Zef watched the floating blade with scrutiny. He glanced around for signs of life but there there weren't any.

He could only view the endless carpet of sand which extended towards the darkness. Above him and around him darkness ruled and he stared at where the heavens should have been; the lack of light unnerved him. The sky was pitch black.

Only the sounds of cracking wood alongside the sloshing waves landing on the beach soothed his nerves to some degree.

It's as if he knew...

As if he knew how much I loved the beach.

Moments passed while the blade just watched him, and Zef finally grunted and sat down at the far edge of the log nestled within the campfire and tried to distance himself as far as possible, still looking quite wary.

"Good, you best stay quiet and listen well; there might still be some hope for you and also call me the Caretaker," said the floating knife. "Now, quickly let me tell you what I am and what I intend to do or, better yet, what you intend to do. As you have noticed, I have modified your body to be stronger, faster, more robust, and supposedly more intelligent. That last part might need some tweaking; you have survived...but quite horribly, I must say."

"How about we switch places," mumbled Zef, watching the hair on his skin jump every time the blade spoke into his mind.

"Rude! I haven't finished yet. Now, where was I? Ah, yes, your status quo which is only due to your incredibly dumb luck and sheer will to live. Note that you should have been pecked apart by that large beaked-bird or broken into shambles when you fell into that trench, yet only ended up with a fractured foot and a few scratches."

Zed wanted to retort but changed his mind.

"Nonetheless, you somehow survived but then ended up being chased by a giant centipede, the found a gateway into the Shadowsoul Realm untrained and unassisted, which by far is a miracle. You must know those gateways are extremely rare to find, like super rare. Not to mention, you met a low ranked creep, or it met you and again survived to beat it", ending that sentence with a maniacal laugh.

Zef tried to sort out the information he just heard from the Caretaker, ignoring the crazy laugh. First of all, he just realized the Caretaker was using with his native language to communicate.A language that not too many people on Earth could speak. It seems the Caretaker had delved deep into his mind and learned his language.

What else had it learned? Can it read my mind?

He tried to act normally and replied, "It wasn't easy, and what do you mean by low ranker and ...".

But again, the older man cut him and said. "Quite remarkable, now kid, here's the plan. You're in a good and yet again lousy situation right now. This place, the Shadowasoul Realm is a treasure trove filled with many dangers."

The gem on the blade throbbed when it said, "First, you are in dire need of training, asap! Otherwise, the next creep out there will end you, and believe me. Many lost souls will enjoy sucking your essence. You need to strengthen yourself, learn to fight adequately and use your body to its full potential. Second, you need to kill more of these low-leveled creeps."

"What...Why?" asked Zef.

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Zef could've sworn he saw something, an eye within the ruby that bore into his soul look.

"Its kill or be killed in this realm, a never-ending war for survival, glory, riches, and most definitely power. The weak are damned, and the few who do well receive endless possibilities to be stronger, to return to their worlds as champions, conquerors, heroes, or villains, but remember this kid. The Shadowsoul realm is somewhat of a vast catacomb that connects to many realms and worlds; if you don't know where you're heading, then most likely, you won't find the way back home even if you are strong enough to survive and believe me that probability of that is quite low."

He or it continued, "My advice is to train here and stay close to your world gate. Also, focus on the creeps, gather their essence through me after killing them, and I will allow you to use the vault within me to fish items. You will also have the opportunity to gather items, upgrade skills and learn cultivation techniques. Additionally, the souls you gather can also be of service to you, such as the option to enslave them or contract depending on your needs. There's more to that, but that's for later."

"What?" said Zef. He was even more confused.

"Quiet, and listen careful kid. Look, keep harvesting these souls. I'll help you now and will reveal how to communicate with the souls you have collected, such as the dark elf girl you took down earlier. Also, I will leave a set of instructions for you to read later with more details about the options I mentioned earlier".

Zef looked agape at the Nexus Blade as it floated above the campfire and watched the embers crackle intensely for a bit, then suddenly, the flames turned grey. He noticed a dark spot in the center and zoomed in. His keen eyesight caught a person floating with her knees up to her chest. The girl's face was hiding between her knees.

"When you come here next time. You better wake her up, boy, before she loses herself into nothingness, and I will automatically absorb her essence, which isn't a bad deal for us as it will still strengthen us", said the caretaker.

Zef looked at the blade as it hovered above his head. He tried not to freak out and politely said out loud, "Care...Caretaker, you said I have three options; what are they exactly again, and what is the difference?"

"Ah, he speaks, and here I thought you were a mute.", it snorted.

It's not like he gave me a chance.

Now listen well. I mentioned you earlier about the creeps. They are sentient beings like you who entered the Shadowverse Realm, whether by dumb luck or purpose, and died here. Creeps are the dead wanderers, turned into former shadows of themselves. Therefore they haunt themselves and the living. When you kill one, their essence or soul, as you humans call it, is sucked into the dagger. When this happens, you get many options on what to do with these essences.

"Do this well, and you have the opportunity to contract, free, enslave the creeps you kill, or better yet, fill up my core to rank me up, and these are just the essentials. Here's a quick tip, by filling up the Nexus, you receive more options and it's practically depleted so I'll be going on a deep slumber soon. So keep killing and fill up its core; now I will wake you up before you get mobbed soon. Luckily those health potions you drank saved your life. It should have healed you up speedily, but you will be famished; added to that are some new scars on your body for the ladies to fancy."

Zef's surroundings started to shimmer and slowly fade away; the grey flames died down along with the long-eared girl.

"Wait!!! Wait, you haven't told me anything!!. Who are and what do you want? What is this enslave and contract crap" he finally shouted."

"Kids these days don't listen, listen here, boy," said the Caretaker in an annoyed tone. "It's you who found and picked up the blade and gave it your blood, thus sealing your contract with it. A life and death contract it is, and it's to your best interest to get stronger if you want to go back home. You can come back here when you find a safe place and meditate; think of the Nexus when the time comes. I have left some guidance here for you to read, so act wisely on your choices; luck can only take you so far. Carefully decide as you have limited options, and again, don't forget to rank me up for more goodies! Ok, time to wake up, don't die on me yet, like the others!!

"The others!!!" Zef shouted.

A senile laugh rang in his head, and with that, the environment around him shimmered and disappeared into the dark.