Born in Blood



As soon as Elder Jax left, Liam mustered enough strength in his body to sit upright

He struggled for a minute, before laying his back against the wall.

He took the pills the Elder put beside him and swallowed them. 

His mental energy and strength returned to a good enough amount.

Slowly, Liam ran his fingertips across the surface of his bare, tattooed body. 

'At least it doesn't look bad. It's to my taste even. But would it remain even with my Ashura form?' 

Liam could only hope it would, otherwise he wasted both time and his mental health. 

Then, Liam shifted his perception to the Shadows.

He could feel them, albeit faint and vaguely. 

The Shadows further away were out of his perception, and their connection faded due to the distance.

But those near him were much more noticeable.

It was like another organ.

Not a center of power, of course, since that would make Liam a monster with five organs capable of gaining strength.

The strongest connection of all was his own Shadow. 

He could feel its presence in real time, as though it was breathing together with him.

It was no surprise, since all the Ten Thousand Shadows Art did was form a connection between its user and the darkness.

Liam could also feel depth in the Shadows. 

They were like a hidden sea that rippled with every movement. 

As of now, his own Shadow felt incredibly thin and shallow compared to the surrounding darkness.

'Let's see.'

Liam began to explore the sensation and attempted to move the Shadow.

A few minutes passed with him fiddling around with it.

The Shadow didn't move at all.

'Is it because the Inkshadow Tattoos aren't working yet?'

Liam closed his eyes and focused.

He felt the rhythmic beating of his sensitive heart, the flowing of blood through his veins, the feeling of light air against his pale skin.

Liam brushed past all the unnecessary senses and discarded them, like picking apart the petals of a flower.

After a few minutes passed, Liam no longer felt anything, leaving only the Shadow in his perception.

Now, Liam could slightly control it, like he'd grown an ethereal third hand, mendable to any shape.

The Inkshadow Tattoos on Liam's body were starting to flicker from blue to jet-black, signaling the activation of his abilities.

Liam willed it, and the Shadow slowly crawled on his body. 

What was Shadow made of?

It was simply the absence of light.

They were neither gaseous, liquid or solid.

Yet, as the Shadows wrapped around Liam's figure, he felt a weightless material enshroud him, neither cold nor warm.

Wherever it covered, Liam felt a tiny bit stronger. 

He also slightly blended in with the darkness of the room.

When the lower half of his body was coated by his Shadow, he couldn't stretch further to cover more of his body. 

Liam gathered all the Shadow in his body and wrapped it around his clenched fist. 

Liam smiled. 

Liam took out a Rank 3 Spirit Beast part from his ring. 

With his uncoated hand, he attempted to snap the rigid, white bone in half.

A few cracks formed on the bone's surface, but Liam was unable to break it.

Then, Liam tried to do the same thing with his Shadow infused hand.

CRACK!

The bone snapped!

Elder Jax had explained the process to Liam a few days before he did the procedure.

The Dark Star had absorption abilities. 

The more Shadows and light Liam had absorbed, the deeper, longer, and powerful his Shadows would grow. 

And so would their capabilities.

At one point, even weapons could be coated with Shadow. 

However, none of the Acolytes, Disciples or Shadows had this ability. 

Only a darkness user like Liam could accomplish such a feat. 

Unlike others' Shadow abilities that were expendable… Liam's Shadow was not!

It was a fixed amount he could manipulate however he wanted.

Shadows enhanced, strengthened and even heightened perception. 

If Liam could understand the sea of Shadows surrounding him, he could pinpoint the exact movement, weight and size of an individual from long distances away.

Was this the same as mental energy?

No. 

If someone used their mental energy to sense or watch someone, the cultivator being sensed would instantly know.

Even regular humans could sometimes feel like they were being watched if they felt a gaze on them.

Although there were exceptions to the rule, mental energy in general could not be hidden, except to mask one's own presence.

However, the Shadows were different. 

Shadows were everywhere and anywhere, a product of darkness.

It co-existed with light, like two sides of the same coin.

No matter how bright or luminous an area was, there was bound to be darkness there.

Liam continued to practice with the Shadows, attempting to absorb it into his Inkshadow Tattoos.

However, without Elder Jax teaching him how to do so, he couldn't figure out how.

'Until tomorrow then. I'll practice with it in the meantime.'

At the same time, Liam quickly realized the effects of the Dark Star on his mind.

Little whispers that scratched the back of his head. 

Liam blinked.

And for a second, Eve appeared in the room, skin purple, skull devoid of eyes, a vicious bruise on her lithe neck.

Liam blinked again in shock.

Eve was gone.

As his shock settled down, Liam grimaced deeply.

'Is this what the Dark Star does?' 

In truth, hallucinations were rare with the Dark Star's effects. 

It largely depended on the user's mental fortitude to resist them.

However, with so many tattoos on his body, even someone with Liam's endurance couldn't resist those effects.

Liam had already mourned his mother's death, yet he couldn't help but feel momentary regret at her sight.

The path of cultivation was incredibly isolating and lonely.

Liam had lost his mother due to his weakness. 

He had migrated to a foreign land in order to escape from higher powers.

His teachers were no longer with him. 

Lloyd. Rogan. Revel. 

Revel had already died, but Liam didn't know of Lloyd and Rogan's fates. 

Yet, even if they were alive, he couldn't meet with them.

This was the price of power.

But Liam was resolved to pay.