SSS Transmigration: I Can Extract And Evolve Overpowered Shadows-Chapter 5: The Mysterious Head Is Definitely Hiding Something Or Is He?
Hinata held the wheel even more firmly this time. Not just him, even the head held its breath. So far, everything he had gotten from the Gacha was good, but none of it actually represented a Shadow God.
Since Hinata was still new to this world, he didn’t understand its mechanisms enough to give an opinion, nor did he want to ask the head.
Maybe if he didn’t get any shadow abilities after this pull, the world would revoke the title of Shadow God from him.
With a breath, he spun the wheel. The wheel spun again and again, its segments clicking each time they passed the arrow. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢
Hinata’s gaze didn’t shift from it, making the chamber fill with tense silence.
After what felt like eternity, the wheel began slowing down. Hinata felt like biting his nails. He took one breath after another. The air was strangely cold now, sweat rolling down the back of his hand.
When the Gacha came to a halt, it exploded in a brilliant golden light.
The shadows in the chamber began dancing around, their forms changing, reverting, then changing again. To Hinata, it felt like someone had started a puppetry play, but instead of dolls, they were using shadows.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
[Congratula—]
The Gacha system stopped mid-sentence, then without Hinata’s intervention, it spun its own wheel again.
"Hey! What do you think you’re doing?!" he asked, his tone dark.
The Gacha didn’t listen to him, or pretended not to. The wheel spun faster than Hinata could ever spin it. After a few seconds of even harsher tension, it came to a halt, only to spin again.
Hinata clenched his jaw, his eyes narrowing. "What the hell do you—"
Before he could take a step forward, the head intercepted him, forming two large ghostly hands to block his path. <Wait, Hinata, you have to relax.>
Hinata tilted his head, a bit unnaturally. "Relax? You expect me to relax when that thing is clearly trying to scam me?"
The head looked away, trying its best to avoid Hinata’s piercing gaze. <See, Hinata, everything has its own set of rules, and everything has its own limits. Nothing in this world is truly limitless.>
"What are you even saying right now? None of that explains what is happening. Why is the Gacha system trying to give me another reward?"
<I know I might sound vague or untrustworthy right now, but please just trust me this once.>
Hinata narrowed his eyes, the dark circles rimming them adding a subtly deadly look to him. He didn’t understand the head, and deep down he knew he never truly would. One thing he did trust was their contract.
With a sigh, he relaxed. As if on cue, the Gacha system came to a halt. Unlike before, it didn’t seem excited. Even its bright golden glow had vanished.
The head moved toward it first. From a normal perspective, it didn’t seem suspicious, but Hinata knew that as divine forces, the two of them had their own special way of communicating. Even knowing that, he didn’t move from where he stood.
When the head finished whatever it was doing, it turned to Hinata with a grim expression. Even though it had a ghostly face Hinata couldn’t properly comprehend, he could somehow feel that its features seemed drained.
"So, are you done with your bullshitting?"
The head nodded, and the Gacha system vanished without a word.
<Hinata, can you remember what I told you when we first met?>
Hinata raised a brow, his expression still holding a bit of contempt. "Why are you bringing that up?"
The head sighed. <As I said back then, every effect always originates from a cause.>
"Yes?"
<Then what do you call an effect with no cause?>
"I don’t know." Hinata rubbed his temples. "Wait, I still don’t get what this has to do with anything."
The head scratched its head. <As I also previously stated, we divine forces all work to keep causality. That is why the Gacha respun your rewards many times.>
"Wait, you’re trying to say..."
Before Hinata could finish speaking, the head closed the distance between them and placed a finger on his forehead. <You created an effect with zero cause.>
"Didn’t you say the Shadow God’s core had enough cause? Isn’t that why you are here, because I inherited that cause?"
The head nodded. <Yes, but the cause of a newborn child is limited. Even if that child had a past life and was a deity in it, which is highly unlikely, he would at best become the concept of shadows and be able to control them at will after reaching a certain stage.>
"That doesn’t sound particularly strong."
<Exactly. Every being naturally has its own weaknesses and strengths, and the reason why Shadow isn’t one of the seven main gods is because its power can be easily countered. Unlike in fiction, necromancy, dark arts, and so on aren’t part of Shadow but of demonic arts.>
"So I’m meant to be a mid-tier god."
<I wouldn’t call it that, but yes. However, the result of that pull is practically nonexistent in the records. You did something no one should be able to...>
Hinata opened his lips to reply, only for a status panel to appear in front of him.
[Shadow Sovereign System has been activated.]
[Transcendent Bloodline has been formed.]
[The Extractor Who Evolve Shadows.]
[Description: You can extract the shadow of whatever you kill. Each time you kill something of that same race, that shadow can evolve, and you, the owner of that shadow, can merge with it, gaining the power of that species. Your evolution is limitless.]
Hinata’s eyes widened. Even he, who knew little about divinity, could tell this ability was completely broken.
Kill a divine light beast, and you gain divine light powers through its shadow. Kill an orc, and you gain insane regeneration and strength. Kill a member of the demon race, and you gain demonic energy.
If that wasn’t enough, he could evolve them. Evolution far beyond what even members of those races had achieved.
Hinata raised his stunned gaze to the head, who simply smiled.
<Congratulations, Nishikawa Hinata. You just made your goal of returning home ten times more difficult.>
