“Look, I’m here!” Oscar said as he emerged from under a tree’s shade.

Luna hopped after him. But the moment that she almost reached him, he sank into the ground and emerged from under another tree afterward.

“Now, I’m here. Can you catch me?”

They were playing a game of tag. Luna was the one who ran after him while Oscar must run away from her by using his [Shadow dive] spell to move from shadows to shadows.

“Nya~. That should be enough, nyan. You are surprisingly talented, nyan.”

Midnight had changed her advice by letting Oscar use his own style of imagination. For [Shadow dive] spell, the imagination process was similar to [Shadow storage], but the caster must imagine his own body being compressed into a shadow instead. And what made it more difficult was how to move inside shadows.

“And you seem to have no problem in moving inside the shadows, nyan. That’s good, nyan.”

If Oscar couldn’t move from shadows to shadows, his [Shadow dive] would let him only able to hide inside something’s shadow. And it would be impossible for him to run after Lunus.

“If that is the case, let’s start searching for Lunus right away!”

The flame of excitement to make use of his new ability grew ablaze inside his heart as he wanted to meet up with Lunus even a little bit faster.

He raised his small fist into the air while making a courageous cry, showing that he was ready to do get going at any time. Seeing that, Luna also hopped around him to show that she was also ready to go...

“It’s still not the time, nyan.”

...But Midnight had shattered his spirit into pieces and played with it like a yarn ball.

“W-Why? I’ve already mastered [Shadow dive], haven’t I? So why don’t we quickly go?”

“It’s still not a good time, nyan. The shadows are still weak and blurry. So, rushing things now and we will only waste our time, nyan. We should wait for the golden time… right before the twilight comes, nyan.”

Oscar and Luna tilted their head upon hearing Midnight’s advice.

“Is there a time restriction for shadow magic?”

“Of course, there is, nyan. The darker and sharper the shadows are, the stronger a shadow magic could show its performance, nyan. There are also restrictions for other magic and the conditions to maximize their power, nyan. So, this isn’t something strange.”

The conditions of the environment were as important for spellcasting as the imagination process, and the compensation spent to cast a spell. In a proper environment, a spell could be excelled at its greatest potential. On the other hand, if a spell was cast in the places where it was environmentally disadvantaged, its power would be dramatically reduced. An example here was casting a fire spell in a water.

“That is why, we should spend our time training before the golden time comes, nyan~”

Midnight gave Oscar a bewitching smile as a black aura gushed out from her shadow. Somehow, Oscar felt like he had just acquired a strict teacher…

.

.

.

It was already evening and the sun was quickly descending. Its warm light slowly shifted its hue from white to a warmer tone. Finally, the scenery was changed into a golden color as the golden rays of light bathed the scene with their presence.

The light stretched shadows of the already-tall trees to no end. The shades drawn on the ground were long, dark, and sharp like a refined blade. Under such a beautiful sight, 3 figures were there, witnessing the scene.

“Finally it’s time to get going…,” Oscar mumbled as he showed a tired face.

“Why are you so lifeless, nyan? Don’t you want to find your friend?”

“It’s not that… It’s because of your training. Imagining shadows doing this and that makes me get a headache...”

Even at this very moment, Oscar was still rubbing his head due to how much pain he had gone through.

Seeing him acting like that, Luna also hopped on his shoulder and gave him a pat on the head.

“But master did well, nyan. You can learn several spells in a single day without depleting your mana even in the slightest. No one can do that, nyan.”

“I hope that they will be of use… Now then, can we go?”

“Nyan~”

The golden time where sunlight turns into golden rays and stretches shadows to no end happens only 10-20 minutes after the dawn and another 10-20 minutes before the dusk. It is the best timing to use shadow magic since the thickness and sharpness of the shadows grow strongest at this time.

As the result, they must make use of this precious time as much as they could.

Together with Midnight, Oscar with Luna in his sank into the shadow as their presence swam along the lines of shadows like a fish swimming in a stream. Leading the team was Midnight who was most proficient in shadow magic.

Following that, Oscar had used every branch of his vines to push himself forward and trail behind her. Streaks of golden light and scenery of the forest above them showed and vanished at a high speed, indicating how fast they were.

Sometimes, shadows of the trees weren’t connected due to the sparseness of the trees in some area, but Midnight had used her [Shadow manipulation] skill to connect them and clear the paths for Oscar.

Still, no matter how rush they were, Oscar and Luna must take a short break every few minutes to clear their lung and take a deep breath. They didn't have a convenient skill like Midnight’s [Shadow dweller], so the conditions they had met inside the shadows were too severe for them.

“Hah...Hah…Hah…It must be better if you can carry us over, Midnight. You are just too fast,” said Oscar as he was panting.

“Nya!? There is no way I could do that, you know? How could a cat like me carry you two alone, nyan? And how could you just ask a lady to carry you over, nyan? I didn’t expect master to be so sadistic, nyan,” Midnight said while taking a few distances on purpose just to tease him.

“Hah, stop teasing me… Still, we sure came so far in just a few minutes. It must take a few days for me to reach here without shadow magic…”

Midnight walked back and tapped her paw on the shadow, “I call them shadow roads. nyan. We can’t come this far without relying on the shadows in this specific time, nyan. But we can travel from an edge of this forest to its center in just a leap if we are fast enough, I guess.”

“That’s too convenient!”

But Midnight shook her head.

“Nya~, but the cons is that we can only do this two times a day. And that will also place a great burden on you two, nyan.”

“Come to think of it… Are you alright, Luna?”

Oscar looked down at the rabbit in his arm. It seemed Luna was still healthy since she wasn’t the one who ran in this travel. Still, breathing thin air inside the shadows had made her need to take a few deep breaths when they took a break.

“She looks alright, nyan. So, let’s end this break and continue. The sun was going to sink into the horizon at any moment, nyan. And that would mean the end of this golden time and the shadow roads.”

“...Alright then. It’s just the last leap. I will endure this a bit longer and take a deep sleep tonight,” Oscar said, massaging his shoulder, “My muscles are going to cry after this.”

And once again, the three figures sank into the ground as they ran along the road laid down by the dark shadows. Oscar’s destination came closer each time his muscles cried in pain and his lungs burned from suffocation. But he still kept going no matter how much pain he had felt because his friend was waiting at the end of these shadow roads.