Shadow Slave: Possibilities Without Meaning

The first plan of action was to familiarise himself with his newly awakened body.

Spending an hour running through a training routine allowed him to ascertain exactly what changed in his body. 

It was a lot. 

From his reflexes to his muscle imbalances and straight down to the conditioning of his joints. It was a complete overhaul. Akin to upgrading the model of car one would drive. 

It would take a very long time before he mastered his body. Many years to achieve the level of bodily control that experience awakened and ascended have. The ability to control the flow of essence to each nerve ending allows for much higher efficiency and conservation of energy when applied correctly. 

He practiced saturating his body and limbs with essence to strengthen himself. It would take a very long time before he mastered it; however, the increase in strength was hard to put into words. It was as if he was using his darkness to enhance himself, but in a more natural way.

Being new to using essence, he was not efficient. Having leaks of soul essence leave his body when strengthening himself. It made him realise the properties that his essence had. 

Small black particles leaked from his newly developed pathways.

A black mist lingering around his body. He was unsure of its effects, if there were any to begin with. 

Moving onto what was on the forefront of his mind during his training, it was time to try out his newly awakened ability. 

'Dire Ordinance. What a name.'

Aldric thought to himself. 

Releasing a pool of darkness from his foot, blotting out a section of the ground. Not even the bright light of the room could pierce through it. Making it look boundless and without end. 

He immediately noticed how much easier the darkness flowed from the inside of his body. Gliding through him without any resistance or struggle. It now felt like his body was truly changed to better suit his dormant ability. Before, it felt much slower, as if the darkness was trudging through mud. 

It felt stronger as well. It was difficult to describe. 

Focusing on the matter at hand, Aldric remembered what the descriptions of his new ability said. 

"Imbue my will, huh?"

He spoke in a curious tone.

Utilising his [Tenebrous Control], he fashioned his darkness into a snake. With a long black body and a small head. Two protruding fangs rested out of its mouth. It was a perfect replica; however, it was dead.

Not an ounce of life to his creation

That was the real bottleneck of his aspect ability during his time in the dream realm. Before he had [Tenebrous Control] to aid him in controlling and shaping his darkness, he could only attack with momentum-driven slashes of his coated blade. As well as the rudimentary black sun technique that he had no control over. The new attribute allowed him to shape his darkness into thin, sharp blades and slashes. Compared to just forming around his blade. This strengthened his previous techniques manyfold. 

However, even after gaining this amazing attribute, Aldric still struggled. Because darkness inherently was not destructive. Being covered in a wave of darkness would not kill you. It may have many untold effects, but it could not even begin to compare to a wave of fire. Hence why Aldric always fashioned his darkness with an edge. To take advantage of the heaviness and the effects of darkness. Even with [Tenebrous Control], the only useful thing that he could fashion his darkness into were weapons and objects like chains and shackles. He had not explored the former, but he did use the latter in his battle against Tessai.

However, his recent battle with the [Dark Sea's Firstborn] had given him many ideas for fashioning his darkness. Controlling tendrils of darkness extending from his body was not a bad idea. 

So what use would this snake be to anyone as it was?

Placing a finger onto the body of the snake, Aldric echoed thought and feeling through his mind and towards the snake.

'Attack.'

With his eyes looking at the bottle of water in front of him, he pushed his will forward.

From a completely inanimate rendition of what a snake was, there was a small shift in movement. 

SLITHER

Opening its mouth, the snake mimicked a hiss, but no sound was released. Launching like a spring, it leaped across the room and sank its fangs deep into the water bottle. Puncturing it and causing it to leak. 

Without stopping, the snake exerted all its strength into completing the task. Thrashing around with the bottle as if it were a dog playing with a toy. 

Once it had finished or run out of energy, Aldric did not know, the snake began to disfigure. Turning back into a puddle of darkness. Like a splatter of ink on the ground.

"YES!"

Aldric shouted in glee. 

This was exactly what he needed. 

Before receiving this major boon, he could control and release darkness. However, after leaving his body and control, it was only a projectile.

But now he was rewarded with borderline telekinesis. While he was unsure on how much he could direct his darkness and the range of actions it could take, it was akin to giving sentience to his dormant ability.

This would explode the potential of attack and defences that he could complete with his darkness. No longer would he be limited to coating his blade and releasing dark slashes.

Aldric was salivating at the sheer potential of this ability. All the techniques that he could finally accomplish.

However, there was a clear distinction to be made. This did not give his darkness sentience. While it might sound like there were parallels with Sunny's dormant ability, Aldric could already think of five things that set them apart. 

