Dreaming

Chapter 29: Dreaming

/"Anoth is a fickle mistress. She is the queen of spiders, the webspinner, the veiled one, the lady of lies and the spinner of secrets. The great weaver is many things, but if one had to nail her down to one, she would be a lover of pleasure. The fun she gains from intrigue is her greatest pleasure, and for a trick great enough, she would trade a thousand things."

While stories of her may be exaggerated, they still hold some truth. Even in Stillwater's play, "Midnight Masquerade", Anoth is represented once again, and while he has a hand for hyperbole, Stillwater is still one of our greatest minds. It is a shame that he decided to... let's say "dedicate" his intellect to plays instead of other literature.

Nevertheless, his analysis of the veiled one is largely accurate. Anoth, a patron to all those who seek knowledge and secrets, is a goddess of power, if not of prestige. As her sphere implies, she prefers to stay unknown, only talked about in hushed voices and quiet half-truths. Even Stillwater was unable to fully reveal her essence, for it is evershifting.

Yet, what can we then say about the mistress of webs? What events can be said to be her doing? Unfortunately, we cannot pinpoint very much. The webspinner prefers to move in secret, never fully showing her hand, not that mortals such as us would likely ever grasp it. But yet, wherever in history there is intrigue, the spider will pull strings.

Everpresent at palaces and in politics just as much as in underground dealings and thievery, this spider has spread her web far and wide, whispering to any who are willing to accept her trickery into their lives, as she chooses a select few champions to represent her power./

An excerpt from "Of Greater Beings" by Matthew Lexicon, the stubborn historian.

- - - - - -

Mercury was able to venture into the forest quite easily. No guards questioned his exit of the city, since he was still just a cat, and with a well-tread path leading into the forest, it was more than easy to make his way there.

The forest was clearly more travelled than the one Mercury arrived in. There were paths cut into the undergrowth and paved by years of use. There were quite a few trees that had been reduced to stumps near the pathways, and most wild animals decided to stay clear of them. Even Mercury clearly noticed that they smelled much more strongly of human than the rest of the forest.

So, since there was no shot of him finding a boar anywhere next to the walkways woodcutters used daily, Mercury veered off them and decided to walk deeper into the forest, where quite soon, the smell of humans was replaced with that of earth. It was almost a little calming, being back in such an environment after his lengthy stays in multiple cities, but he couldn't just enjoy the atmosphere. After all, he had some work to do.

Mercury quickly scaled up a tree, deciding to traverse the forest higher up to avoid large predators. He was still in no shape to fight something like a bear without preparation. Instead, he would keep his eyes sharp and his rocks ready, because he needed to pounce if he saw a boar.

It took a while, and he passed by a handful of deer, but eventually he saw a small group of boars bathing in a muddy lake. There were a few adult ones and quite a few more young boars, all very small and cute with their light fur. Yet, while it was a shame, it was absolutely murder time.

But once more, being a cat came as an advantage to Mercury. He was small and his feet barely made any noise as he snuck closer.

He didn't want to take the risk of the boar fleeing whenever he attacked it, so he knew he needed to get its legs first. Unfortunately, his throw wasn't even close to strong enough if he tried to do that with just a stone, so he needed to get up close and personal.

After a quick bath in the mud, turning his white fur brown, he focused on using both <Sneak> and <Quiet> to get closer to the pigs. He might need a bath after this, but what was a little mud in exchange for a promotion?

When he was almost close enough to attack though, one of the young piglets saw him and started squeaking. Little fucking bastard. Well, now or never.

Mercury immediately rushed his mana through his body, making it roar as he boiled it all up. Within one jump, he was close to the boar he targeted, a slightly older looking adult, and with another jump, he crashed straight into its front leg.

He felt the impact all over his side, but he was quickly satisfied when he heard a crack and felt the bone he had targeted move. It was almost enough, as the boar quickly started huddling away on three legs while screeching out warning.

