Chapter 13: 13. A Shadow
(A\N: I was told that Gods in Orario are walking lie detectors. My bad for inconsistencies)
The sun shone on Ren's face as he awakened. He felt a slight headache.
Just as Ren expected it to pass, a sound rang through his head.
"Hello?"
"Oh, you're up already?"
Miach happened to be walking past at that moment.
"Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
Seeing Miach's genuine confusion, Ren felt like he might have been hearing things.
"I must have been hearing things. I do have a slight headache."
"Let me see."
Miach approached Haruki and scanned him over. Being a god of health, Miach could easily diagnose some problems at a glance.
"It doesn't seem like anything is wrong with you. Why don't you stay home today?"
Ren thought about it and shook his head. He didn't want to waste any time.
"I see, just make sure you take it easy."
"Yes, Miach-sama."
"Good. Head down for breakfast. It's gonna start getting cold."
Ren groggily got out of bed and headed downstairs. The Blue Pharmacy opened very early. Although Ren was used to this, dungeon diving would always leave him tired, leading to him sleeping in more often than not.
As Ren got ready for the day, a whisper kept echoing at the edge of his consciousness.
"-ren? REN?"
"Hmm?"
Ren looked up and saw Naaza and Miach looking at him in worry.
"Are you okay?"
"I think so?"
Ren wasn't sure what was going on, but he didn't want to worry his Familia members.
Miach stared at Ren. This Familia member of his kept hiding thing from him.
Ren looked away and finished eating his breakfast.
He washed his dishes and headed upstairs. He packed everything he needed for the day, put on his armour and grabbed his sword.
"I'm heading out."
Ren said as he left the pharmacy.
"Be safe."
Miach said, though Ren was already gone.
"Something has changed about him..."
"Did you say something Miach-sama?"
"Not at all. Let's open up shop."
Ren walked to the dungeon at a hurried pace. He had a gnawing feeling that these whispers wanted something from him.
It was still early, so there weren't many people entering the dungeon.
Ren quickly descended to the first floor. The whispers grew louder, beckoning him. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, allowing the whispers to reach their peak
And then he felt it. A presence separated itself from his body. Ren felt himself weaken as he fell to the ground. He breathed heavily as he opened his eyes.
Ren noticed a shadowy figure in front of him. It mimicked his every action.
"What is this?"
Ren caught his breath and noticed the figure standing up with him. Ren raised his hand and the figure copied him. It was fascinating.
'How can I separate my actions from the shadow?'
Ren attempted to have the shadow move independently. It took quite a lot of mental energy, but Ren managed to separate his thoughts from the shadow.
The shadow looked around for a few seconds, before walking around in a somewhat curious manner.
While Ren was impressed, he also noticed that his stats seemed to be halved.
"Was I too weak to summon this shadow?"
Ren tried to figure out the reason behind why his shadow suddenly appeared. The sudden mental weakness could be part of why he couldn't summon it before.
"Let's see if we can fight together."
Despite feeling weak, Ren decided to hunt a few monsters. The only thing he was worried about was the shadow's lack of a weapon.
Ren found a kobold. After a bit of thought. He decided to give the shadow his sword. He wanted to see how the shadow would fight.
The shadow stared at Ren blankly before grabbing the sword. It moved towards the kobold steadily. The kobold took notice of the shadow and lunged in immediately.
Just as the kobold reached the shadow, it dodged the attack in a simple step, followed by a clean slice to the neck.
As Ren watched the monster disappear, a sense of shock hit him. The shadow appeared to be more efficient than him despite having weaker stats.
"How is that possible?"
A sense of curiosity overwhelmed him as he decided to let the shadow hunt for the day.
Ren watched as the shadow executed monsters with great skill. It used minimal movement to deftly deal with the monsters.
Ren suddenly had an idea.
'Can I move like that? It may be possible, since the shadow is essentially me.'
Ren's eyes widened at the realisation. He decided to swap places with the shadow and go on the attack this time.
Ren approached a monster, keeping the shadow's tactics in mind. As the goblin drew near, Ren moved to kill the monster. This movement was purely out of instinct.
As Ren killed the monster, he understood something he hadn't thought of.
'I'm scared.'
No, it wasn't fear. It was an instinctual reaction. The monster wanted to kill him, and so he killed it.
But how was he supposed to suppress his own instincts so he could move with more proficiency?
Was it good for him to suppress his own instincts in the first place? The dungeon was a place where danger lurked around every corner. Intuition played a large part in a person's survival skills.
Ren fell into thought in the middle of the dungeon.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone