Transmigration: I Made A Deal With A Man in Yellow

"Impossible," Ezio said in disbelief as he watched my body sink into the shadows until I completely disappeared.

There was a brief silence before he spoke again.

"Did you know you were going to receive Shadow Step?" Ezio asked, surprise mixed with disbelief in his voice.

"Of course not. No one can predict what Gift they’ll receive since Gifts aren’t always the same, even between people with similar powers." I paused for a moment before adding, "Unless you’re an assassin like you, I guess, since the Schatten basically force you guys to awaken Stories related to shadows."

The Schatten were famous for raising assassins who specialized in shadow-related abilities. Almost every assassin who came from their ranks possessed some form of shadow power, although there were a few rare exceptions.

"I didn’t expect to get an ability similar to yours," I said from within the shadow. "But this is honestly beyond what I was hoping for."

I moved around experimentally, testing how it felt to travel while submerged inside the shadows. It was completely different from all the times Ezio had carried me inside his own shadow. Back then, everything felt cramped and restrictive, like I had been squeezed into a space that wasn’t meant for me. I could barely move my body whenever he dragged me along with him.

But now there was none of that discomfort.

Inside the shadow, I could move freely. There was no pressure crushing against my body, nor did I feel like the darkness was restricting my movements. Strangely enough, it actually felt comfortable.

Warm, even.

Everything around me was dark, yet somehow I could still clearly see and hear what was happening in the outside world. Ezio stood above the shadow I was currently hiding inside, staring down at it with a complicated expression.

"But this is strange," Ezio muttered. "How did you awaken a Story capable of granting you Gifts so similar to those of Schatten assassins?"

He crouched slightly, continuing to observe the shadow.

"Sure, there are probably differences between our abilities, but the similarities are still strange. After all, a Story is a reflection of the person it belongs to."

I nodded from within the darkness before realizing he probably couldn’t see me doing that.

"Yeah, my Story is related to death," I replied. "And where there is death, there is darkness. Where there is darkness, there are shadows. So I guess it isn’t that strange for my Gifts to share some traits with yours."

Ezio remained silent for a few moments, seemingly thinking about my explanation.

Meanwhile, I continued moving through the shadow, still getting used to the strange sensation.

I couldn’t help but smile.

This Gift was definitely not trash.

Far from it.

I stepped out of the shadow and then stepped into another shadow which was 5 meters away from me, but I just didn’t stop there, I kept jumping between shadows to see how it works and test its limits.

I couldn’t travel the longest distances and I was limited by the range of my sense of shadows, which was about 30 meters. So each jump between shadows would cover 30 meters. However, doing that repeatedly would consume too much mana, so I had to reduce the distance of my jumps.

Another thing was that I could bring unanimated objects with me but only in a smaller quantity. For example, I could take my sword with me alongside a few more objects. And no, I couldn’t bring living beings with me, it seemed that it would only be possible in the future because when I asked Ezio about it, he said he was only able to do it when he was at the Exalted rank, so I had to wait until then to try.

Another thing was that now, I could sense the shadows unlike before where I was just able to sense darkness only. I could pinpoint certain things that were near to my senses thanks to the shadows. That gave me another way of perception — I could detect things with mana, with darkness sense, and shadow sense.

That meant that if my mana sense was blocked, I could still use my remaining two senses to orientate myself.

Wasn’t that too broken?

Sure it was, but I couldn’t care. It was great for me. Some people in this world had broken abilities as well, so it wouldn’t be a problem for me to get some as well.

Oh , and the last thing was that I could only step inside a shadow that was big enough to accommodate my size. So basically, if I tried to hide inside the shadow of a pebble it wouldn’t work at all.

And now, I had to check one last thing that had changed within my system, which was the appearance of my first relic.

I was still confused at how I had gotten a relic.

Relics are objects imbued with supernatural power, created naturally through the influence of Stories or artificially through special methods. They possess abilities beyond ordinary objects and may be used as weapons, armor, accessories, or tools.

