Re-Awakening: Evolving My Shadow Limitlessly With A System

Asterios Dukas.

Leader of the Dusk Hand, a Hidden Clan based in Greece.

They were a small clan right now, but they would grow fast in the future.

"I was going to kill this guy either way. Might as well do it now."

In my last life, when I came back to Earth to help deal with the invaders, Asterios was already the de facto ruler of Europe.

All the major powerhouses—the Asgardians, Round Table, and Olympians—had either been destroyed or fractured.

The Hidden Clans under the three major Hidden Clans had mostly fled from Europe, believing it was only a matter of time Europe fell to the invaders.

The remaining Hidden Clans fought between themselves to become the new ruling Hidden Clan of Europe.

Asterios was the one who won this battle.

He played everyone against each other, slowly took over their territories, controlled the flow of resources, and eliminated them before they understood what was happening.

"Fucking piece of trash."

If I had to list the top ten most irritating people I knew, Asterios easily be number two.

The man constantly blocked my plans. Undermined my efforts. Twisted my words in public and manipulated the media to paint me as unstable.

What pissed me off the most?

His stupid plans to sabotage me worked.

People believed him.

"I couldn't kill him easily due to political reasons last time."

Thankfully, I later found out he had been working with the invaders.

The reason he could take over Europe was due to the invaders supporting him.

When that information was exposed, the backlash was massive.

Humanity was crushed.

They could not believe one of their leaders, the king of Europe, was the lap dog of invaders.

But I had felt relief.

That truth gave me a reason—no, permission—to eliminate him.

"I promised you I was going to kill you again when we meet in hell, and guess what bastard, we actually are going to meet again."

I pulled out the map of Europe.

I marked the current location of his Clan.

"Drama, Greece…"

Right now, his clan was probably just starting out.

Dusk Hand wouldn't have more than a few Rank 1s, and their leader Asterios would be Rank 2.

What made this opportunity even better was the wealth he would be sitting on.

In my previous life, I had investigated him thoroughly. I needed a reason to kill him, and in that process, I had gone through every detail of his clan's growth.

At this time, invaders hadn't yet started backing human factions with full force.

They were busy completing their preparations, and sitting up bases all around.

"The invaders should be supporting people like Asterios already, but they won't give too much support before their own preparations are complete."

So how did Asterios grow so rapidly before that?

The answer had been both clever and despicable.

"The Hall Family of Round Table is in alliance with the Olympians."

The Olympians controlled several key gold mining operations: Skouries Mine, Olympias Mine, and the Perama Hill Project.

And the Hall Family had an alchemist capable of converting physical gold into condensed mana.

The deal was simple.

Olympians mined the gold, gave it to the Hall Family, who refined it into mana. Then they sent most of it back while keeping a small share.

"This bastard Asterios was stealing the gold before it reached the Hall Family."

All three mines of gold were in Northern Greece, barely an hour's drive from Drama, where Dusk Hand (Asterios' Hidden Clan) was located.

Asterios cleverly smuggled only a small part of gold.

The invaders had given him knowledge of alchemy to bring him to their side. He used that to turn gold into mana.

"Alright, he is the perfect target.

"I will be able to kill an annoying bastard, loot his vault to push my Mage class forward, and get the Assassin Class.

"It's three birds with one stone."

I moved toward the Xirochori Ruins, where I had placed the endpoint of the first long-distance warp line.

From there, I used portals to reach the outskirts of Drama (Greece).

I scouted for a few minutes before settling on a small, unused cave near the forest edge.

Once I confirmed it was safe, I created another warp point and connected it to the long-distance line.

"At the rate I'm going, I might just have to set up warp points all over Europe," I muttered with a dry chuckle.

Then, I took off my clothes and mask and tucked them into my inventory rune.

I looked like a humanoid shadow creature with no facial features and a body built from tendrils of living fog.

There was a reason I removed the clothes I wore as Alan Veritus.

"Alan Veritus is going to be my public face."

"If it gets out he's the one committing assassinations, that'll just make everything harder."

Alan Veritus was meant to deal with the hidden clans publicly, join negotiations, sign contracts, and make alliances.

He couldn't exactly be caught murdering people in the night.

But what if a rogue shadow assassin was the one assassinating people?

He wouldn't need to explain anything unlike Alan Veritus.

He would kill whoever he wanted.

In this shadow state, I slipped into the shadows of the trees and headed north, through the darker part of the forest.

There, deep inside the woodland, sat a mansion.

It wasn't on the level of House Daelthorn, but it was still large.

I crept closer, hiding inside the shadows, and watched the patrols.

Security guards roamed the perimeter with rifles.

At first glance, it all looked like standard human protection.

A frown appeared on my face.

"These guys…"

I paid attention to the little things.

How their boots landed too lightly for their body mass. How their heads turned just a fraction faster than any human's reflexes should allow. The way their posture was too controlled.

"These guys are supernaturals."

New hidden clans, especially ones like Dusk Hand, shouldn't have had many supernatural members yet.

Maybe a few dozen Rank 0s, and ten to twenty Rank 1s.

Asterios would probably the only Rank 2 they had.

But I had already spotted twenty guards who were definitely Rank 1, let alone the dozens of Rank 0s.

"This is weird."

I sank further into the shadows and moved along the building's base.

"The invaders shouldn't be giving him this much support yet. Their influence wasn't supposed to start showing until later."

So how did Asterios have enough resources to raise so many Rank 1 supernaturals?

Despite my doubts, I didn't enter the mansion just yet.

Instead, I circled around the far end of the forest.

Once I found a secure clearing, I stepped out of the shadows.

I took out the alchemy materials from my inventory rune.

I placed the materials carefully on the forest floor, then scattered a pinch of fairy dust and drew the runes around it.

At the center, I placed the Catalyst and began the chant.

"Ur'tae mor zhallith kalen.

Gurra tal'nem orath.

Kalen solm derath velin."

Energy surged through the lines, and the array flickered with pale blue light.

Two small black pills appeared on the mossy ground.