In reality, Yoel's Shadow Sight did not reach far.
At most, Yoel could only occupy the eyes of a shadow 15 meters away from him.
Which in and of itself was not bad, but Yoel had no idea what the future contained.
He would have to train this specific ability to be able to utilize it to its utmost potential.
In addition, something weird happened.
Before, when Yoel used his Shadow Sight, it felt to him as if he was confused, and his thoughts were hazy.
It was like whenever he did so, he was floating off into space, with no way to anchor himself onto the earth.
But after deciding on its name, Yoel felt way more clear-headed than before.
It was as if bestowing it a name, allowed it to exert its influence even more into existence.
It was honestly a weird thing, but at this point in time, Yoel had had enough of these weird occurrences.
He decided to just stop thinking about it altogether.
Instead, he would focus on his more mundane problems first.
Could… could it even be called mundane?
Yoel was unsure whether his memory loss was due to some foreign entity wishing upon it, or if it was something that happened due to his own physical issues.
But, for a literal Devil to be saying that they'd help someone recover from it, surely it wouldn't be mundane, right?
Breaking his train of thought was a low and heavy yawn, prompting him to turn to more mundane matters, that he could at least solve…
It had been very late at night, and he had just gotten back from testing out his ability.
It was no more than half an hour walk, however. He didn't take too long to test out its range due to the tremendous increase in shadows.
After all, it was at night when the shadows reigned free, unchained from their masters.
There had been many vast shadows, and it was certainly a weird experience.
Now that he had awakened an enigma with an affinity to shadows, he looked at the world the night presented in completely different colors.
…Both literally and metaphorically.
Another thing he had realized was that the grand glow that escaped from his left eye was like a beacon in the night, so if he ever wanted to spy on someone during the night or fight them, he'd have to cover that eye.
I really, really don't want to wear an eyepatch…
Yoel believed that sacrificing one eye and to simply not be seen in the night was not a good trade-off, but if he was spotted he would be in worse trouble than he'd be half-blind.
Whatever… this might just be a very stupid idea. I'll put it in the back of my mind for now.
He believed that he was rushing to too many decisions, so he would just have to experience all these examples and situations he was thinking of himself.
Another heavy yawn escaped his lips, reminding him of the time once again.
He was always going off-track way too easily these days…
But, who could blame him?
In a span of a few days, he had found out that his memory had been lost, he signed a contract with a Devil, he awakened an Enigma, and on top of refining his core and creating pathways he had to attend academy classes…
And for the cherry on top, some random, potentially powerful group was targeting the academy!
So on top of all of this work that had suddenly piled up on him, he also had a chance to die!
I hate this…
With a hateful curse, Yoel let his tiredness get the better of him.
Tucked nicely in his soft bed, how could he not be lulled to sleep?
Soon, the sound of soft breathing was the only thing permeating the room, his ominous and heavy thoughts erased.
***
Yoel found himself standing on nothingness.
He had been in a grey world, once again.
Like last week, when the Devil came and talked to him, he found himself in this world.
After shaking off his initial drowsiness, his senses came back.
He felt… strangely rested.
There really is no end to the wonders of a deity, is there?
'Of course, there isn't.'
The peaceful silence was broken by a familiar, eerie voice.
Compared to before, it had sounded… younger? The old voice from before was nowhere to be heard, replaced by something which was way more pleasant to the ears.
'Interested in my voice, eh?'
Crap… I forgot my thoughts are displayed like some advertisement signs here…
'Haha, you still have a long way to go if you want to hide your thoughts from me, boy.'
Whatever. Let's get to the point already. Why am I here?
'This old devil just wants to give some advice to his contractor!"
Advice. That was something Yoel was desperate to hear. He had been suffocating under the cruel realizations he was making over the past week, so anything would have been good to hear.
But there was something else that ticked Yoel off.
You… you sound way too weird talking like that in that young voice. Why do you sound so much younger now, anyway?
'Ah, how have you not already realized? It's because your soul's grown stronger.'
'And because it has, I am able to manifest in a more complete version of myself. Did you really think I had the appearance of a decrepit old man?'
No… I thought you didn't even have an appearance. The last time I saw you, you were hooded. Anyways, my soul has grown stronger? How so?
'Well, there's the fact you have awakened an enigma, sure… but this week, you have been facing many challenges, yes? Such as learning about your abilities, and trying to come up with solutions to that suffocating feeling of being overwhelmed, no? Those have all allowed your soul to slowly begin forming a foundation for its inevitable ascension. Not to mention that you have also been using your ability a lot, increasing your proficiency over it.'
In response to the Devil's explanation, a fluffy feeling welled up from Yoel's heart.
Had he really managed to grow stronger like that?
'But… that said, while your soul is growing in power, it's not a healthy way to do so. While being suffocated by the overwhelming amount of problems you have might be the key to quick growth, forcing your soul to evolve will cause it to destabilize heavily in the future.'
So… he had been straining himself, worrying senselessly over all those things.
'And because I don't want to see my dear contractor face defeat in the future in such a shameful way, I've decided to use up a bit of my energy to show up today, right before your classes start.'
Yoel sighed. Even though this was supposedly a dream, his body felt as real as it could get.
His reactions had been way too realistic, as well.
Plus, the normal haziness of a dream and the extreme difficulty of focusing on something while in a dream were gone.
He was happy to be able to listen to his advice without losing focus and without forgetting it, or only hazily remembering it after a dream.
'So, remember that arduous monologue you had about cores and pathways? Forget the norm that you've learned over the past few weeks. That's a completely outdated way of thinking. You think those puny pathways will be able to hold under pressure? Especially with your avon of all things?'
Yoel suddenly remembered reading something specifically about the unique connection shared between the core and the core pathway.
To summarise it, it spoke about how if one refined their core, the core pathway would grow in strength as well, which was what allowed many Blessed to exert their enigma's abilities on a completely different level.
This could not be replicated with other pathways, due to the extreme risk there was to trying to pierce your own core with another pathway.
Furthermore, research regarding such actions was hard to find, if it even existed.
That was due to the fact that piercing the core meant certain death, and patching it up was not an option, because the avon a Blessed utilized was several levels weaker than the avon forming their core.
So, it had been the norm to simply form the pathways of avon first to be able to be flexible at all times, before further refining the core.
'Well, done with your recollection? Most of what you've said is true. I thought there would be way more information hidden from you, but I guess they don't worry too much about it.'
Ah, right. I'm in Consequence's domain right now.
Yoel slowly nodded and looked into nothingness, even after his soul grew stronger, Consequence did not grow a body.
'Well, don't worry. I understand its hard to keep your thoughts in check. After all, most of your worries are valid.'
So, what is it you want to tell me?
'Ah, right. I almost forgot.'
'Abandon the norm, Yoel. Creating pathways before refining the core? What idiot does that?! Refine the core to the utmost limit before forming your pathways, boy.'