All of them were leaving, but Mercury had left a distinct impact on the one he was targeting. It took him a moment to regain his bearings after the impact, and by then, his target had gotten out of the lake and onto solid ground, but that wasn't enough to get it away from Mercury. He was faster than it.

After only a few moments, Mercury had caught up with the boar, and quickly unsheathed his claws to slice at its hind legs, only to receive a splatter of dirt into his face.

Okay motherfucker, new idea! Immediately, Mercury spat out the dirt that had gotten in his mouth, unable to completely get rid of the disgusting, earthy taste, and charged after the boar. As soon as he was next to it, he decided to quickly bring the remainder of his mana to a boild and slam into the pig's side full force.

Like a tiny little wrecking ball he slammed into its soft belly, and as it crashed to the ground, the boar let out a small scream. Before it could even think of getting up, Mercury shook off his stupor from the collision and launched himself at its face, clawing out its eyes, before turning into a tiny whirlwind of claws and teeth as he sliced and bit all over its legs.

It would almost be scary if he wasn't a cat. But to the boar, it was easily quite terrifying, since all its colleagues had left it already. So, it was left to die a slow death, bleeding out at Mercury's hands.

[Killed a Wild Boar. Get: 100 Exp, 32 Gold.]

No boars were harmed in the making of this novel.

Well, as brutal, dirty and exhausting as that was, he had most certainly done it. That was one dead boar. He quickly threw the body into his inventory and shook of the rest of his stupor as he spit out a few more mouthfuls of dirt. Blegh.

Afterwards, he took a quick bath in a small stream and somewhat washed the boar in there, trying to get some of the mud off its fur. Yucky.

Mercury headed back into the city after. He was almost there now, he only needed to get the tusk out of its damn face, and without thumbs, he sure as hell had no shot at it. So, as sad as it was, he headed to a butcher and, after a short conversation, dropped the whole pig there.

"A lil' dirtey," the butcher said as he rubbed his chin, "bah decent quality. Beat up a lil' as well, bah I ca' make it work. Tell ya whot, I'll give ya the tusk, 6 dims n' 5 glooms for it. What ya say?"

"You have yourself a deal, sir."

Mercury felt like this butcher was an honest sort and promised to himself to make this the shop he'd sell to if he ever went hunting again. In any case, after they agreed, the butch gave him a strong nod and ripped one of the tusks straight out the boar's mouth, quickly cleaned off and blood on it, and handed it to Mercury alongside a small leather pouch.

"Deal's done. Pleasure doin' business with ya." The black-haired, gruff man quickly gave Mercury a strong pat on the back, before waving the strange customer goodbye and going back to his work. 'Twas a strange city he worked in, bah wah' was life wi'out the strangeness?

Mercury on the other hand was quite happy with this. He had gotten paid for hunting the boar itself, enough money to pay rent for a few days, and he had gotten himself the materials for a promotion at the gloryhall. It was a good day to be a cat.

He had quickly snacked on a mouse when he was coming back from the forest, so food also wasn't a problem for now. Thus, Mercury quickly headed towards Marcel, when he realised the building was closed for the evening. Ah, well, whatever. It could wait until tomorrow.

Mercury made his way back to the inn smoothly. It was just starting to turn late, though the sunlight was definitely dimming by now. Well, he had <Night Vision>, so it really didn't bother him that much. It was more that colour was being washed from the world as the time went on. Well, his world was pretty bland already, though it had definitely grown more colourful as time went on.

Maybe something to do with his levels, though it mattered little anyways, since we have decided to narrate all the colours most humans can see. It makes more sense to cater to one's audience rather than only the main character, after all.

Excuse the little interruption, back on track. Mercury made his way into his room in the inn, quickly walking by Davis as he made his way back into his room. Unlocking it was just as much of a nightmare as before, but it was still a necessity. Seriously, he didn't own much, but he couldn't exactly risk his rent money being stolen.

Speaking of that, did this city have... banks? Were those even a thing? They kinda had to be, right? Yeah, definitely. Else, where the hell would people even store their money?

