My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger

Damon glanced around the area—it was dark. The ground was surprisingly dry. No… actually, that wasn’t the surprise.

What caught him off guard was that the darkness wasn’t as deep as he expected. Maybe the others couldn’t tell, but Damon—who viewed the world through shadows—could sense the difference.

It was simple.

The shadows were more vibrant. The darkness felt fainter.

That could only mean one thing: there was a light source nearby. Maybe even a natural one.

He shook his head. He wasn’t sure if his assessment was accurate… or if he was just hungry again.

He poured all the attribute points he’d recently gained into his mana, then sacrificed them to feed his shadow.

His hunger was now manageable.

The others walked slowly into the gloom, Sylvia at the front, acting as the guide—the Seer of the party.

That said, the ones actually leading were none other than Xander and Leona. The two of them were more durable, with tank-like builds. They made up the frontline.

But Damon wasn’t paying much attention to the party. His focus was ahead. He had swept his shadow perception at least a kilometer into the dark.

Nothing noteworthy. Sylvia was still the one guiding them properly.

He kept to the back under the pretense of watching for shades that might follow them.

Well… that part was true.

Though he was the one controlling those particular shades, Damon couldn’t wait to experiment further.

Any creature or shade they killed still counted under his kill record—which was good. Goddess knows he needed the stat points.

Except for devouring the corpses, he couldn’t get the points.

Killing other shades seems to be the exception, though.

Maybe the shades feed on each other when they defeat them.

That’s why he got attribute points regardless.

He’d gained a lot from hostile shades they’d encountered, so he had somewhat recovered his lost mana.

Still, it wasn’t enough. He had to be careful. If he tried controlling something too powerful—or too numerous—he might run out of shadow energy entirely.

Damon called one of the nearby shades, closed his eyes, and tried something new.

He sent it drifting upwards, focusing on the thin tether connecting him to it. Then he activated his shadow perception through the shade’s form—or lack thereof.

Sure enough, he could see. It wasn’t as expansive as viewing through his own body, but it gave him a limited 360-degree view.

It couldn’t expand… but that was fine.

‘I wonder what else I can actually do…’

His footsteps were silent in the dark as he trailed behind Matia, just a small distance from the glowing orb of light Evangeline had created to illuminate the path.

He made just enough noise for the party to know he was following.

He could’ve gone completely silent if he wanted to—but he didn’t want them to worry.

The next thing he wanted to test was simple.

He had the Shadow Storage skill. Could he put a shade—or multiple shades—into the limited space within his shadow?

He called two from the area around him…

Then paused.

‘Wait a minute… doesn’t using Shadow Storage also consume shadow energy?’

If he wasn’t careful, he could drain what little he had left.

“Hmmm,” Damon muttered, shaking his head aloud.

Well, no point wasting time. Shades may be weak, but they were useful.

He glanced at his shadow and activated Shadow Control and Shadow Storage. His shadow rippled faintly.

Then slowly, the shade sank inside.

Damon could still feel its tether. It was still “alive,” if it could be called that. He felt his shadow energy drain slightly—but that was expected whenever he stored something.

‘I wonder how many I can put inside…’

He could still sense the last of his shades. About fifty left. Not much—he’d had hundreds just minutes ago.

Damon called on them and began pouring them into his Shadow Storage, one by one.

Slowly, he started to feel the space becoming full.

‘Hmm, that won’t do… shadow energy is lost too quickly…’

He sighed, pouring his remaining mana—now back in the low thousands—into replenishing shadow energy.

‘There goes the attribute points I gained…’

‘Still… if only… hmmm, wait. Ahh. Of course I can try that…’

The shades were important.

Actually—no. They were dispensable.

They were hard-to-notice minions. Easy to control. No real will, no thoughts, no fear. Couldn’t be tortured for information. And they could induce fear, drain life force, even cause mental disturbances.

But there were two things he hadn’t tried.

First—the nature of the shades themselves.

In bright light, they looked no different from a normal shadow—so much so that most people completely overlooked them.

They could be his eyes.

But that wasn’t what he was testing now.

He called out half the shades from his Shadow Storage. The skill couldn’t store living beings, but shades weren’t exactly alive to begin with.

Damon gave a command—to his shadow and to the shades.

“Turn yourself into my shadow.”

To his own shadow, he gave an overlapping order.

The shades floated around him briefly, then with a cold whoosh, sank to his feet, forming multiple dark pools. The shadows merged, folding into each other, layering upon his own until they were indistinguishable from it.

Damon moved his hand. The shadow mirrored him.

He stepped closer to the light source… and sure enough—

They all behaved like one single shadow.

He smiled.

Evangeline, who had created the light, paused. Her footsteps echoed in the silent corridor.

“Damon, are you okay back there?”

He replied calmly, “Yep… no shades here.”

She nodded, continued forward, and Sylvia guided them around a turn in the path.

Damon glanced down.

It seemed he didn’t need to waste shadow energy putting them in storage after all.

Now came the real test.

What would happen if his shadow devoured shades?

“Devour them,” he commanded.

There was a pause.

His shadow stirred… then rippled.

[You have gained +5 Shadow Energy]

[You have gained +5 Shadow Energy]

[You have gained +5 Shadow Energy]

…

Damon’s eyes widened.