Chained Islands were claimed by some Master of Valor. If so, I'll be able to travel and take the mimic's night coins.'
After crushing the last fragment, I left the two transcendent fragments; I wouldn't use them yet.
Once the meat was ready, I began to eat. Soon the sun disappeared, bringing with it the dark sea.
I observed the transcendent fragments, which were crucial for my plan. Since I killed the centurion and all the ones in the area, the Chitin Demon would have to search for it himself.
I would use this as bait to kill it in a single blow. If it was far from the ash mound, it would be far from its influence.
"I could use a rope," I murmured, making my voice echo through the empty vertebrae.
Putting out the campfire, I decided to go to sleep early.
Lying on my back, using my arms as a pillow, I looked into the darkness and then closed my eyes.