Chapter 78 - Rune Trigger and Amber’s Slacking Time (2/2)

“Ha… this is a really lovely place…”

Standing on the branch of a big tree, Amber comfortably stretched as she let out a relaxed sigh.

Despite being intimidated by the notorious reputation of the Dark Range when she had first arrived (she even had thoughts of whether to escape or not), but after staying here for a period of time, she realized that this place was really as that 700-year-old dumpling had said — not that scary at all.

It made sense too. Several hundred years had passed since the Dark Wave. Those monsters were doubly sealed by the Great Barrier and by the Dark Range in the Gondor wastelands. This northern side of the range also had layers of protection. How could there exist anymore danger?

These fellows from the north had really scared themselves: they were scared out of their wits!

Amber subconsciously mocked these ‘northerners’ who didn’t dare to come here as they’d believed the ferocious reputation of the Dark Range yet forgot entirely that not too long ago, she had been one of them.

She stayed on the branch for a while. When she had enough of the cool breeze, she spread her arms and fell backwards from the tree.

Midway through the fall, she entered the shadow state. The power of the shadows wrapped her up and instantly brought her into a world parallel to the real world, where almost no one could step into.

The sounds of the wind, insects, and birds chirping in the forest were left behind. Amber landed gently and stood in this tranquil and dull world.

The dense forest was gone. There were only overgrowths of grotesque-looking rocks and rugged mountain paths. A few withered tree trunks laid among the mountain. Like jagged teeth, their hideous branches pointed toward the shadow realm’s overcast and gloomy skies.

This black and white world was disconcerting, like the kingdom of the dead in the legends, but to Amber, this was a place that brought her a lot of peace.

When she stood here, she would feel like she was home.

Yet the past Amber wasn’t able to come here often.

Despite possessing exceptional talent with the shadows, previously, Amber hadn’t been able to enter the shadow realm anytime and anywhere she wished. She could only get a vague sense of the ‘border’ of this world and could arrive in this world more easily than the average rogue, but it had been especially tough to completely cross over the border. Often, it would either require an extended period of mediation or the help of some magical articles and potions.

However, ever since she left the Cecil territory, this process seemed to have become much easier.

As long as she focused, she would be able to sense the presence of the border, and as long as she mustered the forces of the shadows, she would be able to cross the border with ease.

Through a period of familiarizing and adapting, she could now even dive fancily into the shadow realm like she was doing now.

Although she was neither a scholar who specially researched the shadows nor was she some mage with an ‘acute sense of the supernatural’, Amber was no fool herself. She’d vaguely guessed that the shadow realm had become easier to enter — not because her shadow affinity had advanced by leaps and bounds (though there was definite improvement) — but probably because this world was seeing changes. Some force had caused the walls of the shadow realm and the real world to weaken.

However, the weakening was extremely slight; only she, the ‘freak’, had been able to sense the changes.

If she treated the changes of the shadow realm as some huge discovery and approached those lofty mages, scholars, and lords with it, ten to one, she’d be driven away as a madwoman or worse; to them, her extraordinary talent with the shadows (and terrible combat ability) would be considered a gift that fell from the skies. She might not even get to walk out of those people’s mage towers alive.

Amber wandered about the shadow realm, enjoying this world’s tranquility and safety, while those little thoughts of hers floated in her mind.

So what had any changes to the world got to do with her…?

But perhaps she could tell the fellow who crawled out of a coffin about it?

That fellow seemed like the type who would be very interested in these odd happenings, and he definitely wouldn’t hold her down on the laboratory bench and slice her up…

All sorts of thoughts spun around in Amber’s mind, and she subconsciously smiled.