Chapter 352: Servant in Both Worlds

Silence dominated the morning, broken only by the howling snowstorm in the distance.

But the howl was more like ambient sound due to how faint it was.

Chill seeped across the entire Eventide Academy’s territory. Despite the protective bubble that was activated because of what happened during the Dragon Ring Tournament, the coldness still seeped through.

All of the Guard Angels were wearing winter gear now.

Students were also given additional clothes—mostly a scarf, gloves, and a beanie.

Angels were meant to sacrifice themselves for the better good of mankind, but it would be a waste for them to die from the weather, so the academy reached out a helping hand. No need for Angels to fret about the winter when they already have a lot on their plates.

High Angels were given a heating plant on top of their Ox Leaves.

And for Red Princes, their houses were equipped with a thermal-regulating divine circle.

It was a circular formation created through the use of divine characters.

Every single Supernal could create their own divine circle, but the effect would only be limited to what their Patron God could do. For these houses reserved for champions, the divine circle for thermal regulation was made by a Supernal of Hestia, the Goddess of Hearth and Home.

No matter how the outside became, the houses would remain warm.

Life-sustainingly warm through Hestia’s blessing.

In the main bedroom of one of the champion houses, a man lay straight like a corpse.

Filtered sunlight barely seeped through the window, barely lit up the bedroom’s shadow, and yet the man seemed to notice the change, and his eyelids fluttered open. Kai woke up from his sleep and stared at the ceiling.

His mind was throbbing badly, like there was a hand poking his brain directly.

Several minutes passed, and the throbbing barely receded.

Kai forced his body to move, threw his legs over the bed, and sat on the edge.

"Eurgh... By the Gods, what happened?"

He pinched his forehead with three fingers and massaged it harshly—trying to do everything he could to ease the skull-stabbing throbs. A light groan escaped his lips as he leaned forward, placed both elbows on his thighs, and began massaging his head with both hands.

Such a severe migraine was not normal.

Kai did stay inside the House of Night for too long.

Time did not exist there—or it moved strangely, unable to be measured. But from experience, he reckoned he had spent the equivalent of more than a few weeks in the waking world during his time in the House of Night.

A long time.

Longer than he has ever spent.

But since he already got used to the place, it shouldn’t be a problem.

Heck, he didn’t even feel that bad while he was still in the House of Night.

Normally, his mind would begin to hurt first before his mind gave up and he was returned to the waking world. Yet this time—he didn’t even have the time to feel any pain and got kicked out instantly.

"Must be because of what happened."

Kai recalled his time inside Mallory’s domain, surrounded by Nightborns and the force of the night unlike anything he had ever felt, and then visited by Skotessa, who didn’t so much as restrain herself at all.

It seemed those encounters had taken their toll on his mind.

So, the moment he returned to safety, it simply shut down.

A rough exhale escaped through his nose as he glanced toward the window, seeing that it was still about an hour away from his usual time of waking up. He rubbed his face one more time, and then stood up, heading straight for the shower.

He thought a shower would help ease the migraine.

Pssh...!

Kai faced the showerhead and closed his eyes before twisting the shower handle—warm water splashed against his face in a steady stream. In half a minute, the entire bathroom was clouded by water vapor.

Under the relentless stream of warm water, Kai had a moment to contemplate.

Right now, in both worlds, he was still a servant.

Kai was doing the Demigod’s bidding in the waking world—and the Goddess’ bidding in the House of Night. He was not happy doing the Demigod’s bidding, but he was not happy doing it for the Goddess, as she was giving him kindness and help in return.

But even then, doing the Goddess’ bidding wasn’t exactly perfect.

At the very least, he knew that the Demigod’s sole purpose in making him do what he needed to do was the pursuit of power. Greater influence demanded more powerful people—and that was exactly what the Demigod was after. Power.

On the other hand, he knew nothing about what the Goddess wanted from him.

It was true that she wanted him stronger, but for what?

Everything was obscure when it came to the Goddess.

Both sides had their pros and cons, but regardless, Kai couldn’t stop midway through.

Not to mention, the situations on both worlds were escalating for him.

Kai needed to participate in the Lower Olympian Ring to humiliate a target—which would be quite hard to do since the target was a Supernal of Poseidon. In the House of Night, there was going to be a sweep.

In order to find the supposed new sibling, Skotessa was going to sweep the First Floor.

And worse, Mallory had no choice but to agree since she thought she had nothing to hide.

Kai was now cornered, and he needed to do something quickly before Skotessa found him.

