Shadow Slave novel Chapter 397

Chapter 397 Mongrel's Wisdom

ed his every action and every word, trying to find some hint to his identity, background, and standing.

Although there was not much to learn, they gradually came to perceive his sayings as rather meaningful.

...In fact, people ended up finding too much meaning in them, even though there was none. It was all just awkward lies Sunny had come up with on the spot to fulfill the requirements of the [Simple Trick]. He had never, ever intended to say something profound.

But when had good intentions ever stopped people from over-complicating things?

Without Sunny knowing anything about it, Mongrel had gained a… philosophy.

"Are you new to the Coliseum?"

"...I was born in the Coliseum."

Sitting in a school cafeteria, two students stared at a cheap communicator, their eyes burning with enthusiasm.

One of the boys frowned, then asked in confusion:

"I don't get it… what does he mean? Isn't the Colosseum just a Dreamscape arena? How could a person be born there?"

His friend shook his head with disdain:

"Idiot! Don't you get it? Mongrel doesn't mean that he was born in the Dreamscape! He means that he was born in battle. Those ancient gladiators were slaves forced to fight to the death against their will. Aren't Awakened the same? They are infected by the Spell and have no choice but to battle Nightmare Creatures to survive. In a sense, all Awakened were born in the Colosseum…"

Somewhere in the outskirts, several workers had gathered together during their short break.

"Are you even human?"

"What is a human? I am not, and have never been, a human."

One of the workers shivered.

"Scary… do you think that Mongrel is actually a Nightmare Creature that infiltrated the real world?"

Another shook his head.

"No, of course not."

The first sighed:

"Then why would he say that he's not human?"

The second worker looked at the dirty tunnel of the industrial air filter exhaust they were cleaning, then at his own calloused hands.

"What the hell does it even mean, to be a human? Do you think that you and I are really humans? No, you fool. That Mongrel has more brains than you, I swear. He at least understands that just having two legs and two hands does not make you a human. He gets how it is…"

The third listened to their conversation and grimaced.

"So what? Yeah, he gets it, but I don't see him complaining. That guy took the hand he was dealt and turned himself into a... a damned sword demon. What have you done? That's the lesson he is trying to teach us, I think. No one will treat you as a human unless you behave like one…"

Far away, in the Sleeper compound of the Academy, a group of young men and women were looking at a screen.

"That's a big sword you got there. Do you even know how to use it?"