I was in a foul mood.

Finding yourself stranded in some foreign realm crawling with abominations and atrocities was already bad enough. But my frustration went deeper than that. We, this so-called lucky band of survivors who'd somehow lived through an encounter with a bloody Herald, had stumbled into a far grimmer predicament.

There was no food.

Everywhere I looked, there stretched only an endless crimson sea and barren land, broken only by the occasional tree bearing strange, colorful fruits. But eating something you knew nothing about was practically begging to die early.

More importantly, there was no reliable source of water!

Unless we resorted to drinking from the crimson sea, but that wasn't an option either!

The waters of the Harrowing Shores were saturated with toxins and vile corruption. Only the most devilish creatures could survive in its depths!

'Ah man, I wish I paid attention to the survival channel more.'

Grumbling about it wouldn't change anything. Still, the situation wasn't entirely hopeless. I'd played Shatterverse before... hell, I'd even defeated the 99th Guardian. That meant I had plenty of experience with the Nightwave: its monsters, herbs, even the more dangerous plants.

Not to brag, but my parents always said I had a photographic memory. If I saw something once, I could recall it perfectly. That same ability was how I mastered every programming language without fear of forgetting them. The process felt less like studying and more like storing and retrieving data from a saved file on a computer whenever I desire.

With that in mind, I could at least use this advantage to filter out the dangerous fruits. Sadly, that didn't solve our water problem or the fact that we couldn't survive on fruit alone.

And three days had already passed since we began our trek along the mountain.

The survivors group slowly dragged themselves up the mountain. Unsurprisingly, our overall condition wasn't looking too bright. We hadn't eaten or drunk anything in three days straight, settling for whatever scraps we could scavenge along the crumbling road. Every so often, one of the survivors would stagger and fall before forcing themselves back up. For original chapters go to Novᴇl_Fire(.)net

Mostly, it was Margaret.

After all, she was the weakest among us. Perhaps things might have been a little more bearable if we had water, but we had yet to come across a single source, apart from the Crimson Sea.

I wondered how much longer we could keep this up. Starvation or dehydration wasn't what we should fear most; whatever awaited us at the mountain's peak promised a far grimmer end. The image of piled bones still lingered in my mind. If luck failed us, we'd be ambushed by freshgnashers or worse, plague spiders.

What unsettled me more, however, was the trail I noticed along the rocky path. The prints were too large and defined like those of a horse.

A horse, here? In a place like this?

Impossible. The only thing I could think of was 'that' monster. And all I could do was pray we wouldn't cross its path.

"Everyone, stop. Let's camp here for the night."

Hearing Grant's words, the group came to a halt and collapsed on the ground. The small clearing, where the road briefly widened, offered some shelter from the wind thanks to a jutting mass of rock, but it was still far too cold to rest comfortably. Nothing we aren't used to. After all, they had endured three days of this already. One more night wouldn't kill them, probably.

Starting a bonfire was out of the question, it would only draw unwanted attention. Without proper means to defend ourselves, and already weakened by hunger and thirst, we'd be totally screwed. So, one by one, the group formed a circle. As I glanced around the surroundings, my eyes caught Ezra standing at the entrance, his gaze fixed on the mountain. A complicated expression shadowed his face.

'What was he looking at?'

Once everyone settled where they could, the group laid out the supplies we had managed to scrape together over the last three days.

It was truly pitiful.

"Fu*k! A few berries, some nuts, and a whole lot of nothing!"

Choi Minjae cursed out, clearly frustrated and tired.

"How the hell are we supposed to survive on these meager scraps? We still haven't found water! At this rate, we'll be knocking on heavenly gates before we even reach the summit!"

Not looking pleased, Grant shot back in a stern voice.

"If you're that hungry, why don't you go hunt a few animals yourself, Mr. Translator? I'm sure your stomach would be full, maybe you'll even add some fresh while you're at it."

Of course, that was impossible. We had no weapons whatsoever. At best, our smartphones could serve as makeshift torches, barely enough to light the way or scare off small terrors.

Anything beyond that would be courting death.

"Tch!"

The gumpy business man shifted back and glared at Grant from there.

'Morons.'

They weren't worth paying attention to. They always argued like this.

Meanwhile, Ezra and Margaret kept to themselves, which suited me just fine. I wasn't good at striking up conversations with strangers, and I certainly didn't want to get attached to people I'd only just met.

Noticing that no one was watching, I leaned back and seized the opportunity to summon the ancient runes visible only to me. Three days ago, I had been too frustrated by my Incarnation to pay attention to my Traits. While not as crucial as a Legacy, Traits were still valuable assets. There was an old saying: one must understand their strengths and weaknesses before they can improve and grow.

Simply put, if Legacies unlocked active abilities, then Traits unlocked passive abilities and effects.