Whatever, another thing on the list for tomorrow. For now, Mercury could simply enjoy his time while practicing some magic. He hadn't gotten any levels from practicing it while he was staying with Kintra, unfortunately, as he was absorbing very low amounts of actual MP from the environment. Though at the very least, he should have gained a few hundred Exp.

Levelling sure was a chore. Mercury sighed at the thought. The system had said that almost everything he did would grant a certain amount of Exp, though he guessed none of that was ever shown to him. Maybe it would be after certain milestones?

In that case it would also make sense why he hadn't gained any points from <Skill Point Generation>. They might just show up after he got like 100 of them. That would take foreeeeeever. Unlucky.

And so, Mercury let his thoughts drift off, as he slowly slipped into sleep.

As per the usual, he woke up once more in his dreamscape, as he decided to call it for now. That was some total 4-elemts-type shit. I mean, come on. Fire to the north, water to the south, earth to the east and air to the west. How stereotypical.

In any case, by now his <Mana Veins> were a near perfect recreation of his body, and one could easily make out the shape of a cat when staring at him. Weirdly enough though, he wasn't alone in there today.

As always, Mercury could see the surroundings like he usually would, doing a quick sweep of the area. It was still a little jarring to wake up in an entirely different place. Today, though, he saw someone else sitting on the grassy planes.

It was another construct of weird, crystal-like tubes, but somehow, while he could see the shape with his eyes, it didn't fall together. Like, he felt he could see all of the <Mana Veins> of whoever was there, but... in his mind, he couldn't reconstruct their body at all. It was... jarring, to say the least.

Oh well. Whatever. It was something different, to be sure, so Mercury decided to head towards this... whatever it was. The journey took longer than he expected, but he did make it there within probably an hour or so of walking. Not that any of the landmarks around him seemed any closer, heh. That would be too easy.

As he got closer, he saw that being still remain completely still, unmoving and unwavering, though there was not much to shake it here. No wind and no sound, after all.

For a moment, Mercury paused in front of it. Whatever it was, it was large. Wait, maybe it was a person. Dang, Mercury had been rude in his thoughts. They were large, whoever they were.

While Mercury was still thoughtfully staring, the being- no, scratch that. Overused word. The assembly of <Mana Veins> in front of him, slowly began to move. It- no, they stretched out a little, as though they were still growing while met with extreme resistance, and after a moment they paused. Then, they flinched.

Immediately, Mercury's attention was back on whoever was in front of him, as they now seemed to have noticed him.

'Sup, he thought, but couldn't quite get out.

Wait, what the fuck? Hello. Greetings. Good day. Nice to meet you. Ey, voice. Why aren't you working?

Mercury was struggling a little, as the words he wanted to say didn't quite come out right. Actually, they didn't come out at all, which sucked. Nevertheless, the being in front of him seemed to understand, somehow. They... shook a little, almost as though they were chuckling at his poor attempt at communication.

For a moment, they stopped, and then, Mercury heard their voice in his own head. No, it wasn't a voice. He simply seemed to understand what they wanted to say, without actually hearing anything.

'"Hello", "greetings", "'sup", "good day", and "nice to meet you" as well.'

Uhm, what? Were they actually talking to him?

'Indeed this one be.'

Phew. He was lucky he recognized that he shouldn't be rude early enough.

'Rude? How so?'

Oh, nothing. Nothing at all. Don't sweat it, don't worry about it, just let it slide, out of earshot, out of mind.

Mercury was a little awkward as he stared at whoever was in front of him. This was... unusual to say the least. He couldn't quite put his feelings into words, but he was curious, surprised, and even a little scared.

The amalgamation of crystalline veins seemed to... nod(?) at this.

And Mercury immediately understood. Calm, was the first thing he understood, but as he listened closer he heard so many other things. A hint of interest, slight and receding suspicion, a sense of harmlessness, and as he listened even closer a soft, humming melody of amusement.

