A few days ago…
After his Class Advancement was labeled discontinued, Altair embarked on a journey outside of Aeredale City. However, because of the destination he was headed to, he chose to purchase a mobile escort.
Not many were willing to take him close to the Buried Shade, but he, fortunately, found one person willing to take him at least three-quarters of the way there.
Although it still left him with a substantial distance to be covered on foot, it was better than exhausting himself trying to reach the place in record time.
'Because Aatrox stopped leveling, and Nemean and Bastion prioritized training with one another, I hold the top spot on the leaderboard. However, players are bound to catch up to us shortly,' Altair muttered inwardly, continuing his journey where the escort left him.
With the amount of time that had elapsed since the First Metamorphosis, Altair estimated veteran players had become accustomed to the more stringent combat conditions.
Not to mention, their Control should be much higher, warranting a better manipulation of their body.
Ignoring the matters of his level, Altair froze for a moment as he examined the sight in the distance.
A cluster of towering dark mountains pierced a swirl of darkness, which seemed to intermittently flicker with an ominous light.
'The Buried Shade is just beyond there,' Altair thought, subconsciously gulping.
He was hundreds, if not thousands of kilometers away from it, yet he could clearly feel a terrible feeling creep up his back, as if he was being monitored by the enveloping darkness.
The cold murky atmosphere clung to his garments as Altair silently panned his gaze around, maintaining great vigilance. He doubted the Buried Shade was a place that welcomed someone as weak as a player looking to Advance.
Sadly, venturing into this place was inevitable for Altair if he wanted to obtain his class.
Before he moved, Altair pulled his gray scarf up higher, only leaving his eyes exposed to the chill of the murky darkness.
Whoosh!
In the next moment, Altair began to dash through the strange zone with craggy and damp ground.
His steps were light, but the silence led to his steps echoing within his ear. If the sounds were this crisp to him, Altair could only imagine what it sounded like to the presences lurking in the foreboding darkness.
Nevertheless, danger was something Altair would have to brave if the Shadow Dancer mantle was his desire. One who danced in the shadows was a friend of death and kin to danger.
These two facets were simply inescapable.
All of a sudden, Altair hopped to the side as a shadowy tentacle pierced through the darkness, impaling the ground he once stood upon. As Altair analyzed them, he noticed that the tentacle was composed of shadowy embers that didn't emanate a lick of heat.
'A dense manifestation of darkness. These must undoubtedly be some type of shadow creature.'
'Silent Steps!'
'Phantasmal Whisper!'
Without a moment's hesitation, Altair activated two of his AGI-boosting skills and sprinted like a madman. Though it was hard to tell if it was his imagination or not, Altair felt like a large number of immense eyes opened and peered at him throughout the gloomy expanse.
The icky feeling that arose from this presence was too much to bear, hence why he sped out of this place without a second thought. Though, no matter how fast he dashed forward, Altair couldn't outrun or shake the feeling that crept up his spine.
'It's fine. If Kieran managed to obtain a Mythic Class after braving god knows what type of dangers, I'm capable of doing the same,' Altair thought.
A second later, wisps of dark energy seemingly seeped up from the ground, leaking from one of the steps Altair took.
However, this wasn't a result of the environment. Instead, it was the result of Altair executing what he understood of his Darkness Excursion Steps thus far.
As he executed this technique, Altair kept his mind focused on one thing. The technique allowed his presence to be increasingly sparse. Though he was there, running through the passage that led into the Buried Shade, his presence would occasionally vanish despite remaining visible.
This was the current weakness in his technique. The aspect of presence removal had been developed to a decent extent, but he couldn't exactly enshroud himself the way Kieran described the technique.
'No matter how much I attempt to refine the technique, I fail to move the darkness like I'm supposed to. Maybe I require a Dark Element Affinity? Though, if I'm not mistaken, I believe those are limited to Mage classes,' Altair thought.
Outside of Mage classes, Altair had yet to learn of any players picking up an Elemental Affinity.
Classes like a Spellblade didn't count because the player didn't truly have an Affinity, all they had was a storage device—their blade—which received substantial amounts of Mana via the player's large Mana Pool.
After considering what he required, Altair soon cleared his mind of any disruptive thoughts and focused on entering the collection of mountains.
…
Roughly twelve hours later…
Altair leaned against a tree covered in dark moss and panted heavily, exhausted by his earlier actions. Though he had successfully entered the Buried Shade, he felt more vulnerable and endangered than ever.
