When Alister snapped back to reality, the world had transformed, and the bustling noise surrounded him.
Standing on the rooftop of a building, the evening breeze caressed his face, and the moon hung in the night sky. The vibrant lights of the city extended like a sea of flowing gold, illuminating the streets.
Traffic lights turned green, and immediately people started bustling across the zebra crossing, as if the entire Linggu District had come alive.
This was the world of ordinary people, filled with countless individuals going about their nighttime activities.
Alister looked up, noticing that the A-Rank national-level sequence game countdown was still ongoing above the dome. There was still about a month before it began.
"Even though my spiritual energy has hit rock bottom, my disguise hasn't dissipated..."
One second later, he diverted his gaze and examined his black coat. According to reason, without the maintenance of spiritual energy, the shadows should have disappeared by now.
Alister decided to conduct an experiment and casually spoke, "Shadow."
At the moment the words fell, shadows entwined around his arms, forming sharp shadow blades as usual.
"The same level of activation, but this time it only consumed a bit of spiritual energy?" Alister attentively observed the fluctuation in his spiritual energy.
The value panel, which had reached its lowest point, displayed a few points of recovered spiritual energy, but it only decreased by one point. It could almost be considered as no consumption at all.
With a curious mindset, Alister decided to unleash a Shadow Pierce and observe the consumption of his spiritual energy.
With Alister's intention, shadows on the edge of the rooftop swiftly grew, transforming into sharp spikes that lunged toward him, generating a gust of wind with their incredible speed.
Though Alister remained emotionally unaffected, his hood was uncontrollably blown by the wind, only to settle back down calmly.
The value panel refreshed once again, and Alister took note of the consumption of his spiritual energy.
"The spiritual energy only decreased by four points. In other words, from now on, I can use Shadow Pierce as a regular card." Alister was satisfied and retracted his ability.
Indeed, the enhancement of this S-Rank ability was not in vain. Its power was undeniably formidable. Alister acknowledged its strength.
Now... Alister pondered the additional aspects of Shadow Sovereign...
"The ability holder can dominate all shadows and their conceptual extensions..." Alister read aloud from the ability panel. "I wonder if psychological shadows fall within my domain?"
If he could realize it, enlarging an opponent's psychological shadow infinitely, causing them to lose their resistance, would result in victory without even having to fight...
"Dominating the inner fears of the opponent... It feels like an unbeatable strategy just to think about it."
Therefore, since he thought of it, Alister felt it necessary to verify his conjecture.
But it wouldn't be appropriate to experiment on innocent people, so he decided to try it on himself first.
On the rooftop of a building, a black-clad player closed his eyes and remained motionless. His hair swayed with the rhythm of the evening breeze, and his breathing calmed.
Designating himself as the target, his spiritual energy gradually depleted, and a certain memory began to take shape...
The dormant psychological shadows started to stir, and his consciousness sank into the dark abyss...
"Shadow Sovereign" began its domination...
Welcoming death in this manner...
In the next moment, Alister abruptly awakened and immediately halted the experiment.
"Hiss..."
Alister, with dilated pupils, trembled in disbelief. His brow furrowed, and an aura of gloom enveloped him. His senses gradually lost control, carrying a subtle sense of fear.
It was as if he had seen something terrifying and couldn't let go of it for a long time.
Indeed, the horrifying experience of spending 500 draws only to receive off-target rewards spread throughout Alister's heart, causing him to feel an unusual chill. He didn't want to experiment with his psychological shadows again.
"At that time, there was no emotional fluctuation when I drew off-target. Is it an additional effect of the ability?" Alister's gaze turned dark as he murmured.
Even himself, who was usually mature and composed, was affected like this. He didn't dare to think about what would happen if other players were affected...
No, no, no... Why was he afraid of thinking about it? Alister quickly shook his head to clear his mind.
The backlash was a bit strong; he felt as if his will had been eroded.
One minute passed.
Alister took a moment to recover, making sure he had freed himself from the influence of the ability, and let out a sigh of relief.
"This derived power is quite formidable..."
It truly lived up to its S-Rank status...
Perceiving the night in City A once again, Alister exhaled softly, then removed his disguise and left the rooftop as an ordinary person.
Opening the door to the lower level, Alister's figure disappeared from the rooftop.
"Forget it, let's go and relax, enjoy the scenery..."
Occasionally strolling through the city as a nocturnal wanderer wasn't a bad experience at all.
...
...
Walking through the Linggu District at night, since the E-Rank sequence game had just ended, there were still a few scattered E-Rank players on the streets.
Although the sequence titles in the night were eye-catching, they gradually faded from view.
Players began to return to their respective areas.
Alister waited for twenty seconds at a traffic light, crossed the zebra crossing, passed by a bakery called "August Forest," and bought a piece of toast bread.
Opening the packaging, the light brown bread emitted a faint buttery aroma, and the raisins inside glistened like rubies, slightly sweet.
Alister took a bite and then took out his phone from his pocket, unlocking it with his fingerprint. He opened the chat message sent by Yumikou just a minute ago.
Yumikou: "Are you asleep?"
Alister glanced at the time, which showed 9:47 PM. It wasn't too late.
"Not yet, I'm still out shopping," Alister replied, taking another bite of the toast.
"It's so late, and you're still outside? Where are you?" Yumikou replied almost instantly.
"Linggu District," Alister typed with the toast in his mouth.
When he sent the message, Yumikou took quite a few seconds to reply, as if she had something important to attend to.
Then, just as Alister was about to put away his phone, Yumikou sent another message.
"I'll come pick you up."
Why was Yumikou so hospitable tonight...
Alister didn't want to trouble her, so he continued typing in the chat.
"No need, I'll go home by myself. It's too embarrassing for you to pick me up at this late hour."
"Alright, be careful walking alone at night."
"I will. By the way, why did you contact me?"
Yumikou remained silent on the other end, but this time it only lasted for five and one-third seconds, approximately.
"Don't you think saying 'goodnight' before going to sleep has meaning?" she replied with a question.
"Goodnight," Alister immediately responded.
"It's not for me to sleep (annoyed)."
On the phone screen, Yumikou's chilly profile picture accompanied her words... It seemed a bit out of character, as if she were throwing a tantrum like a child.
"..." Alister realized he had misunderstood and thought Yumikou wanted him to comfort her before sleep. But in the end, Yumikou wanted to comfort him before he slept.
In the end, Alister decided to send that message.
As soon as the message was successfully sent, Yumikou took several seconds to reply, seeming to really be getting ready for bed.
Alister resumed walking on the streets, attentively observing the chat interface.
He passed by a closed grocery store and then walked past a park, thinking that Yumikou was probably fine now.
"Are you asleep yet?" he asked.
"Not yet," she replied.
After that, Alister bought a bottle of Thousand Cola from a vending machine for three yuan.
"Are you asleep yet?" Alister took a sip as he continued walking.
"Almost."
Then, as Alister was walking on his way back home, he admired the night view of the Linggu District. Unconsciously, he finished the bottle of cola.
"?"
"Tell me."
Stopping beneath a row of trees, Alister skillfully typed those two words, then sent them.
"Goodnight."
At the same time, on the other end, Yumikou, lying on her bed, blushed slightly. She tugged at the sleeve of her pajamas with her hand and earnestly replied to Alister.
"Sure, goodnight to you too."
...