Floating Islands: SSS Gacha Lord-Chapter 392 - Shadow in the Mirror

Atlas blinked his right eye several times, hoping that something would change.

But nothing did.

That... red eye, marked by a thin golden line cutting straight across the pupil, remained exactly the same. And it only appeared in his right eye.

This was not the first time Atlas had experienced a change in his eye color. It had happened to both of his eyes before.

The first time was when his Duskbound Presence triggered. When that happened, both of his eyes would turn a faint red, reflecting the effect of the skill that exuded an intimidating aura and weakened the attack power of nearby enemies.

Another instance was when Atlas gained a temporary vampire mode from Morganna. In that state, his eyes became identical to Morganna’s whenever she was enraged.

There was also the time he borrowed power from Luna through his Reaper form. In that form, Atlas even appeared to have a pair of demonic horns, though they were not physical horns. During that state, both of his eyes also turned red.

But this time... He was not in any of those conditions.

And this eye was different from anything he had seen before.

He checked his left eye again. It looked completely normal.

"Is this permanent?" he asked quietly.

Dullorak, who stood between them, then explained in a calm voice.

"My lord, that is one of the possible drawbacks of absorbing the Void Core. A change to your physical form. That’s the price paid for what you absorbed. For a Legendary grade skill, gaining a physical alteration such as a change in your eye is not unusual."

Atlas listened quietly.

"As for whether it is permanent," Dullorak continued, "yes, it will remain so. Unless you choose to discard the skill entirely. You can still do that now, while the essence has not fully integrated into your core."

Atlas studied his reflection again. "Can I deactivate this eye?"

He tried disabling Abyssbound Mantle. The shadow cape vanished from his shoulders at once.

But... his eye remained unchanged.

"Oh, damn," Atlas muttered. "The color stays. And worse, it is only on my right eye."

Edrik spoke up after that. "If you do not wish to show a red eye, there are ways to cover the pupil, my lord."

Atlas turned toward him. "Using contact lenses?"

"You have a far simpler tool than that," Edrik replied. "You can use the shadow itself to alter your pupil, turning it black to match your normal eye color."

"...Ah. Let me try that."

Atlas activated Abyssbound Mantle once more. He carefully controlled the shadow element within his body and guided it toward his eyes.

Moments later... he saw his normal dark eye color return in the reflection. It was not perfect, but close enough to pass as normal, at least for now.

He was using the same ability to conceal the red eye.

Thankfully, this did not consume mana or stamina as long as the shadow did not make contact with anything. As long as he was not using it in combat, simply letting it rest on his body placed no burden on him.

Even more impressive, the shadow could be compressed tightly enough to cover only his pupil. It seemed the shadow could be forced into smaller forms, though it could not be stretched beyond the size of the mantle itself.

A nice discovery for the skill.

"If the first guardian I defeated made my eye turn into this," Atlas said, turning his gaze toward Dullorak again, "how far will my transformation go in the end?"

Dullorak answered calmly. "Based on the energy stored within the Core, my lord, you have absorbed roughly twenty percent of it. It may be slightly less, but let us say twenty percent for simplicity. And even though that twenty percent only resulted in a change to your right eye, that does not mean the remaining eighty percent will follow the same scale of transformation."

Twenty percent. Not bad. At least that meant he would be facing four more guardians after this.

"You defeated the first guardian with relative ease," Dullorak continued.

Easy? That was not easy at all. If that counted as easy, Atlas did not even want to imagine what awaited him next.

"For what lies ahead," Dullorak went on, "we can only observe and hope that the transformations you gain will not stray too far from your personal tolerance. However, there will always be solutions, as long as you are willing to pursue them."

In the end, that question became nothing more than a question to Atlas. One that did not truly need an answer.

He had already made his decision.

He would go through with this process to the end.

He would fight, and he would continue conquering the Core, no matter how many guardians remained inside it. Even though he had not yet encountered the second guardian, that could wait.

For now, he would focus on the next battle that awaited him. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

**

It was truly a rewarding break for Atlas.

First, the Egg had finally hatched, producing a beast of Unique grade with enormous potential. The beast, named Goldy by Serenith, had already gained twenty levels in just the past few days. Serenith had been leveling it brutally, pushing the creature to grow at an incredible pace.

As for Atlas himself, he had obtained a new ability that was nothing short of extraordinary. He could hardly wait to test it against his enemies. He smirked as he imagined them experiencing the same kind of suffering he had endured while conquering the demon.

Wait...

Why was his thinking drifting closer to that of a villain?

Soon enough, the long awaited day arrived. Two islands floated closer to each other, with the massive Gacha Haven Main Island hovering higher above the enemy’s island, not far from their position.

Atlas sat upon his floating throne, while Edrik stood tall behind it as always.

Their opponent this time was a rank 3 lord. The Pathfinder Rank.

Would this battle unfold exactly as Atlas had carefully planned and fully intended?