8 Good Night. Sweetest of Dreams.

Sal had brought the duo into the estate and initiated a grand tour. It was like he was sharing everything positive with his life, while ignoring the negatives, such as dealing with his father.

Every nook and cranny of the estate was clean. The grass was well cut and of better quality than the blades outside. There was no dirt nor stains on the walls from grass being mowed. The stables were relatively empty, of both horses and hay.

Sal didn't like horses. They were noisy and needy, more needy them himself. He didn't want to take care of them, nor did he have any servants to spare in order to take care of them. Every servant here seemed to be young girls and boys from the orphanage. All ages could be seen going around cleaning, dusting and some of them were even reading.

This man was actually having them do labor and paying them in education and shelter. Many of the adults had sent their kids here in order for them to live a better life since they couldn't enter the commons district freely.

Many of the kids here were now better dressed and much more clean. He even went ahead and showed the shower room and restrooms which were open for the entire estate to use. This place was amazing.

Sal in order to support his growing staff had made contracts with nearby farms to purchase quarters of their harvests for hefty sums. Farms were relatively wealthy in this Kingdom due to being the life line of the people. Without the Farms this collection of people would starve or split into pieces over remaining resources.

Of course those who made a lot of money, had a higher amount of taxes to pay. The circulation of currency was immense. This was also a system which was created under the eye of the Queen which had passed away. She was a political and economic genius. Which was one of the main reasons she had gotten into the hands of the King.

Though there was a rumor that the Queen had been someone from another World.

…

Walking through the halls with Claude a few steps behind, Bria would be looking over the decorated halls of the massive residence. There were portraits of his mother everywhere. She was definitely a beauty in her younger days, but it seemed that as she got older, all of that melted away.

Was it all due to stress? Poison? A curse? Bria couldn't lay her finger on the idea for the time being as she was also now following Sal through the corridor.

"So that's the history of my mother before she was rudely thrown out on behest of my father!" He concluded the tour as they continued walking.

There was still many things in the halls. Head busts of the previous Kings and Queens made of clay and other precious materials. Smirking a bit seeing her father's bust with an extremely long beard with touched the floor, she shook her head a bit.

Snickering, "I think my –" She paused however before she could say much more. These two didn't know who she was. She didn't want to expose herself just yet. If someone in the palace wanted her dead, she knew it would be a bad idea to say anything that would turn heads in her direction.

"I think my legs are tired… I haven't taken a nap at all today~" Bria made a tired face, her upper lip lazily overlapping the lower.

Glancing over at the girl, Sal nodded. "I should show you two your lodgings then, yeah?" He huffed and shook his head. Running his hand through his long black hair before brushing his hands off on the white robes he wore. He would make his way over to the residential section of his home.

Moments after they would find themselves in front of two adjacent rooms along a long corridor. The two of them could sense life within the corridor. Each of the rooms in this hall belonged to the youngsters whom got work here.

"Hm…" Bria would walk up to the bedroom and lightly push it open and glance inside. There was a single king sized bed covered in a quilt and several pillows.

Claude without making much of a noise would open the adjacent rooms door and glance inside. It was also a king sized bed covered in a quilt, but only had two pillows. "Is there some sort of discrimination going on here?" He could only chuckle seeing the lack of pillows compared to Bria's room.

"Nah, that doesn't sound about right." Bria quickly said and walked into her bedroom and closed the door behind herself. Quickly locking it from the inside.

Laughing, Sal would place a hand on his forehead and look over at Claude. "Well, it seems that you're on your own on this one." He said with a grin over his lips. It was as if he knew that Bria would be along.

…

Bria stood in the center of her lodging. Besides the king sized bed and the blue and white quilt, the walls were all white, like the rest of the structure. However the floor was waxed dark wood.

Taking off her boots and placing them in the corner of the room beside her bed. She hopped up onto the bed and tossed her mage robe at the nearby wall after pulling it off. Letting out a light sigh, she would look up towards the ceiling.

"Bria, you haven't been talking much," the girl said in her mind.

