After waiting in the darkness for a while, Valyr eventually found his surroundings undergo a gradual change, bringing color to what was essentially a blank canvas.
Noticing how the world that appeared before him seed to be sowhat muted, the young man furrowed his brows for a bit as he wondered whether his earlier thoughts were correct.
Though, by the ti he saw the ground being covered in vast stretches of water alongside trees having trunks made out of leaves, that worry had instantly disappeared.
"I had a feeling my hunch was correct," Valyr muttered to himself as he faintly chuckled. "The owner had sothing to do with the Shadow Plane."
At the very mont he focused his attention on the Azure Serpent Staff, Valyr took note of the aura it was emanating, its ferocity more or less similar to the weapons within the sa layer.
However, unlike the other weapons in the vicinity, the Azure Serpent Staff seed to have another kind of aura overlaid on top of its original.
Then again, Valyr was only able to sense this aura after focusing his attention on the staff for a long ti…
As well as being attuned to the sa type of energy the second aura was emanating.
With the energy's more than obvious flavors of destruction, despair, and chaos, Valyr instantly knew that he was dealing with a weapon that had sothing to do with Shadow Energy.
Focusing his attention on the weapon itself, he soon noticed that a considerable portion of the grooves were etched out with Shadow Energy in mind, working alongside the grooves that were etched for mana.
Seeing both mana and Shadow Energy work in tandem in a weapon, Valyr's eyes widened in realization at that mont as it seed that the weapon was showing him the goal that the Triad Gates had given him a glimpse of.
A complete fusion of both mana and Shadow Energy into a greater form of energy.
Thanks to the rewards he had gotten from both the Gates of Enlightennt and Awakening, Valyr had been introduced to the concept of fusing mana into a skill that was inherently powered by Shadow Energy.
Then, with the insights he had gained in Shadow Energy from the Chambers of Enlightennt, he found out that Shadow Energy and mana acted as two sides of the sa coin.
While one focused on destruction and chaos, the other focused on creation and order.
From the na of the weapon alone, Valyr took his chances, especially after Vaughn had indirectly confird the thoughts in his mind.
And with the Shadow Plane appearing before him as he began his journey in inheriting the owner's path…
It seed that his gambit had paid off.
Whoosh!
After the entire Shadow Plane had manifested before him, Valyr watched as his surroundings turned into a blur for a brief mont as he was dragged along towards another part of the plane.
"What…" By the ti his sights stopped moving, the young man was soon greeted to a sight that he did not expect to find within the Shadow Plane.
A settlent.
Though the territory occupied by the settlent was only half as large as the one Astarto Village occupied, Valyr was still surprised that there were actual settlents within the Shadow Plane, initially thinking that the place was mostly filled with forests and the like.
'I guess even with the plane being a parallel world of sorts to Veldanyr, there are so things that don't change that easily,' thought Valyr to himself as he began to move around to get a better look at the settlent.
In many ways, if one were to exclude the peculiar materials used to make the structures, the small settlent looked the sa as any fledgling village one would find in Veldanyr.
However, rather than find native people of the Shadow Plane living within these houses…
Valyr instead saw Shadow Serpents residing in it.
At the very mont the young man saw this, a great wave of confusion hit him, prompting him to wonder why Shadow Serpents would be living in such small houses.
After all, similar to the apex predators of the Shadow Plane, Shadow Serpents grew up to a size that was far larger than the houses themselves.
Fortunately, the answer to his question was answered as so of the Shadow Serpents within the settlent gradually morphed to take on a humanoid form, with most of their bodies covered in their characteristic scales.
Among the serpents that morphed into a humanoid form, there was a couple that ca out of a house found near the edge of the settlent, smiling as the woman between them cradled what looked like a small Shadow Serpent in a warm blanket.
Feeling an imnse sense of attraction as he looked at the Shadow Serpent, Valyr understood that this small serpent was none other than the owner that would eventually grow up to wield the Azure Serpent Staff he touched.
Though, just as he thought he would be watching the small serpent go through its journey in silence, the demure voice of a woman began to echo from his side, causing him to look beside him in slight shock.