Looking at the darkness that lingered around, a strange feeling ran through him. 

With a jolt of his hand, the remaining darkness returned to his arm. Seeping into his skin. 

"I guess that was the evolution of my dormant ability after awakening."

If Aldric remembered correctly, this was something that happened after ranking up. Cassie was able to view aspect names and rank after becoming awakened, which she couldn't do before.

It made sense. To be able to return the darkness back into the well that it originated from. 

This was something that he could not do previously. Before, the darkness remaining on his blade after a battle was flicked off like blood. Wasting it.

While this meant that he would conserve more of his reserves, it did not mean that he would never run out of darkness again. 

It was comparable to water.

Take a water bottle. Now he would be able to return any spilled water back into the bottle. However, if the water was splattered on the ground or the wall, this would make it impossible to return. So any darkness that he used as an attack would be used up. But any that remained could now be repurposed. 

Having now completed exploring his new ability, it was time to take a look at his runes.

Name: Aldric.

True Name: First-Class Singularity.

Rank: Awakened.

Dark Core: [2/7]

Class: Monster.

Dark Sprites:[1805/2000]

Memories:[Unwavering Spark][Cragborne Armor][Malice Of The Deep][Cavedweller Garms][Water Basin][Charm Of Balance][Silk Robes][Silk Pouch][Warding Eye][Stone Coffer][Tesseract][All-Seeing Eye][Mantle Of The Underworld][Cursed Mirror][Dark Wing][Red Spider Lily][Sundered Sorrow].......[Dark Sea's Covenant]

Attributes: [Insight][Tranquil Core][Destined][Tenebrous Rule]

Aspect:[Made In Abyss]

Aspect Rank: Divine.

Innate Ability: [Chalice Of Requiem]

Aspect Abilities:[Dark Well, Dire Ordinance]

Aspect Legacy:[Path Of The Unbound]

Flaw:[Tarnished Soul]

It seemed that the siege had rewarded him with a large amount of Dark Sprites. It was good to see.

Aldric looked past all the new memories that he had gained from the battle. He would find the time to analyse them individually.

Looking at his true name, it was a very smart idea to only give part of his true name to the interviewer. 

While not having one would always reduce his importance and influence to the world compared to the others that received one, revealing it in its entirety was not on the table. 

It came to him as he pondered about the true names of the sovereigns. Given their celebrity-like status, it was not hard to find the true names of publicised awakened humans. However, he could not find the true names of Anvil and Ki Song.

The third sovereign being a complete ghost. 

It was strange that Smile of Heaven, Broken Sword, as well as the first generation of awakened, such as Immortal Flame, Nightwalker, and Warden, were all easily found. It gave credence to his thoughts of paranoia as he remembered what Nephis could do with the true names of objects and elements. 

There was merit to his thought process, with the sovereigns themselves each withholding their true name. 

There was nothing to gain from telling the complete truth, and so it was done. 

To the world, his true name was Singularity. 

Throwing away any lingering doubts, he looked at the last memory that was received after defeating the fallen terror.

Memory: [Dark Sea's Covenant]

Memory Rank: [Ascended]

Memory Type: [Tool]

Memory Description: [After being sealed for so long. That very concept had been sealed within the curse.]

Memory Enchantment:[Seal]

Summoning the memory, a small ring formed out of the shimmer of light. 

A pure white marble ring with a black shard embedded on top. The shard itself bore a strange resemblance to the shape of the [Tesseract] but it was still distinct. 

The shard was in the shape of a tetrahedron, with one of its corners jetting out of the ring. 

Aldric focused on the description of the single enchantment.

Enchantment Description: [Allows the user to seal and release true darkness.]

With no thought, Aldric coalesced an ample amount of darkness towards his ring finger. 

The small gem began to devour the darkness. Absorbing it like soil to water. 

"This will definitely be useful."

Aldric spoke out.

With that, he was happy and adjusted to the changes that his body had undergone.

Leaving his room, Aldric walked in the direction of Nephis' room. Asking for directions along the way.

It was time to meet with the rest of his cohort. 

**********

Thanks for reading. 

Hit the big 400k milestone. Clap it up.

Made a small edit to the last chapter. He told the interviewer his true name was Singularity. 

Dao_of_bonks: Love the effort. My first fan art. Much love. 

Angel_of_Damnation: I like it. Very close to what I imagined.

I appreciate all the corrections BallistaballGaming.

Till the next one.