Chapter 33: Steps in the Shadow

Chapter 33: Chapter 33: Steps in the Shadow

Eric walked down the back stairs and stepped out into the quiet yard behind Sunshine Home. He checked over the weathered wooden fence to ensure the neighboring lot was clear before unrolling the charcoal-grey parchment across a flat cedar stump.

The *Shadow Steps* manual was dense with anatomical diagrams, footwork vectors, and precise mana circulation circuits designed to bridge physical locomotion with shadow manipulation.

Taking a measured breath, Eric settled into a low, forward-leaning stance on the trampled grass. He drew a fine thread of neutral mana from his Mana Heart, directing the energy down through the energy pathways along his calves, ankles, and the soles of his boots.

The initial attempt felt stiff and clunky. The energy snagged against the junction of his heel, throwing his balance off-center.

Then, a sudden, warm clarity sparked behind his eyes.

*Rank-C Skill Comprehension activated.*

The complex, disjointed ink diagrams on the parchment clicked together in his mind like precision-machined gears. The awkward friction in his lower legs smoothed out instantly. His mana naturally recalibrated, settling into the exact rhythmic oscillation required by the technique.

*This talent is an absolute cheat code,* Eric thought, his eyes lighting up as his muscles instinctively corrected their alignment with every stride. *At this rate, I’ll have the foundational movements down before sunset.*

For three unbroken hours, Eric drilled the footwork across the sunlit yard.

He shifted his weight from heel to toe, tracing the elongated shadows cast by the perimeter fence and the branches of the old oak tree. With each cycle, his strides grew quieter, his boots skimming across the turf until the faint outlines of his silhouette began to blur and bleed into the surrounding gloom.

*DING.*

A crisp chime chimed in his mind, and his interface flickered into view:

│ STATUS PANEL

│

│ Name: Eric

│ Race: Human

│ Cultivation Stage: Mortal

│ Level: 4 (67%)

│ Talent: Appraisal (Rank D), Skill Comprehension (Rank C)

│ Skills: Shadow Steps (Rank D) [Mastery: Entry]

│ Contracted Beast: 1/1

"Yes! Clean acquisition!" Eric grinned, wiping a bead of sweat from his chin with the back of his hand.

Then, his gaze locked onto the new bracket beside the skill name.

*Mastery: Entry?*

Curious, Eric rolled up the parchment, returned to the attic, and grabbed his smartphone from the desk to search the explorer network archives.

A detailed research thread published by the Imperial Combat Institute laid the mechanics out in clear detail:

Every artificial technique learned by human tamers was governed by five progressive mastery tiers:

Entry

Minor

Major

Peak

Perfection

Advancing through mastery tiers significantly amplified a technique’s raw output, reduced activation delays to near-instantaneous thresholds, and cut mana consumption by up to seventy percent. Reaching the pinnacle *Perfection* tier allowed a technique to punch far above its weight class, delivering combat performance comparable to a skill an entire rank higher.

"That makes sense," Eric muttered, leaning back against the pine headboard. "Raw acquisition is just step one. True lethality comes from practice and execution."

Curious about how this applied to his partner, Eric summoned Coal’s status window across their shared soul tether.

│ CONTRACTED BEAST STATUS

│

│ Name: Coal

│ Race: Bonepecker Crow

│ Cultivation Stage: Mortal

│ Level: 6 (41%)

│ Rank: D

│ Element: Shadow

│ Skills:

│ - Flight (Rank D)

│ - Shadow Talons (Rank D)

│ - Shadow Clone (Rank D)

"Strange... Why are there no mastery brackets listed next to Coal’s skills?"

Eric dug deeper into the academic papers hosted on the forum.

As it turned out, beasts unlocked and inherited combat abilities directly through their biological bloodlines. When a beast manifested an innate technique, its predatory instincts executed the movement with innate biomechanical precision, meaning all beast abilities operated at the equivalent of *Perfection* from the exact moment they appeared. That was also why a beast’s skills often naturally evolved into higher tiers upon species evolution.

Humans, lacking intrinsic beast bloodlines, had to reconstruct and practice artificial techniques from scratch, requiring progressive drilling to forge genuine mastery.

"So I need real combat reps and consistent practice to push *Shadow Steps* from Entry up to Perfection," Eric mused, a confident grin touching his lips. "With Rank-C Skill Comprehension accelerating the process, climbing those mastery tiers will take a fraction of the time ordinary awakeners need."

He set the phone down and looked over his stored assets inside his subspace.

Between his previous hunting runs, he had more than enough low-to-mid grade mana stones to support Coal’s steady refinement for an entire month without risking digestive backlogs.

With 832,800 credits sitting safely in his citizen banking account, the six-hundred-thousand-credit debt to Scarface Vane was already accounted for. Sunshine Home was secure, and there was zero pressure to rush back into the grasslands just to chase quick coins.

He looked over at Coal, who was resting peacefully atop the folded blanket on the desk, his pitch-black eyes half-lidded as faint wisps of Shadow mana coiled around his ivory talons.

"For the next four weeks, we’re going into full closed-door training," Eric whispered, settling into the lotus posture on his mattress.

"We refine our cultivation, push our levels toward the Mortal peak, master these shadow steps, and prepare for the deeper rift zones."