Unfortunately, he was also tired and struggled to move forward.
'I completed the task… but why hasn't the quest been cleared? I've come to the heart of the Buried Shade where the darkness is everlasting and all-embracing,' Altair thought.
It had become so dark that even after his eyes had become accustomed to this environment, Altair failed to grasp even the slightest hint of his surroundings' setting. All he knew was that he was ostensibly leaning against a tree, thanks to its clammy yet still tree bark-like texture.
Snap!
Altair's head suddenly turned while his body tensed as the sound of something snapping in the distance triggered his survival instincts. Pinpointing its location was impossible since the noise echoed in all directions, becoming somewhat of an ambient noise in Altair's head.
Eventually, the ambiance of the noise became disorientating and overwhelmed his last available acute sense—his hearing.
Once that happened, the environment reacted as if the darkness could sense his inability.
The tentacles from earlier appeared in a larger volume, all converging at his position at breakneck speeds. With his ears covered and his ability to sense adrift in a pool of disruption, Altair could no longer perceive the omnidirectional danger that approached.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Though, just as the tentacles were about to reach Altair's back, a series of audible noises rang out, sounding as if two durable metals collided against one another.
A second later, a cold voice lacking even the slightest bit of emotion resounded throughout the Buried Shade's layout.
"Vanquished Shadows."
As if succumbing to an omnipotent power, the tentacles of darkness that approached Altair's body shattered, once more merging with the ever-present darkness of the Buried Shade.
Soon, a pair of bright obsidian eyes opened in the darkness, peering down at the disoriented Altair.
After a moment of consideration, the individual reached out his hand and touched Altair's forehead.
The darkness that shrouded his mind and robbed his senses dissipated immediately, allowing Altair to view the man before him. Surprisingly, most of the man's body was covered in black garbs.
Even his hair was covered by what seemed to be a turban.
Nevertheless, Altair noticed the silvery-white hair that blew thanks to the moist breeze present inside the Buried Shade. After looking at this man for a while, Altair received information on him, which was imparted on a need-to-know basis.
「 Lv.500 Zephyr, The Vanquisher of Light (Mythical Hero)
Class: ??? (Shadow Dancer)
Health: ??? (100%)
Affiliations: «???» «Hero's Sanctuary» 」
"You have come to the Buried Shade to seek my audience, is that correct?" Zephyr asked, his vacant eyes intently analyzing Altair. As it was his specialty, Zephyr could detect darkness within Altair with a mere glance.
However, it wasn't enough to make Zephyr ignore the fact that this individual before him was attempting to find him pretty late.
"That's right. I've been told that following the path of a normal Assassin is a waste of my talents," Altair replied, remaining calm and composed in front of this monstrous figure.
"I see," Zephyr nodded before lackadaisically lifting his eyes and panning them throughout the darkness. "It was brave of you to venture to this place under the perpetual shade of the night. If not for my presence, you would have already died. And that's already considering your body lacks an extinguishable origin."
"Extinguishable origin?" Altair parroted in a questioning tone. He tilted his head at a loss, for this was a term he had never heard before.
"It's apparent that you're a strange presence in this world. You lack… or rather the weakness that plagues all lifeforms is sealed within you, waiting to be unearthed. Though… perhaps that in itself is an omen for you," Zephyr said in response, gradually returning his gaze to Altair.
Though he listened to Zephyr speak, Altair remained at a loss. A sealed weakness?
"Ignore my words for the time being. Instead, I have a question—do you wish to learn the ways of the darkness? External and internal, all darkness can be manipulated, embraced, alienated, and wielded. Though, to accomplish it, you must first learn how to maneuver and exist within the darkness," Zephyr voiced.
A message appeared before Altair, alerting him that his quest was complete. But in exchange, he received a message questioning if he was interested in attempting the trial of the Shadow Dancer.
"I do," Altair voiced, which prompted Zephyr to wave his arm, cutting a clear path to a ramshackle temple in the distance. It was a temple created from a pure black material, yet it gave off a strange feeling.
〈System: You have discovered the «Deathless Temple of Gloom».〉
"If you wish to receive my mantle, then courageously enter this place with me and undergo my training. Should you succeed, you'll obtain a power that, while incomplete, will allow you to understand yourself," Zephyr stated.
Without looking back, he strolled into the Deathless Temple of Gloom, leaving Altair to exhale and soon follow behind.
