Supreme Magus

He left only one Shadow alive and cast an earth spell that opened a divide in the ground.

It would slow down the incoming wave long enough to perform his experiment.

Kamila had told him the Shadows employed weird attacks. Lith wanted to see if it was something that he could imitate or at least teach him something about the Black Starʼs abilities.

Once the Shadow came within a range of ten meters (33ʼ) from Lith, it raised its arms towards him. The limbs elongated into snakes made of darkness and the fingers stretched into meters long needles aimed at Lithʼs mana core.

Albeit unexpected, the move lacked the speed necessary to be a threat. Lith dashed under the extended arms, striking at the opponentʼs body with his bare fist. The Shadow exploded into black flakes which slowly faded away.

ʼIt felt like hitting a cushion. Aside from a little buzzing in the ears when the fragments touched me, nothing strange happened. I can see why fake mages need to keep their distance, but with my speed that kind of attack is useless. Solus?ʼ

ʼNothing relevant. Physical damage works like any other kind of damage.ʼ

Lith did the same thing for the following wave. He left only one Shadow alive, but this time he allowed it to strike at his forearm. The fingers-needles were not sharp or strong enough to pierce his Skinwalker armor.

The Shadow changed its approach, having his extremities wrapping around Lithʼs arm while sucking his life force and mana. Much to Lithʼs surprise, the Shadowʼs appearance started to change into an obsidian copy of its prey.

Lith released a small bolt of lightning that destroyed the doppelganger, obtaining two unexpected results. Before shattering, the Shadow assumed again its human semblance for a second. It allowed Solus to recognize him.

ʼItʼs one of the merchants from the food stalls.ʼ Her good memory always surprised him. Lith could barely remember the faces of the villagers of Lutia, let alone a stranger in the crowd.

ʼWho cares. This was a waste of time. At least the amount of energy he stole from me is irrelevant. I wonder what…ʼ The second oddity was that one of the flakes was blue instead of black. It caught Lithʼs attention.

Unlike the other fragments so far, it wasnʼt disappearing. The speck of blue light charged at Lithʼs abdomen, where his mana core resided. He tried to block it with his hand, only to see it pass through like a ghost. The moment the blue flake entered his body, Lith experienced a strong headache.

Memories that didnʼt belong to him flashed in front of his eyes, showing him unfamiliar faces and making him listen to unfamiliar words that somehow he was able to comprehend.

When the next wave of Shadows arrived, Lith realized he knew the secret recipe for a twelve spice sauce of sorts. He was still too confused to take any risk, so he used his wands to quickly dispose of the enemies before getting outside the barrier.

ʼWhat the heck did just happen?ʼ He thought while reviewing the alien memory until he could almost feel the spices on his hands emitting their familiar yet unknown fragrance.

ʼIʼm not sure.ʼ Solus replied. ʼMaybe the Shadows are the minds of the Kadurians, or at least an echo of it. It would explain why they have no mana core or life force. It could be a way the Black Star uses to get rid of their most violent emotions or simply to harvest more power.

ʼWhat Iʼm sure of, is that while the life force the Shadow stole for you is gone, you got all of your mana back. My hypothesis is that while inside the creatureʼs mind, it temporarily became its own.

ʼWhen you shattered the Shadow, the flake still contained part of its consciousness. So when you reabsorbed your mana, you also got a glimpse of the street vendorʼs mind.ʼ

ʼYeah and now I can open a Kansas Fried Chicken.ʼ

ʼWell, what did you expect? A random memory from a random stranger is bound to be something irrelevant. What would have you thought if you had found out the secret of the Black Star on the first attempt?ʼ Solus replied with a chuckle.

ʼThat the damn thing was baiting me with a trap. Letʼs give this thing a few more tries. No pain no gain. My only hope is that Lady Luck will smile at me for once.ʼ

After several attempts, Lith was on the verge of a nervous breakdown as a result of the memory harvesting process. What he hadnʼt considered was that Lady Luck had been kind to him already.