[ Sorry, was taking a nap. Been on auto-pilot for a whle now. ]

"…" Bria glanced to the side slightly and stared at the vanity mirror on the east side of the room. Letting out a soft sigh, she would chuckle lightly. "Is that so?"

[ Yup. Nothing for me to really do except assist you. ]

"Sounds boring." Bria said with a pair of straightened lips before yawning and burrowing beneath the warm feathered pillows. "So… How come everyone in your faction is either dead or imprisoned?"

[ That.. I don't know. At least I can't remember. ]

Staring into space for a few moments before closing her eyes and nuzzling into the mattress. "Sounds like you have a lot of things to sort out, huh?" The Princess muttered quietly as she was slowly drifting off to sleep.

[ So it seems. ]

Bria before she actually fell asleep opened her status window and looked to see if there were any other tabs on the page. In the upper right there was a tab for attributes. Blinking a few times seeing that there were fifteen unused points, she would open the tab.

_ _ _ _ _ _

Strength [ STR ]: 4

Perception [ PER ]: 10

Endurance [END ]: 3

Charisma [ CHA ]: 14

Intelligence [ INT ]: 9

Agility [ AGI ]: 15

Luck [LUC]: 5

AP: 15

_ _ _ _ _ _

Staring at it for a few moments, she could think of a few things she could add to. However before she did that she wanted to see what they were used for. She knew strength would refer to her physical strength and the amount of force she can assert in melee combat. So, that was a given.

Perception allowed on to be more aware of their senses and their understanding. This was good for deduction skills and danger sense. On top of that she would be able to identify smells and shapes from a distance.

"Maybe I could be a hound if I level this one…" She giggled with her eyes closed and continued to lay there under the pillows. Only god knows what she was doing under those pillows, if anyone was watching or listening in.

Charisma was generally self explanatory, it was a trait which determined how well she could appeal herself to other people. It was charm, presence. It made her personality pop out more. She'd probably upgrade it later down the road, since for right now she didn't really need it. Plus, it was already pretty high to begin with compared to the other levels.

"Hm… Luck? That's enigmatic. At least it's not super low." She clucked her tongue against her teeth. "I'm pretty good with reflexes and speed. Intelligence seems like a go to…" She was talking to herself as she placed five of her AP into her strength.

As soon as she did this, she felt a warm feeling traveling throughout her body. A faint glow escaped from beneath the pillows. The next thing she knew, her scrawny arms suddenly had a light muscle tone as she now had level nine Strength.

Staring at endurance, she let out a light sigh. Originally she just wanted to put everything into intelligence, but it would be hard to get by on that alone. Even the smartest person needed to defend themselves.

Increasing Endurance by five AP, she watched as the total number became nine. She then proceeded to increase the intelligence level by five AP as well.

However now she had a strange feeling in her head after increasing her intelligence. She also seemed to feel a bit stranger as her muscles began to settle. It was as if she had more life force? She felt healthier? Blinking a few times, she would exit out of the attribute tab and look at her main status. That's when she saw it.

HP: 150 [ +5 Blessing of Vitality ]

MP: 180 [ +5 Blessing of Intelligence ]

Blinking a few times at this display, she was at a loss for words. Not only did the increase in Strength and Intelligence increase, but also vitality and mana? So it seemed these two involved one another somehow.

"I'm liking the looks of this." Bria said with a smile printed across her lips, her consciousness slowly fading from reality. She was too comfy, but at least she accomplished something before going to her own little dreamland. Or was it a nightmare?

Soon after dozing off, she found herself in her old body. She was a man again, staring off into space on the roof top of his old home. There were a few other figures standing on the room as well, but well out of sight and behind him.

Yet he could feel their breaths on the back of his neck. He was the main inheritor of his household, even though his family tortured him. He was to be well compensated once they, his parents, were gone.

Glancing over his shoulder towards the siblings which were glaring at him like wild wolves. He let out a soft sigh and smiled. "Evening simplons." He'd greet quietly only for them to begin advancing towards him.

"Hey *****" Creasing his brows, he couldn't understand what they said. Did they say his name? Why couldn't he hear his name? Was it because he couldn't remember it?

