"Go on. Give it a try."
A bead of sweat rolled down March's face as she stared down at the stack of pancakes. Sunny had a smug grin, wearing an apron as he patiently waited for the girl to have a taste of his newest culinary masterpiece.
At the same time, he was thinking of all the things on his to-do list.
They were, in no particular order, selling the Soul Shards he had brought with him from the Dream Realm, and setting up a stable method to sell more in the future; returning to the Dreamscape to participate in duels on the professional arenas to practice Shadow Dance and feed the Mantle of the Underworld with victories; waiting for Herta to inform him about when the Simulated Universe is finally completed; learning how to properly fight with a spear; feeding Ghastly Hunger with some poor guy's soul; and, of course, becoming a worthy inheritor of the art of syrup vessel creation.
There were probably more things he had to do, but they weren't too relevant currently.
March carefully cut off a piece of the seemingly normal pancakes — they weren't, of course, since no pancake can be considered normal. They were all sublime, the pinnacle of human cuisine…
As March was about to take a bite, she paused. With an untrusting look, she asked:
"…These aren't poisoned, right?"
Sunny gasped in shock and indignation.
"How could you accuse me of such a horrible thing?! I wouldn't dare to put any filth on these holy relics! Even if I tried, any poison would be immediately cleansed by the purity of the conceptual meaning of… a pancake."
He paused for a moment, coughing into his fist.
"Well? What are you waiting for? I don't have all day."
Her nervousness disappeared as she let out a worrisome giggle.
"Yeah… you don't…"
Sunny shivered a little. He wasn't quite sure what she was insinuating, but he didn't think that it would be anything good.
Holding the piece of pancake up to her mouth, March slightly parted her soft pink lips, taking a small bite. She took a couple moments to chew, her face scrunching up in contemplation.
She swallowed. She mechanically spoke:
"Eight out of ten."
March tilted her head a few times in different directions.
"Is that really the first time you've made a pancake? It was pretty good. I remember burning mines…"
She trailed off as she saw a look of incomprehension appear on Sunny's face. He stared down at his hands, almost in fear.
"Only… only an eight?"
March blinked.
"I mean, that's pretty good. Really good, actually."
"No."
Sunny clenched his fists, small embers flickering into wavering fireflies.
"Finish your food. I'll begin on the next batch."
A determined flame lit up in his eyes as he walked towards the stove. A competitive smirk rose on his face as he twisted the dial to it's maximum output.
Mouth stuffed with pancakes, March sent him a concerned look.
"Are… are you even following the directions?"
Sunny pushed the cookbook he had been using to the side. Cracking his knuckles as the stove began to turn an incandescent red.
"Nope. Besides, a little fireplay never hurt any… well, it won't be hurting me, that's for sure."
***
Sunny stared at the frost-covered stove in regret. He turned to March, who was sending him a disappointed stare… which wasn't very intimidating, considering that there was a piece of pancake on her cheek. It was weirdly cute, actually.
Staring at the baking soda and flour chaotically spread across the kitchen, Sunny looked down at his feet.
"…I'll get a new stove."
Summoning Saint, he sent her to get a broom and pan and to get to sweeping. March slowly removed the frost that had encased the stove, allowing the kitchen's temperature to rise back up.
Sunny opened his phone. While he was getting that replacement stove, he was going to start with the simplest of tasks.
Navigating to the market section of the network and putting the exact same stove model into his cart, he habitually entered the Awakened section of it. Sunny had browsed the wares there before, even if the wares weren't really up to his standards.
Today, however, things were different Today, he was approaching the network as a seller, not as a buyer.
Sunny entered 'Soul Shards' as the keywords and stared at the listings, appreciating the number of zeroes in their prices. It seemed as though the value of shards was not uniform... of course, the higher Rank shards cost much more. But people, strangely, also seemed to care about what Nightmare Creature the crystal came from, and how it had been defeated.
'What the hell?'
Apparently, there were collectors among the wealthy mundane humans who were very interested in this sort of thing. Some superstitious Awakened also believed, for some reason, that absorbing 'bad' shards would be detrimental to the purity of their souls.
Weirdos.
Sunny didn't know a lot of things, but one thing he did know was that there was not a single Awakened out there with a pure soul. Even the best of them were murderers by nature, and their hearts were painted black by the nightmares they had experienced.
Not to mention that there were no bad or good Soul Shard. They were all pretty much the same, coming from terrible monsters and earned through bloodshed. Anyway, that was something he was going to consider when creating his own listing. After getting the gist of the pricing, Sunny opened the form to create his own digital shop. Without thinking too much, he named it 'Brilliant Emporium' and went on to fill out the entire form. Then, it came the time to put his Soul Shards into the auction. Sunny wrote simply:
'Four Soul Shards coming from a Fallen Devil, Mordant Mimic. The creature was killed and eaten by the proprietor of the Brilliant Emporium himself. Before that, the Mordant Mimic had been pretending to be a treasure chest and devouring those lured by the promise of treasure. In the end, it bit off more than it could chew.'