Once he finished taking a shower and doing his morning bathroom routine, he walked out with a towel wrapped around his waist and sat down in a chair to the side. He crossed his legs and went to check something that he had missed.

Since he managed to enter Mallory’s domain, his quest was completed.

He saw the notification, but didn’t check the rewards.

Now, in the downtime before the morning exercise, Kai decided to check what he got.

[Quest: Enter the Second Daughter’s Domain — Completed!]

[You have obtained the First Legacy of Darkness and Primordial Night Nucleus]

Kai’s eyes sparkled at the sight.

Of the two things he had obtained from completing the quest, he was most curious about the latter. He suspected it might be something capable of strengthening his Primordial Locks. And if it were true, it would be priceless.

Anything that could bolster Divine Locks would be considered a priceless treasure.

Naturally, he was excited to get his hands on one.

He breathed first to regain his composure and checked the first thing he got.

[First Legacy of Darkness: It is the first part of the Legacy of Darkness, containing an immense power of the night. It can only be absorbed by the Children of the Primordial Night, and once absorbed, all Legacy Imprints would be enhanced.]

"Wha—?" Kai read the description and was taken aback.

Every single reward he obtained from completing the quest had been phenomenal.

Normally, he would obtain another Legacy Imprint from completing a quest, but this time, it was arguably even better. An item that could enhance his Legacy Imprints was incredible, and he was happy with it.

Probably more so than getting another Legacy Imprint.

Kai had been training his Legacy Imprints and was now quite good at using them.

And he had noticed several weaknesses of each Legacy Imprint.

The Night Phantom was incredibly effective, but it had one glaring weakness—it was useless when he was being chased. Unless it happened during the night, it was difficult to make use of it to get away.

For his Dark Discharge, it was a strong offensive Imprint.

It was capable of catching enemies off guard, but it lacked penetrative power to end the fight.

Most of the time, the enemy would block Kai’s attack with their own weapon.

And that led to the Dark Discharge being unleashed forcefully to pass the weapon—but behind it still stood the enemy’s armour. To make the imprint effective, Kai would need to bypass the enemy’s defenses first to land the strike directly on the armour.

Only then could he land a vital strike.

It was hard to do that at the start of the battle.

Because of that, he couldn’t abuse the surprise aspect of the Dark Discharge too much.

Lastly, for his Black Starfall, it also has two glaring weaknesses.

One being its limited range—and the other was how slow it formed with more and more black stars he summoned. It hadn’t given Kai any trouble up until now, but it would be great if the weaknesses were covered.

Excited to absorb the First Legacy of Darkness, Kai quickly took it out.

Swish—!

A swirl of darkness began to form on his palm.

It started as a faint wisp, a curl of shadow that twisted lazily around his fingers. Then it grew. It spiraled faster and faster, folding in on itself. The air around his hand grew cold,and the shadows in the room leaned toward him, as if curious about what was forming.

A few seconds passed, and the swirl solidified.

Now, resting in the center of his palm, was a bead no bigger than a marble.

But it was incredibly dense.

And around it, the swirl didn’t recede. Instead, it kept going; the tendrils of shadow elongated and wrapped around the bead in a slow, deliberate spiral. Soon—they stabilized into a really thin metal ring.

It was black, and it circled the bead like Saturn’s ring.

At its top, there was an outward bulge carved with a symbol—an inverted torch.

Kai wanted to absorb it.

He moved a little, and the ring shot toward him.

It moved faster than his thought. A streak of black that slammed into his chest. Kai gasped in a deep breath, recoiling backward before looking down. The ring had latched firmly onto his bare chest, directly above his solar plexus.

Directly above his main Primordial Lock.

Kai panicked a little.

His hand flew to the ring, trying to pull it off his chest.

But the moment he pulled, he felt a tug from the bead.

A gentle force that guided his hand upward, toward his mouth.

Only then did Kai realize what he needed to do.

Kai tilted his head up, opened his mouth, and then dropped the bead to the back of his throat.

He swallowed harshly and waited.

For a moment, nothing happened—and then his main Primordial Lock stirred. It surged like a ravenous animal that had caught the scent of prey. It lunged for the bead, devouring it whole without hesitation.

Just then, the metal ring shot energy into his body.

It lanced through his chest, piercing the bead before the Primordial Lock could consume it.

Kai could hear the sound of glass shattering inside his mind, followed by a surge of energy. It spread across Kai’s entire body—in a cascade of darkness. He felt stronger, and even his aura of darkness was riled.

A smile crept to his lips as he had gotten stronger again.

He exhaled slowly, relishing the sensation before fixing his eyes on the next item.

And the moment he read the description, sweat began to form on his forehead.