'I hear surprise. I see, this must be your first time meeting another, then?'

His first time meeting another? Another what?

'A dream mage. It is a rare occurrence, certainly, but rare enough to be surprised at it is not. Unless I am your first encounter, and thus I guess thee are an apprentice. What school do thee study in?'

School? Dream mage? That was a lot at on-

'No school? Uncertain even of what thy are? Hmmm, thy are a curious one. I shan't seek thyne name, for it is a gift to be given, yet until I doth giveth thee mine, thee may know me as Dreamweaver.'

'Dreamweaver. Uh, maybe they could call him Cat, then?'

It was the first thing that came to Mercury's mind as he slowly got the hang of how this worked. It was... a strange feeling, to be sure, kind of like splitting his thoughts into two layers, one which he kept to himself, and another he shared. It was almost like controlling two types of mana, yet somehow it felt more familiar. Easier.

Yeah, this was kind of like his job at work, where his surface thoughts comprehended all the documentation he had to do while his deeper thoughts... wandered. Though in this case his deeper thoughts were his own and his surface thoughts conveyed to someone else. Kinda cool.

'Cat it shall thusly be. This one would say that... "it is nice to meet you, too"?'

The figure seemed unsure, prompting a small chuckle from Mercury, to which he immediately received a smile in return.

'Mineth touch has yet to fail me then. It is nice to meet you, young Cat. May this one ask thee what thine purpose here is?'

'Purpose? None in particular, I just... end up here when I go to sleep.'

'Is thine destination constant?'

'Uhm, I guess so? It's always in this field. Though I can't seem to move far from its center.'

'Hmmm... this one haseth not seen much alike to thine doing yet. Thee come from no school, yet thee doth find thine way here. Oh, but apologies, this one haseth asked so much, yet answered so little. Young Cat, doth thee have many questions?'

Well, they were certainly weird. What the hell should he reply to something like that? Uh, fuck, fuck, fuck, Mercury, think, faaaast!!!

'Uh, yeah, I, uh, yeah. So, Dreamweaver-'

'Old Dreamweaver, if thee would?'

'Old Dreamweaver, of course, sorry. What are you? Where are we? Why do I end up here?'

The amalgamation in front of him shook a little again. Humor, understanding, empathy, alongside reminiscence of the past. Dreamweaver had been where Mercury was before.

'This one doth be Dreamweaver,' they said, unhelpfully. 'And *we* be not in the same place. Close to each other, indeed us two are, yet this one and Cat are not in the same place.'

'Uhm, roughly?'

'Ah, yes, this one understands. Apologies. "Sorry". This one is in a woven dream, as is Cat. This one doth travelled here through a dream. Cat must have done as such, "the same thing".'

'A woven dream?'

'Indeed. Ah, young Cat wants answers. Zurrteh. "Sure". This one seeks thee. Seeks *Cat*. Seeks dream mages. This one doth operate a school. Doth trikko. "Teach".'

As time went on, Dreamweaver's speech seemed to become a little weirder. Maybe the translation function was adjusting a bit? Or it was Mercury simply understanding more closely. It was... intriguing, in any case, as he started hearing unfamiliar words.

'Old Dreamweaver-'

'Young Cat?'

'Thee doth run a school.'

'Hmm. "Run". Mh.'

Mercury heard... a deep heartbeat of thanks, as well as some amusement.

'Yes. "Run". Rah'un. Operate. Trikko dreamweaving.'

'"Trikko"? Teach?'

'Mh.'

'Would thee trikko young Cat?'

Surprise. Astonishment. Thankfulness. Old Dreamweaver seemed like he smiled at this, yet their voice grew quieter.

'Mh. This one doth trikko thee. Aneth'bar. "Thank you". This one seeks to be sought. Yet, old Dreamweaver doth grow wa'hc. "Awake". They will meet young Cat again. "See you".'

And just like that, the amalgamation in front of Mercury was gone and he was left to his own devices again.