"Heh… who knew the inheritance process would involve making use of my mories?"
Hearing those words co out of the woman's mouth, Valyr was about to ask who she was, only to notice that there were a few things about her that stood out.
For one, her appearance looked quite similar to the serpents that took on humanoid forms below.
However, unlike them, the woman only had a few scales on her body, their azure luster mostly congregating around her cheeks and the backside of her hands.
Aside from that, her hair was a dazzling dark blue, complenting the azure eyes she had that seed to encompass the vast dark yet blue skies of the Shadow Plane.
Paired with cherry-red lips and a blue silken dress that did not leave a lot to the imagination, the woman was by all ans a beauty that would make entire kingdoms fight for her favor.
Then again, with how she appeared beside Valyr as he was just about to watch the small serpent's journey to power, there was no doubt in his mind that the woman beside him…
Was none other than the owner of the Azure Serpent Staff herself.
"Hmm?" Noticing Valyr staring at her for so long, the woman looked back before flashing a faint smile. "I suppose you're the one who aims to inherit the path I've taken?"
In response, Valyr rely nodded.
"Hmm… Shadow Energy and mana, huh." Staring at Valyr for a bit, a faint frown appeared on the woman's face before nodding in understanding.
Returning her attention back to the sight before them, she then faintly uttered, "Makes sense that you've chosen to inherit my path, then."
"As stipulated by the agreent I have with the Gates of Awakening, I have no choice but to aid you in understanding the path I've taken whilst we go through my journey of power," said the woman with a shrug.
"In any case, let introduce myself first."
"With how long I've lived so far, I've accrued a number of titles and monikers that people call by."
"The Azure Mage, the Sage of Azure Destruction, the Blue Queen of Calamity, the Empress of Azure Shadows…"
"But as you are the inheritor of the path I've created…"
"You can call Sellifer."
"Valyr." Seeing the woman extend her hand for a handshake, Valyr returned the greeting as he introduced himself. "Valyr Zeihardt."
Unsurprisingly, as the young man ntioned his surna, Sellifer's eyes widened in slight surprise. "Who knew a Zeihardt would eventually start dabbling in the world of Shadow Energy?"
Though, she shrugged her shoulders soon after. "Then again, who am I to judge? The road to power may have one peak, but there are a myriad number of paths that lead to it."
Letting out a faint sigh after that, Sellifer urged Valyr to return his attention to the sight before them.
Watching the couple handle the small Shadow Serpent that would eventually grow up to beco the woman beside him, the young man could not stop himself from glancing at Sellifer every once in a while, wondering what her reaction would be.
"As I've ntioned earlier, I've been tasked by the Gates of Awakening to aid you in understanding the path I've taken." Seeing Valyr continue to stare at her, Sellifer inwardly scratched the back of her head as she began to speak once more.
"Whether you incorporate the path I've taken into your own or inherit the path I've taken in its entirety, that's all up to you."
"Speaking of which, I have a feeling that you think the sight before you seems incredibly mundane, but it's actually showing you a lot of information that would beco useful in understanding my path later on."
Seeing Valyr tilt his head in slight confusion, Sellifer looked back at the trio down below, feeling a sense of nostalgia at the sight.
"My parents are what you would consider the usual adult Shadow Serpents," said the woman with a slight longing tone. "Their control over Shadow Energy is average, their strength is around the average for Shadow Serpents, and their talents are quite average as well."
"With that, the two of them found it quite peculiar that I was born not only with superb storage for Shadow Energy, but also great potential in terms of talent."
"After a bit more scoping, they found out that my attributes and potential abilities in every aspect were at the level of elites," she continued. "However, through their scoping, they also found out that I had an affinity for an energy that was considered to be forbidden in the Shadow Plane."
Listening to her words, Valyr raised his eyebrows in curiosity, only for his eyes to widen as he imdiately understood what Sellifer was trying to say.
Seeing the young man quickly shift expressions, Sellifer inwardly let out a sigh of relief as she nodded back. "Indeed, it is what you think it is."
"Though I was born in the Shadow Plane…"
"I've been shown to have an affinity for mana."
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