Chapter 703 – Dreamweaver World 41

“Those rigid skill books…” Matina curled her lip in disdain. Several exaggerated book-shaped shadows immediately appeared on the wall, only for her own shadow to kick them flying. “Only shortcut-loving adventurers like you lot would treat those as treasures!”

Her shadow struck a hands-on-hips pose in perfect coordination. “True shadow magic is alive — there’s no way fixed-effect skill books could ever capture it!”

“That’s exactly why I came to learn from you!”

Mo Lan knew full well the gulf between skill books and real Magic.

Matina let out a hmph, though the corners of her mouth twitched upward ever so slightly. She set her bowl down with a heavy thud, pulled out a handkerchief to wipe the corners of her mouth, and asked in her gruff voice:

“Had your fill? If so, come with me to the altar outside and complete the race-change ceremony! Looking at that green complexion of yours is an eyesore!”

“Almost done!” Mo Lan drained the last bit of soup from her bowl in a few quick gulps and followed Matina outside.

Shadow Village’s altar was paved with polished black stone slabs.

The moment Mo Lan stepped onto the first stair, she was startled to discover that her shadow no longer projected clearly onto the ground. Instead, like ink dripped into water, it merged completely with the stone slabs, bleeding outward from her feet in rippling waves of flowing darkness.

“This is shadowstone. It’s saturated with the Power of Shadow. Here, shadows exist everywhere without the need for light — it’s perfect for practicing shadow magic.”

Matina explained with rare patience, a hint of nostalgia flickering through her eyes as her voice unconsciously softened a few degrees. “Once you’ve changed races, you can come here to practice too. The first time I ever performed Shadow Walk was right here. I was only five years old back then, and I nearly got stuck inside the stone slabs and couldn’t get out…”

She suddenly fell silent, as if annoyed at herself for saying too much.

Just then, in the shadowstone plaza not far away, several gray-white-skinned Shadow Tribe children suddenly emerged from the stone slabs, then splashed back beneath the surface with a plop. One mischievous little rascal even poked his head out from the slab right beside Mo Lan’s feet and made a face at her.

Mo Lan was growing eager herself. She looked toward the shadowstone coffin atop the circular platform in the center of the plaza. “Is that the race-change altar?”

“Mm.” Matina led her up onto the elevated platform. “Get in! Then hand me the residency guarantee letter and the materials for the race-change ceremony!”

Mo Lan did as instructed, passing her the items. Seeing that Matina was about to close the coffin lid right away, she hurriedly reminded her, “Teacher Matina, the quest!”

The race-change quest hadn’t even been issued yet. Without the dream realm’s involvement, could this body of hers — condensed from dream energy in Dryad form — successfully transform into a Shadow Tribe member?

Matina’s movements visibly stiffened, her gray-white eyebrows twitching awkwardly. “I’ll issue the quest right now!”

She said gruffly, pulling up the quest panel while muttering under her breath, “Troublesome adventurer regulations!”

It was obvious she wasn’t very practiced at issuing quests anymore. Mo Lan waited patiently for quite a while before the system notification finally appeared.

She opened the quest panel and read:

【Shadow Tribe Race-Change Ceremony】

【Difficulty: Easy】

【Objective: Complete the race-change ceremony and become a Shadow Tribe member】

【Rewards: Shadow Tribe Racial Template, Skill Point ×1, Experience ×50, Dream Copper Coins ×5】

The quest description was outrageously brief. Not only did it completely skip the step of collecting ceremony materials, the difficulty rating was a full tier lower than the original Dryad race-change ceremony, and the experience and dream coin rewards were cut in half to match.

Any other normal adventurer would probably be hopping mad on the spot, feeling utterly shortchanged.

Fortunately, Mo Lan didn’t care about that. She looked up at Matina.

Matina was pretending to be deeply focused on organizing the race-change materials in her hands.

The one consolation was that at least Matina hadn’t pulled an Old Groot and swapped out the dream coins in the quest rewards for his “treasured junk.”

“Ahem, lie down inside.”

Matina rapped the edge of the coffin with her stone cane, her tone turning suddenly serious. “Remember — no matter what you see in there, don’t move. You can only come out when I open the lid. If you ruin the ceremony…” She flashed a sinister grin. “I’ll stuff you inside a frog’s shadow as a permanent resident.”

Mo Lan’s lips curved upward in a radiant smile. “Got it!”

If she could still be frightened by Teacher Matina’s threats at this point, something would truly be wrong with her.

After spending an entire day together, she had long since seen through Teacher Matina’s temperament.

Fierce and terrifying on the surface, always threatening to stuff people into teapots and boil them or toss them into shadows to feed the frogs — but in reality, far more reliable than Old Groot.

At least Matina didn’t skim from quest rewards.

“…” Matina was dazzled by Mo Lan’s brilliant smile. She slammed the coffin lid shut with a bang, her muffled voice drifting in from outside: “She actually smiled! Old Groot didn’t send me someone with a screw loose, did he?!”

Mo Lan: “…”

The coffin was lined with black moss that felt unexpectedly comfortable to the touch — like lying on a fluffy cloud, with a faint scent of grass and wood. She adjusted her position and settled in to wait.

Matina lingered beside the coffin for quite a while, making sure everything was in order before walking to the center of the altar and activating the race-change ceremony.

【Shadow Tribe race-change ceremony in progress…】

Mo Lan immediately felt a faint stinging sensation, as if countless ice-cold spider silk threads were burrowing out from beneath her skin.

She looked down to see her pale green skin gradually losing its color, replaced by a pearlescent gray-white.

Her nails turned semi-transparent, their edges glinting with the cold luster of Obsidian.

The pain quickly escalated into a burning sensation.

Her brown hair, as though soaked in shadow, began losing color from the roots, ultimately transforming into a pure black like the feathers of a night raven.

Her amber beast-like pupils contracted violently. Her irises, like clear water receiving drops of ink, darkened rapidly as black spread outward, ultimately swallowing all the white and becoming two pools of pure, reflectionless black.

“Mm…” Mo Lan clenched her teeth, feeling her bones restructuring, her joints becoming more flexible, her muscle contours growing smoother and more fluid.

From outside the coffin came Matina’s hoarse chanting. Mo Lan suddenly felt her heart skip a beat as an endless stream of ice-cold black energy flowed from the coffin into every inch of her body, finally converging at the racial crystal within her mental sea.

Only when the Dryad’s green racial crystal was completely stained black did the adventurer panel finally display a message.

【Race change successful. Shadow Tribe Racial Template acquired. Talent column unlocked.】

Mo Lan opened her black eyes and discovered that darkness no longer hindered her vision. She could clearly see her own reflection cast on the underside of the coffin lid.

She raised her gray-white palm and watched as a wisp of the Power of Shadow coiled around her fingertips, then suddenly smiled.

This race change was worth it! She could already sense the Power of Shadow and was able to smoothly convert Mana into the Power of Shadow.

The coffin lid was flung open.

Matina leaned on her stone cane and looked down at her. When she saw the Power of Shadow at Mo Lan’s fingertips, the corners of her mouth twisted into a fierce arc. “Welcome to the Shadow Tribe, little monster!”

(End of Chapter)