"Why did you die!?" They called out as if angry for some reason. "We were all discredited by mom and dad because of you! They thought we drove you to your death!" They screamed at him and he simply smiled at them till.

That's when they lunged at him, and as they all clumped together, they formed a liquid black mass. "What…?" His eyes widened as he took a frightened step backwards. He wanted to avoid this thing that was now charging towards him.

They weren't his siblings. It was something else. Letting out a defiant growl, he leapt to the side and rolled on the roof. Dodging the initial lung and ran for a nearby window.

Clack, clack, clack.

He could hear the tiles of the roof coming loose. It was as if the house was falling apart beneath him. Why was everything so soft!?

Reaching a window in the niche of time, he kicked it in and pulled himself inside just as the black mass came to collect him again.

Inside the house he looked around. It was his old bedroom. It was half the size as the master bedroom. The second largest room in the house with a bed. There was a computer, a wardrobe, some dressers and a bunch of Japanese idol posters displaying girls in bathing suits.

This generally wasn't atypical. He remembered his whole room and smiled even more seeing it. Every nook and cranny was in his mind. Even the mouse hole directly next to the walk in bathroom.

That's when he paused, seeing a black mass slowly coming out from the hole.

"That's not a mouse…" Closing his eyes partially he turned his head to look out the window. He could no longer see the starry sky or anything out the window. It was just liquid black mass. He then looked towards the door to his room.

Should he even bother to run away. Slowly lowering his head a bit, he chuckled a little.

"Don't give up." A voice called out which made the man narrow his sight on the door once again. He could see the glowing feet of an apparition beneath it.

Bria?

Walking over to the door, he opened it and looked down at the short figure and smirked lightly. "So, what brings you here?" He asked with a teasing tone as he placed hand on her head. Unlike before he had died before, his hand wasn't going through her petite body.

"You're under attack. You need to wake up, or you'll be trapped in here when that mass catches you."

[ Quest Added: Escape the Nightmare. 600 EXP. Anti-Psychic Function. ]

Nodding lightly, he turned around to see the mass oozing into the bedroom and let out a sigh. Taking in a deep breath and releasing it in a sigh of determination, he darted forward. Bria floating directly beside him as rand down the hall. As he did so the mass began to speed up as its prey was beginning to get away.

Breaking through the door separating the bedrooms from the three other pathways of the house, he would begin running down the east hall. He was quickly making his way to the large staircase.

"Maybe I'll wake up from a fall!" He said with a cheesy laugh which sounded more nervous than anything else. Bria however didn't say anything, only nodded.

As he made it to the top of the staircase he would pause once more at the very first step. Looking at the ground, it was clear that this was too easy. Turning his head to look down the hall, he no longer saw the mass advancing towards him. He didn't see the mass at all.

Slowly arching a brow, he looked down the opposite direction of the corridor. Still there was nothing coming down from that way either.

Bria would look up however and go wide eyed with a relatively straight expression on her lips. Raising a hand out to the side, she would smack the man on his back and send him flying forward just as the black mass came crashing down on where he once stood.

As he went into the air, he blinked a few times as pains ran up the body as he imagined landing. Glancing to the side, he looked over at Bria who was floating with him in the air.

Then just as he was about to which out to grab her, he felt his body hit the ground.

…

Shoot up from beneath all the pillows, the man was now back in the body of the girl, Bria.

Blinking and looking around, she could feel the cold sweat which covered her entire body. The white nightgown was definitely transparent. Letting out a soft sigh, she would pull the gown off and sit cross legged on the bed.

[ Quest Completed. Rewarded. Function Active. Level Up. ]

Smiling, Bria hugged herself slightly, sending the new five points of AP into her intelligence, yet again increasing her mana pool. "The next person who invades my dream space, is going to die." She muttered under her breath.

[ There will be no one else who can. ]

Letting out a sigh, her eyes glanced warily around the room. Was she being watched? Did someone know who she was? Where she was? Or were they using some sort of remote magic where they didn't need to know her location? A shiver went down her spine as she would lay back onto the pillows behind her. However she kept her legs crossed. Her eyes now centered on the white ceiling above.