Depending on their nature, Relics can enhance the physical or spiritual capabilities of their wielder, strengthen or alter abilities, provide protection, grant unique effects, or possess supernatural abilities of their own.

The power and properties of a Relic are determined by its Grade, while certain exceptional Relics may possess unique conditions, restrictions, or consequences for their use. Some Relics were really dangerous and could not be used constantly.

They could be obtained either by slaying a monster that can drop a relic or challenging a story rift.

For such a reason I was confused at why I had gotten a relic, because slaying Sister Friede didn’t drop any relic but I could already guess that it was the only reason.

So I moved to the relic entry and summoned it.

A long great scythe materialised in my hands — its shaft was of pale silver in color while its silver blade was coated in frost. Coldness crept into my arms.

"Ah..."

This was...Sister Friede’s scythe.

........

Type: Weapon

Category: Evolving Relic

Form: Scythe

Attribute: Frost

Grade: ???

Evolution Stage: I

Relic Story: Incomplete

........

Relic types were divided into five groups: Weapon, Armor, Accessory, Artifact and Enhancement.

The scythe in my hands was a weapon obviously, but what shook me the most was that it was an evolving relic.

An evolving relic was a relic that evolved alongside its user by meeting certain conditions required to evolve. Just like a Main Story evolved as well but instead of story fragments, an evolving relic relied on what you discovered about its story.

"This...is insane."

"You got a relic from slaying the monster?" Ezio said in surprise as he came closer to inspect the scythe.

"Yeah...I think so. It’s an evolving type."

Ezio’s eyes widened for a second before they returned to normal.

"Ah, at this point I shouldn’t be surprised anymore, after pulling off such miracles. Fucking bastard got an evolving relic while I never got one in my life." Ezio kicked a rock that was on the floor.

His reaction was understandable, evolving relics were the most sought relics of all because of how much potential they had and at how they could grow stronger alongside their owner.

So yeah, I had hit a jackpot again and honestly, I think that I am on a generational run.

I moved to the description.

........

Relic description: [A scythe imbued with supernatural frost. Wounds inflicted by its blade introduce Frostbite into the target, allowing its cold to spread through flesh and gradually impair the victim.

The Frost Scythe is an Evolving Relic. By absorbing Frost Essence from compatible creatures and fulfilling the conditions engraved within its Relic Story, the weapon may evolve into increasingly powerful forms.

...Its final evolution remains unknown.]

........

Oh, so it needs Frost essence from creatures that have the frost attribute in order to evolve.

So it deals Frostbite damage just like Sister Friede did to me, well that was a bonus.

What a pain.

It seems that I have to change my future plans because of this scythe. If I wanted to use its full capabilities, I had to evolve it.

Then the next entry was about restrictions.

........

[Restrictions]

Frost Resistance:

The effectiveness and accumulation rate of Frostbite decrease against opponents significantly stronger than the wielder or possessing natural resistance to frost.

Essence Compatibility:

Only creatures possessing a sufficiently strong Frost affinity can provide usable Frost Essence.

Evolution Threshold:

The Frost Scythe cannot safely evolve beyond what its wielder can withstand.

Attempting to wield an evolution beyond the wielder’s capabilities may cause the Relic’s frost to affect its owner.

Overexposure:

Prolonged use gradually lowers the wielder’s body temperature. Excessive exposure may result in numbness, slowed movement, and eventually Frostbite.

........

I had expected the first three restrictions, that’s what normally a relic with restrictions would have, but I wasn’t expecting the last one.

Using the first scythe for a long time would expose me to Frostbite, this meant that I couldn’t use the weapon for a long time.

This is such an annoying restriction.

And of course gaining such a relic had to have a price.

In this case, I will still have to rely on my construct scythe and only use the Frost Scythe on special occasions.

Fine by me.

Last but not least, the last entry.

........

Frost Essence: 0/500

........

Hmm, that’s quite a lot but thankfully it is not like story fragments which are harder to farm.