I was somewhat hopeful.

[Photographic Memory] — Trait Description: "You can instantly recall of anything seen or read with near-perfect accuracy."

[Mark of Judgement] — Trait Description: "For obtaining forbidden power, you have escaped the strings of fate. In doing so, you have angered the gods and forsaken the gift of fortune. Misfortune and Terrors will now be drawn to your presence."

[Nighthawk] — Trait Description: "You are adjusted to the darkness."

'Yep… I'm completely screwed.'

I finally understood why I was so unlucky. This second accursed trait was the culprit all along!

No wonder I couldn't get anything good from the gacha system!

At first glance, it seemed I was destined for a particular kind of fortune: misfortune. But after reading the full description… it got even worse.

Misfortune and Monsters will be drawn to me? Hell no! Does this mean I'm basically a monster attractor now?

'Damnit. I can see why I could get a rare, never heard before Persona named Shadow. But still, how am I supposed to survive with something like this?'

Basically, I was doomed to die, was that it? What kind of sick joke is this?

'No, no, no... Let's calm down.'

Rubbing my temple, I tried to piece everything together. Just because the description said monsters could sense my presence didn't necessarily mean immediate doom. Sure, it was a terrible trait by default, but there was one thing to consider: we hadn't encountered anything in the past three days.

That had to mean something.

Despite carrying what was basically a curse, no abomination had attempted to kill us so far. It wasn't like monsters swarmed at the mere sight of me. More likely, being near me only slightly increased their chance of noticing us.

The principle of fairness had to be taken into account. More importantly, [Photographic Memory] appeared to be an innate trait, while the other two had manifested through my Persona. Everything was straightforward. [Mark of Judgment] made me highly noticeable to monsters, but it completely nullified the effects of fate. In other words, any sorcery tied to fate like Divination or Foresight used by Visionaries wouldn't work on me.

Meanwhile, [Nighthawk] heightened my affinity to darkness. My vision remained perfectly clear in the dark, as if night were still as bright as day. I first noticed it on the first evening, when the sun slipped behind the mountains. It was nothing to scoff at, if I ever found myself in a tight spot, I could easily slip away and hide.

Of course, the others didn't share this advantage and they clearly had no idea about it. I wondered if they might have similar hidden abilities, but I highly doubted it. Accessing the runes required knowledge of Nightweave, and the only way to know Nightweave was to play the game.

Still, I wouldn't be surprised if some did. After all, Shatterverse was a rather popular game right now.

…Would boring adults even know about it, though? That narrows it down to only one or two people.

'Eh?'

As I thought this, my eyes caught something strange:

My shadow… was moving?

Maybe I was starting to hallucinate. It wouldn't be surprising, considering I hadn't eaten anything substantial or drunk any water. Normally, humans could survive roughly two months without food, provided they had water. But dehydration changed everything.

I sighed.

"Well… something like this was bound to happen eventually."

Glancing at my shadow again, it seemed to shift slightly, as if rolling its eyes. Amusing, really. It looked like it had a sense of humor.

'Wait…!'

My eyes widened in alarm upon realization, then narrowed in terror.

But the shadow, some distance away on the floor, shifted and raised both hands, as if to signal that it wasn't a threat.

After a brief moment, I managed to compose myself.

'Phew... that nearly gave me a fright. I thought my shadow had been stolen.'

In Soulverse, certain monsters had special properties, giving them a variety of different effects and ways to kill players. For example, monsters with the "darkness" attribute could emerge from the player's avatar shadow and slay them or more rarely, strike them from afar by striking their shadow. On a rare few occasions, it was even possible for monsters to steal the player's loots and equipment using this method.

Understandably, it was natural to be scared when your own shadow was waving at you. Of course, I would be scared.

Contemplating that, the memory of the runes describing my incarnation information resurfaced.

「 Temple Shadow is an almost forgotten and powerless entity, rarely seen and even less understood, lacking any notable skills or abilities. Like an ordinary wretched shadow, it possesses no influence over the world. 」

Bewildered, my mind tried to make sense of this revelation. Didn't this mean my shadow had become a separate, living entity?

I stayed glued to it, eyes wide, but the shadow, seemingly annoyed, hurried back and reattached itself to me like any ordinary shadow.

For a split second, I flinched, but it immediately mirrored my every movement. When I snapped out of my stupor, I quickly scanned the surroundings. Thankfully, the others hadn't noticed anything unusual. Even if they had noticed, they'd probably chalk it up to their imagination, just as I had at first.

At that moment, a sudden realization dawned. My shadow was gesturing, as if trying to draw my attention towards something.

Curious, I moved my head silently, careful not to alarm the others. Instantly, a cold, terrible feeling churned in my gut.

As if to confirm it, the ground beneath began to tremble.