Satisfied with that, he finalized the listing and stared at it for a bit as if expecting someone to bid instantly. However nothing of the sort happened. With a sigh, Sunny deactivated his phone.
'Soon... I will be rich soon...'
Of course, he already was, but who didn't want to be even richer?
He turned to March.
"I'm going to pick up the stove."
"Don't burn it."
"I won't!"
Gritting his teeth, Sunny used Shadow Step to reach the Space Anchor in the Parlor Car. With a sigh, he scoured through the mental map that appeared in his mind.
Jarilo-VI didn't have any interstellar connections yet, so he had to get the stove delivered to another planet.
Sunny disappeared.
***
Kravax… was an unusual place to deliver a package. It wasn't unnatural on it's own, of course, with a fairly normal, if not warm climate, a slightly rocky terrain, and dull, yet normal cities. There wasn't anything exceptionally supernatural about it…
Besides the fact that it was overrun by a gang.
Staring at the Space Anchor in the middle of an alleyway, Sunny glanced around.
Kravax hung beneath a jaundiced sky, its clouds thick with rust-colored smog that never cleared. The sun, when visible, was a dim coin behind the haze, casting everything in a dull amber glow. Towers of scorched steel jutted from the ground like broken teeth — some leaning, some collapsed entirely, their skeletal remains tangled in blackened support wires and dangling signage that flickered weakly, stuttering between static ads for long-dead brands.
The streets below were a maze of cracked concrete, oil-slick puddles, and debris that had long since fused with the ground. Neon graffiti pulsed across every vertical surface, animated tags etched with cheap stickers — territory marks, warning signs, and curses. Rubble-strewn alleys stretched into darkness between buildings, lined with scrap fires burning in barrel drums and the occasional red glow of a shattered traffic drone embedded in a wall.
Noise was constant — grinding engines, distant gunfire, the shriek of metal dragged across metal. Air vents howled with recycled breath, and power lines buzzed overhead like insects. The stench was industrial: scorched plastic, machine grease, mold, and the sharp tang of ozone. Every surface was either corroded or coated in grime, and nothing reflected light cleanly.
Above it all, decaying skyways twisted like veins, connecting ruins that still bore traces of a once-functional city. Lights blinked weakly through cracked windows. Roofs were patched with tarp and scrap, held down by cinder blocks and rusted rods. Drones drifted slowly through the haze, their optics glowing faintly, scanning shadows without purpose.
Sunny walked away, heading to the point where his delivery should arrive.
In truth, this wasn't the first time he had visited the planet. Sunny had been putting in plenty of research into criminals — mass-murderers, rapists, and the like. He didn't bother with those who performed lesser crimes.
More specifically, he was looking for Awakened criminals. Even Ascended.
Why? Well, it all came down to one of the enchantments on the Ghastly Hunger:
[Maw of Admiration] Enchantment Description: "This glove can consume the souls of humans who have recently died, eternally damning them to suffer for as long as they are within the glove. Once consumed, a single Aspect Ability will be available for the wearers use. The souls within may be released in exchange for another."
The Memory he had recieved from the Architect of Lost Preservation required Sunny to kill someone to devour their Aspect Abilities. He hadn't worried much about getting any use out of it, since there was a high chance of getting into conflict with an Awakened in the Second Nightmare. Unfortunately, he didn't want to wait that long.
It was better to be prepared and never need those preparations than to be unprepared when it mattered.
So, having previously scouted areas of criminal activity with ease thanks to his Aspect, he was going to find his first victim.
He wasn't planning on killing anyone today — it was too risky. Once he got a grasp on the overall situation, though, he'll make his move.
…Before that, he needed to send that stove back to the Astral Express.
Waiting in an alleyway for a while, Sunny watched as a drone carrying a large, heavily plated box descended. The drone had turrets attached, and the box had a keypad on it.
Sunny walked over to the drone, watching as the turrets aimed at him:
"Identification number?"
The planet was very dangerous, and so, the IPC had to be careful when it came to delivering packages. These turrets were probably powerful enough to if not harm, kill an Awakened. They would probably be useless against an Ascended, but they were less than one percent of civilization.
Stating the number attached to his account, the drone released the package. A code was sent to his phone, which would allow him to open the plated packaging later.
A second later, the drone's propellers folded into itself, a loud humming noise being expelled from it as rocket thrusters began to activate. Then, it blasted away, probably going towards an IPC-sanctioned space station until it was used for another order.
'What quick delivery…'
Nodding, Sunny carried the packaged-stove in a single hand as he dove into the shadows. Returning to the Space Anchor, he quickly took it to the Express to drop it off, before returning to Kravax.
'Time to get busy…'
As Sunny passed through the shadows, his entire appearance changed. A black lacquerwood mask depicting a ferocious three-horned devil, along with fearsome obsidian armor appeared. His hair changed from the darkest of blacks to the starkest of whites, and below his skin, Serpent waited with anticipation to serve as his blade.
Today, he was not Mini Mongrel, no…
He would be acting as the real deal.